Blindness

Today’s topic is blindness, did you know that the main cause of blindness is cataracts, generally affecting older adults and those living in areas where surgery isn’t easily available.

Other important causes include diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration. The exact leading cause can vary by age and country, but globally cataract is the biggest single cause of blindness because it is common, strongly linked to ageing, and often left untreated where access to eye care is limited.

Worldwide, about 0.5% of the population is blind, which is something like 43 million people, based on major global estimates for distance-vision blindness this works out to be around one in 200 people.

Some people are born blind, but this is very rare with only between 0.03% to 0.05% of children born being blind, this is roughly 3 to 5 in every 10,000 births.

Blind people do not all see the same thing. Some see nothing at all, while many others still have some vision. They may be able to see light and dark, shapes or shadows, movement, blurred colours, or only small areas of vision. Very few blind people see complete blackness all the time. For many people, blindness means partial vision loss rather than total loss of sight, and what they can see depends on how much vision they have left and what caused the blindness.

Blindness is generally considered a disability because it can significantly affect everyday activities such as reading, recognising faces, travelling safely, and completing daily tasks, although the exact legal definition can vary depending on the country and the level of vision loss.