GPS helps lead the way for the blind
By Laura Bruno, USA TODAY
No more driving in circles for hours. No more danger of spending the night in the woods. Global Positioning Systems typically are credited for saving the direction-challenged from going off course while driving or hiking.
Not in John Hess' case. Hess, who is blind, is having fun getting lost for the first time, thanks to a portable GPS attached to his belt.
Hess, 41, of Madison, N.J., avoided traveling off the beaten path. He and his guide dog, Willie, stuck to well-practiced routes.
"I hated walking around Morristown," Hess says of a neighboring town. "There was never anyone around to ask for directions when I needed someone. Now, I've gotten adventurous."
GPS for the blind is more than just a virtual speaking map, users say. The technology is liberating, giving blind people greater independence.
Hess, who trains the visually impaired in assistive technology, once relied on a driver to take him to visit clients. These days, Hess walks with the security of Trekker, a GPS computer, and a satellite receiver attached at his hip. With an earpiece that could be mistaken as a link to an iPod, Hess hears the synthesized voice calling out street names.
"This is one of the most significant changes to a blind person's mobility," says Jim Kutsch, a blind GPS user and president of the Morristown, N.J.-based The Seeing Eye, the oldest guide-dog school in North America. "It allows a person to be more adventurous and go wander around without having to worry about not finding their way home."
Clients asking about GPS technology prompted The Seeing Eye to pilot a one-week training program this year with 12 clients navigating Morristown's streets with both their dog and the GPS.
Similarly, Leader Dogs for the Blind in Rochester, Mich., teamed up one year ago with Quebec-based HumanWare, which makes the Trekker. This year, Leader Dogs is training 20 blind people on the Trekker.
Next year, Leader Dogs plans to double the number of sessions for blind people.
With unemployment at about 32% among the legally blind in the USA, Harold Abraham, director of technology at Leader Dogs, says there was "a certain element of people being all dressed up with no place to go. It was natural to look at emerging technology that helps people travel on their own."
Gail Selfridge, 58, of Denver took Leader Dogs' training. She says she can't imagine travel today without the Trekker.
One recent morning, the freelance writer returned triumphant from taking a walk she had never before attempted in downtown Denver.
"In a way, GPS levels the playing field," Selfridge says.
Maggie, a yellow Labrador guide, got Selfridge around the trash cans on the sidewalk — it was garbage pickup day — while the Trekker told her about an art gallery she never knew existed.
Because GPS could never replace a guide dog, these training schools don't consider the technology a threat.
"The GPS can't help you get around construction or the two-by-four sticking off the back of a truck," says John Keane, a Seeing Eye instructor. "But, it can fill in the blanks for a blind traveler on what they can find in an unfamiliar town."
As with any new technology, people tend to become absorbed in the gadget. Trainers at both the Seeing Eye and Leader Dogs remind students that the dog comes first.
Plan a route before heading out, they say. Dogs can get bored and distracted if a handler stops every few feet to check with the GPS.
Mike May, president and CEO of Sendero Group in Davis, Calif., created a 12-pound laptop with GPS in 1994 that was carried like a backpack. Today, the Sendero GPS weighs 1 pound. May's system is one of three, including the Trekker and StreetTalk, produced by Freedom Scientific in St. Petersburg, Fla., catering to the blind community.
May, who is blind, says he's perfectly content to have the competition.
"I'm thrilled blind people have access to this technology," May says. "The barrier now is the means to afford it."
May, who has sold fewer than 1,500 of his systems, hopes to secure funding to create a low-cost GPS that runs on cellphones. The American Foundation for the Blind estimates there are roughly 10 million blind and visually impaired people in the USA.
"My ultimate goal is to say five years from now that I started it and it took off," May says.
Jay Leventhal, editor of AccessWorld, the online technology magazine for the American Foundation for the Blind, says he doesn't have an accurate count of how many blind people own a GPS. He believes it's small because of the high cost and the high unemployment rate among the blind. But he likes what GPS can do.
"GPS is the first thing to come along in a long time that adds to how people can get around with a dog or cane," Leventhal says. "It has the potential to really supplement by giving a lot of new information, making it easier to get from point A to point B."
