Eyecare for homeless people

We are petitioning for homeless people with no fixed address to be entitled to free eye care. At present, homeless people are only entitled to free eye care if they have a fixed address. This immediately discriminates against the many homeless people that are currently unable to provide a fixed address. Many opticians report that an address is required for reliability and prescriptions. However, we feel that this can be a barrier to homeless people who desperately need glasses or support with eye problems. Research shows that homeless people have more eye problems than the general population. Problems include high prevalence of uncorrected refractive error, cataract and binocular vision problems. Without adequate eye sight they are not able to get jobs and improve their lives. We believe homeless people should have the same entitlements as everyone else and not be discriminated against.