Number of visually impaired and blind residents (FOI)

Request

We would like to find out how many people on the island of Jersey are registered either as visually impaired or blind.

Response

A one-off survey on disability in Jersey was carried out in 2015 when the Disability and Inclusion strategy was being developed, this used the following United Nations measures of functional impairment:

 functional impairment.ons.gov.uk

The report found that 16% of individuals reported at least some difficulty seeing, even if wearing glasses and 5% of individuals reported a diagnosed sight or hearing loss (further information can be found on pages 20 to 25 of this report:

Jersey 'Health and Life Opportunities' survey report (gov.je) 

However, the Government of Jersey does not hold an official list or register of people with a sight impairment.

As an official register is not available, Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

Article Applied 

Article 3 - Meaning of “information held by a public authority”

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –

(a)     it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b)     it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.