I first met Baldur when we walked together on the Prince Edward
Island segment of the White Cane Connections walks. Baldur is an O&M
(Orientation and Mobility) Specialist so accessibility for people who are blind
or partially sighted was a natural part of our conversation. After the last
post on Universal Access, Baldur emailed me with the following comments which I
would like to share with you. I have quoted him verbatim:
Regarding accessibility in
public buildings and on the streets of cities, one important point that always
needs to be highlighted is that when making the built environment more accessible
for one group of people, sometimes the needs of other groups are jeopordized.
For example, as crossings have become more accessible for wheelchairs and
strollers, the blind find that where there once was a curb the pavement and
sidewalk now blend together, making it more difficult for the blind pedestrian
to detect the crossing with the cane. The important point in this discussion is
that when consideration is given to the needs of the blind and partially
sighted, safety is improved for all. Increased contrast of lines, more audible
signals and textured pavement improves safety all around, for everyone. A good
example of this is when larger cities in England started putting bubble
pavement at all crossing. The pedestrian death-rate in these cities was
drasticly reduced. For sighted people, we often hear that eyesight is the
dominant sense and that people use their sight to confirm information from
other senses. Terriffic as it may be, eyesight is not infallable. Our eyes have
limitations, and they can trick us. Having information from not just one sense
but from several, hearing pedestrian signals and feeling the texture under our
feet, all this helps to create a more acurate picture of the environment
through which we want to travel more safely.
Best
regards,
Baldur
Gylfason
Psychologist,
O&M specialist
National
Institute for the Blind, Visually Impaired, and Deafblind
Hamrahlid
17
105
Reykjavik Iceland
Interesting comments
ReplyDeleteDorothy