Hi, my name is Fabio and this is my world:
No, there is no problem with uploading the image and now I’ll explain why!
Today I want to talk about a dear friend of mine, Fabio, who unfortunately lost his sight due to a rare disease: " At birth ( December 20, 1987) my residual vision was enough to ride a bike and play football in a small field near my house. After two detachments of the retina, one at the age of 9 and the other at the age of 12, the left eye completely disappeared. I was only fourteen years old, when I went to meet uveitis, a very serious infection, which caused me an opacification of the cornea with detachment of the retina and irreparable progressive deterioration of vision, reduced only to an indistinct vision of lights and shadows, stabilized even after an intervention which I submitted to the hospital in September 2012. "
But none of this has discouraged this splendid and strong boy, in fact at just 20 years Fabio decided to take his life in hand. After graduating from accounting school, he left his hometown to move to Verona to attend the University, where he then graduated first in economics and commerce in 2010 and after a two-year post-graduate degree in Economics and Business Law. Not yet full of studies, he also attended a university master’s degree as an expert educator in sensory and multifunctional disabilities.
In 2011 he married his beloved Alice. Meanwhile he also trained swimming, running and cycling: this tenacity also won him national titles at the Paralympics !
In 2013 he founded the company “Progetto Yeah!”, which deals with training and support for people with sensory difficulties, where he holds the role of Manager and Trainer as an expert in sensorial and multi-functional disabilities and expert in assistive technologies, personal autonomy and accessibility.
As you have read, behind a serious misfortune of life this boy has not been beaten down or demoralized at all, on the contrary: " I feel fit and my blindness is the least of my thoughts. I don’t say it’s all easy, but, after all, nothing is ever absolutely so, even for the able-bodied. You have to want things to make them happen, crying all over you is of no use. So, come on, you need the courage to take your life in hand in an active way, because no one can tell us what we know or don’t know how to do: it is a decision that only belongs to us ".
I was invited along with my wife and other common acquaintances to participate in a “Dinner in the Dark”: the whole environment was covered with thick curtains and every minimum light point adequately darkened, to recreate the total darkness. We were accompanied to the table by other blind people and despite the most complete darkness ever “seen” before we all moved cautiously and fearfully as they realized that they were at ease. They made us sit down and from there it was all a discovery and at the same time an adventure being able to find the cutlery, to fill the glasses with water or wine without overturning anything, to understand if the dish was empty or there was still something to to taste and above all the biggest challenge, not having the visual image of what was being eaten, was to guess the flavors of the dishes, which is not always easy!
After this dinner that made me realize that the peculiarity of what happened in an hour instead was normality for all blind people, me and Fabio, both passionate about technologies, we had a long chat about how today’s smartphones thanks to current technologies actually help to better address these disabilities: thanks to the integrated audio players it is possible to understand what appears on our screen, we can now use our voice to make the phone perform all the necessary activities, we can change the visual settings by enlarging at will or changing colors.
In this regard I would like to make you aware that there are dedicated apps that also help and simplify in a decisive way those who suffer from visual problems (I will mention a couple so as not to postpone the post too much):
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Lookout an app to help blind and visually impaired people learn about their surroundings
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Be My Eyes : Be My Eyes is a free app that blinds people with sighted volunteers and company representatives for visual assistance through a live video call.
(I highly recommend visiting the links above to get an idea of how technology is evolving and how we can be useful to others using our smartphone).
For those who want to learn more about how to set up and how to use their smartphone or computer (desktop / notebook) I also leave you the links with appropriate suggestions from the two major manufacturers of operating systems for mobile devices (Apple for iOS and Google for Android) and of course the one from Microsoft:
https://www.apple.com/accessibility/
https://www.google.com/accessibility/
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility
Returning in-topic, during the chat with Fabio, bitterly and a little surprised, I learned that he does not use Google Maps in his journeys on foot as Maps is not yet well prepared and optimized for the blind. He told me about some gaps that navigators have in general and how these discourage their use.
Both as a person and as a LocalGuides I therefore wanted to try Google Maps on foot by putting myself in the shoes of a user with visual problems or with walking difficulties!
