Proposed guide of the good practice for a prototype adapted camerafor people with visual disabilities

TOOCLICK · D01

Proposed guide of the good practice for a prototype adapted camerafor people with visual disabilities

TOOCLICK · D01

Contact:E-mail: info@trescucarachas.orgWeb: www.trescucarachas.orgFacebook: Trescucarachas Difusio ConeixementTwitter: @trescucarachas

Photography is a tool used for personal, artistic and documentary expression. However, it is not universal: there are many people with visual problems for whom photography is more than an interesting hobby. It is also a tool that allows people to approach what their eyes cannot see.

The case of those people who have a visual disability is not the only one: there are also people who have learning difficulties or older people who would be able to take benefit from this cam-era. So there is a wide range of people and potential customers who could be interested in tak-ing pictures, but need special accommodations, just as what happened with mobile phones.

TooClick D01 is a camera that has a great adaptability to many kind of people and situations, it is heterogeneous, and focused on people with visual disabilities, since in this case, there is not a unique solution to cross the barriers.

Authors: Toni Valls Mataró, Francesca Biacchessi, Ferran Folgado Fusté. English Version: Elisenda Gimenez.

Photography is a tool of personal, artistic and documental expression.But photography is not universal, there are a lot of people all over the world with visual problems and difficult access to photography. For people with visual problems photography more than a hobby is an intersting tool which allow to bring near what their eyes don’t allow to see.

The case of visual disabled people is not unic, there are also people with learning difficulty or old people with visual problems. So, there is a large quantity of people and potencial costumers who would like take pictures but who need special adaptations, as the mobil phones had.

Trescucarachas since 2009 works with photograhy and visual disabled people, now we of-fered our experience with this proposal guide for the first camara adapted for people with visual problems: the TooClick D01.

TooClick D01 is a camera with a great adaptability for every kind of people and situations, is heterogeneous and suitable for people with visual problems because, in this case, doesn’t exist only one solution to cross the barriers.

Keywords: photography, blind, blind people, blind people who made photos, adapted cameras, blindness, arts, artistics hability, adaptation, touch screen, braille, blind photographers, blind photography, prototipe, tooclick D10

Authors: Toni Valls Mataró, Francesca Biacchessi, Ferran Folgado Fusté.

ABSTRACT:

Photography as human cultural heritage and personal growth:

Photography is a tool of artistic expression that has allowed to humans the opportunity to experience and transmit sensations, feelings and different kinds of realities through images that become art, anthropology or history.

I remember a friend that did not have pictures of any familiar scene and he assumed that the reason was his parents’ visual disability. But a photograph evokes memories, and a great part of the past that we remember is due to the pictures from our family album, not the memory itself. This is the reason why we think that photography is not only important as a record or for the photographer, but also for the person that is being photographed.

In 2009, we started our first experience; nowadays, as the Trescucarachas, we already accumulate various experiences and examples of visually impaired photog-raphers in order to approach it to this group in an eminently practical way, and at the same time getting away from preset determinism between visual disabilities and photography, getting based on taking advantage of individual skills.

There are no universal solutions:

The visually impaired people group is very heterogeneous, as they have many differ-ent needs and degrees that affect their autonomy. Only blindness implies the total absence of vision, while the other visually impaired people can still preserve a useful part of their vision, maintaining their mobility and even being able to read and write systematically in ink in some cases. This occurs in 70 % and 80 % of the cases, as reflected in the report of the OMS regarding children and teenagers in 1992. Visual disability includes a wide range of possibilities, which cover total blindness until the limit of vision that is understood as “normal”.

INTRODUCTION:

The terminology used by scholars when determining the severity of visual impairment includes groups that are more or less similar, with more or less close interpretations, but includes nuances and ways of thinking that have different functions. The most used parameters are the visual field and AVL (away visual acuity), while a variety of levels of visual impairment appears here, the nomenclature varies depending on the author. Therefore, the proposed camera prototype offers several alternatives to accommodate as much as possible to the photographer’s vision in a plastic way with different possibilities and models.

