Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Visual Impairment Cane Project (self.Blind)
submitted by Sgt_McCuddles
Hello everyone! I'm a undergraduate biomedical engineering student at the University of Cincinnati and my group is tasked with the objective of improving the visual impairment cane.
We're currently in the research portion of our project and we wanted to receive some input from users on the user needs and challenges of using a visual impairment cane. Therefore I have a few questions.
1. What kind of visual impairment cane do you use? (Collapse able, Straight, etc). Do you have a preference. If so, why? Do you own multiple types of canes?
2. What user needs are most important to you when designing a cane. (Feedback? Durability? Cost?)
3. What challenges do you face using the cane on a daily basis. Can you think of any improvements that could potentially assist in tackling these challenges?
4. How expensive is your cane? Is the price of a cane usually covered by health insurance or paid out of pocket?
5. What are some ways that using a cane is unhelpful? How do you tackle these issues? For example, objects hung from a ceiling.
Thanks for the help everyone. If there's anything important that you believe I missed please mention it.
We're currently in the research portion of our project and we wanted to receive some input from users on the user needs and challenges of using a visual impairment cane. Therefore I have a few questions.
1. What kind of visual impairment cane do you use? (Collapse able, Straight, etc). Do you have a preference. If so, why? Do you own multiple types of canes?
2. What user needs are most important to you when designing a cane. (Feedback? Durability? Cost?)
3. What challenges do you face using the cane on a daily basis. Can you think of any improvements that could potentially assist in tackling these challenges?
4. How expensive is your cane? Is the price of a cane usually covered by health insurance or paid out of pocket?
5. What are some ways that using a cane is unhelpful? How do you tackle these issues? For example, objects hung from a ceiling.
Thanks for the help everyone. If there's anything important that you believe I missed please mention it.
fastfinge 6 points 5y ago
The big problem with improving on the cane is cost. I go through a cane every one or two years; it gets caught in an elevator door and bent, or gets stolen, or all the paint gets warn off so it is no longer reflective. That means I'm not willing to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for any kind of smart cane. Plus, my current cane is waterproof, never runs out of batteries, doesn't need charging, is light, and easy to use. I've read hundreds of "smart cane" ideas. All of them wind up being worse than the cane we already have, in all of these aspects.
edit to ad: I pay out of pocket for it. So anything much over a hundred bucks or so just won't fly.
edit to ad: I pay out of pocket for it. So anything much over a hundred bucks or so just won't fly.
wat3rlilly 2 points 5y ago
Could not have said it better! As an orientation and mobility specialist, clients will sometimes look at the cane I’m handing them (NFB straight cane) and think “is this all there is?” I tell them this is what we train on and afterwards I can help them find something more fitted to their needs. When they hear a folding cane cost more than $20, however, they sometimes don’t think it is worth it! Cost is just such a big factor.
quanin 2 points 5y ago
This. Plus I'll add that the only problem a possible smart cane might viably solve is your example of items hanging from the ceiling, or at least situated just high enough to be above the cane (benches, for example). That might be something a smart cane could solve, but for less than $100? I doubt it. Given what u/fastfinge already mentioned, and like him, that would be a dealbreaker.
Raf_AL 2 points 5y ago
1. I got one collapse able cane, when I go to places that I haven't been to before. I also got a telescope cane, which I just use the short mode on, which I use, when I'm on a familiar place, just so that strangers see that I'm visually impaired.
2.Durability, feedback and cost are equally important to me.
3.I just wish my telescope cane would be more durable.
4.don't remember the price of my canes. I just know that it was paid for by a insurance company here in Finland. You can also pay out of pocket
5. don't know a way to solve the problem with hanging thins from the ceiling.
Hope this helps you out a little. However many blind or visually impaired people usually says that the cane is not in need of improvement att, and I think I have to agree on that, unless you can find a very good way of getting around that know what's above your head problem.
2.Durability, feedback and cost are equally important to me.
3.I just wish my telescope cane would be more durable.
4.don't remember the price of my canes. I just know that it was paid for by a insurance company here in Finland. You can also pay out of pocket
5. don't know a way to solve the problem with hanging thins from the ceiling.
Hope this helps you out a little. However many blind or visually impaired people usually says that the cane is not in need of improvement att, and I think I have to agree on that, unless you can find a very good way of getting around that know what's above your head problem.
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