Couple donates device for library readers with low vision
Video magnifier now available at Stamford Centre branch
After serving him well during years of declining vision loss, Carmelo Carrera has donated a highdefinition desktop electronic video magnifier to Niagara Falls Public Library so that other people with similar issues can benefit.
“I started using it (about five years ago) because I was losing my vision and I needed a magnifier more than anything else,” said the city resident.
“It just opened up my life again and made me feel like I could do normal things again for a while.
“I realized how much it helped me and how much it helped my wife
(Kathryn ) as well because I just loved looking at her water colours and I loved being able to read things and to be able to write, and this allowed me to do that.
“I can't use it anymore, but I hope that other people can use it.”
The Merlin ultra features a large screen, a highdefinition camera and an XY reading table, offering adjustable magnification and various highcontrast viewing modes to enhance reading and writing.
“Having colour blindness as well, I could change the background or the print and it didn't matter if it was a receipt from a grocery store or mail — you could change the colours on it and whether it's handwritten or typed, you can read it, you can enlarge the magnification as much as you want because the screen is so big,” said Carrera.
He and his wife recently decided to donate the machine to the library, and it's now available for public use at the Stamford Centre branch. The library has a similar machine at its main Victoria Avenue branch.
Carrera told city Coun. Lori Lococo he wanted to donate his machine.
Being a member of the city's accessibility committee and as council's representative on the library board, Lococo said her first thought was the library.
“The thing for me that was really amazing is a lot of this equipment costs so much money, and it's nice when people pass it on to someone else when they can't use it anymore,” she said.
She said “a lot of times we have these services and this equipment, but people don't know about it.”
Laura Martin, the library's manager of community engagement, said the device will “mean something different to everyone.”
“We've always kept magnifying glasses behind the desk and people would have to come and say, `Can I borrow the magnifying glass? I want to look at something,' ” she said.
“This is just far and beyond a magnifying glass and it's out here for everyone to use for whatever they might need it for. It's just another one of those barriers that we want to remove for our community so everyone has access.”