Forty-two patients with severe visual loss from glaucoma were assigned an Esterman visual function score according to their performance on a binocular visual field test using an automated perimeter. (The Esterman score has been adopted by the AMA as a new standard for rating visual field disability.) The visual function score was correlated with patient responses to questions about perceived visual disability. Monocular visual field results from both eyes using automated suprathreshold static and manual kinetic perimetry were also compared to the binocular Esterman test results. The binocular Esterman test rapidly provided information concerning visual field disability which correlated well with combined monocular results, and with an objectivity lacking in patient responses to a disability questionnaire.