Designing Refreshable Tactile Graphics for Accessing Visual Imagery for the Blind and People with Visual Impairments

The accessibility of digital content is an important aspect in the lives of individuals who are blind, as the visualization of graphs and symbolic images in software user interfaces creates an informational barrier between a person with a visual impairment and digital content. Technology solutions have shown promise for individuals with partial or total visual impairment in augmenting human abilities to access visual imagery via sound or tactile alternatives. In this project, we outline the design methodology for creating assistive technologies that translate visual imagery into tangible forms. The feasibility of this approach relies on successful mapping of pixelated images to tangible interfaces. One of the main challenges with existing tactile technologies is the high cost, which makes them inaccessible to a significant percentage of people with visual impairments. Our design aims to develop a tactile tablet at a reduced cost by co-creating the solution with people who have the lived experience of having a visual impairment and via utilizing localized supply chains and production facilities. Additionally, our team adopted a co-design methodology, wherein the designer works closely with the potential user through a feedback loop to refine the design to meet the user’s requirements iteratively. Co-design was chosen primarily due to the unique experiences of people with visual impairments and the reported gap in user engagement in the context of designing and developing assistive technology.