For persons with vision impairment, a comprehensive eye examination should be followed by a functional vision evaluation, to check how the person uses his or her vision to function. Quantitative measures like visual acuity and visual field cannot alone indicate how much a person’s life will be affected by vision loss as it is also important to assess how well a person uses the vision they have. Two people with the same visual acuity level may differ in their ability to use his or her vision better to do everyday tasks.
A person’s functional vision can be evaluated by observing them in different settings to see how they use their vision. The results of a functional vision evaluation will allow an individual’s care team of rehabilitative therapists and special educators to better understand his or her challenges in completing everyday tasks, designing and implementing strategies to improve the functional abilities. In the following module, we will learn more about the challenges faced by persons with vision impairment.