Visual Impairment

Students with visual impairment are described in Department of Education and Skills (DES) circulars as having a visual disability that is so serious as to impair significantly their capacity to see, thus interfering with their capacity to perceive visually presented materials such as pictures, diagrams and the written word. Some will have been diagnosed as suffering from such conditions as albinism, cataracts, congenital blindness, retinitis pigmentosa, etc. Most are described as requiring the use of low-vision aids and of availing of the services of a Visiting Teacher. The category is not intended to include students whose visual difficulties are satisfactorily corrected by the wearing of glasses and/or contact lenses.