Molpe ranch, Western Finland. Two weeks after coming back.
Frankie said "I did it my way". And so did I, mr West, just one shortsighted guy from Helsinki, who wanted to travel around the world.
Besides telling about the trip, This blog has been a place to publish observations about good and bad examples of everyday things helping or stooping people with visual impairment. This is one of the last posts before it's time to say byeeee.
Exactly one year ago I was a part of a workshop in Berlin. One day, my group created a poster, where our punchline was "Our city, our way". It tells about the idea where no city has too much barrios if we really think so. We can enter public spaces, restaurants, transport vehicles and everything with just a little help if things are built visual accessibility in mind! This is what I was trying to explore on travels. And Frankie-boy was singing in my head...
More about the background idea of this project you can read from "Matkamuistoja", posted on March 8th. It introduces photos from the first 6 weeks of my world tour. And here you go now....more from the rest 7 weeks!
Here is one of last photos I took in Nepal. The signs are clear but on the other hand, were too small, whcich lead me almost to the wrong security line. Sometimes other things compensate, like now the men's line was so much longer that I realized that that's the thing. All good, but desire to return there stays despite all the confusion for a VIP....
Awesome! In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia many traffic lights have the light also on the starting side. So it literally was right next to my eyes and I did not need to look on the other side of the road. Also the zebra crossings there were excellently painted and had a great contrast to the roads.
But even Malaysia is not totally safe for a VIP. I learnt this trying to enter this elevator lounge. And yes... that's a glass wall. Totally impossible to see and caused a bump to my forehead. Basic hassle situation for a person without a white cane!!
Public spaces have a lot of guidelines in Melbourne. But are they always so clear to follow?
This photo is taken with maximum zoom of my camera. I was following the Australian Grand Prix in front of this screen but the size of it is definitely way too small! Or at least, where are the VIP seats for VIPs? See more about this in post "Autumn leaves".
Street furniture is often a tricky thing for a people with low vision. These chairs on the streets of Melbourne are quite nice, but the contrast with the pavement is not so clear. This can cause coalitions.
No one can read unclear signs. This one had good contrast and good font size. So there is nothing to complain. Taken in Sydney, where temperature difference to Siberia was more than 60 Celsius.
Woooou! I loved it so much that Australia had these material change indicators in front of stairs. But this is in a night club!! Excellent for Vissually impaired AND drunk people.
Just a classic example of good contrast stripes on stairs. For many people a black stripe would be even better, though. In the pic mr. West exiting Australian soil and promoting his handsome on-flight fashion!
I have bunch of nice photos about street furniture in Auckland. But this is just a terrible example! People with tunnel vision can hurt themselves very bad 'cause of these benches. White cane users should be safe like I (and mr. Chitakov there) were.
Traffic land in Nez Zeland. Not too big, but ok. Gotta respect the system anyway (see the post: Minun kaupunkini). Only few of them there had the display counting the time left seconds.
I HATE THIS! They build a pedestrian street and what happens... There are cars all the time! Not very safe for people who have difficulties crossing the streets. This is so common in Finland too.Picture is from Aucland. A simple solution for this would be a total car-free city center!
This sign and fence do not get the same points as Sydney-one above. Particularly because the pool behind has boiling hot water from the center of the Earth. Zelandese miracles!
Many times it is hard to see the street names and house numbers. This cafe was a nice exception for this problem. Taken in Nelson, Southern Island NZ.
Welcome to Hawaji! The bus there look quite normal, but what the picture does not tell is that always when it stopped there was an announcement also outside! It told the route number and destination. It is designed probably for dumb tourists but helps short sighted and blind people so much!
I am not kidding...this is a hallway from security check to departure gate in Honolulu airport. The lighting is miserable even for me, but basically pitch black for many VIPs. Travelling can surprise even a pretty VIP accessible country like USA.
If you going to San Francisco, be sure to be happy! This people has almost everything! Good contrast in the zebra crossing and steps, material change on the ground, beeper in the traffic light and also a polite car driver waiting. On the other side there was the street name carved on the pavement that I was boosting in the post "San Francisco".
Well, even SF is not perfect. I almost hut my ankle pretty bad coming trough that doorway. I was entering this (by the time dark) luggage storage with all my stuff on, so falling 20cm was pretty painful. This emphasizes the importance of contrast stripes before steps!
Subway station closed. Can be tricky, but at least you don't fall the stairs down. Where are the signs telling what to do now?
Sidewalk from Fisherman's dwarf, SF. This would probably not be problematic for a person using a white cane but I almost hurt myself! WHY do you need to have this bench or whatever in the middle of walking path? At least some other color please!
When you don't see, you use other senses. Audio things can be very helpful for everybody. I got my iPhone just before the trip so I am not familiar with the navigator. In the States I had a chance to be online all the time (thank you Michael!) so I was navigating with the audio instructions a bit. Very nice! Telling this I want to remind you all, my dear readers that IT-aids and applications are becoming more and more useful and important for Visually impaired people.
....But all soft and hardware need to be checked once in a while. This ticket machine in JFK airport, NY had a plug in for voinceOver/screen reader. And it did not work. Same thing with the machine next to it. Thank god there were also real people who helped me buy a MetroCard for a dummy life me.
And with that card I was able to use this amazing subway system! Read more about it in the post "New York". In the pic just an example, how big the line number/letter is.
This is from a basic street in New York. Maybe a bit dangerous without proper warning fences and signs, or?
Trough this blog, I have been posting photos of signs and symbols. With them many things are told for people. So they need to be clear. Seeing this it became clear for me that certain things are not OK if you are visiting the 9/11 Ground zero.
Street signs in Manhattan look like this. They are ok, but really high and not in all four cornes of a junction. Why? Please newyorkers, go to San Francisco too see how they do this...!
Finding the right train and platform in often hard. In NY Grand Central Terminal you can go stand right next to the display screen. Big up!!
For us, may times "bigger is better". So America is a good place to go. That M-sign is not even the hugest thing I saw in the States but I want to conclude this post with a typical street view from New York. Taken in Times Square.
And now, the end is here
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I'll say it clear
I'll state my case, of which I'm certain
I've lived a life that's full
I traveled each and ev'ry highway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way
Taimou West
