Terms & Scope
A description of how sight is used — not of a person.
One eye may see sharply, one may see poorly, or the only eye may itself have low vision. These are materially different lives. This site includes all of them, and invites you to describe your own sight in your own words.
- Monocular vision
- Sight in only one eye, or reliance on one eye for useful vision.
- Says nothing of how well that eye sees, or how much vision remains in the other.
- Low vision
- Useful sight is reduced and may not be fully corrected by ordinary glasses or contact lenses. Thresholds vary by jurisdiction.
- Function is not measured by acuity alone. Practical support may be relevant without registration.
- Blindness
- A legal or clinical classification in a given system — or a person’s own preferred description.
- Monocular vision is not blindness, and blindness does not always mean no light perception.
- Eye removal
- Absence of an eye from birth (anophthalmia) or after surgical removal.
- Anatomy is not the same as sight lost in an eye that remains present.
- Binocular vision
- Use of both eyes together. Stereopsis is one source of depth information.
- Many people see with two eyes without normal stereopsis; one-eyed observers use other depth cues.
Explanatory working definitions, not diagnostic criteria. Clinical wording is to be reviewed by an ophthalmologist, orthoptist, optometrist or low-vision specialist before publication as advice.[9]