Low-Vision Tactile Textures

thingiverse

Some individuals I collaborate with lack sensitivity in their fingers (peripheral neuropathy) as well as being visually impaired. They can detect large objects, but subtle variations in texture are beyond their perception. They become isolated because they cannot dial a phone accurately. There are devices that assist people with poor dexterity/memory dial a phone, such as the photo dialer available at http://www.amazon.com/Innovative-Technology-Electronics-Corp-Button/dp/B005UZMQNY. People who are visually impaired can use these by counting the grid (e.g., Aunt Margaret is at [1,3]), but those who cannot feel and see the buttons are stuck. This file creates tiles that can be attached to the "Big Button Photo Dialer", providing a set of tactile markers that can be felt with the pad of the finger or by dragging a fingernail across the marker. This enables them to use the dialer to call up to 12 people. It also makes an excellent torture test/calibration test for a 3D printer due to numerous thin walls and islands.