Abstract
It is thought that 80 % of human sensory input is perceived through vision influencing learning and intellectual development of every human being. Therefore, it is not surprising that visual impairment largely affects development of an individual in a wide range of domains: from social and physical functioning to emotional and mental wellbeing. It hinders performance of simple tasks of daily living, affecting one’s quality of life, and therefore cannot be ignored. Directorate of Optometric Continuing Education and Training (DOCET) gives excellent examples: “Kevin learned sign language quickly after he got new glasses. He can now tell people what he wants – they used to have to guess and he got very frustrated if people guessed wrong.” Visual impairment has a high prevalence among people with intellectual and developmental disability and the awareness among health care professionals regarding visual needs in this population is increasing, although still remain largely underrecognised.
We do not see the human eye as a receiver, it appears not to let anything in, but to send something out…One can terrify with one’s eyes, not with one’s ear or nose. When you see the eye, you see something going out from it. You see the look in the eye…
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian-British philosopher (1889–1952)
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Acknowledgement
Amy Stillwell at Medical Illustration Department, Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport, UK – provision of images; Elina Ellis (illustrator at www.elinaellis.co.uk) – illustrations; Elizabeth Lewis (librarian) Rowland Isaac Library, Nevill Hall Hospital, Abergavenny, UK – literature search and Jennifer Herron (Library Services Information Specialist) at Bronson Health Sciences Library, Kalamazoo, USA – literature search.
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Gwatkin, L. (2016). Eye and Vision Care. In: Rubin, I.L., Merrick, J., Greydanus, D.E., Patel, D.R. (eds) Health Care for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities across the Lifespan. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18096-0_96
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18096-0_96
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