For whom is this information intended?
What this information is not for?
For whom is this information intended?
The information contained in these pages is intended for use primarily by parents, other members of the family and older children with visual impairment. The information will also be of use to interested health professionals and carers. These pages are in the public domain and we encourage users to download and print it out for their own use and for distribution to other interested groups.
Aims
The purpose of the information is to explain
The way the eyes and brain normally work to make 'vision'
The reason why vision may become impaired by a specific condition
The cause of the condition
The effects of the condition on the child's vision
The effect of the condition on the child's general well being
How the condition is diagnosed
What can be done to help
All the information pages are structured in the same way with the minimum use of medical terms and jargon. It is impossible to avoid all medical terms and jargon but where we have used them we have attempted to explain them in plain English.
Authors
These pages represent the consensus of opinion of many different people who include:
Parents of visually impaired children
Visually Impaired Children themselves
Community Paediatricians
Ophthalmologists
Educationalists
Psychologists
The main author and person responsible for their final content is Dr Andrew Blaikie who is an Ophthalmology Research Fellow with Visual Impairment Scotland. He is a member of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists and be contacted at VI Scotland by letter, phone or email for views and feedback on these information pages.
What this information is not for?
These pages are not to be used as a means of diagnosing a condition. Any diagnosis should be made by a qualified ophthalmologist, neurologist or paediatrician.
Sources of information
These pages aim to cover the full spectrum of visually impairing conditions and all their various forms of presentation. It is a very big subject. As far as we can determine these pages are true and accurate and have been written in good faith. Many sources of information have been used. These include:
Parents of Visually Impaired Children
Visually Impaired Children
Carers of Visually Impaired Children
Ophthalmologists
Paediatricians
Text Books
Published Research
Currency
Theses pages were last revised in February 2001