Braille astronomy
Published on Jan 19, 2008 at 5:53 pm.
4 Comments.
Filed under books.
This is the supernova remnant N49. It is a composite image created from combining images from the Spitzer infrared telescope (the red image), the Hubble space telescope (the white and yellow parts), and the Chandra X-ray telescope (the blue features). It is a wonderful image. It shows the nebula across many wavelengths of light. For astronomers, this is a great tool with which to study N49. For astronomy professors, it is a great image with which to teach students about supernova remnants.
The only thing, though, is that you need to be able to see in order to appreciate these beautiful images. Over the years, I have had a number of students with various visual impairments who have taken my astronomy classes; however, they have all had at least some vision, and all have been fairly easy to accommodate. Telescopes are amazing. You can adjust the focus so that just about anyone who can see at all can see through the telescope. I can print out my lecture slides for students who can not see the screen in the front of the room. We even have a camera that can fit on the telescope to produce an image on a computer screen for students who need that. But, all of these strategies require a student to have at least some vision. I have not had an astronomy student who is completely blind. I did have a blind student in a physics class, once. That was quite a challenge, because I have absolutely no training in how to handle that sort of situation. The college has people whose job is to assist with disabled students, however they are almost no help in a physics class. They do not even know how to read the equations to the students. That puts the work back on me. But, I managed. Over the years, though, I have wondered what I could possibly do with a blind student in astronomy. After all, some of the mechanics laboratory exercises can be done by feel. How do you do a telescopic observation lab by feel? How do you do optics labs by feel? I asked the disability office these questions, and they had no answers for me. Yet, I would very much like for people totally blind to be able to appreciate the heavens.
It may be beyond my expertise to bring astronomy classes to blind students. But, there is now a resource about to become available to help blind people appreciate some of the images that we study in astronomy. Now, NASA is doing a braille astronomy book. The images are printed in raised relief. Braille captions are available. This is a good step. There may be a small market for such a book, but I am glad that someone is taking the time to produce it. Astronomy is an image and visually oriented science. Such a work allows someone to “see” without their eyes. The book is available from many sources, including the National Federation for the Blind. If you know someone who is blind, or if you are blind yourself, then you might be interested in this resource.
-Astroprof
Graham on January 20, 2008 at 11:41 am: 1
I wonder if a blind person’s perception of the universe might, in some ways, be better that the sighted in the sense that I would imagine blind people are better at dealing with abstract concepts without the need for being bombarded with visual reinforcement. To them, light, presumably, is just another wavelength whereas, to us, it has far greater significance.
Starry delight « Accessible North on February 28, 2008 at 11:13 am: 2
[…] I found another interesting take on the whole subject at Astroprof’s Page - which is also Not Boring. Next post I promise to get back to telling you about truly accessible places to go right here on earth. Bellaire, for example. Stay tuned. […]
leslie on November 17, 2008 at 9:05 pm: 3
my father has retinitis pigmentosis (spelling is probably off). This eye disability causes him to see tunnel vision. I was wondering if you have had students in your class with this disability and if so, are they able to use a telescope
Frank Busutil on December 23, 2008 at 2:54 pm: 4
For the last 5 years a group of amateur astromers and myself founded Project Bright Sky. Our project brings visual and tactile astronomy to blind individuals throughout southern California. As mentioned telescopes work wonders with those who can detect some light. Individuals who are severly blind (but can detect light) benifit from integrated video cameras attached to telescopes transmiting live images to large monitors.
Totally blind individuals benifit by using their other senses to “see” the universe. We do this through a specialized system which converts black and white images to tactile 3d prints.
There are tremendous opportunities for blind individuals and astronoy, regardless of their vision acuities