Has anyone else noticed, more and more often, bathroom signs will just say "restroom" in braille, even if the bathroom is gendered?
So, no "men" or "women", just "restroom", even if the printed text says "men" or "women", or even if they have the silhouettes?
Assuming there isn't anyone around to ask, what do you guys do in this situation?
Crafty_Dragon_roll3 points1y ago
This isn't always, but sometimes the people on the signs are tactile too, so I can feel the dress if women and no dress for men.
If not I just try to hold it.
BlindPerson420 [OP]3 points1y ago
Unfortunately that wasn't the case here ... although that makes sense for blind people who don't know braille.
purple_goat_81382 points1y ago
Easy, I avoid public restrooms altogether. Lol.
rumster1 points1y ago
I don't know if just hold it is honestly a good answer.
Crafty_Dragon_roll1 points1y ago
I didn't say it was a good solution. Just if there's no way to tell which is which and there's no one there to help, I'll hold it if I can. If I can't I just walk into the restroom. And yes I've walked into a men's rooms before.
rumster1 points1y ago
gotcha!
Marconius2 points1y ago
For gendered restrooms in the US, the Men's usually has the silhouettes on a triangle shaped sign on the door, and the Women's is on a circle. Unisex bathrooms will usually have both shapes on top of each other as the sign, so it feels like a raised triangle sitting inside a circle. I've never noticed braille just saying "restroom" as all the braille I've encountered for public restrooms or in offices have the gender written out.
Bsmith07992 points1y ago
You could use the Be My Eyes app. A sighted volunteer would get a call through the app and be hooked up to a video chat with you where you could explain what you need, they'd answer it, and then be done.
MilkbottleF2 points1y ago
Depends on context, but in a pinch I might check for raised print lettering on the sign and read that (or try to estimate the length/shape of the words, if they are too small to quickly decipher), use an OCR app on my phone (Envision, Seeing A I, Supersense, even the image description feature built into VoiceOver could theoretically read it), or make a thirty-second Facetime/Whatsapp call as a last resort.
Rokwind1 points1y ago
lol ya and half the time both signs say one gender. I was on a train once and noticed that the mens and womens rooms said in braille that they were both womens rooms. lol Thank god for the little people on the sign that you can feel if not for those then I would have made mistakes in the past.
Restroom sign people I praise you for being on the side of the blind and helping us out even though the rest of your sign could give a shit. lol
WorldlyLingonberry401 points1y ago
Could you disclose what public location had thesesigns? A simple call to identify the manufacturer could correct this issue.
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