In two experiments, participants of varying visual status explored tactile diagrams and 3D objects. Congenitally blind participants were poorer at identifying tactile diagrams haptically than adventitiously blind and blindfolded sighted people. Tactile picture recognition benefits from visual knowledge, experience and imagery. In another study blind and blindfolded sighted participants explored 3D objects with two fingers and restricted cutaneous feedback. Whether meaningful information can effectively be gleaned by force-feedback alone is questionable and raises doubts about devices enabling blind people to explore objects in virtual environments with current technology.