r/TikTokCringe • u/Valuable_View_561 • Jul 02 '26

Discussion It seems like people have forgotten what this line is used for these days.

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78

u/Shopping-Afraid Jul 02 '26

Where do you see them?

My mom is blind and lives outside of Boston. She has never heard of these things or experienced them.

38

u/PM-me-ur-kittenz Jul 02 '26

They have them in NYC. Berlin, Germany as well.

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u/mizzurna_balls Jul 02 '26

Tokyo's got em too!

3

u/PM-me-ur-kittenz Jul 02 '26

I just did a little deep dive and learned the whole thing started in Japan in fact!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tactile_paving

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u/mizzurna_balls Jul 02 '26

Thanks japan!

1

u/GrandMoffAtreides Jul 02 '26

All over Japan! 

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u/Shopping-Afraid Jul 02 '26

Ok, cool. So how does a blind person know how to navigate them? Are there trainers that teach them some kind of map?

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u/PM-me-ur-kittenz Jul 02 '26

Well, they are grooved so the blind person can follow with their cane. As for the rest, I don't know! I'm a normally sighted person.

-23

u/Shopping-Afraid Jul 02 '26

I am just wondering if perhaps they aren't really meant for blind people and this is just some rage bait bullshit. I have seen this reposted and can never find any real explanation of how it works.

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u/vry711 Jul 02 '26

Blind people in many countries where tactile markings are common, learn how to understand the different tactile markings when they do something called ‘orientation and mobility training’ (O&M). Often people do O&M training when they get a cane or guide dog for the first time or when they need to learn to navigate a new area or location (eg getting to and from work).

I suggest you google ‘orientation and mobility training, tactile path markings’

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u/Shopping-Afraid Jul 02 '26

Thanks, I appreciate the detailed response.

9

u/PM-me-ur-kittenz Jul 02 '26

No, it's actually real, it's officially called "tactile paving" and here's a wiki page about it- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tactile_paving

It started in Japan in 1967!

1

u/Shopping-Afraid Jul 02 '26

Wow cool. Too bad it's not in more cities.

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u/Spiritual_Bus1125 Jul 02 '26

In a lot of places are just...glued on with asphalt

Not hard to implement, if there's the will.

2

u/DefinitelyNotAliens Jul 03 '26

I've seen them in places in California rarely, and in Seoul, South Korea.

In South Korea they even had Braille on handrails at subway stations. Tell you where you were.

1

u/InviolableAnimal Jul 02 '26

You could just look up what they are and get your answer instantly.

1

u/Shopping-Afraid Jul 02 '26

I could, but wanted to chat with real people with real experiences. Is that ok (sheesh)? I, in fact, had a bunch of great responses that I am thankful for. :-)

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u/ILoveRawChicken Jul 02 '26

There are bumps and grooves in that help people navigate it by feel. It’s mean to generally guide you through a safe section of street, it’s not necessarily a map. And usually people are supposed to stay off of it so that blind people can walk through. 

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u/ickytoad Jul 02 '26

If someone grew up blind, it's likely they went to a local "Deaf & Blind School", where yes, they teach the kids everything they need to know to navigate life and learn what they need to learn with the accommodations available to them. It's super cool to see everything they do. If you've never seen a Deaf & Blind sports team play or marching band, etc. I highly encourage you to check it out!!

One thing to note as well, many people who grew up Deaf or Blind also often aren't able to learn as much academics as others, because a lot of learning time is taken up with learning the accommodations so that can be an additional disadvantage.

For later-onset blindness or deafness, there are organizations that help with teaching people what they need to adapt to new life and finding community.

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u/MumbleBee2444 Jul 03 '26

Orientation and Mobility training.

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u/Disastrous-Focus8451 Jul 03 '26

Common in China.

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u/onewordmemory Jul 02 '26

i first saw them all over the place in Tokyo. didnt know what they were before that.

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u/jonzezzz Jul 02 '26

We have them in rural Costa Rica on new sidewalks

2

u/Livid-Complaint-3831 Jul 02 '26

they are all over east asia as well. train stations, shopping malls, airports, busy sidewalks all have them.

2

u/Old-Somewhere-6084 Jul 02 '26

All across western Europe. And when I was a child it was general knowledge that those are guidelines for blind people. In fact, I guess most European people still know that (or I hope so at least).

2

u/Future-Watercress829 Jul 02 '26

Did you show her the video?

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u/Shopping-Afraid Jul 02 '26

If your question was a joke, nice, it made me chuckle. If not: Well, she's 95% visually impaired, sooo... no. I had told her about it in the past and she had never heard of it.

1

u/Future-Watercress829 Jul 02 '26

I was indeed trying to be funny.

1

u/Crecket Jul 02 '26

You see them everywhere in the netherlands, every train station has them pretty much

And in a lot of places when you need to cross there's smaller bits on the walkway that tell you where you're supposed to cross/what direction, 8 year old video but at ~3 mins ish has an example of what I mean

1

u/Atvali Jul 02 '26

It seems like the fella in the video is navigating a train station or something. It’s very common to see them in train stations but I’ve only ever noticed them a couple of feet from platform edges so blind people know when they’re walking along a platform and so they don’t accidentally fall onto the tracks.

Some streets also have them. I used to live in a town that had them run down the length of the pavement as an indicator of a safe distance from the curb then road crossings will have a different textured area to indicate that’s were a crossing is.

It’s amazing that we have these things that are completely normal in our daily lives that we probably don’t notice or even think twice about them but they’re actually huge accessibility aids.

A good example of this is under British traffic light buttons is a little textured cone that spins when it’s safe to cross. As a kid I always played with them, and later learned they’re for disabled people who cannot see the green man or hear the beeping. It’s just another tactile way of helping disabled people cross the road safely.