IV 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 961 

Encouraging the establishment of programs to increase public awareness 

of vision disorders in children. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 27, 2006 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN (for herself, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. TIBERI, Mr. 

MACK, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. 

GRIJALVA, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. HINCHEY, 

Mr. JEFFERSON, Mr. SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. ORTIZ, Mr. 

FITZPATRICK of Pennsylvania, Mr. BONNER, Mr. HAYWORTH, Mr. 

MCCOTTER, Mr. SHAW, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. RAMSTAD, and Mr. LINCOLN

DIAZ-BALART of Florida) submitted the following resolution; which was 

referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

RESOLUTION 

Encouraging the establishment of programs to increase 

public awareness of vision disorders in children. 

Whereas there is a need to enhance national awareness and 

to educate the public and health care providers about vision disorders in children; 

Whereas millions of children in the United States suffer from 

vision problems, and many cases go undetected; 

Whereas there is no recent nationwide study to accurately determine the percentage of United States children who 

have particular vision problems; 


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Whereas there is a need for the establishment of national 

standards or guidelines to further encourage early identification and treatment of vision problems in children, 

from birth to age 18; 

Whereas 80 percent of individual learning is through the visual processing of information; 

Whereas vision impairment affects how a child experiences 

and functions in the world; 

Whereas children with vision problems struggle throughout 

their developmental and school years with resulting physical, emotional, and social consequences; 

Whereas some health care and educational systems are not 

effectively detecting children’s vision problems due to a 

lack of, or inadequate, vision screenings and comprehensive eye examinations in those systems; 

Whereas common vision problems in children include refractive errors, amblyopia, strabismus, ocular trauma, and infections; 

Whereas rare but sight-threatening and life-threatening vision 

problems include retinoblastoma (a malignant tumor that 

usually appears in the first 3 years of age), infantile 

cataracts, congenital glaucoma, and genetic or metabolic 

diseases of the eye; and 

Whereas the costs to society and government is enormous 

from not detecting, evaluating, and treating early on the 

vision problems in children: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that programs should be established— 


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1 (1) to increase public awareness about the prev2 alence and devastating consequences of vision dis3 orders in children; and 

4 (2) to educate the public and health care pro5 viders about— 

6 (A) the warning signs and symptoms of oc7 ular and vision disorders and the benefits of 

8 early detection, evaluation, and treatment; and 

9 (B) the importance of early and regular vi10 sion screening and comprehensive eye exams to 

11 detect vision disorders that may not be readily 

12 apparent. 

Æ 


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