INDIVIDUALS WITH VISUAL

IMPAIRMENTS
ROXANA LOYA
PROFESSOR VICKI RIEGER
EDU 203
Visual Impairment: An impairment in vision that,
even with correction, adversely affects an individuals
educational performance. The term includes both
partial sight and blindness.
Visual Acuity: The ability to visually perceive details
of near or distant objects.
Visual Field: The amount of vision in the quadrant
regions to the right, left, up, and down while gazing
straight ahead.
Field Loss: A restriction to the visual field within the
quadrant regions to the right, left, up, and down while
gazing straight ahead.
Legally Blind: A visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the
better eye with the correction or a visual field that is no
greater than 20 degrees.
* Legal blindness is a visual acuity of 20/200 or
less in the better eye after correction or a visual
 HOW THE EYE WORKS
The human eye is the organ that gives us the
sense of sight. The eye is like a camera, it
allows us to do any day to day activity and gives
us the ability to interpret colors, shapes, and
dimensions of objects by processing light. Light
enters the eye through the cornea and then
through the circular opening in the iris called the
pupil. Then, the light is converged by the
crystalline lens. The light progresses through the
gelatinous vitreous humor to a clear focus on the
retina, the central area of which is the macula.
The retina, light impulses are changed into
electrical signals and sent along the optic nerve
to the occipital lobe of the brain, which
interprets these electrical signals as visual
images.(page 448)
CLASSIFICATION OF VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS
Myopia: Elongation of the eye that causes
extreme nearsightedness and decreased
visual acuity.
Hyperopia: Change in the shape of the
eye, which shortens the light ray path and
causes farsightedness.
Astigmatism: One or more surfaces of
the cornea or lens are cylindrical, not
spherical, resulting in distorted vision.
Glaucoma: A disease caused by increased
pressure inside the aqueous portion of the
eye with loss in the visual field.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9CawJSUy2c#action=share
PREVENTION OF VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS

Most visual impairments are genetic in source, but other

than that it can be prevented or controlled. Prenatal care
can prevent eye problems secondary to sexually
transmitted diseases, prematurity, or known hereditary
problems. A statistic that on in twenty preschoolers and
one in four school aged children have visual problems.
Eye examinations are required to take place shortly after
birth then 6 months of age, before entering school and
continuously throughout the years.
 BEHAVIORS
Appears "clumsy," especially in a new
situation
Holds head in an awkward position to look
at something or holds a book or other
objects in a peculiar position to look at
them
"Tunes out" when information is on the
chalkboard or in a book that the student
cannot read
Constantly asks a neighbor to tell him/her
what is going on
Shows signs of fatigue or inattentiveness
Exhibits poor self-concept and ego
development
 PHYSICAL BEHAVIORS
Constantly rubs eyes a lot
Watery eyes
Frequent eye pain
Frequent headaches
clumsy movement from one environment to
another
Fails to make eye contact when communicating with
people
Shuts or covers one eye, tilts head or thrusts head
forward
Has difficulty in reading or in other work requiring
close use of the eyes
Blinks more than usual or is irritable when doing
close work
Holds books close to eyes
Is unable to see distant things clearly
Braille is a tactile writing
system used by people
who are blind or visually
impaired. This is the only
method still used to this
day and is provided at
almost every place.
 HISTORY OF BRAILLE
Braille is a system of touch for reading and writing for a
blind person. A person usually uses both hands to read
and it consists of moving them left to right and feeling the
groups of dots. On average a person can read 125 words
per minute. This was created by Louis Braille. He was blind
at a young age after he stabbed himself in the eye. He
was eleven years old when he began to modify Charles
Barbier night writing code to make it more efficient. It
became based on a 6 dot instead of a 12 dot as it was
before.
 MORE HISTORY

Method of Writing Words, Music, and Plain

Songs by Means of Dots, for Use by the Blind
and Arranged for Them was the first book
Louis published when he was 20 years old
that would help the blind.
 SOURCES
HISTORY OF BRAILLE. (2016). RETRIEVED FROM HTTPS://BRAILLEWORKS.COM/BRAILLE-
RESOURCES/HISTORY-OF-BRAILLE/

HISTORY AND VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS. (2008, APRIL 24). RETRIEVED FROM

HTTP://SCIPS.WORC.AC.UK/SUBJECTS_AND_DISABILITIES/HISTORY/HISTORY_VISUAL.HT
ML

THE P. K. (N.D.). HOW BRAILLE BEGAN. RETRIEVED FROM

HTTP://WWW.BRAILLER.COM/BRAILLEHX.HTM

FREE DICTIONARY. (2008). RETRIEVED FROM HTTP://MEDICAL-

DICTIONARY.THEFREEDICTIONARY.COM/VISUAL IMPAIRMENT

T. O. (2009, DECEMBER 23). VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS. RETRIEVED FROM

HTTP://WWW.EDUCATION.COM/REFERENCE/ARTICLE/VISUAL-IMPAIRMENTS1/