There's plenty of room for improvement when it comes to public awareness of vision issues. According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, only one in every five people can correctly identify the main causes of blindness in the US. Another two in every three Americans wrongly believe vision loss inevitably comes with age. And those are just the adults!

Teaching newer generations is a great way to strengthen public vision awareness—and if you've got a Girl Scout troop, it can even help you introduce a fun new patch! The Vision Awareness Patch, created by the New Jersey Society of Optometric Physicians, aims to support eye health and eye care education for Girl Scouts in fun and exciting ways. Here are a few activities you can do with your troop to get started.

Looking for a great foundation for your troop's vision awareness? Consider teaching them more about common eye conditions. Kids also love to visualize and interact with what they learn. Having those elements in learning materials can make it even easier to grasp the concept of refractive errors (like near- and farsightedness), how they happen, and why people need to wear eyeglasses and contact lenses to fix them. They may even find out they have an eye condition themselves! That's why you may want to get started with interactive workbooks like Your Eyes – Eyecare Adventures with Op, Tish and Ann. This fun story about three bears learning about eye care comes interspersed with multiple activity pages and an AR feature for additional interactivity. With many teachers finding it a useful tool in the classroom, you may have similar success trying it out with your troop.

You'll want to emphasize the importance of sun protection for the eyes—especially since UV overexposure can lead to multiple blindness-causing conditions down the line, and your troop will get half a lifetime's worth of sun damage before they turn 18. To underline just how crucial it is to wear sunglasses, get a pair of shades and a UV flashlight to hold a little science experiment. Get all your Scouts in a room, turn out the lights, and shine your UV flashlight on one of the lenses. If you use sunglasses rated "UV400," which is the standard for reliable brands like Ray-Ban and Oakley, no rays should come through the other side—perfectly illustrating how well they can block UV rays.

You'll also want to highlight the importance of specific lens coatings, like polarized ones. For this, you should buy some polarized sunglasses . The likes of the Arnette Hotshot and Costa Blackfin are specifically designed to reduce the sun's glare, which in excess amounts can cause temporary blindness through a condition called "photokeratitis." At the same time, however, they'll also improve your visual clarity. You can test that out with your Girl Scouts by heading over to a shallow pool or pond with murky water and placing items in there for them to find. Bring them around on a sunny day and have them check if they can see what's in the water after using polarized sunglasses to block glare. 

Another great way to foster vision awareness in your troop is to talk about accessibility. Cover how expensive eye care and eyewear can be, especially without insurance, and how those costs usually deter people from getting the medical attention they need. Highlight how that causes many to experience worsened eyesight—then get them directly involved by organizing a donation drive for prescription eyeglasses . This is something that's already been done by Boy Scouts like Ian Griffin, who launched his very own "Glasses for the Masses" project in 2021 to work toward the rank of Eagle Scout. That's probably because it's a great community initiative that can show your Girl Scouts how they can make a difference in the world: it requires teamwork and working with others to get the job done.

The basics of the glasses donation drive are pretty simple. Set up boxes in high-traffic areas in public spaces or buildings, like parks and community centers. You can also go door-to-door. The trick is to reach people who have old glasses tucked away in a junk drawer, donate them to the organization of your choice, and help those specs reach people who need them—both here in the US and around the globe. That includes kids who can't afford them for better vision in the classroom and older people who want to age independently. Some of the best organizations you can work with are the Lions Club, New Eyes, and Eyes for Hope. Many even offer donation boxes your troop can order and use in your area. 

Another great way to underline the importance of vision awareness is to put your troop in the "shoes" of someone with vision loss. Pair everyone up. Blindfold one partner and have them try to do daily tasks like buttoning shirts and brushing their teeth. Get the other to act as their guide. Afterward, have them switch roles. Top everything off with a group discussion on how it felt to not be able to see what you were doing. This "in the dark" activity is a great way to foster a greater sense of gratitude for eyesight in your Girl Scouts, emphasize to them how crucial eye care is—and maybe even help them develop empathy and compassion for individuals with vision impairments.