Over 123 million lost workdays per year caused by blindness or eye diseases

According to a new pan-European health economic study involving Eleven countries shows that proactive intervention to prevent and treat eye disease would lead to a healthier and more productive population An improved quality of life can be gained by investing in screening programmes, earlier diagnoses and adequate treatment of retinal conditions Cost-effective interventions offset economic costs, estimated to be over 32 billion Euro the European Forum Against Blindness (EFAB) revealed the results of an eleven-country study (an extension to the data reported last year covering six countries) which reports on the economic impact of blindness and four leading eye sight conditions, and which concluded that blindness and vision loss lead to a reduced quality of life and increased economic burden to society. “The key consideration and the direct call to action from this report is that investing in earlier and more targeted interventions – for example screening for diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma followed by treatment, anti-VEGF treatment as standard of care for wet AMD – would lead to a healthier population and help alleviate the cost of blindness The study, covering Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK, reports that in these eleven countries: • 862,067 people are blind • Many people suffer from debilitating sight loss resulting from • Cataracts – 29,184,875 • Diabetic retinopathy – 3,637,458 • Glaucoma – 4,466,224 • Wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD) 2,013,228. Blindness and the four eye diseases lead to a significant reduction in wellbeing; equivalent to 123 million workdays lost per year. Blindness and the eye diseases are estimated to result in annual economic costs of approximately 8 and 24 billion Euro respectively, across the countries studied. The study concludes that each cost-effective intervention can off-set economic costs in the range of 2 to 3 billion Euro. These interventions include anti-VEGF treatment as standard of care for wet AMD, appropriate early detection, prevention and treatment options such as screening for cataracts, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma followed by treatment. In the EU-11 the four eye diseases affect approximately 1 in 10 people, and these conditions don’t only impact those directly affected, but their carers, family members and friends. Then there is the considerable economic burden of blindness and vision loss to society to consider. For blindness, over 50% of this cost is from informal care. EFAB and its partners, the European Coalition for Vision and Second Sight Medical Products, hosted an event at the European Parliament, in Brussels, to share the results of this survey with MEPs and leading professionals across the field of vision health, in order to draw attention to the importance of vision health and educate about eye diseases. A key part of their mission is to raise awareness for the fact that 50% of European blindness is preventable, and that new technologies, such as bionic eyes, can help in diseases like retinitis pigmentosa, which are yet neither preventable nor treatable. For more information, please visit www.efabeu.org

Windows 10

Microsoft has disclosed the first details of Windows 10 - its next operating system (OS). The name is a surprise - what happened to Windows 9? The software will run on a wide range of devices, from phones and tablets to PCs and Xbox games consoles, with applications sold from a single store. It also marks the return of the Start Menu, which had been removed from Windows 8. The Start Menu now features both a list of apps and live tiles The behaviour of the OS will depend on the type of device with which it is being used. Unlike its predecessor, users will not need to switch between Desktop Mode and the touch-focused alternative. Other features include: The task-view button offers one-click access to all running apps and files Snap enhancements - a new "quadrant layout" will allow four apps to be easily arranged on the same screen Task view - a new button on the task bar will let the user see all open apps and files, helping them switch from one to another Multiple desktops - users can switch between distinct desktop screens, allowing them to group related work together rather than having to deal with a single screen overloaded with documents and apps. This is similar to a feature already available on Apple's Mac OS Windows 10 is set to be launched next year.

