New Zealand O&M instructors’ perspectives about,and experience in,the use of tactile maps with people with vision impairment

Abstract

This qualitative study explored the perspectives and experience of New Zealand O&M instructors in the use of tactile maps with people with vision impairment. In-depth, open-ended, and semi-structured interviews were used to gather information from four participants, who were qualified O&M instructors. The interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. Three inter-related themes emerged from the data that effected the O&M’s tactile map usage: (1) the tactile map and the O&M instructor, (2) student needs and experiences, and (3) time and resources. Microcapsule and thermoform maps were the least used map medium, with collage map techniques used frequently by half of the participants. The most preferred tactile maps were ready-made tactile map kits, and instructors drawing directly on the students’ hand or back. Tactile maps were used mostly by the participants to meet the orientation needs of motivated students, who were blind, had no visual memory, or did not use their vision for orientation purposes. Tactile maps were considered a vital orientation tool when the participants were teaching such students, and the participants did not believe Global Positioning System (GPS) applications would fully replace tactile maps. However, in general, the participants revealed that tactile maps were used infrequently as an orientation tool in New Zealand because of caseload makeup, limited time, and limited resources. In order to increase the use of tactile maps, tactile map resources may need to be more readily available. In addition, further research is needed about the characteristics of people with a vision impairment, who benefit from tactile maps, along with the effect of tactile maps usage on an O&M instructor’s caseload and time, so that O&M instructors can plan accordingly and people with a vision impairment can continue to benefit from this important orientation tool.

Keywords

Blindness O&M O&M caseload orientation tactile maps vision impairment

Setting the scene

This article documents the findings of a research project, which explored the perspectives and experiences of New Zealand (NZ) Orientation and Mobility (O&M) instructors about the usefulness and usability of tactile maps, when working with adults with vision impairment. NZ has a population of approximately 5 million people, with an estimated 180,000 people who have vision impairment, with 30,000 classified as blind (Blind Low Vision New Zealand, 2022), As in other countries, age-related macular degeneration is the most prevalent cause of vision impairment, and 10% of people over the age of 45 are believed to have age-related macular degeneration, with 7.6% or these people experiencing a vision loss because of it (Specsavers, 2018).

Rehabilitation services for adults with vision impairment in NZ are usually community-based in nature, and formal O&M services have been offered in NZ since the 1960s. Currently, there are, approximately, 28 qualified O&M specialists working in NZ, who have been, either, recruited from overseas, or trained in NZ at Massey University or through the New Zealand Qualification Authority (NZQA). O&Ms are either self-employed, or employed by government or non-government education and/or rehabilitation agencies.

O&M instructors, who provide rehabilitation services for adults in NZ, are employed by the only national service provider of rehabilitation services (for adults), Blind Low Vision New Zealand (BLVNZ), with a small minority of O&M instructors privately contracting to this organisation. Up until 2018, only people who met the acuity criteria of ‘⩽6/24 or worse’ in the best eye, or of ‘<20° field of vision or worse’ for both eyes, were eligible to receive services. This criteria has since expanded to include any person who has low vision.

Tactile maps and O&M

O&M instructors teach concepts and systematic techniques by which people, who have vision impairment, orient themselves to their environment and move about independently (Weiner et al., 2010). A substantial portion of O&M instruction involves students learning to physically navigate routes in a variety of settings to gain experience in safe travel techniques. A primary O&M goal is for the student to have well-developed spatial concepts and a detailed knowledge of the spatial layout of areas in which they travel (Bentzen & Marston, 2010b). Competency in orientation is important because it ensures the safety of the traveller, and, thereby, encourages independence in mobility, and, subsequently, contributes to the social and psychological development of the individual (Welsh, 2010).

Mobility for a people with vision impairment differs from those who do not have vision impairment, because they are unable to scan the area in which they are travelling and create cognitive maps with relative ease. Cognitive mapping, itself, involves those that are based on sequential routes and those based on aerial, or overview, maps. Routes are often a preferred option for travellers with vision impairment because the sensory information gained by auditory, olfactory and tactile, kinaesthetic and proprioceptive cues, which are used for orientation, are easier to learn in a sequence, instead of relying on deciphering complex and mapped spatial configurations (Bentzen & Marston, 2010b). When a person with vision impairment needs to develop knowledge of the aerial or topographical aspects of an environment or a route, a tactile map is a tool that is able to provide a person with vision impairment with a ‘cognitive map’ about the spatial information that they require (Ojala et al., 2017).

