There are many different degrees of blindness that people suffer from. Some have no ability to see at all while others have difficulty that glasses and contacts can’t help with. While they can still see some light and blurred formations they can’t see well enough to read, write, or operate a vehicle.
The term legal blindness refers to the governing agency where the person lives determining they aren’t able to see. This can qualify them for government assistance and even to get a seeing eye dog to assist them. In the United States legal blindness means the individual has a vision of 20/200 even when the various methods of correcting their vision is applied including glasses.
This means the person would have to stand 20 feet or less from an object to see it when the average person can see the same object from 200 feet. This term for legal blindness was approved in 1934 by the American Medical Association. It is used to determine if individuals qualify for benefits under the Aid to the Blind Program.
More than 1 million people living in the United States fit the definition of legal blindness. More than half of them are over 65 years of age. The majority of them gradually lost their vision over a period of time and the quality of their vision decreased as they got older. Legal blindness can result from a variety of illnesses as well including cataracts, glaucoma, and diabetes. Prolonged exposure to UV rays from the sun and tanning beds can result in a person losing their sight a they get older as well.
To help individuals who are legally blind continue to have as normal of a life a possible there are various government programs in place. Many people who are legally blind can still work with the use of special computer software, special phones, and the use of the Braille system. There are even Braille watches to help them identify the time.
You can identify a legally blind person walking down the street or taking public transportation because they often use a white cane to assist them. Some of them are assisted by a seeing eye dog instead.
