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

2. Tactile Astronomy Books by Noreen Grice

3. 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

10. 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)

11. 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 )

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

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

14. Brass fasteners on a piece of cardboard

15. Use push pins and string to make graphs

16. Use puff (fabric) paint to draw pictures. (inexpensive but takes 1 - 2 days to dry)

17. Puff paint applied to a tent to make a tactile planetarium

18. Outline an image with clear glue to make it tactile

19. Foam stickers - inexpensive and quick

20. Using foam to create a tactile planet surface

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

22. Foam stickers - inexpensive and quick

23. Use hands-on models when they are available

24. Small model of a planetarium star projector.

25. Yes - planetarium shows can be made accessible!

26. Hands-on planetary habitat model

27. Model of Saturn made with a styrofoam ball and CD

28. Hula Hoop model helps explain when and why eclipses occur.

29. Tactile moon model - to explain phases of the moon.

30. Use sport balls to create a scaled solar system model

31. These tactile processes require special equipment:

32. Thermoform machines

33. A hand-carved aluminum plate in a thermoform machine

34. Thermoform Jupiter illustration (from Touch the Stars)

35. Silk-screened thermoform picture (from Touch the Sun)

36. 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.

37. 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.

38. 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.

39. Braille embosser - crude but inexpensive graphic output

40. Tactile Jupiter image made with a Braille embosser

41. Embossed paper Ring Nebula image (from Touch the Universe)

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

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

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

45. M27 and satellite Swell Form image taken at Youth Slam 2007

46. National Federation of the Blind Circle of Life Academy Star Party - 2006

47. National Federation of the Blind 2007 Youth Slam Astronomy Track

48. 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.

50. www.youcandoastronomy.com