A Miniguide is a vibrating proximity sensor. Steven Hellier talks in Auslan about how he uses it to navigate the world, and shows us his analogue Braille watch, in this video. A translation is below.
Steven points his Miniguide (a small device that looks like a laser pointer) at different surfaces and shows how it vibrates when pointed at a wall, then stops when nothing is in the way.
Steven: When the device was facing the wall, it was shaking but when I moved it away it stopped.
Now I’m pointing it at a person and it’s vibrating a lot.
The thing I’m holding is called a Miniguide, I use it at the same time as my cane.
If it vibrates in front of a busy road, I know I should wait for all the cars to pass and it helps me avoid any other obstacles on the road.
Interviewer: What’s on your wrist?
Steven lifts the glass covering the watch face. The watch face has braille under each of the numbers.
Steven: The time is 2:20pm! This watch is very accessible! I’m able to feel the hands and braille dots around the face of the clock.
I bought it about 3 years ago from Vision Australia using my NDIS. Since I got it I’ve become really confident in using it.
DBV Connect is supported by the Australian Government Department of Social Services. Go to www.dss.gov.au for more information.
