As I walked behind a gentleman who was visually impaired as he followed the guides (tactile paving) that were placed on the floor in the bus interchange, you can see his confidence as he was walking at a relatively high speed.
I was observing how he was navigating through the bus interchange, he was counting each junction of the guide in the interchange, as he reached his berth he swiftly turned right in walked into the railings. He then attempted to find the start of the queue of the bus which he did. The berth had 3 queue lines and he manage to find the correct queue with no problem, I was quite amaze that no one went up to him to ask him what bus he was taking to assure him. Me being a "better safe than sorry" person finally caught up to him and asked him which bus service he was taking and I assured him he was in the right queue, as I was taking the same bus service as me. I told him I would wait behind and lead him up the bus before going back to queue, he then actually offered to queue with me at the back instead. I told him the queue isn't long and I have no problems getting on the bus. |
So when the bus came I guided him to the bus and he then swiftly made his way to the seat of in-front of the 2nd exit on the bendy busy, After having boarded the bus later I still manage to find a standing space near him and had a struck up the small conversation though the conversation I found out how he knows when to get down, as he has been staying in that area he knows the route the bus takes so he explaining how the slight bend and hump before the stop allow him to know when to get off, either that he also counts the number of stops.
He is simply quite amazing, so independent even when is challenged with visual impairment.
That story aside this chanced meeting with him has let me to feel that there's so much room for our infrastructure to improve in the form of barrier free access. I have seen first hand in a few HDB estates, stairs area are sheltered while ramps are un-sheltered from the sun and rain. That frankly doesn't make sense, those who can use the stairs without problem are able to use ramps during a rain but not vice versa. Why do they design in such a way ?
Let's take bus interchange design into consideration, yes currently someone who is visually impaired can navigate the interchange but this is only possible if they are familiar of which berth and which bus queue they need to join, from what I notice currently there's no way someone who is visually impaired to know which berth and which queue is correct, unless someones come to their aid ?( I'm unsure about this), there are so many things we can do to make Singapore truly barrier free, Don't be the barrier ourselves so before that happens let us be those who temporarily remove the barriers for them by being considerate and going over to asked and confirm for them or help them on their way.
Have any ideas to improve our barrier free access?
Have any ideas to improve our barrier free access?