Aiding Visually Impaired Children

by FORTIS FOUNDATION Fortis Charitable Foundation

With more and more kids using electronic gadgets and displays at an early age, children are developing various eye problems. Not only these, many children are born visually impaired and there are not many parents who can detect their children’s ‘eye needs’ timely. In most cases, eye problems in children are detected when they start going to school. But, there are more ways of determining if a child is finding it hard to see. Some physical signs are watery eyes, fluttering eyes, clumsiness as they cannot tell how far objects are, short attention span, and holding books, toys and other things close to the face.

By paying attention to little details, it is possible to detect even the slightest signs of a child having vision problems. It is believed that a large part of a child’s overall growth and understanding depends on visual learning, and this is why vision problems need attention as soon as possible. There are quite a few ways to keep this problem in check. Children should be taken for checkups every year two times after they reach the age of 4-5. This will help to keep a tab on the changes in their eye sight, if any. As not all parents have the time to take appointments and visit hospitals, going to health camps is also a good way to get a child’s eyes checked. In recent times, the number of eye health camps being set up around the country has considerably increased. They have even extended to remote rural areas and helped in creating and spreading awareness. Many of these health camps have different schemes and plus points. Some of these are free diagnosis and medicines for patients, extended care in hospitals, offering education on basic medical dos and don’ts, and many more things.

Such health camps are a great help for visually impaired children as they allow children to meet others like them and also get more comfortable with their own condition. Other valuable things that these camps offer are increased confidence in oneself, future hopes, dreams, and much more.

With continued support and love, visually impaired children too can live their lives normally. The only thing that organisations need to do is follow up on their health checkups and soon we can have a country of healthy children.