Tactile maps have, also, been shown to greatly facilitate the learning of spatial concepts and the understanding of complex or extensive geographical layouts, and have been used by people with vision impairment to become familiar with new geographical areas. Espinosa and Ochaίta (1998) found that 30 adults, who were blind, were able to learn a complex route in central Madrid with the aid of a tactile map more easily than their colleagues, who learnt the route using direct experience or verbal description alone. Ungar et al. (1993) demonstrated that an unspecified number of children in the United Kingdom, with vision impairment, aged 5–11 years old, were able to understand a tactile map of a number of familiar toys arranged around the floor of a large room. The children, who were blind, also learned more about their environment from the tactile map than through direct exploration alone.

Teaching people with vision impairment how to use a map has been shown to assist with the development of spatial concepts that are associated with improvements in travel. Both Franks (1974, as cited in Wright et al., 2010) and Budd and La Grow (2000, as cited in Wright et al., 2010) wrote about the importance of a student receiving instruction in O&M concepts by using tactile maps or models, and noted that students made considerable improvements when given such training.

To be effective, tactile maps need to also be accessible to the user. Three themes emerged from a survey of map users with vision impairment, most of whom were blind, in England (Rowell & Ungar, 2005). First, public tactile maps were used infrequently due to limited awareness of tactile maps, limited availability, poorly designed maps, insufficient information on the map, and the map’s patchy geographic cover. Second, users preferred microcapsule paper over thermoform as a production medium. Large-scale maps were preferred over other map types, with participants preferring to use them for general orientation, rather than for specific navigation purposes, such as route orientation. Tactile maps were regarded as the best way to present spatial information, closely followed by the potential value of a Global Positioning System (GPS). Third, users wanted tactile maps to be accurate and clutter free and contain tactile symbols that were discernible and standardised.

Jehoel et al. (2009) demonstrated that tactile map legibility was affected by the map’s symbol elevation height and line type, and that rough features were identified more quickly than smooth ones. Lawrence and Lobben (2011) showed that effective thematic tactile maps could be produced, but these were dependent on the user being able to use their cognitive skills to recognise the map’s elements (lines, symbols, textures) and then develop spatial relationships, like next to, between, or above, about these symbols. A study in Sheffield and Edinburgh by Ungar et al. (1993) identified the cognitive skills and strategies, which they considered effective when using tactile maps. They looked at the exploration strategies used by 19 children with vision impairment when they attempted to reproduce a tactile map. By comparing the strategies and commentaries of their participants, who produced the most accurate maps, to the strategies of the participants, who produced the poorest maps, Ungar et al. concluded that proficient learners focused on the spatial relationships between items on the map and the location of places and structures in relation to the external framework of the map, as well as the local and global patterns formed by the map’s elements.

Gardiner and Perkins (2005) suggested that to make maps more meaningful to the user, cues, like sound, touch, and smell, could be included on tactile maps because these cues are used by people with vision impairment to identify precise locations in the environment. Likewise, Koutsoklenis and Papadopoulos (2014) proposed that the inclusion of haptic cues, such as changes in the texture of the walking surface, footpaths, bus stops, slopes, walls, traffic lights, and flower beds on tactile maps, would be useful, because their study’s participants with vision impairment used these haptic cues to gather the information that they needed when wayfinding.

Within O&M textbooks, a number of authors provide additional examples of orientation tools that can be used by O&M instructors. Bentzen and Marston (2010b) explained that orientation information can be accessed using audio route descriptions, tactile models, large print maps, digital maps, or GPS navigation systems. Bentzen and Marston (2010a) stated that ready-made tactile map kits, like the Wheatley Tactile Diagramming Kit and the Chang Tactual Diagram Kit, are useful resources for time-constrained O&M instructors, especially for teaching spatial concepts, such as direction, position, parallel and perpendicular streets, compass directions, city blocks, vehicular movements, route shapes, and intersection layouts.

Interestingly, in our search of the research literature, there was only one published study about O&M instructors’ perspectives about tactile maps, which was Ojala et al.’s (2017) study. It identified that most of the 24 O&M instructors, who were participants in their study in Finland, did not use publicly available tactile maps, but did use a variety of self-made maps when teaching their students. The respondents also reported using self-made tactile maps to a lesser degree to teach about the wider context of an area or to explain basic facts about vehicular movement. These tactile maps were predominantly made out of collage materials and adapted for the individual with vision impairment, to include relevant locations and detail. However, one of the participants indicated that they did lack the time to teach map-reading skills to the students on their caseload.

