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In the hall of the Whitney museum for the Verbal Description and Touch Tour of the Biennial 2012, where the blind and visually impaired can experience art pieces using other senses but sight. Tours for the blind are organized in many museums in New York, but there’s the request for a more developed concept of universal design, which would make them more autonomous and let the institutions save money on the long run, developing only one fully funcional device for everyone instead of a range of customized alternatives. Devices would include audiotour radios that the blind can use with no need to push the numbers, and more contrasty and bigger wall texts placed at eye-level, easier to read for someone who has a sight deficit. New York, Apr 27, 2012 © Gaia Squarci
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Students from the World Services for the Blind sit to watch a movie inside a theater in Little Rock, Arkansas, January 4, 2013. Robert Brown (L), visually impaired because of Stargardt disease, Dale Layne (C), blind with light perception because of glaucoma, and Cynda Bellamy, a sighted recreation specialist at the WSB, were preparing to watch "Cloud Atlas." © Gaia Squarci
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Collin Watt, visually impaired, climbs a rope in his backyard. He is karate teacher for the visually impaired and waiter at the restaurant Dans le Noir, in midtown Manhattan. Queens, New York, July 10, 2012 © Gaia Squarci
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Matthew Whitaker, a 10 year-old drummer who already made himself known as a musician, takes the arm of a schoolmate to get out of a music lesson at LIghthouse International. New York. Mar 10, 2012 © Gaia Squarci
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Alexandra Hobbes holds her daughter Destiny. Alexandra was blinded by domestic abuse at the age of four, and she grew up in a foster home. Her husband, Elijah Hobbes, is visually impaired because of albinism. Destiny, 1, is sighted, but she was born four months premature and fought for life for six months before her health stabilized. u201c When I was pregnant, for the first time in my life there was someone that I couldnu2019t escape from, the first human being who really belonged to me. The moment Alexandra gave birth, Destiny was put into an incubator under intensive treatment. u201c She was just goneu201d she says. Alexandra was unable to see her daughter, " I couldnu2019t even touch her for 24 hours." Destiny spent months in the hospital before her parents could bring her home. © Gaia Squarci
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Collin Watt feels the sand on the beach in Coney Island. Watt is visually impaired, with light and some color perception from one eye, since when he was 12 years-old. New York. May 13, 2012 © Gaia Squarci
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Verbal Description and Touch Tour of the Whitney Biennial 2012, where the blind and visually impaired can experience art pieces without seeing them. The tours are organized every two months and have to be booked. New York. Apr 27, 2012 © Gaia Squarci
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Flowers can be hit and fall very easily; in some houses they're kept under transparent plastic bells. New York. Mar 8, 2012 © Gaia Squarci
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Alexandra Hobbes hears a sudden noise. Alexandra is blind since the age of 4 because of domestic violence, grown up in a foster family after the abuse. She lives with her husband, Elijah Hobbes, albino and visually impaired, and she's studying forensic criminology to become a lawyer. New York. Apr 16, 2012 © Gaia Squarci
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Dale Layne, a student who is blind with light perception, lies in his bed while posing for a portrait at the World Services for the Blind (WSB) in Little Rock, Arkansas, January 7, 2013. © Gaia Squarci
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Dale Layne repairs a computer in his house. Dale teaches computer vision at Visions Center for the blind and repairs electronic devices for clients and friends. He still has a very vivid mental picture of what he's touching, thanks to visual memory. New York.Feb 05, 2012 © Gaia Squarci
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Reproduction of a photograph of Collin Watt when he was a child. Collin, now in his 40s, is almost completely blind since the age of 12, when he says he was prescribed Tegretol in Queens General Hospital, to heal his continuous headaches. Tegretol is a medicine used to cure epilepsy and it can cause strong side effects; when Collin took the medicine his skin peeled off completely and it took it two months hospitalized to grow again. He still carries the scars of this process. At the same time, his eyes suffered a stroke of blood pressure, going blind except for a limited capability to see from the right eye. He can see colors and guess shapes in presence of a bright light and contrast. New York. March 10, 2012 © Gaia Squarci
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Danielle Corley playing in her room in East New York. Danielle is a sighted child, growing up with both blind parents. Dominique, her mother, is blind from the age of 26 because of a car crash. She says that "Danielle is still too young to understand blindness fully, but she knows that mom and dad can't see. Sometimes she waves her hand in front of my face to play. I know that because I can feel the air moving. Generally the problem is that she can say more NO than children with sighted parents, but overall I feel I'm doing a pretty good job". New York, Feb 21, 2012 © Gaia Squarci
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Alexandra Hobbes, blind since the age of 4 because of domestic violence, listens to television in the apartment where she lives with her husband Elijah Hobbes, albino and visually impaired. The blind listen to television daily and advocate for a descriptive device that would enable them to enjoy the programs fully, like the hearing impaired have. New York. Apr 16, 2012 © Gaia Squarci
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Michael Faillace, blind employment lawyer, started 15 years ago to swim every day in Asphalt Green, swimming-pool in the Upper East Side. The contact with water helps him to dilute the stress of his job. The workers of the swimming pool know him well and make sure he can swim in the lane close to the wall, to protect him from hurting his arm against the plastic lanes. The ones who swim in his same lane are asked to stay always on the same side without keeping the right; he still faces resistance and complaints from other clients of the swimming-pool for this reason. New York. Oct 19, 2012 © Gaia Squarci
