ADA Guide for Places of Lodging: Serving Guests Who Are Blind or Who Have Low Vision

People Who Are Blind or Who Have Low Vision

Approximately 2.5 million people in the United States are “legally blind” – meaning that even with corrective lenses, they have less than 20/200 visual acuity or that their visual field is 20 degrees or less, regardless of acuity. Many of them have some residual vision. Only about 5% of blind people use Braille for reading; many people who are legally blind are able to read large print.

Many have “low vision.” Many have eyesight that is better than 20/200 or a visual field that is greater than 20 degrees, but they have some significant impairment that substantially limits their ability to see well under different circumstances. In some people, the center of the field of vision is obscured. In others, the peripheral vision is obscured, as though they are looking through a tunnel. Others have conditions that cause glare to produce rapid eye strain.

Many people who are blind or who have low vision wear very thick glasses or very dark sunglasses. Others carry white canes. Still others use service animals such as guide dogs. Some walk with another person who serves as a sighted guide. Some who are legally blind or who have low vision do not use a cane or a guide dog or wear glasses of any kind.