At Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library, we know that people with low or no vision can be inventors, designers, and builders: If you’re interested in learning to code, automating appliances in your home, building accessible measurement tools (such as light detectors and continuity testers) or devising an electronic project of your own, we welcome you to explore electronics and coding with us. Our branch is partnering with DIYAbility and the Blind Arduino Project to present hands-on workshops introducing youth and adults to nonvisual and adaptive techniques for coding and physical computing.

More than thirty patrons—teens, adults, and seniors—with all kinds of vision, participated in our first round of workshops. They were joined by volunteers with computer science and accessibility backgrounds.

In these workshops, participants work in teams to build projects with a small, programmable computer called Arduino, which can be connected to an astonishing array of sensors that measure environmental variables like temperature and light, controllers like touch sensors and dials, and outputs like buzzers, servos, and vibrating motors.

With the right tools and techniques, working with electronic components can be very accessible. Most sensors and inputs can be distinguished by touch; those that can’t can be organized into separate bags or directly labeled. The headers on Arduino boards where wires connect contain a line of small sockets which can be challenging to feel with your fingertip but become easy to navigate when you use a toothpick, the tip of a wire, or a Braille stylus. Tactile drawing tools or an old-fashioned Braille writer are great for documenting the layout of an Arduino board so you can learn how all the pins and headers are labeled. If a project calls for a light that you’re not going to see, you can just substitute a buzzer, a servo’s moving pointer, or a vibrating motor.

Our workshop participants use Macs running Voiceover and Zoom, PCs with JAWS and NVDA, and braille displays to explore and write code in the Arduino’s IDE (Integrated Development Environment). Those who attend our introductory Arduino workshops create simple projects such as light detectors and thermometers that measured the level of light by buzzing or moving a pointer, and a USB-powered paper fan controlled by a servo.

After they’re up and running, participants are ready to discover a wealth of online inspiration and guidance. For example, there’s an engaging and thorough Adafruit Tutorial that starts by explaining every part of the Arduino and moves on to inputs and outputs, wiring and much more. Assistive technology users may sometimes be discouraged by the presence of diagrams and other images amidst online learning tools. That’s where the Blind Arduino Blog comes in. Visit this blog to find detailed textual descriptions of Arduino layouts, information about accessible tools for working with Arduino, and accessible project ideas.

We’re excited to welcome more Arduino learners in the months to come. If you’d like to explore coding and physical computing with us, please check our event calendar or email ChanceyFleet@nypl.org.