Braille Labels Research Articles

Navigating the need for accessible labelling through the narratives of consumers with visual impairment in India

This study aims to understand the strategies consumers with visual impairment (CWV) use in acquiring product information and explores preferences for accessible labelling and its benefits. This study employed the qualitative approach of thematic analysis. A snowball sampling technique was used to recruit participants. Data were collected from CWV through semi-structured interviews. The sample size of this study was 12. The data were analysed using NVivo software. The study revealed three strategies used by CWV to obtain product information, namely reliance on caregivers, staff, and technology. However, all the strategies employed have multiple drawbacks. The study reported a high preference for accessible labelling in braille and quick response (QR) codes. Implementing a combination of braille labels and QR codes on product packages was the most beneficial strategy for CWV. The Implementation of accessible labels ensures inclusion in the marketplace.

PENGEMBANGAN KUESIONER KEBUTUHAN DAN HAMBATAN PENERAPAN ETIKET OBAT BERBASIS BRAILE

Indonesia has around 1.5% or more than 3.75 million blind people. Of concern is that people with visual impairment are at high risk of medication errors. Even though there are many solutions for implementing Braille labels in daily practice, there are not many agencies that provide this service. Therefore, it is necessary to have an instrument that can measure the needs and barriers to implementing Braille etiquette. The research includes developing an instrument to measure the needs and barriers to implementing Braille etiquette in pharmaceutical services. The research instrument developed was a questionnaire with the name EKREB, which is an acronym for "Evaluation of Braille Etiquette Needs and Barriers". The development of the questionnaire went through the instrument design stages which included planning, construction, reliability testing and validity testing. The total number of EKREB questionnaire design items was 23 items which were then distributed online. The testing involved 30 respondents consisting of 11 undergraduate pharmacy students, 8 pharmaceutical technical staff, and 11 pharmacists in the Situbondo area. Of the 20 items tested, the Crobach's Alpha value obtained was 0.908 (0.6) so a decision could be made that the questionnaire was declared reliable and entered the high reliability category. The results of the Pearson Product Moment test have a sig value. From each questionnaire item obtained 0.05 so that the questionnaire items are declared valid. Based on the research results that have been obtained, it can be concluded that the results of the development of the EKREB questionnaire are declared as valid and reliable instruments to be used as data collection tools for evaluating needs and barriers to service implementation. Braille labels in clinical-community pharmacy practice.

Lack of braille labelling and instructions on Chinese pharmaceutical packaging

Braille labels and instructions on medicine packaging are scarce in China, impeding blind individuals’ ability to obtain information about medications. Article 37 of China’s Barrier-Free Environment Creation Law, enacted in September 2023, requires braille labelling and instructions for pharmaceuticals. This provision offers essential legal protection to ensure the safety of blind individuals when using medications. Nevertheless, the use of braille labels and instructions for medicines is hindered by ambiguous statutes, limited social consciousness, financial factors and technological constraints. To promote the use of braille on medicinal labels and instructions, China should bolster its legislation, increase social consciousness, alleviate the financial strain on pharmaceutical manufacturers, foster technological advancement and encourage collaboration and self-governance within the pharmaceutical industry.

FASHION VISION BEYOND THE EYES: HOW FASHION BECOMES INCLUSIVE FOR PEOPLE WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS

The present study addresses inclusive fashion as a strategy to promote social inclusion and stimulate the cognitive and emotional development of individuals with visual impairments. The research aimed to create an approach that would utilize sensory elements in fashion pieces, allowing individuals who were born blind or lost their vision early in life to create tactile representations of shapes around them. The methodology is characterized as applied in nature, involving active collaboration between participants with visual impairments and professionals in the fashion industry. Customized pieces were developed, considering the individual preferences and specific needs of each participant. The qualitative approach included interviews with three visually impaired individuals and observations to comprehend the experiences, perceptions, and challenges faced by these individuals in the context of fashion. The results indicate that the inclusion of tactile textures and functional elements, such as larger zippers and snap buttons, contributes to a more autonomous and enriching experience in the selection and use of clothing. Additionally, technology plays a significant role, with wearable devices and applications assisting in color identification and reading digital Braille labels. The proposed approach not only enhances the tactile perception of clothing but also promotes individual expression and autonomy among people with visual impairments. By creating mental representations of shapes around them, inclusive fashion stimulates cognitive and creative development in these individuals. It can be concluded that this approach represents a significant step towards a more inclusive society, where fashion is accessible to everyone, regardless of their visual abilities.

