Visually impaired

Low vision means that a person's vision is impaired, even with glasses or lenses. It can be congenital or acquired: some people are born with it, for example due to a syndrome. In others, it arises later in life due to an eye disease or trauma, for example.

The low vision can be stable or progressive. Stable means that vision remains more or less the same, while in progressive it slowly deteriorates over time.

Doctors speak of low vision when visual acuity is 0.3 or 3/10 or lower. This means that someone sees at 3 metres what someone with normal vision can see at 10 metres. In addition, there may be a narrowed visual field smaller than 30 degrees, which means you look through a tube, so to speak, and see less of what is happening next to you.

Besides impaired vision, there are often additional problems, such as:

- Being light-shy (difficulty with bright light)

- Night blindness (poor vision in the dark)

- Disturbed colour vision

- Decreased contrast perception (difficulty seeing differences between light and dark)

- Distorted images, where lines appear crooked or images no longer make sense

Low vision is different for everyone, but it often has a major impact on daily life. With the right support, aids and guidance, many people can still continue to function as independently and comfortably as possible.

Definition of visual impairment

The International Classification of Diseases ICD-11 (2018) divides visual impairment into the following groups:

- Mild visual impairment - visual acuity less than 5/10 to 3/10

- Moderate visual impairment - visual acuity less than 3/10 to 1/10

- Severe visual impairment - visual acuity less than 1/10 to 1/20

- Blindness - visual acuity less than 1/20

Source: World Health Organisation (WHO)