Cataracts, macular degeneration and glaucoma are just some conditions which impair people's vision.
Recently, a group of Otago Polytechnic occupation health students and the Visual Impairment Charitable Trust Aotearoa (Victa) helped raise awareness of this with an interactive event at Wall St Mall.
Student Georgia Coughlan (22) said the event was part of a community paper the third-year students were doing and aimed to raise awareness for Victa and people with sight impairment.
''The general public can understand how it feels to have low vision.''
Glasses simulating different low-vision conditions were given to the public and then they were asked to do everyday activities, such as writing out a bank deposit slip or reading the phone book and making a phone call.
Andrea Blackwood, of Dunedin, who tried on glaucoma glasses to write a deposit slip, said the experience was very disconcerting.
''It's a bit of a wake-up.''
Other comments left by those who tried the glasses included how they did not realise how difficult it was with poor vision.
''Many said it gave them insight into vision loss and what others have to suffer.''
