Legal blindness is defined as having 20/200 vision in the better eye with correction or a field of view limited to 20 degrees or less. Governments use this definition to determine who is eligible for special benefits and assistance. People with poor eyesight are more prone to accidents, but cities have implemented measures to help them, such as warning sounds at crosswalks and textured inserts in sidewalks.
To be considered legally blind, someone must have 20/200 (6/60) vision in their better eye with correction and/or have a field of view limited to 20 degrees or less, as opposed to the valued 180-degree field of view by people with healthy eyes. This definition means that it is possible for someone to be able to see and still be considered blind in the eyes of the law.
Governments have developed a definition for legal blindness for the purpose of being able to determine who should receive special government benefits and blindness assistance. Someone who meets the legal criteria may be eligible for disability payments and other assistance, such as taking notes in college lectures or aids such as seeing sight dogs, canes, and so on, that will help them navigate the world.
Visual acuity is expressed in a format that compares someone’s vision to “normal” vision when viewing an object at a predetermined distance in feet or meters. For nations that use feet as a unit of measurement, someone with normal vision is said to have 20/20 vision. In the metric world, the measure of 6/6 is used. If the second number is smaller, it means someone has better than normal visual acuity because they can stand further away from an object and still see it clearly, while if the second number is larger, it means their visual acuity is worse , because the person needs to get closer to an object to see it.
In the case of a person with 20/200 (6/60) vision, they must stand within 20 feet (6 meters) to see an object that someone with normal visual acuity can see from 200 feet (60 meters) away. This has obvious consequences, as it means that a legally blind person has difficulty seeing things that other people take for granted, such as street signs, traffic lights, and so on.
People who have very poor eyesight are also more prone to falls and other accidents because they cannot see their surroundings clearly. Someone with 20/20 (6/6) vision, for example, would notice a crack in the sidewalk and avoid it, but a legally blind individual might not be able to see the crack clearly, or might not understand what the visual impairment meant , so he or she could trip and fall.
Many cities have implemented measures designed to help such individuals, such as warning sounds at crosswalks to warn people when it’s safe to walk and textured inserts in sidewalks that will let people know the sidewalk elevation is about to change. Those who are legally blind can use the same tools used by people without visual perception, such as screen readers for using computers and Braille texts for reading printed publications.
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