Can you imagine how frustrating it is to be blind in London?
This thought comes after overhearing a conversation on a Eastbound District Line tube yesterday during the rush-hour home.
The gentleman who sat opposite me was speaking with his interlocuter about an exhibition he is currently working on for what I think is the Natural History Museum ("more people come to us than to the zoo because at least our animals are out and there and not running away into corners"). His job, as far as I ascertained, was to bring in different 'test' groups to judge reactions to an exhibition - his current 'test' group was a group of people of varying disabilities. He was commenting on how an exhibition such as the one he was working on would have little to no appeal to, say, a blind person - and that there was currently nothing in the exhibition to include someone in that state.
Just the thought is fascinating to me. Think of all the things that frustrate you in London - cabbies not stopping at zebra crossings, tourists whirling around to look for their friends, people stopping dead in the middle of the pavement for no apparant reason. I can only imagine how difficult such things must be to deal with if you can't see them. Add in the constant roar of noise and chatter and traffic and more: the buzz must be deafening when your senses are heightened.
But then take away the opportunity to participate in the rest of life here. The capital is buzzing with things to see and do - but when you take away anything which offers visual stimulation, everything must seem so... strained. Art galleries and museums, each with their 'do not cross the line' policies, offer little.
The gentleman on the train suggested that the exhibition organisers would have to have something to offer people who might not be able to see what was on show: textures, perhaps, braille explanations or embossed images to help recreate the image. It's something I've never thought about - never had to think about. Most certainly something I will keep an eye out for in future.
- Ann Observer
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It must be terribly frustrating to the long- term blind, terrifying to the newly blind I should imagine. But wouldn't people, seeing you're blind, be more considerate? Or am I believing that most people are like me... nice?
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Why not add a bit about yourself? What you do? Some snippets of your work?
Good luck.
You would hope someone might be more considerate, but so many Londoners seem so wrapped up in the importance of their own business that these things get ignored - by choice or by instinct.
ReplyDeleteI have written a new post you might find relevant :) Many thanks.
A very thought-provoking post. I cannot imagine how anyone with a sight impairment or blindness could cope in the hustle and bustle of a city like London. Quite by chance, one of the characters in a novel I am working on has been recently blinded, and as an exercise, I have been trying to move around my home with my eyes closed, to get a (small)sense of what it must feel like. The experience has proved utterly confusing and frustrating - even trying to do the simplest of tasks. But if I had to go outside, especially in a city, I'm sure I would find the prospect overwhelming.
ReplyDeletePeople faced with these situations have my utmost admiration. Thank you for drawing their plight to our attention. Hopefully some of us will be more aware in future.