Discuss how vision loss can affect educational achievement and social development

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

ANSWER: The educational achievement of students with vision loss may be significantly delayed
when compared to that of sighted peers.
There are numerous variables influencing educational achievement for students with a
vision loss. Possible reasons for delays in educational achievement range from excessive
school absences due to the need for eye surgery or treatment as well as years of failure
in programs that did not meet each student's specialized needs.
On the average, children who are blind are two years behind sighted children in grade
level. Thus, any direct comparisons of students with vision loss to those with sight would
indicate significantly delayed academic growth. However, at this age phenomenon may
have resulted from entering school at a later age, absence from school due to medical
problems, and the lack of appropriate school resources and facilities. The ability to adapt
to the social environment depends on a number of factors, both hereditary and
experiential. It is true that each of us experiences the world in his or her own way, but
there are common bonds that provide a foundation on which to build perceptions of the
world around us. One such bond is vision.
Without vision, perceptions about ourselves and those around us would be drastically
Copyright Cengage Learning. Powered by Cognero. Page 14
different. For the person with a vision loss, these differences in perception may result in
some social-emotional difficulties. People with vision loss are often unable to imitate the
physical mannerisms of others and therefore do not develop one very important
component of a social communication system: body language. The subtleties of
nonverbal
communication may significantly alter the intended meaning of spoken words. A
person's inability to develop a nonverbal communication system through the acquisition
of visual cues (such as facial expressions, hand gestures) has profound consequences on
interpersonal interactions, not only for the reception or interpretation of verbal language
but also for what he or she expresses to others. Namely, the sighted person may
misinterpret the meaning of what is said by the person who is visually impaired because
the visual cues are not consistent with the spoken words.
Social problems may also result from the exclusion of persons with a vision loss from
social activities that are integrally related to the use of sight (such as sports, movies).
Individuals with a vision loss are often excluded from such activities without a second
thought simply because they cannot see. This only serves to reinforce the mistaken
notion that they do not want to participate and would not enjoy these activities. The
important point to remember is that social skills can be learned, and effectively used by a
person with a vision loss. Excluding people with vision loss from social experiences more
often stems from negative public attitudes than from the individual's lack of social
adjustment skills.