2022-4-11

 

Eden’s annual Challenges and New Horizons activity offers individuals who are blind or visually impaired a variety of novel experiences.
Eden’s annual Challenges and New Horizons activity offers individuals who are blind or visually impaired a variety of novel experiences.


The Eden Foundation has been holding its Challenges and New Horizons activity for eight consecutive years to offer people with vision loss and blindness richer life experiences. This year, with the support of Taipei 101, the foundation took participants up the tower to the highest outdoor viewing platform in Asia. Volunteers helped participants into safety harnesses and a Taipei 101 guide gave them a briefing. The visually impaired visitors experienced the outdoor walkway through their senses of hearing, touch, and smell.

 

The foundation also provides services to meet the needs of caregivers of relatives with vision loss that give caregivers some breathing space.
The foundation also provides services to meet the needs of caregivers of relatives with vision loss that give caregivers some breathing space.


Mr. Lu, 72, suffers moderate visual acuity. Since 2016, he has been a regular at Eden’s rehabilitation center for the blind. His life has been made easier by learning to use a white cane, magnifying glass, video magnifier, and other devices. He is accompanied by his wife, Yue-hsiang. As the couple grow older, she is worried they will not be able to look after each other while shouldering the double burden of disability and old age. This is an issue not just for the blind but for their relatives as well. That is why the rehabilitation center launched a program of services this year to give respite and support to the caregivers of visually impaired family members. The program not only trains Yue-hsiang to help her husband develop orientation and mobility skills, but also gives her temporary respite to ease the burden of caregiving.


Now in its eighth year, Eden’s annual Challenges and New Horizons activity offers individuals who are blind or visually impaired a variety of novel experiences. The foundation also provides services to meet the needs of caregivers of relatives with vision loss. The program includes temporary respite services, one-on-one stress relief counseling, and art therapy courses that give caregivers some breathing space and help elderly couples look after each other.