As per the data available with the WHO (World Health Organization), nearly 1.3 billion people all over the world are living with a certain vision impairment. To be declared legally blind, an individual must possess a certain central visual acuity that is less than 20/200 with their best eye sidewalk.
Nearly 7.6 million people in the US,
are living with visual disabilities. That is a pretty large figure. Such visually impaired people are endeavouring to navigate the whole world around them.
All those dealing with their vision loss are today living independent lifestyles. They often move out, using their present vision condition along with available technology and help devices to maneuver alongside people having normal vision.
People, who are designing and also building public spaces, are trying to make those spaces much easier to negotiate by using aluminum tactile strips so that these people can properly navigate their path on the public road.
People who have lost their vision need to learn about navigating the world designed for normal people, and so they have to use those specific design elements. There are well-established international standards available that can help in keeping this signal uniform all around the globe.
Learning what a designer must consider and include while designing a space will not only help in creating spaces that everybody may use but also can help you follow all these important guidelines.
For blind people the way of laying the pavement
- The direction and location of these blind tracks must be convenient for walking safely and smoothly to reach the location for these visually impaired people.
- These blind tracks must be available continuously, and any obstacles e.g., trees, cables, telephone poles, tree holes, and also manhole covers, etc. must be avoided. Any other facilities must not occupy these blind tracks.
- These blind roads should be set within a distance of around 250 to 600mm away from any outer walls of the sidewalk, green zone, and flower platform.
- These blind roads can be set within a distance of around 250 to 600mm away from the tree hole present on the sidewalk’s inner side. If there is no tree hole on the road then the distance between the standing edge stone- and the the-blind road should not be lesser than 500mm.
- There should be a blind track set at the turning point, and the length should be bigger than the blind track width.
- The bus stop that is along the sidewalk and also the separation zone must set up the blind track, whose width should be around 300 to 600mm, and the necessary distance from the curbstone must be 250 to 500mm.
Pavement meant for blind people
In the city, pavement meant for blind people is a completely barrier-free facility that aims to offer safety and convenience for blind people. It emphasizes safety, practicality, and humanization, instead of just aesthetics and certain artistic standards.
For blind people, pavement is considered to be the road to walk. If it remains occupied or damaged, then it may cause great inconvenience for them.
