Hello again, last September I launched the first serial of ACCESS about deaf and sign language. This month, about visual impairment and blindness 
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Do you remember an old well-known proverb? “Eyes are the window to the world”. This is not only a proverb, it’s a scientific fact. Our eyes are one of the most important senses, which 80% of what we perceive comes through our sense of sight. Most of the input we’ve got from our surroundings through our eyes is more than any of our other senses. According to an article from EurekALert, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine calculated that the human eye (retina) can transmit data at a rate of about 10 million bits per second. This means that every second, the eye absorbs 10 million pieces of information and passes it on to the brain for processing so the brain knows what’s going on, and finally it will respond with the relevant action. Can you imagine that? It is important to remember that the eyes are connected to many other systems in our body. Therefore, routine eye exams have an important role in preventive health care, regardless of age or physical health. Having regular eye exams will help to pinpoint some clues about conditions affecting overall health. Eyes health is critical to overall happiness and well-being therefore the importance of our eye health cannot be overlooked.
This is relevant to the theme of 2021 World Sight Day (WSD) which is all about #LoveYourEyes. WSD is celebrated annually held on the second Thursday of October, this year was on 14 October. WSD is an annual awareness day that was endorsed by WHO focuses on global attention on vision impairment, including blindness. According to WHO, Globally, at least 1 billion people have near or distance vision impairment that could be prevented or has yet to be addressed. Vision impairment affects people of all ages, with the majority being over the age of 50. Vision impairment and blindness can have major and long-lasting effects on all aspects of life, including daily personal activities, interacting with the community, school and work opportunities, and the ability to access public services. 64% of all people with vision loss live in South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia & Oceania.
We can take care of our eyes individually, but can we do something for others who are visually impaired or blind? The answer is YES! How?? Even in small things, we as a local guides can contribute by providing more information when reviewing on google maps. We may include accessibility features in our reviews, for example, some information about the availability of guided blocks or tactile paving on pedestrians or other public facilities such as train or bus stations, parks; braille on elevator buttons at malls or office buildings; any menu with braille at the restaurant, etc. Or we can also provide the list of hospitals/clinics that have specific services for eye health.
Regarding with braille, I once found a simple restaurant in Jakarta called Warteg (Warung Tegal) – providing a menu with braille too. Please find my review on google maps and the video of the braille menu too
Braille
Braille is a system of touch reading and writing for blind persons in which raised dots to represent the letters of the alphabet. It also contains equivalents for punctuation marks and provides symbols to show letter groupings. By using the braille alphabet, people who are blind can review and study the written word.
The history of braille goes back to the early 1800s. A man named Charles Barbier who served in Napoleon Bonaparte’s French army developed a unique system known as “night writing” so soldiers could communicate safely during the night. But the name of braille itself, related to Louis Braille, who was born in France on January 4, 1809. He lost his sight at a very young age after he accidentally stabbed himself in the eye with his father’s awl. Braille’s father was a leatherworker and poked holes in the leather goods he produced with the awl. At eleven years old, Braille found inspiration to modify Charles Barbier’s “night writing” code to create an efficient written communication system for fellow blind individuals. One year earlier he was enrolled at the National Institute of the Blind in Paris. He spent the better part of the next nine years developing and refining the system of raised dots that has come to be known by his name, Braille. Braille passed away in 1853 at the age of 43, a year before his home country of France adopted braille as its’ official communication system for blind individuals. A few years later in 1860, braille made its way “across the pond” to America where it was adopted by The Missouri School for the Blind in St. Louis. His legacy enlightened millions of people who are blind from all over the world. Today, braille is available in many different languages world wide.
Braille sign at some places_photo by doc_dells
Guided Block
Guided block or tactile paving also called tactile tiles, truncated domes, detectable warnings, and Tenji blocks. Which is a system of textured ground surface indicators to assist and allow pedestrians who are blind or have a visual impairment to detect the features with canes, guide dogs, or their feet.
Tactile paving was first developed by Seiichi Miyake in 1965 who was inspired by Braille. That’s why this paving block is named Tenji blocks. This paving was first introduced in a street in Okayama, Japan, in 1967 and spread throughout Japan and then around the world. Seiichi Miyake died in 1982 at age 56, but the popularity of his invention has only grown since his death. In the 1990s, the U.S., the UK, and Canada embraced tactile pavement in their cities, included Indonesia. Tactile paving is widely used in subway stations and sidewalks. Today, yellow guided blocks or tactile paving are well known across the world. Do you know that tactile having has different forms/types which represent different purposes too? However, there are two predominant types of tiles: tiles with raised dots indicate caution, while tiles with long, parallel strips provide directional cues.
Please also see my recent reviews on google maps, another branch of Sunyi Coffee that is accessibilty friendly for people with visual and hearing impairment also wheelchair users.
. According to several articles I have read there are different shapes or types of guided blocks or tactile tiles that serve different purposes. But there are two dominant types, the first tile with raised dots indicates caution or stopping, the other type is a long parallel strip that gives direction to walk.
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