Computer Simulation of Cane Techniques Used by People with Visual Impairments for Accessibility Analysis

The wheelchair symbol is the modern designation representing access for people with disabilities. However, wheelchairs are relatively new devices of mobility for people with disabilities. The use of a staff or cane as a mobility aid for people with visual impairments has been recorded for centuries. In the Bible, Leviticus 19:14, we find: “Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shalt fear thy God,” and in Deuteronomy 27:18: “Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way. And all the people shall say Amen.” Greek mythology also had a focus on the blind person walking with a staff. (Levy (1949)) observed that “the ancients were so much struck with the circumstance of the blind walking alone, aided only by a stick, that, in their usual way, they made it a miraculous gift of the gods … when the ancient prophet Teresias was deprived of sight for an offense against the gods, he was compassionated by the goddess Chariclo, who in pity for his misfortune, gave him a staff, by which he could conduct his steps with as much safety as if he had the use of his eyesight” (p. 106). (Note the emphasis on pity as a response to disability.)