Some people are completely blind, but many others have what's called legal blindness. They haven't lost their sight completely but have lost enough vision that they'd have to stand 20 feet from an object to see it as well as someone with perfect vision could from feet away.
People rarely lose their eyesight during their teen years. When they do, it's usually caused by an injury like getting hit in the eye or head with a baseball or having an automobile or motorcycle accident. Some babies have congenital blindness , which means they are visually impaired at birth. Congenital blindness can be caused by a number of things — it can be inherited, for instance, or caused by an infection like German measles that's transmitted from the mother to the developing fetus during pregnancy.
If you, your parent, or your doctor suspects a visual problem, you'll probably pay a visit to an ophthalmologist pronounced: af-thal-MAH-luh-jist , a medical doctor who specializes in examining, diagnosing, and treating eyes and eye diseases. When someone goes for an examination, the ophthalmologist will look at the structure of that person's eye. If your doctor determines that you have an eye condition that is likely to cause visual impairment, many treatments are available.
Options may include eyeglasses, contact lenses, and eye drops or other medicines. In some cases, surgery may be required. For instance, cataracts are often treated by removing the clouded lens and replacing it with an intraocular lens an artificial plastic lens that requires no special care and restores vision.
Other methods can compensate for vision loss. Guide dogs can help people get from place to place independently. Braille allows those with visual impairment to read and write. Special equipment such as microscopic and telescopic glasses and voice-recognition software can make school and homework easier. Just as you don't think about your eye color every day, people with visual impairment don't always think about their condition every day either.
Someone with sight problems can become isolated from others more easily, though. Some kids may need more time to travel between classes, complete assignments or activities, and take tests. Know about assistive devices, technology, or other learning aids. Kids may use magnifiers for reading or read from large-printed books and handouts. Audiobooks are a good idea. Allow verbal responses for assignments or tests to measure learning.
Have a plan for missed instruction, assignments, and testing. Students with a visual impairment may miss class time to go to doctor visits.
Early intervention includes therapies, education and other supports that will help your child reach their full potential. Early intervention should also include helping you learn how to bond with your child and interact with them in ways that support their development. Children learn the most from the people who care for them and with whom they spend most of their time, so everyday bonding, play and communication with you can help your child a lot.
There are several specialists who are trained to work specifically with children who have severe vision loss. These might include orthoptists , physiotherapists , orientation and mobility specialists , occupational therapists , counsellors and special education teachers.
There are library services that offer free Braille books and resources — for example, the Vision Australia Feelix Library and the Braille House Library.
If your child has a confirmed diagnosis of vision impairment, your child might be able to get support under the National Disability Insurance Scheme NDIS. The NDIS helps you get services and support in your community, and gives you funding for things like early intervention therapies, assistive technology or one-off items like guide dogs. Talking to other parents can be a great way to get support. You can connect with other parents in similar situations by joining a face-to-face or online support group.
But most will not be able to perceive light. Visual impairments range from mild to severe. And no two people see exactly alike. Even among people who have the same diagnosis, for example, retinopathy of prematurity ROP or retinitis pigmentosa , people may have very different visual abilities. For example, in order to prescribe eyeglasses or other optical devices for a person, his or her vision needs to be measured in a formal way. Two basic factors—visual acuity and visual fields—are often determined through this kind of measurement.
The first number, 20, is the distance your child is from the eye chart being shown. The larger the second number, the more reduced the distance acuity a person has.
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