Proceedings of: Workshop on Improving Building Design for Persons with Low Vision

Contrast and wayfinding, short-term and long-term

Comment by Earle Kennett: You know, the whole contrast, wayfinding –

Response by Kurt Knight: Wayfinding.

But you know what’s really great about that and you know it was interesting. We went in to talk with Susan and you know she’d never even thought about that and we ended up talking an hour and it was very fun to sort of understand where her light bulb sort of started going off: it wasn’t a matter of new technologies or increased cost really. It was a matter of the design team relooking at a problem and coming up with design solutions; [to assure] that many of the decisions that they were making were not made to be barriers to people with low vision.

It just happened that way because they hadn’t thought about it; that if GSA can incorporate that into their criteria, it would be helpful not costly; you know, it clicked. The second thing that I think clicked on her, was this whole idea of changing demographics, because the low vision part, even though we understand it can be from birth, it can happen, as in Fred’s case, at a young age, but much of it happens as in an aging population. Quite frankly, the GSA staff demographics probably will be increasing over the years. All of us, or many of us here, that have not been completely successful in our 401s and pension programs may end up working a few more years.

Comment by Roberta Null: I was just thinking about with the aging there’s been a lot of work done and they’ve had a lot of money for doing this, fall prevention and it was USC and some of these others. I go to their presentations and they really do a good job of thinking about the demographics, aging and the two or three causes of fall. One is medication and that’s the medical and we can do all that and then another one is balance and they do a pretty good job of that with classes and different things like that.

Then they talk about architectural barriers. Well, of course stairs and things like that and they don’t think about it. I mean, they mention it but it’s just like, oh yeah, and then there are architectural barriers. I think that’s where we have a chance through the lighting people and the design people, the architects, you know, to really tap into something that’s already started. They have all kinds of funding and have done some really brilliant research in that area but architectural barriers, well, ‘we’ve got to get rid of the clutter and things like that.’ But I think it’s something that we can really contribute to.

Response by Marsha Mazz: I think if we decided, tomorrow, to start incorporating photo luminescent tread marking on all exit stairs, we would improve the ability of people with low vision and everyone else in the building.

Responses by [three Participant]: The majority of stairs in building are back of house. They’re really egress stairs. So they’re unfinished. They’re not painted, raw steel, the walls are not painted or anything, like the black stairs that Eunice showed in her presentation. So along with stair safety goes finishes, just paint the stupid things. Fifty cents a square foot. Leave the walls white because we can’t increase the lighting because the energy code doesn’t allow us. Give us some light-value finishes, voila we’ve lit the stairs.