Mimica Touch is designed to let people who have visual impairment to know when food expires and limit everyone's food waste by providing more accurate predictions. The gel is kept in a small bag on the packaging and changes at the same rate as the quality of different foods, such as meat, milk or cheese.
Feel The View takes pictures that are turned into high-contrast monochrome images. By touching the image, different shades of grey vibrate with a range of 255 intensities, allowing passengers to touch the scene and rebuild in their mind the landscape in front of them.
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OrCam MyEye 2.0 is a revolutionary voice activated device that attaches to virtually any glasses. It can instantly read to you text from a book, smartphone screen or any other surface, recognize faces, help you shop on your own, work more efficiently, and live a more independent life.
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Dot aims to make the visually impaired get the necessary information more easily conveniently, and quickly. Dot will contribute to a more disability-friendly world with easily accessible facilities for everyone.
- Dot Watch is a smart watch. It does what every other smart watch does, except that it displays everything in Braille. Any time a notification comes in, the user will not have to whip out their phone to know what it is about – they will simply be able to read them on their watch.
- Dot Translate sets itself apart as the first braille translator based on artificial intelligence and it boasts the ability to translate any digital text to braille with incredible accuracy. The AI-based braille translator is able to boast such near-human accuracy because it is being trained with millions of human translation samples.
- Dot Pad can access any lengthy information, such as email and e-books, formula calculations, graphical representations, and data entry.
- Dot Mini is the first smart media device for the visually impaired. It combines innovative technology, software and design, for experiencing content like never before. Access books, magazines, audio, and even movies.
LEGO Braille Bricks is a playful tool to teach Braille to blind and visually impaired children. Children naturally learn through play. It allows them to discover the world around them, come up with ideas of their own, connect with others, and use their natural creativity and curiosity.
The DotBook is designed to enable easy access to digital content through e-reading and e-writing for people with visual impairment. This is a cost-effective, ergonomic design with an aim to eliminate the dependence on laptops and writing assistants.
Emotional Speakers are subtle tools that use body language and emotions to alert people with visual impairments that they might otherwise ignore. It comes with a pair of camera glasses that sends images of conversation partners to an emotion recognition app. These are analyzed and translated into a sensory signal: emotions like attention, surprise or happiness are felt by a specific vibration of the small device in the palm of your hand. You can actually feel someone smiling.
NaviLens helps make cities smarter and more inclusive. The capabilities of this code allow users to interact more easily and accessible with their environment in places such as subway stations, bus stops and museums or public buildings.
Alexa Show and Tell is a new feature from Amazon. With it, blind and low-vision users can use Alexa to identify objects in their hands., announcing a new feature called Alexa Show and Tell. With Show and Tell, blind and low vision customers can hold up an item to the Echo Show camera and ask, “Alexa, what am I holding,” and Alexa helps identify the item through advanced computer vision and machine learning technologies for object recognition.
Vision 20/20 is a set of packets, which are black and yellow, feature large Helvetica font and use shapes, such as circles and triangles, to indicate different foods. The shapes are easier to spot on the shelf or in a dark cupboard, says Mr Thomas, and could be used as "giant QR codes", so they would be scanned into an app that would read out information. It is created by design studio Jones Knowles Ritchie and Revolt Communications.
Lyft and Aptiv have partnered with the National Federation of the Blind to run trails which will focus on low vision and blind riders. To create a more dynamic, interactive and informative self-driving experience for riders, we worked alongside San Francisco's Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired's Media and Accessible Design Lab to create Braille guides for self-driving riders. These materials include a Braille map of the self-driving route riders will travel on, as well as a diagram of Aptiv’s self-driving vehicle.
The "Guide Suitcase" invented by Chieko Asakawa, enables blind users to navigate public spaces and avoid objects in their path. Packed with cameras and sensors -- many of the same technologies found in an autonomous car -- the suitcase uses artificial intelligence (AI) to map the environment around it, calculating distances between the user and objects both stationary and mobile.
Lookout is an app to help blind and visually impaired people learn about their surroundings. Lookout delivers spoken notifications, designed to be used with minimal interaction allowing people to stay engaged with their activity.
Procter & Gamble hair care brand Herbal Essences recently launched a new bottle design to help visually impaired consumers. Designed by Sumaira Latif, P&G's Special consultant for Inclusive Design, the new bottle features tactile markers to help blind people identify shampoo and conditioner (with stripes on shampoo and circles on conditioner). The design also helps people who wear glasses or contact lenses, which are often removed in the shower and blur their vision. So far, packaging has relied on vision, and we need to consider how we can incorporate other senses to enhance the user experience.
The Sunu Band is a smart band that protects your head and upper body by warning you through vibrations when an object or person is too close. You wear it like a watch and it will feel like walking with an invisible sighted guide, helping you get anywhere you want to go and keeping you safe at all times.
