The Vision Support Centre has a Daily living and resource room, which is open Tuesdays – Fridays. A member of the Vision Support Team will be on hand to provide you with hints and tips on managing daily living tasks, they can check you are accessing helpful services and provide relevant information on an individualised basis. There is a range of demonstration equipment, which can be ordered through us or you can order it yourselves from home. There is never any obligation to buy from Vision Support, we just like to keep everyone informed about the latest resources and aids that are available for people experiencing sight loss. Come along and have a chat with us, call 01423 565915 if you would prefer to make an appointment.

Hints and Tips
If you have some residual sight, here are some helpful tips to get you started:
• Think about contrast, if you have a dark work surface, use light coloured plates. If you are making a tea or coffee use light coloured mugs and leave adding the milk until last. Have a range of different coloured chopping boards to chop food, dark food on light colours, light food on dark colours. Thinking about contrast can work in lots of different ways around the house.
• Think about lighting in your home, there are some reasonably priced solutions for under unit stick on LED’s or if it is too bright have a light diffusing blind at the window. Extra lamps or brighter bulbs, lots to consider.
• Think about being out and about, protect your eyes from light glare, inside or outside, don’t be tempted to just wear dark black glasses, they may be suitable for some people, however different coloured lenses are worth trying on to see which suits your eyesight better. For example, a great many people with Macular Degeneration find that wearing yellow or amber lenses very useful as they stop the glare but still let light into the eyes. There are also sunglasses available that fit over spectacles.
• Writing – Try using thin or broad felt tips to write with rather than a biro, experiment with different coloured pens on different coloured paper, light pink or yellow paper may cause less glare than white paper, come and visit us for more tips…

Daily Living Aids
There is also a range of equipment that can be demonstrated to you to help make daily tasks easier. Some of the equipment on display:
• Sunglasses
• Talking watches
• Talking Clocks
• Liquid level indicators
• Bumpons
• Large print diaries and calendars
• Writing guides and lots more….

Electronic magnifiers, magnifiers and speech solutions (appointment only)
Although we host lots of Demonstration & Event days, we understand that it is not always on the day that everyone is free, or indeed you may not want to wait. We have a selection of electronic magnifiers and text to speech equipment that can be demonstrated to you at the centre, you are free to bring along your own literature to test on the machines or use ours, whichever you prefer. We also have a selection of Speech and magnification solutions for Desktops and tablets. Although we do sell a selection of magnifiers, they can be quite costly, it is advisable to ask your eye consultant or GP for a referral to the Low Vision Clinic at Harrogate Hospital.
Some of the ‘fancier design’ magnifiers won’t be available through the Low Vision Clinic, or if you would prefer to purchase a magnifier, please ask us for details.