Well, this is what I found:
(ps: thanks to Traci’s suggestion you can now also vote for each single consideration in Idea Exchange by following the link indicated)
- The first problem I found was that navigation on foot for people with visual or walking disabilities does not take into account that the time needed to reach the destination will be 5-6 times (if not more!) times greater than that indicated by Maps for the journey on foot (which is based on the time required for people without disabilities at normal pace). Link to Idea Exchange : An alternative time calculation of the walking route …
- If you are wrongly heading in more than a recalculation of the route, an immediate sound alert would be more useful (sometimes you walk even for 30/40 meters before we are told that you have gone the wrong way) making orientation less easy. Link to Idea Exchange : Improve the warning that the user has gone the wrong way.
- It would be useful if Maps always consider the paths with the wall of the buildings on the user’s right: this is a valid point of reference and / or support in case of difficulty and is also taken into consideration by the blind as a reference to avoid falling off the curb.
- When trying to use public transport (but here I think it is a problem of my country - Italy) there are no precise notices that the bus is arriving at that precise moment.
- Very useful would be the possibility to insert / signal in Maps the traffic lights with audible warning devices for the blind (not so widespread in Italy): the acoustic signal goes off together with the green and varies in intensity with the approach of the yellow and red colors. And above all, then, if it is taken into account for the requested journey. Link to Idea Exchange : Report the traffic lights with acoustic warning for blind people in Maps.
So it would be ideal to have the possibility in Maps to be able to choose a route for people with motor disabilities (perhaps as an option in the menu and even better with a dedicated icon like this
) so as to allow their use in a more accurate and dedicated way.Link to Idea Exchange : An alternative time calculation of the walking route …
Both passionate about technology, Fabio told me that he had already tried some navigational aids for walking (for example, dedicated sticks with ultrasounds) and that, fortunately, technology is day by day making his life easier and thanks to all these precious innovations also teach other blind people the remarkable positive impact it can guarantee during everyday life.
The important thing is, however, not to overload the user with too many stimuli, since, on a practical level, it would only lead to making the aid more confused.
I am sure that in a not so distant tomorrow it will be possible to integrate Google Lookout into Google Glass :
facilitating visually impaired people for example in detecting the color of traffic lights, road signs, roads, warning signs or alerting us if we are too close to people or obstacles, signaling entrance doors or reading shop signs or menus of restaurants.
And other small thousand things taken for granted: how to check that the rest received is correct, in which exact point of the counter is the cup of coffee that has just ordered, etc. etc.).
And thanks to Connect Live 2018, I discovered the Commuter Trucker Jacket by Levi’s
and I tried to imagine how to make it useful for people with visual impairment:
● insert sensors with vibration on the sleeves to alert if you have to turn right or left while following the directions of the Maps route;
● insert a proximity sensor when we are too close to someone or some obstacle;
● integrate a small camera combined with the Google Lookout AI into a button on the jacket itself and receive all the information in earphones integrated in the collar or via bluetooth!
Since I consider the diversity related to the situation and not to the person, on a personal level and also as a LocalGuides what can we do to help these people with visual difficulties or cognitive difficulties?
From our next activity review we can add, in addition to the accessibility reports that we already insert - such as the ease of access to the room (steps, narrow doors, high carpets, accessible bathrooms - even if the tables are properly arranged (in the case of tables are so close to each other, if someone passes you maybe you realize and you move, a blind man can’t), if the place is too noisy (a blind person has the other senses much more developed and a volume too high gives much more trouble to them than to us). If the restaurant or bar has dedicated menus (those with cognitive problems can better identify the dish from the photos rather than read a description with too many ingredients!)
And who knows, maybe one day we can’t even use “OK Google” for our reviews:
here a small example (the most detailed post about it can be found at this link:my idea)
Ok Google! Let’s make a review!
Ok davidhyno! From the chronology I saw that you visited these places in the last week:
-Restaurant From the Jealous
-Bar At the Corner
-Pittarello shop Clothing and shoes
-Pizzeria La Cascina
Pizzeria La Cascina
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Congratulations! Your review has been published! See you next time!
It would be just awesome for everyone!!
It is important to emphasize this once again that we must consider the disability linked to the situation and not to the person, and therefore it is our duty to ensure that it is possible for everyone to indiscriminately exploit their abilities and to see their daily needs met without any impediment!
Thanks for reading and I am very anxious to know your opinions and your further advice on how to deal with these cognitive disabilities.
Have a good day,
David
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