Haben Girma

Tactile maps for bathrooms spark amusement, curiosity, and appreciation. The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport @mspairport is the first US airport to install tactile maps by every restroom. Which airport should be next?

Descriptive Transcript:

Haben Girma and her German Shepherd Seeing Eye dog Mylo stand beside a wall-mounted Pet Relief sign and map. She speaks with a humorous tone.

Haben: Exploring bathrooms is the worst! I think a lot of blind people will agree with me on that.

The video pans around a room with artificial turf in one alcove, a push button beside a sign saying “PLEASE dispose of your animal’s waste. Simply push this button prior to exiting,” a waste-bag dispenser with instructional pictograms, a cute photograph of a Rottweiler lounging on grass beside a river, and a soap dispenser beside a sink.

Haben (voiceover): So I found a tactile map for the pet relief area at this airport. There are ones for the humans as well!

Close-up of Haben’s hand reading the sign outside the pet relief area. The top part provides a key for the map in Braille and raised print: a dotted line means path, a square means sink/trash, a circle means waste bags/flush button, and wavy lines means turf. The map has a star at the entrance that reads, “You are here.” A dotted path forms a T, with one end of the top of the T by the square (sink/trash) and the other end by the circle (waste bags and flush button). The circle is also right next to a large wavy area (turf).

Haben (voiceover): But this is the first time I’ve encountered a tactile map for the pet relief area. And as someone traveling with a guide dog, it’s a cool way to reduce the stress for travelers.

Mylo strides down a large airport corridor as Haben holds his harness handle in one hand and rolls a suitcase with the other. Mylo confidently guides around busy travelers and luggage as they continue on their way.