Facilitator and partner briefing · noindex
Your space as facilitator, and the tools for each stationary pair.
Thursday 23 July 2026, 19:00Provisional base camp is outside, at ground level, by the main entrance to Clissold House café in the park's south-east quarter. The café closes before the workshop and is not a rain fallback. Confirm the exact step-free meeting position and evening toilet access on the recce.
Present the theory as full-screen slides →
Live controls remain locked while the checks below are open. Open the printable field sheet →
Read this before anyone changes how they look
This optional, stationary exercise changes how a sighted participant looks for a few minutes. It is about attention and communication. It does not simulate blindness or replicate the experiences of blind or low-vision people, whose lives involve long-term adaptation, skills and tools far beyond this workshop. Please do not generalise from this exercise to assumptions about disabled people's lives.
Taking part is always your choice, and it stays your choice. You can keep your eyes open, look, stop, sit or leave at any moment, in either role, and you never have to say why. The word stop always means stop.
The witness's promise
Calls
- Stay at the agreed stationary spot for the whole attention period
- Ask: eyes open, softened or closed?
- At five minutes, offer a quiet comfort check
- Say eyes open before either person moves
Tap codes
- One tap · Stop now
- Two taps · All good, keep going
- Three taps · I want to open my eyes or end this part
Consent, asked separately
- Taking part at all, and whether your eyes stay open, soften or close while stationary
- Whether any touch is welcome, asked separately
- Being photographed, before any camera is used
- The word stop always means stop, in either role
- You are a witness, not a guide. Both people stay seated or standing at one agreed spot.
- Keep the immediate space clear and say eyes open before either person moves.
- Never position or push another person's body.
- This is about attention, not a simulation of blindness, and it is never framed as empathy for blind people.
- The New River channel and both its banks (open water)
- Beckmere and Runtzmere ponds (open water; exact positions must be confirmed on the recce)
- The animal enclosure and aviary (do not enter; more-than-human neighbours)
- The splash pad, and every gate threshold onto Green Lanes, Church Street or Queen Elizabeth's Walk (confirm the splash-pad position; traffic at gates)
Facilitator checks · complete on the recce
Complete these on the recce the day before. Any that stay open travel into this briefing rather than being replaced with confidence.
- Vision may change only while seated or standing at one agreed spot. Eyes open before anyone moves. The later drift stays clear of the New River, ponds, animal enclosure, splash pad, gate thresholds and road edges.
- Return to Clissold House at the agreed time. The walk can end early without becoming incomplete.
- Complete and record the route recce; correct the pond, aviary, splash-pad and accessible-entrance positions before using any safety map
- Confirm the meeting gate, exact step-free base camp, evening toilet access and a weather fallback that does not rely on the closed café
- Confirm permission and activity-specific insurance position with Hackney parks
- Print the contact sheet and incident log