An amateur inventor from Burton has found an ingenious way to help people suffering from double vision with a more convenient, user friendly and hygienic solution. Optishield is a silicone cover that slips over a single lens of your glasses and helps prevent double vision. The device has created so much buzz that it is now being showcased at NAIDEX, the national disability trade show, in Birmingham NEC on 25 and 26 April and is being backed by leading local sight loss charity Beacon Centre.
Rebecca Harrison has been living with double vision, known as Diplopia, for the past three years. Her condition means simple tasks like watching TV can be difficult. NHS solutions include a patch over one eye or tape over your spectacles. However, Rebecca, like many others, find the patches to be unhygienic and uncomfortable – and other alternatives such tape over spectacles inconvenient to use.
But after rummaging around her house Rebecca had a eureka moment when she came across a MP3 player silicone cover. After cutting around it she was able to slip it over her glasses which allowed one eye to see with clear vision. In 2016 Beacon Centre, in collaboration with Wolverhampton University, ran the Beacon Visionary Challenge competition, which invited entrepreneurs and inventors to submit their ideas for new products or services to support people living with visual and / or sensory impairment. After a very tough assessment and presentation at Beacon Centre, chaired by Stephen Fear, Entrepreneur in Residence and Ambassador at the British Library from 2012 – 2016, Optishield won the competition.
Now with the support of the Beacon Centre, a leading sight loss charity in the West Midlands, Rebecca has been able to fund her brainchild after wowing judges in the competition.
Rebecca said: “For so many years I have had to cope with bog-standard solutions which would itch my eye, stick to my glasses or just look ugly. The device is made from reusable silicone, which avoids the cost of disposable patches and prevents discomfort around the eye.
“The invention means thousands of people like me will finally have a convenient and comfortable solution – allowing them to carry on with their everyday lives.”
Rebecca is hoping to raise awareness and interest in her invention at NAIDEX this week from leading companies across the disability sector.
Arwyn Jones, CEO, at Beacon Centre, said: “We know first-hand how difficult it is to live with conditions like double vision. But inventions like this help people live beyond their condition and overcome barriers – and that’s why we support and encourage initiatives like Optishield.”
Rebecca added: “I have sought advice from NHS specialists and a number of universities who have helped steer me in the right direction. But a large chunk of my success is down to the Beacon Centre and its continued backing which helped me fund, trade mark, produce a prototype and get me in touch with the right contacts to make Optishield what it is today.”
If you want to learn more about Optishield, please visit the website: www.optishield.co.uk or visit Rebecca at the NAIDEX conference.