to think DD shoudld be able to wear glasses for sports?

[theaandrea]

DD is 8. She love sports and we play tennis & badminton togethr. However, she started a new school recently and has been told she must take off her glasses forr sports. DD is vv short signthed amd has been wearing glasses since 5yrs old. She cannot see enough to play sports withiut them and is too young for contact lenses.

Dd's PE teacher insists she cannot wear glasses to PE class but also that she must not be excused from class. I try suggesting DD and me play sport together instead of PE class but PE class is required for the curriculum.

I want to talk with head teacher about DD being able to wear glasses because she really can't see enough to hit the ball etc without them and is getting very frustrated in PE lessons, making her lose her interest in sport. I think its ridiculous a teacher can ban a child from using something as essential as glasses!

AIBU?

Handmini and Giveityourbestfucker I had exactly the same experience. I am now a teacher and will not hear of children removing glasses for sport.

Another one here with v short sight. I'm 45 and although I wore glasses from the age of 7 (and it was glass in those days) I wore them for all sports and even made the hockey team.

I was never asked to remove them, because as my own PE teacher said, it would be more dangerous not to wear them.

I broke them at school once, and the walk home was very scary, because at -10 in each eye, I simply couldn't see clearly enough. I had to take a long way round that enabled me to cross at designated crossings for safety.

One way of getting the teacher to understand is to ask them to look through your DD's glasses. They will distort his/her vision by the same amount as they correct your DD's eyes, so all they will see is a blur.

When DP put my glasses on he was shocked by how bad it made his vision.

Under the Equality Act 2010, you are disabled if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities.

So, a person wearing glasses has had the "reasonable adjustment", but making someone take those glasses off and forcing them into going about without them might actually contravene the Equality Act......

As I said upthread, my DC has shockingly bad eyesight. Did most sports, athletics, trampoline, gymnastics etc whilst wearing glasses,

My eyesight nearly as bad, and with glass lenses I did hockey, tennis and rounders.

I wondered if the PE teacher was legally able to stop your DC.

Please come back and update, OP.

Quick mention to the ht that not wearing them would be dangerous and poss against h&s and maybe you should speak to ofstead to see what they think would be appropriate for the school to do in this situation shoild have it sorted out.

My prescription is similar to the OP's DD's. No way would I take them off to play tennis etc as it would not be safe for me. I would lose all sense of direction, balance and hearing. I can't tell if people are actually talking to me if I can't even focus on their face! I was never told to remove them at school. I'm used to being in a swimming pool without px goggles but it's not like I have to see far once in the water.

I am also really cross about this (and I am a primary school teacher).

DD1 is long-sighted (+9/+10 now at 7yo) with a huge squint without her glasses, a very lazy left eye and no depth perception. When she started school they wanted her to take her glasses off for PE.
I got very cross with them and so did the optometrist at the hospital who put it in writing that it was safer for her to keep her glasses on than to try doing PE without them. She was more likely to fall down the stairs getting to the main school building where the hall was before even making it to the PE lesson! They have never made a fuss since - she does all school PE and after school football training and does trampolining, Irish dancing and swimming (px goggles) with her glasses on. She will take them off if she wants to go on a bouncy castle (if they insist) but gets very tired.

DD2 has just started school (same Reception teachers). I just told them - and wrote on her enrollment forms - that she needed to wear her glasses AT ALL TIMES ('only' +4.5/+5.5 with squints in both eyes) and they have never even suggested she remove her glasses!

Do make a fuss - would they ask a child to remove a hearing aid? prosthetic arm?

DD2 got a bruise from her glasses frame, in Art not OR.

Some idiot waving a brush about causing her friend to jump back and bang into her.

DD isn't as short sighted as me and sometimes wears her glasses for PE and sometimes doesn't.

I honestly don't notice if she keeps them on to do back flips on the trampoline. They certainly turn cartwheels.

OR = PE (Crap = kindle)

another long term glasses wearer here, who had to do PE blind as a child. Its not good. Now I am an adult and I wear my glasses all my waking hours, I cycle, climb, body board, play unicycle hockey all with my glasses on. Number of pairs of glasses broken by sport = 0. number broken at work =1 , number a bit bent by week 6 of owning them = all of them.

