[Narrator] Video Clips on Blindness Tips, a series of video demonstrations for daily living
skills for the blind and visually impaired, presented in conjunction with
the Washington State School for the Blind.
[Jake] My name is Jake Koch and I'm a Residential Life Counselor with the Learning
Independence for Today and Tomorrow program, which is a residential education
program serving young adults, ages 18 to 21 years of age. [Stephanie] And my name is Stephanie
Face. I'm one of the Daily Living Skills teachers here at the Washington State
School for the Blind.
Welcome to Part 2 of our video series on how to label appliances for visually or
cognitively impaired users. If you haven't seen Part 1 we suggest you watch
that first, describes our common marking materials, and a little bit about how to
use them. As we learned in Part one,
a good marking system will be simple, defined and readable. By simple we mean that
you should limit those markings you use to a certain few and this will also help
avoid having an overly cluttered display that is hard to read. By defined we mean
that you should only use a couple of symbols and make sure they're
consistently used, because if you use an "X" for a start button on one appliance and
then use it as the stop button on another appliance this might be
confusing.
[Jake] Now I'd like to take some time to provide some suggestions for labeling
tactually and in Braille. First, tactual and or Braille labels need to be obvious
to what they refer to. Second, Braille labels need to be placed horizontally
and right side up because Braille is not read diagonally, or radially, the way
sometimes print sometimes is.
And finally, I would like to provide some tips for labeling machines that are
going to be used by multiple users. If possible, try to place
braille or other tactual labels so they obscure the least amount of print as
possible.
This will require creative solutions because you still want the label to be
directly over the button.
So, when pushing on the label, the button will engage. [Stephanie] The markings that you choose
will differ based on the design of the machine and the skill level of the user.
We'll continue to discuss how this impacts your marking decisions as we
show you how to label microwaves, washers and dryers, ovens,
and stovetops. Now we will look at a stovetop display and how you might
choose to mark them. Typically, stovetops are controlled by radial dials that
regulate the temperature.
If there's room on the display it's helpful to mark high, medium, and low. Some
displays only leave room for high and low.
It may also be necessary to mark the off position.
This dial clicks into place when off, so there's no need to label it.
It may be necessary to designate which dial controls which burner.
Many of our students who are new to using a stove find these orientation
markings helpful.
Looking at our stove, the far left dial on this stove controls the front left
burner and has labeled "FL".
Feel free to abbreviate these designations to save space and reduce
clutter.
Some users can memorize the location of each dial relative to the burner that it
operates.
If you have a gas range instead of electric the marking procedures will be
very similar, but it will depend on the individual controls of your stove. For
example, most electric ranges will turn clockwise for the high temperature while
gas ranges typically turn counterclockwise.
[Jake] Generally, on an oven, you will find touch pads and rotary dials. To mark a rotary dial
the procedures are similar to those markings on the stove. To save space it is
important to mark the most common temperatures, which are generally 300, 350
400, and 450 degrees.
Some users prefer Braille while other users prefer tactual dots.
If you plan to label with tactual dots it is important that the user knows which dot
corresponds to which temperature. As you can see on this oven
we have marked the dot representing 350 degrees and other dot representing 450
degrees.
The user simply lines up the dot on the dial with the corresponding dot on the
front of the oven.
This oven defaults to a big cycle. The user must know that in order to broil
they turn this knob to the far right. One more click will take us to the
self-clean cycle. This oven, on the other hand, has a numeric touch pad where users
enter temperature and oven settings. For Braille readers this is the perfect place to
label numbers and function labels.
This machine has a roomy display allowing us to spell out the function
labels. Many users prefer abbreviations. Some of the most common abbreviations
used are "B" for bake, "BR" for Broil, "CL: for Clean or "C" for clear or cancel.
Perhaps also using "X" for off or "ST" for start.
On this display, we've used the contracted Braille to spell out the word "start" and
we used "temp" to spell out the word temperature to save space. When you hit
the bake button on this machine
the digital display defaults to bake and 350 degrees. Currently there is no way to
add speech output to these types of devices, but since this particular model
defaults to
350 degrees, we can just count in increments.
This machine does five degree adjustments. We have a Braille + 5 and
a Braille - 5 labeled on this display.
