Fae Kilburn
I was born with Marfan syndrome which resulted in a detached lens in childhood and detached retina in my right eye aged 18. In my left eye I have no peripheral vision and my lens has been detaching for years.
I have no sight in my right eye. The quality of vision in my left changes depending on the time of day and how much sunlight there is. At night I have night blindness, outside in the morning everything is vivid and overly bright, by midday my sight it blurry and the colours are more muted especially outside. If sunlight comes at me from the right it will wipe all my vision away.
Contemporary buildings designed using glass or Perspex are particularly challenging to navigate, it’s difficult to find the exit when the walls and doors are made of the same materials as the security barriers and this makes you feel like your trapped in a maze. Architects need to think about access at the start of design not at the end.
I hope by participating in this exhibition, we can educate and raise awareness about sight loss, how broad and varied it is, that everyone has a unique perspective and blind and partially sighted people have a lot to offer. I hope that by working along side medical professionals they will see us as more than a number on a medical file and see that we are individuals and should be treated as such.
