Swimming in the Lanes
By Fetter, James; Braille Monitor, Vol. 51, No. 6Publication Date: June 2008
Article outlines the development of AdaptTap, a navigation system for visually impaired swimmers. Designed at the University of Notre Dame’s Industrial Design Department at the request of the university’s swimming coach, the system replaces a method called “tapping,” in which a sighted person standing at each end of the pool taps the blind swimmer on the head or shoulder using a pole with a tennis ball attached to one end when it is time to turn. The AdaptTap system features a series of flexible plastic rods with balls on one end and brackets on the other that attach to a standard lane line. Shorter rods attached at regular intervals to both lane lines keep the swimmer in the middle of the lane, and longer rods in a gate-like formation near the end of the pool alert the swimmer of the approaching wall. At the time the article was written, the Chicago-based aquatics company Kiefer had agreed to manufacture the device.
Published by: National Federation of the Blind (Website:http://www.nfb.org)
Link to text: http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/bm/bm08/bm0806/bm080607.htm
Link to audio: https://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Audio/Braille_Monitor/2008/June/07_Swimming_in_the_Lanes.mp3
