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48
Blind Persons Act, 1920.
Blind
training, etc.
During the year, 429 persons over school age were seen. Certificates were
furnished in the under-mentioned cases:—
Males.
Females.
Training of the blind
56
25
Registration of the blind
114
134
Application for grant
6
6
Homes for the blind
1
2
Homeworkers
2
4
179
171
Twenty-nine males and 47 females were reported as being not blind within
the meaning of the Blind Persons Act, 1920 and 3 cases were referred for re-examination,
which will take place in 1931. Of the 81 persons in respect of whom certificates
of blindness were furnished in connection with application for training, 6 (5 females,
1 male) were deemed to be unfit physically and one, a man, who was deemed to
be blind, refused to submit to a physical examination.
Certificates submitted by private or hospital doctors in 4 cases (3 male and 1
female) were accepted as furnishing satisfactory evidence of blindness. In 7 cases
the applications for certificates of blindness were withdrawn.
Of a series of 355 persons over 16 years old certified as blind within the past
two or three years, 173 were male and 182 female. The series does not include children
under 16 in attendance at schools for the blind.
In the following table an attempt is made to classify generally the causes of
blindness of 169 of the males and 170 of the females with relation to the age of onset,
on approximation only, as in many cases only the end results of disease were present,
and earlier histories were often extremely vague. Probably under heading III
there are cases which should belong to other groups. The ages of onset were frequently
difficult to ascertain with any exactitude and it may be that some should have
been entered in a lower decade. The case of senile change entered in the decade 20 to
30 was that of a man of about 50 suffering from glaucoma, who gave a definite history
of onset of blindness before he was 30.
Causes of
blindness.
Age.
I
Congeni -
tal
defects
II
Inflammations
of the
surface
of the
eye.
Ill
Inflammations
of the
inside
of the
eye.
IV
Accident
V
Myopie.
VI
Senile
change.
Total.
Percentage.
M. F. M. F. M. F. M. F. M. F. M. F. M. F. M. F.
Under 20 8 9 7 18 8 5 2 1 — 1 — — 25 34 14.8 20.0
20—30 — — 4 1 13 7 1 — 3 1 1 — 22 9 13 0 5.3
30— 40 — — 3 2 13 8 1 — 6 7 — — 23 17 13.6 10.0
40— 50 — — — 1 1 14 8 3 1 2 4 — 2 20 16 11.9 9.4
50— 60 — — — 1 1 7 4 1 2 2 6 1 — 12 13 7 1 7.6
60— 70 4 4 13 7 2 — 4 6 11 15 34 32 20.1 18.8
70_ 80 — — — 1 — 5 7 — 1 2 3 17 17 25 28 14.8 16.5
80— 90 1 1 — — — 1 7 16 8 18 4.7 10.6
90—100 — — — — — — — — — — — 3 — 3 — 1.8
Total 8 9 21 27 74 47 10 5 19 29 37 53 169 170 100 100
Percentage 4.7 5.3 12.4 15.9 43.8 27.7 5.9 2.9 11.3 17 0 21.9 31.2 100 100 — —