How did people cope with bad eyesight before glasses were invented?

by pukkj

I read on Wikipedia that eyeglasses were not invented until the 13th century and then only for the rich at first. What jobs did people with bad eyesight before these times have? Were they outcasts because of their limitations? How did they deal with it every day? I cant see anything clearly without glasses thats more than a meter away from me so I have to imagine it had to be really difficult for them.

forbin_project1

A similar question has been asked before on AskHistorians:

What did they do before glasses and contacts?

How did people cope before there was access to things like glasses, and were there any alternatives?

I'm nearsighted. I've worn glasses for the last 25 years of my life and I'm useless with out them. So I got to wondering. How would a person, with my sight, manage 100 years ago? 500 years ago? 1000 years ago?

However, there seems to be a bit of disagreement both in the formation of Myopia and it's historical prevalence as noted by the responses to these questions.