Gap Trailing: Scaffolding and Exploring Situated Knowledge

User knowledge and lived experiences are pivotal in bridging the gaps between the environment and individuals causing disability. Examples of best practices help us refine and develop the theoretical groundings of UD in academia and the practical implementation in design practices. Yet best practices are also needed in our methodological approaches across research and practice concerning how to work with and in the intersection of people and environments. The approach of the researcher is pivotal when facing individuals with diverse physical or cognitive abilities, but also when exploring the role of the environment. Architectural anthropology is one way of combining tools and mindsets that could be useful when studying more complex or nuanced processes, e.g., aging or impairment. In this paper, we focus on the knowledge of people who are experiencing incipient vision loss and the mutual and dynamic interrelation of (dis)abilities between the individual and their (home) environment. In the project entitled “The Role of Lighting When Vision Changes” we explore the phenomenon of vision loss, and in this paper, we provide a critical-reflective perspective on how fieldworks can contribute to this exploration. During the winter season of 2023–24, walk-along interviews were conducted in the homes of 37 participants 55+, including 10 normally sighted and 27 visually impaired (still using their residual vision). Based on transcriptions and fieldnotes, as well as reflective notes from subsequent joint discussions among the researchers, this paper discusses the role of architectural anthropology in the project and how it can scaffold new socio-material explorations as well as critical reflections.