Legally Blind

• The federal statute states that "blindness" means central vision acuity (clearness of vision) of 20/200 in the more functioning eye with the use of corrective lens. Simply put, individuals who are incapable of reading the largest letter on an eye chart even while wearing corrective lens are deemed legally blind by the government.
  
  

Statistics

• The American Foundation for the Blind states that the 2006 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) statistics reflected that there were 21.2 million Americans 18 years and over who had lost their vision. This vision loss is indicative of individuals who admitted to experiencing difficulty seeing even with the aid of glasses or contact lens, plus individuals who claimed to be blind or had lost all their sight. The 2006 NHIS report also states that there are 6.2 million Americans 65 years and older suffering from vision loss and 9 million Americans age 45 to 64 suffering from blindness. Consequently, it is expected that as individuals in the latter age group progress in age, the statistics in the former age group will increase.
  
  

Levels and Causes

• When an individual loses a certain degree of sight, but not all his sight, he is classified as being visually impaired, not handicapped. In America, blindness ranks behind cancer and AIDS as the greatest public health fear. Since being legally blind does not mean that one has completely lost his vision, 90 percent of individuals who are categorized as legally blind can still see to some degree. The main causes for blindness include age-related mascular degeneration (an eye disorder that makes seeing fine detail difficult), glaucoma, the diabetic eye disease "diabetic retinopathy" and cataracts (clouding in the eye lens) that are age-related.
  
  

Signs and Symptoms

• An individual can determine if sight loss is imminent by paying attention to certain symptoms. Signs include difficulty adjusting eyesight to darkness, trouble focusing on far-away objects, squinting out of sensitivity to light or glare, inflammation or swelling of the eye, recurring eye pain and seeing "double."
  
  

Job Capability

• Braille is a strategy that enables the blind to read and write. Through the use of braille and technology there are several employment opportunities that are available to blind people. Blind people have been successful in the field of accounting, law, customer service, travel, stock brokerage, electrical engineering, teaching and medical transcribing.