In December 2018, a clip of a Liverpool fan at Anfield celebrating a goal during a Champions League match went viral. Such an event isn’t unusual in itself given fans love to take videos on their smartphones to share on social media.
There’s a lot of progress when it comes to opportunities for blind people. However, negative employer attitudes continue to hold them back.
The Bartlett School of Architecture at UCL ran an architecture and design workshop for people with visual impairments this summer.
“If we’re being honest, Cannes, and by extension our industry, is exclusive by design.”
Kleege, who is blind and has been on many touch tours of museums, has long seen the potential for institutions to do more. The daughter of a painter and a sculptor, she grew up going to artists’ studios, galleries, and museums, and has advocated for such spaces to go beyond ramps and ADA compliance.
Accessible banking used to mean statements in large print. Now it involves fingerprints, face recognition and hi-vis debit cards. Next up, a helpful money management bot …
Through Aira, a blind person is connected to an agent through their smart glasses. Whenever this person needs helps, they just press a button on a camera, and are immediately connected to a live agent.
Students with vision problems now have a number of tools at their disposal to help keep up in the classroom, they just need to be implemented correctly.
Accessibility features are becoming more prominient and widely accepted in all aspects of life. From theatre to video games, product designers are recognizing the importance of inclusive design. Duncan McKean has managed to apply these concepts to one of the most popular and mentally challenging board games – chess.
Although this game was created with intent to include those with visual impairments, a seeing person could also play this game. In making this set accessible, McKean uses features that appeal to physical perception as opposed to only visual. Each piece is held in it’s place on the board by a magnet, while the different values of each piece is characterized by different weights. Having different physically perceivable patterns on each piece makes it easy to recognize which is being moved. Player pieces are distinguished by the material the pieces are made of – one player has hardwood pieces while the other has metallic steel.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota are developing an app that would assist people who are blind and visually-impaired cross the street, informing users which direction they’re going, and how many lanes they have to cross. The app will tell users the name of a street when they tap the phone and points in it the direction of the street. Users could request a walk signal by tapping the phone again, instead of having to find a button located near the intersection. The app will then tell the users when it is safe to cross, and how long they have to get to the other side.