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Just outside a men's restroom in the Terminal 1 departure level of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Ken Rogers runs his fingers across the map on the wall.

"If you can imagine, I have no sight. I have no light perception, I'm completely blind,” Rogers said. “Oftentimes, people that are blind have a little bit of sight. Maybe they see light. Maybe they see shadows. I'm not. I have nothing.”

Rogers relies on touch to find his way. He rarely looks forward to navigating public bathrooms.

“I've had that experience time and time again of my hand going where it shouldn't go like into a urinal for example,” he said. “And that's my world. I have to examine my world using touch and it's not always sanitary.”

But the newly installed maps hanging just to the left of the entrance are different. They have braille and added textures outlining every fixture and the paths to the sinks, toilets, urinals and changing tables.

“It's a game changer to be able to know where I'm going before I step in,” Rogers said. “It's freedom, it's independence and all of us with disabilities we strive for that.”

MSP Airport and the Metropolitan Airports Commission worked on the maps the past two years. The airport coordinated with its Travelers with Disabilities Advisory Committee to develop the designs and symbology.

Rogers is the president of the American Council of the Blind of Minnesota and also serves on the advisory committee. As an avid traveler, he says the committee — made up of people living with disabilities and airport staff — helps make MSP one of the most accessible major airports in the country. 

“There are lots of advisory committees in different facilities, but the beauty of this one is the airport staff listen. They listen to what we say,” he said.

Phil Kuktan, the airport commission’s project manager, worked with airport staff and the advisory committee to help pick map symbols and designs that are simple, yet varied enough to differentiate through touch alone.

“We also did research for other airports to see have any of our peer airports in North America done this, and what we found was no," Kuktan said. “In fact, we are now the first airport in North America to roll out something like this, and that was challenging.”

Kuktan said they started from scratch, with no Americans with Disabilities Act standards to go on. 

“We knew that if we were going to do this at MSP, we were going to have to create our own standards,” he said.

There are 146 bathrooms throughout the airport's two terminals. Only two have identical floor plans. 

That means almost every map has to be custom made. Kuktan said using 3D printing with a local company in Bloomington helped, allowing for quick prototypes. It's also cheaper than sheet metal that most tactile maps are made from.

“It's the design on the front end is where the time and the dollars are spent to make sure we're getting it right. It's easy to just print the map,” Kuktan said. “We were very deliberate in printing off prototypes and doing a pilot study and having those who are blind with us at the design table from the very beginning.”

While the designs focused on assisting travelers with low or no vision, both Kuktan and Rogers noted providing accessibility measures helps everyone who uses the international airport.

“Some of our restrooms at MSP are immensely complicated. Just a single women's room could have two different entrances to it,” Kuktan said. “Or it could have one entrance, but you have the choice of going left or right. So, by the nature of our facility and our very large and complicated restrooms, our maps are great for those who can see to help understand.”

After rolling out the maps, Kuktan said they hope to share what they learned with other airports around the country. He's already heard from staff in Portland who are interested.

The hope is someday the maps designed in Minnesota become the standard, so travelers know what to expect before they walk into the restroom, Kuktan said. 

That way no one has to worry about touching something they'd rather not.

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Over the last month, MSP Airport installed special maps outside every bathroom throughout the facility designed to improve accessibility for travelers who are blind. They hope to share their designs to airports around the country to ease travel for everyone.

Tactile maps installed at MSP Airport ease travel for more than just blind passengers

A man holds his hands up to feel a map on the wall.

Tactile maps installed at MSP Airport ease travel for more than just blind passengers

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