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| A visually impaired man walks along a city pathway using a white cane, symbolizing independence and the call for inclusive public spaces. |
World Sight Day draws attention to eye health through free screenings and awareness campaigns, but for millions of people living with visual impairment, the real issue is not just seeing it is being seen, included, and considered in daily life systems.
According to the World Health Organization, over 2.2 billion people globally live with some form of vision impairment, and at least 1 billion cases could have been prevented with early care. Ninety percent of those affected live in low- and middle-income countries like Nigeria and across Africa. The continent alone has over 26 million people with vision loss, most without access to affordable assistive devices or inclusive services.
In Nigeria, more than 4.2 million people live with vision impairment, yet only a small percentage have access to tools like braille materials, white canes, or screen reader technology. Many public hospitals lack low-vision clinics, schools do not budget for braille learning materials, and digital government services remain unfriendly to screen-reader users. Even basic mobility is a challenge as public transportation and city infrastructure are designed without sound navigation or tactile guiding paths.
This shows that the greatest barriers are not medical — they are structural. Education content is not converted into accessible formats, job platforms are not inclusive, and even essential services like mobile banking, election information, and public notices are difficult to access for visually impaired citizens. This is not just a gap — it is exclusion designed into the system.
The visually impaired community continues to make one point clear: they do not seek pity; they seek visibility and accessibility. While charity programmes offer eye drops and hope once a year, long-term inclusion means allowing visually impaired persons to participate in designing policies and systems that affect their daily lives.
Nigeria’s Disability Act (2018) gave a five-year compliance period ending in January 2024, yet most public buildings remain inaccessible, accessible voting aids are inconsistent, and there is still no functional national database to guide targeted support.
Real inclusion means making accessibility a standard — not a favour. It means designing websites that work with screen readers, planning city walkways with tactile guidance, providing braille and audio resources in schools, and changing the way media reports disability — from charity to rights and dignity.
As the world marks World Sight Day, let it be more than a health reminder. Let it be a call to redesign society with all eyes in mind — including those that see differently.
Inclusion begins when society stops looking and starts seeing.