People suffering from lower vision tend to be visually impaired, which can be central or peripheral. Low vision can impact mobility, which affects a person’s capability to move and perform simple activities safely, independently, and efficiently.
Vision loss can affect you at any age, but these problems can also create a hindrance when you are facing additional mobility issues when you do other activities in your daily routine.
Types of Low Vision
- Loss of Central Vision
Loss of central vision causes blind spots or blur, but it does not affect the peripheral part of the sight. A person faces difficulty in recognizing faces, reading, and identifying distance.
- Blurred Vision
It causes blurry vision and difficulty seeing both near and far objects. People cannot concentrate even with eyeglasses if they have blurred vision.
- Reduced Contrast Sensitivity
It leads to loss of vision quality, and you may experience haze that makes it difficult to see things.
- Night Blindness
Individuals with night blindness cannot see things clearly at night. Also, they face problems seeing things in dimly lit areas indoors.
- Loss of Peripheral (side) Vision
With this type of vision loss, individuals cannot see from one or both sides of the eyes. Moreover, they face problems seeing things directly above or below the eye. It does not affect central vision, so they can see ahead and see faces and read.
- Glare Light Sensitivity
In this type, the level of light is more than a person’s visual system. It leads to glare image, and light sensitivity causes pain and discomfort.
Impact of Low Vision on Mobility
Visual impairment can affect your independence that leads to mobility issues. Mobility here means the person’s ability to move from one place to another place. It may differ from an accessibility point of view.
- People with low vision can face difficulty walking safely, and they may fear falling.
- Long-distance can be another problem that people with low vision face. As a result, they cannot travel long distances without assistance.
- They can face other risks like injuries, cognitive defects, etc., leading to overall lower performance and quality of life.
How to Improve Low Vision?
Here are some advanced ways to improve low vision.
When you move around to do your daily tasks, you can face obstructions. It can affect your quality of life. Technology has introduced new ways like electronic magnification devices that can be helpful to you if you are suffering from low vision. One of the most advanced ways to improve low vision is displacing parts of the visual image. Another popular approach is to utilize image processing abilities to enhance the visibility of a scene.
Bottom Line
Low vision can have several stages, with varying severities. You can take help from professionals to suggest the right treatment so that you carry on your daily activities efficiently.