In summary, the research literature has established that tactile maps are useful as an orientation tool when teaching O&M, that students with appropriate cognitive strategies benefit the most from them, and that there are a number of ways to make and use effective tactile maps. However, there is limited research about O&M instructor’s perceptions of tactile maps and how they use them in the field.

The present study

Given there has only been one study about O&M Instructor’s perspectives and thoughts about the use of tactile maps, it was considered important to add to this body of literature to understand when, how, and why tactile maps are used by O&M instructors to enhance their students’ mobility skills and concepts. The research question for this study was as follows:

What are the perspectives of O&M instructors about tactile map usage with adults with vision impairment in the field?

Methodology

A qualitative approach (Mutch, 2013) was used because the purpose of this research was exploratory in nature. The research study focused on the unique perspectives and opinions of qualified O&M instructors about their use of tactile maps. It explored these in depth by gathering O&M instructors’ stories, descriptions, and opinions through open-ended, semi-structured interviews, thus enabling the particular phenomena of tactile maps to be understood, with examples that exemplified O&M practice in NZ. It focused on the O&M instructor’s perspectives about, and their decisions to use, or not use, tactile maps, as an orientation tool with their students. The validity of this study, as in other qualitative studies, is expressed through its coherence, honesty, depth, and scope of the data (Cohen et al., 2011). Readers are also invited to request a copy of this study’s full report. The study’s findings, as in other qualitative studies, are social constructions, built from discussions that took place between the researchers and the participants (Gergen, 1994; Kvale, 1996). These findings are not necessarily generalizable. However, Cohen et al. (2011) pointed out that reliability in qualitative research can be found in the dependability, trustworthiness, and stability of detailed descriptions of the method and data, and the ability of other researchers with the same theoretical framework to interpret the same phenomena in the same way.

Participants

Following ethical approval for the research project from the Research Committee at BLVNZ, a range of participant characteristics (i.e. male, female, work experience, geographic location) were sought for the study so that overall information could be gathered about:

working in different areas in NZ and overseas;

working in urban and/or rural areas;

working with adults with vision impairment; and

different O&M personnel training programmes.

Participants were invited to participate in the study using the criteria above. These instructors were also personally known to the researcher.

Four of nine O&M instructors, who were emailed an invitation to take part in the study, agreed to participate in the study by signing an informed consent form. The informed consent form stated that interviews would be recorded, were confidential, and would be transcribed for anonymity. They were advised of their right to withdraw from the study at any time, and information was provided about any ethical issues that may arise. Pseudonyms for participants were used in the research.

The participants were qualified O&M instructors. Two of the participants chose pseudonyms for themselves, while the remaining two asked the researcher to choose a name for them. They included three females and one male. Their mean age was 47.5 years. The length of their O&M work experience ranged from 13–24 years. Two were trained in NZ, and two had trained in Europe. Three participants were trained at a University, while one trained in a government-approved programme associated with a University. One participant was qualified at the master’s level, two at the postgraduate level, and one at the undergraduate level. All participants were, or were eligible to apply to become, an ACVREP Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist (COMS).

Procedure

This research project used qualitative strategies (Cohen et al., 2011; Davies & Fisher, 2018) to collect data in open-ended and semi-structured interviews with the four participants. Each of the participant’s interview took approximately 60 min, ranging from 52 to 74 min during work hours. Open-ended interviews were chosen because this type of interview enables the interchange of opinions between people on a topic of shared interest (Cohen et al., 2011), and enabled the collection of data that are spontaneous and unique. The author chose to use a semi-structured interview format because this gave the participants the opportunity to review the interview guide ahead of time, and respond in depth to the subject matter. This approach is a productive way to collect data from participants, while ensuring that the areas highlighted during the initial phases of research are covered.

The general topics of conversation in the interview included:

Personal characteristics and motivation of the participants,

How, when, and why they use tactile maps,

The participants’ experience using maps.

Video-conferencing was chosen as the interview medium because of the distance between the participants’ location and the interviewer’s, and because it was cost-effective and easier to organise (Cohen et al., 2011). It was preferred over a telephone interview because it gave the interviewer and participants the opportunity to capture nuances of body language or facial gestures, and other non-verbal contextual factors. Three of the interviews were video- and audio-recorded, while the fourth participant declined to be videoed, so an audio recording was obtained.

