Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Survey to understand the awareness and adoption level of the smart cane technology (self.Blind)
submitted by tibdewalvinita
Hi Everyone!
I am a master's student at Rochester Institute of Technology, NY, USA and I am conducting research to understand the reason behind the low adoption rate of smart canes with-in the blind and low-vision community.
For the study, I've designed an online survey and I am hoping to get participants who identify as blind or low vision. Also, you don't need to know about smart cane for participating in this study!
After completing the survey, you can also enter your Email ID to participate in a raffle for a $50 Amazon Gift-card. All your personal details will be kept anonymous and will not be distributed.
If you are interested in participating, please click on this $1
Thanks a lot for your time and please let me know if you have any questions!
P.S. I have edited the survey based on the feedback to make it more accessible.
I am a master's student at Rochester Institute of Technology, NY, USA and I am conducting research to understand the reason behind the low adoption rate of smart canes with-in the blind and low-vision community.
For the study, I've designed an online survey and I am hoping to get participants who identify as blind or low vision. Also, you don't need to know about smart cane for participating in this study!
After completing the survey, you can also enter your Email ID to participate in a raffle for a $50 Amazon Gift-card. All your personal details will be kept anonymous and will not be distributed.
If you are interested in participating, please click on this $1
Thanks a lot for your time and please let me know if you have any questions!
P.S. I have edited the survey based on the feedback to make it more accessible.
AmAsabat 3 points 3y ago
The survey is very poorly structured for assistive technologies. The agree disagree tables are not properly labelled and do not work with a Braille reader. The check boxes are poor and hard to navigate. I gave up.
tibdewalvinita [OP] 1 points 3y ago
Hi, Thanks for pointing it out and I'm sorry about that. I tested it on JAWS but didn't have access to Braille reader. Would it help if I remove the table and put separate options for each statement in the table?
Prefect316 2 points 3y ago
This would definitely be a helpful edit.
Just putting my opinion out there, but smart canes are just not a solution the blind community is craving. Most times a smart cane is just something a sighted person is trying to endeavor because they're trying to fix something that's not broken at all.
The idea of putting some kind of GPS in a mobility aid is a great one, but it's limited at least for a blind person's white cane for 2 reasons that I can think of, and probably more.
1. Until there's a way for GPS to work 100 percent of the time without any internet or satellite lag, or also reliably in dense buildings by way of some kind of universal bluetooth beacon, this is simply not a safe option.
2. It's hard to imagine putting motors for haptic feedback and other kinds of hardware into a cane without adding significant heft, and that's an issue. For me, at least, and I'm sure for many, a cane's lightness and versatility are very important to navigation. I would not sacrifice either until point 1 is sufficiently dealt with, and that can take years. It's more of an infrastructure issue right now.
Just putting my opinion out there, but smart canes are just not a solution the blind community is craving. Most times a smart cane is just something a sighted person is trying to endeavor because they're trying to fix something that's not broken at all.
The idea of putting some kind of GPS in a mobility aid is a great one, but it's limited at least for a blind person's white cane for 2 reasons that I can think of, and probably more.
1. Until there's a way for GPS to work 100 percent of the time without any internet or satellite lag, or also reliably in dense buildings by way of some kind of universal bluetooth beacon, this is simply not a safe option.
2. It's hard to imagine putting motors for haptic feedback and other kinds of hardware into a cane without adding significant heft, and that's an issue. For me, at least, and I'm sure for many, a cane's lightness and versatility are very important to navigation. I would not sacrifice either until point 1 is sufficiently dealt with, and that can take years. It's more of an infrastructure issue right now.
Laser_Lens_4 1 points 3y ago
This survey has meh accessibility. It's okay on Voiceover for Mac.
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TL;DR is that smart canes add too much weight, too much cost, and don't bring useful features to the table. I can use my phone's GPS and hook into Microsoft Soundscape on an iPhone. If I want to faff around with sonar then I've got Sunu Band and Buzzclip. I don't know if there are more features but that's the only ones I've heard of being built into these things.
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Also, I'm dragging this thing around and abusing the hell out of it. Why would I stuff it with sensitive electronics and a volatile lithium battery?
​
TL;DR is that smart canes add too much weight, too much cost, and don't bring useful features to the table. I can use my phone's GPS and hook into Microsoft Soundscape on an iPhone. If I want to faff around with sonar then I've got Sunu Band and Buzzclip. I don't know if there are more features but that's the only ones I've heard of being built into these things.
​
Also, I'm dragging this thing around and abusing the hell out of it. Why would I stuff it with sensitive electronics and a volatile lithium battery?
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