Building Nature Trails Accessible to Blind People
6/16/20262 min
When Juan Pablo Culasso spends time outside, he often encounters people thinking he doesn’t belong out there as a blind person – despite the fact that he’s a renowned nature recordist. He helped design nature trails in Colombia with features that make them more accessible for people who are visually impaired, including guide ropes with textures that signal points of interest and QR codes that provide info. But Juan Pablo says these are not simply trails solely for blind people to enjoy — “we need to share the same places in society,” he says.
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First 90 secondsJones Franklin· Host0:00
This is BirdNote. When Juan Pablo Collazo goes to spend time outside, he often encounters people thinking he doesn't belong out there as a blind person, despite the fact that he's a renowned nature recordist.
Juan Pablo Collazo· Guest0:15
We need to change the culture and the behavior of people to really understand that blind people can go outside and enjoy nature like whatever person.
Jones Franklin· Host0:29
Juan Pablo helped design nature trails in Colombia with features that make them more accessible for people who are visually impaired, including guide ropes with textures that signal points of interest and QR codes that provide info. But Juan Pablo says these are not simply trails solely for blind people to enjoy.
Juan Pablo Collazo· Guest0:49
It's for blind people, of course, but it's for all, because we need to share the same place in society. Make places exclusively for blind people or whatever other disability, in my opinion, is an exclusion. All these things are for everyone, for older people, for children, pregnant, people that broke a leg and is temporarily disabled. So many people decide for us. No, he can't walk on this trail because the trail, there are a lot of branches in the floor. Ask first. Never