Health and Disability Related Resources on the Web

Sites for general information on health and medicine:

Medicare

The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) administers Medicare, the nation's largest health insurance program, which covers 37 million Americans. Medicare provides health insurance to people age 65 and over; those who have permanent kidney failure; and certain people with disabilities.

MedlinePlus

MedlinePlus is a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health and contains health information from the world's largest medical library.

Seattle Public Library

This Seattle Public Library webpage contains links to health, wellness, and medical websites that the staff of the Science and Social Science Department has found to be informative and helpful. Links included here access both general and specific medical information sites. They also cover subjects from broad and local viewpoints. For historical information, explanations of these links, additional sites, or help with related print collections, contact the Science and Social Science Department. 

Sites for specific eye conditions and vision concerns:

American Academy of Ophthalmology: Eye Diseases and Conditions

This site provides a source of information on eye conditions of the young and the elderly, other eye-care issues, and low vision resources.

American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus

The AAPOS is the North American society which promotes training and continuing education in pediatric ophthalmology.

American Macular Degeneration Foundation

This foundation provides patient education and current research findings.

American Nystagmus Network

This nonprofit organization provides links to e-mail discussion groups.

American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery

The mission of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery is to raise the standards and skills of anterior segment surgeons through clinical and practice management education and to work with patients, government, and the medical community to promote delivery of quality eye care.

Conjunctivitis Information at Alternative Medicine and Health

This webpage contains information about Conjunctivitis, commonly called Pink Eye.

Glaucoma Foundation

The Foundation is an international not-for-profit organization dedicated to fighting glaucoma, the world's leading preventable cause of blindness.

Glaucoma Research Foundation

This site has answers to your frequently-asked questions (FAQs), as well as comprehensive information about glaucoma. The GRF funds and stimulates research nationally and internationally.

Macular Degeneration Foundation

This foundation publishes current research and breakthrough discoveries and provides a means for interaction between those with macular degeneration.

National Eye Institute

The National Eye Institute's Office of Health Education and Communication responds directly to requests for information on eye diseases and vision research. Publications are available at no charge. This office cannot diagnose diseases, offer specific treatment recommendations, or provide physician referrals.

National Keratoconus Foundation

The NKCF is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization intended to improve the quality of life of persons with keratoconus. It does this by making educational material available to them, their families, and their eye care professionals; developing support groups on a local level; and presenting seminars on all aspects of this condition.

NOAH: National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation

This site exists to provide information about albinism and NOAH. It's a place where people with albinism, their families, and those who work with them can ask questions and share their experiences.

Royal National Institute of Blind People

RNIB offers information, support, and advice to over two million people in the UK with sight loss. Eye conditions that can lead to blindness, and their treatments, are explained succinctly here.

World Health Organization: Trachoma

The World Health Organization (WHO) leads an international alliance of interested parties to work for the global elimination of trachoma - an infectious disease responsible, at present, for at least 15% of the world's blindness.