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Visual impairment (or vision impairment) is vision loss (of a person) to such a degree as to qualify as an additional support need through a significant limitation of visual capability resulting from either disease, trauma, or congenital or degenerative conditions that cannot be corrected by conventional means, such as refractive correction, medication, or surgery. Total blindness or impairments affecting sight to the extent that the individual functioning in public areas is insecure or exposed to danger
For people with semi-impaired vision, orientation can be eased by the use of contrasted colors and changes in texture of the floor material. Design and plan arrangements should be simple. Contrasting colors and warning blocks, change in texture should be used to aid the identification of doors, stairs, steps, ramps, pedestrian crossings, etc. The path of travel should be easy to detect by a sightless person using a long white cane; a guide strip (with a different floor texture) parallel to main direction of movement can be used for this purpose. To minimize the risk of hazards, obstacles, protruding elements and low overhanging signs have to be avoided in the pathway. Hazards should be emphasized by means of illumination, contrasted colors and materials and projection on the ground for protruding elements. People with impaired vision have difficulty reading signs and printed information. Blind people are restricted to tactile reading. The main information have to be translated in Braille and visual information should be doubled with audible information, for example, in airport, lifts and buses.
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