[accessibleimage] Re: maps for the blind

Hi Lori,

You are not alone.

I am now totally blind, although I had vision for the first 39 years of my
life, gradually decreasing from full vision to very little before losing
all. I travel with a cane. I can definitely detect changes in the direction
of paths most of the time. During the past few years I have experienced
some hearing loss, a little more in the right ear than in the left ear,
which interferes with my sense of direction, but doesn't stop me from
noticing changes in direction of a path. It  just interferes with my
figuring
out where sounds are coming from. I, like you, find it  helpful to have maps
that depict whether or not the path is straight or  angles. I also generally
appreciate knowing the basic layout of a route  so I can figure out where I
am
going more easily, even though I can be overwhelmed by cluttered tactile
maps, especially if they are not clearly labeled, or require moving too much
from the map to a key to figure out the labeling code.

I am not sure if valuing tactile maps of routes is something that is more
important
for people who have previously had vision than  for those who never saw. I
also don't know if blind people who have learned to use maps to gain an idea
of
the overall layout of places find this relevant while those who aren't used
to using tactile maps find it less helpful.

I just finished reading the book, Touching for Knowing: Cognitive psychology
of haptic manual perception
Edited by
Yvette Hatwell
Universite Pierre Mendes-France, Grenoble
Arlette Streri
Edouard Gentaz
Universite Rene Descartes and Centre National de 7a Recherche Scientifique
John Benjamins Publishing Company Amsterdam/ Philadelphia
Translated (and updated) from: Y. Hatwell, A. Streri and E. Gentaz (2000).
Toucher pour connaitre. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Toucher pour connaitre. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.

It is a very interesting book.

One article in particular deals with tactile maps: The tactile reading of
maps and drawings, and the access of blind people to works of art by Yvette
Hatwell and Francoise Martinez-Sarrochi. They seem to say that people with
some vision and those with some previous vision might benefit most from
tactile maps.

I think it can be a complex question because blind people often differ
greatly in past experiences, past sensory capacities, current sensory
capacities, including specifics of vision limitations, hearing limitations,
and tactal capacities, as well as age of onset of blindness (very young,
middle-life or older), etc. and kind and amount of developed skills.

I don't think that laboratory tests can necessarily deal with all of these
complexities fully or adequately because they can be so interrelated.

Personally, I really hope we will have more and more good tactile maps of
local areas as time goes on.

Have a happy new year.

Sylvie

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lori" <twilight2@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <accessibleimage@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2006 6:40 PM
Subject: [accessibleimage] maps for the blind


Hi all,

My apologies if this has already been discussed here or if it isn't
apropriate for the list, but after reading the messages about production of
maps and someone mentioning in an article that they can't distinguish a
curve, etc, I thought I should post.

I'm just curious. I'm a totally blind pedestrian who has traveled both with
cane and dog guide. I would say a good percentage of the time I am aware of
any alteration in direction of travel or even subtle changes. I find it
helpful to have maps that depict whether or not the path is straight or
angles. I'm not alone, am I?

Lori

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