Visual impairment

Also called Sight loss, Blindness, Partial sight

Around 2 million people in the UK live with sight loss. Most of them see something, and almost none see nothing.

What it is

Around 2 million people in the UK live with sight loss, and around 340,000 are registered blind or partially sighted. Registered blind does not mean seeing nothing: the great majority have some useful vision.

Causes include macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataracts, diabetic eye disease and inherited conditions.

Half of sight loss in the UK is thought to be avoidable, mostly through earlier detection and treatment. That is the argument for eye tests as routine health care rather than as shopping for glasses.

Signs you might notice

Difficulty in low light, or needing much more light to read.

Bumping into things on one side, or missing steps and kerbs.

Holding things very close, or very far away.

Withdrawal from reading, cooking and going out.

In a person who cannot report it: reaching inaccurately, becoming anxious in unfamiliar places, or a sudden reluctance to move around.

How it can affect day-to-day life

Sight loss changes the risk profile for everything else: falls, medication errors, malnutrition if food cannot be seen on the plate, and social withdrawal.

Charles Bonnet syndrome causes vivid hallucinations in people losing sight, and it frightens people who assume they are developing dementia. Warning them in advance is one of the kindest things anybody can do.

Depression after sight loss is common and is under-treated.

In care settings, glasses that are the wrong prescription, dirty, or belong to somebody else are astonishingly common, and the resulting confusion gets attributed to cognition.

Supporting someone well

Check the glasses. Right person, right prescription, clean, and actually being worn. Then check when the last eye test was.

Use contrast rather than only size. A dark plate with pale food, a coloured toilet seat, a contrasting light switch and a marked step edge do more than large print alone.

Light well and avoid glare. Task lighting beats a bright ceiling.

Say who you are when you enter a room, and say when you are leaving. Being left mid-conversation is disorientating and undignified.

Offer your arm rather than taking theirs, and describe the environment as you go.

Keep everything in its place, and tell the person if something moves.

Get registered as sight impaired, which unlocks practical support and benefits.

Fiducia Life and our other apps carry accessibility settings for contrast and text size, and our pre-screening can set that reading comfort for somebody automatically rather than expecting them to find it.

Where to get help

Any optometrist can test and refer. NHS tests are free for over-60s and several other groups.

RNIB have a helpline on 0303 123 9999 and a good technology service.

Sudden vision loss, or sudden distortion, is an emergency.