How the use of contrast can help

HOW CONTRAST CAN HELP IF YOU HAVE RETINAL DEGENERATION
By Heather Arthur
Rehabilitation Teacher Techniques of Daily Living Practice Advisor, RNZFB

What is contrast? In relation to vision impairment, when asked "What is contrast?", most think of colour. However, it may relate to any or all of the five senses.

Examples of this are:
Sight - colour, size or shape; big or small; square or round; short or tall.
Touch - rough or smooth; hot or cold; steel or concrete; size or shape.
Sound - loud or quiet; drum or violin; bird song or sheep "baa".
Taste - texture; sour or sweet; bland or spicy.
Smell - fresh baked bread and burnt toast; smoke, fire, grass, flowers.

When we make comparisons in all aspects of our daily life we become conscious of distinct contrast and can use this to our advantage. Contrast has always been there, it is certainly not new. However, recognising and making use of the five senses in conjunction with contrast may be advantageous to us in our daily life.

When we analyse how contrasts are used in daily living, the five senses become integrated as you respond to contrast or change. It is simply a matter of recognizing the various forms of contrast and how we use them.

The following may assist you to think of the various ways to use contrast, including colour. Contrast of size and shape may be used to identify cans of food. For example, canned sardines are a very distinctive shape and size. Tinned pineapple is often a unique shape. Baked beans can be purchased in a small can in contrast to tinned fruit in a medium size. Spaghetti may be purchased with an opening tab on top, Pet food often has the label printed directly on the tin, while most food products have paper labels.

Utilizing all five senses becomes obvious when you think of the various aspects of food preparation. For example:

* Fresh or raw fruit and vegetables contrast in smell, touch, sound (when cut or eaten), and their taste and colour may be quite different when these foods are cooked.
* Contrast of size and shape, texture, taste or smell can be used when identifying various fruits and vegetables, e. g. apples and pears.
* Most of us recognize the smell of burnt food in contrast to that wonderful smell of freshly baked bread. Burnt food is also hard and dark in colour and tastes quite different to food cooked well.
* The texture of stewed apples is quite different from that of a crisp raw one. The contrast of touch and sound is very distinct as it is cut or eaten.
* You can feel if a tomato is ripe or not by contrasting smell, taste or touch, colour and sound, as it may feel hard or squishy when cut.
* When you are cleaning the shower, the way the cloth slips over the clean surface compared to how it grips onto the not so clean surface is a contrast we can all use. The same is true when cleaning windows or any polished surfaces. The simple use of contrasts, e. g. touch, smell, etc. gives us all the information we need.
* Contrast can also be used outdoors in the garden. Plantings using various textures of leaves, size and shape of trees or shrubs or differently scented plants in strategic positions may assist with orientation in the garden. The contrast feel of grass or concrete underfoot can also be helpful.

In the next issue Heather Arthur continues to suggest ways of making the best use of contrast, using our five senses. Sight is just one of them that we can use.