The Ann Sullivan
Center of Peru (CASP) is organizing "Free Visual Diagnostic Clinics"
with the help of Dr. Linda Lawrence, an internationally renowned
ophthalmologist from the University of Kansas who has specialized in ophthalmic
assessment of people with different abilities, either verbal or nonverbal
children. Dr. Lawrence emphasizes the
importance of vision in learning. She
states that between 50% and 75% of people with different abilities’ population
have vision problems. And since 80% of
learning occurs through vision, the visual evaluation is important.
This campaign, which
occurred for the first time in 2008, takes place in different cities of Peru,
thanks to the active participation of our Distance Education Facilitators from
each city and from CASP.
"Free
Visual Diagnostic Clinics" are currently taking place from September 9
through 13 at CASP, where infants, small children, young people and adults with
different abilities are being evaluated by Dr. Lawrence, who also follows up
with children who have been in earlier campaigns.
Dr. Lawrence, who has
received many international awards for her humanitarian work in several
countries throughout the world, uses simple language and diverse methods to
identify when a person with different abilities has vision difficulties,
thereby avoiding problems in the learning process.