A Welsh woman is highlighting the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic and social distancing guidelines are having on people with sight loss.
A survey by eye research charity Fight for Sight has found that two in five respondents with significant sight loss reported finding it difficult to follow social distancing rules as a result, while more than half said their access to food and other products has gotten worse during the pandemic, including access to food deliveries. This has been made more difficult by the fact that blind and partially sighted people are not classed as a vulnerable group, and therefore are not given priority delivery slots.
The survey also found that four in ten people with sight loss fear their sight will further deteriorate during the Covid-19 pandemic, as they struggle to access treatment for their eye conditions. While 73 percent of respondents said their access to treatment has gotten worse during the pandemic, with some reporting cancelled surgeries, as well as cancelled injections for age-related macular degeneration.
Angharad Paget-Jones, 27, from Port Talbot, South Wales is blind and is a guide dog user. She said: “I can’t go into stores anymore because my guide dog Tudor doesn’t understand social distancing. Queuing outside shops is also a problem because Tudor is trained to find the door, he’s not trained to find the end of the queue.”
Angharad has described how people have been unwilling to assist her during this time: “People in the shops won’t help me. In one shop, a woman yelled at me for being too close to her, even though she was walking the wrong way around the one-way system that was in place.”
Fight for Sight is calling on the government to update its advice to retailers on social distancing measures to ensure the needs of people with poor vision are not excluded or put at risk. Blind and partially sighted people should also be given priority delivery slots for online shopping if they want it. Additionally, the government is being urged to come up with an urgent plan to make sure that people do not lose their eyesight due to lack of appointments as a result of social distancing measures.
Fight for Sight is also raising awareness for the need for more investment in eye research, which could transform the lives of over two million people with sight loss through new treatments as well as taking pressure off an already stretched NHS.
Chief Executive of Fight for Sight, Sherine Krause said: “Our survey shows that people with sight loss are particularly affected by the pandemic, which is having a huge impact on their wellbeing. To address this, we’re calling on the Government to urgently update its advice to retailers on social distancing measures to ensure the needs of people with poor vision are not excluded. Our high streets must not become no-go areas for people with sight loss. In the longer term, we must continue to fund research for new, more efficient treatments and cures for the leading causes of blindness and sight loss, to help ease the pressure on our NHS.”
With so many breakthroughs on the horizon, science has the power to transform millions of lives, but unfortunately research is now at risk due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Fight for Sight is launching an urgent appeal to help researchers cover the costs of delays to projects and returning to the lab and get eye research back on track. To help support the appeal, visit Fight for Sight’s website at https://www.fightforsight.org.uk/.
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