World Sight Day 2022: the importance of access to Rehabilitation Services
- Written by: — Dr
- Published: 13th October 2022
From lived experience, Hazel raises awareness on the importance of timely access to Rehabilitation Services.
On World Sight Day I would like to raise awareness of the importance of timely access to Rehabilitation Services when people encounter sight loss. When I encountered total sight loss in 2007, my first thought was how will I continue to work. Followed closely by how will I actually get to work! My journey involved a train to Glasgow Central, an underground train to Hillhead and walking to the Adam Smith Building, Glasgow University. I had done this commute on a regular basis. However, the prospect of making this journey with no visual connection with my surroundings was, to say the least, daunting.
Where I had previously relied on visual landmarks, working with a Vision Rehabilitation Officer, we broke down my route, they suggested tactile landmarks I could use to find my way. For instance, the static bins on Argyll Street became key landmarks. Along with changes in pavement surfaces, noises that provide clues – for instance, the sound of the escalators at the St Enoch Underground Station and the feeling of wind on your face when passing a gap in buildings. I learnt to use all these haptics to find my way to and from work. The smell from the chip shop at the back entrance of Central Station always signalled to me, I was almost on my final leg of the journey home!
I would not have acquired the skills to use the environment to my advantage when way finding – without the assistance and specialist knowledge of a Vision Rehabilitation Officer to ‘show me the way’.
The RNIB campaign for World Sight Day is focused on what blind and partially-sighted people would like to change about societal misconceptions regarding sight loss. I would ask that people change their view of mobility aids such as long canes. A long cane enables me to get about, travel to work, nip to the shops and go to places that I don’t really know very well. For me, it’s a symbol of independence, not dependence. I would love it if wider society viewed use of a long cane in the same way.
To find out more about the RMIB campaign for World Sight Day, click here.
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