What is Visual impairment?

Visual impairment is a term experts use to describe any kind of vision loss, whether it’s someone who cannot see at all or someone who has partial vision loss. Some people are completely blind, but many others have what’s called legal blindness.

Vision Impairment in Children

Vision impairment changes how a child understands and functions in the world. Impaired vision can affect a child’s cognitive, emotional, neurological, and physical development by possibly limiting the range of experiences and the kinds of information a child is exposed to.

Nearly two-thirds of children with vision impairment also have one or more other developmental disabilities, such as mental retardation, cerebral palsy, hearing loss, or epilepsy. Children with more severe vision impairment are more likely to have additional disabilities than children with milder vision impairment.

Types of visual impairment

According to the World Health Organization, the classification of visual acuity and impairment includes

• Low visual acuity means vision between 20/70 and 20/400 with the best possible correction or a visual field of 20 degrees or less

• Blindness is defined as visual acuity worse than 20/400 with the best possible correction or a

visual field of 10 degrees or less

• Legal blindness in the US means visual acuity of 20/200 or worse with the best possible correction or a visual field of 20 degrees or less.

• Visual acuity of 20/70 to 20/400 (inclusive) is considered moderate visual impairment or low vision.

What are the causes of visual impairment?

The leading causes of visual impairment on a global scale are:

• Glaucoma

• Refractive error

• Age-related macular degeneration (AMD)

• Diabetic retinopathy

• Trachoma

• Cataracts

• Corneal opacity.

The risk of visual impairment increases with age, as many visual impairments are connected to conditions occurring in old age. Diabetics and those who smoke are also at greater risk of developing a visual impairment.

What are the symptoms of visual impairment?

Symptoms depend on the cause of the specific impairment, however, some signs that may point to a visual impairment include:

• Seeing floating shapes across your vision, e.g. webs or lines.

• Seeing halos of light or flashes of light.

• Changes in iris color.

• Blurred vision.

• Double vision.

• Sudden pain in the eye.

• Recurrent pain in or around the eye.

• Sudden change in vision.

• Painful sensitivity to light.

Visual impairments may also cause problems with everyday activities, for example, you may find that you bump into things more frequently, or you have trouble walking downstairs/upstairs, or over uneven surfaces.

You may also find that reading becomes more difficult – you may notice that you have to hold material closer to your face, or you find it difficult to read in low light.

What is the treatment for Visual impairment?

Treatment for visual impairment depends on the type of impairment itself. For example, refractive error can be corrected with glasses or contact lenses, but other conditions, such as glaucoma, may need managing in different ways. Visual impairments may be treated through optical aids, medication, or surgical procedures such as laser eye surgery or glaucoma surgery.

Ms Shumaila Noreen (Sr. Special educator)