Understanding Vision Impairment

A vision impairment is a loss of vision that cannot be corrected to normal range with glasses, contacts, medication or surgery. It may range from mild vision loss to total blindness.

Vision impairment can be stable or it can get worse over time. Conditions that affect your child’s vision can be congenital (from birth) or acquired as they get older as the result of disease or accident.

A vision impairment can be identified by a standard vision test carried out by an ophthalmologist, optometrist or doctor. It includes a test for near, distance and peripheral vision.

Vision Conditions

Different types of vision conditions may cause vision impairment. These may include:

• Albinism

• Cataracts

• Corneal Dystrophy

  • Keratoconus

• Cortical Vision Impairment

  • Acquired Brain Injury

  • Stroke

• Glaucoma

• Macular Dystrophy

  • Stargardt’s Disease

• Nystagmus

• Optic Atrophy

• Retinal Dystrophy

  • Retinitis Pigmentosa

  • Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy

  • Cone-Rod Dystrophy

• Septo-Optic Dysplasia

Levels of Vision Impairment

If your child is partially sighted, they are likely to have plenty of useful vision. They may need some additional support and reasonable adjustments at school.

If your child has a severe vision loss, their vision may be in the range of legal blindness. A person is legally blind if they cannot see at six metres what a fully sighted person can see at 60 metres.

Total blindness is where a person has no measurable or useful vision, and no light perception.

If your child is legally or totally blind, they will need additional support and reasonable adjustments in the classroom. This may include:

• transcription of learning materials to access print – for example, braille

• the teaching of the Expanded Core Curriculum so they can follow the general curriculum.

Find out more detailed information about levels of vision impairment on our eligibility requirements page.