Ben Myers shared this very excellent video with me about these tactile maps of intersections (YouTube) that can be installed along with audio crossing signals so that pedestrians with visual impairments know what to expect when crossing the intersection. The video is pure catnip for me. It has everything: mobility infrastructure, accessibility, an (apparently) ideal design process, industrial design sketches, scandinavia.
These tactile maps are so simple, and so ingenious, I want them installed everywhere. The two moments in the video that really stood out to me, however, were not about the tactile maps. First is this quote from the crossing maps’ designer, Kenneth Österlin:
A designer’s job is not to have all the right answers, but to know the right questions and who to ask.
No notes.
The other moment was when Jimmy Petterson, an advocate at the Swedish Association of the Visually Impaired (and who presumably has a vision impairment), describes how he used to have nightmares about falling onto the train tracks before Sweden installed tactile pavings on train platforms to help people with visual impairments navigate the platform without having to walk write up to the edge of the platform. A more visceral example of why accessibility matters, I cannot imagine. No one, anywhere, ever, should have nightmares because navigating their home is so dangerous for them.