Facts About Sight Loss

Activity: Brainstorm about sight loss

Write the words 'sight loss' on the blackboard and ask your pupils to give their feelings and suggestions about the word. Write each idea on the board and then discuss them individually.

Carry out a class or group discussion on the following:

• What are our attitudes towards sight loss?
• What do we actually know about sight loss?
• What are some of the ways we can damage our sight?

Put together a word chart using sight loss as the topic. The class can use these words in sentences about the topic.

Facts and figures

There are currently over 16,000 people using the services offered by NCBI. Of this figure, more than half (58%) are over retirement age. People of working age, 18–65 years of age, amount to 34% and 8% are children up to the age of 17 years.

What does sight loss mean?

Sight loss is a term used to describe low vision and no sight. People with low vision can have partial or blurred vision.

Are blind people in the dark?

Many blind people can still see light from a lamp or a window – called perception of light. Contrary to popular belief, most people with sight loss can see something. Different eye conditions can give different levels of vision. Some people have reduced central vision; others have no side vision. Some people see everything as a vague blur or as a patchwork of blanks, while other people can see the shape and colour of objects but not detail.

Does a person who is blind have better senses?

No. People with sight loss are not born with a better sense of touch, hearing, taste or smell. Many older people with sight loss may even have reduced hearing and sense of touch. However, some people with sight loss may have learnt to listen more carefully and to make more use of their remaining senses.

Can people with sight loss identify objects by touch only?

Touch (that is, texture, temperature and shape) alone gives only basic information. A person with sight loss can more easily identify an object when touch is supplemented with verbal description of the object, smell or taste.

How do people with sight loss find their way around?

Some people have enough useful vision to move around independently and safely. It is often easier for people with sight loss to find their way around their home or school or another familiar environment because they can remember where things are. Unfamiliar surroundings outside can be more difficult to get around because things are constantly changing. It is also more dangerous because roads are busy. Some people use a long cane to find a safe way in front of them. They learn to use their long cane to locate landmarks and hazards on the ground in front of them and for checking for kerbs and corners. A long cane also symbolises to other people that the person has impaired vision and may need assistance to cross a busy road, for example. NCBI offers orientation and mobility training to people with sight loss. The person learns to memorise certain routes that they regularly travel.

Different textures underfoot can help with orientation. The texture underfoot used only at a pedestrian crossing is called blister surface for pedestrian crossing points. It can help the person differentiate between where the footpath ends and the road begins.

In buses, trains and lifts, spoken announcements of the next station or next floor level or that doors are opening or closing can also be very helpful when getting around.

Activity

• Spot the hazards for a person with sight loss in your classroom or around your school.
• A person with sight loss sometimes learns to memorise their route to work or school. Write down the route you used to come to school using memory.

Do guide dogs have unusual powers or see the traffic lights?

No. Guide dogs are specially trained to react to hand and voice commands from their owners. When it is safe to cross the road, they will follow the instruction of their owner.

How do people with sight loss read and write?

People with sight loss read the same books as everyone else. Braille readers often choose to read their books in Braille so instead of using their eyes to read, they read with their fingers. Braille readers can read books in the dark!

Some people listen to books on audiotape or read large-print books. Magnifiers can be used to make print bigger. Adaptive technology will enlarge print or read aloud the text on the person's computer screen. People with sight loss can send emails and use the internet like everyone else. Some people with sight loss learn to touch type so that they can take notes in the classroom or office.

How do people with sight loss tell the time?

Some people with useful vision wear easy-to-see watches, which have larger faces and bigger numbers and hands. Talking watches announce the time when a button is pressed. A tactile watch has bumps on it so that people can feel what the time is.

How do people with sight loss use the telephone?

Thousands of people with sight loss use the telephone every day. Some people use a big-button phone that has large numbers, which are easier to see. Other people can memorise the position of the numbers on the keypad.

Do blind people dream?

People with sight loss do dream. Every individual will have different dreams and dream in a different way. The dreams of a person that is totally blind will depend on whether they had sight before. If a person has been totally blind since birth, they may only have auditory and tactile dreams. For a person with low vision, they may dream with the same level of sight that they have when they are awake.

Read more about how Mary and John dream:

Mary
“I sometimes dream in colour because I was able to see a bit of colour at one stage. I also find that when I'm going somewhere in my dreams I use the long cane just like in reality, but other times I don't.”

John
“I developed cataracts in later life. When I dream now, people’s faces are just blurs or how I imagine they look.”

