Introduction:

the vision, the man's most reliable sense, plays an essential role in all spheres of life. It is a fundamental part of face- to- face social communication.

Objective:

to characterize the students with visual disabilities served by the "Jose Marti" Special School in Pinar del Rio province as Resource and Support Center, in the period from September 2022 to May 2023.

Methods:

observational, descriptive, cross - sectional study. The universe and the sample were formed of 37 students, coincident from a non-probabilistic intentional sampling and according to the exclusion and inclusion criteria. The medical records were reviewed taking into account the corresponding ethical considerations, and with the consent of the Center's management. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to tabulate data.

Results:

in the sample, the ages between 10 to12 years predominated, the male sex 51,35 %, schooling at the primary level (32,43 %). Out of them, seven students were blind for 18,91 %, and 30 were of low vision for 81,08 %, while 54,05 classified as having slight low vision. Composite hyperopic astigmatism was the most common primary ametropia. The most commonly used optical aids were hypercorrections and manual magnifying glasses. The most used non-optical aids: lighting, lecterns, strong contrasts (black and white), and close -ups.

Conclusions:

it is gratifying to achieve that the students with visual disabilities moved with their peer group at the educational level that corresponds to them, with the resources and support necessary for their development taking into account their uniqueness.

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