Visual impairment Simulation

One of the many benefits to our physical bodies is the function we have to see from our eyes and observe the world around us. But what would happen if that was taken from you? What if you could not see the world around you? There are many that suffer from visual impairments that do not have the ability to see. For this simulation I had to wear 4 different masks to simulate different types of orthopedic impairments.

   The first mask I wore was to simulate the loss of one eye. I could only see out my left eye and it was very challenging. At first, my depth perception was way hard, and I had a very difficult time cooking lunch for myself because of that lack of perception. But I was still able to see a majority of things clearly with little trouble. The longer I had the mask on the more acclimated my eyes became to the situation. While wearing this mask I typed some papers up and it was difficult, so much so that I was pretty close to the screen so I could see what I was typing.

   The Second Mask I wore was to simulate macular degeneration which is the loss of the central vision. This was very hard to see at first. It was hard for me to base my vision off of just my peripheral vision. This was very hard to do my typing of assignments on the computer.

The Third mask I wore was to simulate glaucoma with very limited field vision. It was easier to focus on one thing at a time unlike mask number 2, but I could only focus on one thing at a time. It was also difficult anticipate if anything was coming into my field of vision because of the lack of peripherals. I found myself having to move my head in order to focus on people or objects.

The fourth and final mask was to simulate issues with lens such as astigmatism and other visual loses of acuity. This one was the most difficult. I really could see nothing, the only thing I could see was a little bit of light and silhouette of some shapes. This made me so frustrated and I felt alone because of how dark it was. I also felt incompetent because i could not see well enough to do anything. I image this is how some people feel with this particular impairment.

This simulation was so frustrating to me because I have never been without my vision and it was awful to not have it. I do wear glasses but not to the point that I cannot see things without them. I definitely take for granted that I can see when there are many who cannot.