Support, rehabilitation, social benefit system are some of the factors that make coping with sight loss easier.Ī common misconception is that blind persons cannot see anything at all.
The way in which each individual is affected, is highly unique and can be a totally difference experience from one person to the other. People with sight loss are from all walks of life, have different backgrounds, education and social status. Deafblindness is different and therefore requires specific actions and solutions. Two sensory impairments multiply and intensify the impact of each, creating a severe disability with a high risk of isolation and exclusion.
A person can register as partially sighted if they can only read the top letter of the chart from six metres or less.ĭeafblindness (External link) is a condition that combines in varying degrees both hearing and sight loss.A person can register as blind if they can only read the top letter of the optician's eye chart from three metres or less.Other criteria generally used by ophtalmologists: See also the statement on the need to use the right definitions and terminology in standardisation work. Partially sighted and low vision are used as equal indication of limited sight.
#BLIND PEOPLE PLUS#
The term ‘visual impaired' is used to indicate blind plus partially sighted people together. At the same time EBU advocates the importance of using the so called ' functional sight' parameters in addition to the WHO definitions when determining the support a blind or partially sighted person needs.
#BLIND PEOPLE REGISTRATION#
The definitions of blindness and partial sight, as well as the registration criteria vary from one European country to another.ĮBU adopts in principle the definitions used by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for blindness and partial sight. These types of vision loss are called ‘preventable blindness'. In the poorer countries of the world millions of people suffer sight loss caused by preventable diseases. Eyesight in seniors may be affected by conditions such as macular degeneration or cataracts. Others may lose their sight in an accident, or because of a disease like diabetes or arthritis.Īge-related eye conditions are the most common cause of sight loss in Europe. Some people are born with reduced sight whilst others may acquire an eye condition later in life, such as retinitis pigmentosa that deteriorates with age. This higher figure takes into account the prevalence of sight-loss amongst an increasing population of elderly people in Europe which is extremely difficult to accurately quantify, and also the fact that there exists a number of people who suffer from varying degrees of sight loss but who either ignore this or decide for personal reasons not to declare their condition. This information and further data is available on the WHO websiteĮBU tends towards an estimate of 30,000,000 visually impaired individuals.
The World Health Organisation estimates, in figures dating from 2010, that in Europe there are 90 percent of visually impaired persons is over the age of 65ĭetails concerning statistical information
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