Abby and Alice SENSEWALK

You notice noises – louder and everything seemed closer than it actually was

temperature – weather, sun and no sun- so could tell when near a tall building or inside a building

The slope of the ground and bumps – grating, thinking back to previous lecture and thinking about how it would have been a diff erent experience without shoes?

The leader noticing reactions of passers by – some thought it was funny and smiled, others were a bit concerned and didn’t know what was going on – did Abby need help?!

WHAT DO YOU NOTICE AS YOU WALK AROUND?

Because it was on campus we knew roughly where we were because we were concentrating and trying to actively picture where we were in university and what was going on around us,

Maybe if we’d have walked for longer and maybe thought of other things then we would’ve become more disorientated?

Found myself asking the leader where we were out of curiosity to help picture the scene.

Could tell whether inside or outside by diff erences in sound and temperature,

WHERE WAS I?

Use them more to make up for lack of vision Hearing and touch we found were most important –

used hands to sense how far away from things we were such as using handrails and feeling for bushes if walking alongside a pavement

Hindered sense of speed couldn’t work out how fast we were walking – felt faster because we didn’t know what was underfoot

Taste didn’t really come into use… although when off ered chocolate Abby opened her eyes!

Smell also wasn’t something we felt was particularly prominent but that was probably because we didn’t walk past anywhere particularly smelly…

OTHER SENSES

Yes!!! Knew the place so was quite easy to visualise but

because we couldn’t work out how fast we were walking we weren’t quite sure exactly where we were,

If we’d been someone we didn’t know it would’ve been more daunting,

Kept asking each other where we were and what was next to us, both in order to avoid it but also to visualise where we were.

VISUALISING THE ENVIRONMENT

Pretty much, couldn’t have done it without a partner – would have died.

Your partner has full control over you, where you go, when you go, how fast you move, which direction…

Had to trust your partner, didn’t really have a choiceGot easier as you kept going because you began to

trust your partner more and get used to not being able to see.

HELPLESS AND YOUR PARTNER’S POWER