American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults
Future Reflections Special Issue on Tactile Fluency
ODDS AND ENDS
CREATING TACTILE GRAPHICS
Guidelines and Standards for Tactile Graphics
www.brailleauthority.org/tg
In 2010 the Braille Authority of North America (BANA) issued its guidelines and standards for creating tactile graphics. BANA now offers the 2010 publication online in HTML and in a downloadable PDF version. The printable, enhanced PDF version has been designed with screen reader accessibility in mind. Braille and large-print versions are also available.
TACTILE PICTURE BOOKS
Seedlings Braille Books for Children
www.seedlings.org
P.O. Box 51924, Livonia, MI 48151-5924
Contact: 800-777-8552
[email protected]
Seedlings offers a selection of board books for very young readers that incorporate textures and rudimentary tactile pictures. Seedlings also carries books with tactile illustrations produced by DK Publishers: Animals, Counting, Lego Duplo Farm, On the Move, and Shapes. Another book from DK Publishers, It Can't Be True, will appeal to older readers.
National Braille Press
www.nbp.org
Books from National Braille Press with tactile illustrations include Amazing Mazes, Basic Human Anatomy, Humpty Dumpty and Other Touching Rhymes, Reach for the Stars (an ebook with graphic overlays for the iPad), and The Tactile Book of Dinosaurs. The large print pamphlet Because Pictures Matter, available free in English and Spanish, is a guide to using, finding, and creating tactile images for blind children.
TACTILE MAPS
The Princeton Braillists Collection
National Braille Press
www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/publications/princetonbraillists.html
Thirty-seven tactile atlases representing individual US states, regions, and countries around the world are available from National Braille Press. The maps are produced on thermoformed plastic sheets with labels in print and Braille.
American Printing House for the Blind (APH)
https://shop.aph.org
Contact: 800-223-1839
APH has designed or adapted several maps, atlases, and a globe to help people who are blind or visually impaired understand the world. Products include an atlas of the United States and Canada, a US puzzle map, a tactile globe, and collections of regional state maps.
TMAP: Tactile Maps Automated Production
lighthouse-sf.org/tmap
Contact: 888-400-8933
[email protected]
In 2018 the San Francisco LightHouse introduced TMAP, offering on-demand tactile street maps. TMAP is a collaboration of the LightHouse and the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute. Covering an area of several blocks around a given address, TMAP uses both Braille and large print to identify streets that are represented by crisp, raised lines. Each package contains two maps of the same address: a zoomed-out overview map and a zoomed-in detail map showing streets, paths, and buildings, if the data is available.
ClickAndGo Tactile Maps
https://www.clickandgomaps.com/clickandgo-tactile-maps
Contact: 347-709-5549
[email protected]
In addition to tactile maps that can be installed permanently in public places, ClickAndGo also offers portable maps travelers can carry with them or use for pre-journey learning at home. The maps are produced with swell paper (encapsulated plastic). They can be as small as 11 x 17 inches, they are more often designed in a larger, collapsible format for ease of use.
OTHER TACTILE TREATS
National Braille Press
www.nbp.org
In addition to books, National Braille Press offers alphabet cards with raised pictures (in English and Spanish), a tactile representation of the American flag, the Periodic Table of Elements, greeting cards with raised illustrations, and a raised-line coloring book called The Farm.
American Printing House for the Blind
www.aph.org
Contact: 800-223-1839 or 502-895-2405
Storybooks in the On the Way to Literacy series are tactually illustrated books for children ages three to five, featuring real objects, textures, molded images, and raised outlines. Moving Ahead storybooks are tactually illustrated books for children ages four to seven, featuring raised-line drawings and symbols to represent story characters and events.
APH also offers materials for parents to help them support their child's learning. On the Way to Literacy: Early Experiences for Children with Visual Impairments is a handbook giving parents information on early communication, concept development, learning through touch, and early reading. Teaching Touch is a guide for parents and teachers that gives insight into the needs of young tactile learners. It helps parents and teachers encourage blind children ages four to seven to become active explorers and readers of tactile graphics.
The VIPS Video Library (Visually Impaired Preschool Services) created this series on DVD. These videos offer practical techniques that foster the development of children who are blind or visually impaired. The series includes "Learning about the World: Concept Development, Hands-on Experience, Tactual Learning and Skills" and "Power at Your Fingertips: An Introduction to Learning Braille."
RAISED-LINE DRAWING EQUIPMENT
Sensational Blackboard
www.sensationalbooks.com/products.html
Sensational Products
P.O. Box 261085, Lakewood, CO 80226
Contact: Ann Cunningham, 303-238-4760
Tactile images can be made quickly and easily with the Sensational Blackboard. Drawings made with a standard ballpoint pen appear instantly on the page; no need to flip the page over!
Sensational Books also sells the print/Braille picture book Sadie Can Count, including colorful tactile illustrations.
Raised-Line Drawing Board
Independence Market
Contact: 410-659-9314, Extension 2216
[email protected]
With the slightly rough surface of this drawing board, one can create same-side raised-line drawings using a pen or stylus. Contact the Independence Market by phone or email to obtain the product catalog.
InTACT Drawing Bundle
E.A.S.Y. LLC
www.easytactilegraphics.com
The inTACT Bundle includes everything blind or low-vision users need to create their own tactile graphics independently. As the user draws on the inTACT Sketchpad, raised lines appear on the drawing sheet. The inTACT eraser makes it possible to erase and revise tactile lines by flattening them.
HISTORY OF TACTILE READING
Touch This Page
touchthispage.com
Perkins Archives partnered with Northeastern and Harvard Universities to create "Touch This Page! Making Sense of the Ways We Read," an exhibition about multisensory experiences of reading. The exhibit focuses on the work of Perkins founder Samuel Gridley Howe, who developed a tactile form of the print alphabet known as Boston Line Type. Included on the website are 3D printed copies of Perkins Archives artifacts that are available for download.
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