The visually impaired group has at its disposal several helpful tools. It is a very heterogeneous group, so as a result, there are no unique solutions. The low vision is often not the result of a single disease, it could also affect by a combination of different affectations; depending on the type, the degree, and the combination of diseases, it can affect more or less their autonomy.

Some of the people affected by retinosis pigmentaria or chronic glaucoma have limited peripheral vision with a resting central vision that leads to great orientation problems in the most severe cases, having to adopt the support of a guide dog or other supports. By applying a wide-angle lens, these people can increase their visual field up to 30 %, as well as having the possibility to increase their other senses and maximize their vision.

This is only an example of the several tools that visual disabled people have, as many tools that are being developed have the function to compensate as much as they can this loss of vision, for example magnifiers, telescopes, and a huge range of our own-done tools.

There is also a range of telescopes, image magnifiers, or portable screen devices that enable to compare, to make the negative, or change the background color to make the reading easier.Noticeably, the options that serve to one person are not necessarily useful for another, as there are determinant factors that depend on the affected part, the range of the injury, and the personal abilities. To sum up, a key with light can be really helpful for somebody, but can annoy or be useless to another.

Any assistance to this group is important because personal autonomy of interaction with the environment is not the only one that can be affected: a person with visual impairment can lead to a low mood, to intense stress moments, and other attitudes such as apathy or resignation.

The relationship between visual disabled people and photography.

Our personal experience after three courses: as we have already mentioned, this group is very heterogeneous, but it is relatively easy to find photographers. There is a simple explanation: many of them were photographers before their disease arrived; others see it as a complementary tool to the classical ones. There is plenty of informa-tion regarding this group from both a social and medical focus, as well as regarding the adaptive systems or other adapted artistic disciplines. However, this is not the case in the relationship with photography.

The connection between visual disabled people and photography has not been de-veloped, as digital photography did not become popular until relatively recent years – although the first digital camera (what is known about it) was done in 1975 – or maybe just because nobody asked these people if they took pictures. The classical picture offered them some backlighting, projection, and magnifying glass possibilities, but in comparison it did not offer as much potential as the digital camera and the displayed software.

There are even examples of totally blind people who are interested in photography, and offer a special perception because they complement the moment of taking a photo-graph with their other senses. They also offer innovative images that have nothing to do with the classical references imposed by the society, as we can appreciate in the photographs published in the Unseen Sight of the California museum of photography, in Riverside California University.

There are some experiences of courses done for these people, such as the one done by Rebecca McGinnis in 2001. Some years later, other projects spontaneously appear, for example the Argentina ones, or the Trescucarachas Ojoenfocofilms, among some others. Regarding our personal experience, we have had to face some expected diffi-culties and other that were not expected, implementing a new problem solving in route (Davis & Gardner, 1993, p.35).

We faced some difficulties, such as trouble when trying to distinguish the back and the front, when trying to focus moving objects, trouble with the involuntary movement of the eyes, which prevents the view through the view finder, or with the other visual fac-tors that do not help but lead instead to the tendency of the people taking photographs to walls or lights – those things that get their attention the most. However, other participants of the course showed us that they have enough perfectionism for them to be able to correct our image – with the help of the grid in the viewfinder of yourLumix

– that did not exactly meet the law of the thirds while being projected.

Some of these people told us that photography helps them to see an environment which they sometimes cannot see with their eyes: mountains, birds or distant objects. I have also seen them using photography to recognize a street “in situ”. Photography allows them to create lenses, or to potentiate the brightness or contrast, by letting them approximate the image to a focal length that can be seen by them, or “post-interpreted” at home.

According to Brian X.Chen (Gadget Lab, July 2009), since Alex Dejong’s vision was affected by a tumor in his brain, his Nokia N82 has become a tool for taking pictures and sounds from the environment, which he mixes to get a better mental image of the Earth that surrounds him. He uses his Canon or Leica to take pictures, or his iPhone. Just like Alex, there are many other people who can understand photography as a hobby, as a tool or as both things. So did our friend Beatrice, as she told us during the day of the photographic exhibition inauguration in which she participated as an author: “I cannot control my eyes, I have trouble putting the image into focus” ... “This course has been important for me because it has shown me that a picture can be constructed. It helps me to decide on what I can take a picture of, what can I show through the im-age; through these benchmarks, I have been offered the chance to see better what I cannot see by myself without software tools “, Daziale Beatrice said.

