Simple Tips for Adapting to New Vision Changes
A Guide for Brain Injury Survivors and Families
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After a Brain Injury...
Returning home after you or a loved one has been hospitalized with a brain injury diagnosis can be overwhelming. Physical, emotional, and sensory changes can limit safe management at home and in the community. Vision changes can especially challenge safe movement and access to items in and outside of the home. This website will provide you with education and resources on safety adaptations and techniques to ease the transition from the hospital to your home and community.
The goal of this website is to help you to:
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Recall the types of visual deficits that are commonly related to acquired brain injury
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Explain how vision deficits impact safety and quality of life after discharge
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Identify concerns for safety and independence in your home
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Determine which techniques can be applied in your situation
Brain Injury and Vision
Brain injury
An acquired brain injury is any damage to the brain that occurs after birth, such as a stroke, traumatic brain injury, brain tumor (CDC, 2015). Individuals who sustain an acquired brain injury may suffer from sensory, motor, emotional, and cognitive deficits (CDC, 2015).
Vision Deficits
Sensory deficits in vision can limit a person's ability to participate in meaningful activities (AOTA, 2020). It is estimated “that 90% of traumatic brain injury patients suffer from visual dysfunction” (NORA, 2020a, para. 5). According to the American Stroke Association (2019), “65% of stroke survivors may have vision problems” (bullet 1). Deficits can occur when motor control of the eyes is impaired causing blurred vision or double vision. A brain injury can cause vision loss in parts of the visual field. Sensory information may be misinterpreted on one-half of the body causing a visual neglect, or balance problems. Deficits also include light sensitivity and impaired color perception (NORA, 2020b).
Risks at home with new vision deficits
Vision deficits related to a brain injury may involve symptoms such as low acuity, loss of vision, decreased awareness of one side, light sensitivity, or color perception issues. Because of these deficits, brain injury survivors may have difficulty with self-care, reading, writing, driving, eating, and mobility (Greenwald et al., 2012). In addition, when adapting to new vision changes, survivors are at risk for falls, collisions with objects, food and medication errors, and self-care struggles.
Review
After reading the information provided so far, can you recall at least 2 visual deficits that can occur after an acquired brain injury?
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Refer to the following link for review and further information.
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Common Vision Problems & Symptoms Following a Brain ...
https://noravisionrehab.org › about-brain-injuries-vision
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Take a moment and think about how these deficits impact safety and quality of life after returning home from the hospital.
The survivors in the following video share their perspectives on adjusting to vision changes due to an acquired brain injury.