In the last years many projects have been started in all European countries as a consequence of the increased awareness of the need to make the public environment more accessible. These are actions aimed at tackling the problem of accessibility and individual mobility of blind and partially sighted people. The Italian Union of the Blind and Partially Sighted, seizing these signals of a shift in sensitivity, started a thorough study three years ago, believing that scientific research should take into account the needs of blind and partially sighted people.
This is an important engagement in an area where our associations have to intensely and jointly work, where choices have to be agreed because this is the only way to overcome the enormous obstacles to individual mobility and independence. Only if we share the same objective we will achieve the expected results.
I will now briefly describe the VETTORE system:
The main requirements at the basis of the creation of the VETTORE tactile system were as follows:
a) Having a limited set of symbols: the system was simplified in order to only have a few elements to identify and remember, which can be also easily detected.
1. sine wave (sinusoid) for the direction
2. domes to alert and allow detection of impending danger
3. coloured side strips for partially sighted people
These features were the basis of our research that led our designers to use wavelike segments with two side strips of different colour, thus increasing the detection capacity and attention of the partially sighted pedestrian.
b) The continuous attention and concentration of visually impaired pedestrians – this requirement obliged designers to design the sine wave in a way that:
- it is a fundamental element to keep the user’s sensorial perception awake
- it does not constitute an obstacle for other people with or without disabilities
- its wavelike texture makes it an optimal plantar guide that helps the ankle to maintain balance, it obliges feet to incline slightly in a way that stimulates the vestibular system, making it possible to blind and partially sighted people to use this system without any external aid.
The wavelike shape of paving keeps feet in a continuous “non-relaxed” position, obliging visually impaired pedestrian to constantly detect the direction of the path. An important factor in the design phase was the need to maintain the orientation at turns or direction changes. Research showed that the solution was to use the wavelike feature also at turns, maintaining the continuity of direction and without inserting different tactile symbols. The sine wave on the turn tile exactly match the waves on the following tile, which guarantee continuity of the path and exact detection of the direction, without discontinuity in the paving texture.