What is legally blind in Ireland?

Dubious Decision

I'm curious as to what the limit for legal blindness is in Ireland.

I know that in America it's 20/200 with corrective lenses, but here it says that in Ireland it's 6/60 without corrective lenses, is this true? I can't find any other information, even the NCBI has nothing about the legal definition. Is it possible that there is no concrete legal definition?

Thanks

chargerman

I am curious too, have tried to search before but to no avail

Dubious Decision

chargerman wrote: »

I am curious too, have tried to search before but to no avail

It really is a joke that it isn't easy to find out what it is. It really wouldn't surprise me if there is no definition, this is Ireland after all.

Dubious Decision

I think it's just being a member of the NCBI, they don't even ask you on the blind pension application form for any information on your sight.

Edit: Just looked some more, and it says quoting Welfare.ie: "If you are registered as a blind person with the National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI), this registration is usually accepted as satisfying the blindness condition of the pension scheme".

I'd imagine that is the criteria.

chargerman

Ah ok, good to know. I never thought of checking their site

blastit

I have heard of someone getting blind pension who could thread a needle. No joke

chargerman

blastit wrote: »

I have heard of someone getting blind pension who could thread a needle. No joke

Ya and what's the problem with that?

blastit

chargerman wrote: »

Ya and what's the problem with that?

who said there was a problem?

chargerman

You don't have to be 100% blind to be legally blind or to receive a blind pension

blastit

chargerman wrote: »

You don't have to be 100% blind to be legally blind or to receive a blind pension

would it be common for someone then to be able to thread needle and get pension.

chargerman

Well my friends mam is legally blind and she cooks the family dinner, does a bit of housework etc! And I'd reckon with enough practice she would be able to do it. But common, no prob not. All I was saying is legally blind does not mean totally blind

blastit

chargerman wrote: »

Well my friends mam is legally blind and she cooks the family dinner, does a bit of housework etc! And I'd reckon with enough practice she would be able to do it. But common, no prob not. All I was saying is legally blind does not mean totally blind[/QUOTE]
i accept that but did find the needle surprising. Actually the person who told me inferred the guy was faking but I do not know and am not saying he was or that anyone who could do that is

chargerman

ya , ah well fair play to him if he can thread a needle and is legally blind. Its amazing what you can do .

Clearlier

There are a variety of visual impairments. IIRC both acuity and field of vision are measured. You can have excellent tunnel vision but if you can't see out of a narrow field then I believe that you can be registered blind.

Incidentally my wife has light perception vision in one eye and counting fingers in the other (in the right light). No way can she see a needle but she can definitely thread one. There are tools that you can get which make it easier though.

Ambersky

The perception of the blind person as having no light perception can sometimes make life difficult for people with various kinds of sight loss.
It is sometimes said that it is easier for someone with no sight at all to be understood or accepted socially as those with some sight can be accused or suspected of faking it because of this lack of understanding.

Many people who use a white cane for instance do so because it allows them to feel the ground for any steps or obstacles and frees them to use the sight they have to look around at where they are going. For the people in this group if they did not use a cane they would probably find themselves looking down at the ground most of the time and might literally walk past or away from their destination or simply find it very difficult to learn a route.

As Clearlier says there can be many kinds of sight loss. If someone has cataracts for example glare of any kind, like a low winter sun on wet pavement can be blinding. They can be walking along fine and then suddenly they turn a corner or the sun comes out and they cant see at all anymore. The rest of the time there different levels of blurryness.

There are other people who have night blindness and can get around fine when there is light out and as soon as it gets dark they can no longer see. You might see them walking around fine during the day and then meet them at night and they take out a cane. These people too are often get accused of faking it.

Then there are people who can see through a kind of tunnel and inside this they can have quite good vision able to make out faces, read print and maybe even thread a needle without a needle threader. If you have good sight imagine walking around looking through an empty kitchen roll, anything to the side above or below that narrow opening would be lost to you, so people coming up beside you could startle you, things are always appearing as a surprise if you dont kept turning your head all around and again you have the choice to look down at your feet so as not to fall or up and around to know where you are going.

If you have a sight loss there are all kinds of ways to cover up this loss so people dont notice. Walking along with friends all you have to do is keep walking beside them, stop when they stop and step up or down when they do. Sometimes friends are the last ones to realise how little their friend can see.
It is because of all this that the National Council for the Blind prefer to concentrate on the sight loss rather than whether the person can be defined blind or not.
The 6/60 and 20/200 definition of blindness is used for some legal requirements and social welfare purposes but they are not different requirements its just that one standard measurement is in metric and the other is not, 6 meters is approximately 20 feet.
People with no light perception or total blindness are in the minority the rest of the people have all kinds of sight loss, some of which impact in a major way in a persons life.