Almost 70 per cent of those needing to use low vision support services are not eligible to register as visually impaired because of outdated rules, according to research from Cardiff University.
The research, commissioned by the Thomas Pocklington Trust, involved analysis of the Welsh Low Vision Services (WLVS) database, covering 5,817 adults making their first visit to low vision services from April 2004-April 2007. It found that only 30 per cent met the required standards for registration as visually impaired.
Team leader Dr Barbara Ryan, who described the rules for registration as 'not fit for purpose', said: 'Our research shows that people need to access support services before their vision drops to registration levels.'
In a letter to the British Journal of Ophthalmology (June 22) researchers suggested that the World Health Organisation criteria for 'moderate visual impairment', visual acuity of 6/18 or worse, was a more appropriate criteria for registration. 'If help is to be available to all those who need it, the criteria must be changed,' said Dr Ryan.
The WLVS database gathers routine information on the way services are used and the characteristics and social circumstances of the people who use them. The Cardiff study also identified barriers to registration, finding that those who lived alone were less likely to register and that age was also a significant barrier.
Optician clinical editor Bill Harvey commented: 'Registration based primarily on high contrast distance acuity in no way represents the functional challenges faced by those with the most common causes of sight loss. Near acuity, mobility, contrast and glare should all be taken into account and also, in my view, social circumstance.'