Creating Opportunities in Astronomy: Communication for People who are Blind or Visually Impaired by Noreen Grice

Tactile Astronomy Books by Noreen Grice

According to the American Foundation for the Blind and the National Federation of the Blind, there are approximately 10 million blind and visually impaired people in the United States.

In the United States, only 45% of students with severe visual impairment or blindness complete high school compared with 80% of their sighted peers.

In the United States, approximately 32% of legally blind working-age Americans are employed.

Ways teachers can make topics accessible to students with visual impairments:

Ways teachers can make topics accessible to students with visual impairments: 1. Listening

Ways teachers can make topics accessible to students with visual impairments: 1.Listening 2.Seeing (with eyes, hands, and mind)

Ways teachers can make topics accessible to students with visual impairments: 1.Listening 2.Seeing (with eyes, hands, and mind) 3.Doing

Ways teachers can make topics accessible to students with visual impairments: 1.Listening 2.Seeing (with eyes, hands, and mind) 3.Doing 4.Discussing (speaking pictorially)

Ways teachers can make topics accessible to students with visual impairments: 1.Listening 2.Seeing (with eyes, hands, and mind) 3.Doing 4.Discussing 5.Touching ( tactile graphics and models )

Here are some strategies to make educational materials accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired:

Quick Draw Paper - American Printing House for the Blind (water color markers on sponge-like paper so the paper “puffs”)

Brass fasteners on a piece of cardboard

Use push pins and string to make graphs

Use puff (fabric) paint to draw pictures. (inexpensive but takes days to dry)

Puff paint applied to a tent to make a tactile planetarium

Outline an image with clear glue to make it tactile

Foam stickers - inexpensive and quick

Using foam to create a tactile planet surface

Combine foam and fuzzy pipe cleaners to make a 3-dimensional picture

Foam stickers - inexpensive and quick

Use hands-on models when they are available

Small model of a planetarium star projector.

Yes - planetarium shows can be made accessible!

Hands-on planetary habitat model

Model of Saturn made with a styrofoam ball and CD

Hula Hoop model helps explain when and why eclipses occur.

Tactile moon model - to explain phases of the moon.

Use sport balls to create a scaled solar system model

These tactile processes require special equipment:

Thermoform machines

A hand-carved aluminum plate in a thermoform machine

Thermoform Jupiter illustration (from Touch the Stars)

Silk-screened thermoform picture (from Touch the Sun)

Talking Tactile Tablet (connected to PC) is an audio haptic method (combining touch and sound) for visually impaired learners to access maps, charts and diagrams.

Rosemary Naylor in the UK has worked with the Royal National College for the Blind (RNC) to produce 20 overlays called “Unseen Universe” for the Talking Tactile Tablet with funding from the Science & Technology Facilities Council.

If you would like learn more about the “Unseen Universe” overlays for the Talking Tactile Tablet, please see Paul Haley (Director of the SHARE Initiative in the UK) and his poster paper at this conference.

Braille embosser - crude but inexpensive graphic output

Tactile Jupiter image made with a Braille embosser

Embossed paper Ring Nebula image (from Touch the Universe)

With a Swell Form machine, you can make tactile graphics by hand or computer

Sample images made with a Swell Form machine and Swell Form paper.

Star party set-up: Swell Form Machine, Laptop, copier/printer

M27 and satellite Swell Form image taken at Youth Slam 2007

National Federation of the Blind Circle of Life Academy Star Party

National Federation of the Blind 2007 Youth Slam Astronomy Track

We all have special needs…when you make materials accessible for one group of people, you are making materials accessible for many people with different learning styles.