Connecting the lines: A practitioner’s report on using TouchéTech’sTactile Geometry Construction Kit for the students with Visual Impairment

Practitioner’s report presented at CTDP 2024

Authors: Paul Dsouza, Meera Muthukrishnan, Rebecca Carvalho, Kartik Joshi

Learning geometry concepts has been a persistent challenge for students with visual impairments. The
lack of appropriate accessible tools for geometry construction and drawings have resulted in students’
disinterest towards the subject. The common pedagogical resources around Geometry construction
and drawings for the students are limiting and rely on negative impressions. In this practitioners’
report, we spotlight the research and development of a Tactile Geometry Kit – a patented range of
accessible tools that are deployed in special schools through Vision Empower’s pan-India network. The
report chronicles the evolution of the Touchetech’s tactile geometry kit and its implementation.
Through observations and interviews, we report teachers’ perception towards the geometry kit and
its potential scope as they integrate it into their lesson plans. The report offers insights about
successful adoption of assistive technology innovation in the domain of education. Vision Empower’s
rigorous field immersion brings to the fore the value of employing universal design for learning (UDL)
principles for deploying grassroots AT innovation.