Everyone knows this floor marking, but they don’t know why – it opens everyone’s eyes

The power of the crowd should not be underestimated. It’s just before 8am at Switzerland’s second largest train station – in Bern. Rush hour commute flows act like tsunamis for those who want to get to their trains.

The only chance not to get lost in the waves of people: dodge. A hasty maneuver to the left when a group of youngsters approaches you on their smartphones. Quickly take a step to the right before you threaten to collide with the stressed manager in the suit.

But in the midst of this flood of commuters, one person cannot simply be avoided: Erdin Ciplak (37), one of Europe’s most famous blind people. He walks on the signposted guide strips for the blind, but still regularly encounters people who step on them or fail to see the man with the white cane (long cane) coming.

This is just one of many comments TikTok users write about Ciplak’s videos. He is well known on the social media platform, his videos have millions of views. And his username says it all: “Mr.BlindLife” educates people about life as a blind person.

For Erdin Ciplak aka «Mr. BlindLife,” it’s no joke that he has to yell “sorry, I’m blind.” so commuters can keep the blind’s guidance systems clear.

With “Mr. BlindLife» at a meeting in Bern.

573,000 followers on TikTok. 118,000 subscribers on YouTube. And almost 60,000 on Instagram: Erdin Ciplak self-identified as “Mr. BlindLife” has built a reach that some influencers dream of. But the 37-year-old remembers exactly how long and difficult it was to get there.

“I don’t know otherwise,” says Ciplak as he tells his story in a cafe near the Federal Palace. He was born in 1986 near Gelsenkirchen, a town in North Rhine-Westphalia. He has always had his visual impairments. “Glaucoma, cataracts, retinal detachments and calcifications” are just some of the diagnoses Ciplak was diagnosed with as a baby.

Ciplak has already had about 50 eye surgeries, most of them at the age of six. “Thanks to the treatments, more serious damage from the diseases, for example to my brain, has been prevented,” he says. And: “This saved my eyesight of two percent. In Germany I’m considered legally blind.” But that 2 percent would make a difference if they were educated.

From kindergarten through high school, Ciplak attended schools specifically designed for blind and visually impaired children. “I only really realized how bad my eyesight was when I studied at HAW Hamburg and compared myself to other people of the same age who weren’t blind,” recalls Ciplak. That is why he is now also committed to ‘inclusive schools’ in which children are in class with other children with a physical disability.

Because he himself found the sudden change difficult. “Confronting how much better others can see on a daily basis was not easy,” he says. Ciplak discovered that he was deeply affected by his blindness. His girlfriend and now wife Jasmin, who also has a visual impairment, also helped him – his Mrs. BlindLife.

During this time, Ciplak remarked, “I almost never used a cane because I resisted it. But since I’ve been able to handle it, it’s become a huge help.” He regularly posted his findings on his own YouTube channel. But with moderate success. But everything was about to change when his younger cousin told him about it in early 2020 TikTok told.

In particular, it was the previously hated cane that earned him his first viral video with hundreds of thousands of clicks. The TikTok users could not take their eyes off the blind man who tries to walk on the guide strip for the blind despite many obstacles.

Ciplak explains his success as follows: “For many, the accompanying cartoon videos are pure entertainment. What is happening? Is someone stepping on their walking stick? Will he stumble or even fall? And TikTok users like to annoy others.”

To enable the blind and visually impaired to find their way in public using the walking stick, tactile (ie tactile) floor guidance systems, also known as blind guidance systems, were created for them. These are lines on the ground called guidance strips and points called areas of interest.

Where guide strips are used to guide blind people safely to a destination, attention fields can indicate a change of direction or act as obstacle warning fields. These were originally invented in Japan, where the guide strips are all yellow in color.

“In Germany and Switzerland, however, they are predominantly white. I think that’s a shame, because the yellow guide strips help many visually impaired people to find their way better,” says Ciplak.

“Many think that all blind people see nothing but black. But that is not true. Many of the legally blind and visually impaired still have minimal vision,” explains Ciplak. For such people, a high-contrast, colorful design of the guide strips can be of great help.

