Where Have All the Children Gone? An analysis of new statistical data on visual impairment amongst children in England, Scotland and Wales

Abstract

This article reports on major findings from a recent study on the numbers of visually impaired (VI) children aged 0-16 known to Local Authority Visual Impairment Services in England, Scotland and Wales. The data shows that there are over 19,000 VI children in these countries of whom almost 5% are braillists and 34.5% have additional special needs. There are no universally adopted criteria for recording data on their visual impairment (VI). A growing number, 59%, of VI children are educated in mainstream schools, 10% in special schools for VI children and 29% in other special schools.