You’re Not A PWD; You’re A Freeloader
Senior citizens have special discounts when buying medications, food, and even groceries. Adults in their 50s who have started taking maintenance medications now wish they get to 60 years old quicker so they can avail of these discounts.
Seniors aren’t the only ones who can get these special privileges. Persons with Disabilities (PWD) are also eligible for that golden 20% discount on their meds, as well as medical procedures such as surgeries. It’s fun wishing to be 60 years old but never to be disabled, right?
Unfortunately, people have found loopholes to get this valuable discount card. Last year, a girl on Facebook declared she received her PWD card for visual disability because of her Error of Refraction with a grade of “300+”. In her caption she said people should “know their rights.”
The PWD card is a privilege and not a right. Privilege is entitling a specific group of people who meet certain requirements. Errors of refraction do not automatically label you visually disabled, even if your grade is more than 1000 and above, if glasses improve your vision to 20/20. For one to be visually disabled, and qualify as PWD, vision on the BETTER eye should be worse than 20/70. So a person who is nearsighted with for example, a grade of -10.00sph on the right and -9.00sph on the left eye, BUT on visual acuity check gets 20/40 on the right eye and 20/20 on the left eye when wearing his glasses, means he is not qualified as a PWD.
On the other hand, some patients with glaucoma can have a visual acuity of 20/20 on both eyes and still qualify as PWD because their visual field is less than ten (10) degrees from the fixation point. Of course, you have to be ready with your official visual field/perimetry results to prove so.
I’ve had several patients ask for a medical certificate lately “for PWD.” After explaining the requirements and qualifications to them, most of these patients, whose vision is definitely unqualified, get angry at me. “This is so unfair! My friend got hers last year and her refraction was just 400!”
I tell them this is precisely why the National Council on Disability Affairs, together with ophthalmologists, have become stricter, so that only those who are eligible can get the card.
Some of these fake visually-challenged PWDs will only use their card to watch movies (pre-pandemic) anyway. Weird, right? But truth is usually stranger than fiction.
Seniors aren’t the only ones who can get these special privileges. Persons with Disabilities (PWD) are also eligible for that golden 20% discount on their meds, as well as medical procedures such as surgeries. It’s fun wishing to be 60 years old but never to be disabled, right?
Unfortunately, people have found loopholes to get this valuable discount card. Last year, a girl on Facebook declared she received her PWD card for visual disability because of her Error of Refraction with a grade of “300+”. In her caption she said people should “know their rights.”
The PWD card is a privilege and not a right. Privilege is entitling a specific group of people who meet certain requirements. Errors of refraction do not automatically label you visually disabled, even if your grade is more than 1000 and above, if glasses improve your vision to 20/20. For one to be visually disabled, and qualify as PWD, vision on the BETTER eye should be worse than 20/70. So a person who is nearsighted with for example, a grade of -10.00sph on the right and -9.00sph on the left eye, BUT on visual acuity check gets 20/40 on the right eye and 20/20 on the left eye when wearing his glasses, means he is not qualified as a PWD.
On the other hand, some patients with glaucoma can have a visual acuity of 20/20 on both eyes and still qualify as PWD because their visual field is less than ten (10) degrees from the fixation point. Of course, you have to be ready with your official visual field/perimetry results to prove so.
I’ve had several patients ask for a medical certificate lately “for PWD.” After explaining the requirements and qualifications to them, most of these patients, whose vision is definitely unqualified, get angry at me. “This is so unfair! My friend got hers last year and her refraction was just 400!”
I tell them this is precisely why the National Council on Disability Affairs, together with ophthalmologists, have become stricter, so that only those who are eligible can get the card.
Some of these fake visually-challenged PWDs will only use their card to watch movies (pre-pandemic) anyway. Weird, right? But truth is usually stranger than fiction.
Margarita Bondoc-Hermosa
Margarita Bondoc-Hermosa is an ophthalmologist practising in Metro Manila and the Visayas. She can be reached here:
Contact Margarita