CHILDREN WITH DISABILITY: BLINDNESS-LOW VISION

What is Autism Spectrum Disorder?

Losing vision can be extremely traumatic. The term” blind “technically includes the person whose vision acuity ranges from legal blindness to total blindness. Only a small percent of people will have total blindness rest of the have partial vision. The adjustment of children towards vision loss can be slow and it’s a very painful process. The length and difficult vary according to the individuals and include several stages.

In the 10 revision of WHO international classification of diseases, injuries causes of death, low vision is defines as visual acuity of less than 6/8 but equal to or better than3/60 or a corresponding visual loss to less than 20 degree, in the better eye with the possible correction .Blindness is defined as visual acuity of less than 3/60 or a corresponding visual loss to less than 10 degree, in the better eye with the best possible correction.

TYPES

1. Myopia

• Can see objects near but not far away

• Cause: the size of the ball is too longer

2. Hyperopia

• Can see objects from faraway but not tear

• Causes: the size of the eyeball is too shorter

3. Astigmatism

• Cannot focus on one object clearly

• Cause: irregularity in the cornea or eye surface

4. Colour blindness

• Decreased ability to differentiate colors

• Cause: problem with cone size of eyes

5. Retinopathy of prematurity

• Common in children

• Cause: Scarring and detachment of the retina

6. Muscular D generation

• Two objects look like one

• Loss of central vision

7. Glaucoma

• Deficiency in the formation of eyes

• Cause: Blockage of fluid in the eye

8. Diabetic retinopathy

• Series visual impairments lead to total blindness

• Cause: disease of diabetics

9. Cataract

• State of cloudiness

• Cause: neurological vision loss of both eyes

10. Crossed eye

• Inability to focus on the same object

11. Amblyopia

• Lazy eye

• Cause: vision due to muscle imbalance

LEVELS OF VISUAL IMPAIRMENT

1. Mild visual Muscular impairments:

Able to read relatively large characters. There is no difficulty in identifying shapes, colors, and brightness contracts

2. Moderate visual impairments

Able to tell shapes and colors of objects and can distinguish between brightness and darkness but can read only characters with larger sizes and broader strokes

3. Severe visual impairment

Can only distinguish more obvious changes in brightness and darkness and may not see anything

STATISTICS

It is estimated that 180 million people are visually impaired of the 45 million people who are blind. In India, the prevalence of blindness is 77% and 68 lakh people are blind as per WHO statistics. According to a census in Kerala in 2011 total of 115513 persons are visually impaired with females 53167 and males 62346.

2. Identify the problem

For visually impaired persons, mobility can be a major problem they are facing because mobility is essential for personal, and professional progress, productivity, independence, and self-esteem.

• Social problems

Standing too close and invading the comfort level of some people may find difficult

• Learning problems

They have a very slow learning process. It will be difficult for them to compete with the general educational system

• Communication barrier

Lack of facial expression, gestures that could imply the persons are not interested in SYMPTOMS

• Mobility

leaning against the wall when walking, running into objects, difficulty in walking on uneven surfaces

• Reading /writing difficulty

reading books are very difficult, make close the book and object close to the eyes and focus to read

• Daily activities

Difficulty in finding objects, trouble locating familiar objects, difficulty in doing the personal activities

• Eating

Difficulty in getting food on a utensil

3. Institutional Challenges

Blindness has profound human and socio-economic consequences in all societies. The cost of lost productivity and of rehabilitation and education of a blind constitute a significant burden for the individual, family, and society. For the family they have to bear the expenses of treatment, the cost of visual aids, equipment, home modification, rehabilitation, etc. in school, the major institutional challenges children with visual impairment face are long distances from home to school, late coming, lack of writing material, inaccessibility lecture notes, lack of staff to handle, poor spelling, lack of brailed textbook

4. Individual Challenges

The main challenges include the difficulty in managing the personnel activities such as traveling, difficulty in locating food, education difficulties, grooming and hygiene, and handling of personal finances, communications, overly helpful individuals, etc.

5. Treatment Process

EARLY INTERVENTION

Infants who are blind cannot observe the action of others or see objects and materials around them. There is some unusable vision that will have difficulty making sense of the limited visual information they are receiving. The child will learn new skills by doing with the parents. Talk to the baby about what are you doing, allow the child to feel or touch different objects, and provide actually interesting toys and materials. By doing those whose experiences the child will learn new things

TREATMENT

There are treatments for cataracts, glaucoma, etc. For those who become completely, blind Learning independent skills is simply a matter of mastering alternative techniques for doing activities of daily life {ADL} through a competent trainer or a teacher. Mobility and orientation training help them to travel freely without the help of others. Support from the family members is necessary to become self-reliant but over concerns from the family members will prevent or discourage them from pursuing the rigorous process of learning to be independent.

