A headset with smart technology is helping blind people be more independent outside of their homes.
Now a London-based product designer is focusing on providing simple support for the community inside with soft patterned surfaces.
Her rectangular pads can be applied to walls as signs, with each pattern allowing users to feel different information on their surroundings.
Thus straight lines are a corridor, waves denote a bathroom, and an arrow shape indicates the presence of an elevator. Backslashes mean emergency exit; while a semicircle stands for cafeteria.
The mats are already in use at a local special needs school. Also in London, work is underway to replace dead or damaged photoreceptor cells with new ones from the lab.
