About Deafblindness

Cerebral Vision Impairment (CVI)

CVI is a vision impairment in the brain, not the eyes. There are parts of the brain that interpret signals and information from the eyes. Damage or unusual structures in these parts of the brain can result in CVI. Other names for CVI are cortical blindness and neurological vision impairment.

The terms Cortical Vision Impairment and Cerebral Vision Impairment are both abbreviated to CVI. There is some variation and interchangeability in their usage.

Cerebral Vision Impairment tends to be an overarching term and more widely used. The term Cortical Vision Impairment is usually associated with a distinct subset of vision characteristics and behaviours.

Some also refer to it as a visual impairment. In Australia the preferred term is vision, rather than visual, impairment.

It is the leading cause of blindness in children in many parts of the world. This means more people with deafblindness will have CVI. Finding out if someone has CVI as soon as possible is important to help improve vision and development.

For a brief overview download the CVI Fact Sheet (Word docx 1.3 MB)

For more information on features, causes and treatment download the CVI Information Sheet (Word docx 2.5 MB)