scholarly journals Tactile Ground Surface Indicator –Installation and challenges faced by visually impaired globally

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2S2) ◽  
pp. 516-519
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Ground Surface ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Standard Tool ◽  
Impaired People ◽  
Tactile Cues ◽  
Free Environment ◽  
Hazard Warning

Tactile Surfaces are used by visually impaired people globally as an assistive tool for tactile cues from the environment for their mobility. Tactile Ground Surface Indicators (TGSI) or Tactile Walking Surface Indicators (TWSI) are used in many countries for visually impaired as a standard tool for enabling a barrier-free environment. TGSI enable people with all types of visual impairment to wayfind, orient and detect hazard in the built environment. The purpose of this study is to find the challenges faced by the installation of tactile ground surface indicators and the challenges faced by visually impaired globally. This paper attempts to review the relevant literature based on both installations of tactile ground surface indicators and the issues faced by the visually impaired in many countries. The literature review shows that the visually impaired face challenges of wayfinding, orientation, and hazard warning in many countries because of the absence of standardized design of size, texture, color and installation protocol of TGSI. Maintenance and reinstallation of TGSI is an issue in many countries which causes confusion and discomfort to visually impaired.

scholarly journals Comparing Interaction Techniques to Help Blind People Explore Maps on Small Tactile Devices

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathieu Simonnet ◽  
Anke M. Brock ◽  
Antonio Serpa ◽  
Bernard Oriola ◽  
Christophe Jouffrais
Keyword(s):  
User Satisfaction ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Blind People ◽  
Interaction Techniques ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Impaired People ◽  
Visual Interaction ◽  
Spatial Configurations ◽  
Tactile Cues ◽  
Efficient Exploration

Exploring geographic maps on touchscreens is a difficult task in the absence of vision as those devices miss tactile cues. Prior research has therefore introduced non-visual interaction techniques designed to allow visually impaired people to explore spatial configurations on tactile devices. In this paper, we present a study in which six blind and six blindfolded sighted participants evaluated three of those interaction techniques compared to a screen reader condition. We observed that techniques providing guidance result in a higher user satisfaction and more efficient exploration. Adding a grid-like structure improved the estimation of distances. None of the interaction techniques improved the reconstruction of the spatial configurations. The results of this study allow improving the design of non-visual interaction techniques that support a better exploration and memorization of maps in the absence of vision.

Information Used by Visually Impaired People While Walking

1998 ◽  
Vol 1636 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susumu Takamiya ◽  
Shunichi Hamada
Keyword(s):  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Ground Surface ◽  
Information Provision ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Improvement Planning ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Impaired People ◽  
Mental Map

As part of the efforts to help visually impaired people participate in society, tactile ground surface indicators are installed along roadways in Japan. Recent years have observed the beginning of studies of voice guidance along sidewalks. But, for visually impaired people to actually walk alone to their destinations, they must confirm each intersection and continually check their location against a mental map. It is important to conduct studies to clarify how visually impaired people obtain these kinds of information and what forms of information provision (voice guidance) should be provided to support this process. To this end, this research project involved interviews with 20 visually impaired people concerning the information they use when walking and experiments conducted with the help of 12 visually impaired people to find out which locations along sidewalks require voice guidance. The results revealed that as visually impaired people walk, they confirm their location by means of information ranging from unchangeable features, such as facilities along the route and the shape of the sidewalk, to the sounds and smells of shops they pass. Results also indicated that voice guidance should be provided where two four-lane roads intersect, but that if too many voice guidance points are provided close together, visually impaired people might become confused. It is vital that future road improvement planning incorporate the findings of this study to create spaces where visually impaired people can walk safely and comfortably.

Application of IoT Based Stick for Visually Impaired People in CVIS System

CICTP 2020 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ammar Muhammad ◽  
Qizhou Hu ◽  
Muhammad Tayyab ◽  
Yikai Wu ◽  
Muhammad Ahtsham
Keyword(s):  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Impaired People

Widening the horizons: Information space of the library for the blind as the resource to improve quality of life of visually impaired people

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Novikova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Continuing Education ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Information Space ◽  
Advanced Training ◽  
Improve Quality ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Impaired People ◽  
Special Library

The special library acts as the cultural and educational center for visually impaired people, and as the center for continuing education. The multifunctional performance of the library is substantiated. The joint projects accomplished in cooperation with theatres and museums and aimed at integrating the visually impaired people into the society are described. Advanced training projects for the library professionals accomplished in 2018 are discussed.

Touching Blind Bodies: A Critical Inquiry into Pedagogical and Cultural Constructions of Visual Disability in the Nineteenth Century

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Tilley ◽  
Jan Eric Olsén
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Blind People ◽  
Embodied Experience ◽  
Visual Disability ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Educational Challenges ◽  
Impaired People ◽  
The Senses ◽  
Cultural Constructions

Changing ideas on the nature of and relationship between the senses in nineteenth-century Europe constructed blindness as a disability in often complex ways. The loss or absence of sight was disabling in this period, given vision’s celebrated status, and visually impaired people faced particular social and educational challenges as well as cultural stereotyping as poor, pitiable and intellectually impaired. However, the experience of blind people also came to challenge received ideas that the visual was the privileged mode of accessing information about the world, and contributed to an increasingly complex understanding of the tactile sense. In this chapter, we consider how changing theories of the senses helped shape competing narratives of identity for visually impaired people in the nineteenth century, opening up new possibilities for the embodied experience of blind people by impressing their sensory ability, rather than lack thereof. We focus on a theme that held particular social and cultural interest in nineteenth-century accounts of blindness: travel and geography.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document