Time marches on!

Greetings to my tolerant readers of ‘Letter from America’.

On 29 August of this year, I will be celebrating my 89th birthday. Fortunately, I am in good health and I look forward to producing many more ‘Letters from America’. I calculate that I have produced 260 submissions! With age comes health issues, including some loss of short-term memory, although I can still quote from memory long passages from Shakespeare and many poets. My many marathons and rugby playing have taken a toll on my knees and I use a cane for walking any distance.

With the advent of my 89th birthday, I am required to retake my driver’s license test. Senior drivers have to retest every four years, but in California I am obliged to take a written test, an eye test and a driving test every two years due to the loss of sight in my right eye. These driving test requirements vary from state to state.

In 2011, I began to have problems with my right eye. I had been wearing contact lenses since 1985. I had relatively no issues with them. However, when I got a new set of lenses, I was given improper information about cleaning and storage. This led to difficulties with my contact lenses, which were irritating my eyes and required me to visit my optometrist. The use of contact lenses requires a very strict hygiene and cleaning regime. Somehow, I had been given erroneous instructions that resulted in my eyes being unable to sustain wearing the lenses. This had caused damage to my right eye.

It took almost two years to kill the parasite and the next stage was to consider a corneal transplant. This required implanting a donated cornea, which is never a perfect fit, but my implant was successful. I had also developed glaucoma and had to have a glaucoma implant. Eventually, I resorted to spectacles with a corrective lens in the left eye and an uncorrected lens in the right eye. When my driver’s license was due for renewal, I had to take a driving test, which I completed successfully after taking lessons. I was able to drive with the use of the left eye only and had a letter from my doctor stating visibility of 20/25 in my left eye. The concept of driving with only one functioning eye seems very strange to many people, although I have a friend with only one functioning eye who was a pilot with Trans World Airlines (TWA)!

I am not aware of how strictly applied the vision requirements of the American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT) are. As published, the requirements are as follows: ‘Vision examinations shall be administered by a physician, licensed nurse, ophthalmologist or optometrist, or by personnel approved by the employer’s Level 3. The visual examination date must be within 12 months of the date that this application is signed. The form below may be used to document this requirement. Near distance vision: you must have visual acuity in at least one eye capable of reading the Jaeger J1 test chart, or equivalent to 20/20, at a distance of not less than 30 cm (12"). Colour vision: you must be able to differentiate between the colours used in the non-destructive testing (NDT) method(s) for which certification is required’.

Based on experience, the level of literal enforcement of these requirements varies from very strict to an ‘in house’ evaluation using an eyesight reading chart. Eyesight evaluation should be included in a well-established auditing programme.

As always, I would be delighted to receive any comments from my readers.

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