Malvi provides a sight test to Yusuf at a special school.

70,000 SEND children to benefit from SeeAbility's life-changing eye care service across London and South East England

1 October 2026

We are delighted to announce that SeeAbility has been awarded an NHS contract to offer eye care to every special school across London and South East England.

Our research shows that children with learning disabilities are 28 times more likely to have a sight problem, but over four in ten have no history of eye care. Since 2013, our award-winning Special Schools Eye Care Service has brought sight tests, glasses dispensing and full clinical care into special schools to combat this striking health inequality among SEND children.

As a result of our decade-long campaign, the NHS is due to roll out the service to every special school in the country. SeeAbility has been chosen as the provider for London and the South East, reaching up to 70,000 children.

Half of the children our service has supported have had a problem with their vision, and often a simple pair of glasses is all that is needed.

One person whose life has already been transformed by the service is Terence, who received his first ever eye test through SeeAbility at the age of 20. Our eye care team identified that he had a prescription of minus 19, meaning he could see no further than two inches from his face.

Watch Terence see clearly for the first time in 20 years

Lisa Donaldson, SeeAbility’s Director of Eye Care and Vision, says:

“We are absolutely delighted that every special school in London and the South East will be able to benefit from SeeAbility’s eye care and glasses provision, optimally supporting every student to achieve their visual potential.
“This development follows over a decade of campaigning, research evidencing unmet need, refining models of care and developing a solid evidence base.
“No child should have to experience avoidable or undiagnosed visual impairment. With the appropriate adjustments and setting, it is possible for everyone to access eye care. That includes young people with complex needs and disabilities and those who are unable to express themselves verbally. We can get so much information, and can prescribe glasses if needed, just from shining a light into someone’s eyes.”

The expansion of the charity’s long-established Special Schools Eye Care Service begins in September 2026 and has the potential to reach almost 30,000 children across the capital alone. Many of these children may never have had a sight test before.

From November, the service will be introduced in the South East, including the Thames Valley, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Surrey, Sussex, Kent and Medway, where it is estimated that 40,000 children could benefit.

To access SeeAbility’s Special Schools Eye Care Service in London and the South East, each school must opt into the service individually by contacting SeeAbility.