World Sight Day 2015, and our work at EFDS
Today (8 October 2015) is World Sight Day 2015, with the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness calling for international, universal eye care for all.
The English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) believes disabled people should have every opportunity to be as active as non-disabled people.
Research shows that as we age the more likely we are to acquire a visual impairment.
There are 1.86 million people in the UK with sight loss. It is predicted that by 2020 the number of people with sight loss will rise to over 2,250,000. By 2050, the numbers of people with sight loss in the UK will double to nearly four million.
EFDS spends time telling the stories of physically active disabled people. Here are just a few of those for whom having a visual impairment has not stopped them being active.
Gemma Morton (fitball, various gym classes)
"Ethan is my world. He is in Year 5 at school and is thriving. I try to keep myself fit and active so that I can keep up with him!
"I have retinitis pigmentosa (RP, an inherited, degenerative eye condition) and when I was pregnant I was told that Ethan would either have the same condition or he would be totally blind. But he was born with no eye condition, other than having to wear spectacles.
"Balancing keeping fit, being a mother and living with my disability can be tricky at times, but I like to think that I’m pretty organised and I always make sure that my visual impairment doesn’t hold me back for whatever reason. I just want to be able to exercise, be a great mum and run my home."
Bradley Smith (football)
"For my whole life I wanted to be part of a sports team but, as I was in an extreme minority, it appeared impossible.
"When I discovered blind football, it was amazing. I could finally participate completely in a sport and be on an equal level with all the other players. During training you learn the skills required to play, like dribbling, ball control, formation and defence tactics.
"However, in this sport you learn so much more. Spatial awareness is vital so that you know where you are on the pitch in relation to the other players, the goals, etc.
"It is also very important to have good communication because no one else on the pitch can see you, except the goalkeeper, and a team can’t function properly together as a unit if no one knows where someone else is."
Chandni Sony (gym, cycling, swimming)
"I can see very little, just shapes, dark and light. Colours are also OK, but only during daylight.
“I’m active and fit now, but only recently over the last year have I decided to be so. I was getting older and was feeling like I was suffering a little and wasn’t exercising at all. So I decided to take up going to the gym and going swimming.
"In a gym, the lighting is always too dark. I don’t want or need any physical help exercising, but I do need somebody to help me between machines and help me programme them, because I can’t see the buttons or the dials. That’s all I need."
Millie Bywater (swimming)
"I’ve always been very comfortable in the water. Swimming is always something I’ve enjoyed, so it has been nice to get increasingly involved in a sport that I liked before but didn’t get to do very often.
"At school, the sport that I used to do was running and so forth, sports which were not what I enjoyed. But I have always found swimming fun and enjoyable, both training and then participating in competitions."
Dan English (football)
"I can’t see anything at all – I’m totally blind. I was visually impaired until I was nine years old, and from the age I became totally blind. I have never seen football before, or at least I was too young to really appreciate it and was not as into sport at that young age.
"The biggest thing that’s great about playing sport is the social side. I used to go to the RNC College as a student and I took part in activities like football and goalball with some of the fellow students in the football academy.
"Seeing them come out of themselves socially, and being able to interact with others and improve their self-confidence, is a brilliant thing. Sport increases your social interactions."
EFDS also works closely with eight National Disability Sports Organisations that provide advice, support and opportunities for people with specific impairments to take part in sport and physical activity. British Blind Sport is one, and they have their own appeal related to World Sight Day 2015.
British Blind Sport’s new Jingle Balls campaign aims to increase the number of children with visual impairments taking part in regular physical activity. This festive season for every £10 donated, the charity will give a new jingle ball to a blind or partially sighted child.
For more information on World Sight Day 2015 visit the official website. British Blind Sport provides visually impaired people with opportunities to participate in sport and physical activity.
