Many ‘blind’ folk actually have low vision, says group

Star: PETALING JAYA: There are about 500,000 Malaysians who think they are blind but are actually people with low vision, according to the Malaysian Association for the Blind (MAB).
Its vice-president Prof Datuk Dr Veera Ramani said these people actually suffered from low vision because they were able to read with low-vision devices such as magnifiers or if the letterings were enlarged.
Low vision is defined as a significant reduction of visual function that cannot be corrected by ordinary glasses, contact lenses, medical treatment or surgery.
So far, only about 19,000 Malaysians have registered themselves with the Government as blind people.
Dr Ramani, who is also World Sight Day organising committee chairman, said most of these half-a-million Malaysians thought they were blind because they had not gotten their eyes tested.
“Most of these people are senior citizens who have not tested their eyes for a long time,” she said.
She added that to track down those suffering from blindness, low vision and other eye defects a free eye screening would be held at the Mines Shopping Fair in Kuala Lumpur from Thursday to Sunday.
Held in conjunction with World Sight Day on Oct 12, the free screening aims to raise public awareness on the gravity of blindness and the need for eyes to be tested.
MAB deputy president S. Kulasegaran said that every five seconds someone in the world goes blind and every minute a child goes blind.
“This translates into seven million people needlessly going blind in a year,” Kulasegaran said.
Currently, there were about 40 million blind persons worldwide and about 120 million people suffering from low vision, he said. Most of those affected live in Asia.
“Blindness can be prevented if action is taken early enough, but the problem is that most people take their eyes for granted,” he said.