Historical
The association was created in 2006 under the name FCBE "Training at the White Electronic Cannes" by Roland Damaschini, one of the researchers behind the tool and Jean Marie Murienne, one of the pioneering users.
Its goal was to cope with the growth of training at the Cannes Blanches Electroniques on the French territory. The "White Electronic Cane" based on laser and infrared telemetry is intended to improve the safety and comfort of the blinds in autonomy.
It makes it possible to locate the passages with anticipation and to avoid obstacles.
The principle, thanks to patronage, has since the beginning been free equipment and training for the blind.
The latter proved to be essential in order to teach the user to manage all the situations of the pedestrian walk, as well as its security. This training work is done by "locomotion instructors", state-certified professionals who specialize in the rehabilitation of visually impaired persons for autonomous travel. The association managed the training process throughout the French territory from 2006 to 2013 by accompanying local associations in the dissemination of information to the blind, by training the locomotion instructors in this specialization, managing the work of the instructors (fees, time, travel, updating of knowledge with the technical evolutions etc.) and this thanks to the voluntary work of the university researchers at the origin of the device and some pioneering blind users. In 2012 there was an annual evaluation of 200 files and 130 trainings representing 5000 hours of training. In order to be able to concentrate on improving the service provided, we transferred the daily management of training to the three main local associations: ACBO (South East of France), ACBE Toulouse Grand Sud (South West), ACGAO (North).
The FCBE has changed its name to IMDV (Innovation for the Mobility of the Visually Impaired), its objective being to remain a "flexible and mobile" structure relying mainly on the voluntary work of researchers and blind users who are experts opening new services.
The three main areas of work are in order of priority:
- the search for low-cost solutions to disseminate the electronic cane in developing countries.
- experimental development and training with inertial GPS
- the search for solutions for rare handicaps: deafblindness, motor disability and visual associated ...