Accessible Infrastructure Development for the Visually Impaired

Authors

  • Guoce Shui

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61173/40rezf09

Keywords:

Accessible infrastructure, blindness, disability rights, urban planning, social inclusion

Abstract

This paper focuses on daily struggles of visually impaired individuals with public infrastructure and services. Although it is now a cliche on making progress globally in disability rights, the reality on the ground is different. Infrastructure supporting independent mobility and social inclusion for the blind are often far from providing such aids and considerations, something that makes them navigate through a world whose design does not reflect the needs of the visually impaired people. The study brings out the critical issues of scarcity of tactile paving, inadequacy of braille signage, and complete absence of audible traffic signals, each of which is a grim reminder of how systematic these individuals are left out from being part of society. These are the physical barriers, but much more is beyond this. This research proposes practical solutions that can develop more inclusive standards, integrate innovative technologies, and overcome social and financial hurdles. By raising these issues, the paper seeks to contribute important ideas for policymakers, urban planners, and advocacy groups to truly motivate the collective action needed to make public spaces fully and widely accessible. The findings underscore the need for shared responsibility in infrastructure improvement, which will significantly enhance the quality of life for the blind and help reach society’s goals of being fairer and more inclusive.

References

[1] Suraweera, T., Bandara, S., Wickramaarachchi, C., & Perera, D. (2022). Challenges of Mobility and Access to Transport for People with Visual Impairment and Blindness: An Exploratory Study. SLIIT Business Review, 2(2), 29-46. https://doi. org/10.54389/GCCS2771

[2] C. Gleason et al., “Crowdsourcing the Installation and Maintenance of Indoor Localization Infrastructure to Support Blind Navigation,” Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 1-25, Mar. 2018, doi: 10.1145/3191741.

[3] U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, “Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, As Amended,” ADA.gov, [Online] Available: https://www.ada.gov/law-and-regs/ada/ [Accessed: 21-Aug-2024].

[4] Hoofar Shokravi, Hooman Shokravi, Norhisham Bakhary, Seyed Saeid Rahimian Koloor, and Michal Petrů. “Health Monitoring of Civil Infrastructures by Subspace System Identification Method: An Overview.” Applied Sciences 10 (2020): 2786.

[5] Abasi, A.; Sadhu, A. Performance Evaluation of Blind Modal Identification in Large-Scale Civil Infrastructure. Infrastructures, 2022, 7, 98. https://doi.org/10.3390/infrastructures7080098.

Downloads

Published

2024-10-29