What is Special Educational Needs (SEN)?

Visual Impairment

Visual Impairment refers to a functional loss of vision. Significant visual impairment refers to loss of visual acuity (VA) and/or loss of visual field that makes it difficult or impossible for people to complete daily tasks without specialized adaptations. 

According to the Rehabilitation Programme Plan, Visual Impairment can be categorized as follows:

• Total Blindness: persons with no visual function, i.e., no light perception.
• Low Vision:
  • Severe Low Vision:  Persons with VA of 6/120 or worse and persons with constricted visual field in which the widest field diameter subtends an angular subtense of 20 degrees or less, irrespective of the VA
  • Moderate Low Vision: Persons with VA from 6/60 to better than 6/120
  • Mild Low Vision: Persons with VA from 6/18 to better than 6/60

(Remarks: VA of 6/60 means that the subject can only see at 6 metres what a normal sighted person can see at 60 metres)