Premier Assistive Technology Resource
At Lighthouse Guild, we are dedicated to providing exceptional services that inspire people who are visually impaired to attain their goals. Connecting individuals to technology to make their world easier to negotiate has always been one of our essential services.
Lighthouse Guild’s Technology Center is the largest and foremost premier assistive technology resource in the U.S. The Center is a hub connecting innovators and users to advance technological development for our community and beyond.
A State-of-the-Art Tech Facility for All
The Center occupies 11,000 square feet at Lighthouse Guild’s New York City headquarters, offers a one-stop resource for vision care, rehabilitation, and technology training.
People who are visually impaired as well as anyone who needs help using technology can come for:
- Assessments by Lighthouse Guild experts to determine visual capacity, lifestyle, personal goals, and comfort with technology.
- Opportunities to try out and learn how to use cutting-edge and basic technology devices.
- Solutions such as: wearable devices that convert text to speech, recognize faces, and identify currency; devices that use virtual reality technology to maximize useful vision; magnifiers, CCTVs, computers, and eyeglasses.
- Training by our experienced occupational therapists.
- An Optic Shop with a selection of frames.
Anyone interested in our Technology Center offerings needs to get an assessment by a vision care expert to determine visual capacity, lifestyle, personal goals, and comfort with technology. You will then need the vision care expert to provide a referral for you to receive a Technology Evaluation with a Lighthouse Guild Occupational Therapist (OT). The OT will work with you to find the best device to fit your needs and training to ensure optimal use and safety.
For more information, go to our Technology Center Q&A section.
Smart Home
Some of the newest technology controls the home environment. In the Center’s Smart Home, people can experience technology such as the ability to change their thermostat, turn lights on and off, answer the phone, and lock their door via voice command. The Smart Home provides office, utility room, kitchen, and living room settings for users to try the latest innovations.
Installation assistance is available for setting up technology at home. Continuing education for professionals who train people with vision impairment on devices is also available.
A Community of Innovators
By hosting conferences and special events, the Center will create a community of professionals who work on issues related to vision impairment: developers, entrepreneurs, academics, and physicians.
Developers will have a dedicated work space in the Center. Lighthouse Guild has been connecting to high-tech leaders and spreading the news of their innovations through its podcast, On Tech and Vision with Dr. Cal Roberts — where our President and CEO interviews top vision scientists and developers about their life-changing work.
Become A Partner
Like never before, technological advances are poised to benefit people with visual impairment. And Lighthouse Guild is uniquely positioned to drive those advances in a way that will have a profound impact. For more information or to support this bold new initiative.
Partnership Opportunities
Funding for the Lighthouse Guild Technology Center comes in part from The Stavros Niarchos Foundation and other generous supporters.