Toronto’s system designed to help visually impaired needs a rework

This article (Shane, 2018) focuses on design shortcomings of Toronto’s recent efforts to be more inclusive for people with vision disabilities. The original design was to have crossing buttons trigger the audio signals every time they are pressed. After noise complaints, trigger audio signals were reprogramed to work only after holding down the button for three seconds. Further shortcomings include poor location of such buttons and inability to distinguish sounds for different corners.

The article mentions Key2Access, a startup which aims to equip every visually impaired person with ability to remotely “push the button” from relatively low-tech FOB key devices or mobile phones.

Human-centered design will definitely be the key to building smarter and more inclusive cities. I find the breadth of stakeholders particularly interesting — helping impaired citizens with easier-to-use system resulted in disturbing people living near intersections. How do we design something with a lot of people in mind is something I will focus on exploring this semester.

Xing, L. (2018, August 28). Daniel Walukiewicz crossing the intersection at Dundas Street West and Burnhamthorpe Road. [Digital image]. Retrieved September 09, 2018, from https://i.cbc.ca/1.4801103.1535406286!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_780/daniel-walukiewicz.jpg

Shane, E. (2018, August 28). ‘I get disoriented’: Why a system designed to help the visually impaired needs a rethink. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation News. Retrieved September 9, 2018 from https://www.cbc.ca/