By NewsLine Staff
mail@floridanewsline.com
The Temple Sisterhood Braille Group will host tactile graphics classes on four Wednesdays in September at The Temple (Congregation Ahavath Chesed), located at 8727 San Jose Blvd. in Mandarin. This class is free of charge and is open to anyone interested in learning to create graphics for the blind. Mark your calendars for Sept. 6, 13, 20, and 27 from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. to teach your fingertips to see.
Early children’s books are filled with pictures as an introduction to reading. With blind children, the learning process is a bit different. The Temple Sisterhood Braille Group provides them with tactile graphics to better understand what they read.
“You can give them a ball, and they can feel the ball,” said braille group member Susan Foster. “But if you are talking about a honeybee, you will have to give them a tactile graphic. Their fingertips will feel the image so they can imagine what a honey bee looks like.”
What are tactile graphics? Basically, it is a raised image of a two -dimensional interpretation of an object. The method used most frequently is collage. A variety of materials with different textures are used to represent things like land or water. The image is constructed in different levels to represent height or depth. Another common method for creating tactile graphics is foil, where the image is etched in foil. In both collage and foil, a thermoform machine is used to duplicate the finished graphic onto durable plastic for use by the blind reader.
“Creating tactile graphics is a labor of love. It not only benefits the blind student but is very gratifying for the graphic artist,” said Foster. “When you look at a picture, you must put yourself in the shoes of the blind students. What do they need to learn? What parts of the original image do you leave in and what parts do you leave out?”
According to Chancey Fleet, MIT Technology Review, June 15, 2023: “Tactile graphic design is an art of transformation: what appeals to the eye may be cluttered and chaotic to the fingertips. You learn to simplify to communicate. And you want that student to say, ‘I get it.’”
For more information about the Temple Sisterhood Braille Group Tactile Graphics classes on Sept. 6, 13, 20, and 27, contact Susie Coleman at (904) 725-2427.
Photo courtesy Susan Foster
Linda McQueen showing a graphic from The Temple Sisterhood Braille Group’s online library.
