To mark World Sight Day and to encourage people across the country to get their eyes tested, IAPB Global Ambassador Her Royal Highness, The Countess of Wessex, visited Perseid School in London, to see children having their eyes tested by our eye care team.

The pandemic is taking its toll on global vision and to raise awareness of this on World Sight Day, the Countess is supporting the #LoveYourEyes campaign, being run by the IAPB to encourage people to book a sight test.

There is overwhelming evidence that the pandemic has damaged global eye health – the number of children developing short sightedness (Myopia) doubled under lockdown and, on current trends, half the world’s population will be short sighted by 2050.

Our work has highlighted that children with learning disabilities are even more likely to have a sight problem than other children – in fact 28 times more likely - and the work of our eye care team has revealed half of children in special schools will have a problem with their vision.

Perseid school has a long history with SeeAbility as we carried out our very first sight test at the school in 2013. Since then, findings from nearly 1,000 sight tests proved that half of all special school students have a problem with their eyes and at least 1/3 need glasses - yet nearly half have never received any eye care. 

As a result of our groundbreaking work, Public Health England recommended that special school students should have their eye care and glasses provided in the familiar, convenient setting of their school – and this year, NHS England committed to providing an eye care and glasses service for the estimated 120,000 children who attend a special school in England.

Lisa Hopkins, CEO of SeeAbility said:

"We’re thrilled that the Countess of Wessex is helping raise awareness of the importance of eye tests by visiting Perseid School to witness SeeAbility’s eye care team carrying out eye tests on the children. The IAPB’s important campaign is highlighting the fact that globally, eye health has reached a new low during the pandemic.

“Everyone can have an eye test – you don’t need to be able to read or speak – and SeeAbility’s eye care programmes are proving that bringing eye care to children with learning disabilities in their school environment, is transformative. Thinking creatively about the way eye care services are delivered can mean everyone gets a more equal right to sight. And at a time when the pandemic and worldwide lockdowns lead to more time spent on screens, less time spent outdoors, and missed sight tests, that has never been more important.”