By certifying your child’s vision impairment and registering with your local authority, you can access more support for you and your child. Here we explain the process and the benefits of registering.
By certifying your child’s vision impairment and registering with your local authority, you can access more support for you and your child. Here we explain the process and the benefits of registering.
A Certificate of Vision Impairment (CVI) is a formal document that states that your child has significant sight loss that can’t be corrected.
In England and Wales, it’s called a CVI, in Scotland a CVI (Scotland), and in Northern Ireland an A655.
The ophthalmologist may decide not to certify your child until they’re older, when the responses to the tests will be more accurate. Even if your child has a diagnosed vision impairment, they may not meet the criteria for certification. For example, if your child is blind in one eye, they won’t be eligible to be certified, unless the other eye is also significantly impaired as well.
Guide Dogs helped us put together a clear plan of everything we needed and worked with the local authority to make it happen. It was brilliant.
If your child has been certified as having a vision impairment, a copy of that certificate is sent to your local authority Education/Sensory Support Team (the name may differ, depending on the local authority). The team then contacts you to ask if you would like to register your child.
If you choose to register your child, the local authority specialist service will:
The local authority can, in the future, withdraw your child’s registration if their vision significantly improves. Equally, your child may choose to remove themselves from the register when they’re older.
It’s completely up to you if you want to register your child or not, but if you do it can open the door to more support and benefits for you and your family.
After your child’s registration is approved by your local authority, you will be given a registration card. This card is simple to carry around, so you can use it to show proof of your child's vision impairment if needed when out and about. However, it cannot be used to apply for the Disability Living Allowance; for this you need the certification paperwork.
Registration comes with different benefits, depending on your child's age and whether they're registered as sight impaired (partially sighted) or severely sight impaired (blind):
Please get in touch if you'd like some advice, or to chat about how we can help you.