Blindness can be understood as:
• Limitation of the eye, optic nerve, and visual center in the brain.
• Loss or reduction of the ability to perform certain tasks such as reading, writing and driving.
There are many different eye defects and diseases that cause vision impairment. The most common are cataracts, glaucoma, and macular degeneration. Injury, infection, diseases and conditions associated with aging are more common causes of vision impairment than birth or genetic defects. Approximately 80 percent of people with vision impairments are over 65. Safety is an issue in negotiating home environments and in using public transportation. Very few people with vision impairments are totally blind. Few people live in total blackness with a guide dog or white cane. Only a few blind people can distinguish light but nothing else. Many lack peripheral vision.
Some vision impairments vary in their effects from day to day, as different parts of the field of vision are faulty. Some vision impairments are not readily apparent to other people.
How would your life change if:
You had to watch TV with a hearing or vision impairment?
You had to attend a college lecture with a hearing or vision impairment?
You had to go to a party with a hearing or vision impairment?
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