Sydney welcomes Lights for the Blind
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By
jesse
Rob Caslick’s LED Braille finally comes to Sydney as part of Lights for the Blind, an exhibition presented by Medland Metropolis Consulting Engineers in conjunction with Vision Australia and the City of Sydney.
Lights for the Blind will showcase Caslick’s pioneering work in creating signage for the blind. After experiencing simulated blindness at a permanent installation at the Milan Blind Institute, Caslick devised a system of LED lights – the tips of which do not heat up – soldered in Braille code patterns.
LED Braille is potentially significant to 90% of the 160 million people around the world diagnosed with blindness who, according to the World Health Organisation, can see light.
LED Braille can be read by touch; some people who are blind are even able to read LED Braille by sight.
Caslick’s innovative design is set to revolutionise signage for the blind. With regulations concerning signage in public spaces becoming more stringent next year, new ways of assisting the blind to find their way in public spaces have never been more crucial.
Lights for the Blind will be both a showcase and a celebration of this simply intelligent new design. It is this clarity and vision that makes Rob Caslick a valued member of the Medland Metropolis team, where he has found an easy fit with the company’s inspired engineering culture.
The event’s opening night on Thursday 2 December will see blind ABC reporter Nastasia Campanella encounter LED Braille for the first time, as she proceeds through the installation and talks Rob Caslick through her experience.
Lights for the Blind will be exhibited at Customs House from 3 December 2010 through 31 January 2011.
Vision Australia
visionaustralia.org.au/
Customs House
cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/customshouse
Medland Metropolis
medland.com.au/

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