The short-sighted person cannot see clearly at distance, whether the accommodation muscles are in the relaxed or activated mode. Parallell rays are carried to focus in front of the macula, because the eye is too long, (other factors, like diabetes, might also have an effect upon the refraction). Blurring of vision increases with increasing distance from focus to macula.

When the person, however, is looking at something close up, the incoming rays diverge and, therefore, focus moves towards the macula. The vision gets clearer, and thus myopic people may be able to read without bringing the eye into an active state of accommodation! That is the positive side of myopia