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Blind and Visually Impaired Community

Full History - 2015 - 07 - 18 - ID#3dqq1w
1
Designing solutions to problems that visually impaired people deal with (self.Blind)
submitted 8y ago by quicksilver222
I have oculocutaneous albinism, and I live in New York City. Parts of NY are great for people who have trouble seeing things (public transit FTW), but other things can be difficult.

I'm also taking a user experience design class and working on a project centered on creating solutions to problems. So I immediately started thinking about trouble I run into because I'm visually impaired. I wanted to reach out here in case anyone is willing to share their most common frustrations or challenges, in big cities or elsewhere. I'm not looking for solutions yet, just things that happen every day that drive you crazy, or could be easier. Big things, small things, technology, getting places, whatever. I'm interested in all of it.

Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks in advance!
romanj35 1 points
I could start at midnight on a Monday and by Friday 11 59 pm still be talking. To shorten it I find most if not all of the time the biggest hang up in my day to day is other people.
Someone had moved something in my house and not told me. The clerk at the store tells me "It's right over there." rather then giving me a better description.
Button labeling, as the other person mentioned is just as bad for android then it is for ios too.
quicksilver222 [OP] 1 points
Thanks for replying. I've experienced some of this, too, and you're right — it's maddening. I really appreciate you laying these things out.

Do you mind telling me where you live? If that's not your hometown, did you consider accessibility before you moved?

What's the most challenging aspect of your day? You mentioned a few examples above, but are there other specific things you can think of that felt unnecessarily difficult?
romanj35 1 points
My town right now is Phoenix Arizona. Originally I moved here from Houston Texas.
I'm not very active on the mobility front to be perfectly honest. I do use OCR on my Samsung phone, so I'm not limited as far as written wording goes. I can snap a photo with my phone's camera and the words in the picture are converted into a document. Then the words are read aloud.
I also don't go out too nuch from the apartment.
The biggest complaint I find is a lack of accessability in applications. I understand that I can't run around in an online rpg like I used to, but that's no reason why a developer can't at least try to label some of it.
There's no reason on this planet why the app Kik can't label itself properly.
I've frankly have given up on the pc getting something like voice-over or talk-back with a mouse. I haven't even put a screen reader on any of my computers because the technology for mobile outdoes the pc, and that's a flat shame.
I'm fortunate enough to be married so my wife drives us to where we need to go but I imagine that both Ios and Google need more accessability features in things.
Off the top of my head, google maps has a street view, why not add a waypoint feature that way gps navigating can be increased to add a 'my route' feature.
You set a waypoint at the door, walk ten feet forward and set another one, turn left and start to walk. Sure, this would require help, but I'd be able to manage to take out the trash in my apartment complex on my own using a waypoint system.
Marconius 1 points
In general, I get really fed up with applications where the developers are too lazy to label their buttons. It's one of the easiest things to do when coding, so why they do not label them especially after constant feedback is beyond me. I also hate it when they sacrifice accessibility for form; adding animations and cutesy things around the interface which make it impossible to use via voice over. Being a former animator/designer, I know that form and accessibility can work hand-in-hand for both The sighted and visually impaired.

As for getting around, I live in San Francisco and encounter quite a few issues daily when attempting to use Muni or navigate the streets. The most common issues I encounter are improperly installed tactile mats at intersections/street crossings. Normally at each corner of an intersection, there are supposed to be yellow bumpy tactile mats for each cardinal direction to help cross the street in a straight line. For some stupid reason, the engineers to install these mats get lazy and install only one curb cut that points 45° out into the middle of the intersection rather than having to curbs for each cardinal direction. Sometimes when they're actually are two curb cuts for the proper directions, they are not pointed straight at the other one across the street and are not lined up appropriately which can become dangerous when crossing the street. The locator tone beacons for street crossing signals are also a problem when the volume isn't nearly loud enough to compensate for traffic flow and you can't hear them to adjust your position when crossing the street or navigating to them to get set up for street crossings. I've contacted the traffic in engineering group here several times to get the volume raised on a common route I take, only to have nothing happen even after they say they've changed things.

