The scope of this paper is to examine the potential capabilities of embossed printers under the lens of Information Technology (IT). One of the main principles of IT is to manage and deliver information into accessible formats to all users with and without disabilities. The present study investigates the discriminability of lines and squares by…

Introduction: There are major differences when children with blindness perform construction tasks using haptics, without relying on sight, compared to when children with typical vision perform them through sight. When using sight, in all of the processes, the overall image can be grasped simultaneously while executing the task. When using haptics,…

Walter Ong points out that no one can write naturally, because writing is a completely artificial technique we need to acquire through education. The technology of literacy as writing letters begets a dividing line between "literates" and "illiterates," since literacy cannot be acquired otherwise. When we review the early…

Introduction: The objective of the current study was to design and pilot-test a nonverbal intelligence test for children and adolescents with visual impairment (i.e., blindness and low vision) aged 10 to 16 years. Method: A three-dimensional haptic matrix test of nonverbal cognitive abilities (3-DHMT-CA), initially developed for adults with visual…

Deaf-sighted, deaf-blind, and hearing-sighted people have been interacting within a small community in the Bay Islands of Honduras for over a century (Ali 2023; Ali and Braithwaite 2020). In this article, we sketch the history of the community and the ways in which signers make use of their own and their interlocutor's bodies to co-construct…

Introduction: Many tactile graphics designed for individuals with visual impairments consider single factors. According to the results of our previous study, there may be interactions among scale, representation, and complexity factors. We conducted this integrative study with these three factors. Additionally, for the representation factor, we…

The development of accessible elements in museum exhibitions is an important pursuit that needs a well-defined process. Educators at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, working with accessibility professionals and blind or low-vision user/experts, discovered the value of co-designing tactile models with the people who would eventually…

Objects such as snowflakes, castles, and butterflies have become more than just words when explored as a 3D print. The founder's passion for braille led to the creation of the program See3D, which organizes the printing and distribution of 3D printed models for people who are blind. 3D prints such as DNA, cells, animals, constellations,…

Introduction: This work investigates if simple two-dimensional (2D) tactile shapes can facilitate encoding, retention, and retrieval of associated information in the form of one-word labels. It also questions the need for the resemblance of tactile graphics with respective visual referents. Methods: Four experiments were conducted using recall…

In blinds, the tactile sensations play a crucial role for various daily activities, in the all sense modalities tactile sensation is considered as major sense of perception. This study is conducted to investigate the tactile sensations in relation to Bilingual and Monolingual blinds using experimental comparative study design, divided into two…

Tactile, motor and cognitive capacities decline with age, but little is known about how this relates to braille reading outcomes. This study investigated correlates of braille reading speed among working-age and older adults. Texts were read in two modes (oral/silent) and two media (paper/electronic braille display) by 46 blind adults (age range…

Introduction: Facility in graphics use is critical to accessing data visualizations in science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics (STEAM) content areas. Efforts to understand the cognitive processes underlying strategic action by students with visual impairments must consider both metacognition and self-regulated learning.…

The geologic method of stratigraphy which studies the structure of the earth by making layers was employed with 3D laser cutting techniques to make more easily defined tactile regions in templates of cells, tissues and anatomic regions containing muscles and bones. Templates were made audio responsive by hand-drilling a small hole in a template…

Educational entertainment or edutainment is a popular approach to allow learners experience a fun learning environment while acquiring knowledge. Currently, this approach is widely used and has promising benefits, whereby not only it provides a fun learning environment but also cause learners to hardly notice the learning process. However, as…

Scientific disciplines spanning biology, biochemistry, and biophysics involve the study of proteins and their functions. Visualization of protein structures represents a barrier to education and research in these disciplines for students who are blind or visually impaired. Here, we present a software plugin for readily producing variable-height…