2 interesting studies published recently show that limitations experienced by visually impaired adults are not all about visual ability.
The first, by Alma and others (Quality of Life Research, June 2011) found that social participation in visually impaired older adults was not determined by visual ability, but rather by age, physical fitness, helplessness, social network size, and how important people viewed participation in particular activities.
The second, by Tabrett and Lathem (Investigative Ophthalmology and Vision Science, May 2011) looked at limitation in daily activities relying on vision. They found that self-reported limitation was affected by visual acuity, but also significantly by depression and adjustment to vision loss.
For people working with visually impaired adults this is a helpful reminder that we need to look at more than how good their vision is!
