10 CHARITY APPEAL

Freedom of movement is a luxury not everyone can afford.

Walking in the shoes of the blind and partially sighted for just one morning gave me a rare insight into how people live with sight loss.

In a bid to raise awareness of the daily hurdles faced by the visually impaired, I took on a blindfolded walking challenge with Guide Dogs Scotland.

On the walk I was aided by the charity’s engagement officer Emma Brown who guided me through the streets of East Kilbride Village while highlighting the many obstacles people with sight loss have to overcome.

As expected, walking blindfolded was completely disorientating and, at times, frightening – especially when stepping on to roads, encountering uneven pavements and navigating advertising boards, bollards and cars parked on pavements.

But, oddly, donning a pair of tunnelvision spectacles on the route home made me feel even more vulnerable and uneasy.

Losing my peripheral vision threw me off completely. It felt so debilitating, made me increasingly anxious and unsteady on my feet.

I struggled to look down and feel the edge of the kerbs because my vision was so compromised and I was constantly worried about bumping into things in front of me.

My other senses also felt heightened somewhat – the noise of the traffic seemed louder and oncoming pedestrians felt more of a threat.

As in life for many visually impaired people, it was all a bit of a blur.

With Guide Dogs Scotland