“Is Someone There?

Do They Have a Gun?”How Visual Information About Others Can Improve

Personal Safety Management for Blind Individuals

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Stacy Branham

@branhammertim

e

People who are blind are concerned about

interpersonal safety.

Yet, there has been little attention in research

and industry to assistive safety devices.

Let’s tackle Personal Safety Management

together with a universal design lens.

Motivation

Survey - what info about ppl do blind want?

Interviews - how do blind manage safety?

Discussion & Provocations

MotivationSurvey

InterviewsDiscussion

Motivation

Survey - what info about ppl do blind want?

Interviews - how do blind manage safety?

Discussion & Provocations

MotivationSurvey

InterviewsDiscussion

MotivationSurvey

InterviewsDiscussion

(CHI 17, ASSETS 16, CHI 16, ASSETS 15, ASSETS 14)

Motivation

landmark

detection &

turn-by-turn

• in our prior work…

• picture of navigation route that moves the infrastructure to the

foreground, then moves other people to the foreground

Motivation

people?

What (if anything) do people

who are blind want to know

about nearby people?

Motivation

Survey

Interviews

Discussion & provocations

MotivationSurvey

InterviewsDiscussion

Survey

- 58 blind part.

- open/closed Q’s

- info about ppl?

Survey

“I would like to know immediately when a

person enters or exits a room, or my

bubble. This is imperative as a blind

individual, in case of .” –SP41 safetycriminal record

“If they had a

—SP43

.”

Harrell, E. (2017) Bureau of Justice Statistics. “Crimes Against Persons with Disabilities, 2009-2015 - Statistical Tables.”

people with

disabilities

are

more

likely to be

victims of

violent crime

people who are blind are

more likely to be victims of violent crime

Harrell, E. (2017) Bureau of Justice Statistics. “Crimes Against Persons with Disabilities, 2009-2015 - Statistical Tables.”

Interpersonal Safety

Survey

e.g., (Zolyomi et al., 2017)

e.g., (Branham & Kane, 2015) e.g., (Rector et al., 2015)

e.g., (Abdolrahmani et al., 2016)

Env. Safety &

Obstacle

AvoidanceEmergency

Services & Alarms

Health-Risk

Mediation

Device-

Oriented Safety

What is AT doing for

Physical Safety?

What about

Interpersonal Safety?

e.g., (Zolyomi et al., 2017)

e.g., (Branham & Kane, 2015) e.g., (Rector et al., 2015)

e.g., (Abdolrahmani et al., 2016)

Env. Safety &

Obstacle

AvoidanceEmergency

Services & Alarms

Health-Risk

Mediation

Device-

Oriented Safety

Interpersonal

Safety

Motivation

Survey

Interviews

Discussion & provocations

MotivationSurvey

InterviewsDiscussion

What interpersonal safety

concerns do people who

are blind have, and what

strategies do/can they use to

increase their safety?

What (if anything) do people

who are blind want to know

about nearby people?

Interpersonal

Safety

- 10 blind part.

- semi-structured

- info about ppl?

Interviews

Interviews

“The majority of people

whom I interact with ...

will not come toward

me, thinking that my

would be

.”

–IP7aggressive

dog

A.T. ALREADY IMPACTS SAFETY

“I thought he worked

at the train station …

and it turns out he’s

that hangs out.” –IP8 just a guy

IT’S A CHALLENGE TO

I.D. POLICE / OFFICIALS

Interviews

Interviews

“Even if I get threatened

or harassed in such

situations, I cannot

the person

to .” –IP8authoritiesdescribe DESCRIBING

A CRIMINAL /

CRIME SCENE

IS IMPORTANT

Interviews

“ people may be

mysterious and .”

–IP3spooky

Quiet

SILENT PEOPLE POSE

UNKNOWN THREATS

Interviews

“I suddenly heard, ‘HE’S

GOT A ’ … if I

had seen

expressions, I … might

have been able to take a

from that.” –IP3

facialGUN!

cue

NEED TO ASSESS

THREATS & ESCAPE

Motivation

Survey

Interviews

Discussion & provocations

MotivationSurvey

InterviewsDiscussion

Discussion

Is someone there?

Do they

have a gun?

Are they big?

Are they mad?

Are they in uniform?

Where’re the police?

Is their clothing

suspicious?

What’s their gender?

DiscussionWhich direction are

they facing?

How far away

form me are they?

Are they

looking at me?

How

many?

Personal Safety Management

Discussion

walking alone at

night is scary

BrailleSketch (Li et al., 2017) Non-observable Authentication (Wolf & Kuber, 2016)

DiscussionMotivation

SurveyInterviews

(Bigham et al., 2017)

DiscussionMotivation

SurveyInterviews

Technology-Mediated Sight (Zolyomi et al., 2017)

DiscussionMotivation

SurveyInterviews

(Madjaroff & Mentis, 2017)

DiscussionMotivation

SurveyInterviews

How do we support

Personal Safety Management

in a way that is respectful of

privacy of others?

we need to address interpersonal safety

universal, important, especially for PWD

Personal Safety Management

thank you

+

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Stacy Branham

@branhammertime

Amy

HurstMorgan

Scheuerman

William

Easley

Ali

AbdolrahmaniErick

Ronquillo

Stacy

Branham