Apple Releases OS X 10.10 Yosemite

Apple Releases OS X 10.10 Yosemite The long-awaited update to Apple's Mac computers, OS X 10.10 Yosemite, has just arrived, bringing along a lot of changes and features. It is a completely free update, as usual. Here are some key features: • Handoff for moving tasks between your iOS device and Mac • a Notification Centre that supports widgets, "today view", and other iOS-like features • an updated Spotlight that can convert units, pull up business information, and more • a feature that lets your iPhone become an internet hotspot for your Mac, with no configuration or even unlocking of your phone • the ability to use your Mac as a speakerphone for your iPhone, and even initiate calls from the Mac New Features Arrow Key Navigation in Safari Safari now supports moving through webpages with the arrow keys! This includes the arrows by themselves; navigation commands to move by word, jump to the start or end of a line, and so on; and selection commands. Basically, if you use an arrow key command to move around text in Pages or Text Edit, chances are you can use that same command on a webpage in Yosemite. iBooks Yosemite addresses the iBooks accessibility problems. Buttons are labeled, all the library views work, the table of contents can be used and there seem to be no accessibility issues. Other Changes • Most, if not all, of the Nuance Vocaliser voices will have updates. You may need to visit the App Store's Updates section to get them after Yosemite is installed. • in Safari, as you type an address or search into the search field, VoiceOver will read the title of the website it thinks you want instead of just the text it auto-fills. In short, the auto-complete in Safari's search field will be much more verbose than you may be used to. • When you wake up your Mac, VoiceOver will say how many new notifications you have. If you have only one, it usually reads that one. • When you go to the Notifications Centre, note that you will be focused on the "Today" radio button. To find your notifications table, vo-right and select the "Notifications" radio button, then vo-right again to get to the table. Of course, select the "Today" radio button to see your Today View instead. • In the Mail app, threaded conversations will show all the senders of the messages in a thread as a list of first names, instead of the sender of one of the messages. • In Mail, when you compose a new message, a button to "add contacts" appears after each contact entry field (To, CC, or BCC). If you tab through the fields of a new email, or vo-right arrow, expect to have to do a bit more key-pressing than you did in Mavericks. • The button to show or hide headers when composing mail messages has moved to the toolbar of the composition window. • In Contacts, the label of the search field changes to reflect the selected group, telling you what you will be searching without the need to go to the table of groups to see which one is in focus. The exception is the "All Contacts" group, which provides no label to the search field. Like all new operating systems there will be bugs so a note of caution if you upgrade to Yosemite immediately. While there seem to be no major accessibility issues

iOS 8: Start Text-To-Speech Easily with Speak Screen

iOS 8 includes some new accessibility features and many improvements to existing features. One of the new features is called Speak Screen which allows users to quickly have text on the screen spoken aloud using text-to-speech. Speak Screen is included in addition to Speak Selection which allows users to highlight text and press speak to have content read aloud. Unlike Speak Selection, which requires text to be highlighted first, before reading the text aloud,  Speak Screen does not require users to highlight the text they wish to have spoken. Especially for longer articles or emails, this highlighting process could be time consuming and frustrating. Speak Screen solves the problem by speaking all text on the screen with a simple two-finger swipe down from the top of the screen. After swiping down with two fingers, text starts to be read aloud with text-to-speech, and the Speak Screen menu appears on top of your current app. This menu allows you to stop and start speech, adjust the text-to-speech speaking rate, and navigate through the text being spoken.  Instead of having to re-highlight text if you want to hear a paragraph again, Speak Screen offers simple navigation buttons. The menu can also be hidden to allow full view of the screen and accessed again through a small floating button. Just like Speak Selection, Speak Screen has the option to highlight text as it is spoken, making it easier for sighted readers to follow the text as it is being spoken. Just like all of the accessibility features in iOS 8, Speak Screen can use the Alex text-to-speech voice which many users prefer. While Alex is a very high quality text-to-speech voice beware, it takes up almost one gigabyte of storage. Speak Screen can also be activated through Siri by saying "speak the screen." To enable Speak Screen on a device with iOS 8 go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Speech and then toggle on Speak Screen. Speak Screen is only available for devices running iOS 8 or higher.

SITE's Halloween Extravaganza!

Fancy a bit of howling this Halloween? Then why not come along to our spooky halloween fundraiser? Friday 31st October starts 7.30pm until the witching hour! Venue: The Fort Theatre Kenmure Avenue, Bishopbriggs, Glasgow, G64 2DW ** fancy dress competition ** ** Halloween activities ** ** music ** ** buffet ** Tickets: Adults £7 Children £5 To book your tickets call or text Jonathon on 07834 229969 or e-mail [email protected]

SITE Support

At SITE we provide support, advice,information and training to people affected by sight loss. Why not become part of a fast, growing, local organisation which has your interests at heart? It is free to join SITE and you can access the following: • Training on PC, Tablet Computers and Smart Phones • Support, advice and information on accessible products • Accessibility Workshops and Events • Free eNewsletter • Volunteering opportunities  Contact [email protected] for further details.