Better Eye Care for People with Learning Disabilities  

Members of Parliament and national charities held a listening event on Tuesday 19th January  and heard about the eye health needs of people with learning disabilities.  There are 1.5 million people with a learning disability in the UK and more than 500,000 will have a significant visual impairment but they are less likely to get their sight tested.  Many people with a learning disability live with an unaddressed visual impairment which causes further isolation and tragically many lose their sight because they have not had the necessary support to have an appropriate sight test. 

Justine’s case is not untypical; Justine has severe learning disabilities and is unable to communicate verbally. When her behaviour began to change and she would not venture out of her home and became aggressive, her support team thought it was due to her disability. Her GP had changed some of her medication thinking it would help but Justine was still reluctant to leave her home and became more reclusive. A support worker suggested Justine should have her sight tested and the charity SeeAbility was able to provide support for Justine to help her prepare for the visit to the optometrist. The sight test confirmed that her vision had deteriorated and her vision was very blurry. Now that Justine’s vision has been corrected with glasses she is able to leave her home and her quality of life has been improved. Her disruptive behaviour and withdrawn nature were due to poor vision not her learning disability.

The event, jointly hosted by SeeAbility, Mencap, RNIB and the Eye Health Alliance was supported by the All Party Parliamentary Group for Eye Health & Visual Impairment and the All Party Parliamentary Group for Learning Disabilities and was well attended by all interested parties including several MPs.
Tom Clarke MP opened the event with Lord Rix, President of Mencap who outlined why it is essential that people with learning disabilities gain access to an eye healthcare system which addresses their needs.

Together with their carers, eye care, health and social care professionals, people with learning disabilities were given the opportunity to give their views and share their experiences.   Attendees worked in small groups and discussed “How would you improve eye care and vision for people with learning disabilities in the UK?”  The general consensus was that key areas which need to be addressed are:

• Awareness
• Accessibility
• Communication
• Changing Attitudes
• Training

Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Eye Health and Visual Impairment Sandra Gidley MP (Liberal Democrat, Romsey) said: 
“One in three people with a learning disability who have a sight problem yet have difficulty accessing care and treatment.  As a consequence, the majority have never even had a sight test. They may not be able to communicate that they have a problem with their eyes, yet improving their vision can make a huge difference to their quality of life and improve their independence.”

David Scott-Ralphs, Chief Executive of SeeAbility, said:
“We know from SeeAbility's work through our eye 2 eye Campaign that people with learning disabilities face many barriers in accessing good, appropriate eye care. People with learning disabilities are most likely to have sight problems and least likely to get the right help and support with their eye care. This event was an important opportunity to raise these vital issues with policy and decision makers and to suggest ways to improve awareness and practice nationally.”

Dr Rob Hogan, President of the College of Optometrists said:
"This event gave eye care professionals the opportunity to engage with people with learning disabilities and their carers and share experiences.  Our members are committed to providing first class fully funded eye care services to people regardless of their disability but we are aware that we need more information to design a service which is more accessible to people with learning disabilities.    By working together we hope to be able to recognise the critical issues and address them so that we can significantly improve the eye care of people with learning disabilities in the UK.”

SeeAbility is keen for eyecare professionals to contribute to this discussion prior to the next meeting when Tom Clarke MP and Sandra Gidley MP will report back to their respective committees.  You can register your comments and views prior to January 31st by completing an online questionnaire at  www.seeability.org/listen