Tag Archives: legal blindness

In order to determine which people may need special assistance because of their visual disabilities, various governmental jurisdictions have formulated more complex definitions referred to as legal blindness. In North America and most of Europe, legal blindness is defined as vision of of twenty over two hundred or less in the better eye with best correction possible. This means that a legally blind individual would have to stand twenty feet from an object to see it, with corrective lenses, with the same degree of clarity as a normally sighted person could from two hundred feet. In many areas, people with average vision who nonetheless have a visual field of less than twenty degrees, when the norm is one hundred and eighty degrees, they are classified as being legally blind. Approximately ten percent of those deemed legally blind, by any measure, have no vision. The rest have some vision, from light perception alone to relatively good vision. A confirmation of legal blindness from an eye doctor is needed in order for a person to receive aid from the government, tax exemptions from the IRS, and social security benefits. This from can be found on any state, local, or national government website. … Continue reading