Gillian Cochrane
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Project: The Impact of Vision Impairment on Children with Low Vision
Globally, 4.5% (5.4 million) of the 121 million children who are unable to access education have low vision or blindness (vision impairment). This group represents 90% of all children with vision impairment (6.1 million). Children with vision impairment represent nearly 4% of global vision impairment (161 million, excluding those who experience vision impairment due to uncorrected refractive error) and 1% of the global community with disability (600 million).
The cost of vision impairment globally was estimated at $42 billion in 2000. Although children represent less than 4% of the overall magnitude of vision impairment, vision impairment in children accounts for nearly one third of the economic cost of vision impairment. This is due to the number of years children have to live with vision impairment and the loss of earning potential.
Since the Millennium, there has been increasing focus on inclusive education, childhood blindness and low vision. However, specialist skills are required to enable children with vision impairment to fully benefit from inclusive mainstream education. Support needs for children with vision impairment are complex to determine. In addition to clinical and functional vision tests, it is also necessary to ascertain their ability to independently socialise and participate in every day activities. School, other than a source for academic knowledge, provides the arena for peer group interaction. However, being present in a classroom does not constitute inclusion if information is not accessible to all children.
Gillian’s doctoral investigation has been undertaken at a time when VISION 2020 is advocating the need to address avoidable childhood blindness and low vision. It is also during a period when the UNESCO Decade for Literacy (2003 – 2012) emphasises the fundamental requirement of education, the corollary of poverty, disease and national disease.
Specifically this research aimed to identify the key aspects for participation in school and everyday living using both quantitative and qualitative methods. In the process, a paediatric quality of life questionnaire was developed and validated providing a much needed tool which specifically targets children with vision impairment. The questionnaire (the Impact of Vision Impairment for Children: the IVI_C) provides a means with which to assess the effectiveness of support provision and interventions.
The main impact of vision impairment on children was found to be the ability to socialise and that the level of low vision and the number of years of support predicted the level of participation in school and daily living activities. These findings will assist in planning national models for support of children with vision impairment to participate in inclusive education programs.
Gillian graduated in Scotland in 1985 as an optometrist and after 6 years of private practice left UK to live and work in sub-Saharan Africa and India as a program manager for prevention of blindness programs under the umbrella of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness and for international non-government organisations such as the Swiss Red Cross and the Fred Hollows Foundation. Gillian came to the Centre for Eye Research Australia as an international student to undertake doctoral studies with the Vision CRC in 2003.
Supervisors: Prof Jill Keeffe and Dr Ecosse Lamoureux
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