SeeAbility launches new film showing importance of eye tests in special schools

SeeAbility has launched a new film that highlights the importance of eye tests in special schools. It aims to raise awareness of the message that if you have a learning disability, you are 10 times more likely to have a serious problem with your eyes.

To mark World Sight Day, the film tells how the charity achieved one of its goals of establishing a service that brings eye care to tens of thousands of children with learning disabilities.

The charity also wants to encourage routine regular eye care for people who often miss out on tests due to difficulties in attending hospital appointments.

Half of children miss out on eye care

Children with a learning disability are 28 times more likely to have a sight problem than other children – but half miss out on eye care and often do not have the glasses they need. This is the world’s biggest cause of avoidable sight loss.

Using footage from its award-winning work in special schools, it is narrated by SeeAbility’s eye care champions and its Head of Engagement, Scott Watkin, BEM, with testimony from parents, teachers and eye care professionals.

Scott said: “I am one of the lucky ones. By chance my sight-threatening condition was spotted as a child and I was supported to get the eye care I needed. I now have a family and a job I love. Our film is a chance to celebrate that 165,000 children in special schools should now get the same chance as me, and who knows where this will lead?

“But it is a familiar story being told – as people with learning disabilities we often have to fight for the basic healthcare we deserve.”

The film is a reminder that sight issues are the most common health issue that people with learning disabilities will have, and people with a more severe or profound learning disability are particularly at risk. SeeAbility’s research found that only 1 in 10 children in special schools had ever been for an NHS sight test at a community optician, and many were having to be seen in hospital instead.

Barriers for people with a learning disability

Lisa Donaldson, SeeAbility’s Director of Eye Care and Vision, also helps narrate the film. Lisa is an optometrist who first began her work in 2013, evidencing how a ‘one-stop shop’ model of eye care, including dispensing glasses, could work.

Lisa describes how many people and organisations supported the campaign over the decade. In 2023, the last government agreed, and in 2024, the new government legislated for a new scheme to be rolled out by health bodies in England from 2025.

She adds: “For SeeAbility, our campaign continues to remove barriers to eye care for all people with a learning disability, children and adults, and to make sure the national scheme in special schools rolls out this year and delivers the best outcomes.

“There is much more to be done, but we hope the film is an inspiration to others as to the power of coming together, putting evidence in front of governments, being persistent and fighting for a more equal right to sight!”

SeeAbility is one of the oldest disability charities in the world. It specialises in supporting people with learning disabilities, autism and sight loss to achieve their ambitions and to live their best lives.

Alison Bloomer

Alison Bloomer is Editor of Learning Disability Today.

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