Insight through the Sight!!Who Am I?

What is Blindness?

Unable to see; without useful sight. Having a maximal visual acuity of the better eye, after correction by refractive lenses, of one-tenth normal vision or less (20/200 or less on the Snellen test). 

In lay medical terms, Loss of useful sight. Blindness can be temporary or permanent. Damage to any portion of the eye, the optic nerve, or the area of the brain responsible for vision can lead to blindness. There are numerous (actually, innumerable) causes of blindness. The current politically correct terms for blindness include visually handicapped and visually challenged.

General Views or assumptions on Blindness

"Visual impairment" is a general term that describes a wide range of visual function, from low vision through total blindness. It is not a functional definition that tells us very much about what a person can and cannot see. It is a classification system, rather than a definition.

The stereotypical assumption – that people who are blind or have low vision live in a type of "blackness" that sighted people see when they close their eyes – is generally not accurate. Total blindness is the complete lack of light perception and form perception, and is recorded as "NLP," an abbreviation for "no light perception."

Although every person sees differently, including persons with low vision, an individual who has light perception/projection can perceive the presence or absence of light. Some people describe light perception as knowing when a room light is on or off, or being able to walk toward a lighted lamp on a table in an otherwise darkened room. 

Essential Skills for Everyday Living with Vision Loss

Vision loss does not have to prevent you from living an active, healthy, fulfilling life. There are many tips and techniques you can learn on your own to retain your independence; in addition, vision rehabilitation services and instruction can provide you with techniques that can help you accomplish many daily living skills safely and independently including personal self-care, getting around safely indoors and outdoors, using the telephone, reading and writing, home and kitchen safety, eating skills, cleaning, household organization, and shopping.

You can read too!

Common misconceptions of blindness

Misconceptions of blind people are varied and contradictory. Most misconceptions derive mostly from being uninformed and unfamiliar with blind people. Following is a list of misconceptions:

•         Blind people can't play sports: The Paralympics athlete has physical disabilities not intellectual disabilities and competes in the Winter and Summer Games.

•         Blind people have superior hearing: Blind or visually impaired individuals are not distracted by sight. However, they are significantly better listeners.

•         Blind people need to be spoken to in a very loud voice or they might not know you are speaking to them: Most blind individuals ignore loud voices as they find it rude and impolite. Just speak in a normal voice when addressing or speaking with blind or visually impaired individuals.

•         All visually impaired people are blind: There are many levels of "blindness" from totally blind, legally blind or other variances of visual acuity. 

•         All blind or visually impaired individuals read Braille: Unfortunately Braille is not learned and incorporated routinely in the blind community. Consequently illiteracy is a problem.

•         Private Schools are the only place for blind children: There are State and other schools for blind children but not the only place where one can secure education. 

•         Figurative Speech must not be used with speaking with blind people: Using figurative speech has nothing to do with actual vision.

•         Counting steps is an effective tool for traveling: Blind individuals get to know familiar patterns in the home, work place or other areas by "walking around" to familiarize themselves but it is not a routine habit in all situations.

•         Guide Dogs can take hundreds of commands: It is interesting to note that Guide Dogs only know four to six commands that the average dog doesn’t know.

•         All blind people love music, play an instrument and appreciate music: There is no documented evidence that music has any particular preference in whether one can see or not.

•         Most blind people have magical characteristics: Blind individuals employ many techniques for getting a job done, that's not magic.

Psychological and Psychosocial affecting the blindness

Some social, cultural, and religious groups may embrace and assist visually impaired people; others may shun them and consider them a burden.

Vision loss or blindness in children always raises concerns about social, emotional, and educational growth and development. Vision loss can have a detrimental effect on the building of relationships with family, friends, and society.

Vision loss or blindness alone should not, in and of themselves, be reasons to have lower expectations of a child's scholastic achievement. Providing the right kinds of support, along with good interventions, can ensure that a child's education is not limited by impaired vision.

Adults with vision loss face different challenges, of course; many are related to social and economic factors. Unemployment among visually impaired people tends to be twice that of fully sighted people. People with visual impairment or blindness also tend to have fewer years of formal education, lower incomes, and increased dependence on public-assistance programs.

Naturally, patients with congenital conditions don't tend to experience the same degree of mourning as patients who lose their sight later on. While both types of vision loss are challenging, the adjustment in acquired conditions creates unique psychosocial impact and loss. There are obvious physical losses, such as the ability to read a book, drive a car, or orient and mobilize independently. There are also more abstract losses, such as visual perception, contact with the environment, light security, and the psychological associations we have with darkness (emptiness, sadness, isolation) that a profoundly visually impaired person is subjected to.

Louis Braille - (January 4, 1809 - January 6, 1852)

Louis Braille became blind after he accidentally stabbed himself in the eye with his father's awl. He later became an inventor and designed Braille writing, which enables blind people to read through feeling a series of organized bumps representing letters. This concept was beneficial to all blind people from around the world and is commonly used even today. If it were not for Louis Braille's blindness he may not have invented this method of reading and no other blind person could have enjoyed a story or been able to comprehend important paperwork.

Conclusion

Visually impaired is a disorder, which needs physical and emotional support from the normal people. There are several ways through which we can help.

Let's donate our time and make this earth a better place to live in by helping the needy.

Article by Chandra