Faces most missed if sight is lost, survey finds

WHAT do independence, great sporting occasions, and the faces of our loved ones have in common? – not a lot, until you consider what your life would be like without them.

These individual pleasures are among those we would most miss following loss of vision, according to a Sightsavers Ireland survey of attitudes towards blindness.

The survey, designed to drum up support for Sightsavers Easter campaign and to highlight the fact that 80% of all global blindness is avoidable, found that more than 9 in 10 people cherish sight ahead of the other four senses. Loss of independence is the biggest fear people have of blindness, a fear songstress Imelda May identifies with. Former soccer international and Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn would miss the cut and thrust of sport.