Standards assist vision impaired

The ageing of Australia’s population is expected to see the number of people with vision impairment double in 25 years.

Senior couple smiling close-up

While the causes of eye disease are varied so too is the severity of vision loss experienced by people with impaired vision, who rely on their residual vision to navigate the built environment.  The  Australian Standard (AS 1428.4.2) is being developed which specifies the wayfinding and guidance requirements for pedestrians to enter, to exit and navigate within premises with particular attention to access for people who are blind or vision impaired; and continuous legible paths of travel for people with disabilities.

CFA has a representative on the Standards Australia Technical CommitteeME-064 Access for people with disabilities which is developing the standard.

A person with sight will use multiple sensory clues to confirm that they are travelling in the correct direction to get to their chosen destination.  People who are blind or vision impaired will rely on a combination of many building elements and cues to assist them to safely, independently and accurately orientate their location to facilitate a route to their chosen destination.

The standard will be useful to building designers, access professionals, facility managers, specifiers, developers and regulators.

CFA provides volunteer representatives on Standards Australia Technical Committees as part of the CFA Standards Project; if you are interested in finding out more about the Project and/or becoming a volunteer CFA Standards Representative please contact the Standards Coordinatorstandards@consumeraction.org.au