Different Types of Visual Impairments

This graph shows a global estimate of visual impairment by regions.

Visual Impairment comes in many different stages, like a box coming in many different sizes.

There are three main types of visual impairment, all of which effect the use of the Internet.  These include being or having:

Low Vision:  Where a person can see, but not well, and it is not fixable by surgery.
Legally Blind:  Someone who lacks visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors so that they cannot see well or have minimal vision.
Totally Blind:  Someone who cannot see at all, and they depend on their other senses to live and survive in the world.

There are also other types of low vision that may not be as severe including color blindness, blurred vision, light blindness (cannot perceive light well), and also a blindness to only certain colors.

This image shows some ways that visually impaired Internet users may be able to use other physical devices and help to access the Internet more readily and easily.

All of these visual impairments effect the way users view websites on the Internet, and there are different tools and ways that websites can be built to help these Internet users use the Internet more easily, and be able to read and "see" more of the Internet.