Simulation Glasses

Simulation glasses are wearable lenses or goggles that reproduce the functional visual experience of specific eye conditions — cataracts, macular degeneration, glaucoma, hemianopia, and others — by blurring, smearing, adding central scotomas, or restricting the field of view. They are commonly used in inclusive-design workshops, clinical education, and caregiver training as a tactile-analogue counterpart to software vision simulators. Like any empathy tool they are only a partial proxy for the experience of a person living with a visual impairment — they cannot convey long-term adaptation, peripheral coping strategies, or the cognitive load of sustained use — but they can help sighted designers notice problems with typography, contrast, spacing, and iconography that remain invisible during normal review.