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Near Friborg station, guide lines have been set up for visually impaired or blind people.
Pierre Bovigny took part in the game at the post office located near Friborg station. © Jean-Baptiste Morel
Published on 04/16/2024
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Imagine. You are in Fribourg, you close your eyes and grab a cane. And now you go to the post office. This is one of the challenges that blind or visually impaired people sometimes face. It is to make their lives easier that the post office located on Avenue de Tivoli, near the station, has put in place a suitable infrastructure. Demonstration with Pierre Bovigny, visually impaired who has visual residual.
When he enters the entrance hall, the 28-year-old resident of Vuisternens-en-Ogoz feels the ground with his cane and comes across a raised surface: these so-called “guide” lines take him up to a transparent sliding door, which he passes through without incident. To avoid any possible problems, a darker band has been added. “This allows for a strong contrast at eye level for visually impaired people, who then know that there is a door,” describes Diana Andrea, member of the Regional Defense of Interests of the Friborg section, within the Swiss Federation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (FSA).
On the ground, the lines end in a square, indicating that you must stop. In front of it there is a counter on which “information” is written in Braille, indicates Pierre Bovigny. Normally, an employee is behind it, or has an eye on it. This counter is also suitable for other people with disabilities, who do not need to collect a ticket and wait for their number to be called, as assured by Laurent Savary, policy and communications manager for French-speaking Switzerland at within La Poste.
“Very good thing”
Some 21 subsidiaries in Switzerland have already been adapted, according to the spokesperson. This work takes place during transformations or renovations. “The costs amount to around 2,000 francs, covered by La Poste. This amount may vary from one site to another,” specifies Laurent Savary, who adds that the installation of the guide lines was decided in collaboration with the FSA, with the help of Architecture without obstacles.
“These adaptations are a very good thing. They allow you to have an entry point when you don’t know a place,” assures Pierre Bovigny. “In an ideal world, there would be guide lines everywhere, leading to strategic locations, and even there, there would still be cause for complaint. But we can always find solutions. For example, I often use Google Maps to guide me. I learned to fend for myself almost from the cradle,” assures Pierre Bovigny.
“There is still a lot of work left, because a lot of buildings are not accessible”
Diana Andrea
Diana Andrea also welcomes this adaptation, but considers that the guide lines should extend outside to the trains for the concept to be more effective. Such measures will be put in place as part of the station redevelopment project, according to Jean-Christophe Emmenegger. The spokesperson for the city of Friborg specifies that the aim is not to guide people towards the entrances of stores, but to allow them to move independently and safely in public spaces, in particular on the future square of the train station, avenue de la Gare, rue de Tivoli and the esplanade de la Poste.
Still efforts to be made
Diana Andrea believes that there is still a lot of work left, because a lot of buildings are not accessible: “My task is to make architects and engineers aware of the fact of planning work while respecting the standards in force and to support the implementation implemented to ensure that the law on equality for people with disabilities is respected in particular by cities, institutions such as hospitals and EMS.”
As a priority, she wants to focus on public transport. “Sometimes bus drivers don’t know that visually impaired or blind people are entitled to have a companion card.” Jérôme Gachet, spokesperson for Friborg Public Transport, specifies that this allows you to have a companion (or a dog) and that only one of the two people will have to pay for a ticket. “We regularly raise awareness among our controllers and drivers about this issue. That said, they have a lot of information and we cannot exclude that they forget, especially if they do not see such a card often,” he says.
Diana Andrea still talks about leisure and culture. In anticipation of the hockey world championship, which will be held in 2026 partly in Fribourg, the possibility of having matches in audio description is for example being studied. And during a show at Equilibre, it was also possible to touch the costumes and have an audio description headset in order to know what was happening on stage.
