Sight Loss

In addition to hearing loss, sight loss and visual impairments are also common with increasing age. This may cause the individual to experience greater disorientation and increase their risk of falls.

Sight loss and dementia together can cause the individual to feel very isolated. They will be unable to use visual prompts to aid their understanding and unable to interpret non-verbal communication. This means that being able to communicate effectively with them may be difficult, but even more important.

To communicate with someone who has dementia and sight loss, try the following:

• Encourage them to wear their glasses if they have them.
• Take time to build a positive and trusting relationship with them.
• Introduce yourself when talking and try to have 1-1 conversations to avoid confusion.
• Reduce/eliminate environmental noise such as TV’s and radios.
• Verbally communicate before and during any aspect of care, to make them aware of what you are doing.