More fun with tactile graphics

Since I wrote the first post on trying to create tactile images a couple of days ago, I haven’t stopped. It’s as though now I’ve started to be able to connect with the world in a way which I haven’t had access to before, I can’t stop. Yes, I’ve been able to touch tactile images before. But that was in school, and in specific situations. I’ve never had on-demand access like I do right now.

So what have I been creating. Well, using AI I’ve generated some basic and I’m sure imperfect images. A vase of flowers, a warrior in armour, a bowl of fruit, a skull, a castle. Some of these have been easier to distinguish by touch than others. The simplistic vase of flowers was easy enough to interpret, though I’m not sure I’d have had such an easy time of it had I not already known what was in the images. More complex images like the skull and the bowl of fruit were surprisingly challenging. Even though I’d generated a description of them both, it was hard to pick out individual elements within the image. And these were just line drawings with minimal shading.

Of course the reason for this is that I have very little experience translating flat(ish) tactile graphics into something visual in my mind. A 3d model is fairly easy to work with as it is essentially the same as it would be in the real world, even if it’s on a much smaller scale. Images though are a lot flatter. You can’t feel them from every angle like you can with an object. So as a blind person, you have to learn how to build those layers. You have to learn about things like perspective and angles. These concepts which come fairly naturally to a sighted person are something we have to learn. When you rarely handle tactile images, it’s a skill you don’t develop.

I’ve also printed off some images I found online that were specifically prepared for blind people to touch. You can’t just put any old image through the tactile printer. As my background woes the other day demonstrated, if an image has too much shading, a variety of colours, or is too busy, a blind person won’t be able to touch it as everything will just blur together. I found a library of Romanian tactile images, many including English descriptions. So today I printed off a volcano erupting, a penguin, a dog, a statue of Prometheus, and to add some flavour the flag of the Romanian Communist Party. A random selection indeed.

I’m going back to university this Autumn to study Classics through the Open University. It’s a huge step after I spectacularly crashed and burnt in the first couple of months of my PhD two years ago. I’m not doing this for my career though. I’m doing it because I love history and ancient languages and I want the chance to study something because I love it. I’ll take as long as I need to complete it. This relates to tactile images I promise. Many of the modules I’m going to take involve visual elements such as looking at sculptures or works of art. Although image descriptions are provided, I can’t wait to see how I can put my experimentation to good use and try and create tactile graphics that will enhance my learning. No, they likely won’t be as complex as the visuals. But anything that can supplement the written descriptions would be amazing.

This will probably mean investing in the tactile image software as it can convert a more complex image into something a blind person can work with. I’m going to hold off on that for now as it’s expensive and I don’t yet know if I’ll be able to get funding to access it, but I think it’s going to be something I end up getting hold of one way or another.

If I’m being honest, I’ve felt pretty flat and exhausted for a long time. There are so many factors that have contributed to this. In general this year has been a lot better and I feel like I’m in a good place overall. It’s really nice to find something that I feel genuinely interested in. It feels pretty amazing to create something I can touch and interact with, even if I am adapting existing images or using AI. It’s like I’ve been able to push open a door that’s been shut until now.