Having an impairment in one or more senses – vision, hearing, touch, taste and smell – reduces a person‟s ability to perceive, understand and act in various situations.

 

Typically, when one of the senses is missing or impaired, an individual learns, to some extent, to “compensate” for a disability by developing the use of the remaining senses. However, this may not always be the case.

Especially people who lose one of the senses later in life may find their activities severely restricted, whilst those who, for example, have been blind or deaf since birth may have learned skills that help them to communicate, orientate themselves and carry out their daily activities in an independent manner and find their way.

It cannot be assumed that a person with a sensory impairment can function independently and many individuals will have another person – a companion, helper or assistant to help them, especially when travelling and when coming to unfamiliar surroundings for the first time.

People with sensory impairments may use specialised assistive technologies to help them communicate with other people, read or interpret visual or auditory messages, orientate themselves and move around., example.

 

Vision

 

Vision problems can vary from complete blindness to different degrees and types of sight limitations. Those with impaired vision may use other senses, such as touch, hearing and smell in order to comprehend the environment.

Walking, negotiating changes in level, moving over rough ground and around obstacles can be difficult. People with vision impairments are exposed to several types of dangers, including injuring themselves by walking off paths, tripping on steps, bumping into unmarked objects or hurting themselves on hot or sharp objects, edges and surfaces. If the problem of vision is combined with balance problems the individual is exposed to higher risks, including colliding with objects, slipping and falling.

Visitors with vision impairment (not only blind person) may use a cane to detect obstacles on a route. Some may use a guide dog (service animal) to assist them in way-finding, negotiating road crossings and warning them of dangers.

Their access requirements will vary according to the person’s level of sight and will be related mainly to the access to information, safety of movement and orientation in an unknown environment.

Important tips for the tourism service provider: 

• In general, for people with vision impairments, the less complex environments and services are, the better.
• Sounds, such as splashing from water fountains or changes of walking surfaces, and smells from fragrant plants can provide cues for orientation which may help people with vision impairments when moving through a building or in outdoor spaces.
• Information in Braille or raised text may be useful, mainly for blind persons.
• People with vision impairments may need more verbal information and more detailed description, with greater accuracy, but keep in mind that the person may not be able to pick up on non-verbal communication, such as body language. Bear this in mind when talking to them.
• Introduce yourself or try to gain the person’s attention before starting or ending a conversation. If you don’t, they may become confused about who is talking, be unsure if they are being spoken to, and may not know if people enter or leave the room. If you are helping the person with a task, let them know what you are going to do before and during it.
• Use references when describing where something is – for example, your water is on the table on your right. It may be helpful to use imaginary hands on a clock face to describe where something is, especially for people who have lived with sight loss for many years (e.g the cup is in front of you at 12 o’clock position).
• Audio messages can be a good way of informing about the facilities, evacuation procedures in the event of fire or other emergencies.
• Adequate tactile and/or audible warnings should be present wherever there may be a hazard for those who have vision impairments. Evacuation procedures that are based only on visual indications will not be perceived by blind individuals or may not be perceived by persons with visual impairment and therefore additional warnings need to be given by audible and/or tactile warnings.
• Entering and leaving different means of transport, such as small boats and motor vehicles can be difficult and assistance may be required. 

 

Examples of tactile aids for visitors with vision impairment

 

• Tactile aids for visitors with vision impairment – Model of the Ljubljana Castle (Slovenia); 
• Tactile path on the floor in the Slovene Ethnographic Museum in Ljubljana (Slovenia); 

Source: Municipality of Ljubljana (Slovenia)

• Tactile version of painting (Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Austria)

 

Check these inspiring tourism examples, adjusted for persons with visual impairments: 

Museum

Hotel

 Other sources. We offer you to visit this link to understand practical issues, people with sensory impairments have to deal with:

Sightseeing when you can’t see

Story of the world explorer who travels blind

To understand the issues of persons with visual impairments, in some cases it is necessary to formally instruct about what it is like to be blind or have a visual impairment. You can find an example of the simulation activities here

 

Hearing 

 

Hearing impairment is one of those hidden impairments, invisible at a first glance. It may include partial hearing loss or complete deafness. The strength, pitch and intensity of sound that can be perceived vary from person to person.

Their access requirements will be related particularly to the communication and access to information.

People who are born with a hearing impairment or deafness communicate mostly using sign language. Sign languages used by the Deaf community vary from country to country, so it is important to know which sign language Deaf visitors use for interpretation purposes. Those who are born with a hearing impairment may also have difficulty in writing and speaking because of the difficulty they have experienced in acquiring language.

The majority of people with hearing difficulties acquire hearing impairment later in life. This means they are unlikely to be proficient at sign language. They make themselves understood mostly in a signed form of their native language or in writing. They have often maintained their ability to speak so they are capable of communicating with hearing people relatively well. Some individuals are able to lip-read. Some people use a hearing aid.

Important tips for the tourism service provider: 

• Verbal announcements given by public address systems may not be heard or understood correctly.
• Verbal communication is especially difficult in noisy environments, which disturb the persons hearing abilities.
• The acoustic qualities of rooms will affect the ability of a person with hearing difficulties to understand language.
• To be able to lip-read a good overhead lighting is needed.
• Hearing loop systems which provide amplified sound directly to a persons hearing aid can be useful in reception areas and ticket sales points to improve verbal communication between staff and customers with hearing difficulties.
• Some people may have difficulties also in reading written information, especially in a foreign language and may prefer to see ideograms (pictograms) and drawings to understand and communicate.
• Evacuation procedures that are based only on acoustic alarms will not be perceived by deaf individuals or may not be perceived by persons with hearing impairment and therefore devices with light signalling that can indicate different important signals (smoke detectors, fire alarms etc.) are needed.

 

Inspiring tourism example for persons with hearing impairments: 

Museum

Hotel

Other sources:

Check this simulator to understand better the issues people with hearing impairments are facing

Story of the deaf world explorer

 

Touch

 

People with an impaired or reduced sense of touch include those who may have nerve damage, paralysis or missing limbs. They can have problems in sensing any kind of objects that they have to interact with.

Some people may not be able to feel anything with the lower part of their body and legs, others may also have a loss of feeling in the hands and arms and upper body.

Lack of feeling can affect the ability to use a touch screen or other devices that need to be perceived partly by touch.

Important tips for the tourism service provider: 

• Risk of injury from objects that are very sharp, very hot or very cold, as they do not react to them on contact should be prevented.

Sources, to learn more about the topic

 

Smell and Taste

 

Although these may be considered two different categories, people who lack a sense of smell and taste can experience similar problems linked to their lack of sensory perception.

The main dangers associated with lack of sense of smell/taste are in failing to react to toxic chemicals, other dangerous airborne pollutants or smoke from a fire.

Important tips for the tourism service provider: 

• Make sure that all the dangerous substances are clearly identified and labelled.
• Make sure that customers can “hear” danger by using several senses (fire should be not only smelled, but also heard (fire alarm) and seen (flashing light alarm).

Sources, to learn more about the topic

 

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