This Mattered to Me

Abstract

Impact of Curb Ramps on Safety of Persons Who Are Blind, by Billie Louise Bentzen and Janet M. Barlow, published in July-August 1995 issue of Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, Volume 89, Number 4, pp. 319-328. opportunity to contribute to This Matters to Me made me stop and reflect on--and appreciate--how publications such Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness (JVIB) have affected me and my professional life. The article I selected to highlight in this essay, Impact of Curb Ramps on Safety of Persons Who are Blind, by Billie Louise Bentzen and Janet Barlow, published results of research that was specifically designed to answer a controversial question. Why should that article still matter, years after question was answered and we, a field, have moved on? Because this article represents first time I remember reading orientation and mobility (O&M) research that questioned what we all know to be and because research in article helped settle a passionate argument. article matters even more because it was designed to do more than answer a specific question, it also provided valuable information that changed how I teach. Above all, it inspired me to consider importance of using research to answer questions. To convey significance of this article, a bit of background information is needed. In 1991, there was a heated debate among members of field of visual impairment and blindness about detectable warnings at curb ramps. One side argued that installing them was humiliating, because such ramps implied that blind people are not capable of detecting curbs when, in fact, as knows, blind people can be safe travelers long they have received proper O&M training. The other side argued that, as knows, even with best training, blind travelers have problems recognizing where edges of streets are when there are ramps. The debate was impassioned, with each side citing obvious. QUESTIONING ASSUMPTIONS WITH RESEARCH THAT USES REAL-LIFE SETTINGS While argument over curb ramps raged, and dignity and safety of blind people hung in balance, Beezy Bentzen and Janet Barlow began to design research to address this issue. The idea of using research to study what we all assumed to be true, to settle arguments with facts instead of anecdotes and advocacy, was a revelation to me. Whenever I thought of research, I imagined labs and controls, bells, buzzers, and stopwatches, but Dr. Bentzen and Ms. Barlow thought of real life--real people doing real things, with a minimum of manipulation from researchers. For example, because they were only interested in what happens when blind people walk along curb ramp, they considered having subjects guided toward street to be sure they walked along ramp. But they realized that this would remove some of real-life variables, because a lot of information and cues individuals use to find edge of street can be detected long before they reach curb ramp. The authors were wise to realize that subjects needed to be allowed to engage in whatever approach they would normally take they draw near to a street corner. Since this article was published, I have read other research that questions the truth, such Duane Gemschat and Shirin Hassan's groundbreaking study on whether drivers stop to allow people with white canes to cross roads everyone knows they do (Gemschat & Hassan, 2005). …