Change Makers: Adaptive Eyecare
Brandon Dobro, Business Editor
Issue date: 11/20/09 Section: Business
Whether for-profit or not-for-profit, organizations with social missions deserve to be recognized. ChangeMakers is a new column with the intent of shining a light on those people who do good.
Organization name: Adaptive Eyecare
Location: Oxford, UK
Founded: 1996
Type: Non-profit
Website: www.adaptive-eyecare.org
Product: The world's first universal eye glass
Problem: There are 153 million people in the world who either cannot see, or have very poor eyesight. For those who have eye trouble, you know that it is not an easy process to obtain prescription eye glasses. It is a process that takes time and sometimes several visits to the optician in order to ensure that the right lenses are made. It is quite costly as well. This is a problem, since ninety percent of those with poor eyesight are in the third world. Making matters worse, there is just one optician to every 4,500 people in Britain, compared to one optician to every 1,000,000 people in Africa. With most of the third-world unable to see and so few opticians able to provide them with inexpensive glasses, millions of people throughout the world cannot even see their own loved ones. Lacking the ability to see has severe consequences in the third world: children cannot read in school, and adults can neither weave clothes nor hunt.
Idea: Oxford Professor Joshua Silver has invented a pair of eye glasses based off of the idea that the fatter the lens, the more effective the glasses. The durable plastic lenses are filled with clear sacs of fluid, which are connected to two small syringes that are attached to the arms of the glasses. The user changes the power of the glasses simply by adjusting a dial next to the syringe that controls the amount of water allowed in the lens. Once the correct amount of water has been dialed in and the user can see, they can easily screw in a pin that blocks off the water flow. Silver's team has discovered that this device is so simple that anyone can make their own pair of prescription glasses with hardly any guidance.
Even with a target cost of just $1 a pair, it is still no easy feat to distribute these glasses to the millions who need them. They are hoping that by making deals with humanitarian programs that span hundreds of villages, awareness will increase and governments along with the United Nations will get involved. While there are many naysayers, Adaptive Eyewear hopes to have 1 billion glasses distributed by 2020. "Things are never simple," says Silver in an interview with The Guardian. "But I will solve this problem if I can. And I won't let people stand in my way." Spoken like a true social entrepreneur.
Organization name: Adaptive Eyecare
Location: Oxford, UK
Founded: 1996
Type: Non-profit
Website: www.adaptive-eyecare.org
Product: The world's first universal eye glass
Problem: There are 153 million people in the world who either cannot see, or have very poor eyesight. For those who have eye trouble, you know that it is not an easy process to obtain prescription eye glasses. It is a process that takes time and sometimes several visits to the optician in order to ensure that the right lenses are made. It is quite costly as well. This is a problem, since ninety percent of those with poor eyesight are in the third world. Making matters worse, there is just one optician to every 4,500 people in Britain, compared to one optician to every 1,000,000 people in Africa. With most of the third-world unable to see and so few opticians able to provide them with inexpensive glasses, millions of people throughout the world cannot even see their own loved ones. Lacking the ability to see has severe consequences in the third world: children cannot read in school, and adults can neither weave clothes nor hunt.
Idea: Oxford Professor Joshua Silver has invented a pair of eye glasses based off of the idea that the fatter the lens, the more effective the glasses. The durable plastic lenses are filled with clear sacs of fluid, which are connected to two small syringes that are attached to the arms of the glasses. The user changes the power of the glasses simply by adjusting a dial next to the syringe that controls the amount of water allowed in the lens. Once the correct amount of water has been dialed in and the user can see, they can easily screw in a pin that blocks off the water flow. Silver's team has discovered that this device is so simple that anyone can make their own pair of prescription glasses with hardly any guidance.
Even with a target cost of just $1 a pair, it is still no easy feat to distribute these glasses to the millions who need them. They are hoping that by making deals with humanitarian programs that span hundreds of villages, awareness will increase and governments along with the United Nations will get involved. While there are many naysayers, Adaptive Eyewear hopes to have 1 billion glasses distributed by 2020. "Things are never simple," says Silver in an interview with The Guardian. "But I will solve this problem if I can. And I won't let people stand in my way." Spoken like a true social entrepreneur.
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