Title: The impact of visual impairment on adults with an intellectual disability
Abstract: textabstractOver forty years ago, the Danish ophthalmologist Mette Warburg was the
fi rst to ask attention for the increased risk of visual impairment in people with
intellectual disabilities (Warburg, 1963, 1975). She based this on her clinical
experience and fi rst evaluations in groups of adults in Danish day care centers.
She claimed in an early stage that the risk increased with more severe levels of
intellectual disability (Warburg, 1983). Warburg has long remained a voice in
the wilderness. Incidental colleagues, among them Lena Jacobson in Sweden,
performed ophthalmological evaluations in larger groups and reported an
overrepresentation of ocular pathologies (Jacobson, 1988).
However, problems with assessment of visual function in people who were
not able to cooperate with Snellen or picture card acuity tests, remained a barrier
to identify those with impairments. Gradually, acuity tests using matching cards,
developed for assessment in young children by Sheridan & Gardiner (1970) and
by Lea Hyvarinen (Hyvarinen et al., 1980), started to be applied in children and
adults with moderate intellectual disabilities. In the United States, Davida Teller
developed the preferential looking card for assessment of visual acuity in babies
and toddlers (Dobson et al., 1978; Teller, 1979), after which Jackie van Hof-van
Duin successfully applied this card in Dutch children and adults with severe or
profound intellectual disabilities (Mohn & Hof-van Duin, 1983).
Th e next academic group systematically addressing visual functioning in
this population, specifi cally people with Down syndrome, was the optometry
department of Cardiff University in Wales, led by Margareth Woodhouse
(Woodhouse et al., 1993). Next to the Teller card, this group developed the
Cardiff card, with line pictures in stead of stripes (Woodhouse et al., 1992; Adoh
et al., 1992). In this way, visual acuity assessment became feasible in principally
all persons with intellectual disabilities who are not able to cooperate with routine diagnostics.
Publication Year: 2008
Publication Date: 2008-11-12
Language: en
Type: article
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 1
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