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Special Education                                                     Dinesh Kumar, Lovely Professional University


                   Notes              Unit 7: Visually Impaired: Definition, Types and

                                                               Characteristics




                                   CONTENTS
                                   Objectives
                                   Introduction
                                   7.1 Definition
                                   7.2 Common Types of Visual Impairments
                                   7.3 Refractive Errors
                                   7.4 Common Eye Conditions
                                   7.5 Characteristics of a Visually Impaired Child
                                   7.6 Summary
                                   7.7 Keywords
                                   7.8 Review Questions
                                   7.9 Further Readings


                                  Objectives

                                  The objectives of this unit can be summarized as below:
                                  •   to define the visual impairment.
                                  •   to discuss the common types of visual impairment, refractive errors and common eye conditions.
                                  •   to explain the characteristic of visual impaired children.

                                  Introduction
                                  Many people have some type of visual problem at some point in their lives. Some can no longer see
                                  objects far away. Others have problems reading small print. These types of conditions are often
                                  easily treated with eyeglasses or contact lenses.
                                  But when one or more parts of the eye or brain that are needed to process images become diseased or
                                  damaged, severe or total loss of vision can occur. In these cases, vision can't be fully restored with
                                  medical treatment, surgery, or corrective lenses like glasses or contacts.
                                  Some people are completely blind, but many others have what's called legal blindness. They haven't
                                  lost their sight completely but have lost enough vision that they'd have to stand 20 feet from an object
                                  to see it as well as someone with perfect vision could from 200 feet away.

                                  7.1 Definition

                                  In India, the broad definition of visual impairment as adopted in the Persons with Disabilities (Equal
                                  Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 as well as under the National
                                  Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB) is given below:
                                  7.1.1 Blindness
                                  Refers to a Condition where a person suffers from any of the following conditions, namely:
                                  •   Total absence of sight; or
                                  •   Visual acuity not exceeding 6/60 or 20/200 (Snellen) in the better eye even with correction
                                      lenses; or



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