Rome, 22 October 2016, Aula della Clinica Oculistica - Sapienza University-Policlinico Umberto I.
"The word from the visually impaired"This was the title of the fourth national seminar dedicated to them, held on Saturday 22 October in Rome at the Sapienza University-Policlinico Umberto I. An army of over a million people only in our country, while in the world, according to the WHO, the visually impaired number 246 million and their number is also growing due to the ageing population.
The event, which falls in the month traditionally dedicated to prevention, was organised by the National Commission of the Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired and the Italian Section of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness IAPB Italy Onlusin close cooperation with the Department of Sense Organs, Ophthalmology Section, Sapienza University of Romewhich hosted the event.
'A visually impaired person is one who sees sufficiently to not have to organise his or her life as a blind person, but at the same time sees too little to carry out his or her life as a normally sighted person,' says the coordinator of the Low Vision Commission of the Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired, Adoriano Corradetti. Today, as in the past, establishing with certainty what low vision is and who the visually impaired are, is an arduous task, both because there are different types of visual impairment, because there may be various parameters to refer to, and because modern, open, civilised, globalised society has not yet acquired the culture of low vision itself. The first real and major problem, therefore, is of a social-cultural nature: low vision is little known, in fact only a derisory percentage of people know the term, which is often used as a synonym for blind'.
'Low vision,' states the National President of the Italian Blind and Visually Impaired Union Mario Barbuto in his welcoming speech - is a dynamic phenomenon that escapes rigid definitions, that manifests itself in different forms and ways, that cannot be studied systematically, that inevitably affects psychological, behavioural, relational, educational, and existential aspects of the subject. It is essential to invest in prevention and rehabilitationbecause the resources spent on prevention and early treatment are not wasted resources; on the contrary, they are worth twice as much because they enable people to live better lives".
Michele Corcio, Vice President IAPB Italy Onlus - emphasises that "this event is an important opportunity to focus on the problems of the visually impaired and, above all, to make progress on the strategies to be activated to achieve personal autonomy for the visually impaired patient, which is in itself severely compromised.
"As the Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired," states Adoriano Corradetti – we are working for the right of decision-makers to receive an economic allowance. Low vision precludes so many things in the lives of those affected, and it is absurd that there is no support from the state for those who are so severely conditioned'.
"Even professionals fail to realise the difficulties one experiences on a daily basis as a visually impaired person," states Dr. Filippo Cruciani, Member of the UICI Visually Impaired Commission and of the IAPB Directorate, Sapienza University - indeed, they may even question them. Even the WHO tells us that there are absolute priorities that eye care services must pursue, and among these are rehabilitation services for the visually impaired'.
With regard to visually impaired children, the support of the family and school.
"Teachers who are confronted with a visually impaired child are often faced with behaviour that denotes frustration, dependency and insecurity, isolation, negative self-concept and even hyperactivity as an avoidance strategy - Giancarlo Abba, former Scientific Director of the Institute for the Blind in Milan. They must often struggle with lax attention, and activate forms of involvement that are appropriate for the student to achieve an adequate education, recognising the child's learning difficulty".
'Taking care of the family is the best chance of caring for the child,' states Stefania Fortini, Psychologist-Psychotherapist National Centre for Visual Rehabilitation IAPB Italy Onlus. It is often the psychological distress of the visually impaired and their families that is the most onerous condition. Being able to guarantee adequate psychological support to the 'family system' can be the key element that enables the individual to accept himself, having overcome his limitation. Accompanying the visually impaired person towards acceptance means enabling him/her to playing in life on equal terms with those who do not experience a disabilityallowing him to achieve the highest possible realisation as a human being'.
Shaking the room is the appeal of a mother of a visually impaired girl calling for the doors of visual rehabilitation to be opened to children and adolescents as soon as possible: 'there are windows of learning that must be opened in the early years of life, it is essential to ensure that our children have a correct approach to education and life as visually impaired persons, and this too often does not happen due to the serious shortcomings of the Italian healthcare system'.
During the seminar, the following were addressed regulatory aspects related to low vision and the family dynamicsthrough the Experiences of visually disabled people in school and at workand the project was narrated Eye Fitnessa home-based visual rehabilitation service.
Dr. Carmelo Chines
Direttore responsabile
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