Tip of a white cane​

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When my low vision made me start to feel nervous about walking, I did training in how to walk with a white cane. A trainer from a support organisation taught me the knowledge and skills that people with visual impairment use for walking. This experience was a life-changing event for me, leading to an interest in the possibilities offered by human beings’ latent cognitive abilities.

Of our five senses, vision has the most wide-ranging importance in today’s society. However, even if their eyesight is clinically deteriorating, humans have the ability to compensate for the loss of this sense. I wonder how people with visual impairment – when their bodies change and they can no longer depend on vision – change their perceptual processes and maintain contact with society. 

This project mixes the findings of cognitive psychology with my experience to explore changes in cognitive function and the process of adjustment to social life that a person goes through after sight loss in middle age.

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