What can a person do about a loss of vision?
First seek out the best medical treatment and advice if severe vision loss occurs.

What is the difference between visually impaired and blind?
If a person's vision diminishes severely, he or she may fall within the criteria to be deemed legally blind. The criteria determine who is eligible for government-assisted services. The term 'legally blind' ranges from having severely limited vision to total blindness. All these categories of people are entitled to special training to reach their goals.

Is there a difference in how people who were born blind needs to be supported vs. those losing vision later in life?
Congenitally blind children must learn adaptive skills from the earliest age possible that will assist them educationally, socially and in daily living skills. Newly blinded adults need the same adaptive skills, but the methods vary considerably since they are drawing from a lifetime of visual experiences.

What kind of employment opportunities exist for the blind?
Blind people can work in as many different occupations and professions as sighted employees. The list is endless.

How can my wife/ husband/ friend get around safely with poor vision?
There are many methods for safely walking around with poor vision or no vision. Orientation and mobility training teachers can provide such training. The Institute for the Blind can assist you in sourcing supportive devices and aids such as white canes and guide dogs. You can also arrange to join training programmes or access to resources such as governmental aid or support structures country-wide.

Can stronger glasses or magnifiers help someone with severe visual impairment?
Low vision therapy is a treatment that evaluates the loss of vision and how it affects daily activity. Training with high-powered glasses and magnifiers that will assist with doing the identified task may then be recommended. Successful low vision treatment varies considerably for each person and requires the intervention or involvement of a skilled clinician.

Are there special talking devices and other gadgets to help a blind person?
Talking watches, clocks, calculators, low vision letter writing guides, signature guides, and special devices for home and personal living are just some of the many devices available.

How does a blind person learn Braille?
Sighted people who come into contact with Braille often remark that they don't know how blind people make any sense at all of the rows of tiny raised dots. So, how difficult is it to learn Braille? In fact, it's not difficult at all. Mastering the basic alphabet seldom takes more than a few weeks and then, as with anything else, practice makes perfect.

How does a blind person count money?
Believe it or not, a coin has six distinct features by which a blind person can identify it, namely size, thickness, shape (not all are entirely round), the pattern of the grooves around the edge, the sound it makes when dropped onto a table and the raised picture on the face.

One, two, three, four and five raised diamond shapes in the middle of the bottom half of the new South African bank notes enable blind people to identify them as R10, R20, R50, R100 and R200 notes respectively. The notes are also different lengths.

For the benefit of the partially sighted, the Reserve Bank has introduced geometric shapes on the front of the banknotes. The R10 note features a diamond, the R20 a square, the R50 a circle, the R100 a 'flat' hexagon and the R200 a 'honeycomb' hexagon.

For quick and easy reference, plastic coin identifiers and money sticks (to measure banknotes) are available.

How does a blind person know which clothes match?
Getting dressed in the morning can be tricky if you don't know which colours you're mixing and matching, so blind people often sew buttons of various sizes and shapes onto the inside of shirts and trousers to help them match outfits.

How does a blind person thread a needle?
Fortunately, help is at hand with an ingenious invention known as a self-threading needle. The eye of the needle has a tiny hinge on a spring. When the thread is pressed firmly, it springs open and the needle is threaded.

How does a blind person sign a cheque?
A cardboard or metal template, with a cut-out area corresponding to the space where the cheque is signed, enables a blind person to sign in the right place.

Contact us for more information about any of the above.

You can also visit the SA National Council for the Blind's web site.