High performance of optimizers in deep learning for cloth patterns detection

In Deep learning, optimization methods are an essential role. Optimizers are used to change weights and learn rates to reduce or minimize losses in a neural network. Nowadays, Deep Learning is widely used, especially in object detection tasks. In this case, cloth patterns are considered for object detection and assist visually impaired people. The visually impaired person had many limitations when doing their activity, not least when choosing clothes; it would be difficult without guidance or tools like Braille labels. In this research, a system was researched to detect 11 different cloth patterns (Argyle, Batik, Camouflage, Gingham, Dotted, Floral, Leopard, Solid, Striped, Zebra, and Zigzag) using RetinaNet with ResNet-152 architecture. To achieve the best model performance, compare 6 optimizers, such as Stochastic Gradient Descent, Root Mean Square Propagation, Adaptive Moment Estimation, Adaptive Delta, Adaptive Norm, and Adaptive Gradient was conducted. Each optimizer has trained with three different learning rates (1E-3, 1E-4, and 1E-5). A model with Adamax optimizer and learning rate 1E-4 was achieved with the highest accuracy with mAP (mean Average Precision) 91.28% during the training process. Based on the testing result this model was achieved precision 93.01%, recall 92.91%, F1-Score 92.79%, and accuracy 92.91%.

Inclusive Adaptation of Existing Board Games for Gamers with and without Visual Impairments using a Spatial Augmented Reality Framework for Touch Detection and Audio Feedback

Board games allow us to share collective entertainment experiences. They entertain because of the interactions between players, physical manipulation of tokens and decision making. Unfortunately, most board games exclude people with visual impairments as they were not initially designed for players with special needs. Through a user-centered design process with an accessible game library and visually impaired players, we observed challenges and solutions in making existing board games accessible through handcrafted solutions (tactile stickers, braille labels, etc.). In a second step, we used Spatial Augmented Reality (SAR), to make existing board games inclusive by adding interactivity (GameARt). In a case study with an existing board game considered as not accessible (Jamaica), we designed an interactive SAR version with touch detection (JamaicAR). We evaluated this prototype in a user study with 5 groups of 3 players each, including sighted, low vision and blind players. All players, independent of visual status, were able to play the Augmented Reality game. Moreover, the game was rated positively by all players regarding attractiveness, play engrossment, enjoyment and social connectivity. Our work shows that Spatial Augmented Reality has the potential to make board games accessible to people with visual impairments when handcrafted adaptations fall short.

Creating Tactile Educational Materials for the Visually Impaired and Blind Students Using AI Cloud Computing

There are 24.5 million visually impaired and blind (VIB) students who have limited access to educational materials due to cost or availability. Although advancement in technology is prevalent, providing individualized learning using technology remains a challenge without the proper tools or experience. The TacPic system was developed as an online platform to create tactile educational materials (TEM) based on the image inputs of users who do not have prior experience in tactile photo development or 3D printing. The TacPic system allows the users to simply upload images to a website and uses AI cloud computing on the Amazon Web Services platform. First, it segments and labels the images. Then, the text label is converted into braille words. Subsequently, surface rendering and consolidation of the image and text is performed, before it is converted into a single file that is ready for 3D printing. Currently, the types of TEM that can be created are tactile flashcards, tactile maps, and tactile peg puzzles, which can be developed within a few hours. This is in contrast to a development period of weeks using traditional methods. Furthermore, the tactile educational materials were tested by two VIB teachers and six VIB students. It was found that those who are congenitally blind need more time to identify the object and rely more on the braille labels compared to students who became blind at a later age. Teachers also suggested producing TEM that use simpler images, and TEM that are suitable for both sighted and VIB students. In conclusion, the researchers successfully developed a platform that allows more educators or parents to develop personalized and individualized TEM. In the future, further optimization of the algorithms to improve segmentation and the inclusion of other features, such as color, could be undertaken. Finally, new printing materials and methods are needed to improve printing efficiency.

Interactive audio-tactile maps for visually impaired people

Visually impaired people face important challenges related to orientation and mobility. Indeed, 56% of visually impaired people in France declared having problems concerning autonomous mobility [10]. These problems often mean that visually impaired people travel less, which influences their personal and professional life and can lead to exclusion from society [28]. Therefore this issue presents a social challenge as well as an important research area. Accessible geographic maps are helpful for acquiring knowledge about a city's or neighborhood's configuration, as well as selecting a route to reach a destination. Traditionally, raised-line paper maps with braille text have been used. These maps have proved to be efficient for the acquisition of spatial knowledge by visually impaired people. Yet, these maps possess significant limitations [37]. For instance, due to the specificities of the tactile sense only a limited amount of information can be displayed on a single map, which dramatically increases the number of maps that are needed. For the same reason, it is difficult to represent specific information such as distances. Finally, braille labels are used for textual descriptions but only a small percentage of the visually impaired population reads braille. In France 15% of blind people are braille readers and only 10% can read and write [10]. In the United States, fewer than 10% of the legally blind people are braille readers and only 10% of blind children actually learn braille [24].

