Walking blind

As a person who is registered blind I am obviously not allowed to drive.  This could be a

good thing as I definitely have a need for speed! You would think that someone who can’t see very well would move about quite slowly but on the contrary, I am generally in a hurry! Let me drive a car and who knows what could happen! Another good thing about not being able to drive is that it keeps me fit having to walk everywhere and I am doing my bit for the environment which is something I care about.

I am very lucky that I have always been blessed with good mobility skills.  I can’t say whether this is predominately an innate ability or whether its entirely something I’ve learnt.  Generally you find that it is a mixture of both.  What I can say is that as a child I attended schools for pupils who were visually impaired where mobility training was a big part of the curriculum and this has served me well.  

Surprisingly perhaps, I have a visual memory.  I generally form a picture of places I have been and can usually remember the way after one trip. My husband is fully sighted yet I am often the person who gives directions when we are going somewhere for a second (or maybe third or fourth) time! 

As you can imagine I am very familiar with the local area where I live and many surrounding places too.  Part of this knowledge, is an image of all the various ‘hazards’ that are always found when walking about.  These include: poles, trees (darn over-hanging branches!), bins, benches, advertising signs, bicycles, cars parked on pavements and restaurant/cafe furniture. I also know where all the uneven pavements are, having nearly tripped or been jolted unexpectedly downwards several times! 

Traveling somewhere for the first time is a little different though.  If I am going to a new place on my own then much more preparation is required than would be necessary for a sighted person.  I do not have a ‘picture’ of a new place. Uncertainties regarding the accessibility are in my mind.  What kind of road crossings will there be? Are there unexpected steps or uneven pavements? These are just some of the issues for me.  

As a young person I would not have been so anxious about going somewhere new on my own.  We are more fool-hardy when we are young but experience can make us a little more cautious.  

Two episodes spring to mind which have helped to shape my cautiousness.  In my early twenties I used to attend an evening class after I finished work.  Getting there involved taking an underground train and then a 15 minute walk.  As always I was in a hurry! On one occasion I collided with a bollard.  This is not an totally unfamiliar occurrence except unfortunately I was wearing a skirt so that I ended up bent double with the bollard between my legs, my arms swinging frantically trying to stand upright again! On another occasion, rushing as usual, I literally flew down some unexpected and unseen steps. I have a remarkable sense of balance so that miraculously I did not fall to the ground but suffered with a very painful twisted ankle. 

Experience over the years has taught me what I need to look out for and be aware of.  This does not mean that I never have bumps but they are less frequent.  

Some of the uncertainty around walking in unfamiliar places can be overcome when there is a consistent implementation of mobility features.  For example auditory signals at road crossings, clear markings on pavements to indicate where crossings and steps are such as tactile bumps for crossings and lines for steps, clear visual indicators on flights of steps such as painting the edge of the top and bottom step a contrasting colour. It is very helpful if poles and bollards are not the same colour as the pavement, otherwise they can become invisible for us.  Obviously where this is already the case it would be too expensive to replace them but just adding a strip of colour around the pole can make all the difference. It has become very fashionable recently for communal spaces to be very open with no contrasting colours.  While this may look beautiful it is totally impractical for someone with low vision.  Where the same colour paving is used for both the road and the path this is potentially an accident waiting to happen.  

I hope that this has given some insight into what it is like to walk around as a person with low vision. There are now places where accessibility features are implemented very well but there is still a lot to do to raise awareness of this issue.  I think it isn’t that people don’t care but just that they are totally unaware of these things.