ARU seeking participants for Covid-19 impact study

Dr Dan Gordon

Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is investigating how Covid-19 is affecting the physical activity of people who are blind or visually impaired.

The researchers are wanting UK adults with vision impairment to take part in an online survey to help gauge how physical activity habits have changed since the lockdown began in March.

The study, which is being led by ARU’s Cambridge Centre for Sport and Exercise Sciences alongside academics from Northumbria University and the University Paris-Saclay, aims to understand the changes that have recently taken place in order to better support this group of people now as well as learn important lessons for the future.

Dr Dan Gordon, principal lecturer in exercise physiology at ARU and a former GB Paralympian, said: “Everyone has had to make significant changes to how they live their lives, but adjusting to changes in daily routines can take time for people with visual impairments.

“This group have had to adjust very quickly and social distancing for the visually impaired is particularly difficult. Therefore, it is important we understand how these individuals, who because of their condition are often socially isolated, are coping, particularly in relation to physical exercise.”

The survey, which takes between 20-30 minutes to complete, can be accessed here.

Meanwhile, in an article in Eye, the official journal of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, Professor Peter Allen and Dr Lee Smith from ARU have set out five recommendations to help with the mental as well as physical impact of self-isolation on people with vision impairment.

In their comment piece, they write that people with vision impairment. have an increased risk of depression, decreased mobility, and higher rates of poverty compared to the general population. Among their recommendations are online support groups and specific programmes to help with physical and mental health.

Read the open access article here.