My Heart Is Not Blind by
My Heart Is Not Blind: On Blindness and Perception is a collection of stunning portraits of blind and visually impaired people taken by photographer Michael Nye. Each image is accompanied by an intimate story told by the subject concerning his or her experiences and unique perspective. The causes of vision loss range from genetic predispositions (retinitis pigmentosa) or disease (glaucoma) to external circumstances such as accidents (struck by a train) or violence (gunshot wound). The people in this diverse group differ not only in their particular conditions and losses but also in their cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. Taken as a whole, however, the accounts of adapting to changing modes of perception are bound by a common theme of resilience, revealed in shared reactions and unexpected insights. The subjects depicted in My Heart Is Not Blind share their experiences and unique perspectives in a personal narratives that accompany their respective portraits. Most speak of the transition from sight to vision loss, and how that has changed--and not changed--their ability to perceive the surrounding world. Some question the classification of blindness as a disability. One participant proposes that blindness may, in some ways, even aid in perception, musing, "if you can always see thesun, you can never discover the stars." My Heart Is Not Blind offers a window into the world of the blind and visually impaired, revealing surprising similarities and fascinating differences alongside compelling accounts of survival, adaptation, and heightened understanding. The collection invites us to reconsider what we think we know about blindness in order to gain a deeper understanding of vision and perception.
The Book of Touch by
This book puts a finger on the nerve of culture by delving into the social life of touch, our most elusive yet most vital sense. From the tortures of the Inquisition to the corporeal comforts of modernity, and from the tactile therapies of Asian medicine to the virtual tactility of cyberspace, The Book of Touch offers excursions into a sensory territory both foreign and familiar. How are masculine and feminine identities shaped by touch? What are the tactile experiences of the blind, or the autistic? How is touch developed differently across cultures? What are the boundaries of pain and pleasure? Is there a politics of touch? Bringing together classic writings and new work, this is an essential guide for anyone interested in the body, the senses and the experiential world.
Foundations of Low Vision by
Foundations of Low Vision: Clinical and Functional Perspectives, the ground-breaking text that highlighted the importance of focusing on the functional as well as the clinical implications of low vision, has been completely updated and expanded in this second edition. The revised edition goes even further in its presentation of how best to assess and support both children and adults with low vision and plan programs and services that optimize their functional vision and ability to lead productive and satisfying lives, based on individuals actual abilities. Part 1, Personal and Professional Perspectives, provides the foundations of this approach, with chapters focused on the anatomy of the eye, medical causes of visual impairment, optics and low vision devices, and clinical low vision services, as well as psychological and social implications of low vision and the history of the field. Part 2 focuses on children and youths, providing detailed treatment of functional vision assessment, instruction, use of low vision devices, orientation and mobility, and assistive technology. Part 3 presents rehabilitation and employment issues for working-age adults and special considerations for older adults.
Assistive Technology for Blindness and Low Vision by
Assistive technology has made it feasible for individuals with a wide range of impairments to engage in many activities, such as education and employment, in ways not previously possible. The key factor is to create consumer-driven technologies that solve the problems by addressing the needs of persons with visual impairments. Assistive Technology for Blindness and Low Vision explores a broad range of technologies that are improving the lives of these individuals. Presenting the current state of the art, this book emphasizes what can be learned from past successful products, as well as what exciting new solutions the future holds. Written by world-class leaders in their field, the chapters cover the physiological bases of vision loss and the fundamentals of orientation, mobility, and information access for blind and low vision individuals. They discuss technology for multiple applications (mobility, wayfinding, information access, education, work, entertainment), including both established technology and cutting-edge research. The book also examines computer and digital media access and the scientific basis for the theory and practice of sensory substitution. This volume provides a holistic view of the elements to consider when designing assistive technology for persons with visual impairment, keeping in mind the need for a user-driven approach to successfully design products that are easy to use, well priced, and fill a specific need. Written for a broad audience, this book provides a comprehensive overview and in-depth descriptions of current technology for designers, engineers, practitioners, rehabilitation professionals, and all readers interested in the challenges and promises of creating successful assistive technology.
Insight by
In Sight is the first ever book to address the problems posed by graphic, product, packaging, and architectural/environmental design for sensually and physically impaired people. This book includes comprehensive guidelines [approved by international authorities on the subject] on how to improve accessibility and take account of the needs of disabled people without compromising design integrity. In the light of new European and American legislation which demand a access to many products and services regardless of disability [the case of the blind man in the US who won entertainment web site is an example), In Sight is an invaluable resource for professional designers and an essential teaching aid.
The Senses by
A powerful reminder to anyone who thinks design is primarily a visual pursuit, The Senses accompanies a major exhibition at the Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum that explores how space, materials, sound, and light affect the mind and body. Learn how contemporary designers, including Petra Blaisse, Bruce Mau, Malin+Goetz and many others, engage sensory experience. Multisensory design can solve problems and enhance life for everyone, including those with sensory disabilities. Featuring thematic essays on topics ranging from design for the table to tactile graphics, tactile sound, and visualizing the senses, this book is a call to action for multisensory design practice. The Senses: Design Beyond Vision is mandatory reading for students and professionals working in diverse fields, including products, interiors, graphics, interaction, sound, animation, and data visualization, or anyone seeking the widest possible understanding of design. The book, designed by David Genco with Ellen Lupton, is edited by Lupton and curator Andrea Lipps. Includes essays by Lupton, Lipps, Christopher Brosius, Hansel Bauman, Karen Kraskow, Binglei Yan, and Simon Kinnear.
