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8 results
  • Article
  • Article

Bringing Braille back to the modern world

| Alex LeeIan Treherne

For anyone who thinks Braille is so last century, read on. New tech is helping dust Braille down and bring it to today’s visually impaired people.

  • Article
  • Article

The sweet sound of synthetic speech

| Alex LeeIan Treherne

After Alex experienced a serious deterioration in his sight, he came to rely on artificial voices to help him with everyday tasks. Find out how synthetic speech came to be developed.

  • Photo story
  • Photo story

Beautiful bedding and how to die well

| Poppy NashSteven Pocock

When you are unwell, your bed can be both a refuge and a prison. Discover how artist Poppy Nash created a bed-centred artwork inspired by her own chronic illness and depictions of ill health from history.

  • Article
  • Article

The joys and failures of audio description

| Alex LeeIan Treherne

Audio description enhances the experience of watching a film or TV show for people with a visual impairment, but it's not widely available in the UK. Alex Lee explains why.

  • Article
  • Article

Dial ‘S’ for sex

| Dr Kate Lister

In pre-internet days, phone boxes became a patchwork of ‘tart cards’ offering sexual services. Find out about the clandestine world they hint at.

  • Article
  • Article

Virtual reality and the fix of the future

| Stevyn Colgan

Virtual reality, with its complex sensory tricks, takes us beyond the real world. Find out how these potentially addictive experiences can harm us – or might even have therapeutic uses.

  • Article
  • Article

Life before assistive technology

| Alex LeeIan Treherne

When an inherited condition caused Alex Lee’s vision to deteriorate, he began to discover the technologies that would help him navigate the world around him. Here he describes how his life began to change.

  • Article
  • Article

Electrical epilepsy and the EEG Test

| Aparna NairTracy Satchwill

The EEG (electroencephalograph) literally electrified the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy. But for Aparna Nair the dreaded EEG tests of her adolescence were a painful ordeal.