The interviews were conducted using an interview guide, which was a key set of discussion questions that the interviewer and participant were free to explore in an open-ended manner. An interview guide increases the comprehensiveness of the data by making the collection of data somewhat systematic for each respondent, while allowing interviews to remain conversational, and allowing individual perspectives to emerge (Cohen et al., 2011). This approach increases the comprehensiveness of the data by ensuring the same basic lines of enquiry are pursued across all the participants. One participant asked to view the interview guide prior to the interview. The guide contained an introduction about the purpose of the interview and a reminder about ethical considerations, and 10 discussion questions.

The recordings were transcribed word for word by the researcher, and each participant received, reviewed, and approved the study’s use of their final transcript before analysis.

Thematic analysis

The transcripts from the four participants were analysed using thematic analysis. This enabled the researchers to look for patterns and themes in the data or text (Mutch, 2013; Vaismoradi et al., 2016). Using a computer, the transcripts were filed as originals in a separate folder. A new file from each transcript was created, in which a paragraph/page code was assigned to each paragraph of each transcript. The text was also changed to a unique colour to represent the relevant participants so that they could be found easily in the future.

The first researcher went through each transcript and identified ideas and key words that were of interest, and then saved these transcripts in a separate file named ‘key words’. Then each ‘key word’ file was searched for repeated patterns in the data. Thirteen category headings were found, including student type, materials, motivation, demographics, frequency, map type, time, alternative orientation aids, where the map is used, orientation, concept development, assessment, and teaching. Each key word/phrase was then cut and pasted under each category heading along with the paragraph-page code and original colour. Some of the data belonged to multiple categories and appeared more than once.

To find emerging themes within the data, reflective notes and additional key words or ideas were written down. Visual flow diagrams were then created that compared and classified the 13 categories and the key words in these categories. After further reflection and comparisons by the researchers, categories were joined and classified into three larger themes: (1) the tactile map and the O&M instructor, (2) student needs and experiences, and (3) time and resources.

Results

Theme 1: the tactile map and the O&M instructor

The four participants, Rachel, Muriel, Deon, and Helen, had varied experiences in their pre-service training about tactile maps. They all stated that they had received instruction about tactile map usage and production, but, depending on the participant, this training varied in detail and practical application. Muriel explained the extent of her tactile map training by saying,

During training in my practicum, we did (get training). We did more basic ones (maps) . . . and then we did some more later on in the practicum. We were shown different ways. Like thermoform and making tactile maps. It was basic really . . . just thermoform and basic tactile maps.

Muriel was then able to expand her tactile map making skills later on in her training. She said,

We had more materials to work with. So I basically got more materials and got more creative with it. Did more Brailling and things like that. I labelled things and had a bit of a key and spent more time learning about different tactile maps. . . . We also had the PIAF machine as well.

In their work as an O&M, the participants said that they needed to produce tactile maps that were legible, accurate, and clutter free, with symbols that were discernible and standardised, which fits with the research literature (Jehoel et al., 2009; Rowell & Ungar, 2005). They stated that they achieved this by ensuring that their tactile maps had clear differentiations between rough and smooth features and they limited the content on the map to only what was necessary.

They, however, all stated that they infrequently used tactile maps, and said if they did make tactile maps, they mostly made maps using collage materials like coloured card, buttons, textured material, corrugated card, Velcro, diamantes, and swell paint, or that they made maps by using a PIAF (Pictures in a Flash) or Thermoform machine. Their preferred production style reflected the participant’s strengths, personal preferences, and teaching styles. Rachel and Muriel preferred to use collage material. Deon preferred to use a thermoform machine due to his perceived limitations in his own artistic ability. Muriel enjoyed the actual process of making a map. She said,

I do think that there are more exciting materials . . . It’s so neat, like that felt with the sticky; many amazing materials. Like the foamy stuff with sticky backing. There are so many different tactual options. It is actually quite fun, and to be able to use things like bump-ons, or to be able to use the Dymo labeller or to print off braille. . . . We are really lucky with the materials we have got available.

Collage maps was an activity, though, that was actively avoided by Deon:

Certain maps, I would be reluctant to go down the track of trying to produce, because of the time commitment and complexity of what I think it would involve for what the outcome and the benefit to the client would be. . . . a collage would be my last resort. . . . The time commitment was huge and it was so difficult for me.

