Visual simulator shows your favourite places through the eyes of someone with sight loss

Fight for Sight has launched a new visual simulator to show users what their every-day view would look like through the eyes of someone with a sight loss condition.

Using Google Street View, the user will be able to select any destination in the world and choose from a number of sight loss conditions to show what that place would look like through their eyes. These conditions include glaucoma, macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.

The sight loss simulator aims to raise awareness of the difficulties that those living with a sight-loss condition face in their daily lives and encourage users to support crucial research to find better treatments and cures.

A recent poll found that forty percent of people are either affected by significant sight loss or know someone with serious sight loss, while 84 percent of Brits say sight is the sense they fear losing the most.

Niki de Lara is a Fight for Sight supporter and suffers from uveitic glaucoma. She said: “This simulator will help my family and friends to imagine what it is like to see through my eyes. I hope it will raise awareness of the effects of sight loss and encourage more people to help support research funded by Fight for Sight.”

Chief Executive of Fight for Sight, Sherine Krause said: “We hope the simulator will help people to better understand what it is like to live with sight loss. There are currently over two million people living with sight loss in the UK and this is set to double by 2050. In spite of this, eye research remains desperately underfunded. At Fight for Sight, we know that early stage research holds the answers to finding better treatments and cures. We’re on the cusp of so many breakthroughs but we need more public awareness and support.”