Through Their Eyes: A Visual Exhibition on Avoidable and Preventable Blindness

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Through Their Eyes: A Visual Exhibition on Avoidable and Preventable Blindness will be launched at the Round Room at the Rotunda on 6 October 2026. Through powerful photography, personal stories, and immersive imagery, the exhibition shines a light on the reality of avoidable and preventable blindness and the profound impact it has on millions of people around the world.

Presented by Sightsavers Ireland, the exhibition highlights both the challenges faced by individuals living with vision loss and the extraordinary progress being made to prevent blindness and promote eye health. It showcases the life-changing effects of access to eye care, surgery, treatment, and inclusive support, demonstrating that simple, proven interventions can transform lives, livelihoods, and communities.

More than an exhibition, this is a call to awareness and action. Visitors are invited to reflect on the human stories behind the images, celebrate the resilience of individuals and communities, and recognise that together we can help create a world where no one is needlessly blind and where everyone has the opportunity to reach their full potential.

Through Their Eyes promotes a human rights agenda by highlighting access to eye health and inclusion as fundamental issues of equality, dignity and participation.

Avoidable vision impairment disproportionately affects people experiencing poverty and exclusion, and a lack of access to appropriate eye care can create or reinforce barriers to education, employment, independence and participation in community life. Through photography, personal stories and immersive imagery, the exhibition connects these global inequalities with the people whose rights and opportunities are directly affected.

The exhibition also explores disability through a rights-based lens, recognising that people with visual impairments have the same right to participate fully and equally in society. It highlights the importance of accessible and inclusive health services, education and communities, while demonstrating how proven interventions and stronger, more equitable systems can remove barriers and enable people to exercise their rights.

By centring the experiences and perspectives of people and communities affected by vision impairment, Through Their Eyes encourages audiences to consider preventable blindness not simply as a health issue, but as an issue of social justice, equality and human rights – and to recognise the collective responsibility to build a world in which everyone can participate on an equal basis.

This event is presented by Sightsavers Ireland

Sightsavers Ireland is an international charity working in more than 30 countries in Africa and Asia to train health workers, provide eye operations, support people with disabilities, improve women’s health, and more.

At Sightsavers, we start with sight, but we don’t stop there.

We treat eye conditions such as cataracts and tackle debilitating diseases, many of which cause sight loss. To do this, we work with governments and local, national and international partners to carry out eye operations and distribute treatments where they’re needed.

We help to improve health services so they are sustainable and make education more inclusive for children with disabilities. We also advocate for the rights of women, girls and people with disabilities.

We’re proud to be a leader in our field. Our programmes consistently achieve high performance ratings from Irish Aid.

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