Supporting blind and visually impaired people with digital maps that can enhance spatial awareness and learning about the surrounding environment is a challenge. This study introduces an ...audio-tactile you-are-here map system that presents map elements and users' updated location on a mobile pin-matrix display for blind and visually impaired people. In addition to panning and zooming a map, in the system, a set of tactile map symbols consisting of raised and lowered pins have been proposed to present varying map elements. A field test with eight visually impaired subjects and eight blindfolded subjects who did not have experience with tactile maps and Braille was conducted. Subjects would locate surrounding streets easily after a short-time training, as well as nearby point-of-interests (POIs). The results of the evaluation indicated that the mean relative distance error was significantly lower with nearby POIs, which do not require panning while exploring, than far away POIs. Furthermore, it is important to improve the portability of the proposed prototype and develop a one-hand map exploration method.
'Disability'; the 'D' word generally speaks its own meaning, as anyone who is different from others in terms of physical and mental impairment. There are various types of disabilities; broad ...categories such as physical and communication disability, mental illness and mental retardation, learning disabilities and so forth. In this article, an attempt has been made to describe the term 'visual impairment' which falls under the category of physical and communication disability. The next section of the article presents activities of the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped, Dehradun, India to make the visually impaired self-sufficient and to recognize the role played by the Institute in disseminating information to them.
A way-finding system in an indoor environment consists of several components: localization, representation, path planning, and interaction. For each component, numerous relevant techniques have been ...proposed. However, deploying feasible techniques, particularly in real scenarios, remains challenging. In this paper, we describe a functional way-finding system deployed on a mobile robot to assist visual impairments (VI). The proposed system deploys state-of-the-art techniques that are adapted to the practical issues at hand. First, we adapt an outdoor visual odometry technique to indoor use by covering manual markers or stickers on ground-planes. The main purpose is to build reliable travel routes in the environment. Second, we propose a procedure to define and optimize the landmark/representative scenes of the environment. This technique handles the repetitive and ambiguous structures of the environment. In order to interact with VI people, we deploy a convenient interface on a smart phone. Three different indoor scenarios and thirteen subjects are conducted in our evaluations. Our experimental results show that VI people, particularly VI pupils, can find the right way to requested targets.
Mobility for the blind can be defined as the ability to move independently through the environment with ease, speed and safety. With an estimate of 7 million people going blind each year, the numbers ...of visually impaired people are expected to be double by 2030. This work presents a prototype development of a low cost GPS and GSM based navigational aid device called smart white cane for assisting visually impaired people to navigate easily. This device integrates smart sensors and wireless technologies GPS and GSM to assist the user in safe indoor and outdoor navigation. The major phases of this prototype development are obstacle detection, depth detection, water detection and finding location. A GSM module has been incorporated in this prototype so as to make blind people capable of sending an SOS message to a family member in critical situations. The smart white cane is a small, cheap and easily operated navigation aid for the blind and visually impaired people.
Many people have significant difficulties while using information technology (IT) devices. This study suggests a new concept of IT interaction disability (ITID) to understand the significant ...difficulties that users may encounter while using IT devices. The task, interface, and context (TIC) framework for classifying the types of ITID is also developed; this framework includes three components: tasks, user interface elements, and context factors. A case study in which visually impaired people used smartphones was conducted to illustrate the types of ITID and to show the applicability of the TIC framework. The result of this study can provide insights to researchers to improve the understanding of the significant difficulties of using IT devices and to analyse these difficulties systematically.
Purpose
This study aims to develop a ubiquitous library for the visually impaired (ULVI) application (app) and to explore its usability by collecting feedback from visually impaired participants to ...analyse the problems they might encounter. Their suggestions for improving the app further are also reported.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of ten participants were recruited in the study. Ten tasks were assigned for the participants to complete using the ULVI app. The system usability scale was adopted to collect feedback on the app, and interviews were conducted to understand the participants’ usage behaviours and perceptions of the app.
Findings
The findings indicated that the participants provided positive evaluation of the usability of the app and addressed the functions that might need improvement. Above all, this app was regarded as having great potential. Suggestions and improvements are proposed based on the participants’ feedback.
Originality/value
In terms of the studies relevant to libraries and the visually impaired, few have evaluated the usability of the ULVI app from the perspectives of the visually impaired users. The ULVI app provides resources for the visually impaired and serves as the foundation for developing a more effective ULVI app.
The debut publication in a new series devoted to the body as an object of historical study, Sight Correction provides an expansive analysis of blindness in eighteenth-century Britain, developing a ...new methodology for conceptualizing sight impairment. Beginning with a reconsideration of the place of sight correction as both idea and reality in eighteenth-century philosophical debates, Chris Mounsey traces the development of eye surgery by pioneers such as William Read, Mary Cater, and John Taylor, who developed a new idea of medical specialism that has shaped contemporary practices. He then turns to accounts by the visually impaired themselves, exploring how Thomas Gills, John Maxwell, and Priscilla Pointon deployed literature strategically as a necessary response to the inadequacies of Poor Laws to support blind people. Situating blindness philosophically, medically, and economically in the eighteenth century, Sight Correction shows how the lives of both the blind and those who sought to treat them redefined blindness in ways that continue to inform our understanding today.
Spinocerebellar ataxia type 7 (SCA7) is one of several inherited neurodegenerative disorders caused by a polyglutamine (polyQ) expansion, but it is the only one in which the retina is affected. ...Increasing evidence suggests that transcriptional alterations contribute to polyQ pathogenesis, although the mechanism is unclear. We previously demonstrated that the SCA7 gene product, ataxin-7 (ATXN7), is a subunit of the GCN5 histone acetyltransferase-containing coactivator complexes TFTC/STAGA. We show here that TFTC/STAGA complexes purified from SCA7 mice have normal TRRAP, GCN5, TAF12, and SPT3 levels and that their histone or nucleosomal acetylation activities are unaffected. However, rod photoreceptors from SCA7 mouse models showed severe chromatin decondensation. In agreement, polyQ-expanded ataxin-7 induced histone H3 hyperacetylation, resulting from an increased recruitment of TFTC/STAGA to specific promoters. Surprisingly, hyperacetylated genes were transcriptionally down-regulated, and expression analysis revealed that nearly all rod-specific genes were affected, leading to visual impairment in SCA7 mice. In conclusion, we describe here a set of events accounting for SCA7 pathogenesis in the retina, in which polyQ-expanded ATXN7 deregulated TFTC/STAGA recruitment to a subset of genes specifically expressed in rod photoreceptors, leading to chromatin alterations and consequent progressive loss of rod photoreceptor function.
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