Have no experience with cataracts other than my eye doctor last visit says I have them starting and we can talk about them when they get bad enough to start affecting my vision. I'm 70 and been type II diabetic for around 35-40 years. Can't remember for sure the year but I was fairly newly married and had three small kids to be responsible for so thought I should have some life insurance. Insurance company sent out a nurse for health checkup and blood test came back high. So went to my own doctor and sure enough, diabetic. 

The chronic progressive disease the medical community has been lying about for longer than that. Type II is neither chronic nor progressive as long as a person does not put the crap into their mouth that causes the blood sugar to rise. I'm living proof and reversed mine in about two weeks after taking medication for 35 years and insulin shots for probably 25 or 30. But not one out of a hundred doctors will tell a type II diabetic they don't have to have a chronic progressive disease. It is fixable. Probably preventable. But I digress...........

Optical neuropathy is the biggest danger to eyes for diabetics as far as I know. Lots of tiny blood vessles in the eye and high blood sugar does great harm to small blood vessels. Have a diabetic friend that has had multiple laser surgeries because of burst blood vessles in the eye. She eats crap and uses an insulin pump to control blood sugar.