Support for vision loss

[SlothSandpit]

Hi everyone. I'm new to this group and I'm hoping I might be able to get some advice from people who have experienced a similar situation.

My mother in law had a TIA or perhaps a small stroke about a year ago and it caused partial vision loss and light sensitivity in one of her eyes. When it happened, it took them a while to identify what had happened to her as there weren't any clear identifiers of a stroke. But they eventually found the cause and told her that the vision loss was par for the course and that she'd get used to it.

But she wasn't given any treatment or ongoing support for her eye, despite the fact that is really affects her day to day life. Her eyes get strained incredibly easily and she has to take regular rest breaks for them throughout the day and wears sunglasses a lot of the time to reduce the light sensitivity. It seems like she is just trying to struggle on despite the fact she's in a lot of discomfort.

I thought it was odd that she was offered no support at all for how to adjust to this new way of living or investigation into whether she could be helped with glasses, patching, eye exercises etc. Is this normal and if not, could anyone suggest where she could get some support to help improve her day to day living?

Thank you!

[springlove]

go to GP and asked to be referred to ophthalmology clinic in a well known hospital. I've had the same problems since 2005, 3 operations on my eyes and several pairs of glasses

[john-boy-92]

It's quite common for a stroke to cause vision problems. My stroke caused me to lose part of the peripheral vision on the right hand side. It gives the impression that it affects only the vision in one eye, but it actually affects both. It's possible that it will self-correct within six months of the stroke, but if not, it's permanent. There isn't any support for the condition. If she has difficulty as a pedestrian in crossing the road on traversing a car park, she can apply for a Blue Badge that she can use as a passenger.

If she drives, she will need to report it to the DVLA who are likely to revoke her licence. If this occurred since February 2020 and her licence is revoked, she may get information on being an "exceptional case". I submitted written evidence to the Public Accounts Committee report on support during COVID on this point and, on 25 May the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Disability will debate this as part of the discussion on transport for disabled people.