Valuing Our Vision Conference

Eye care and health care professionals from across the UK took part in the Valuing Our Vision conference in Leeds recently. Delegates were drawn from a variety of backgrounds but were joined in the common goal of improving their knowledge of eye care for people with a learning disability.

Co-hosting the event was Scott Watkin from the Department of Health who has learning disabilities, who talked about his own personal experience of the importance for a better eye health care service for people with learning disabilities.

He commented, “Having my eye surgery has changed my life, I got this job at the Department of Health – I’ve achieved a lot. It’s an inspiration for people who have learning disabilities. People with learning disabilities need reasonable adjustments made to the eye care service. We need to keep campaigning and making sure that eye care is at the centre of all we do. If we can get eye care right for people who have learning disabilities, then we can get it right for everyone.”


Scott Watkin

One of the key issues is improving eye examinations for people with a learning disability. As Gordon Ilett, an independent optometrist and expert in examining patients with learning disabilities, explained at the conference, “Diagnostic overshadowing is a huge risk for people with learning disabilities. Often behaviour changes are put down to the individual’s learning disability yet a sight test can, in many cases, diagnose sight problems.

Speaking as an optometrist we can make reasonable adjustments so that people with learning disabilities can come into our practices. With the right approaches you can examine everyone and get results. We need to ensure that supporters and carers are trained to do some desensitisation work to prepare people for their sight test before they come in. Also simple changes such as using familiar words and short sentences and spending a bit more time on an eye test, makes a big difference to someone with a learning disability”.


Gordon Ilett addressing the conference

There are estimated to be over a million people in the United Kingdom with a learning disability and one in three will have a sight problem, yet only a minority get regular and effective sight tests. SeeAbility is the leading eye care charity which supports people with a visual impairment and other disabilities. The charity’s eye 2 eye Campaign supports people with learning disabilities to get better eye health care. SeeAbility is working to ensure that avoidable sigh loss is reduced for people with learning disabilities by 2020 as well as improving support and services for blind and partially blind people.

Ophthalmologist Rachel Piling highlighted the difficulties people with learning disabilities faced when accessing NHS eye clinics: “There is no formal NHS system to flag up the fact that the person has a learning disability so often consultants don’t know until the patient is in front of them. They are not formally trained in communicating with people with learning disabilities. Often consultants don’t have the right answers because we are not asking the right questions. I would advise carers and people with learning disabilities that come to the clinic to be prepared. Anything is achievable with enough planning.”

Closing the conference, David Scott-Ralphs, SeeAbility CEO commented, “Addressing the eye care needs of people with learning disabilities is essential. This conference was a rare opportunity for people from all aspects of the eye care journey to focus solely on the needs of people with learning disabilities and it has been another significant step forward in raising the profile of this important public health issue”.

David Scott-Ralphs,

Feedback from the event has been incredibly positive with delegates making a clear commitment to make everyday changes to their current practices which will make a huge difference to people with learning disabilities.

“Congratulations for a splendid event - not a duff session or speaker all day, lots of useful contacts and good fun too."
Virginia Tyler, Principal Manager, Care and Wellbeing, RNIB Rushton School and Children's Home

SeeAbility provides customised training and consultancy services about the eye care needs of people with a learning disability. For more information and to book courses visit our training section of the website.  
For more information about eye care and vision for people with learning disabilities visit Look Up