Visual Impairment Simulation

These simulation activities have made me so much more aware of the world around me.  At first, I did not like the idea of looking kind of funny in public with these sill face masks on, but as I went through the simulation, I came to find a lot of appreciation for people who struggle with this full-time.

As I had the masks on I did not go to too many different places.  I put on the a mask and my first challenge awaited me...the stairs.  Luck for me, the mask I wore to go down the stairs first was the one that simulates the loss of an eye and loss of depth perception.  This was SO HARD! 

For one of the hours that I was impaired, I was trying to read.  For this time I had the macular degeneration mask on.  It was amazing to me that people are able to cope with these things.  I wondered how people do it.  I think the process of coping with am impairment must be something like the grief process.  There must be some point when it just gets to the person and they have a hard time with it.  I felt like I would want to do all that I could to not read.  It was such a trying task, but it was needed every single day.  

Overall, the visual impairment simulation was a good experience.  I literally got to know what it looked like to have degeneration of my eyes.  Coming out of this, I want to make sure I am doing all that I can, when I work with children, to recognize the impairments that they have and not ignore them.  I think it is far too often that children are accused of "faking it" or doing things to get attention or special treatment, when that is usually not the case.