It comes as the beginning of Vision Ireland's 'Clear Our Path' campaign has been launched.
60 per cent of visually impaired people say they have been injured by footpath obstacles, from wheelie bins to hanging baskets.
One third say they've had to visit a hospital because of an injury sustained by an obstacle.
It comes as the beginning of Vision Ireland's 'Clear Our Path' campaign has been launched.
Speaking on Kildare Today, Kildare service user Karina Leech, who is visually impaired, says she sometimes has to walk onto the road to avoid such obstacles:
"You can't really see those obstacles, if you're walking down the path, you could get yourself an injury, and other times you'd have no option but to walk onto the road, which is very dangerous.
"I'm one of the lucky ones that I'm only visually impaired, I do have my own routine of which paths to go on, and when you come towards an obstacle, it's a bit of a nuisance."
She added that, to her knowledge, she's the only person living in her town that is "badly-sighted" and that other people "don't understand" what herself and others have to go through.
E-scooters were highlighted as something that would cause obstruction on numerous occasions for Karina, with no option but to wait for someone to move the scooter or assist her in passing safely:
"It knocks your confidence, even just to go down and do the grocery shopping, you can't stay inside all your life."
Lacerations, broken elbows and needing stitches have all been noted previously across the country as a result of obstacles left on footpaths, while Karina has also had her own experiences with injuries.
In conclusion, she asked for people to be considerate towards those who are visually impaired or blind, while also asking for people to remove obstacles if they see them on the footpaths.
"At the end of the day, it could be one of their loved ones that have to deal with this."
The full interview can be heard below:
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