Empathy Research & Body Storming

The whole idea of going out and wearing dark glasses that I could barely see through is to allow myself to imagine what it feels like to be visually impaired. This helps me feel the emotions others might feel and allows me to experience it myself in order to understand it better.

I actually went out twice, once with my eyes shut and sunglasses on (I decided against wearing a hairband over my eyes because it would draw attention to the fact that I can't see - I wanted to see other peoples reactions when I was more discreet) and the second time with the special glasses.

The first time I was out it was pitch black for me and I couldn't see a thing. It was difficult to navigate and orient myself and I used the wall to lead my way down the staircase while Louise supervised me. I don't think anyone paid that much attention to me apart from the fact that I was walking really slowly and touching the wall as I walked. I ended up walking down 2 flights of stairs and out the door, into the court yard and attempted to go to the luncheonette without success, before I decided to go back and try on the glasses. Walking around with my eyes shut was extremely difficult. I was in a familiar surrounding and I still couldn't take a few steps across the court yard to find the building across - I ended up walking in circles when in fact I was certain I was walking in a straight line.

The second time I went out wearing a pair of glasses that represented retinitis pigmentosa. They had little tiny holes that allowed a small beam of light in. All I was able to see was light and shapes. You would think that judging by how badly I was able to navigate myself, or lack of navigation from my previous journey that these glasses would be better because they had small holes. And they were in some cases. But mostly they were just as bad if not worse. They made me feel frustrated. I could see some shapes and figures but it was extremely uncomfortable being so close to seeing and yet so far away at the same time. This time I went out of the studio and down to the canteen with friends who were purchasing food.


Overall the whole experience was quite frightening to someone who has always used their vision. The glasses let through a little beam of light so I was able to see light and shapes. It was worse in darker places like in the corridor and under the shadow of a tree and in the dark canteen. It was also bad when the sun was out and it was very bright outside, there was too much light shining on me.

Walking without a cane felt like a disadvantage, I felt like if I had one it would help me figure out the ground surface so I would know where I was walking (I was in a familiar place so it would be completely different going somewhere new), the can would also let me know if there were any obstacles in my way. I couldn't tell if there were otherwise. I walked into benches and into bins, things below my hands that I couldn't reach to feel and things at my waist level that I wasn't expecting. I figured out that by reaching out and trying to use the walls around me as a guide works really well. They are permanent fixtures. But when I was outside, there was nothing to guide me the right way and so I was completely lost, making circles and walking in the opposite direction.

I didn't have a good sense of orientation at all, even though I consider myself to be good at navigating usually, but that is also because I can see and remember my surroundings and this time I wasn't able to do that. I couldn't get from A to B without guidance, I wasn't able to walk in a straight line without my sight and it is harder than it looks or seems like.

Other people around me didn't seem to react to me as much, possibly because I didn't have a white cane or maybe because they knew I was a student probably researching something.

While I was down in the canteen, something that happened. I sat down waiting for my friends to order their lunch. While I was sitting I remembered that I needed a fork so I looked around the counter to see where the plastic forks were. I looked around because I wanted to figure out where they were first instead of getting up and loosing my sense of direction. I also understand that being fully blind, this wouldn't be possible. Once I found them I got up and took one. Later when we left the canteen, one of my friends asked me if I got a fork while he was paying for his food and I said I did. He said he asked me that because he noticed the lady behind the counter seemed to be concentrating on someone behind him while he was paying, and she didn't seem very happy with me taking the fork. She looked like she wanted to say something to me but didn't and I am presuming that was because she thought I was blind, wearing the glasses.

That was a very interesting insight that I got from my journey of wearing the glasses. She treated me differently because I may have been blind as opposed to giving out to me or not letting me take the fork because I didn't purchase anything.

Do visually impaired people get different treatment by people they are surrounded with? From my experience of it today I could say that they might be treated differently, whether that is a good or a bad thing, I don't know.

The empathy research was a really interesting thing for me to do in order to try to feel what visually impaired people feel like in that situation. It really depends on where they are in their journey and on the individual person and everyone else has to be mindful of that too.