Republic of the Philippines

Northwest Samar State University

Rueda St., Calbayog City 6710
Website: http//www.nwssu.edu.ph
Email: main@nwssu.edu.ph
Telefax: (055) 2093657
ISO 9001:2015 Certified

VISUAL IMPAIRMENT (INCLUDING BLINDNESS)

Careyl F. Casiano
BTLED 2
Learning Objectives:
• Definition of visual impairment
• Causes of visual impairment
• The present prevalence of visual impairment in the Philippines
• Famous person with visual impairment

Visual Impairment
Vision impairment means that a person's eyesight cannot be corrected to a “normal”
level. Vision impairment may be caused by a loss of visual acuity, where the eye does
not see objects as clearly as usual.

Two types of Visual Impairment

• Distance Vision Impairment. Mild-visual acuity worse than 6/12 to 6/18.
Moderate-visual acuity worse than 6/18 to 6/60. Severe-visual acuity worse than
6/60 to 3/60.
• Near Vision Impairment (NVI) broadly considered as difficulty with near vision
task at reading distance, and commonly defined as near vision of 20/40 or worse,
increases with age.

Causes of Visual Impairment

Globally, the leading causes of vision impairment are:
• Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) eye disease that can blur your
central vision. Happens when aging. Macula a part of eye that control sharp &
straight-ahead vision.
• Cataract. A cloudy area in the lens of your eye
• Diabetic retinopathy. Complication of diabetes caused by high blood sugar
levels damaging the back of the eye (retina)
• Glaucoma. A group of eye diseases that can cause vision loss and blindness by
damaging a nerve in the back of your eye called optic nerve.
 Republic of the Philippines
Northwest Samar State University
Rueda St., Calbayog City 6710
Website: http//www.nwssu.edu.ph
Email: main@nwssu.edu.ph
Telefax: (055) 2093657
ISO 9001:2015 Certified

• Uncorrected refractive errors. Happens when the eyeball grows or reduces in

length when cornea changes shape or simply with age. Overuse of the eye does
not cause refractive error, rather refractive error runs in your family.

Present Prevalence in the Philippines

In the Philippines, a lower-middle income country in southeast Asia, blindness and
visual impairment are growing public health concerns, with a prevalence rate of 1·98%.
Eye health services part of Universal Health Care – DOH.
Cataract is one of the major causes of visual impairment among Filipinos with 1.18
million or 1.06 percent of the population.

Famous person with Visual Impairment

Dr. Abraham Nemeth

was born blind, developed a system in 1952 for blind people to
read and write mathematics called the Nemeth Braille Code for
Mathematics and Science Notation. The abacus, pictured
above, was an instrument some people with visual impairments
also use for counting.

Galileo Galilei (February 15, 1564 – January 8, 1642): was a

Tuscan (Italian) astronomer, mathematician, physicist, and
philosopher being greatly responsible for the scientific
revolution. Some of his accomplishments include improvements
to the telescope, accelerated motion and astronomical
observations. Galileo was the first to discover the four largest
satellites (moons) of Jupiter which were named the Galilean
moons in his honor. Galileo had also improved compass design
and eventually opposed the geocentric view. His sight started
to deteriorate at the age of 68 years old and it eventually led to
complete blindness.
 Republic of the Philippines
Northwest Samar State University
Rueda St., Calbayog City 6710
Website: http//www.nwssu.edu.ph
Email: main@nwssu.edu.ph
Telefax: (055) 2093657
ISO 9001:2015 Certified

References:
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/blindness-and-visual-impairment

https://brailleworks.com/braille-resources/famous-people-with-visual-impairments/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6888870/#:~:text=Near%20vision%20impairment%20(NVI)%2C,acco
mmodative%20ability%20of%20the%20lens

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/blindness-and-visual-
impairment#:~:text=The%20International%20Classification%20of%20Diseases,6%2F60%20to%203%2F60

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/07/us/abraham-nemeth-creator-of-a-braille-code-for-math-is-dead-at-94.html

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei