2022
Further to my streak of 12 accessibility meetups about public places I ventured out to explore individual places that have gone out of the way and traveled that extra mile to make their businesses accessible for the differently-abled and the visually-impaired.
The previous episode took you to a Delhi Restaurant with A Braille Menu.
In this episode, we discover a Tactile Art Wall for the Visually-Impaired.
Over the last few years, I've become more and more interested in accessibility for the blind and the visually- impaired and often think how difficult it is for the blind to access what the rest of us have so easily in the way of reading. And when the visually-impaired are in your mind, ideas come to you.
Delhi is the epicenter of tourism in India where you find the stunning Lotus Temple, its perfection, the magnificent India Gate with its resplendent architecture, and the majestic Qutub Minar and its astonishing details. Then there are the glorious murals on the huge walls of the Lodi Road area that I visited earlier this year and noticed the millions who throng there to gaze at the vividly painted murals. I have seen and appreciated them all but what about those who cannot see? Our blind and visually-impaired friends?
What are Tactile Art Walls?
I also found a Tactile Art Wall in the Lodi Road area. This tactile Art Wall talks about the three key monuments of Delhi starting with the Lotus temple. Here you can touch and feel the profile of the lotus temple and the way the materials used in creating the building feel. The Lotus Temple silhouette on the tactile art wall has been rendered on a smooth surface.
Comparatively the Qutub Minar is built with a bit coarse stone and the structure is round and tall. When you touch you start feeling the undulated surface and the lines of the stone as compared to the surface which is plain smooth marble for the Lotus Temple.
The last monument India Gate is made of sandstone dressed on the outer surface which gives a mixed rough and smooth surface. The Tactile Art Wall also reveals the shape of the arch and the other panels of the India Gate. Also, there is a tactile map of India cut out of a thick plyboard that the blind can run their finger over to understand the shape of the boundaries of India besides a prominent button denoting the location of Delhi on the map.
What is the Need for a Tactile Art Wall?
The Tactile Art Wall introduces famous monuments to the blind at a scale they can interact using touch which people with normal vision perceive through sight. It fulfills the primary goal to get an idea of the real structure when they visit it later. The blind can also sample the relative size by feeling the crevices in the samples on the Tactile Art Wall.
This also brings to them the excitement of guessing the monument with a sense of touch. On the Tactile Art Wall in Lodi Road Delhi, all the monuments are created with soft plywood of 5mm thickness. They have textures and colors similar to the original monuments. The monuments have also been painted so that they can be useful to those with partial vision and the 3D extrusion helps those who are blind to touch and feel the profile and the surface of the building.
Conclusion
The Tactile Art Wall is a major step towards realizing the goal of accessibility for all.
The area around the Tactile Art Wall had all the accessibility features like a ramp, tactile path for the differently-abled.
♿ ✔️ Ramp access.
♿ ✔️ A wheelchair-accessible Entrance.
♿ ✔️ A wheelchair-accessible Restroom/Toilet.
♿ ✔️ A wheelchair-accessible Seating.
♿ ✔️ A wheelchair-accessible Parking.
Do you know of a place that has special accessibility features for the differently-abled? I'd like to visit and review them.
नमस्कार..
खरंच, @Sophia_Cambodia म्हणतेय ते, माझ्या मते पुढचा एक्सेसीबीलिटी चॅंपियन आहेस..
सर्व माहिती आमच्या सोबत सामाईक केल्याबद्दल धन्यवाद..
