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A Review of Mobility Aids and Means of Assessment

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Electronic Spatial Sensing for the Blind

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((NSSE,volume 99))

Abstract

Mobility has been defined by Foulke (22) as “the ability to travel safely, comfortably, gracefully, and independently through the environment.” The most popular mobility aid is, of, course, the long cane, but whether or not this solves the problems of “grace”and “independence”is questionable at best. The long cane, introduced in its present form by Hoover (27) in the late 1940s, effectively allows detection of obstacles within a 3-foot range, and tends to warn other pedestrians to get out of the way. The former feature requires fast stopping reaction when an obstacle is encountered, while the latter does not add to the grace and independence of travel.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Smith-Kettlewell Institute of Visual Sciences, USA

    John Brabyn

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  1. John Brabyn
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of California, 92521, Riverside, California, USA

    David H. Warren  & Edward R. Strelow  & 

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Brabyn, J. (1985). A Review of Mobility Aids and Means of Assessment. In: Warren, D.H., Strelow, E.R. (eds) Electronic Spatial Sensing for the Blind. NATO ASI Series, vol 99. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1400-6_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1400-6_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-8293-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-1400-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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