As some of you may know my husband was diagnosed severe sight impaired blind a while ago. We are still learning together how best to manage this huge life change and how to maintain his independence and dignity. Since then we have looked into and been guided towards tools and gadgets that may be helpful.
When we think about what is helpful for people who are severe sight impaired or partially sighted we often think of the big things like specialist softwear or high tech gadgets, guide dogs and canes. It can all actually be quite overwhelming.
However there is a very simple inexpensive tool that is actually very useful and helpful and can make a huge difference in someone’s independence.
In this article we will be using the terms sight impaired, blind, low vision, partially sighted and sight loss as these are the current acceptable terms in my country for people with sight loss. This may change over time and be different in different countries. No offence is intended by any of these terms.
What Are Bumpons Or Bump Dots?
An odd name i thought at first, but Bumpons as they are known in UK or Bump dots in US and also called tactile markers, are brightly coloured, raised rubber, plastic or silicone small sticky pads. They are commonly used by people who are blind, partially sighted or have low vision and many senior people find them useful too.
They are available in different sizes, colours, shapes and textures and they’re designed to be felt easily with the tip of your finger. You can normally buy them in sheets and they are very inexpensive and versatile.
Despite being bright colours they are discrete and seem to become background furniture very quickly. Most visitors to our home do not even notice them, but they make a world of difference to my husband.
The Benefits Of Bumpons Or Bump Dots
There is no training required and using them becomes natural and intuitive very quickly. There is thankfully no technology to learn or be trained in and no short or long courses to go on which is a big bonus.
We can buy Bump dots in different colours, shapes and textures for unique purposes which again helps to differentiate objects, settings etc
They do not appear to so far at least have damaged objects or technology or in our experience upvc or appliances. I wouldn't stick them to wallpaper, photos or fragile surfaces though. We are careful when removing them from appliances and doors but so far have not experienced any damage.
How Do Bump Dots Or Bumpons Help A Person With Sight Loss?
They are easily stuck on to most surfaces, we simply peel off the sheet and stick on, you don't need glue or anything else.
Once firmly in place Bump dots act as a cue to a person who can feel for it with their fingertip.
We can stick them onto most objects and they are very helpful to identify settings, buttons or positions on appliances and other things.
These bumpons help my husband to navigate our home more safely and do more things for himself that he would otherwise need to ask me to do. At first they seem strange but we quickly learned and gained confidence.
Bump dots rely on tactile memory. This is the ability to recognise shapes and textures by touch. When a person experiences sight loss, whether it is gradual or sudden, touch often becomes a very important way of navigating the world. Bump dots make this process a little easier.
Once we set up the bumpons we kept them the same type of bumpon in the same place, so that my husband could learn and remember them.
How We Use Bumpons or Bump Dots At Home.
I have to admit when we were faced with this sheet or orange round bumpons, our first ones, we were a little unsure where to put them! However once you start its hard to stop.
Bear in mind to be flexible, some surfaces may not take a bump dot as easily and some may drop off some surfaces, so it is in our experience a bit of trial and error, but not too much and we quickly found what worked for us. Make sure the surface is clean and dry first.
Also be very careful if your household has small children or pets. These are very small dots of material and could be easily swallowed so just apply a common sense attitude and keep out of reach.
So here is a list of just a few examples.
- Marking the front and back doors keyhole. This was actually the first thing we did. This is crucial in the event of a fire, but also very useful for everyday. To be honest this is useful for both of us in the event smoke or fire obscures the vision of where the keyhole is and could be lifesaving if the keys are not in the door at the time.
- Identifying the front door key on a keyring- also very important as a safety and security measure and saves the annoyance, embarrassment or panic if you cannot find the correct key for the door. Also I am finding it very useful in the dark.
- Marking key buttons on a remote control. This while not a safety feature, can make life a little easier and more independent.
- Marking the on/off button on a microwave. We have found digital microwaves to be tricky to manage with his sight loss but a bumpon the on /off switch is at least useful.
- Identifying the common temperature settings on an oven dial. My husband loves to cook, so we are still learning tips how to make this a continued safe and enjoyable life skill and hobby. We adopt the attitude not that he can't do it , but how can he do it safely. We are avoiding all digital cookers as they are not user friendly for him.
- Locating the power button on the blender. Our blender is new to both of us so we chose one that would be simpler for sight loss and it is working very well.
- Identifying the boiler heat and water settings. We stick a bumpon on the dial to the temperature we use most for the heating and the water. We currently do change this in winter ad summer but we are thinking of getting a different size bump on to differentiate between winter and summer settings.
- Highlighting the preferred cycle on a washing machine, as we have two we use a lot i put one bumpon for the delicate cycle and two bumpons for the easy care cycle. However, ours is not the easiest machine for my husband as it is mainly digital, so we have found this more difficult to manage. We are learning as we go and when we come to change machines will bear his sight loss needs in mind.
- Labelling shampoo and conditioner bottles, ours look so similar in the bottles we have one for shampoo and two for conditioners. I have noticed they can drop off from time to time if they get too wet on our bottles, or pulled off accidentally, but are easily replaced and this removes the frustration of accidentally washing with conditioner!
MULTIPLE SIZES ,COLOURS BUMP DOTCheck Price
Our 8 Top Tips for Using Bumpons or Bump Dots.
- Think where the bumpons would be most useful. It really is best not to assume. A walk though of the home is very useful or if that is too overwhelming one room at a time or just one appliance at a time.
- Find the place where you naturally place your finger to find controls or watch where the person with sight loss naturally places their finger to find the control or keyhole or whatever and place the dot there, not where you think it ought to be placed.
- Try it out a few times to check it actually is in the correct place and useful in that position.
- If there is some vision or can see colours, choose bright colours dots to contrast with the surface they are to be placed on for example red or orange dots on a white background appliance do show up really well for some people.
- If you buy Bump dots with different shapes or different levels of raised parts they are useful to differentiate between opposite functions for example on a remote control.
- With a mobile phone it can be useful to place a dot on the emergency call button if there is a manual/tactile one. Likewise with a landline if it has buttons to place a bump dot on the 9 button for emergency 999 calls if in UK or the 9 and 1 buttons for 911 calls if in US, or which ever countries code you use for emergency calls.
- Always keep an extra sheet of bump dots in the house as inevitably they will wear out in time and will need to be replaced immediately once the person has got used to them, in order to retain independence.
- If you travel it is useful to take a sheet with you to use temporarily while in a hotel for example on the remote or the door. Just check with the manager if its ok to place them and carefully remove before you leave.
So for a little dot these bumpons or bump dots do a very important job and are actually more empowering and independence giving than I first thought. When my husband first became blind we were introduced to a lot of high tech, very expensive items, much of which are still in the wish list. However, in fact these little bumpons have probably been one of the most useful items of everything we got for sight loss in our home. If you are dealing with sight loss or know some one who is, they may be well worth considering.
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