Working with people who are blind
I had an an interesting experience while using VisualsSpeak in a graduate international business class. One of the class members was blind, although he had a little bit of sight. I was a guest in the class, and it was the first day of the term, so I did not know there was a person who might need some accommodation.
Afterwards, he came up and talked to me about realizing how visual he could be. He told me he loved photography and graphic design. This is the first time I have had a blind participant, so I asked him to help me understand what might have helped him feel more included.
He made a few suggestions:
He needed extra time to select images since he had to lift each one up very close to his face to see it. He was able to find things he could relate to, but his assembly wasn't as significant because he couldn't see as well at that distance.
When telling his story, he would name what the image was before saying what it meant to him. His tablemates did not follow suit, so he didn't know what they were talking about when visually referring to an image. If I were doing it again, I would have asked the class participants to be careful to describe what they were referring to verbally rather than just pointing to an image.
We then talked about some other ideas. He said he would have loved to hear sounds when he picked something up. I started to have fantasies of digital chips on the images that played the sound of where we had taken the picture. It would really change the nature of the experience, and potentially give a bit of insight into intersecting with the world primarily through audio input.
Suggestions?
Have you ever had a sight impaired participant in a VisualsSpeak session? What did you do to accommodate them and help them be included?
Afterwards, he came up and talked to me about realizing how visual he could be. He told me he loved photography and graphic design. This is the first time I have had a blind participant, so I asked him to help me understand what might have helped him feel more included.
He made a few suggestions:
He needed extra time to select images since he had to lift each one up very close to his face to see it. He was able to find things he could relate to, but his assembly wasn't as significant because he couldn't see as well at that distance.
When telling his story, he would name what the image was before saying what it meant to him. His tablemates did not follow suit, so he didn't know what they were talking about when visually referring to an image. If I were doing it again, I would have asked the class participants to be careful to describe what they were referring to verbally rather than just pointing to an image.
We then talked about some other ideas. He said he would have loved to hear sounds when he picked something up. I started to have fantasies of digital chips on the images that played the sound of where we had taken the picture. It would really change the nature of the experience, and potentially give a bit of insight into intersecting with the world primarily through audio input.
Suggestions?
Have you ever had a sight impaired participant in a VisualsSpeak session? What did you do to accommodate them and help them be included?
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