Getting on subway trains can be problematic when you don't know what train has arrived at the station. There is usually an audible announcement as to what trains are coming and how long it will take to get there, but at most stations The announcement is not loud enough or is located at a part of the station where it is far away from where you have to be to board the train safely. Train operators calling out stop locations when the trains are out of the subway and on the street is also very intermittent and frustrating when you are going to a new location by your self. Sometimes you will get great bus and train operators who announce every stop clearly and efficiently, and then other drivers who don't give a crap and just expect you to know where you are at all times and say nothing the entire trip, even when prompted to do so as soon as I enter the vehicle.

Going back to street crossings, it's really annoying when there is street construction going on and The workers do not properly place safety baffles or appropriately Mark a safe route around the construction. In San Francisco, there is always construction going on, and sadly a lot of it is happening on one of my most common routes through the city. Every day, the area outside the construction zone is different, with different replaced cones and barriers that are always a surprise when attempting to do appropriate cane travel through the site. I actually almost completely walked into the construction area because someone left a fence gate open wide enough that shoreline Eng brought me straight through the entrance rather than around to continue along the fence line outside the zone.

I have a disability parking placard that I bring along when people drive me around. People who temporarily park in blue disabled zones to speak on the phone are profoundly annoying especially when we are attempting to find parking around a busy area of the city. Construction workers have also been known to dump excavated dirt or pile up construction equipment and material in blue disabled zones leaving the other parking spaces free.

These are just some of the gripes, your question will have to be more specific to get further specifics on user experience or general issues for travel.
quicksilver222 [OP] 1 points
This is so helpful. Thank you for taking the time to explain all of this! Honestly, it makes me incredibly sad to see that we (cities, humans in general, whatever) can't figure this out better.

How long have you lived in San Francisco? Did you consider accessibility before you moved there? (Unless you grew up there, obviously.) Would you consider living somewhere else because of accessibility issues?

In terms of vision, what's the most challenging part of your day? Can you give me a specific example?
Marconius 1 points
I've lived in San Francisco since 2002, and I only went blind last year. It was sudden and I had no idea it was going to happen to me, so accessibility and that mode of thinking never entered into my mind when coming here for school. Since I have lived here for so long, I know the lay of the land and can still navigate around the city even though I can't see it. I'm still not comfortable with walking around to new locations by myself; I require an orientation and mobility trainer to get to specific destinations or at least train me on a safe route to where I want to go. I have not considered moving anywhere else, and San Francisco has so much to do and so many amazing places to visit and eat and experience in such a small area.The transportation systems are generally good, and I have access to Uber, Sidecar, and Lyft to conveniently get around to places where I want to go when I don't want to deal with the bus or train.

I would say that learning to cope with simple tasks that I used to take for granted when I could see is the most frustrating thing in day to day life. I am getting better at cooking and independent life skills, but a lot of that is trial and very messy errors. When out and about, finding restrooms and having to navigate non-family/single restrooms is difficult. I have basically memorized every Starbucks and coffee shop location around places were my girlfriend and I tend to visit so as to always have a convenient option available when I don't want to deal with a multi person bathroom. I have noticed that people are generally happy to help if I ask for it, which is nice… Much better than being ignored, although you will encounter people that really don't quite know what to do or decide to be over zealous and being helpful before you have a chance to explain exactly what you want them to do.

I think one of the biggest things that I struggle with is not being able to just get out of my house and quickly go do an errand. Everything takes a lot more planning and a lot more time. Dictating messages, navigating and searching for specific information, getting directions, getting used to being so limited and slow at something I used to be extremely fast at when I had vision has been nothing short of difficult. If I am cooking something and realize that I am missing a key ingredient, I can't just run out to the store easily, at least not yet. If I meet someone in a new and unfamiliar place, I cannot immediately discern my surroundings and will always require assistance to get around, at least for the first couple of times until I understand the location and work out my spatial reasoning. Going out for a simple walk is just not relaxing, as you have to constantly be on your guard to stay safe when doing Cain travel. I guess what I'm getting at is generic mobility issues is one of the greatest hurtles of this disability.

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