How does “place” matter in my discipline?
While watching “Crash” I have realize how place greatly influences our daily lives more than I ever imagined. Listening to my classmates during in class discussions about their own experiences in their communities lead me to realize how my community has played an important factor in my life. Reading the articles “Integrated model of primary and secondary eye care for underserved rural areas: The L V Prasad Eye Institute experience” and “Designing a Virtual Environment Framework for Improving Guidance for the Visually Impaired” has also influenced my perspective of how place affects individuals.
Thankfully I cannot complain about my community, in my opinion it has guided me in a positive direction rather than negative. As soon as it’s time for me to start my own family I have no doubts about me buying a house and raising my family where I was raised. Unfortunately It is not always a good experience living in certain communities, as I saw in the movie “Crash”. In “Crash” we see how economy as well as ethnicity affects certain communities, which leads to affect the people within them. What I liked most about “Crash” is how it follows different people in different living styles. For example Jean Cabot was representing a white women and Daniel was a typical working Hispanic. The movie depicts both their daily lives, while people watch this it lights up a light bulb of how distinct their living styles are. I automatically saw the difference of lifestyles by how different their cars and houses were. I also noticed Daniels daughter being scared of getting shot while Jean always referred to her son as playing or sleeping. The kids alone explain how a community shapes someone. Daniel’s daughter had already seen someone get shot and this could be because her neighborhood is not the safest. On the other hand Jean’s son didn’t have to worry about getting shot because he lives in an upscale community where shootings are not common.
The article “Integrated model of primary and secondary eye care for underserved rural areas: The L V Prasad Eye Institute experience” demonstrates the success of L V Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) in rural areas due to new health care systems. The article explains how health care offices have to be put in certain rural areas in order to reach out to those who cannot afford transportation. Also the location of where an office influences the coast of different treatments. Even though “The L V Prasad Eye Institute experience” does not use Geographic Information Systems, they tend to go to developed communities in India since it is more common for people in those communities to not have eye care centers. The fact that LVPEI reaches out to communities in need of free eye care motivates me to become part of a program like LVPEI to learn more difficult areas of eye care because they tend to have a high percentage of patients with severe eye problems.
The second article I read was “Designing a Virtual Environment Framework for Improving Guidance for the Visually Impaired” which speaks for the visually impaired community to provide them with better technology supported by GIS. Having a new piece of technology connected to Geographic Information System will guide legally blind people to their destinations faster and safer than having a white stick or depending on a helping dog. The issue with GIS in this case would affect people in cities because it usually has a positioning error that is frequently greater than 20 meters. In this case having an aid connected to GIS would create a safer environment for visually impaired people. It would not only guide people to a destination but it would also detect small items keeping blind people from hurting themselves.
Having the knowledge I have now after reading the articles I have realized GIS is useful in different ways to my discipline. Even though it was used very distinctly in both articles the outcomes were immensely influenced by location. Having the locations of underdeveloped communities in India it lead professionals to make a difference and change lives to those who had advanced eye problems. I would greatly enjoy being a part of a program who create projects like these to further my knowledge of eye problems. I would also be interested in how different communities struggle with different eye problems and how these are correlated. Having GIS technology in the blind community would also benefit many people and their families. If non visual impaired people use technology such as a GPS visually impaired people should also have the pleasure to be guided with more advanced technology. Its things like theses that I connect GIS and eye care and realize how they are both connect.
Work Cited
Crash. Dir. Paul Haggis. Perf. Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Paul Haggis. Pathe!, 2005. DVD.
Kammoun, S, M Macé, B Oriola, and C Jouffrais. “Designing a Virtual Environment Framework for Improving Guidance for the Visually Impaired.” Designing Inclusive Systems, (2012): 217-226.
Rao, Gullapalli N, Rohit C Khanna, Sashi Mohan Athota, Varda Rajshekar, and Padmaja Kumari Rani. “Integrated Model of Primary and Secondary Eye Care for Underserved Rural Areas: The L V Prasad Eye Institute Experience.” Indian Journal of Ophthalmology, 60.5 (2012): 396-400
