Blindness Statistics (Part 2): Blindness Registers in the United States

Abstract

State commissions for the blind and visually impaired have long been associated with the use of registers to determine the size and characteristics of the blind populations of their states (Goldstein, 1973). In recent years, some states have abandoned their registers; others have reduced their investments in them. It is also true that some states have never established them. A recent accounting of the number of states that have registers has not been published, though the information is of interest to those concerned with statistics on the blind and visually impaired population. Accordingly, we sought to determine how many states now maintain registers and also to gather information about those that do. This paper presents the results of a state-by-state survey of state agencies serving blind and visually impaired individuals.