Resilience to Disruption: Accessible Navigation for People with Visual Impairment

Paper Title

Resilience to Disruption: Accessible Navigation for People with Visual Impairment

Publication Info

• Topic area: Accessible navigation technologies for people with visual impairments (PwVI) in disruptive urban conditions.
• Keywords: Accessibility, navigation, visual impairment, resilience, severe weather, orientation and mobility, assistive technology, disruptions, wayfinding, temporalities.

Background and Problem

• Problem / challenge: Existing navigation tools for PwVI fail to address the lived realities of navigating urban environments during disruptions such as severe weather, construction, or technical failures. These tools often prioritize efficiency over safety, predictability, and adaptability.
• Significance: Supporting PwVI in navigating disruptions is crucial for enabling independent, safe, and confident travel, particularly in unpredictable urban settings.
• Motivation and related work: Prior research has explored GPS, computer vision, and beacon systems for PwVI but highlights persistent issues such as incomplete data, weak integration with transit systems, and a lack of attention to the embodied and adaptive practices of PwVI. This paper addresses the gap in understanding how PwVI combine digital tools, Orientation and Mobility (O&M) skills, and human assistance to navigate disruptions.

Solution

• Proposed approach: A relational framework for accessible navigation that emphasizes resilience through anticipatory planning, situated repair, and interoperability across digital tools, O&M skills, and human assistance.
• Novelty:
  1. Reframes breakdowns as routine rather than exceptional, emphasizing the need for resilience in navigation design.
  2. Introduces the concept of functional and temporal interoperability to support adaptive navigation practices.
  3. Advocates for designing navigation technologies that prioritize safety, predictability, and multiple temporalities over efficiency.
• Procedure and key techniques:
  • Conducted a 3.5-hour journey-mapping workshop with 11 PwVI to understand their navigation practices during severe weather.
  • Participants detailed pre-trip planning, in-trip adaptations, and post-trip reflections, focusing on tools, cues, and decision-making processes.
  • Data were analyzed using reflexive inductive thematic analysis to identify recurring themes and strategies.

Results

• Concrete findings:
  • PwVI prioritize safety, predictability, and confidence over speed, often switching between walking, transit, paratransit, and rideshare based on conditions.
  • Disruptions (e.g., snow, construction, technical failures) are routine and managed through anticipatory planning, in-situ adaptations, and the integration of digital tools, O&M skills, and human assistance.
  • Participants use multiple apps (e.g., Google Maps, Voice Vista) and strategies (e.g., rehearsing routes, asking for help) to navigate disruptions.
• Advantage over baselines: The study highlights the limitations of current navigation tools and proposes a resilience-oriented design approach that better aligns with the lived practices of PwVI.
• Experiments / evaluation:
  • Workshop with 11 participants (ages 25–65+, various visual impairments) conducted via Zoom.
  • Participants mapped recent trips, detailing tools, strategies, and adaptations used during severe weather disruptions.
• Limitations and future work:
  • Limited to one urban context with robust transit and paratransit systems.
  • Retrospective journey-mapping may not fully capture real-time decision-making during disruptions.
  • Did not systematically examine intersectional factors (e.g., gender, race) or suburban/rural contexts.
  • Future work includes co-designing navigation tools, longitudinal studies, and exploring intersectional safety concerns.

Summary

This paper investigates how PwVI navigate urban environments during severe weather disruptions, emphasizing resilience through anticipatory planning, situated repair, and the integration of digital tools, O&M skills, and human assistance. Findings reveal that PwVI routinely adapt to disruptions by prioritizing safety and predictability over speed, using multiple transportation modes and tools. The study advocates for designing navigation technologies that support routine breakdowns, multiple temporalities, and interoperability. Future research should explore real-time navigation strategies, intersectional safety, and diverse geographic contexts to further refine accessible navigation solutions.