Why Are You Legally Blind

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. 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. Visual impairment, on the other hand, is defined as 20/70 vision in the best eye with glasses or contact lenses. Although poor vision can interfere with daily activities, vision loss is not as profound as legal blindness. Although you may have poor eyesight, are you really blind within the meaning of the law? There is a legal definition of who and what is considered blind or even “visually impaired”. Are you nearby? Can you get extra benefits from your low eyesight? Some government agencies also consider field of view to determine legal blindness. The field of view is the entire area that a person can see, including their peripheral vision when looking straight ahead. Ophthalmologists express the field of view in degrees, with the normal field of view of each eye covering more than 120 degrees horizontally and 90 degrees vertically. Anyone who has a field of vision of 20 degrees or less, even using glasses or contact lenses, is considered legally blind in some countries. This is also known as “tunnel vision”, which means that the individual has difficulty seeing objects on the left and right sides of their body when looking straight ahead. Legal blindness occurs when a person has a central visual acuity (vision that allows a person to see right in front of them) of 20/200 or less in their best eye with correction.

With a visual acuity of 20/200, a person can see at 20 feet what a person with a vision of 20/20 sees at 200 feet. Legal blindness is a term that applies to people with a certain threshold of visual impairment (vision 20/200). Remarkably, legal blindness is not the same as total blindness, where a person cannot see anything at all. A person who is legally blind may have some vision and perhaps see things like shapes and colors. Legal blindness can be the result of accidents or eye diseases, including cataracts and age-related macular degeneration. Those who are legally blind may be entitled to disability benefits such as those offered by the Social Security Administration in the United States. Various government agencies and non-governmental organizations also offer benefits and assistance, including low-visibility aids and other tools or resources to improve daily functioning. The visual impairment must be medically verified and validated by an optometrist or other physician in order for the person to receive benefits. What does it mean to be legally blind? The definition of legal blindness was developed as a guideline to help people receive government support, such as Social Security disability benefits. The Department of Motor Vehicles also uses the definition to measure visibility and protect our roads from drivers who have difficulty seeing.

Did you know: The largest letter on the diagram (an E on most Snellen diagrams) is a 20/200 vision. If someone cannot distinguish this letter with his prescribed glasses, he is considered blind within the meaning of the law. An ophthalmologist will measure visual acuity and visual field to determine if a person is legally blind. 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 main causes of low vision and blindness, include: Since legal blindness is a legal term rather than a medical one, its definition may vary depending on location. For example, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom define legal blindness as 20/200 corrected vision in the individual`s best eye using contact lenses or glasses. With 20/200 vision, the person cannot be more than 20 feet (six meters) away to see what a person with normal vision can see at 200 feet (60 meters). 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! Legal blindness is not what most people think. It is a level of vision defined by the U.S. government. 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. If you are completely blind, you cannot see any light or shape. If you`re legally blind like 1.3 million people in the United States, you can still see — but not as clearly. Note that the blind person within the meaning of the law is not completely blind. While legally blind people can still technically see, completely blind people will not be able to perceive light or see anything. There are many causes of legal blindness, including accidents, injuries, and eye diseases.

The four main causes of legal blindness are eye diseases, namely age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. 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 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. We have all heard the term “legally blind,” but what does that really mean? How is it different from complete blindness and who is considered legally blind? What are the main causes of blindness? According to the National Eye Institute, there are four main causes of blindness in the United States. Update: In 2007, the Social Security Administration updated the criteria for measuring legal blindness when using new vision test diagrams with lines that can measure visual acuity between 20/100 and 20/200.

Under the new criteria, if visual acuity is measured using one of the new tables and cannot read any of the letters in line 20/100, a person is considered legally blind, based on a visual acuity of 20/200 or less. 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. Eye trauma or injury and genetic diseases, such as Usher syndrome, can also lead to legal blindness. 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. 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). Against the background of legal blindness, these are the consequences of defects or damage in various ocular tissues. The eye is a complex organ, and even the smallest tissue damage can significantly affect vision. 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.” People often ask about the difference between being blind and being “legally blind.” Because “blindness” can mean many different things, blindness under the law is the threshold at which a person is considered visually impaired for legal purposes, such as insurance purposes, to receive certain benefits, or to be accepted into various programs. It varies from person to person. You may be able to see objects from a distance, but your peripheral vision could be compromised like tunnel vision. You may have good peripheral vision, but have difficulty seeing objects in the distance.