Good eyesight enables people to learn, communicate and feel more confident. Yet there is a huge gap between the eye care needs of people with learning disabilities and the support available.
There are over a million adults with learning disabilities in the UK and one in ten has a serious sight problem. Our research suggests that as many as half may not have had a recent sight test.
Even more shocking, SeeAbility’s research suggests that four out of every ten pupils in special schools have never had a sight test, even though children with learning disabilities are 28 times more likely to have serious sight problems than other children.
In 2013 we started sight testing and dispensing glasses to children in a number of special schools as part of one of the largest global research projects. Why not read more about the past six years of this work and our new report A Change in Sight.
Read the Eye Care and Vision Strategy 2021-2023
Based on our research, NHS England has responded by committing in their Long Term Plan to providing a fully funded eye care and glasses service to all special school students. Read more
SeeAbility wants to see national change so that people with learning disabilities receive a better system of eye care. People with learning disabilities are still missing out despite an alarmingly high level of sight problems. Read more
Our programme, Every Day in Focus, gives people with learning disabilities and autistic people the knowledge and opportunity to access the eye care they need. Read more
Downloadable reports, research and guidance produced by SeeAbility and organisations we work closely with. Read more