If technology can help solve the problems of accessibility and affordability for a simple pair of glasses, then someone is doing their job right.
It’s tough having four eyes.
No, I’m not talking about being a mutant or some type of alien creature. I’m talking about being someone who has to wear glasses – something I consider both a blessing and a curse.
I was lucky. I didn’t have to start wearing my first pair of spectacles until I was in high school after I started to get splitting headaches after reading or sitting on the computer for too long. My eye doctor gave me a very small prescription for reading glasses, which I started wearing with a mix of excitement and dread.
After awhile I started to like the glasses a little bit. When I popped them on, I instantly felt a little smarter, like I was taking on the role of a nerd and could be more confident because I had the eyewear to prove it.
But my vision kept getting worse. Soon, the reading glasses weren’t enough to stave off the headaches, and I reluctantly started wearing a newer, stronger pair full time.
As much as my glasses can annoy me, I know that I am lucky to have them. When I was doing research for a story about glasses for the developing world, I learned that more than 1.3 billion people around the world need glasses but don’t have them. How lucky am I to live in a place – and have enough insurance – where I have easy access to a simple technology that makes my life better every day?
That’s a major part of why I was interested in writing about Adlens and their adaptive lens technology for the developing world. It’s a very cool product, but it also has amazingly simple applications for people who don’t often benefit from the most cutting-edge medical technology.
Adlens will be working with the Vision for a Nation program to help provide glasses to the people of Rwanda, one of the poorest nations in the world. According to their website, in Sub-Saharan Africa alone, about 95 percent of the people who actually need glasses don’t have them. The World Health Organization says that lack of eyewear costs more than $121.4 billion annually in lost productivity.
If technology can help solve the problems of accessibility and affordability for a simple pair of glasses, then someone is doing their job right.
I’m particularly interested in medical stories like this one because I like hearing the people side of the story – how does a new device make quality of life better for the people who use it?
Consumer electronics are cool, and new electric cars are snazzy, but when it comes to the day-to-day problems of living a healthy, productive, and happy life, medical device engineers are the people who make it happen.
Get teased because of your glasses as a kid? What’s one piece of simple technology you couldn’t live without? Share your thoughts and stories in an e-mail [email protected].