All participants also stated that the main reason for using a collage map, rather than commercially made maps, was so that each map could be customised for a specific student and the student’s geographic area or route. Custom-made maps were preferred over commercially made maps because commercially made maps were more difficult to customise for specific students. For example, Rachel said,

I think with the collage, I can get more detail and more life-like. Regarding the ‘Swell machine’, you have to use the symbols and then not all people have good tactile discrimination in their fingers to find the lines and feel the difference.

Helen explained that the resources to make a tactile map using commercial methods were often not readily available to all participants in this study. She said,

So for me, probably time constraints and, maybe, not having the resource here as well might be a bit of a factor. Like the Thermoform machine . . . if it was on hand, then I might be more willing to play around with it, because that’s not time consuming to do a raised map.

Each participant, however, did have, and used, ready-made tactile map kits, like The Picture Maker Wheatley Tactile Diagramming Kit, Tactile Town, or the Sewell Raised Line Drawing Kit. Rachel explained that she used ready-made kits because they can easily be used. She said,

If I want to quickly explain something, I might use the Wheatley. I don’t need to make anything. I use quite a lot of the Sewell Raised Line Drawing Kit. I really like it. But this is for people who really understand maps. . . . With the Wheatley, . . . sometimes if I need to put (it in a) very large scale, then I can have the pavement, the curb . . . I could have rounded corners to explain it as well. It has variety. . . . It is easier to feel as well. The contrast works well for people with low vision.

All participants acknowledged the benefit of using tactile maps for people, who are blind or have very low vision, when they were teaching spatial concepts, and found, like Espinosa and Ochaίta (1998), that the use of a tactile map enhanced the ability of a small part of their caseloads to learn O&M concepts. Deon gave an example of a student who had used tactile maps successfully. He said,

He used a long cane. He was very confident. . . . He could travel from his home in (the city) through very busy central business areas, even to unfamiliar areas very successfully. . . . He was willing to learn as he went. He had the maps and he was happy to refer to them and learn what he needed.

All the participants used the tactile maps for purposes similar to their Finnish counterparts (Ojala et al., 2017). For example, one participant, Helen explained how tactile maps were used to attain an aerial overview of an area, such as an entire university. Rachel described how she used detailed tactile maps to familiarise a person to specific routes within an unfamiliar shopping mall. Rachel also stated that she used tactile maps to teach environmental concepts relating to the layout of unusual intersections, or to teach basic facts about specific vehicular movements, intersection shapes, route shapes, or specific travel environments. Rachel said,

I’ve also used it with people who have . . . little understanding of the footpath, the curb and the roads. . . . If there is quite unusual intersections . . . if I draw it, then they know.

Theme 2: student needs and experiences

This theme relates to how the participants’ caseloads, the needs of their students’ with vision impairment, and their students’ prior experience with maps influenced the frequency of the participant’s tactile map usage. The participants emphasised that they used tactile maps primarily with students who were blind or who did not have any visual memory. Deon explained his caseload included mostly older persons with low vision so this affected his usage:

Currently the vast majority of my clients are elderly. They have low vision. I would say many of them live in a limited life style . . . they have a pretty stable routine . . . they know the area pretty well and they have support . . . that is why I have very rarely been faced with the situation of needing to use a tactile map, because their needs don’t suit it.

Similarly, Helen said,

I would say that throughout my experience, my career, that I have used them very infrequently. Even years ago when I first started, because the numbers of people that I worked with, who were totally blind, were always very small. So I mostly worked with people that had some useful vision, where we didn’t tend to use tactile maps.

In addition, the participants explained that it was difficult to work with students who were not motivated to use tactile maps. This was sometimes due to the student not understanding map concepts, or preferring to learn orientation skills through aural, visual, or kinaesthetic means, rather than through tactual means. Rachel said,

Then I see people are not motivated. . . . They just want to do the route, and they don’t want to learn about the map and what it means. Even if I explain that it may be helpful in the future.

Several of the participants cited a lack of foundational map-reading skills in their students as another reason for their low frequency of tactile map use. For example, Rachel said,

I think that, at school, they just didn’t cover that topic. . . . If they don’t have the previous skills and concepts. I am not very keen to teach it from scratch. Also, they are not very keen to do it.

