A legally blind person with 20/200 vision (with the best corrective lenses) would have to be 20 feet away from an object to see it, and someone with 20/20 vision could see it from 200 feet away. There are many conditions that can cause legal blindness, but the most common are age-related eye diseases. Age-related eye diseases, which are the leading causes of low vision and blindness, include: An estimated 1.1 million Americans are legally blind. Certain conditions, such as glaucoma, cataracts, diabetes, and macular degeneration, can affect your vision to the point where you can be diagnosed with the disease. Another way of looking at it: if someone with 20/20 vision is standing next to a legally blind person, the legally blind person should approach up to 20 feet to see an object from 200 feet away, as well as the person with normal vision. American printing house for the blind. What is legal blindness? Normal visibility is 20/20. This means that you can clearly see an object from 20 feet away. If you are legally blind, your vision is 20/200 or less in your best eye or your field of vision is less than 20 degrees. That is, if an object is 200 feet away, you must stand 20 feet away from it to see it clearly.
But a person with normal vision can stand at 200 feet and see this object perfectly. The government uses the term “statutory blindness” to decide who can receive certain benefits, such as disability or vocational training. This is not the same as being completely blind. You measure your eyesight by wearing glasses or contact lenses. Their vision could fall below 20/200 without them. If it improves when you put on your glasses or contact lenses, you are not considered blind under the law. A common test for visual acuity is Snellen`s eye chart. Someone who is legally blind could simply read the top row of the chart, a capital E, while wearing corrective lenses. The line under the capital E is the line for 20/100. There are also tests that can measure between 20/200 and 20/100. Someone who can`t see the line for 20/100 but sees somewhere between 20/100 and 20/200 would still meet the government`s standard of legal blindness, which is why they are listed as “20/200 or less.” Being considered legally blind means you can`t drive in any state. Talk to your doctor about your concerns.
You may be surprised to learn that it is Uncle Sam, not the doctor, who determines whether you are legally blind. If you learn that you are legally blind, organizations like the American Foundation for the Blind can help. They have programs to help you cope with the physical and emotional effects of vision loss. On July 20, 2011, Goudeau, along with his accomplices Jeremy Goudeu and Keyron Elmore, allegedly broke into the motel room of 73-year-old pipefitter Juan Sustiata in Port Arthur, Texas, and beat and stabbed him before stealing his coin collection and debit card. Later that day, Donna Goudeau was arrested and maintained her innocence while filmed by local news station KBTV, claiming she was “blind” and could not have driven the getaway car. As she sits in the police car, she utters the phrase “Pimp squad baby, for life” (see below). Being legally blind affects your eyesight, but that doesn`t have to stop you from living a fulfilling life. While low vision or legal blindness can be limiting, there are many resources and tools to help you live your life with the utmost independence. Depending on the cause of your vision loss, you may be able to benefit from eye exercises and strategies to participate in daily activities. You may also find it helpful to use a stick, talking calculator, special computer software, and other products to help people who are legally blind. If you are completely blind, you cannot see any light or shape. Among people with eye diseases, only about 15% can see nothing at all.
If you are legally blind, you can still see, but not so clearly. First, what does it mean to be “legally blind”? In most states, if you have less than 20/200 visual acuity that cannot be corrected with glasses/contact lenses, you are legally considered “severely visually impaired” (which was called “legally blind”). But the trick here is not what you see “naturally” (with the naked eye), but how well you see with your glasses or contact lenses. Despite such a high correction of myopic lens, if one or both of your eyes can see 20/40 or better, you are not “legally blind”. However, it`s easy to see how someone might feel this way when you`ve lost glasses somewhere! “Legally blind” is the definition of blindness used by the United States. Social Security Administration (SSA) to determine whether a person is eligible for disability benefits, tax exemptions, and training for the visually impaired. Third, let`s say your -9.25 eye can see 20/20 with a contact lens, but the -12.50 eye can only see 20/40, even with the best contact lens available. We would say that this last eye has some amblyopia and is therefore not entirely correctable at 20/20, whether with glasses, contact lenses, a lens implant or LASIK. This doesn`t mean you can`t treat such severe myopia, but it does suggest that you should be prepared in advance that one eye is slightly better than the other, even with full refractive correction. According to the American Foundation for the Blind, legally blind is not the same as completely blind, which is used to describe the inability to see anything with both eyes. Most people who are legally blind have some eyesight. The terms may also be used by health insurers to determine benefits and as part of the vision screening tests required by state departments of motor vehicles (DMV) when determining driver`s license eligibility.
For safety reasons, people who are legally blind or visually impaired are generally not entitled to a driver`s licence. Treatments for legal blindness vary depending on the cause and stage of the disease. Age-related eye conditions are usually prescription medications or eye procedures aimed at delaying or preventing vision from getting worse. To be legally blind, you must meet one of two criteria: visual acuity (visual acuity) and field of vision (the full range of what you can see without moving your eyes). Striem-Amit E, Gen M, Amedi A. “Visual acuity of congenital blind persons by visual sensory substitution for auditory. PLoS One. 2012;7(3):e33136. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0033136 An ophthalmologist measures visual acuity and field of vision to determine if a person is legally blind. Eye trauma or injury and genetic diseases, such as Usher syndrome, can also lead to legal blindness.
Visual field tests often begin with a conflicting visual field test, in which you, an ophthalmologist, must cover one eye at a time and then hold one or more fingers in different quadrants of the visual field to see if you can see them while pointing your eyes to a central point in front of you. There are also more comprehensive computer-based tests that use flashing, flickering or moving lights or images to measure your field of vision. This involves pressing a button when you see the light or images. American Foundation for the Blind / VisionAware: “Low Vision and Legal Blindness Terms and Descriptions.” There are other, perhaps better, surgical options than LASIK. Do your research on the Internet. National Federation of the Blind. Statistics on blindness. It varies from person to person. You may be able to see objects from a distance, but not from the sides of your eyes (peripheral vision).
Or you may have good peripheral vision but difficulty seeing objects in the distance. American Foundation for the Blind: “Civil Rights Issues for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Illinois.” Rebecca Sheffield, Ph.D., Senior Policy Researcher, American Foundation for the Blind, Washington, D.C. Cataracts are the exception because vision can be restored by surgery to remove the clouded lens and, in most cases, replace it with an implant. Visual acuity refers to a person`s proximity to an object 20 feet away to see it in detail. Normal vision is measured at 20/20. If you had a visual acuity of 20/80, it would mean that you would be able to see details from 20 feet away, just like a person with 20/20 or normal vision from 80 feet away. According to Texas court records, Goudeau was sentenced to 18 years later that day. Finally, even if both eyes could see 20/20 with correction, would LASIK be a good idea? I don`t think so.