DIY version of a map game for visually impaired kids

[kestrell]

The American Printing House for the Blind is selling this kind of cool board game called
Treks
https://shop.aph.org/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_TREKS:%20The%20Game%20of%20Compass%20Directions_1-08910-00P_10001_11051
which I admit I thought was much more cool when I thought it was a handheld gadget and before I found out the price was $109.

Since this could be a really great way for visually-impaired kids--or even adults-- to learn about navigating their neighborhood or the neighborhood where their school is (I would actually like to have one of these for MIT), I wanted to figure out what it would take for someone to make a less expensive DIY version.

You can buy blank game boards here
http://www.barebooks.com/gameboards.htm
$3.95 for just the board, $7.95 for the kit.

Tactile dice are pretty easy to find: get the folks at Pandemonium to order some for you or you can order these
Giant Tactile Dice Black with White Dots for $4.95 at Amazon.com.

You could probably make an overlay from one of those clear plastic covers kids use for class reports, just add your own braille labels or raised dots, let's call that $5 spent at your local CVS or Staples.

You can purchase these
Bump Dots Medium Clear Round 20 per pack by Maxi-Aids
for $2.62 on Amazon
or you could use puff paint--let's splurge and say we want to use all the colors--
Tulip 3D Fashion Paint 1-1/4 Ounces 6/Pkg-Puffy by Duncan $23.75 on Amazon.

Rounding up to whole dollar amounts that still comes in under $50, less than half the price of the original game.

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

That's a fascinating idea for a game, and I bet there are non-blind learners who'd also appreciate the haptic quality. But back to the handheld: do you know tech-savvy mobility mavens who've come up with ways to turn the wayfinding tools in smart phones into puzzles and/or practice? My wayfinding skills are awful, so I practice a lot before I travel. I print out maps and compare to Google Earth so I can imagine the visual landmarks I'll use. (Don't have a smartphone.) My life would be easier if I accepted this impairment and attached myself, limpet-like, to someone with a better sense of direction.

For civilians tuning in, the American Printing House for the Blind is one of the federal government's strangest educational institution. It creates and purchases blind-learner-educating stuff. (Also pays for some research and curriculum development.) Then any US public school that has a vision-impaired learner gets "Federal quota" dollars, which are a kind of scrip. They can only be spent at the American Printing House for the Blind. They could buy a board game, or a braille translation, or a tactile math set, or software, or check out the fun at http://www.aph.org

So APH's pricing bears little relationship to its production cost or the market (such as there is a market in educational stuff for blind people).

[kestrell]

I haven't seen any practical/learning games for accessible smart phones, and most of the accessible teaching games I have read about are for either very young children--Pizza Games from 7-128 Games is a good example--or teach typing skills. Ont he other hand, a lot of accessible apps are being made for the iPhone now, you can try searching the Apple Store and seeing what's there.

About a year after I graduated from MIT there was a grad student from Israel who was woring on a haptics interface to familiarize blind people with new places. I personally had a lot of trouble with this putting the haptics environment together with the real place when I went there, but then having the researcher staring over your shoulder and asking you about everything you do, as opposed to letting you explore for an hour or so, didn't make me feel very relaxed. In other words, it was more a research study than a game.