Blind and partially sighted people’s experiences of vision rehabilitation

Every year 100,000 people will receive a significant and life changing diagnosis and advice and support is not currently automatically embedded within clinical pathways.  Our research highlights that blind and partially sighted people are not getting the right support and information they require on their journey. With demand for eye care at an all-time high, there is need to alter the pathway as people with sight loss are currently being failed by the system.

• Increased risk of harm due to lengthy wait times. Blind and partially sighted people are having to wait between 1 month to 1 year after diagnosis to receive support. This has led to some experiencing harm and encountering dangerous situations such as burning when cooking and near-accidents when travelling outside.
• Lack of signposting and clarity of provision. Blind and partially sighted people are receiving limited or unclear information about what support is available and where.
• Reliance on self-advocating. Blind and partially sighted people tell us that they feel they need to be proactive and make the effort to find suitable support.
• Mobility-focused. Our findings indicate that vision rehabilitation training is heavily focused on mobility training, with the potential detriment to other key practical forms of rehabilitation such as independent daily living tasks (cooking, cleaning), personal care (eating, dressing, bathing) and being able to travel independently.
• Hidden support. Our findings indicate that blind and partially sighted people are having to rely on family for key aspects of support. This implies that family play a key role in filling the gaps in support provision.