[Ct-nfb] accessible technology , Noreen Grice

[Elizabeth Rival]

Observing Basics by Glenn Chap le

 

Accessible astronomy Having a disability shouldn't prevent anyone from
active participation in astronomy. iiI magine this. You are standing at your
telescope waiting for the next interested person to take a peek, when you
notice someone in a wheelchair approaching you. All you can think of is
'What should I do?" '(Noreen Grice, Everyone's Universe: A Guide to
Accessible Astronomy Places, You Can Do Astronomy LLC, 2011) What would you
do? Approximately one in five individuals copes with a disability such as
visual and/or hearing impairments, communication challenges, or wheelchair
confinement. None of us is immune. An illness, accident, or simply the aging
process can leave a once able-bodied person with a disability. And it's
quite possible that such an individual will show up at a public star party
you or your club is conducting. Having a disability shouldn't prevent anyone
from active participation in astronomy. In fact, many have overcome
handicaps to make notable astronomical contributions. In

1783, astronomer John Goodricke, who was deaf/mute, was awarded the Copley
Medal by the Royal Society of England for his work on variable stars. Until
1932, Edwin Frost was both director of Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin and
editor of The Astrophysical Journal despite having become blind 11 years
earlier. Blindness is no hindrance to modern-day astronomers - for example,
Wanda Diaz-Merced, though blind, is an active radio astronomer with NASA's
Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and a Ph.D. student at the
University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom. But perhaps the most celebrated
astronomer (well, physicist) with a mobility and communications disability
is Stephen Hawking. Despite being confined to a wheelchair and  dependent on
a computerized voice system  to speak (a result of having contracted Lou
Gehrig's Disease), Hawking has used his mathematical genius to probe some of
cosmology's greatest mysteries.

 

V IP Browse the "Observing Basics" archive at www.Astronomy.comChaple.

 

64 Astronomy  August 2012 Everyone's (Jniverse: A Guide to Accessible
Astronomy Places, by Noreen Grice, explains how to help everyone see and
enjoy the universe.

 

Noreen Grice

 

Modern technology has brought research astronomy into our homes - a boon to
individuals with disabilities. Computer users with mobility or hearing
problems can access robotic telescopes or work on Internet projects like
Zooniverse's Galaxy Zoo, Moon Zoo, and Planet Hunters. To support the
upcoming Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer mission, NASA is
asking volunteers to make meteor counts using FM radio receivers. Find
details of this project, a nice fit for visually impaired space enthusiasts,
at http://lunarscience.nasa.gov/ articles/radio-meteor-counts. But back to
the original question. What would you do should a person in a wheelchair
approach you at a star party? Noreen Grice has some ideas. She became an
advocate of astronomy for visitors with disabilities after a planetarium
show she conducted for a group of children who were blind. An assessment of
the program according to the kids? "It stunk!" Spurred by the incident,
Grice began to research strategies for presenting astronomy to individuals
with a variety of disabilities. Ultimately, she established You Can Do
Astronomy LLC - a company whose mission is to make astronomy and space
science accessible to people of all abilities. Her book Everyone's Universe:
A Guide to Accessible Astronomy Places is a must-read for .131` anyone
involved in astronomy outreach and should be in the possession of every
astronomy club and science facility. Everyone's Universe is designed to
educate both astronomy clubs and participants with disabilities. Suggestions
for accessible outreach efforts include eyepiece xtenders for those using
wheelchairs, tacile books like Grice's Touch the Stars National Braille
Press, 2002) for readers ho are visually impaired, picture boards to sist
individuals with communication challges, and simple paper and pen or iPad to
teract with a person who cannot hear. Everyone's Universe also provides a
state-bystate listing of accessible astronomy facilities, such as
planetariums and observatories. But why wait for a person with a disability
to show up at your star party? Be proactive and organize an accessible star
party in your community! In Everyone's Universe, Grice spotlights Project
Bright Sky, developed by the Pomona Valley Amateur Astronomers (PVAA) in
California. Through this project, the PVAA conducts private star parties for
those who are visually impaired and offers tactile astronomy classes at
local Braille institutes. For more on You Can Do Astronomy and Project
Bright Sky, visit www.youcandoastronomy.com and http://brightsky.pvaa.us,
respectively. As we strive to infuse the excitement of astronomy into the
public, we mustn't neglect the 20 percent of the population suffering from
some kind of disability. Who knows? That person approaching your telescope
might be a potential contributing member of your astronomy club, possibly
even a future scientist. You can help make the universe more accessible!
Questions, comments, or suggestions? Email me at gchaple at hotmail.com. Next
month: some lunar letters. Clear skies! o

 

This article is dedicated to Ellie Isaacs, whose pen-on-paper rendering of
Stephen Hawking appeared on page 10 of the May 2012 issue of Astronomy
magazine.

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