Research from Vision Australia shows that children who are blind or have low vision face a number of challenges in school settings, making the need for a timely referral to support services vital to ensure they don’t fall behind their sighted peers.
A Vision Australia media release said that, with the school year set to begin across the country, the leading blindness and low vision service provider is eager to connect with more children and their families to provide specialist support in the classroom and beyond.
A 2020 survey from Vision Australia revealed a range of issues faced by students who are blind or low vision, including a lack of specialist support and materials and parents not understanding how they can advocate for their child.
According to the survey, one in two parents of children who are blind or have low vision said their child had been discriminated against, while 40% said they have wanted to make a complaint regarding their child’s education but have not gone through with it.
Twenty-seven per cent said they or their child had not been provided assistance from specialist staff with specific training in working with children who are blind or have low vision, while 25% of respondents said the opportunity to learn braille at school had not been provided.
Ms Harzita Hashim, Vision Australia Children and Young People Lead, said the key to addressing those and other challenges was timely and expert support.
“Children who are blind or have low vision do face barriers to education, but there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. We need to work in partnership with the child, their family and school to succeed,” Hashim said.
“Depending on the child, they might need support with something like learning to read and write braille or training with a magnifier or other assistive technology,” she said.
“We might also need to work with the school to make changes to the built environment or provide advice to staff on how to best provide information and communicate with a student who is blind or have low vision.
“Through our Life Ready program for children and young people, we have all those capabilities but they can take some time to implement. The earlier we can start supporting a child and their family, the earlier they can learn those strategies and techniques to give them the best opportunity to stay on track with their peers.”
Referring a patient to Vision Australia can be done via the website.
More reading
Specsavers, Vision Australia stepping up for patients with low vision
Vision Australia in new low vision partnership
Specsavers ranked 8th in Australia’s Best Workplaces List 2023
