The worst case scenario for an adult blind person is that they’ll never be able to read a newspaper, the National Association of the Blind said Monday.
The association says a lack of the devices used in the first 24 hours of the pandemic could mean millions of people will never be properly blind.
In an online survey of 3,600 Americans, the association said that a lack in accessibility could leave people with permanent vision problems and lead to a “disaster” of epic proportions.
The group’s director of research, David Stumpf, said the worst-cases scenario would be a population with permanent blindness.
The National Institute of Blindness and Visual and hearing Services estimated there could be an additional 3.3 million Americans blind by 2030.
“We’re already seeing some people with severe vision problems in the US.
They are being displaced,” Stumpfl said in an interview with the Associated Press.”
And then if the pandemics continue to get worse, they could be even more severely impacted.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