The reason to adapt a camera to visually impaired people.

For some visually impaired people, photography is not only a hobby, but an interesting tool, as we already mentioned before; they can check their photographs once they are in a controlled environment such as their computer once there are at home, where they can adapt the image to an adequate distance for them to see it better. They can also adapt it to a proper brightness, contrast and digital zoom, in order to understand the environment that surrounds them. Complementing the image with audio and sim-plifying the several types of photography depending on the subject is another option, just like the application EasySnap proposed.

In our opinion, and as Beatrice reminded us during a snack at Genoa, this new possi-bility to improve the understanding of what surrounds them can offer new possibilities to improve their perception in space, as well as reducing the possibility of accidents or remembering images in a more clearly defined way (Scott Nelson, Art Beyond

sight, p28). As an example of another investigation regarding the interaction of visual impaired people and screens, we can talk about the research done by Dr. Muriel Saun-ders, who works at the Life Span Institute (University of Kansas): together with some Junior Blind of America’s experts, showed the possibility of converting the iPad into an educational tool that would be very interesting for the development of children that are affected by cortical visual impairment, exploiting the light possibilities and interac-tion with tactile screens, while opening new perspectives in the field of neurological rehabilitation.

Other lines further away and more directed to use the visual stimulus and the post-process the image as a tool for guiding the project “Bionic Glasses”(relatively speak-ing) from the University of Oxford. Back to our field, photography is not yet universal: there are many people in the world that are visual disabled and who have a difficult access to photography.

Visually impaired people are not the only ones that can take profit of this camera: it can also help people with learning or memory difficulties, as well as elderly. So many people who would like to take pictures but who need some adjustments, like the mobile phone makers understood a long time ago. We cannot forget that it is not be an exclusive adaptation; the proposed model with the resulting design adjustments can be easily adapted to any other buyer that would like a sturdy, intuitive camera that is easy to use.

This project has the objective of being “another lighthouse on the path of integration”, as Eugenio Saltarel (president of the Unione Italiana Ciechi e ipovedenti Genova) said after having visited our audio-guided photography exhibition. There have been occasions when I have had the personal intuitions that photography is another way of being oneself, without any tags, or even an encouragement to go on accepting the new limits.

Enable / Disable audio

Rough surface to locate the flash

Tripod thread

Battery and memory card cover

Activate illuminated buttons

Focus / shutter

Zapata for external flash /magnifiers stand

On / Off

Menu

Flash on/Flash off

Taken pictures imager

Intuitive framing framework I

Actívate screen-Contrast IContrast IINegative imageOther options

Zoom

Landscape Portrait Detail

Intuitive framing framework II

What are the profits for the brand that adopts the prototype Tooclick D01?

This is a great opportunity to approach photography to a sector of the population that are currently not taken into account when designing a camera, bringing photography closer to a sector of the population that has great probabilities of being loyal. Now we will proceed to talk about the potentials that are benefited by an adapted cam-era: from 5 to 10 % of the population aged above 75 are affected by macular-related degenerative diseases. The OMS estimates that there are 124 million people with low vision in the world, and the World Blind Federation adds the following figures: “more than 161 million people worldwide are visually impaired, of whom 124 million have low vision and 37 million are blind.”

The access to photography for a percentage of these people would improve, since the simplification of a highly interactive camera has the possibility of being welcomed by other sectors of the population that have disabilities of other kinds. The camera would also be attractive for those people who want to take pictures more easily, by taking profit of the advantages of the adapted camera TooClick D01. Undoubtedly, the adapta-tion of the camera provides interesting guidelines to follow in order to meet the needs that arise when the continental population gets older.

To whom it may concern:It is addressed to people with visual disabilities and elders, since many of these pa-thologies are associated with age, but not only that; like the mobile brands, which have understood that the European population gets older by reversing the age pyramid.

