Defy Dementia Episode 24: In Focus - Vision Loss & Brain Health
This episode explores the connection between untreated vision loss and brain health. We follow 78-year-old Walter Kuntz, a retired Canada Post employee, as he recounts his vision challenges – and consequent triumphs – and the steps he undertook to alleviate deteriorating eyesight caused by cataracts. He also shares his experiences with eye surgery and the life-changing benefits afterwards. Dr. Walter Wittich, Associate Professor at the School of Optometry, Université de Montréal, and Québec’s first Certified Low Vision Therapist, shares his work with older adults facing vision and hearing loss, exploring dual sensory impairment and acquired deafblindness. Dr. Wittich shares how vision loss can impact the brain and tangible strategies and resources on how everyone can protect their vision and reduce their dementia risk.
Key messages
- Our vision changes as we age.
- It’s more than just blurred vision – vision loss can affect your brain health and quality of life.
- Correcting your vision loss may reduce your risk of dementia.
Key actions
Learn more about our guests
Walter Kuntz hails from Heidelberg, Ontario, and enjoys working outdoors. He has a huge flower garden, and still shovels his over 100-foot-long driveway. He is an active card player and a member of three local card-playing clubs, as well as an avid woodworker. When he experienced worsening vision over a long period, he was prescribed stronger and stronger glasses. Eventually, he could no longer read newspaper print, even with his glasses, and it was almost impossible to see the graduations on a tape measure. When he developed cataracts, he decided to undergo a cataract operation at the Eye Clinic at the University of Waterloo. Now Walter is amazed at how well he can see. He is reading newspapers and tape measures again, and cannot believe how much his perception of colour and brightness was impaired by cataracts.
Dr. Walter Wittich, Associate Professor at the School of Optometry at the Université de Montréal in Québec, Canada, is dedicated to researching the rehabilitation of older adults facing vision and hearing loss. Originally focused on age-related vision loss, he now explores dual sensory impairment and acquired deafblindness. His research spans basic sensory science, medical aspects, psychosocial factors and rehabilitation approaches to sensory loss. Dr. Wittich has a background in Psychology (Master’s, Concordia University) and Visual Neuroscience (PhD, McGill University), and has specialized in audiology (postdoctoral fellowship, Université de Montréal). He is the inaugural chair of the Deafblind International Research Network, the 2020 recipient of the Canadian Helen Keller Centre 10th Annual JT Award, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry and of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. He is also Québec’s first Certified Low Vision Therapist.