This is one of those questions that you will have to get used to as someone who is losing their sight. The answer however, is far from a one size fits all Kind of concept.

For me, I now see the world in smudges of blurry colours. I can no longer see detail, read text or distinguish between objects that are not dramatically in contrast with one another. It is as though some wazzock painted the world for you and then spitefully decided to smear the paint so you never get to see what the hell it looked like.

This does mean that I can navigate around my home quite happily as it’s an area that I have subconsciously mind mapped through the years. For example, as I write this. I know that the bright area of the room must be where the window is. I am also aware that the large, chocolate brown smudges are the sofa and chairs in my living room. I also realise that the very wiggly blob on the floor in front of me is my six month old daughter Darcy. Anything new is a guessing game. This classes me as a person who is visually impaired / partially sighted. In fact, according to my field test, I am just a few marks away from being registered as blind.

Sight loss differs immensely between individuals. Some see only black, some sight loss can be corrected with glasses and then there is everything in between. For instance, on my weekly trip to my local supermarket, I was eavesdropping on a conversation that was taking place between a customer and someone collecting for a charity. The customer (let’s call him Dick – for reasons that will soon become apparent) had asked where the electrical desk was. The charity worker (I’ll call her Kay – it’s short) pointed to the back of the store and told him it was at the end of the main aisle. Dick responded with thanks and then asked what Kay was collecting for? She explained that she was registered blind and was collecting for a charity that supported this. To my amazement, Dick just lost it. Accusations of being a con artist followed by abusive insults soon caught the attention of security. All because she knew where the desk he wanted was! No amount of explaining could get through his ignorant skull that she could be blind and give him directions to go forward.

Now, I would have loved to have challenged him to a game of Supermarket Sweep as I’d have wiped that main aisle floor with him, visually impaired or not! So … what do I see you ask? Blurry colours and that the world is still full of Dicks!