Are there blind users of hackernews here that could answer to the probably stupid question:
Would you be able to "perceive" a picture if that picture was engraved on a surface ?
e_i_pi_2•17m ago
Not blind, and can't speak to how popular or useful they are, but there are products meant to be used like that [0]. I can't find the link but I've also seen this done with paintings, where someone creates essentially a sculpture based on a painting, and then they can 3D print it so a blind person could "see" something like the Mona Lisa or Starry Night.
A while ago I read a biography of Louis Braille, and he created his system to replace an older one where they would teach people to feel the shape of letters in wooden blocks. Braille replaced it because it was much easier to read fast, but it was never meant to be used for something like a picture.
I'd also be interested if something like a tactile floor plan would even be useful for someone blind from birth, from what I've heard you don't think about navigating spaces the same way, so a floor plan might be far away from the mental models they use.
This does not look like Braille to me. Braille is a system that uses cells composed of six (or eight) dots. This is just dots strewn all over the place.
d-lisp•42m ago
Would you be able to "perceive" a picture if that picture was engraved on a surface ?
e_i_pi_2•17m ago
A while ago I read a biography of Louis Braille, and he created his system to replace an older one where they would teach people to feel the shape of letters in wooden blocks. Braille replaced it because it was much easier to read fast, but it was never meant to be used for something like a picture.
I'd also be interested if something like a tactile floor plan would even be useful for someone blind from birth, from what I've heard you don't think about navigating spaces the same way, so a floor plan might be far away from the mental models they use.
[0]: https://evengrounds.com/services/tactile-3d-printed-models-f...