Living with sight loss Making the case: using national data

NatCen Social Research  Independent, not for profit  Work with government and charities  Collect survey data  Profiling and monitoring inequality  Evidence base

research/research/circumstanc es-of-people-with-sight-loss/ Understanding Society 45,000 adults 1,400 with sight loss Life Opportunities Survey 40,000 adults 1,200 with sight loss

% High level of life satisfaction

A short (but necessary!) aside about confounding factors…

Data from USoc But… people with sight loss tend to be older

Data from USoc We can control for differences in age profile

% High life satisfaction, before standardising for age

High life satisfaction, after standardising for age %

Health

High level of satisfaction with health Age and sex standardised 80 %

A lot of difficulty accessing health services Age and sex standardised 3 9 %

Accessibilit y

Needs a lot of help to shop for everyday necessities Age and sex standardised %

Has difficulty going into buildings Age and sex standardised %

Restrictions in using long distance trains Age and sex standardised %

Participatio n

Play sport as much as would like Age and sex standardised %

Spoke with fewer than 3 people in past week Age and sex standardised 8 15 %

Work and money

Unemployed and seeking work Age and sex standardised, based on working age population. %

Difficulty accessing benefits services Age and sex standardised %

A lot of difficulty accessing benefit services, by age group Based on people who have attempted to access benefit services. %

Discriminati on

Whether been discriminated against due to a health condition Age and sex standardised %

In summary…

Adults with sight loss experience…  More difficulty in accessing services  Poorer health and lower wellbeing  Greater financial hardship  Restrictions in education and employment  Less choice about how they spend leisure time  Major barriers accessing travel, shops and other activities …compared with the rest of the population.

research/research/sight- impairment-at-age-seven/ Millennium Cohort Study 14,000 children 400 with sight loss

Parent says child often does not enjoy school %

Parent says child has been bullied at school several/many times %

Teacher says ‘child’s reading is below average’ %

Parent says ‘child has difficulty with PE’ %

Parent says that ‘household finds it difficult to manage financially’ %

In summary…

Visually impaired children more likely to…  Live in low income households  Be bullied at school  Have emotional, concentration or behavioural difficulties  Have difficulties making friends  Miss out on sport and physical activity  Fall behind in reading, writing, maths and science …than their sighted peers.

ur- research/research/second ary-analysis-of-adult- social-care-data/

Administrative data sources Referrals, Assessments and Packages of Care (RAP) data Registered Blind and partially sighted (BPS)

Registered blind and partially sighted 3% decline 2005/6 to 2010/ /6 to 2010/11 increase in 0-64 year olds 2005/6 to 2010/11 decrease in 65+ year olds

BPS and RAP data combined Registered BPS receiving community based services: 2005/ % 2007/ % 2010/ % Exception was direct payments: marginal increase to 1.2% in 2010/11.

Updates to these reports are coming…

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