October is Blindness Awareness Month

October 18, 2011 - Blindness and visual impairment affect more people than you might realize; in fact, one out of every 28 Americans over the age of 40 suffers from some form of blindness. While retinal degenerative diseases cause vision loss in over 10 million Americans, it’s important that we remember that many millions more suffer blindness from other causes. Awareness is the first step toward prevention. In observance of October as World Blindness Awareness Month, we at the Foundation Fighting Blindness proudly continue to raise awareness around blindness and blinding diseases, and thank our passionate supporters for their commitment, dedication, and drive in our fight against blindness.

Read on to learn some interesting facts you may not have known about blindness in America and the Foundation Fighting Blindness.

How often someone in the U.S. becomes blind: Every 7 minutes

Number of Americans age 40 or older suffering from blindness, visual impairment, or an age-related eye disease: 38 million

Number of Americans age 40 or older with a visual impairment that cannot be corrected with eyewear: 3.6 million

Cost of eye disease and vision loss to the U.S. annually: $68 billion

Amount of each U.S. health dollar spent on medical and health research: $.06

Amount of vision-related expenses accumulated by a blind or visually impaired individual each year: $1,479

Number of Americans that develop advanced age-related macular degeneration each year: 200,000

Projected cost of age-related macular degeneration over the next 15 years: $845 million

Amount of money raised by the Foundation Fighting Blindness for critical research: more than $425 million

Amount of money raised through VisionWalk, the national signature fundraising program of the Foundation Fighting Blindness, since 2006: more than $18 million

Number of research grants funded by the Foundation Fighting Blindness: 130

Number of institutions where the Foundation Fighting Blindness is funding vital retinal disease research: 73