A public who may probably have used the camera during all their life but who need to simplify it and add some accessories that helps them while taking pictures.

TooClick D01:

It is our proposed adapted camera model; as an example, we show the following mod-el: a proposed design that can be applied to all other compact camera or reflex models that have the subsequent adaptations. The purpose for which it has been designed is to offer a camera that is adaptable to different people and situations.

Morphological characteristics:

· Big screen.· Lens of difficult access with fingers.• Shape or texture that facilitates the comprehension between the back and the frontal part.• Key with different shapes and textures for an easy recognition by touch.• Keys with control for getting illuminated to make it easy to find them, and getting switched off in the same way according to personal needs.• Texture surrounding the flash and/or slightly outstanding to avoid getting covered when taking a picture. • Relief around the viewfinder to avoid fingers. • Lens safety glass, if possible with self-cleaning characteristics• With hand strap• Resistant

Technical characteristics:

Audio instructions accompanied by Braille* on the specific model. They will make a complete description of its shape to facilitate the understanding of how to hold it, as well as the need not to touch the lens and the flash, and the necessity to regularly clean them with the cloth to avoid invisible fingerprints.

Semiautomatic or totally automatic, with the possibility of a simplified interaction with-out tree menu, or if not very simplified and with an auto-speaker possibility.

Large viewfinder with a grid apart from the screen, and an option intuitive framing frames.

Buttons with long trajectory.

Possibility to record an audio time on each photo to help them remember the environ-ment of that moment.

Option of having large sources and graphics in the screen, letting them add an audio in both cases.

Replacement of the menu with simple keys such as the framing key: landscape, group photo, portrait, far away.

Each key provides all the functions by cyclically changing option after each pressing, such as: Day, Cloudy Day, Night.

Shot with well defined beep and shutter sound to avoid shooting before focusing.Focus and one shot shooting.

Evaluative metering.

Intelligent focusing depending on the program, selection of objects, faces, etc.

Specific angular and zooms to meet the needs (foreground / landscape, groups, etc).

Straight horizon system (in landscape mode) with a buzzer warning when the camera is not put straight. It can help when making correct horizons, but still lets creativity flow, with flat angle shots or frames that accentuate the angular distortion.

Superior guide of the flash to apply the lens-viewfinder.

*However, we would not only use Braille, because despite the importance of this alphabet, not every blind person knows how to read it, because many diseases appear when people are older or because not all of them learn it. As an example, we state that only the 10 % of blind children are taught how to read and write in Braille at Ohio (B.Pierce of NFBO (National Federation of the Blind of Ohio)).

Visual display unit:There will be several options, a viewer, a frame with frame or frames and lens-viewer.

Screen:There will be a button to turn the screen on and off and to contrast in various ways the reproduction of the screen, in order to see the different contrasts. For example, “Contrast-On 1 - Contrast 2 - Contrast 3 - Other options - Off”.

When reproducing the image, it is necessary to facilitate the growth and intuitive navi-gation of photos that have been taken with tactile screen possibilities, which facilitates the magnifying glasses and the navigation. On the following framing, the protective clothing can be put (as a cover), which will shade when we put the back frame to 90°. In this way, we will reduce the vision annoyance when using the screen. For the “more cautious” people, there will be a lid with the same “umbrella” function, done with rigid plastics, which can be applied with a simple click. At the same time, it will protect the screen of possible impacts when we close the frame. There is the possibility of apply-ing an audio, therefore without the “umbrella”. It would retain the option to apply the lens-viewfinder and the two frames.

Focusing frames:2 frames: a previous one and a posterior one, this one for open angles, and the previ-ous, smaller one for more closed planes. They are designed for a more intuitive shoot-ing. When they are not in use, they will be able to stick to the body or get introduced in it; if they are not used as a frame or as an “umbrella”, they may also be removed, although it is also an “comfortable handle” to hold the camera in the hand.

Viewfinder:It could be put through guides, just like the flash are. Thus, the photographer could apply the viewer depending on the optical needs, on his way of vision, and on his shooting mod

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Reviews:

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