Joanne R. Pompano
“Every seven minutes, someone In America will become blind or visually impaired.” (1) There are approximately “10 million visually handicapped people in the United States and approximately 2 million are school-age children.” (2)
There are a number of different causes of visual impairments resulting in a wide variety of visual problems. Children can be born blind or become blind as a result of an accident, illness, or eye condition. Some individuals are totally blind while other May see light, shadows, and colors and yet have no useful vision. Depending on the eye condition, others may see images that appear blurry, distorted, or incomplete while others are be able to read large print but have difficulty traveling without assistance.
Many of visually impaired children are mainstreamed into regular education classrooms and work along with their sighted peers with the assistance of adapted materials, such as Braille translations of text. It is the job of the Teacher of the Blind to assist both the student and classroom teacher in making this a full and rewarding experience. No student should be excluded from a class or activity due to their visual impairment. However, some subjects are more difficult than others to adapt or modify.
Individuals are classified as visually impaired or legally blind according to their visual acuity, that is, a person’s ability to discriminate fine details. The legal definition of “visual impairment” refers to an individual with a visual acuity of 20 / 70 in the better eye with the best correction. The legal definition of legally blind refers to an individual with a visual acuity of 20 / 200 in the better eye with the best correction or a visual field of no more than 20 degrees. In both cases, vision cannot be fully corrected by prescription lenses, optical devices, surgery, or medical treatment. (3)
Low vision can result from a variety of eye conditions, such as cataracts, macular degeneration, retinis pigmentosa, glaucoma, or diabetic retinopathy.
