NO IDEAS BUT IN THINGS

I imagine that visually-impaired people are presented with new interfaces to learn much of the time, just like everyone else. So starting with an open-minded "how does this work?" would it be logical to assume that the person would note that there are raised numbers in the top row, and buttons in the bottom row, and that the rows alternate all the way down? Therefore they would be able to conclude that the row below each set of raised numbers correlate?

But there are more relevant questions:

Why aren't those raised numbers in braille?
Is it a valid assumption that a visually-impaired person has such a heavy touch that they could not perform the different tasks of readings and pushing?
Would it not be the onus of the designer/manufacturer to install the proper constraint of requiring significantly more than reading pressure to select the button?

Most examples I have seen of buttons designed for visually impaired people—ATM keys, lift buttons, etc.—have either raised lettering or Braille on them. It seems to me that a manufacturer should have some pretty serious user testing on their side before breaking this convention. How is someone who can't see supposed to know that there is a label for the button located elsewhere? And why should they be expected to learn a new interface for a one-off visit to a building with this particular model of elevator installed?

You know that "Duh!" moment that happens after you press "Post"? Just had one of those.

Old elevator, edict requiring building be made accessible, stick-on raised lettering, management pats itself on the back.

Definitely better to stick labels on the button. the risk of pressing the wrong button may be high but consecuences are not. i mean, those buttons are not to star the H bomb, just for going to go to the desired floor... i guess, a mistake could rapidly corrected.

You can make mistakes even if you can see the button - like I did in this elevator the other day; got in, pressed the button, button turned red - I thought I was going down, until it said "Going up ..." - and the button had deactivated (obviously I had pushed it in far enough to activate the red light for a second but not enough to activate the trigger ... another thing that we can relate to in web development! Feedback AFTER successful action - don't assume!).

Thanks Dan for posting this up! Didn't even know until I was going through my server logs :-)

I agree with Sarah. This is an afterthought design change. Firstly its not braile and the stickers are too big to fit on the buttons. Also, I would say that the visually immparied have learned to not forcefully press things while reading them, so any arguements for avoiding accidental depresses should be taken with a pinch of salt. I bet the lift servicing company does this aftermarket mod to bring the panel up to code

Sarah - you may also be interested to know that the elevator has two panels - one at waist height on the side, in a horizontal layout with raised letters above the buttons - and another panel next to the door, bit higher, vertical layout ... with the raised lettering to the left of the buttons. Also - I haven't got a photo of it yet - but on the elevator call panel in the hallway, there is the UP button and the DOWN button - and in between them is a raised symbol of a wheelchair.

What the heck does that mean? That there's no stairs in the elevator?