“Mr. BlindLife» therefore aims to draw attention to how guidance systems for the blind can be improved. He has a few ideas for this: “Yellow guide strips that can be felt everywhere would be a great help.” In the short term, smart guidance strips could also be introduced, which send information to the smartphone at attention fields, for example.”And signals are needed that the guidance systems for the blind are only for the blind and visually impaired and must therefore be kept free,” says Ciplak. Some users have also creative ideas on TikTok.

Erdin Ciplak not only does educational work for the blind, he is also actively involved in his home country. «In Hamburg I am involved in a project to make public transport more accessible to blind and partially sighted people. So that we can travel better by bus and train”, says “Mr.BlindLife”. However, changing the system nationally is not that simple. A lot still needs to be done in Germany for this, he says. Switzerland has the same potential, adds Ciplak.

Back to Bern train station, which is undergoing major renovations until 2029: for Watson, “Mr. BlindLife» tested the guidance systems for the blind on site. His conclusion: solid.

“People were friendly and mostly avoid each other, which is nice. The conductive strips in Bern are also very tactile, but I miss a few areas of interest,” says Ciplak. These exist, but they would feel like conductive stripes. “Mr. BlindLife also criticizes certain guide strips, which are confusing because they zigzag. And: “Sometimes the ground was as light as the guide strips, which I could not distinguish with my two percent vision. The color yellow would also be the solution here.”

The Swiss Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (SBV) has also criticized Watson’s current guidance systems for the blind. A spokeswoman for the SBV writes about the situation at Bern train station: “Orientation requires a high degree of concentration due to the influx of commuters. In addition, the handrail boards are in questionable condition. Either these are defective or they are completely missing.” The SBB has promised an adjustment.

Like “Mr. BlindLife”, there is still a lot of potential for the SBV in Switzerland: “People with visual impairments often find that the guidance systems for the blind are blocked by luggage, other people, billboards or other obstacles.” This usually happens through carelessness. The SBV writes about permanent signs that provide information about the guide lines: “Such actions are worth considering. However, such installations must be set up in places where they do not interfere with orientation or become an obstacle themselves.”

And what does the SBB say about it? A spokeswoman writes: “We also find that tactile lines are sometimes misaligned in everyday life – either through ignorance or oversight.” We try to solve problems quickly. At Bern train station, the SBB defends that all projects are supervised by an “advisory board for the disabled”. “Concepts are being developed for station conversion, especially with tactile-visual lines. The SBB leaves open when these are implemented.

When it comes to the question of how much potential Swiss train stations still have to achieve equality for the blind, the SBB refers to the Bundesamt für Transport (BAV). There, a spokesman wrote to Watson that the current measures were considered “absolutely appropriate”. These were also created with the help of the umbrella organization for the disabled Inclusion Handicap.

What the BAV writes about the guide strips is particularly exciting. “The safety line along the edge of the platform is aimed at people with normal eyesight as well as people with a visual impairment (therefore a minimum contrast must be maintained) and the blind (therefore it can be touched and felt with the blind cane). ) .”

The Bundesamt sees the guidance systems for the blind as marking distances from the rails. In the words of the BAV, they constitute a “restriction of the so-called safe platform area”. The BAV does not see the need to sign the blind guidance systems: “The BAV has already discussed the need for additional awareness measures several times with the railways. The effectiveness of such a campaign is strongly questioned.”

“Mr. BlindLeven». He says: “If guide strips are to mark the safety distance to the track, I am not allowed to use them as a blind – I have to keep my distance and stand in front of the line. But I have to walk along the guideway to find my way.” It is therefore important to him that other people do not block the guidance systems for the blind.

In Switzerland, blind and partially sighted people still seem to have equal rights in everyday life. Erdin Ciplak also known as «Mr. BlindLife» does its part. After the interview, he thanks him for the opportunity to open his eyes and says goodbye in the direction of the train station, where the stream of commuters is already waiting for him. With a «keep clear» he disappears into the waves of the crowd.