Session 1 of 12
Who does vision-impairment affect?
Course: TSA-TGSI-1.1 | Length: 3:46 mins | Instructor: Dean Homicki
Transcript
In this session, we're going to learn about:
Who does vision-impairment affect?
Let’s begin with some Australian Statistics.
In 2019, 'The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, released an Eye Heath report into Vision Impairment within Australia. The Report tabled its findings asking the question 'How common is visual impairment? (vision-impairment).
The study presented the following Summary of people living with a partial or full loss of sight in one or both eyes. The Report is based on a population of 25 million people living in Australia in 2018.
The findings from the Report found:
Over 13 Million Australians (or 55% of the Australian population in 2018) had one or more long-term vision disorders.
That females experienced a higher prevalence of long-term vision disorders, (59%) than that of males, (51%).
In 2017–18, long-term vision disorders affected (93%) of people aged 55 and over.
The report also detailed the number of persons with a Vision Impairment against their type of Eye Condition.
131,500 people Experienced Blindness (Total and Partial).
Almost a 1/4 of a million persons had (AMD) Aged- Related Macular Degeneration and,
Over 400,000 Australians had a cataract or cataracts
Close to 550,00 persons were experiencing colour blindness.
Over 650,000 persons were living with PresbyOpia (more commonly known as farsightedness)
1.4 million persons were experiencing astigmatism (more commonly defined as encountering blurred vision.)
6.3 million had my-opia (more commonly known as short-sightedness)
And a staggering 7.2 million persons had hyperopia (more commonly known as long-sightedness)
So what do all these numbers mean to you?
The seriousness of sight-related disease and illness and the millions of people affected in Australia is a real and severe problem for: Designers, Building Practitioners and Duty Holders whom all hold a position of power and influence over the built environment in their professional practice.
The correct use of TGSIs is also required by Australian Law. In the next module, together, we look at how a vision impairment affects the design of the built environment and what are the Federal & State regulations that address vision impairment in Australian Law.
I'm Dean Homicki. And I look forward to joining you in the next Learning Session.
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Sources
TSA-TGSI-1.1 - This staebl.academy course module has drawn information from the following sources:
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2019. Eye health. Cat. no. PHE 260. Canberra: AIHW. Viewed 20 January 2020, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/eye-health/eye-health
AS/NZS 1428.4.1: 2009 (Amendments 1 & 2) Design for Access and Mobility: Means to assist the orientation of people with a vision-impairment - Tactile Ground Surface Indicators.
