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Tour of the FDR Memorial
In July 2023, I led two tours highlighting the braille and tactile exhibits that were installed at the FDR memorial last year. The tours were for 60 K-12 teachers who participated in professional development workshops focused on the disability history of the FDR Memorial and FDR presidency. The workshops were supported by a grant from…
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Tactile Exploration Helps People Remember Objects
I have written about the importance of tactile exploration for blind people who gather information about objects using their sense of touch. I think that tactile exploration also benefits sighted people. In this post, I discuss a study showing that people remembered more details about an object when they were encouraged to touch it. The…
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Commentary How Tactile Graphics Can Help End Image Poverty
An excellent article by Chancey Fleet was brought to my attention after I published a recent post. Tactile Drawing and Spatial Thinking. Chancey Fleet describes image poverty as the lack of tactile graphics. Read her excellent article, linked below. She discusses: • Attitudinal and bureaucratic barriers that limit the availability of tactile graphics. • The…
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Tactile Drawing and Spatial Thinking
In March 2023, I spent three days in New York City with 30 people who were learning and practicing tactile drawing. I am writing this post to describe that rare opportunity. Background To understand why opportunities to learn tactile drawing are rare, it is necessary to start by acknowledging that many sighted people favor some…
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Making History Accessible
I am pleased to announce the release of a digital publication titled Making History Accessible: Toolkit for Multisensory Interpretation. I am proud to have been a member of this collaboration. It details a range of digital and physical/tactile solutions to help make content created by historic sites and other educational facilities more accessible to people…