Occupational Therapist Surabhi (Chikki) Rao was our guest speaker last month at our April 1 meeting. She talked about Low Vision Issues Affecting People with Parkinson’s. Chikki shared a lot of information with us. She also sent a copy of her presentation and gave permission to post her slides on our website. You can download the PDF here.
In addition to being an OT, Chikki has a graduate degree in Low Vision, defined as vision loss that cannot be corrected by medical or surgical procedures. In her experience, movement problems take priority in treating people with Parkinson’s and patients usually do not report vision issues. Chikki’s goal is to find simple, low tech solutions for vision problems, which can include eye exercises.
Parkinson’s is a common cause of low vision. Signs to look for: blurry vision, double vision, poor night vision, difficulty seeing in low light, sensitivity to light, focusing difficulties, and attention and concentration difficulties. Dry eyes affect vision as well.
Once she’s made a diagnosis of low vision, Chikki works on education and training, basically workarounds, to find what helps. If you lose your place while reading, she recommends tracking the words on the page with your finger, or placing a piece of paper beneath the line you are reading, moving it down the page as you read so that only the line you are reading is visible. Cell phones and computers can be adjusted to increase light and light contrast and under accessibility settings, enlarge the text size and change the display. After Chikki’s presentation, I adjusted the mouse settings so that the arrow I was always losing on my screen is now not only bigger, but bright red. This has been a game changer for me.
Chikki recommends increasing the lighting in the room where you sit and work, organizing and decluttering your work space, and taking a break now and then to rest your eyes. She also recommends seeing an optometrist every two years for vision check-ups. Optometrists who work with people with Parkinson’s can be found at https://www.covd.org
Questions? Full contact information for Chikki below, but email is best. Leave your phone number if you want her to call you back.
Surabhi ( Chikki ) Rao, UVA PWH Therapy Dept, surabhi.rao@uvahealth.org. 703-369-8194