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The idea came up naturally. I first considered doing this project when an old lady asked for my help to find the bus she needed at a very crowded bus stop where about eight buses were stopping. She told me that she has been waiting half an hour and nobody had enough time to stop and help her, as it was the morning rush hour to go to work. She told me that every day is a struggle for her, but she still wants to keep her independence. The second reason, which is a bit silly, is about me. I have to wear glasses since I am three, without glasses or contact lenses I cannot read and cannot recognise people. So after talking with this old lady I decided to remove my contact lenses and try to use the London buses. What I have done next was getting in touch with organisations for the blind, which was very complicated and nobody wanted to help me until I went to the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) in London and a very kind man, Bill, heard how much I was struggling. He has been the most helpful person for my whole project. He introduced me to his friends that are also partially sighted and they all agreed to help me in this adventure. To learn about their everyday issues I shadowed them as a group but also individually. When I came up with the first ideas, that then became Tact, they told me, that they were relieved that someone understood their needs. They do not care about new technologies. It is always very complicated and does not always work; so this is why I decided to focus on simplicity.
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