Blindness: How Much Can Visually Impaired People See?

Every living organism is blessed with senses that enable it to live a better life. These five senses are touch, hearing, taste, eyesight, and smell. All of these senses are exhibited by unique organs and are the basic functions of an organism.

Have you ever wondered how a mute or hearing-impaired person might perform daily communication? Or how do visually impaired people live their lives? It is tough to imagine life without even one sense. Still, there are a reasonable number of people living with these disabilities. Some of these disabilities may be congenital, while many people develop them later in life due to accidents, wounds, diseases, and more.

This Story also Contains

1. Good Eyesight And Its Importance
2. How Do We View Things?
3. What Is The Root Cause Of Blindness?
4. What Do Blind People See?
5. Is Blindness Curable?

People develop practices that help them live a perfectly normal life even in the absence of one or more senses. They develop strategies and slowly adapt to it without making the disability a hindrance in their lives. In this article, we will read about blind people's problems and the reasons why they cannot see.

Also Read | Scarcity Of Water And Its Impact On Crop Production

Good Eyesight And Its Importance

Almost every life activity and other task requires good eyesight so that it can be performed efficiently. If we weren’t able to see the things around us, our daily routine would be interrupted; hence, it is important we take care of our eyes.

However, it is not necessary that everyone be born with the same clarity of eyesight. The clarity of eyesight is different for different people, as some may see more clearly than others. While some require a specific set of lenses to view things with 100% clarity.

With age and health issues, the clarity of eyesight fluctuates, and accordingly, people require glasses to see things. Far-sightedness (hyperopia) refers to the inability to see clearly at close range, whereas myopia (near-sightedness) refers to the ability to see things that are close clearly but affecting the clarity of things at a distance.

How Do We View Things?

When we view something, light enters through our eyes, specifically the cornea and lens. The light is focused on the back of the eye wall, where millions of nerve endings make up the retina. These nerves send signals to the brain via the optic nerve, through which the brain creates an image and allows us to see objects.

Photoreceptors are the main cells that accept light and convert it into electrical signals. These signals are formed into an image as perceived by the brain.

Also Read | Osmoregulation In Terrestrial Animals: How Does Water Excretion In Animals Occur?

What Is The Root Cause Of Blindness?

Various events can lead to blindness in people. Some of them are listed below:

• Congenital Blindness: Inherited genetic problems related to the eye, like retinal disorders, can lead to visual loss in children. Some infections, inaccurate medications, or other problems during conception can lead to visual loss at the prenatal stage or sometimes even at the postnatal stage. So, multiple causes can be plotted for this.

• Damage to the eye's structure: This is because each specific region of the eye has its own role. Damage to these structures will interrupt the light pathway, and thus the correct signal will not be transmitted to the brain, thus prohibiting image formation and clear eyesight.

These damages could arise due to accidents, injuries in or around the eyes, damage to the nerves, and more. A minor injury can become hazardous and lead to visual loss at any stage of a person's life.

• Eye Diseases: Eye infections have the potential to impair a person's eyesight. It has been reported that many cases of blindness in the United States are due to severe eye infections.

• Certain Diseases: Glaucoma, cataracts, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and more are some diseases that affect the eyesight of patients and make them partially or completely blind. These diseases damage the retina, nerves, and other eye structures, leading to bleeding and vision loss.

What Do Blind People See?

What a blind person can see depends on how much vision they have. A person who is completely blind will not be able to see anything. However, a person with low vision might be able to see not only light but also colours and shapes. But it is possible that they will have trouble identifying people or matching colours to one another, as well as reading street signs.

In the centre of your field of vision, there could be a blind spot or a blurry area. Or perhaps you are having trouble with one or both of your peripheral visions. These problems may affect one or both eyes.

Is Blindness Curable?

People born with a completely blind phase might not get their eyesight back in their lifetime. There are no treatments for blindness currently; however, some people might get their vision back based on their health, causes, and severity of blindness. Due to insufficient treatment, millions of people live with vision loss and shape their lives accordingly.

If the blindness is due to trauma, injuries, or other damage to the parts of the eye, then it is curable through medications and surgeries. However, if the impact is severe, a person may lose sight in one or both eyes.

In a nutshell, blindness is one of the most common disabilities in which a person cannot see light and, hence, cannot perceive objects around him. Legally blind people are different from totally blind people, as the former can see some light but their eyesight is extremely weak. While totally blind people cannot see anything at all as they have No Light perception (NLP).

Also Read | How Does Early Onset Of Puberty Affect Individuals Over Time?