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The Plight of The Visually Impaired

The Science Society of Gateway College is interested in bringing attention to underserved issues. In Sri Lanka, 200,000 people are blind, most commonly due to cataracts, refractive errors, and glaucoma. Cataracts especially affect the poor, who cannot afford corrective lenses that cost Rs. 20,000-30,000. While facilities for the blind have improved, organizations still struggle to enhance quality of life for the permanently blind. The Sri Lankan Council for the Blind is an NGO that relies on external funds to help the visually impaired through education, independence, and improved living standards.

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Danushika Mallikaarachchi
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37 views

The Plight of The Visually Impaired

The Science Society of Gateway College is interested in bringing attention to underserved issues. In Sri Lanka, 200,000 people are blind, most commonly due to cataracts, refractive errors, and glaucoma. Cataracts especially affect the poor, who cannot afford corrective lenses that cost Rs. 20,000-30,000. While facilities for the blind have improved, organizations still struggle to enhance quality of life for the permanently blind. The Sri Lankan Council for the Blind is an NGO that relies on external funds to help the visually impaired through education, independence, and improved living standards.

Uploaded by

Danushika Mallikaarachchi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction

The Science Society of Gateway College has always being interested in working
towards causes that have failed to gain as much attention although they are just as
important as the common issues addressed by most community service projects
such as cancers, heart diseases etc.
The plight of the visually impaired
In our inclusive society, the plight of blind is not the blind themselves but simply
the people surrounding them who are as yet not ready to accept that blindness is
merely a disadvantage. In the history of time, it was believed that the blind was
incapable of performing even the simplest of the mundane tasks, they were
regarded as being next to useless and unproductive but it is only a matter of
training them. There have been major improvements ever since where the society
is more involved in aiding and helping to provide required facilities for
educational, social, cultural and secure equity. However majority has been left
uneducated, unemployed regardless of the many jobs that do not require eyesight
such as a telephone operator. However it is not the trait of people lacking
emotions, they believe there is nothing they could do to give them an environment
to prove themselves of being capable. People with normal eyesight find blindness
as a major weakness as it is difficult to fully comprehend what life would be like
without it. It is extremely important that society understands that the blind can
work just as effective as an individual with good eyesight. Therefore, educating the
society about what is required of them to help to increase the quality of their lives
is fundamental.
Conditions in Srilanka
Today, Srilanka has a population of over 20 million and of these 200,000 people
are believed to be blind. The most common cause of blindness that have being
noted are due to Refractive errors, Glaucoma, Diabetic retinopathy according to the
National Eye Hospital of Sri Lanka, of which, majority are visually impaired as a
result of cataracts.
Cataracts are due to aging but also occur as a result of trauma or radiation
exposure, are present from birth, or following an eye surgery however this is an
avoidable cause of blindness. Currently, 70% are blind due to cataracts. Individuals
that eventually become blind with cataracts are from poor living conditions so they
do not have enough funds to buy the lens which cost only about Rs.20, 000 to
Rs.30, 000. At the moment, the Health Ministrys Vision 2020 charity unit is
offering free cataract lenses and free operations to thousands of poor people who
cannot afford them and therefore go blind.
Even though the facilities that help the visually impaired is improved, certain
organizations still struggle to uplift the quality of those that are permanently blind.
According to the Ministry of Social Welfare (2003), 71% of vision impaired
persons have had schooling. Of that, only 6% go beyond the G.C.E. Ordinary
Level. The percentage of visually impaired that complete their higher studies is
significantly low and this can be avoided if schools and universities provide Braille
literacy or if the society provides them the means of being independent.
Srilankan Council for the Blind (SLCB)

SLCB is a private NGO that depend on external funds in order to help the visually
impaired improve their quality of life. The SLCB receives Rs. 50,000 from the
Government and other costs are met by donations from the Republic of Korea,
Lions Clubs other Local and International organisations as well as from the general
public.

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