People with visual impairment in the built outdoor environment

Principal investigator: Agneta Ståhl
Co-applicant: Susanne Iwarsson , Mai Almén & Synneve Dahlin Ivanoff
Doctoral student: Emma Newman

Swedish building legislation requires public places and developed land to be designed so that they are accessible and usable for people with impaired mobility or orientation. Orientation for the sight-impaired is a very complex subject since they do not constitute a homogeneous group. They have highly individual perceptions of things like spatiality and contrast. The differences are not just due to differences in vision, but also to rehabilitation and type of assistive devices etc. It is urgent to increase our knowledge of how different details in the walking environment and encounters with other road users and types of transport (bicycle, car, bus and train) should be designed so that they satisfactorily meet the needs of sight-impaired people for orientation and warning.

The aim of the project is to conduct systematic studies in order to produce material that can be used in the day-to-day work of the National Road Administration and the National Rail Administration in improving recommendations for environmental design to make the built outdoor environment more accessible. So far, two studies have been conducted.

The results from the first study showed that the most important design characteristic for detection of warning surfaces with a white cane was the structure of the tactile surface. Yet, the depth of the surface and availability of a kerb did not have any impact of the detection. A precondition was that there was a distinct natural guidance surface leading up to the warning surface.

An ongoing study focusses on orientation and warning surfaces on rail transportation platforms.

Financial contributor
National Road Administration & National Rail Administration

Time
2005–

Publications
Newman, E., Dahlin-Ivanoff, S., Iwarsson, S., Ståhl, A. A totaly blind person’s experiences of orientationg on a railway platform. A case study focusing on design solutions. Submitted.

Ståhl, A., Newman, E., Dahlin-Iwanoff, S., Almén, A., & Iwarsson, S. Detection of warning surfaces in pedestrian environments: The importance for blind people of kerbs, depth, and structure of tactile surfaces. Disability and Rehabilitation, 2010; 32(6), 469–482.

Newman, E. (2010). Att vara blind på passage och perrong : som en resa utan skyltar och signaler. Licensiate thesis. Trafik and Road, Faculty of Engineering, LTH, Lund.

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