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How vision-impaired people see the world

Published on 15 Sept 2022

Did you know that, while some people with sight loss can't see anything at all, many have some vision, albeit limited or obscured?

What a vision-impaired person can actually see will be unique to them. However, when it comes to certain eye conditions, there are common 'symptoms', depending on which part of the eye is affected.

The footage below, from the US-based National Eye Institute, gives examples of the kind of vision people with age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma might typically have.

Age-related macular degeneration

This disease causes blurriness or spots in the centre of your vision.

Cataracts

Cataracts cause the lens of your eye to become cloudy. It can feel like you're looking through dirty glass.

Diabetic retinopathy

This condition can cause sight loss in people with diabetes. Those with diabetic retinopathy may have blurry vision and see floaters, which are dark spots that move around in their field of vision.

Glaucoma

Glaucoma damages the optic nerve at the back of the eye, causing vision loss. One of the first signs of the condition is the loss of peripheral vision, or what you see from the sides of your eyes.