Why glasses can create a vision for Baltimore
Monday Nov 28th, 2016
Imagine if you are an eight-year old who needs glasses but doesn’t know it. You squint to read the board. Sometimes, if you’re sitting too far back, you can’t see the board at all. Tasks that seem simple to other students, like reading a short story or understanding a map, are frustrating and almost impossible.
According to estimates from the Baltimore City Health Department and Johns Hopkins University, as many as 10,000 elementary and middle school students in Baltimore City lack the glasses they need. Not only do students with vision problems have difficulty focusing and fall behind their peers academically, but also have a greater tendency for hyperactivity, distractibility, and misbehavior.
It is common sense that if children cannot see, they cannot learn. They can go through years of struggle, even being set back in school or labeled as being “troubled”, before they are treated with something as simple as a pair of glasses.