Blindness

A watch made so that people can tell thetimeof day by feeling it with their fingers.

A blind man at amallis led by aguide dog.

Blindnessis to notseeanything. Some people are called blind, even though they can see a little bit. This is because they cannot see clearly, but only see unfocused shapes orcolors.

In modern countries, few young people are blind. In all the world, blindness is mostly caused bymalnutritionanddiseasesof old people, likecataractsand trachoma. People can become blind because of diseases oraccidents,but sometimes people are born blind.

Legal blindness is defined as a level ofvisual acuitylow enough to qualify fordisability benefitsand\or special accommodations. Legal blindness is also defined as being unable to be completely corrected by prescriptionglassesorcontact lenses.

Some people arecolor blind,which means they can see, but cannot tell certain colors apart.

When people are blind they use such things as the alphabet inbrailleandguide dogsto do every day life things. In addition, they may wearsunglassesall the time to hide and \or protect their eyes.

Famous blind people have includedLouis Braille,the inventor of thebraillealphabet,Stevie Wonder,Ray CharlesandHelen Keller.

References

• Book on the history of blindnessArchived2006-07-17 at theWayback Machine
• Royal National Institute for the BlindArchived2006-04-05 at theWayback Machine
• Scottish Sensory CentreArchived2005-07-13 at theWayback Machine
• Blind Net
• Guide Dogs for the Blind Association