PAPERBACK Free Resources |
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter.
Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines.
OCR for page R1
WORK, AGING' AND VISION
Report of a Conference
Working Group on Aging Workers and Visual Impairment
Committee on Vision
Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences
and Education
National Research Council
National Academy Press
Washington, D.C. 1987
OCR for page R2
NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by
the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are
drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National
Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members
of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special
competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors
according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting
of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of
Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.
The National Research Council was established by the National Academy of
Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology
with the Academy's purposes of furthering knowledge and of advising the
federal government. The Council operates in accordance with general policies
determined by the Academy under the authority of its congressional charter
of 1863, which establishes the Academy as a private nonprofit, self-governing
membership corporation. The Council has become the principal operating
agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy
of Engineering in the conduct of their services to the government, the public,
and the scientific and engineering communities. It is administered jointly by
both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. The National Academy of
Engineering and the Institute of Medicine were established in 1964 and 1970,
respectively, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences.
This work relates to Department of the Nary contract N0014-80-C-0159
issued by the Office of Naval Research under Contract Authority NR 201-
124. However, the content does not necessarily reflect the position or the
policy of the government, and no official endorsement should be inferred.
The United States government has at least a royalty-free, nonexclusive, and
irrevocable license throughout the world for government purposes to publish,
translate, reproduce, deliver, perform, dispose of, and to authorize others to
do, all or any portion of this work.
Available from:
Committee on Vision
National Research Council
2101 Constitution Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20418
Printed in the United States of America
·—
11
OCR for page R3
WORKING GROUP ON AGING WORKERS
AND VISUAL IMPAIRMENT
ROBERT SEKULER (Chair), Departments of Psychology,
Ophthalmology, and Neurobiology/Physiology, Northwestern
University
STEVEN FERRIS, School of Medicine, New York University
SAMUEL M. GENENSKY, The Center for the Fetidly Sighted,
Santa Monica, Calif.
ROBERT GOTTSDANKER, Department of Psychology, University
of California, Santa Barbara
DONALD KLINE, Department of Psychology, University of Notre
Dame
DAVID D. MICHAELS, Department of Ophthalmology, University
of California, Los Angeles
MEREDITH MORGAN, Walnut Creek, Calif.
DONALD G. PITTS, College of Optometry, University of Houston
· - ~
111
OCR for page R4
COMMITTEE ON VISION
ANTHONY 3. ADAMS (Chair), School of Optometry, University of
California, Berkeley
ROBERT SEKULER (Past Chair), Departments of Psychology,
Ophthalmology, and Neurobiology/Physiology, Northwestern
University
IRVING BIEDERMAN, Department of Psychology, State University
of New York, Buffalo
RANDOLPH BLAKE, Cresap Neuroscience Laboratory,
Northwestern University
RONALD E. CARR, New York University Medical Center
SHELDON EBENHOLTZ, State University of New York, College of
Optometry
ANN B. FULTON, Department of Ophthalomology, Children's
Hospital, Boston
CHRIS A. JOHNSON, Department of Ophthalmology, University of
California, Davm
JO ANN KINNEY, vision consultant, Surry, Maine
AZRIEL ROSENFELD, Center for Automation Research, University
of Maryland
PAMELA EBERT FLATTAU, Study Director
CAROL METCALF, Senior Secretary
iv
OCR for page R5
Foreword
The Committee on Vision is a standing committee of the Na-
tional Research Council's Commission on Behavioral and Social
Sciences and Education. The committee provides analysis and
advice on scientific issues and applied problems involving vision.
It also attempts to stimulate the further development of visual
science and to provide a forum in which basic and applied sci-
entists, engineers, and clinicians can interact. Working groups
of the committee study questions that may involve engineering
and equipment, physiological and physical optics, neurophysiol-
ogy, psychophysics, perception, environmental effects on vision,
and the treatment of visual disorders.
In order for the committee to perform its role effectively, it
draws on experts from a wide range of scientific, engineering,
and clinical disciplines. The members of this working group were
chosen for their expertise in research related to the aging of the
human eye and for their familiarity with the application of those
research findings to employment issues. This report reflects their
evaluation of present understanding of the interactive effects of
work, aging, and vision. The report outlines the nature of the
problem and describes some of the solutions that have emerged
as employers have attempted to sustain the employment of older
persons given the changes that occur in vision with age. The
report considers the scientific, technological, and social contexts
for enhancing the employment of older workers and provides an
agenda for further research in this area.
