People who are visually impaired do not all see the world in exactly the same way. It depends on the type, severity, and duration of the condition that has affected a person’s sight. Blindness is more of a broad category than a narrowly defined disorder.
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Types of Blindness
Low vision that’s defined as blindness is a decrease in a person’s functional vision that cannot be corrected with traditional glasses, contact lenses, medications, or surgery.Blindness incorporates other measures of vision beyond visual acuity on an eye chart.
Total Blindness
Those who are totally blind see absolutely no light. Doctors will record this as “NLP” for no light perception.
Most people who have impaired vision have some remaining sight. Just 15% of people with an eye disorder actually fall into the totally blind category.
Included in this group are those who were born without sight, known as congenitally blind, as well as others who lose their sight later in life, such as due to an accident or disease.
Blindness With Light Perception
A person who can perceive light may have the ability to distinguish night from day. Someone who has blindness with light perception may be able to walk into an otherwise dark room with a lamp turned on and walk toward it.
While light perception means that a person doesn’t live in total darkness, blindness makes a person unable to visually recognize objects, no matter how large or how closely these are held. Blindness with light perception makes visual ability strictly limited to differentiating light from dark.
Legally Blind
A diagnosis of beinglegally blindis a way of conveying eligibility for certain programs that help people with low vision.
Having either of these impairments would define a person as legally blind. Of those age 40 or older, nearly 1.3 million Americans fit the definition of legally blind.
To have less than 20/200 vision means that when standing 20 feet away from the chart you are unable to make out the big E in your better-seeing eye, even when wearing glasses or contact lenses.
Meanwhile, some vision charts measure vision between 20/100 and 20/200. Anyone who is unable to read the 20/100 line with corrective lenses is classified as legally blind since this falls within the classification of 20/200 vision or less.
A number of different conditions can lead to becoming legally blind.
Some causes of low vision include:
Vision loss is unique to every individual and involves a whole spectrum of what their vision is like. Even if two people have 20/200 vision with macular degeneration, this does not mean that both individuals see the same way.
Sight When Dreaming
Regardless of sight, the emotional impact and the themes of the dream were similar for all participants in the study.
5 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Foundation for the Blind.Low vision and legal blindness terms and descriptions.Cleveland Clinic,Low vision, October 15, 2020.American Academy of Ophthalmology,Eye health statistics.Bright Focus Foundation,Eye diseases that can cause legal blindness, November 16, 2020.Meaidi A, Jennum P, Ptito M, Kupers R.The sensory construction of dreams and nightmare frequency in congenitally blind and late blind individuals.Sleep Med. 2014 May;15(5):586-95. doi:10.1016/j.sleep.2013.12.008
5 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Foundation for the Blind.Low vision and legal blindness terms and descriptions.Cleveland Clinic,Low vision, October 15, 2020.American Academy of Ophthalmology,Eye health statistics.Bright Focus Foundation,Eye diseases that can cause legal blindness, November 16, 2020.Meaidi A, Jennum P, Ptito M, Kupers R.The sensory construction of dreams and nightmare frequency in congenitally blind and late blind individuals.Sleep Med. 2014 May;15(5):586-95. doi:10.1016/j.sleep.2013.12.008
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
American Foundation for the Blind.Low vision and legal blindness terms and descriptions.Cleveland Clinic,Low vision, October 15, 2020.American Academy of Ophthalmology,Eye health statistics.Bright Focus Foundation,Eye diseases that can cause legal blindness, November 16, 2020.Meaidi A, Jennum P, Ptito M, Kupers R.The sensory construction of dreams and nightmare frequency in congenitally blind and late blind individuals.Sleep Med. 2014 May;15(5):586-95. doi:10.1016/j.sleep.2013.12.008
American Foundation for the Blind.Low vision and legal blindness terms and descriptions.
Cleveland Clinic,Low vision, October 15, 2020.
American Academy of Ophthalmology,Eye health statistics.
Bright Focus Foundation,Eye diseases that can cause legal blindness, November 16, 2020.
Meaidi A, Jennum P, Ptito M, Kupers R.The sensory construction of dreams and nightmare frequency in congenitally blind and late blind individuals.Sleep Med. 2014 May;15(5):586-95. doi:10.1016/j.sleep.2013.12.008
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