Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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What is your experience at the office and/or large spaces? Is it normal or common to find obstacles in your daily life when in such large places? What about in new environments? What could help you in these situations? (self.Blind)
submitted by jmpb_1998
Hello Everyone! So this is my first time posting in r/Blind so I hope this post will be within the sub rules!
At this moment, I am at a health competition where my team and I should find a solution to help anyone in any health related way.
One of the topics that we came across was how complicated it must be for blind and visually impaired people to guide themselves in large buildings, just as the one we are in now, where I got lost several times already.
My question for you would be if you have experienced this kind of lack of orientation in any way or a situation where you found yourself lost and how would you think you could have overcame that.
We were considering designing a stick with a sensor at the end which would interact with electromagnetic tape. This could allow a standardised system to be conveniently implemented in the buildings you visit, to help guide the user through. For instance, this device may be able to take you in a safe path through the building and tell you along the way that, "Meeting Room 1 is to the right". We are hoping that this would make new environments more accessible by allowing an avenue for the building to "speak" to you. And we hope it would be helpful even for buildings you know! This is why we want to know what you think about this, and would love to hear about your experiences!
Thank you to begin with and looking forward your answers! :)
At this moment, I am at a health competition where my team and I should find a solution to help anyone in any health related way.
One of the topics that we came across was how complicated it must be for blind and visually impaired people to guide themselves in large buildings, just as the one we are in now, where I got lost several times already.
My question for you would be if you have experienced this kind of lack of orientation in any way or a situation where you found yourself lost and how would you think you could have overcame that.
We were considering designing a stick with a sensor at the end which would interact with electromagnetic tape. This could allow a standardised system to be conveniently implemented in the buildings you visit, to help guide the user through. For instance, this device may be able to take you in a safe path through the building and tell you along the way that, "Meeting Room 1 is to the right". We are hoping that this would make new environments more accessible by allowing an avenue for the building to "speak" to you. And we hope it would be helpful even for buildings you know! This is why we want to know what you think about this, and would love to hear about your experiences!
Thank you to begin with and looking forward your answers! :)
TheBlindBookLover 4 points 3y ago
I will typically try to learn the layout of any new places that I go to frequently. I will try to retrace my steps. If there is someone else around, I will ask for help. I may also use visual interpretation services for the blind like Aira or Be My Eyes. Apps like Microsoft SoundScape are helpful too.
stormsong19 3 points 3y ago
Any system that relies on external factors, i.e. widespread adoption of new tech in most buildings by the businesses themselves is almost doomed to fail. There are already a lot of beacon based gps systems like the one described here. The inability to settle on one, plus marketing and distribution concerns means they are very very rarely implemented at scale
Mokohi 3 points 3y ago
Hi, and welcome! I'm low vision / legally blind. I'm from a very small community, so large areas are always a very new experience to me. I usually try to go earlier than I need to so that I have plenty of time to explore and take down notes about landmarks and ask for help if I need to.
KillerLag 2 points 3y ago
In regards to your design to a cane with a sensor at the end that would interact with electromagnetic tape. Rather that requiring a new kind of cane as well as something that gets stuck the the ground, wouldn't it make more sense to use existing technology? There are mobile beacons that emit a bluetooth signal, that an app can use to figure out where it is and give directions. Blindsquare already uses such a system.
The issue I see with a sensor on the cane is, the range for reading electromagnetic tape must be really close. So if the cane misses it, or if the person uses two-point touch technique, then the cane's sensor wouldn't be able to read the tape.
The issue I see with a sensor on the cane is, the range for reading electromagnetic tape must be really close. So if the cane misses it, or if the person uses two-point touch technique, then the cane's sensor wouldn't be able to read the tape.
SuckMyPlums 2 points 3y ago
I know quite a lot of blind people, they generally put their sticks away once they go indoors, a stick inside (esp an office) could be messy.
Handrails are always preferred but I assume we're talking about open plan here. My suggestion would be textured floor tiles that indicate the pathway. You could use different textures for different purposes.
They have something similar in the UK for road junctions, bumps on the pathway. These are extreme though, uncomfortable to walk on, act as more of an alarm rather than information. I'm sure much more subtle alternatives would work great for open plan offices.
It could be achieved with normal floor tiles too, doesn't take much to notice the difference between say a carpet tile and a solid tile.
Handrails are always preferred but I assume we're talking about open plan here. My suggestion would be textured floor tiles that indicate the pathway. You could use different textures for different purposes.
They have something similar in the UK for road junctions, bumps on the pathway. These are extreme though, uncomfortable to walk on, act as more of an alarm rather than information. I'm sure much more subtle alternatives would work great for open plan offices.
It could be achieved with normal floor tiles too, doesn't take much to notice the difference between say a carpet tile and a solid tile.
jmpb_1998 [OP] 1 points 3y ago
Hello again everyone!!
My team and I want to thank everyone for your feedback and help! Sorry if we didn't answer all your comments tonight, but we were all extremely stressed to try to finish the system on time.
We are happy to say the judges really liked the project and we are waiting for the results now! :)
As we said we applied a conductive tape along the competition room and added certain sensors to detect the white cane whenever close by. The sensors alerted the user to the presence of a special information on a QR code which was processed by a camera attached to the cane and processed into speech.
We genuinely don't know how something like this has not been implemented yet since I think it would be incredibly useful for everyone on this sub!
I wish you all well and thanks again for your feedback!
​
The Whispering Walls Team
My team and I want to thank everyone for your feedback and help! Sorry if we didn't answer all your comments tonight, but we were all extremely stressed to try to finish the system on time.
We are happy to say the judges really liked the project and we are waiting for the results now! :)
As we said we applied a conductive tape along the competition room and added certain sensors to detect the white cane whenever close by. The sensors alerted the user to the presence of a special information on a QR code which was processed by a camera attached to the cane and processed into speech.
We genuinely don't know how something like this has not been implemented yet since I think it would be incredibly useful for everyone on this sub!
I wish you all well and thanks again for your feedback!
​
The Whispering Walls Team
[deleted] 1 points 3y ago
[deleted]
mmouton61 1 points 3y ago
I think that sounds like a really great idea. The only experience I have had that I have found difficult in the past is making my way around an airport. I should mention that I am visually impaired at this time, not blind. However, blindness is in my future. I think anything that can help us get around is a plus and your idea sounds great. Thank you!!
322lancer 1 points 3y ago
Generally, with larger buildings, you get accomidated with the parts of the building you know you'll frequent the most. For example: your office, exits, elivators, staircases. As for obstacles, depening on the mobility aid, whether it be a guide dog or cane, your O&M teaches you how to deal with this during training. Also, with rooms that aren't numbered (which the majority of the time they are) it's about doing it until it's muscle memory. I don't know how helpful that was but I'm fairly new to indoor travel so I'm going off what I currently know. Andwith new environments, you either use your cane or your dog to explore. Generally speaking, a blind person isn't going to navigate an unfamiliar area on their own. All I can say is it would be nice if all office buildings had rooms labelled as well as elevators.
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