However, the participants clearly agreed with Budd and La Grow (2000) (as cited in Wright et al., 2010) that formal instruction in O&M map-reading concepts would benefit some students. For example, Muriel said, ‘I have had a couple of . . . people where it has been really useful’.

Theme 3: time and resources

Time management, along with the ability to pre-determine how much O&M instructional time is required for each student, are not new issues in the field of O&M (Emerson & Anderson, 2014). In this study, having the time to make tactile maps and the resources to make them, quickly, determined whether a tactile map was produced. Helen said,

. . . if you do spend a lot of time preparing some sort of tactile map, and then it’s not that useful, or if you find that they respond better to talking through a route, or audio, or whatever it is, then it’s a lot of time wasted. It is very time consuming.

The participants talked about having limited resources to make tactile maps and they agreed that the provision of tactile map kits would help to reduce the amount of map preparation time. Rachel said,

. . . the time constriction, that’s why I probably like quick things, like the Wheatley kit and the Sewell Raised Line Drawing kit, because it doesn’t require any preparation. I can do it on the spot. So, we are doing a particular route, the client cannot understand, you know, how the roads are intersecting. I just produce it: Bang! Bang! It’s done.

Although, not necessarily meeting the ‘pure’ definition of a tactile map, there was a clear preference by all participants to produce a map by drawing on their client’s back or palm. This reflected the need for the participants to introduce an orientation aid that was quick and easy to convey in the field, with no need to teach map-reading skills. Helen explained how she used this tactile method most often:

I have definitely done drawing on the hand, quite a lot actually, now that I think of it, and that has worked well. Just with angles, just getting somebody familiar with where things are in relation to each other.

All participants referred to how new technological advances had changed the way in which tactile maps were produced, including reducing the amount of time in actual map production. Google maps was, also, cited as being useful in the map production process. The participants noted that the use of GPS by students is a helpful orientation tool, but did not negate the need to make and use a tactile map with specific students. For example, Helen said,

I suppose what has changed is that there are a lot more tools now with technology but I don’t think it has taken anything away from what people need. For O&M, for anything with orientation, or whether it’s route training or bus travel. It’s a tool that we use.

Finally, each participant gave examples of instances in which they had taken the time to teach map-reading skills to a student, and stated that as a result of this instruction, the student’s orientation skills had improved, in a similar way to the findings of Ungar et al. (1993). However, the participants still felt that the teaching of map-reading skills was not a priority due to not having the time to fit the teaching component into their work. These data correlated with Ojala et al.’s (2017) study in which one of the participants highlighted that they did not have the time to teach map-reading skills.

Limitations of the research

There are limitations to this work, and its findings need to be considered in light of these. First, there is a limited amount of research in the literature about O&M instructors’ use of tactile map usage, in general. Second, this research was carried out in NZ. O&M instructors in other countries may have different ideas or experiences in regard to tactile map usage. Also, the research project, itself, was limited by time and resources, and further information about the client demographics on each of the participants’ caseload may have been beneficial information to gather, and may have enhanced the findings of the study. Further in-depth research into tactile map usage and O&M caseloads is recommended.

Conclusion

It is hoped that the findings of this research project has added to the existing knowledge about the usefulness of tactile maps in the O&M field by explaining how, when, and why tactile maps are used by O&M instructors. The results echoed the research literature in its finding that the participating O&M instructors thought that tactile maps were important and a useful orientation aid. Microcapsule and thermoform maps were the least used tactile map medium. Drawing on their student’s hands or back and ready-made tactile kits were the most common tactile maps that the participants used. However, collage maps were used when customising the map for their student became a priority.

This study found, as in other qualitative studies, that NZ O&M instructors mostly used tactile maps with motivated students, who were blind, had no visual memory, or did not use their vision. They also used them when familiarising a student to a route or an unfamiliar environment, and when teaching environmental concepts. The participants believed that there will always be a place for tactile maps, and GPS applications would not fully replace them. However, the participants used tactile maps infrequently, and this was stated to be caused by the makeup of their caseload, limited resources, and limited time. Further research is needed to identify the specific characteristics of clients who can benefit from tactile map usage, and how tactile map usage may affect the O&M instructors’ caseload and time in the field, so that people with vision impairment can benefit from this important resource.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge Blind Low Vision New Zealand for their support of this project.

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The author received financial support from Blind Low Vision New Zealand.

ORCID iD

Jill Baldwin

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