Blindness

OF UR SOCIETY has before it a definite and imperative duty to provide for the the most effective program of service that is possible. Unfortunately, only a few American states have recognized their obligation. We have a still higher responsibility to use every possible means available to prevent blindness. It is believed that not less than three fourths of blindness can be prevented by means now known to us. With all our insistence today upon statistics in dealing with matters of social import, we are far from knowing just how many persons there are in the United States. Various figures are offered, ranging from less than I00,ooo to well over that figure. Possibly Iio,ooo might be regarded as a fair figure. A peculiar obstacle to ascertaining the exact number of the lies in the difficulty of formulating a precise definition. By the very nature of the case, such a definition is not an easy task. Proposed definitions differ greatly. Absolute blindness, or inability to distinguish light from darkness, is accepted as a definition in no quarter; if it were, the number of the would be very small indeed. Such a definition would exclude persons whose eyesight, while not wholly obliterated, is too far gone to be of any use. When we admit that persons with a certain remnant of vision may be classed as blind, just how much of a remnant shall we allow? It is upon this question that views of investigators are likely to differ. Shall we consider a person if he is unable to read ink print with or without eyeglasses, though such print, if held close enough to the eye, might with difficulty be seen? If so, how would we determine blindness in those too young to have any knowledge of reading, or in those found to be illiterate? Shall we call one who can recognize very large objects close at hand or who can make out something, but only very little, of form or of color? Shall we say that one is who can count the fingers at a distance of one foot-or of three feet? Shall we say that one is if he can almost, but not quite, recognize the human face at close hand? Some have proposed practical definitions of blindness with reference to one's industrial status. One is blind when eyesight is dimmed so much as to constitute a barrier to economic endeavor. The difficulty here is the determination of how much or how little vision must exist to place one in this category. Will the same degree of diminished eyesight apply to two different persons who in other respects have quite different qualities? If we say that deficient eyesight must be so serious as to prevent one from being industrially employed, how shall this handicap be computed, and what

Blindness · Statistics · Mathematics · Medicine · Psychology · Optometry