October is Blindness Awareness Month. Throughout the world, there are over 285 million people who are visually impaired with 39 million of these people being completely blind. There are degrees of vision loss and folks who are blind or visually impaired often lead fulfilling lives in their communities.

What is Blindness?

There are a wide range of vision levels exhibited in people who are visually impaired and 90% of people who are legally blind have some degree of vision. In order to be considered “legally blind”, one must have a central vision of 20/200 or lower in their best vision eye even with corrective lenses. Worldwide, the leading cause of blindness is cataracts, however the prevalence will vary depending on where you live in the world. Diabetes is a big risk factor, making one 25 times more likely to have visual impairment. In the United States, blindness or low vision affects at least 3.3 million people, with many of these people being older adults.

We are grateful to God to hear the story of one of our own members, Danyelle.  Watch the video below to hear some of her story.