23 September 2019
author: Timotej Skledar
Hello. My name is Timothy. I'm 26 years old. About two years ago, I was blinded by the pressure of a brain tumor on the optic nerve. Due to sudden loss of vision, I was challenged overnight to adapt to a new life. My family stood by me all the time, looking for ways to make my life easier. I joined the Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired Ptuj, not long after the loss of vision and they were very helpful with tips and information on how to receive different aid. Being an athlete by heart, I also joined the Showdown team and started to train Audio darts.
Prior to vision loss, I studied at the Faculty of Social Sciences, namely, social science informatics. It is a study of statistics based on analysis and questionnaires. Since I had been working hard for my computer before vision loss, I was naturally curious about how the blind were taken care of in this area. Quickly I conquered the use of phone and computer as a blind user. I realized that there is a lot of software available that will help me with the accessibility of texts, while the access to graphics is still very limited.
The first time I went to a museum as a blind visitor, I experienced their exhibition in a completely different way. Although they allowed me to touch the exhibits and describe what was in the pictures, I missed exploring the museum on my own. When I heard that Feelif had prepared a digital tactile book for the Radovljica Museum of Beekeeping, I was curious what it looked like. I got the chance to touch and explore it. I have to say it felt like I was watching it in front of me. I felt every part of the painting and received additional audio descriptions of what was represented. I also heard realistic sounds of the depicted animals and objects on it. The picture featured some hidden comedic inputs that further enhanced the exploration so that I could hardly wait for more.
Read another testimonial about the first tactile picture in the Radovljica Beekeeping Museum HERE.