Reflections on sight loss - RNIB

Talking point
Facing the emotional challenge
A diagnosis of sight loss can take a big toll on the emotions, quite apart from
the practical problems people face. Sarah Underwood asks who can provide
support, and what is the best way to deliver it.
Anger, grief, anxiety, isolation and a profound
sense of lost identity and independence are
some of the feelings that can overwhelm
people following a diagnosis of sight loss. In
some areas of the UK, emotional support is
available to help those who are losing their
sight, but elsewhere support is patchy – a
situation that several organisations are
resolved to put right.
“No one who is diagnosed should make the
sight loss journey alone”, says Carol Borowski,
chair of RNIB’s Early Reach Board, which has a
five-year strategy to improve access to
support. “It is very tough, and people need
both emotional and practical support. There is
a tendency for people to liken sight loss to
bereavement. It is a loss, but it is a loss of self
rather than of another person. This loss of
identity is not well understood.”
Borowski, like many of her peers, believes
both practical and emotional help should be
offered immediately after diagnosis of sight
loss, and also involve families and friends.
“We have notions of ourselves built around
what we have grown to be over time. Sudden
loss of sight can have traumatic
consequences, while those who see less and
less over time have to adapt again and again.
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They need to constantly reinvent themselves,
and that takes a big toll on emotions”.
What support is needed?
While it is accepted that everyone deals with
sight loss in their own way and that there is
no single solution, there is a growing body of
opinion that more support needs to be
provided and that it should, ultimately, be
funded by the Government. There is also a
general feeling among blind and partially
sighted people that those providing support
services should be specially trained and have a
real understanding of their specific needs.
Mary Norowzian, who was until recently senior
manager of RNIB emotional support services,
says: “There are some pockets of good
practice, but if we don’t address the wider
need for emotional support we will leave
thousands of people unable to move forward
in their lives.”
Norowzian describes the need for a spectrum
of support that will cover the varying needs of
individuals. At the point of diagnosis, eye
clinic liaison officers (ECLOs), who are based
in some hospital eye clinics offer initial
support and signposting to services that can
help. Back in the community, support, if any is