AAs a blind person, you can drive bumper cars very well,” says Saskia Welty. “It’s all about colliding.” We’re standing at a fairground in Forchheim that’s just being set up. I describe to Saskia what she can’t see: bad airbrushes of women with breasts so big they’d fall over; Racing cars with an exhaust that looks like rocket propulsion. “But you have to take good care of your neck muscles.” On the other hand, when Saskia is tense, it’s not dramatic, her boyfriend is a physiotherapist – and also blind.
“In almost every tour group with the visually impaired there is at least one masseur or physiotherapist,” says Gisela Moser with a laugh. She has been touring Europe for almost ten years with tour groups that are half visually impaired and half sighted. According to statistics, there are at least 600,000 visually impaired people living in Germany – anyone who sees less than 30 percent is considered to be visually impaired. However, estimates assume up to 1.2 million due to increasing age blindness and late effects of diabetes. The concept of the trips is simple: those who can see lead those who can only do it a little. They pay less for that. All are travelers, no sighted person is a volunteer helper, nurse or the like. Why should one do that as a seer? I asked myself, and now I’m standing in front of the bumper car with Saskia and I think it’s a shame that it’s not yet in operation, otherwise we could have driven with the blind people at the wheel.