My experience watching the 2017 solar eclipse with the BrainPort

The February 1979 solar eclipse, the last total eclipse in North America during the twentieth century, happened during my third grade year. Of course a good teacher would use it as a learning opportunity, explaining what an eclipse was etc. Mrs. Love was definitely one of those cool teachers, and also taught the class never … Continue reading My experience watching the 2017 solar eclipse with the BrainPort →

How trying to find a lunar eclipse totally blind without sighted help got close but didn’t quite work out

About a month ago, I wrote a blog post about experiences I had watching 3 lunar eclipses with the BrainPort artificial vision device. After that the next two eclipses came in the winter, so I played chicken and stayed inside. Last year, there was an eclipse in May and it was the last one for … Continue reading How trying to find a lunar eclipse totally blind without sighted help got close but didn’t quite work out →

My experiences observing lunar eclipses as a blind person, using the BrainPort artificial vision device

Since I was a kid I've heard people comment on the moon when it was full, and when in grade school my class would take a field trip to the high school I would later attend where the rest of them would be given a show in a planetarium. I thought it was pretty cool, … Continue reading My experiences observing lunar eclipses as a blind person, using the BrainPort artificial vision device →

Ways in which cameras help the blind

What I get out of a camera as a blind personI've been politely asked, "how do you read messages or email on a computer?" a less common question is "How did you take that picture?" In the old daysWhen I was a kid, I remember being annoyed because I would have to stand nice for … Continue reading Ways in which cameras help the blind →

Thoughts about Groundhog Day, and my realization of how being afraid of one’s shadow is very possible when combining poor vision with a primitive brain

After decades of research, Dr. Paul Bach-y-rita saw them come to fruition with the BrainPort artificial vision device. The BrainPort made by Wicab takes images from a camera worn on the forehead and converts them to shapes felt on the tongue through an array of 20 by 20 electrodes. Very cool, but also in some … Continue reading Thoughts about Groundhog Day, and my realization of how being afraid of one’s shadow is very possible when combining poor vision with a primitive brain →