NPN benefitsBlog

Knowledge of Eye Health Lacking with Most Americans

Most Americans do not know the risks and warning signs of diseases that could blind them if they don't seek timely detection and treatment, according to recent findings of the "Survey of Public Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Related to Eye Health and Disease".

Seventy-one percent of respondents reported that a loss of their eyesight would rate as a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10, meaning that it would have the greatest impact on their day-to-day life. However, only eight percent knew that there are no early warning signs of glaucoma, a condition that can damage the eye's optic nerve and result in vision loss and blindness.

Fifty-one percent said that they have heard that people with diabetes are at increased risk of developing eye disease, but only 11 percent knew that there are usually no early warning signs. Only 16 percent had ever heard the term "low vision," which affects millions of Americans. Low vision is vision loss that standard eyeglasses, contact lenses, medicine, or surgery cannot correct, making everyday tasks difficult to do. Simple tasks like reading the mail, watching TV, shopping, cooking, and writing become challenging.

Hispanic respondents reported the lowest access to eye health information, knew the least about eye health, and were the least likely to have their eyes examined among all racial/ethnic groups participating in the survey. Forty-one percent of Hispanics reported that they had not seen or heard anything about eye health or disease in the last year, compared with 28 percent of Asians, 26 percent of African-Americans, and 16 percent of Caucasians.

SSA Sued by Blind Beneficiaries for Lack of Access to Programs

Imagine that you are blind or visually impaired. Now imagine that you are one of the more than 100,000 Americans on Social Security who must interact with the Social Security Administration (SSA) regularly to maintain eligibility for crucial Social Security benefits and medical coverage through print only communications that you can’t see. Even worse, try to work and report to SSA monthly earnings using work incentives that are by nature print-based communications to unreceptive SSA represenatives.

Yesterday In San Francisco, 7 blind/ visually impaired individuals and the American Council for the Blind say they had enough and sued SSA, claiming that SSA sent them notices that that could not read then eliminated their benefits when they could not respond. Blind and partially sighted people from the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Oregon and Virginia joined the Washington D.C.-based ACB as plaintiffs The suit claims the SSA "regularly suspends the benefits of blind and visually impaired recipients for failing to comply with requirements set forth in standard print documents that they cannot read and for failing to return printed forms that they cannot complete because they are blind. The Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund is representing the plaintiffs along with the National Senior Citizens Law Center, the Oregon Advocacy Center and pro bono counsel Heller Ehrman LLP.

“It is an outrage that SSA, the agency that should know more about disability than any other, sends critical information to blind and visually impaired beneficiaries in print only," said Arlene Mayerson, directing attorney of Berkeley's Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund( DREDF), in a press release forwarded to BenefitsBlog.

The class-action lawsuit was filed in US District Court in San Francisco, wants SSA to send important communications about benefits in Braille or in accessible electronic formats (email) that they can use.

Given today’s technology all this seems fairly reasonable. SSA should not have to be sued before they provide these accommodations. After all it was more than 25 years after the passage of federal disability laws requiring that blind and visually impaired individuals receive material in alternative formats.

© Daniel Scarborough, 2005