The Low Vision Timeline: An Interactive History

Gordon E. Legge, PhD University of Minnesota This paper presents an edited, timeline chronology of the important developments in the field of low vision. The history of any discipline is inherently worth recording, although we recognize that what is history to one person may be trivia to another. To help preserve the history of low vision we have developed a timeline of events we consider to be significant in the development of the field. Since our viewpoint may well be limited in scope, or at odds with the views of others, we have chosen to present the timeline as an interactive document. The timeline is brought to each International Conference on Low Vision where an opportunity is provided for attendees to edit the timeline. The current timeline was edited following the Vision 2002 conference in Sweden and again following the Vision 2005 Conference in London. It has been further edited following the Vision 2008 conference held in Montreal, Canada. We will continue this process at the 2011 conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In the interim we offer the timeline as an open access document in the hopes that it will provide historical information and an expanded opportunity for input. Those seeking to add information or contest the inclusion of items may do so by emailing detailed comments to the corresponding authors (addresses are supplied at the end of this document). Please include source documentation or URL addresses where appropriate. Thank you. We hope you find this document informative and thought provoking.