So if you needed to set the oven to 400 degrees for example, you would punch the
up arrow 10 times. [Stephanie] The microwave is one of the most commonly used appliances.
Most microwaves use a flat touchpad display. It is possible to purchase
microwaves with rotary dials
but since the flat touchpad display is much more common, that's what we're going
to show you how to mark today.
A low vision user may be able to read the display with little to no labeling.
If the user has a cognitive disability, one good marking method is to outline
the function buttons such as start, clear, defrost, and popcorn, with hi-lines.
You could use different colors to indicate different functions if the
person is not able to remember the location of specific function controls.
For example, the start button on a microwave is usually near the bottom
right corner.
If color distinctions would not work for a particular user, you may look at
options such as using a variety of raised tacticle shapes to differentiate the
functions.
[Jake] The microwave is a great appliance to label in Braille.
If you plan on labeling your microwave with Braille, we suggest using Braille-on.
We have found that it appears to adhere to the display and last longer than
similar marking products.
One of the most important parts to label is the number pad. It is possible to make
a Braille overlay for the number pad to eliminate the need to cut out and stick
on, each number, one at a time. To make an overlay, insert a 3 x 5 note card
or other similar sized piece of paper into the Braille writer. Ask the user to
write out the numbers using several different Braille space widths between each
number.
We have found that most displays require two to three horizontal Braille spaces
between each brailled number. On a display like this,
we generally omit the number sign that you would normally see in Braille to
save space.
Remove the note card from the Braille writer, place next to the microwave's
printed display. Visually check to see which spacing of Brailled numbers lines
up with the printed numbers the best.
After determining the required Braille spacing for the rows of numbers
insert a sheet of Braille-on into the Braille writer and ask the user to
Braille out the numbers using the required spacing. Remove the sheet of
Braille-on and cut out the three rows of numbers, and with the users help, ensure
that the Braille is right side up.
Remove the backing and place on the display.
Make sure that pushing the numbers in Braille
engages the button function. Since the number zero generally sits under number
eight
you may have to do this one individually. If this system seems too complicated
feel free to cut out each number individually and place them on the
display.
[Stephanie] Washing machines and dryers come with a large variety of settings and functions.
They also include a variety of display types. First, we'll look at the washing
machine. This machine features rotary dials and selector knobs. This type of
display is the easiest to make accessible.
Ask the user whom you are helping label the machines,
what kind of settings they would like labeled. This should be decided based on
the laundry settings that they will use most often. Some users, for example, may
never use the delicate cycle so you can ignore that while labeling. Here we have
the load sizes, water temperature selections,
normal, and delicate cycles and the extra rinse function labeled in Braille on
this machine.
We also have each function labeled with different colored puff paint. This is
useful for somebody who has low vision and the ability to see color, or somebody
with the cognitive disability as they are able to match the red dot to the
green dot. Now we will show you how to label the dryer.
This machine also features rotary dials and selector knobs.
We have the 20 and 60 minute markings labeled,
as well as the heavy dry, wrinkle prevention, end of cycle alarm and the
start button. Again, we are demonstrating the use of Braille labels and hi-line
dots to mark the settings.
Remember, there are a lot of functions on both washers and dryers and if you mark
every single thing the display will most likely become unreadable. Some newer
model appliances are moving towards scrolling displays that cannot be made
accessible with these methods that we've described to you. Until manufacturers
have been convinced to include speech output with these types of displays, you
might just need to avoid them where possible.
Another common problem with labeling appliances is how to label shared
laundry facilities such as things that you would find in dormitories,
Laundromats, or in shared laundry facilities at apartment complexes.
According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, all public facilities
must accommodate those with disabilities.
Please work with the management at the facility to find a solution that works
for everyone.
Creating visual and tactual labels that are simple, defined, and readable will
allow cognitively impaired, visually impaired, and blind users to access their
appliances with greater independence.
Remember that these marking techniques we've shown you are only a few of the
possible marking techniques and you are perfectly able to make up things
that make sense for your user. [Jake] Use this two-part video series as a guide to your
labeling projects.
If you would like more information about the products used in this demonstration
or a copy of the video transcripts, visit the Washington State School for the
Blind website at wssb.wa.gov and thank you once again for joining us
today.