-19-
About a third had experienced severe visual problems for
5
to 20
years, and another third for 21 to 40 years; 14 percent had been
partially sighted for over 40 years.
While analysis of cases in
finer intervals for more recently partially sighted people might
provide more information about adjustment to visual loss, the small number of cases in this category rendered such procedures infeasible.
Table 2.4 YEARS WITH SERIOUS VISUAL PROBLEM BY SEX (In percent)
Years with Serious Visual Problem
Male
Female
Total Sample
25
17
21
5-20
31
33
32
21-40
29
36
32
More than 40
15
14
14
Less than
5
In this sample, most of the younger participants (aged 21-35) had
become partially sighted at a very young age, and most of the age 36-50 group had also been partially sighted for a large portion of their lives.
In the older group a much larger percentage of participants had
been partially sighted for a short time.
In the 51-65 group, nearly
half had been partially sighted for less than 20 years and over a
quarter for less than
5
years.
In the over-65 group, nearly all had
been partially sighted for less than 20 years and nearly half for less than
5
years.
The distributions were similar for males and females.
This is shown in Table 2.5, which provides mean number of years par-
tially sighted by category for males, females, and the total sample.