Understanding Vision Impairment and Deafblindness

Understanding what it can be like to have a vision impairment or deafblindness can really help you to feel more confident about how to support blind, partially sighted and deafblind students. Keep reading to find out some of the key things to know…

Being blind or partially sighted means a person’s vision is significantly reduced or impaired. This may cause blurriness or difficulty focusing, patches of missing vision, or reduced depth or light perception.

Deafblindness, also referred to as ‘dual sensory loss’ or ‘dual sensory impairment’, is the loss of sight and hearing to the point where your communication, mobility and ability to access information are impacted.

Sight and hearing loss can be something the person is born with or experience later in life. The severity of the condition may stay fixed or be ‘progressive’ where sight/hearing deteriorates over a period of time. The amount of sight/hearing a person has can vary over a wide spectrum, affecting individuals in different ways. However, many people are able to see/ hear something, even if it is relatively little.

Vision impairment and deafblindness are low incidence disabilities, meaning they impact a relatively small percentage of the population. This can mean you may never have met someone who is blind, partially sighted or deafblind before and might be unsure what to say, or if you should offer any help or support.

To help, here is some handy information, common misconceptions and insights into what it is like to have vision impairment or deafblindness.

A lesson in vision impairment

In this insightful blog, Elin William details some of the things she wishes more people knew about living with a sight condition.

Read the blog here

#HowDoesABlindGirl

Journalist, presenter, disability activist and social media star, Lucy Edwards’ fun videos provide great insight into living with a vision impairment.

Check out her Instagram account and #HowDoesABlindGirl video series to find out more!

What do we see?

Want to see through the eyes of someone living with a sight condition? Our What do we see video simulates a range of conditions and their impact. It is a great way to start to understand what it can be like to be blind or partially sighted. Watch now!

A transcript for this video can be downloaded here

Or why not check out What do we see 2, the follow up to our first video, which continues to explore how the world looks to vision impaired children and young people.

Find out more about deafblindness

Want to understand more about what it is like to be deafblind? Jack and Molly share their experiences, and key things they wish more people knew.

Check out their videos…