You’re reading this because you’re sighted. Chances are you have photographs that bring back memories just by looking at them.
Not so for the blind. Memories can not come rushing back for them by going through the family photo album; however, a 3-D printer manufacturing company by the name of Pirate3D aims to change that with “Touchable Memories“.
Ryan Grenoble writes about it online for Huff Post Good News:
In a video released last week, the company explored the power of recreating photos for the blind with a 3-D printer, extruding them in plastic so they, too, could have a tangible means to relive treasured memories. The video follows five seeing-impaired individuals as they recall memories which one woman, Daniela, describes as “almost like dreams, like a gust of wind — there and it’s gone.“
As a social experiment, Touchable Memories made use of a new technology, achieving incredible results. People’s lives had a certain aspect which was better than before.
Willing test subjects reacted with very long silences, with obvious emotions washing over their faces “as if they were being transported in time“.
3-D printing becomes so much more than the functional, it allows the blind to touch their memories!
The Pirate3D 3-D printing turns precious photographs into a hands-on piece that can be experienced.
See it for yourself in the video.
source: Huff Post Good News article by Ryan Grenoble “Printer Turns Photos Into 3-D Objects So Blind People Can Hold Onto Treasured Memories”
“Touchable Memories” video from YouTube
