Dear Readers, A common folklore in some tribal settings has it that a young man who was blind right from birth was accorded by Almighty God a brief moment, about two seconds, to see.

The man appraised his surroundings in a hurry with amazement bordering on awe. He was astonished to see a donkey grazing about three metres away from him. He was thrilled by what he saw. The object, which was busy eating was stunningly beautiful.

Unfortunately, before he could apprehend the world around him, his blindness returned. He was told by those around him that he had just seen an animal called a donkey. The blind young man remarked that that donkey was "stunningly beautiful. One day the blind man heard some men talking about the stunning beauty of a young woman.

He asked rather impatiently: "Is the woman you are talking about as beautiful as the donkey I saw the other day?" Everyone was dismayed by this question. However, one of the men understood the blind man's predicament. He answered: "Yes." This column, today, discusses the predicament parents and guardians face when raising a blind child

It is a situation that evokes a lot of compassion. It is imperative to mention at the outset that some children are born with visual impairments. A child who is blind has a high degree of vision loss.

However, about 18 per cent of blind children are totally blind -- most can distinguish between light and dark. Childhood blindness has an adverse effect on growth and development. Parents should make sure that severe visual impairment and blindness in infants is detected as early as possible to initiate treatment to prevent deep blindness (amblyopia). Although difficult, measurement of visual acuity of an infant is possible.

Screening in the first few weeks of life can prevent blindness. When a child is partially sighted, he has a less severe loss of vision. Partially sighted children can see more than blind children but less than good sighted children. We cannot read the minds of young children.

If we could, there would be many surprises. A child who is born blind does not know what it is like to see. Until he or she is old enough to begin to understand how other people do things, blindness seems normal. Like other children, blind children need to learn about appropriate and inappropriate behaviour