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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When I learned that the 2024 LEAD conference is taking place in Seattle, I had no doubt that I wanted to visit the museum of flight. But there was only one challenge: their approximately biweekly scheduled tours for blind and visually impaired people were not during the week of the conference. I made a reservation for one of the events, and explained in the notes section that I was attending an accessibility conference and was wondering if we could make an exception for a special tour. Though there was a bit of a communication mishap, the docent supervisor, Brenda Mandt who was also at the conference, even attended my presentation, made the tour happen for me. And it wasn’t a small achievement, because my one and only free afternoon was on August 3rd, when the Jet Blast Bash took place, the absolute most busy day at the museum. But Brenda took the time to set it up for me, and even emailed me instructions on how to get into the museum because of the temporary closure.
2 CommentsAs I was planning my trip to Cincinnati, I came across the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center which sounded very exciting. I was wondering if there would be a touch tour available. When I checked the site, there was information about a tactile map and an audio tour, but I was looking for more. I contacted the museum, and James Harrington responded immediately offering to take me around.
The museum introduces visitors to the history of the underground railroad, starting from the African slave trade to arriving to the free states.
An additional surprise was that on the day of my visit, I was trying to figure out where to eat lunch before the visit, and I accidentally found out that a piece of the Berlin Wall can be seen right outside of the museum.
And how does the Berlin Wall belong there? As the Columbus Dispatch States, it “focuses on how Civil War era slaves reached freedom, and on freedom around the world”.
Leave a CommentI often hear the argument that making something accessible for blind people is not worth it, because there aren’t many blind people using it. My argument usually is that if it was accessible, you would have more blind people taking advantage of it. It is even more difficult when we don’t just make something accessible by fulfilling the minimum necessary requirement, but making the environment truly inclusive to blind people, where they don’t only get information, but they can enjoy something just like sighted people do. Often, this can cost much more time and money.
In this article I would like to show you why inclusion is worth it, and how it can benefit many other clients, not only blind people. I am sure you have heard the arguments that accessibility is the law and it is our social and moral responsibility. This is true, but I would like to show you that it actually makes business sense.
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