News

Actions

NASA creates Braille eclipse book to help visually impaired experience phenomenon

Posted at 4:04 PM, Aug 21, 2017
and last updated 2017-08-21 17:45:18-04

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — While millions of people witnessed the total solar eclipse with their own eyes, students here at the Children’s Center for the Visually Impaired got a feel for what’s happening in the sky.

NASA created a Braille book for people who are visually impaired, giving them the opportunity for young students to feel what’s happening millions of miles away.

“For most of our students, while they do have some level of vision, they don't have normal sight. And so most of our students can perceive light but to get those detailed differences and to really understand what would be happening through a traditional picture model just isn't accessible to them,” Program Director, Amanda Daniels said. “So with these, with the braille and tactile mapping, the NASA project, we really have a wider variety of our students to begin to develop the concepts of what's really happening.”

These NASA guide books are a part of a series of space-related books, to get more students interested in math and science.