Introduction

Introduction McCay Vernon Western Maryland College It is tragic irony that the sense of vision has been almost totally ignored by professionals and lay people in deafness. Obviously, sight is a thousand times more important to those who are deaf than to any other group of people. Despite this fact, and despite the threat to vision posed by rubella, Usher's syndrome, complications of Rh factor, meningitis, and other leading causes of deafness, few educational or rehabilitational facilities and few physicians give adequate attention to visual screening of those with hearing impairments. The staff and faculty of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID)at Rochester Institute of Technology, in this publication, have made an initial major step to undo these years of neglect. They have developed a model program for screening and follow-up. They have taken the model, applied it to their own student body, and have provided data on the results. As stated by the authors, further research on identification and follow-up of visual impairments among deaf and hard-of-hearing people is essential. Of special significance is the collaborative pilot work of NTID and the University of Rochester in screening techniques for assessing the integrity of the visual fields and dark-adapted visual sensitivity. Further research designed to lead to inclusion of such techniques in visual screening programs would be a major contribution to diagnosis of Retinitis Pigmentosa and other retinal disorders uniquely prevalent among persons who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. School and rehabilitation facilities serving the hearing impaired will want to institute all or at least parts of the NTID visual screening program. By so doing they will be able to improve early detection, provide preventive medical intervention, and make counseling and education more specific to the needs of the deaf person with a visual problem. Deaf people and the professionals who serve them owe the staff and faculty of NTID a major debt of gratitude for their significant contribution to maximizing the care of vision in deaf children and adults. 320 A.A.O. ¡May 1981 ...