Blindness Awareness Month 2025: Protecting Vision, Promoting Inclusion

In the Caribbean, the month of May is dedicated to sharing information about blindness and visual impairment and addressing the challenges faced by persons living with vision loss. It’s a time to raise awareness, encourage early detection, and advocate for more inclusive spaces.

Understanding Blindness – Blindness is not the same for everyone

In a recent episode of EdYou Rewind, Dr. Nikita Cassiano, an optometrist with the Ministry of Health, explained that “blindness is a condition where a person has partial or complete vision loss which cannot be corrected by spectacles, contact lens, medication or surgery”. She emphasised that blindness is not the same for everyone. “Not everyone who is blind sees total darkness,” said Dr. Casiano. “Some may see light and shapes, others may experience blurred or spotty vision depending on the condition.”

Blindness ranges from partial vision loss, where individuals can still detect some light but will struggle with everyday tasks like reading, cooking, or driving, to complete blindness, where there is no light perception and the world is entirely dark. Dr. Cassiano also spoke about legal blindness, defined by the World Health Organization as “having a visual acuity of 20/200 or less, or a visual field narrower than 10 degrees”. This means that at 20 feet, a legally blind person sees what someone with normal vision would see at 200 feet. A visual field narrower than 10 degrees means the person can only see a narrow band in front of them, like looking through a tube.

Common Vision Loss Conditions

Different eye conditions present different challenges. Moreover, there is a close connection between general health and eye health. Chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension (which often worsen with age) can significantly impact vision. Thus, practicing healthy habits like eating a balanced diet, regular exercise, and proper management of chronic illnesses, will not only improve your overall health, but preserve your eyesight as well. Dr. Cassiano outlined a few common ocular conditions.

Glaucoma silently steals peripheral vision and often goes unnoticed until it’s advanced.

Diabetic retinopathy causes damage to blood vessels in the eye and can lead to bleeding and eventual blindness.

Macular degeneration This age-related condition affects central vision, making it hard to recognize faces. People experiencing this may report seeing only spots.

Pterygium If left untreated, this fleshy overgrowth of the conjunctiva, which is the thin clear membrane on the surface of the eye, can lead to blindness

Cataracts is a cloudy area in the lens of your eye (the clear part of the eye that helps to focus light). Cataracts are very common as you get older.

Spotting the Signs Early

Dr. Cassiano also recommended regular eye exams to prevent, detect and manage ocular conditions. Early detection is especially important for children. The optometrist advised parents and teachers to look out for behaviors that may signal vision problems in children, such as holding books too close, struggling to copy from the board and a decline in their

academic performance. For children, she recommends annual screenings, but if a visual impairment is detected, then every 6 months. For adults, the recommended screening is every two years, sooner if an issue is detected.

The Ministry of Health is currently offering an Eye Testing and Spectacle Voucher Program for citizens aged 1–18 and 50+. This initiative allows eligible individuals to access free eye exams and receive financial support for prescription glasses. The program is available nationwide, including in hinterland and remote regions.

Making spaces more inclusive

Living with a visual impairment in a world built for the sighted can be difficult. Hence, one major objective of Blindness Awareness Month aims to spark discussions on how we can make spaces like our homes more accessible and inclusive for people who are visually impaired.

– Improving lighting and installing high-contrast signage for the partially sighted.

– Tactile markers to help identify objects, e.g. small, raised dots that can be stuck to appliances like microwaves or washing machines to identify specific buttons or settings.

– Using shapes to help them identify colours e.g. all blue objects get a triangle

– Textured floor guides for safe mobility

– Incorporating assistive devices like magnifiers, audio books, and voice-activated tools.

– For outdoor navigation, the use of white canes, telescopes, or guide dogs (where available)

These and other tools which appeal to the other senses all encourage persons who are blind or visually impaired to be independent.

General Eye Care in the Digital Age

As screen time increases, so does eye strain. Dr. Cassiano advised practicing the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. She also recommended using blue light-blocking glasses, wearing UV-protective lenses outdoors, using artificial tears to combat dryness and getting adequate rest to reduce eye fatigue.

“I believe that the eyes are one of the best gifts we can have as humans. It is very important for us to protect them.”

– Dr. Nikita Cassiano, Optometrist-Ministry of Health

As Blindness Awareness Month draws to a close, let us all support family members, friends and neighbors who are blind or visually impaired. Advocate for accessible spaces. And most importantly, get your eyes checked regularly!

By Carlene Samuel