ASSISTIVE DEVICES

The main supplement for lost sight is the use of assistive technologies. it includes assistive technology for computer access, reading, writing, mathematics, and orientation and mobility. It is necessary that the teacher, professional teachers working with children, youth, and adult with visual disabilities have a broader knowledge about the assistive technologies that will help them to learn effectively and fits appropriately in society.

Healthcare monitoring system: To assist visually impaired people in monitoring their general health
Talking watch: Provides both the audio and braille output
Tactile labeling system: Based on different alphabets like braille
Devices for learning: Assistive technologies in learning can be categorized into two I. ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND DEVICES FOR READING BRAILLE: a system of touch reading and writing for blind persons in which raised dots represent the letters of the alphabet
AUDIO BOOK: recorded using the human voice, and can be accessed through the use of a specialized computer, software, devices, and reading pen which provides the audio output of the scanned text

II. ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES DEVICES FOR WRITING

BRAILLE NOTE TAKER: a portable word processing device
CLOSED CIRCUIT TELEVISION: allows the magnification of the writing

6. Myths and Facts

There is a myth that people with visual impairment cannot live independently. Students who are blind or visually impaired shouldn`t participate in physical activities for fear of losing their remaining sight or they cannot see what they are going to participate in. All visually impaired persons should wear corrective lenses this will correct all visual impairments, people who are blind or visually impaired are always in total darkness, seeing nothing at all.

➢ Myth: people with visual impairments cannot live independently

✓ Fact: Regardless of one`s level of visual loss, it is not a barrier to living a free and independent life

➢ Myth: people who are totally blind see only blackness

✓ Fact: blindness doesn`t always look the same. The world isn`t pitch black to someone who is totally blind. It depends on the person

➢ Myth: People who are blind are cannot use the technology

Fact: technology is a way of life of people who are blind

7. New Technologies

Video magnifier: These devices allow to place printed materials on a scanner and see them magnified on a screen

• Victor reader system: The device plays digital talking books such as MP3 and MP4

• Smart phone crosswalk apps: Gives auditory prompts to help users to identify the safest crossing location on roads.

8. Resources Available In Kerala

There are many blind schools in Kerala running by the government. The children are provided with free education and providing training in other extracurricular activities. The government is supplementing the assistive devices

Some of the schemes in Kerala are:

1. Scholarship for disabled student

Eligibility Criteria: 40% of disability and the annual income should be less than 36000 Benefits: financial assistance

2. Matru Jyothi, financial assistance for visually impaired mothers

Eligibility criteria: 40% disability, annual income less than 100000

Benefits: financial assistance provided to visually impaired mothers until the child turn 2

3. Schemes for providing assistive devices

Eligibility criteria: 40% of disability, annual income not more than 100000

Central schemes

1. Travelling allowance for attendant or escort

Benefits: allowances

9. Roles

People with visual impairment require to gain knowledge in order to function properly in society. These areas include academic, communication, literacy, concept development, social-emotional needs, daily living skills needs, career or vocational needs, and safety needs, with an in-depth understanding of the facet of these various needs, will aid them to become independent and have near-life. Children and associated persons can be communicated through campaigns, awareness classes, camps, etc. There are blind schools for children it will be more helpful to them as it includes highly trained teachers and staff to control them, at home they can get an education through their parents and professionally trained teachers. Foundation can form a support group for them and volunteers can be kept to read magazines, newspapers, and story books and can conduct recreational activities like sports, and games.

10. References

1. Jyothirgmaya foundation.

Kuravankonam-maruthoor

Rasmi Nagar, kowdiar. Trivandrum

Ph: 09037046548

2. Kerala federation of blind

Ernakulam district unit P.O

Angamaly south. Kochi

Kerala 683573

Ph: 0484 2452308

3. NAB KERALA, National association for blind Manchadi villa ln

Plamoodu

Trivandrum, Kerala

Ph: 0471 2314267

4. Global Islamic foundation for blind

Kadeeja mall, pulikkal post

Kerala 673637

Ph: 09847974646