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Making research more accessible to people with visual impairments

Published in December 2024
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Equality and solidarityResearch in society

With Valérie Renaudin, director of the GEOLOC laboratory at Université Gustave Eiffel, Michel Ferrant, volunteer with the Nantes branch of the Valentin Haüy association, and David Galantin, member of the CLISSAA Voir et Agir association.

To develop geolocation tools for people with visual impairments, members of the GEOLOC Laboratory have had to adapt their communication methods and means. Thanks to the involvement of associations for the visually impaired in the ACCESS project, researchers have changed their habits and perspectives on disability.

 

Photo of a visually impaired person accompanied on a crosswalk
Credit : GEOLOC laboratory

When setting out to design a smartphone navigation tool for visually impaired people, as part of the inmob joint laboratory, the GEOLOC Laboratory team at Université Gustave Eiffel realised that its communication materials were not accessible for the very people with whom it wanted to collaborate.

Website, business cards, research reports and even verbal exchanges: the team led by researcher Valérie Renaudin has changed how it communicates with visually impaired people, through the ACCESS project. Six letters for one goal: Adapting Communication to inClude thE viSually impaired in reSearch.

Photo of a visually impaired person in front of an obstacle
Credit : laboratoire GEOLOC

Communicating before geolocating

The inmob joint laboratory is supported by the French National Research Agency (ANR) and brings together the team from the Nantes-based GEOLOC Laboratory and Okeenea Digital, a company specialising in mobility issues for the visually impaired. To develop an effective geolocation tool tailored to the specific needs of visually impaired people, the researchers got in touch with Nantes-based NGOs Valentin Haüy Association and CLISSAA. The members of these organizations were able to provide the researchers with their expertise by contributing their practical experience. But to do so, they had to be able to communicate in a different way.

Through discussions between associations, research teams, and design and communication professionals, ACCESS has allowed the inmob team to change its habits, as well as those at Université Gustave Eiffel.

Texts written by the Kogito agency after interviewing the co-sponsors.

 

Identity card of the participatory research

Title of project:ACCESS (Adapting Communication to inClude thE viSually impaired in reSearch).
 Funding:I-SITE FUTURE Citizen Researchers call for projects, launched in 2021
Goal:Adapting Communication to inClude thE viSually impaired in reSearch by the GEOLOC Laboratory, in order to support the research and innovation dynamic at the inmob joint laboratory.
Project co-leaders:

Valérie Renaudin, Director of the GEOLOC Laboratory at Université Gustave Eiffel, David Galantin, member of the CLISSAA Voir et Agir association, Michel Ferrant, member of the Valentin Haüy Association.

Key events:

Feedback workshops on 17 June 2022 and 11 March 2024 with the project's stakeholders, including visually impaired testers and the local bodies concerned, before a final workshop in 2025.

Key words:

accessibility, visually impaired, communication, information, geolocation.