What sort of jobs do people with sight loss do?

There are no ‘jobs for blind people’. People with sight loss are employed in a wide range of careers, including: art, physiotherapy, social work, management, journalism, radio presenting, call centre staff, computer programming, music, clerical work, accountancy and teaching. There are many jobs where good eyesight is not essential. Where good vision is important, it may be possible to introduce adaptations to either the job or the equipment used. With appropriate training and equipment, people with sight loss can have the same career prospects as anyone else.

Can a person with sight loss watch a movie or TV?

Thousands of people with sight loss watch television. Distance low vision aids can help some people to see the TV screen more clearly. Audio description can enchance the meaning of a TV programme or movie for people with sight loss. Audio description offers an additional narrative around the original programme sound and provides descriptions of facial expressions, body language, actions, scenery and costumes.

How do children with sight loss play sports?

Children with sight loss can enjoy games like everyone else. They can ski, kayak, swim and play most sports. By using bright colours, different textures and audible sounds for balls or equipment, children with sight loss can participate more easily.

How do people with sight loss identify money?

Notes of different values have different sizes, making them easier to identify. People with sight loss can identify coins by feeling their marked edges and memorising their sizes. Coin holders and wallets with different compartments are useful for organising money. Some people fold notes in different ways depending on their value before placing them into their purse, for example five euro notes could lie flat, tens get creased once, twenties are folded lengthwise and fifties are folded over twice.

How do people with sight loss go shopping?

Some people shop independently, especially when they are familiar with the layout of the shop and the location of products. People with useful vision can use a magnifier to see product labels and prices more clearly.

Shop staff can also guide the person around the shop, as appropriate. Staff can make the person aware of the choice of products available, the range in prices of products and whether there are any special offers. Some online-shopping websites are accessible to screen readers used by many people with vision impairments so that they can do their shopping on the Internet and get it delivered to their home.

Activity

Make a list of the things you do every day at home, like getting dressed or having breakfast. Think about how you would do these things if you were blind.

* How would you find your clothes?
* How would you know if you had your jumper on correctly?
* How would you tie your shoe laces?

Try doing some of the things on your list with your eyes closed.
Write a short story about how you would get up in the morning if you were blind.

How do people with sight loss identify and match their clothes?

There are plenty of simple, practical ways that people with sight loss can organise and match their clothes. People can place their clothes in the same place and order so that they can find them again. They can learn which clothes are which by identifying different fasteners, textures or tags on their clothing. Some people keep something distinctive in the pocket of a jacket or put on a brooch to help them identify the clothing. Different types of coat hangers can also denote different types of clothes. A person will know which way round their jumper is because the label is on the inside at the back. Pinning outfits together before they are washed can ensure that they remain colour coordinated.

How do people with sight loss know where food is on their plate?

A sighted person can offer to describe the location of food on the person’s plate by imagining the plate as corresponding to the numbers on a clock face, for example vegetables at 1 o’clock and meat at 7 o’clock.

Activity

By cutting out and pasting images from a magazine, create a clock plate. Ask a friend to close their eyes, and tell them 'what time' the food has been pasted on the plate and see if they can locate it correctly.

What changes would a person with sight loss make to their own home?

Effective lighting, good use of contrasting colour, changes in texture and sound clues can make a person’s home safer and easier to move around. Some of the helpful aids and appliances in a person’s home can include a magnifying mirror, a large-screen television and a talking weighing scales.

People with sight loss are just like everyone else, except that they can’t see as well. They go to school, college and university; get jobs, have children, bring up families; watch television, enjoy holidays, friends and hobbies. People with sight loss do the same everyday activities as everyone else but do them in a slightly different way.

Activity: True or false

Here is a list of statements. Give this list to each pupil to answer. Find out the facts about the correct answer. We have given you, the teacher, the answers below.

1. Most people with sight loss are over the age of 65.
2. Most people with sight loss use a guide dog to get around.
3. People with sight loss cannot participate in sports.
4. Any person with sight can learn to guide a person with sight loss safely.
5. Most people with sight loss have no sight at all.
6. People with sight loss cannot work.
7. People with sight loss can live independent lives.
8. You can use the words 'see' or 'look' in the company of the person with sight loss.
9. Most people with sight loss are born without sight.
10. People with sight loss can read the same books as everyone else.

Answers:
1. True
2. False
3. False
4. True
5. False
6. False
7. True
8. True
9. False
10. True

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