Last semester I took a course called “Access and Assistive Technology in Historic Sites and Museums,” where I worked with the Intrepid Museum on improving the accessibility of their exhibits. Embroidery is used a lot on the sailors’ uniforms, from mending holes in them to being used to depict occupation and class rank on the ship. These patches are traditionally behind glass and are not accessible to individuals who are blind or low vision. Tami Altschuler (Ph.D. candidate in Rehab Sciences at NYU, Speech-Language Pathologist at NYU Langone Medical Center), Yuanqing Li (M.S. Integrated Design & Media at NYU Tandon 2025), and I focused on making tactile interpretations of a few patches from the Intrepid Museums archives. After we finished our project, the museum expressed interest in using our patch interpretations on their touch tours. Reflecting on some of the feedback we received last semester, I would like to iterate and create copies of the tactile patch interpretations to give to the museums.
Here is a link to our project site if you would like to read more about the project. (Link)