Laura Bruno reports for The Daily Record in Morristown, N.J.
No more driving in circles for hours. No more danger of spending the night in the woods. Global Positioning Systems typically are credited for saving the direction-challenged from going off course while driving or hiking.
Not in John Hess' case. Hess, who is blind, is having fun getting lost for the first time, thanks to a portable GPS attached to his belt.
Hess, 41, of Madison, N.J., avoided traveling off the beaten path. He and his guide dog, Willie, stuck to well-practiced routes.
"I hated walking around Morristown," Hess says of a neighboring town. "There was never anyone around to ask for directions when I needed someone. Now, I've gotten adventurous."
GPS for the blind is more than just a virtual speaking map, users say. The technology is liberating, giving blind people greater independence.
Hess, who trains the visually impaired in assistive technology, once relied on a driver to take him to visit clients. These days, Hess walks with the security of Trekker, a GPS computer, and a satellite receiver attached at his hip. With an earpiece that could be mistaken as a link to an iPod, Hess hears the synthesized voice calling out street names.
"This is one of the most significant changes to a blind person's mobility," says Jim Kutsch, a blind GPS user and president of the Morristown, N.J.-based The Seeing Eye, the oldest guide-dog school in North America. "It allows a person to be more adventurous and go wander around without having to worry about not finding their way home."
Clients asking about GPS technology prompted The Seeing Eye to pilot a one-week training program this year with 12 clients navigating Morristown's streets with both their dog and the GPS.
Similarly, Leader Dogs for the Blind in Rochester, Mich., teamed up one year ago with Quebec-based HumanWare, which makes the Trekker. This year, Leader Dogs is training 20 blind people on the Trekker.
Next year, Leader Dogs plans to double the number of sessions for blind people.
With unemployment at about 32% among the legally blind in the USA, Harold Abraham, director of technology at Leader Dogs, says there was "a certain element of people being all dressed up with no place to go. It was natural to look at emerging technology that helps people travel on their own."
Gail Selfridge, 58, of Denver took Leader Dogs' training. She says she can't imagine travel today without the Trekker.
One recent morning, the freelance writer returned triumphant from taking a walk she had never before attempted in downtown Denver.
"In a way, GPS levels the playing field," Selfridge says.
Maggie, a yellow Labrador guide, got Selfridge around the trash cans on the sidewalk — it was garbage pickup day — while the Trekker told her about an art gallery she never knew existed.
Because GPS could never replace a guide dog, these training schools don't consider the technology a threat.
"The GPS can't help you get around construction or the two-by-four sticking off the back of a truck," says John Keane, a Seeing Eye instructor. "But, it can fill in the blanks for a blind traveler on what they can find in an unfamiliar town."
As with any new technology, people tend to become absorbed in the gadget. Trainers at both the Seeing Eye and Leader Dogs remind students that the dog comes first.
Plan a route before heading out, they say. Dogs can get bored and distracted if a handler stops every few feet to check with the GPS.
Mike May, president and CEO of Sendero Group in Davis, Calif., created a 12-pound laptop with GPS in 1994 that was carried like a backpack. Today, the Sendero GPS weighs 1 pound. May's system is one of three, including the Trekker and StreetTalk, produced by Freedom Scientific in St. Petersburg, Fla., catering to the blind community.
May, who is blind, says he's perfectly content to have the competition.
"I'm thrilled blind people have access to this technology," May says. "The barrier now is the means to afford it."
May, who has sold fewer than 1,500 of his systems, hopes to secure funding to create a low-cost GPS that runs on cellphones. The American Foundation for the Blind estimates there are roughly 10 million blind and visually impaired people in the USA.
"My ultimate goal is to say five years from now that I started it and it took off," May says.
Jay Leventhal, editor of AccessWorld, the online technology magazine for the American Foundation for the Blind, says he doesn't have an accurate count of how many blind people own a GPS. He believes it's small because of the high cost and the high unemployment rate among the blind. But he likes what GPS can do.
"GPS is the first thing to come along in a long time that adds to how people can get around with a dog or cane," Leventhal says. "It has the potential to really supplement by giving a lot of new information, making it easier to get from point A to point B."
Laura Bruno reports for The Daily Record in Morristown, N.J.
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