According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at least 2.2 billion people, globally,have some kind of vision impairment (numbers refer to 2023). The same Organization, in 2010, estimated that in Europe there were: 2,550,000 blind people and 23,800,000 low vision people, resulting to 26,350,000 visually impaired. This translates into that almost 3.5% of Europeans experience some kind of sight loss. The European Blind Union also states the following facts:
- Women are more exposed to risk of visual impairment (VI) than men are.
- Sight loss is age-related. 90% of visually impaired europeans are over the age of 65. Thus, age-related eye conditions are the most common cause of sight loss in Europe.
However, this does not mean that yound people, especially school students with the VI, do not constitute a priority in the context of equal rights, inclusivity, and more specifically, inclusive education.
For more information on the context of inclusive education in terms of VI in Europe, you may refer to this State-of-the-art Report (2016) [accessed Jun 02 2025]. The subject of the report concerns maps, science education, and spatial thinking in formal (primary and secondary) education for students with visual impairment (VI). More specifically, the report: (a) explores what has been put in practice thus far in education regarding spatial thinking of students with VI in Europe and worldwide, and (b) answers how to further develop pupils’ spatial skills in formal educational contexts.
