"Just let the cane hit it": How the blind and sighted see navigation differently

Sighted people often have the best of intentions when they want to help a blind person navigate, but their well meaning is also often coupled with a lack of knowledge and understanding about how a person navigates without vision. As a result what sighted people think is the right feedback is too often the wrong feedback to give to a person with a visual impairment. Understanding how to provide feedback to blind navigators is crucial to the design of assistive technologies for navigation. In our research investigating the design of a personal pedestrian navigation device, we observed firsthand the ways that sighted people seemingly misunderstand how many blind people navigate when using a white cane mobility aid. Throughout our qualitative end user studies that included focus groups and observations (including couple-based observations with a close companion) we gathered data that explicitly shows how the language and understanding of sighted vs. blind pedestrians differs greatly and even how it can be dangerous when people interfere in the wrong way. From our findings we discuss why it is difficult for a blind person to navigate like a sighted person to ensure designers are aware of the difficulties and designing with new training in mind, not simply designing from their own point of view. We also want to encourage advocacy and empathy amongst the sighted community towards this activity of walking around independently.