North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood is supporting new aims set out by the Wales Vision Strategy group to deliver positive change for blind and partially sighted people in Wales, including those at risk of sight loss, by 2020.
The group is a collaboration between charities, public sector organisations, businesses and blind and partially sighted people.
The North Wales AM met with Wales Vision Strategy group members at the launch of its new priorities at the National Assembly for Wales on 22 November.
The Wales Vision Strategy’s new priorities are:
• To improve the nation’s eye health and end avoidable sight loss.
• To improve support across social care services.
• To improve awareness of sight loss and create an inclusive society for all blind and partially sighted people.
At the event Mr Isherwood also took the opportunity to wear a pair of RNIB Cymru’s ‘sim specs’, glasses which simulate various eye conditions.
He said: “Seeing the world from the perspective of a person with sight loss gives such an insight into some of the challenges they face. Losing your sight can have a huge impact on your ability to engage with the world around you as well as the way people treat you.
“This is why the work of the Wales Vision Strategy members is so important and I wish them every success in their aim to improve eye health in Wales.”
There are an estimated 107,000 people living with sight loss in Wales according to RNIB Cymru, a member of the Wales Vision Strategy group.
RNIB Cymru’s Director Ansley Workman said:
“We want to thank Mark Isherwood AM for coming along and learning more about the Wales Vision Strategy.
“Every day in Wales four people start to lose their sight. But, for many people, sight can and should be saved with the right information, care and support.
“For those who do have sight loss we want to make sure that they live in a world that is accessible to them. Whether it’s being able to get around their local community safely or receiving vital health information in the right format. We’re confident that by working together we can achieve our aims and make positive changes happen.”
The Wales Vision Strategy aligns to the Vision UK Strategy, part of the global initiative known as ‘VISION 2020: the Right to Sight’ a joint programme between the World Health Organisation and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. VISION 2020 was launched in 1999 with the twin aims of eliminating avoidable blindness by the year 2020 and preventing the projected doubling of avoidable sight loss between 1990 and 2020.
Vision 2020 seeks to promote “A world in which nobody is needlessly visually impaired, where those with unavoidable vision loss can achieve their full potential.”