What is meant by legally blind and blind?
If one is legally blind, then one can accurately be considered blind. The words are interchangeable. Legally blind persons are eligible for many programs, including our NFB Scholarship Program. Confirmation of legal blindness by an authority on eye conditions is required for special consideration and disability services from the IRS, Social Security, and other federal, state, and private organizations. The United States Code defines blindness in federal law as follows: [T]he term “blindness” means central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with the use of a correcting lens. An eye which is accompanied by a limitation in the fields of vision such that the widest diameter of the visual field subtends an angle no greater than 20 degrees shall be considered for purposes in this paragraph as having a central visual acuity of 20/200 or less. Social Security Act: 42 U.S.C. 416(i)(1)(B) (Supp. IV 1986).[1] Translation: A person is considered legally blind if the vision in the ri
