Tom, Author at Even Grounds

The Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Cincinnati

Published November 8, 2025 by Tom

Last week when I attended the National Braille Association conference, I was able to find some time to visit the Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Cincinnati. I admit, last time when I was in Cincinnati, I didn’t know about it, otherwise I would have put it on my list, though maybe it was at the time when they were doing the renovations. But in anyway, everything has a reason, and this time there was one more reason to visit, they have a few building replicas we made for them in collaboration with Clovernook, but more about this later.

By the time I figured out my final schedule and matched it with the opening hours, there were exactly two hours left for me to visit. I can’t thank her enough, the executive director, Christina Hartlieb immediately responded to my email and at a one week notice she generously made her time available to personally give me a tour of the house.

This house is famous about Harriet Beecher Stowe, at the time, Harriet Beecher living there from 1832 until her marriage in 1836. After that she still lived in Cincinnati, and her experience in town contributed to her most famous novel, Uncle Tom’s cabin. The book was translated to at least 75 languages, and my personal connection to it was that when I was a kid, my mom read it to me in Hungarian.

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When 3D printing is preferrable to 2D tactile graphics

Published November 5, 2025 by Tom

When supplying visual materials with braille books for the most part the use of tactile graphics is sufficient. However, there are many instances when providing 3D printed objects can enhance the understanding of the material. Even the Tactile Graphics Guidelines Mention 3-dimensional objects in the first sentence of the document: “Tactile graphics, in combination with 3-dimensional models, need to be introduced early in the process of learning braille.” Throughout this document 3-dimensional models are mentioned many times.

However, when it comes to practical implementation, rare are the books which are supplied with 3D objects. When I talked with many teachers of the visually impaired and with braille transcribers, their response was that while they are aware of the possibility of using 3D objects, but there is very little information on how to source these and what it really takes to get it produced.

In this post I will talk about what makes a good candidate for 3D printing and what is better supplied in 2D, or not at all. I will also look at the production process to help make the decision if 3D representation is indeed the right option for a particular object.

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The Typhlological Museum in Madrid

Published September 28, 2025 by Tom

It was a long time dream coming true to visit the Typhlological Museum in Madrid, Museo Tiflológico, a museum for and about blind and visually impaired people. The occasion was that we were speaking at the Inclusive Museum conference in Zaragoza. My options were to fly through Barcelona or Madrid, so I picked Madrid to be able to visit this museum.

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Making 3D printed buildings accessible

Published July 20, 2025 by Tom

When creating accessible 3D printed buildings for visually impaired people, the first thing that comes to mind is let’s make it small enough to handle, but large enough to feel the important details. But let’s expand on this a little bit, because in practice there is so much more complexity to it.

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Touch tour at the Rijksmuseum

Published June 8, 2025 by Tom

Last week I was in Amsterdam attending the third Tactile Reading and Graphics Conference. As always when I travel, I try to squeeze in at least a museum visit. This time, it was the Rijksmuseum, for several reasons. One that it was already recommended to me as an accessible experience, but even more importantly because one of the keynote speakers, Cathelijne Denekamp, who is their accessibility manager wrote a book about their accessibility work, Accessibility without limits. I read the book before my trip and I was really impressed. I quickly bought a ticket for a Sunday morning to explore the museum on my own. I read in the book that it is set up so that a person without any vision and a phone could navigate the property and enjoy the exhibit.

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Braille vs. Audio: Which Communication Tool Works Best for the Blind?

Published May 5, 2025 by Tom

In person-centered learning, communication, alongside access to information, is important for education, employment, and day-to-day life activities, especially for people with visual impairment. Accessibility has been improved over the years with the development of technology, with the biggest focus being placed on Braille and audio aids. But which one is better? The effectiveness of these aids is discussed and analyzed in regard to their benefits, limitations, and best use cases.

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How Smart Technology is Transforming Communication for Blind People

Published May 5, 2025 by Tom

During the time of technological advancements, one main concern remains at the forefront: enabling ease of communication for the disabled, especially those who are visually impaired. With the rise of AI-integrated devices, voice-operated machines, and accessibility software, visually impaired people can now move around the world with much more ease.

This article talks about how automated devices are changing the way blind people communicate, enabling them to achieve higher degrees of independence.

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Braille Production Services announcement

Published May 1, 2025 by Tom

Making Accessibility Tangible: Our New
Braille Production Services announcement
Launch May 1, 2025

At Even Grounds, accessibility isn’t an add-on — it’s at the heart of what we do.
That’s why we are proud to announce the launch of our Braille Production Services, officially available starting May 1, 2025.

What differentiates us from other similar companies is that we are leveraging our 3D design and production services, offering 2D tactile design to create exactly what makes life most accessible to your
clients.

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An accessible conference by the Ohio Museums Association

Published April 2, 2025 by Tom

Last year I had the honors to set up the accessibility committee for the Ohio Museums Association conference, which took place last weekend in Athens, Ohio. It is a conference that is not about accessibility, yet it values accessibility, and had an entire accessibility track among the presentations. Each time I work with OMA or take advantage of the services they provide, without an exception it comes across that it is there for all people, meeting their needs as much as possible.

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Author: Tom