Sure, but these women had macular degeneration and were going blind anyway. MD causes the vision to deteriorate first in the center of the visual field, and then expand outward, so the most important part of sight is lost first, leaving only peripheral vision. So it's not like 3 women with perfect vision suddenly lost their sight.
Well when you put it like that it sounds much more reasonable, they should really be grateful for the opportunity to go blind earlier. Now they have an opportunity to pull themselves up by their own walking sticks.
I tell them to turn to the study of mathematics, for it is only there that they might escape the lusts of the flesh. -- Thomas Mann, "The Magic Mountain"