Holistic accessibility consulting for travel and tourism
“I can see, and that is why I can be happy, in what you call the dark, but which to me is golden. I can see a God-made world, not a manmade world.” – Helen Keller
“Blindness“—how effortlessly sighted people type or say this word, isn’t it? But have you ever thought about how it feels to be blind? How does it feel not to see anything that surrounds you? Trust me, even if we try our best, we cannot relate to the psychology or feelings of a blind person if we never experienced it.
Leave a CommentTactile maps are a breakthrough that grants blind or visually impaired people an easy means to comprehend their surroundings. Designed with raised features and braille, these maps can skillfully bridge the gap between the navigation of sighted and non-sighted people, fostering accessibility and inclusivity.
This article explores the benefits, applications, and impact of tactile maps on people with visual impairment.
Leave a CommentMost people view sports and athletics as a showcase of one’s strength against opponents, skills, and positional tactics. But to add diversity to this view, consider it from the perspective of an athlete with visually impairment. The usage of blindfolds by athletes is an intriguing and frequently misinterpreted component of adaptive sports. An interesting fact is that athletes participating in goalball and blind football wear blindfolds to ensure fairness. This makes the game more accessible where players with visibility or visual impairment both become the same.
Leave a CommentToday is the birthday of Louis Braille, and in 2024 we also remembered that it has been 200 years that he invented the writing system…
Leave a CommentSports are all about working together, sharing power, and standing together. It transcends language and culture to bring people of all kinds. To most individuals who have blindness or visual impairment, goalball is more than just a sport. This unique sport is created for athletes who have disabilities and is a perfect example of the adaptability of sports. It helps foster confidence among the athletes, enhance communication skills, and improve spatial awareness.
This article looks into goalball’s history, rules, techniques, and influence on its players, as well as explains its role in the efforts toward inclusion.
Leave a CommentTactile maps are, by design, three-dimensional, as they use raised surfaces to make a two-dimensional map touchable. However, traditional tactile maps elevate features just enough for them to be discernible by touch, while 3D maps go further by utilizing height and depth to convey richer, more intuitive information. This makes >3D tactile maps more effective and accessible in many contexts.
The above 3-D map shows the elevations of Kenya with braille labels, made in collaboration with the Clovernook Center for the Blind & Visually Impaired
Leave a CommentRecently I wrote about how my new building project helped me understand architecture so much better. But last week, when I attended the annual convention of the Souvenir Building Collectors Society, it took my appreciation to a new level.
Leave a CommentPeople at the Paralympics compete in 10 different categories, depending on their disability. Eight of the categories are physical disabilities, one is visual impairment, and one is intellectual disabilities. Depending on the individual sports, people with only certain disabilities can compete. This post will only contain resources related to blind and visually impaired people following the theme of the blog, but I would recommend getting to know the other sports as well. This topic has been covered in so many ways, so instead of creating yet another basic overview, it is intended to be more of a resource list for starters.
Leave a CommentFor years I wanted to attend an invisible dinner, also called dinner in the dark, but either there wasn’t one nearby or I didn’t have time. But now I came across one in Kaposvár, which is in southwestern Hungary, right where one of my best friends lives. I thought I’d ask if he would like to have dinner and tell me all about his experience. I’ve been to one of these dinners before and read a lot about it, but I was curious about it from the perspective of sighted people. It turns out that my friend János has been to this event several times in the past, and he can tell me enough about it so that we can write this interview without participating. János is completely blind, but he talked so much with the participants so he had the answer for all my questions. So I asked him to tell me about his experience.
Leave a CommentLearning languages alone changed what I could get out of travel as a blind person. Being able to have conversations in another language, or knowing a few words in the local language truly changed my experience. Often, when sighted people can point at things, I am restricted to speaking. But it wasn’t without challenges. Even today when technology comes to the rescue, there still are challenges a blind person may have to face when learning a new language. But just like in so many cases, it doesn’t have to be that way. In a few instances the lack of vision can be a limitation, but in most it is the lack of accessibility.
But let me start with a personal story. When I studied at the Overbrook International Program in Philadelphia when I was sixteen, we had a chance to learn Japanese for a year.
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