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Something I've always wondered is how blind people discover braille on placards in public spaces, given the seeming random placement of signage and the unreliab

Something I've always wondered is how blind people discover braille on placards in public spaces, given the seeming random placement of signage and the unreliability of signage to include braille.

jscholes 9y ago
Life as a blind person is littered with questions like this. Quite often, braille signage is one of those things a sighted companion points out, usually just because of the "hey, look at this!" factor. I go through life expecting that places won't have braille signs, or if they do, I'll look like an idiot trying to find them anyway so I expect not to use them. There are some places that often have similar layouts (e.g. hotels) where this situation could be taken advantage of - if hotels had braille signs for room numbers it would make it easier to navigate. But I've never stayed in a hotel that did. There are other issues, for example an airport might have a special assistance desk for disabled travellers but you need assistance to find or reach it.
- subroutine 9y ago
  Thank you for the response. How helpful would it be to have some kind of standard that indicates a building has braille signage? I'm thinking it could be somewhere you would always know where to inspect first, so you dont waste time checking around. I think a good place would be a door handle into the building that simply idicates right or left. Then just inside the door to the right or left there would be braille instructions like - "all rooms have braille signs 5 feet from ground. The floorplan is such. Here is where you can find room x y z."
- ardfie 9y ago
  I wonder if some system like a deafloop could help with these experiences. I assume that most blind or vision impaired people are already carrying smartphones; perhaps some way of providing location hints through the phone could help a visitor.
Double_a_92 9y ago
Most I've seen are on handrails of stairs. Seems like a sensible choice.

Something I've always wondered is how blind people discover braille on placards in public spaces, given the seeming random placement of signage and the unreliability of signage to include braille.

jscholes 9y ago

Life as a blind person is littered with questions like this. Quite often, braille signage is one of those things a sighted companion points out, usually just because of the "hey, look at this!" factor. I go through life expecting that places won't have braille signs, or if they do, I'll look like an idiot trying to find them anyway so I expect not to use them. There are some places that often have similar layouts (e.g. hotels) where this situation could be taken advantage of - if hotels had braille signs for room numbers it would make it easier to navigate. But I've never stayed in a hotel that did. There are other issues, for example an airport might have a special assistance desk for disabled travellers but you need assistance to find or reach it.

subroutine 9y ago
Thank you for the response. How helpful would it be to have some kind of standard that indicates a building has braille signage? I'm thinking it could be somewhere you would always know where to inspect first, so you dont waste time checking around. I think a good place would be a door handle into the building that simply idicates right or left. Then just inside the door to the right or left there would be braille instructions like - "all rooms have braille signs 5 feet from ground. The floorplan is such. Here is where you can find room x y z."
ardfie 9y ago
I wonder if some system like a deafloop could help with these experiences. I assume that most blind or vision impaired people are already carrying smartphones; perhaps some way of providing location hints through the phone could help a visitor.

Double_a_92 9y ago

Most I've seen are on handrails of stairs. Seems like a sensible choice.