Thought you were blind?
Posted May 24, 2011 by Mandy Smith in Blind and Low Vision
How many times have you heard someone who is not blind say “I’m blind as a bat” or “I can’t see anything without my glasses.” We know this isn’t true, but to that person, it may feel like he or she has little vision without their correction (eye glasses, contacts).
Blindness is a functional defect of part of the eye, optic nerve (moves information from the eye to the brain), or the brain that causes the inability to see.
The terms blind and blindness have been modified in our society to include a wide range of visual impairments. Also, a person who has a visual impairment but is not by definition blind may label themselves blind.
Visual impairments can be broken down into three categories:
Blind – A person may see only darkness or the person may have some light perception
Legally Blind – The person with best correction (i.e. eye glasses, contacts) has a visual acuity* of 20/200 or less or a visual field* of 20 degrees or less in the better seeing-eye
Severe Visual Impairment – The person has a vision deficit that affects his/her life but does not fit under legally blind.
The term low vision is used often and can refer to individuals who are legally blind or have a severe visual impairment.
*Visual acuity – A measurement of the eye’s ability to distinguish object details and shape using the smallest identifiable object that can be seen at a specified distance. 20/200 can be described as what a person with 20/20 vision sees at 200 feet, the person with 20/200 would see at 20 feet.
*Visual field – The measurement in degrees of the area visible to an eye while fixating straight ahead. A person who has low vision may see better during certain parts of the day or while doing certain tasks.
It would not be uncommon to see a man (or woman) using a white cane to enter a restaurant, find his seat and then read the menu. Maybe his eye condition affects his peripheral (side) vision so it is hard for him to see obstacles such as light poles, door frames, etc. but his center/detailed vision still allows him to read. The opposite could happen as well. A lady may walk into the restaurant without a white cane, find her seat without issue, and then ask the wait staff to read her the menu.
Sometimes stereotypes play in our heads and we believe that all people with a certain characterist are just alike and that is far from true. Just remember that when you see someone with a white cane it doesn’t mean they can’t see you.
