On-line study materials: Special Needs Education - Online

CHAPTER 6: Visual Impairment

Learn the main parts of the eye and key facts about visual impairments

Anatomy of the Eye

Fig. 3. Anatomy of the Eye. Retrieved September 30, 2013 from: http://www.healthyeyes2020.com/anatomy.html Fig. 4. Eye. Retrieved September 30, 2013 from:http://www.idrawdigital.com/2010/03/tutorial-facial-features/

Make sure to know where the following are located:

Cornea, Aqueous humor, Pupil, Lens, Sclera, Vitrous humor, Retina, Iris, Fovea, Optic nerve

Key facts

285 million people are visually impaired worldwide: 39 million are blind and 246 have low vision.
About 90% of the world's visually impaired live in developing countries.
Globally, uncorrected refractive errors are the main cause of visual impairment; cataracts remain the leading cause of blindness in middle-
and low-income countries.
The number of people visually impaired from infectious diseases has greatly reduced in the last 20 years.
80% of all visual impairment can be avoided or cured.

Further information about visual impairment according to World Health Organization can be found here:

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs282/en

Orientation and mobility

Impaired vision is closely connected with issues of orientation and mobility

Movement is a building block for learning. As a child explores his world and has physical contact with it, learning takes place. Children with visual impairments typically need encouragement to explore their surroundings. To them the world may be a startling and unpredictable place, or it may not be very motivating.
Orientation and mobility training (O & M) helps a blind or visually impaired child know where he is in space and where he wants to go (orientation). It also helps him be able to carry out a plan to get there (mobility). Orientation and mobility skills should begin to be developed in infancy starting with basic body awareness and movement, and continuing on into adulthood as the individual learns skills that allow him to navigate his world efficiently, effectively, and safely.
Orientation and mobility training actually began after World War II when techniques were developed to help veterans who had been blinded. In the 1960s universities started training programs for Orientation and Mobility Specialists who worked with adults and school-aged children. In the 1980s the O & M field recognized the benefit of providing services to preschool-aged children. Today, orientation and mobility specialists have developed strategies and approaches for serving increasingly younger populations so that O & M training may begin in infancy.

Video: watch and read the following before you move further

Full text here: http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/GPS-device-helps-visually-impaired-find-their-way-1729462.php

Homework

Cover your eyes and try to brush your teeth or eat your dinner without seeing anything. Let somebody assist you with the task. Write a few paragraphs about your experience and submit it as to the Homevork vault of this chapter beow.

Chapter 6: homework