Prof. Michael Siu, Leader of PolyU’s Public Design Lab, has developed the “BrailleWise” system to assist the visually impaired people to access aircraft lavatories easily and independently.

“BrailleWise” fits different lavatory settings and can easily be modified to cater for changing needs in future. It provides tactile information on specially-designed bars on the same level. The information can be set in different languages for the need of different countries. Comes with an interlocking modular system, “BrailleWise” is easy and inexpensive to produce, install and maintain and does not negatively affect the appearance of the lavatory. It can also be installed in small public toilet compartments.

The invention has won the Diamond Award in the 2012 Successful Design Awards – China, awarded by the Shanghai Industrial Design Association and Shanghai Creative Industry Centre; the Runner-up Award 2012 in the Industrial Design and Technical Concepts category of the Crystal Cabin Award held in Hamburg, Germany; and the Certificate of Excellence in the International Interior Design category of the Perspective Awards 2012.