Can touch substitute vision? An empirical study about how the visually impaired comprehend shapes

Generally, it is assumed that the visually impaired people are unable to comprehend the make-up of physical environment and its spatial characteristics due to lack of vision. This study aims to reassess the contention that vision limits comprehension of form and examines the relationship vision loss, learning ability and comprehension of form vocabulary. It explores the role of tactual depth perception in shape comprehension and examines how different shape categories are understood by the visually impaired people. The most significant inference is that visual impaired people prefer textual information in relief rather than in recess. Similarly, circular shapes easier to comprehend over angular shapes needs to be tested with larger population of visually impaired people.