Blind and Partial Sight Deaf and Hard of Hearing Autistic Spectrum Disorder Social Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties Mental Health Dyslexia

Blind and Partial Sight

What is Blindness?

Blindness or having partial sight is when a person may have problems in seeing things clearly or not at all and may experience difficulty in making sense of the world around them. Some individuals may have loss of peripheral vision, which is to the side, or up and down from the central point of vision. To the reverse of this, some individuals may only see to the side, or up and down with the central vision being affected. Other people may only see light or dark or have problems with colour perception.

Approximately 2,000,000 people in the U.K. have a significant sight loss (RNIB 2005). Three out of four blind and partially sighted people of working age are not in work (RNIB 2009).

Impact on learning

Blindness can cause difficulties with reading, writing and simple everyday physical tasks. When noisy distractions are present, it may be difficult to maintain concentration on one task due to the intensity of focus required to complete the task. The use of an extensive vocabulary may also be affected due to not being able to link the verbal and written word visually. There is also a potential inability to maintain in-depth information. The individual may be unable to express themselves without the use of assistive, specialist technology.

Secondary characteristics can be: low self-esteem, lack of confidence, isolation, frustration, fear, loneliness, dependency and mental health issues.

Strengths

A person with a significant sight loss may display very good auditory and memory retention skills. Practical skills developed may be maintained and used effectively. Typing skills may be exemplary using specialist software.