Footpath guidance is a technology that assists blind people in crossing roads without help. The purpose of the guidance path surface is to guide vision-impaired people along a route when the traditional cues, such as a property line or kerb edge, are not available. It can also be used to guide people around obstacles, for example street furniture in a pedestrianized area.

Blindness, low vision, vision loss, and visually impaired are all terms commonly used in relation to people who cannot see well. According to the world health organization, approximately 1.3 billion people around the globe live with vision impaired of some sort.

THE USE OF TACTILE INFORMATION

Tactile paving (also called tenji, blocks, detectable warnings, tactile walking surface indicators) is a system of textured ground surface indicators found on stairs and railways station platforms, to assists pedestrians who are vision impaired.

Tactile warnings provide a distinctive surface pattern of truncated domes, cones or bars, detectable by a long cane or underfoot, which are to alert the vision impaired of approaching streets, hazard on surfaces or grade changes.

UTILIZE SOUNDS

People with vision concerns learn to rely on their other senses to navigate the world. For example, they may perceive when they are approaching a cross street by listening for the sound of oncoming traffic or feeling a change in the wind direction due to the lack of buildings blocking the air.

There are numerous methods of building that use sounds to improve their technique and help people to navigate their world.

OUTDOOR SPACES

Barriers are important to help individuals with vision impairments discern where they are and where they should be. Use fencing to indicates the boundary of shared spaces. From playing ground to garden spaces, adding a fence will help someone with vision concerns to able to find or distinguish the boundaries of a spaces.

INDOOR SPACES

Contrast, texture, sounds, and lighting are equally as important indoors as they are outdoors.

STAIRWAYS

Use contrasting color or textures, and prominent boundaries and signage to make stairways more obvious to someone with vision impairment.

ELEVATORS

Consider building elevators that announce each floor as they pass, to help people with vision impairment get off on the floor they’ve selected.

CONCULSION

When designing spaces, you must consider the need of all people who will use them, including those with vision difficulties. Its not always easy to design for the visually impaired, but its crucial to maintaining compliance with ADA regulations and to ensuring that all people who visit your space are able to use it well.

By gaining an understanding of the challenges faced by those with vision impairment, and implementing the right designs into your building and outdoors spaces to accommodate them, you can create spaces that accommodate everyone who needs to use them.