Sorry but "Glasses" have not been made of glass for about 30 years! I know because the last glass pair I had I was 13 and they did break and leave me with a scar. Technology has really moved on and these days you can get safety specs (I have them for work) and practically unbreakable lenses.

Looking at the risk as a whole, she and others are far more at risk if she can't see properly and is running/throwing/hitting things. You might get hurt by your glasses if you get a cricket ball in the face but you'd just the same get hurt without them.

I really think this is right up there with conkers in the "elf & safety gorn mad" league.

What would the pe teacher do for a blind or partially sighted child?

Yes, my first pair 36 years ago were glass, but non of my subsequent ones.

As the opticians leaflet said all those years ago.

"Glasses for a child are not a handicap, they correct a handicap."

A 1970's way of putting it, but completely true. I hadn't realised how much of the world I was missing out in until I put in my first pair of glasses.

What utter nonsense. My childhood best friend went to a school for blind and partially sighted children because she is partially sighted. Most of the children there wore glasses of extremely high prescription, and they all kept them on for PE without ever giving that a second thought. I used to come to their sports days with her, we had a right laugh - and never a dangerous glasses breakage!

My DS is 8 and wears glasses, he is only mildly short sighted but taking the glasses off equals losing or forgetting the glasses. I do believe someone telling him to take them off for drama/dance which lead to them being lost, a trip to opticians to explain and order a new pair only for them to turn up a week later after the drama studio was checked! My DS hardly needs glasses but I am not OK with him being told to take them off as it is completely unnecessary.

He has had bruises from glasses frames pushed into his face at lunch time by other kids, balls, falling. Nothing serious. They are plastic lenses, glass lenses are way heavier and I imagine would be much more uncomfortable on a child.

Another mother of a glasses wearing child, who very much needs the glasses, did say they shouldn't be wearing them at a soft play area. AFAIK it wasn't actually a rule though.

How many times has a ball hit you in the face - probably zilch or once. You move as a reflex.

How many times will it hit her if she cant see/focus on it soon enough. A far bloody few.

Tell the school to stop being twats.

Dd plays sport with her glasses on or not at all. If its not at all that's blatant discrimination.

R there other kids with glasses in the school?

I'm shocked by this. I do hope the school sees sense and let's her wear the glasses. Perhaps you could look into a wraparound Oakley style pair? I ended up getting contacts aged 12 as had a lead in the school play and was told I wasn't allowed to wear my glasses as it would spoil my costume.. I was worried about falling off the stage in the dark/bright lights so lenses were the best option. Daily lenses are worn by quite young kids now so worth checking out. My stepdaughter is 11 and was very squeamish initially but now copes fine using them.

I've worn glasses since I was tiny. I was always allowed to wear them for sports, although some sports required a strap. I did break a pair once thanks to a basketball to the face, but that wasn't a sports injury as such, as much as an attack by a known bully.

I suspect I would have gotten hurt a lot more often if I hadn't worn them!

Another vote for lenses. I got my first ones at 14 and had to clean them every day and only wear them a set number of hours etc etc

But now the lenses let so much oxygen in they can easily be worn all day. She could have disposables just to wear on days when she has PE.

But the school are being bloody stupid.

My DS plays various sports out of school and no child is allowed to participate unless they have sports glasses. They have a band on them and are strengthened lenses I believe. They are expensive (about £130).

The chances of something happening are slim but these days people will sue over anything so schools/clubs have to be so careful, also no one wants a child to get hurt.

I must say, most schools don't do physical enough PE to worry though IME.

This company specialises in glasses for all sorts of sports, so they obviously can be worn.

www.sportsprescriptionglasses.co.uk/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=20

Not saying you need to go this far with your DD's eye-wear but they give details indicating safety of lenses.

My DD started wearing glasses in yr5 she wore them for P.E from the day she got them in three different schools. They got broken once when she got hit in the face with a netball but the lenses didn't break just them frame, its quite hard to break lens, GO in and talk to the school, she may need a band to keep them on and that's it.