2024-02-21 20:24:43
“It is important to understand how to maximize the use of touch and other non-visual methods of communication,” emphasizes Natalina Martiniello. The one who made visual rehabilitation and accessibility her hobby horse became an assistant professor at the School of Optometry at the University of Montreal in January, where she was already a lecturer.
Promote access
Credit: Amélie Philibert, University of Montreal
After a bachelor’s degree in literature and education at McGill University, Natalina Martiniello completed a master’s and a doctorate in vision science at the University of Montreal and specialized in visual rehabilitation. While working as a vision rehabilitation clinician, she noticed the lack of assessment and intervention tools for adults and seniors who have to use braille. Learning to read braille as an adult requires strategies that take into consideration the unique changes in tactile, motor, and cognitive abilities that people experience.
“I was lucky because my family made sure I had all the tools I needed,” says the assistant professor. Although she had low vision at the time, she learned to read Braille and use a white cane. “I want to make sure everyone has the same options,” she continues.
Drawing on her personal and professional experiences, Natalina Martiniello has played an active role in developing initiatives to support braille learning, accessibility and inclusion. She chaired Braille Literacy Canada (formerly the Canadian Braille Authority) and is a subject matter expert with the Academy for Certification of Vision Rehabilitation & Education Professionals, the certification body for vision rehabilitation professionals.
Continue searching
Through her unique perspective, Natalina Martiniello directs her research towards the issue of braille, non-visual communication technologies and acquired visual impairment to improve the living conditions of people who have visual impairments. “These people can have a quality of life and be independent; in order for them to succeed, we must offer services and do research to better support the acquisition of these different skills,” she summarizes.
The new professor is interested, among other things, in facilitators linked to learning Braille, testing various technologies and studying their effects. “For me, research is an ideal method to analyze these questions more broadly,” says Natalina Martiniello. Braille displays, for example, which are connected to a computer or smartphone, allow simultaneous translation into Braille. Braille dots are also higher than on paper. His doctoral research, carried out in collaboration with local and national vision rehabilitation centers, explored the scope of these devices for elderly clients. “Reading accuracy and speed were improved,” she observes.
The researcher is working as a team to examine the impact of smartphones that incorporate accessibility features, such as screen reading software. “I am privileged to continue this work in vision science alongside experts from several disciplines at the School of Optometry, where we also offer a graduate program to train future clinicians in vision rehabilitation. », she remarks.
Breaking down barriers
Credit: Amélie Philibert, University of Montreal
Despite acquiring new skills, people who are blind or visually impaired still face barriers. “There remain obstacles to inclusion, physical accessibility and in the perception of others,” says Natalina Martiniello. She is thus interested in the broader question of policies and inclusion. Fortunately, “most barriers can be broken down with changes in practices and policies,” she says.
Her postdoctoral work, for which she received provincial and federal scholarships, focused on the inclusion of researchers with visual impairments in vision science. She launched several projects, including a toolbox to facilitate access to scientific conferences. The professor will continue her work in this direction to touch on all aspects of research, including research results. Different tools can be used, such as displays that allow you to read an entire page at once rather than one line at a time, which opens up a whole new world for people with visual impairments: graphs, tables, mathematics, etc.
Because while basic research into visual impairments is absolutely essential, Natalina Martiniello wants to improve accessibility and inclusion. “The unemployment rate among people who live with a visual impairment is still at 70%,” she recalls. We must therefore continue to break down barriers.
1708549035
#Natalina #Martiniello #improving #quality #life #blind