7 months ago
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A oversea of bluish invites you to the Accessible Science Corner astatine the Periyar Science and Technology Centre successful Chennai with corals, silicone dolphin and 3D exemplary of fishes. This country enables visually-impaired radical to acquisition and recognize the underwater world.
Inaugurated by erstwhile Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud connected Monday (October 6, 2025), the centre offers visually-impaired persons an immersive acquisition of the underwater world. “Museums astir the satellite are inaccessible for persons with disabilities. While immoderate could beryllium made accessible, the remainder tin not beryllium made accessible. Further, underwater is 1 of the things that persons with disabilities mightiness not get to experience. So we decided to showcase that,” said Subisha K.R., a probe subordinate astatine the Accessibility Research Centre (ARC), IIT Madras.
Created by ARC, Accessible Science Corner is an effort to marque museums accessible to persons with disabilities. The tiny country starts with the instauration to the satellite with continents and the water labelled successful braille. The continents are marked successful unsmooth texture to differentiate. It past moves connected to the 3D exemplary of assorted fishes including prima fish, oversea anemone, oversea cucumber which are made successful silicone earlier explaining the assorted reefs that are disposable successful the ocean.
“We had planned to marque the full structures successful 3D from our IIT labs pursuing the guidelines of Braille Authority of North America but we soon realised that the crisp edges, which mightiness beryllium missed by an capable person, would origin fearfulness successful a visually-impaired person. So, we besides engaged sculptors for immoderate of the models,” said Muhammad Sadiq T, Research Associate astatine the ARC.
But the astir loved installation astatine the Centre has been the silicone large-sized dolphin. “The children loved it. They cognize wherever the fin is now, the dolphin’s mouth. So overmuch joyousness it brings them,” added Ms Subisha.
The Centre has tactile tiles, dolby atmos dependable for the immersive acquisition and besides extended world (ER) sets for a personalised experience. To marque it genuinely accessible, ARC besides revamped the ramps starring to the Periyar Science and Technology Centre arsenic per guidelines.
Next, ARC plans to marque the centre compatible with different disabilities too. “We are besides readying to acceptable up summary corners successful each depository successful Tamil Nadu truthful that persons with disabilities tin sojourn the country to recognize what the depository holds with specifics adjacent if they can’t entree the full thing,” said Ms Subisha.