v,
OCR for page R6
Abe observations Id reco~d~lons arming Tom the eF
forts of this working group merit consideration ~ employers and
employees Ekes Ed by the chnki~s Ed scie~bts interested
in Proving the employment Ed elite ~ older workers.
hotbox J. Adam Cab
Settee OD Vision
V1
OCR for page R7
Contents
PREFACE
1 NATURE OF THE PROBLEM
Vision Changes and Older Workers, 4
Vision Screening Programs in the Workplace, 17
Matching Workers and Jobs, 20
Workplace Design, 22
Responding to the Vision Needs of Older Workers, 24
2 SOLUTIONS
Compensating for Declining Visual Function, 28
Better Vision Screening Procedures, 31
Providing Visual Aids, 32
Retraining Older Workers, 33
Modifying the Workplace, 35
Job Redesign, 37
3 CONTEXT FOR CHANGE
The Potential of Science and Technology, 39
Employer Commitment as a Critical Element
for Change, 44
Federal Prograrrm and Policies, 45
Conclusion, 47
1X
1
28
38
APPENDIX A: Conference Participants and Program 49
APPENDIX B: Annotated Bibliography
·.
V11
54
OCR for page R8
OCR for page R9
Preface
At the request of the Veterans Adrn~nistration and the Na-
tional Institute on Aging, the Committee on Vision established
the Working Group on Aging Workers and Visual Impairment.
The working group was asked to examine the issue of keeping
older workers in the work force longer given the many changes
that occur In vision with age.
In order to accomplish its task, the working group organized
an invitational conference to review the dimensions of the prob-
lem of work, aging, and vision. Twenty-eight specialists, including
members of the working group, met for two days In Washington,
D.C., in February 1986 (see Appendix A for the conference partic-
ipants and program.) These specialists were drawn from the fields
of gerontology, economics, sociology, statistics, psychology, politi-
cal science, optometry, ophthalmology, human factors engineering,
and physiology.
The two-day conference was organized around sessions focus-
ing on individual alla interactive elements of work, aging, and
vision. Members of the first pane} were asked to describe what
happens to the eye with age; some relationships between visual
changes with age and changes in behavior; and the impact of visual
deficits on cognitive functions. The second pane! considered the
availability of information on the incidence and prevalence of visual
impairment with age; the role of health status in leaving the work
force; and demographic changes in the U.S. work force. The third
pane} explored the effects of visual changes on job skills; problems
of performance assessment; and relevant components of "bona fide
K
OCR for page R10
occupational qualifications." The fourth panel addresseci issues
related to keeping older Americans in the work force longer, such
as screening practices; the availability of visual prosthetics; job
and task redesign; work station design; and economic incentives
and disincentives for keeping older workers employed.
Each participant prepared a brief background paper, which
was circulated in advance of the meeting. Participants were asked
to provide a brief presentation of their papers at the conference.
Scheduled discussion periods aDowed extensive treatment of the
pane} topics and included questions and comments from the audi-
ence.
This report ~ based on those conference papers and discus-
sions and has been organized into three parts. The first part is a
discussion of the problem of maintaining older workers in the labor
force given the changes that occur in vision with age. The report
then shifts to a description of some of the solutions proposed by
conferees. The final section explores some of the factors involved
in bringing about such changes.
Two appendixes provide additional information: Appendix A
contains a list of conference participants and the detailed program.
Appendix B contains an annotated bibliography on work, aging,
· ~
anc vision.
In addition to the 28 participants at the conference, a num-
ber of people contributed in important ways to the success of the
conference and to this report. Samuel M. Genensky and Herbert
Parnes prepared background papers for the conference, although
they were unable to attend. David Worthen of the Veterans Ad-
min~stration and Leonard Jakubczak of the National Institute on
Aging provided valuable guidance as project monitors to the work-
ing group throughout this effort. Wayne Shebilske, the commit-
tee's study director through June 1985, planned the working group
activity, and Pamela Ebert Flattau, the committee's study direc-
tor after July 1985, provided important assistance in organizing
the conference and preparing the workshop report. Patricia A. An-
derson, who served as consultant to the committee on this project,
contributed significantly to the design and scope of the February
conference. Chrmt~ne L. McShane, editor of the Commission on
OCR for page R11
Beb~loral Id Social Sciences and Educatlon, helped lmpr~e
the sale and clarity ~ the report. Carol ~etc~f, the committees
senior secretary, provided voluble secretary and admlulstrstlve
Hesitance. ~ aD of these people, we express our grathude far
their exerts.
Robert SeRuler, Cbalr
Earplug Group on Aglug Parkers
Id V6u~ Hammed
X1
OCR for page R12
