Making Nonvisually: Lessons from the Field
Cynthia L. Bennett, Abigale Stangl, Alexa F. Siu, Joshua A. Miele · 2019 · Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019) · doi:10.1145/3308561.3355619
Summary
This experience report shares lessons from a team of researchers, activists, and blind makers who conducted workshops introducing Arduino electronics to blind hobbyists and guided assembly of an accessible voltmeter prototype. The authors — including blind HCI researcher Cynthia Bennett and Joshua Miele, founder of the Blind Arduino Project — argue that while the Maker movement promises democratized access to creativity and technology customization, people with disabilities still face significant barriers including vision-dependent instructions, inaccessible makerspaces, visually-labeled supplies, and a culture that assumes sightedness. The paper draws on autoethnographic methods, using the authors’ lived experiences as blind people, Makers, and researchers to guide their analysis. Two workshops were held a month apart at the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, with six adult blind and low vision hobbyists who all worked in technology fields. The first workshop introduced Arduino basics using tactile and large-print maps of the Arduino board, audio tutorials, accessible electronic documents, and nonvisual verbal descriptions. The second workshop focused on assembling the accessible voltmeter. The voltmeter itself, co-designed by Miele (blind) and Siu (sighted), was a significant contribution — an Arduino-based device capable of measuring voltages from -1000V to +1000V with three nonvisual output modes: text-to-speech for precise readings, sonification for qualitative voltage variation, and a tactile gauge driven by a servo motor with tactile markings.
Key findings
The paper identifies both instructional successes and challenges for nonvisual Making. Key successes included: providing nonvisual descriptions using spatial metaphors (e.g., directing hobbyists to orient circuit boards with solder facing away and pins on the right, then describing wire positions clockwise); spending an hour at each workshop’s outset orienting participants to all available materials so they could self-direct their learning; and offering but not enforcing assistance, respecting participants’ autonomy. Audio output from Arduino projects (speakers and tones instead of LEDs and lights) proved particularly powerful — it facilitated shared progress awareness among the group, sparked collaborative debugging, and created a communal atmosphere where blind and sighted attendees alike could participate equally. Key challenges included: group instruction becoming cacophonous when multiple volunteers offered competing explanations simultaneously; 12 color-coded wires being too many to track nonvisually even with braille labels; fragile soldered connections breaking easily under tactile exploration; and hobbyists growing stressed placing circuit boards in casings due to fear of damaging components by touch. The authors recommend modular plug-based connections over individual wires, pre-stuffed printed circuit boards, and multimodal representations (tactile + audio + text) as defaults rather than accommodations requested after the fact.
Relevance
This paper is valuable for anyone involved in STEM education, makerspace design, or assistive technology development. Its central insight — that Making culture and infrastructure systematically privilege vision even when the activities themselves do not require it — applies broadly to educational settings, hackathons, and community workshops. The practical recommendations are immediately actionable: use audio output instead of visual indicators when teaching electronics, provide tactile maps of hardware layouts, modularize connections to reduce wire complexity, and privilege nonvisual senses in progress sharing. The co-design process between Miele and Siu also offers a model for blind-sighted collaboration, where they developed a shared multimodal vocabulary using tactile sketches on mylar, annotated photographs, and text descriptions. The paper aligns with the Design for User Empowerment framework, positioning Making not just as a way to produce assistive technology but as a means for disabled people to develop technical self-determination and agency over their own tools.
Tags: maker movement · blind · DIY assistive technology · Arduino · participatory design · nonvisual interaction · inclusive design · sonification · tactile graphics · design for user empowerment