Skills for Access

While various definitions exist for the term (see below), in the context of accessibility of digital media, we use this term to cover people with effectively no functional vision, and who must rely on alternative senses - in particular hearing and touch - to access digital information.

In the UK, a person may be registered as blind if they can only read the top letter of an opticians eye chart from three metres or less.

In reality, very few people who are blind live in total darkness. According to the RNIB, 49% of blind people can recognise a friend at arms length, while the BBC quotes only 18% of blind people as being unable to distinguish between light and dark.

Some people are born with a visual impairment, but many more gradually lose their sight over a long time, or may lose their sight suddenly as a result of an accident or illness. In such cases, the impact of prior vision on visual concepts such as colour may be significant.