Thursday is World Sight Day. To mark the occasion, health reporter Emma Harrison took to the streets of York blindfolded.

IT WAS a daunting experience to have my world plunged into darkness... not the kind you get when you close your eyes, but deeper and alarmingly disorientating.

I had put on special glasses provided by Diane Roworth, chief officer for York Blind and Partially Sighted Society, and they allowed the merest tunnel vision straight ahead.

I was trying to gain some understanding of what it might be like without one of the vital senses - and, if you will pardon the pun, it was an eye-opening experience.

Diane was to be my guide for the day, and she helped me set off with fellow society member Brenda Goodridge, her dog, and representatives from York Lions clubs who are heavily involved in raising money to improve facilities to combat blindness.

Our mission was to catch a bus to the Asda supermarket at Monks Cross and go food shopping.

I clung on to Diane and I had a white cane, which I used in sweeping movements in front of me. The streets of York, as I discovered, are not the smoothest ride.

If I had been on my own I would never have known which bus to catch, I would have had to rely on a passing member of the public - throwing independence out of the window.

My guide Diane is registered blind and has a narrow field of sight directly in front of her. On my first steps I felt compelled to remind her that I couldn't see her, she replied: "Oh don't worry I can't see you either!" Not very reassuring words!

But I soon got my stride and made it safely to Asda.

Bizarrely enough my overwhelming feeling was that of motion sickness - my balance had not adjusted to losing anything to focus on.

Asda greeted us warmly and offered a helper to go around the store and get the things we wanted.

They also showed us Braille sticker guns which mark food less obvious from its shape. A very helpful tool when you've got two cans and you don't know which is the soup and which is the cat food. Brenda regularly shops here.

After more than two hours in near-total blackout I removed my glasses. The light was quite overpowering and it took a minute or so to get re-orientated.

It was quite an unbelievable experience and opened a world of difficulties that people with sight difficulties (incidentally only about ten per cent of people registered blind can actually see nothing at all) must cope with every day.

emma.harrison@ycp.co.uk

- For information and advice contact the York Blind and Partially Sighted Society in Bootham on 01904 636269.

- World Sight Day takes place on Thursday October 11.

Updated: 09:48 Saturday, October 06, 2001