The circumstances of older people in England with self-reported visual impairment: A secondary analysis of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA)

Abstract

One key challenge to those charged with tackling the social exclusion of visually impaired people is having information about the extent to which visual impairment is related to the ability to enjoy and participate in various aspects of life. Using data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), this article considers how self-reported visual impairment is related to older people’s physical health and cognitive abilities, their economic and housing conditions, their social engagement, as well as their emotional well-being and life-satisfaction. We find self-reported poor vision to be associated with multiple disadvantages in those outcome measures. Further research is needed to establish causal links between visual impairment and the various health, economic, social and emotional well-being experiences documented in this article. Nevertheless, secondary data analysis of ELSA offers a useful and cost-effective research approach.