I-M-ABLE: A Pathway to Literacy

In planning a literacy program for 6-year-old Andrea (a pseudonym), teachers in the Vision Resource Department, of the Toronto Board of Education, had some significant hurdles to consider. A psychological assessment suggested that Andrea, who was blind, autistic, and had little grasp of the English language, responded like a 2 year old, rather than a 6 year old. Andrea was placed in a multiple exceptionality class of a regular public school where reading and writing were milestones that would not be achieved by all students. Whether Andrea would become a reader was yet to be determined. The school staff members focused on her language skills and teaching her to understand and trust the classroom environment, while her itinerant teacher of students with visual impairments considered Diane Wormsley's functional approach to braille literacy, the Individualized Meaning-centered Approach to Braille Literacy Education (I-M-ABLE), for Andrea. It was apparent that traditional methods were unlikely to work for this student. Andrea's autism and other special needs beyond her visual impairment meant that she had large gaps in concept development. Learning for Andrea would have to center on her life experiences and the meaning that could be derived from them with her. In the first year of her four-year program, the activities selected for Andrea included traditional prebraille skills, such as finger strengthening with play dough and clothespins, tactile discrimination games, and concept development kits with concrete objects. But Wormsley's functional approach to braille literacy provided the next steps. Following Wormsley's outline, Andrea's classroom was set up with braille labels in as many places as possible, creating a braille-rich environment. The words were meaningful to Andrea in the beginning only as a series of tactile markers around the classroom, but they gave her a consistent presence of braille signs, such as the sort of print signs that are available in most environments. Andrea's name was brailled on many items, such as her chair and table, and she was often referred to these signs by hand-over-hand touching. The Perkins Brailler was initially a toy to be explored and scribbled with. Understanding the concepts of left and right through games and play, and incorporating finger tracking left to right, were also specific skills for the first year. Andrea used a caddy with meaningful tactile symbols from which she could pick objects. She would feel the symbol, say what it meant, and then touch the object to see if she was correct, a precursor to the actual words. Understanding words was, of course, the staff's end goal. Guided by Wormsley's program, we placed Andrea's name on several word cards, and to challenge her discrimination skills, the shorter word Mom was brailled onto others. Andrea knew her own name and repeated it often, and she certainly knew who Mom was, because she had a strong attachment to her family. This was the start of her favorite form of reading over the next three years--her collection of word cards. One of Andrea's strengths was her tactile discrimination skills. Andrea would feel the dots on the double-spaced word cards and was soon able to distinguish that different cells had different combinations of dots. She was on her way to learning letters. Once Andrea memorized the alphabet song, it was broken down into the exploration of the various letters--first, of course, were the letters A and N, the first two letters in her name. These letters were followed by several other letters that were introduced one by one and then used as initial letters of words on word cards. Special words that we used in repeated conversations were sometimes chosen to become word cards. For example, Andrea enjoyed exploring necklaces and bracelets. Both were long words that contrasted well with shorter ones. Both were used in conversation by Andrea several times a day when she commented on her own necklace or bracelet or ones that were worn by others. …

An Application of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) with Children with Autism and a Visually Impaired Therapist

The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) (Bondy and Frost, Focus on Autistic Behavior 9:1–19, 1994) is a visually-based alternative and augmentative communication system that is considered appropriate for many special populations. However, a variety of challenged populations, such as people with visual impairments, would initially be considered unable to communicate with PECS users. In the present study, a multiple baseline reversal design across children was used to explore the viability of a Braille-modified PECS system for use between a visually impaired therapist and three children with autism. The PECS cards were slightly modified with the addition of Braille labels so that the visually impaired therapist would be able to understand and respond to the requests of the children with autism. Results indicated that the addition of Braille labels allowed children with autism and the visually impaired therapist to communicate with each other using PECS. In addition, children had ancillary decreases in problem behaviors during work sessions with the Braille-modified PECS. This study demonstrated the versatility of PECS and its potential for use with non-sighted populations, increasing opportunities of visually impaired persons in the job market.

薬袋のユニバーサルデザイン

A medication envelope functions not only as a drug container but also as a means of providing basic information on the usage and dosage of a drug. We made a prototype medication envelope based on Universal Design (UD) with which administration instructions can be obtained through the senses of sight, hearing and touch. In addition to conventional printed information, the UD medication envelope is equipped with an audio playback device to provide prerecorded spoken instructions on administration. It also has Braille labels so that administration instructions may be checked using the sense of touch.We performed a questionnaire survey of the usefulness of the UD medication envelope after it had been used by visually impaired patients, elderly patients as well as the families of patients, caregivers, nurses, and other individuals assisting patients in taking their drugs in the home health care setting. The results showed that the use of the UD medication envelope enabled the majority of patients to understand administration instructions better, which reduced mistakes in administration. They suggest that the UD medication envelope would help ensure that patients take drugs properly, thereby strengthening safety management, and would be useful in today's society in which there are large numbers or elderly and other types of patient having special needs with regard to understanding administration instructions.