so when i'm in the eye clinic i hear a lot of my patients say things like "doc my eyes are so bad that i'd be legally blind without my glasses" but that's not what legal blindness really means and i know people think that if they went blind it would be like having the lights turned off in a room and they'd be just left in darkness all day but in reality about 80 percent of people with legal blindness still have some form of usable vision. So what does it mean to be blind versus legally blind?Well in honor of world sight day today we're talking about what is legal blindness, showing how people with low vision may still see and experience their world as well as highlighting some of the new tools and technologies that help people who are living with vision loss let's take a look This video is made possible with support from the Orcam my eye the world's most advanced assistive technology device for visual impairment hello and welcome this is Dr. Allen here from the Doctor Eye Health show and on this channel we post a lot about education regarding eye diseases their treatments vision products is pretty much everything regarding to eyesight and that includes talking about vision loss and blindness so what is legal blindness well in most countries in the world including here in the united states there is a legal definition that constitutes what legal blindness is legal blindness is when somebody has central visual acuity meaning their central vision what is straight ahead of them is 20/200 or less in his or hers better seeing eye with correction that means even with the best pair of glasses the best contacts or surgery the very best they can see is 20/200 or worse just for example in comparison if somebody is sitting in the exam room here and they're looking at the chart on the wall this is what a 20/20 letter would look like but 20/200 is this size that is a big difference and again with legal blindness that means you can't see any better than that with any pair of glasses contacts anything so for somebody like myself who without my glasses of contacts on i know i can't see even a 20/400 letter which is twice as bad as the 20/200 but the fact that i can put my glasses on and i can see 20/20 in 20/15 even that means i do not have legal blindness because my vision can be corrected but there is another part of the definition of legal blindness and that has to do with somebody's side vision meaning if somebody's ability to see off to their far sides is reduced then they may also have legal blindness the standard definition typically talks about if somebody even if they can see really well they can see 20/20 letters straight ahead of them but their peripheral vision is only 20 degrees or less then they also fit the definition of legal blindness you can even try at home closing an eye and covering an eye with a little hand like this just looking through a tiny little pinhole and yeah i can't imagine moving around and trying to get through my day like that it is just not easy to say the least and i like that the definition addresses both acuity and the visual field because with different types of eye conditions it can be challenging to understand how some people with vision loss can still see some things but still not see other things and i think it's tough because a lot of us do think of blindness as again having the lights shut off but for most eye diseases because it hits the eye in different ways it also presents with different types of vision loss just for example like somebody with macular degeneration these individuals will lose their central vision so looking straight ahead of them is very difficult making it hard for them to read or recognize families faces but it also leaves some of their peripheral vision where you can contrast to somebody who has glaucoma where those individuals usually still keep some of their central vision but they lose their peripheral vision and it slowly becomes more and more into eventually they just have like a tunnel vision effect other common conditions such as diabetic retinopathy those individuals not only have usually very blurred vision but they can also have complete blank spots either in part or covering their entire visual field or with the condition of cataracts which thankfully is an easily treatable condition with surgery these days but still across globally it is one of the most common causes of blindness and this can cause not only extremely blurred vision but it can cause foggy and glare-type eyesight changes that can be really debilitating and then different eye and brain injuries as well as other genetic conditions can cause major sources of vision loss as well interestingly enough here in the eye clinic we don't label people as being blind we first try to measure even an extreme vision loss if they're able to detect motion so we may measure it as being hand motion at five feet or we'll go as far as detecting if somebody can have light perception so even though if they can't see my hand moving they can at least say that they're able to detect light in a dark room and we'll note that as having LP for light perception and when somebody truly is blind and they cannot see anything we note that as having nlp no light perception and i always thought that that would make probably the best vanity plate to have on your car license plate would be to have NLP-OU which would be i care terms for no light perception in both eyes nobody except for people who work in eye clinic would probably get that but I just i just think it's funny and that's my sense of humor now dealing with vision loss is really difficult for either yourself if you ever have to go through this or maybe a family member it can be scary and a lot of people even feel very just hopeless about their eyesight and what their future holds for them but thankfully there are whole sub-specialties in eye care and other services that are completely dedicated to helping people with vision loss low vision and legal blindness low vision specialists eye doctors and therapists really work together to help not only prescribe magnifiers and other vision aids but also with rehabilitation to help people really navigate the world around them and become as independent as possible in functioning in their world and if you a friend or a family member is kind of facing vision loss right now for any reason and you're just not sure where to start to find these sort of helpful services at the very least i'll put some links in the description below so that you can find those and at least begin your journey and with low vision and services for the blind the earlier people get introduced to these services this help the better it is because if you're just starting to lose vision it's easier to learn and adapt new technologies techniques and everything to really adjust to kind of how your future may be historically eye doctors in the field of low vision are really masters at understanding optics and figuring the right amount of magnification and how to use those magnifying aids to help people maximize what little vision they still have left but thankfully in this world of modern technology that we have we're starting to see new tools that go well beyond just magnification to help people see and function for example probably the number one thing i hear people with vision loss and legal blindness request that they wish they could do is that of reading which is where new technology such as the Orcam my eye comes in and Orcam is the sponsor of today's video but i wanted to work with them in this because i find their technology can help so many people that are facing vision loss and i really just want to bring their technology to people's attention the or chem my eye is a device that helps people with low vision no vision and even people with reading disabilities like dyslexia be able to read from books magazines computer screens or really just almost anything the device only weighs about an ounce it's about the size of your finger and it attaches to pretty much any pair of glasses and the digital camera on the device is able to take a snapshot of its surroundings and read directly to you speaking the text directly to your ears or wirelessly to headphones or even like a bluetooth speaker it can even recognize objects and people's faces Dr Allen i've actually been testing out the Orcam MyEye myself and it is something that i even recommend or bring up to my patients in the clinic who would benefit from it particularly people who struggle with or have a desire for more independence with reading but i will say it is pretty amazing and impressive to see where technology is today and to think about where it could be going to in the future for not just people who still have good eyesight but especially for people who may be struggling with their vision and again if you want to check out more information about the Orcam MyEye i'll put links in the video description below so you can check out their website and learn a little bit more but i do find it amazing to reflect back and just be grateful for things as simple as eyeglasses because without these technologies of glasses or the existence of previous eye care professionals that came before me where would we be because again without these technologies many of us would be legally blind so do me and yourself a favor today in honor of world sight day reflect on just being grateful for the eyesight that you do have for your ability to perceive colors and light and if you and your family have not had eye exams within the last year i strongly encourage you to schedule one to get your eyes checked even if you think your vision is fantastic again there are many eye diseases out there that sneak up on you and you don't realize your vision is changing until it's too late i always keep reminding myself that even though making this channel and making these videos is a lot of work i figure if i can just help one person in the world save their vision or see a little bit better then it's all worth it otherwise i hope you enjoyed this video if you did and it helped you out hit the like button for us subscribe to the channel if you want to keep learning about eyesight and keeping your eyes healthy otherwise again this is Doctor Allen here from the DoctorEyeHealth show keep an eye on it and we'll see in the next one.