Attorney General Loretta Lynch has just signed a final rule stating that cinemas must own, maintain and advertise aids to customers with disabilities. This includes closed captioning for deaf movie goers and audio descriptions for visually impaired patrons.With companies such as Sony providing subtitle glasses, the new rule shouldn’t be difficult to follow and will offer people, who may not otherwise have enjoyed the full theater experience, an enjoyable night out.
Read more about the new regulation here.
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DOJ: Cinemas must offer tech for blind and deaf customers
Wanda Merced was an astronomer in her early 20s when she started losing her sight. But she didn’t let that stop her from pursuing her passion. She found a way to hear the stars through sonification. She is now a sonic astrophysicist using a technique that she developed.
An encounter with a blind man at a bus stop led two students to create Horus, an assistive technology device that addresses the issues that the man at the bus stop said he regularly encountered.
Santa Claus is a part of our Christmas story as children and many of us remember writing letters to Santa and waiting for a reply. But visually impaired children may not be able to read Santa’s letter themselves. Unless you use this service from Braille Works that provides Braille and large print letters from Santa to your child.
Accessible nature trails are becoming more popular around the country. In Massachusetts a new trail has been opened which is accessible to the visually impaired as well as people with mobility issues.
Despite multiple delays, there are now rules in place stating that all vehicles must emit a certain level of noise. “Quiet cars” will be required to sound alerts when traveling at low speeds.
With the help of Microsoft, Scottish landscape artist Keith Simon has added sound to his landscapes in an interactive format. As a user moves in front of his art, different audio tracks are played to further illustrate his work. He currently has three paintings that have been adapted to work with the soundscape environment.
When people think of blindness as a complete lack of vision, but according to 
Tommy Edison, The Blind Film Critic became known for his reviews of movies from a blind person’s perspective, but lately, his popularity has been growing as he addresses questions that people want to know about the visually impaired.
Although Charlotte grew up visually impaired, it took her a long time to understand that she was different because of the way her family treated her. In 
Steph Cutler was in her 20s when her vision started to change and she was told she likely had only months before she was completely blind.
Many people who live without any visual impairment have the mistaken notion that all blind people live in perpetual darkness. Most sighted people close their eyes and see only black and may expect the same is true for a blind individual.
Veronica Gonzalez Bonet is a television journalist in Argentina who has won awards for her work and her advocacy for people with disabilities. She recently spoke at the United Nations about her experiences as a person with a disability in such a public position.
The Wall Street Journal recently interviewed sighted running guides and people who are visually impaired and rely on a guide to stay safe while running. This 
In 2010, President Obama stated that the government should be a model employer by hiring more people living with disabilities. The government set a target that they needed to meet: 100,000 new employees with disabilities before 2015.
Although Tim Ducette has very limited vision, he is able to discern the stars and planets in the night sky. Tucked away in a quiet corner of Canada, there is very little light pollution making it the perfect place to experience our little piece of the universe.
Disability simulations have become more popular. We’re hearing about people dining in the dark, mayors being blindfolded and led around town and able bodied people using wheelchairs in the mall. The idea behind these simulations is to give people an idea of what a person with a disability goes through and how hard it can be to do daily tasks that some take for granted.
Many who live with a visual impairment find that keeping physically fit is difficult. But Arvin Carandang took his physical health in a different direction and became a personal trainer.
Michelle Lamm was born without sight. A keen musician, she learned to tune pianos at school relying on her hearing and skills in music to ensure her work is top-notch. As a Registered Piano Technician, she has all the same skills you would find in a sighted piano tuner.
When interacting with a child who is visually impaired, it’s important to appropriately and effectively relay your actions and expectations.
A group of seven blind and visually impaired writers recently got together to compile a book of their life experiences.
A museum in Vienna, Austria is working to make art work accessible to the visually impaired. The Kiss, a work by Gustav Klimt that is known for its vibrant color and the texture depicted, has been created in a 3D relief.
Jared Hara went blind when he was 11 years old. He had been an avid hockey player, but after losing his vision, his parents looked for other avenues in which he could excel. He stumbled upon music and the electric guitar became his new passion.
A new hands free cooking app helps people make dinner without ever having to look at a cookbook or touch a screen.
Using a fine cord to guide them, visually impaired models took to the runway in Paris during Paris Fashion Week earlier this month.
A group of scientists is looking at how breakdancing is viewed by people with reduced and limited vision. Their theory is that the broad movements and unusual positions used in the dance style are easier for a visually impaired person to process. They also believe that breakdancing can be seen easier than some other forms because many of the moves occur on the floor which may be in a better line of sight for many people with vision loss.
Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Facebook, and IBM have joined forces to create Partnership on Artificial Intelligence to Benefit People and Society. It’s a partnership on Artificial Intelligence (AI).
We often think of virtual reality as something for video games and fantastical futures that are imagined in books and movies. But virtual reality is already here and there are practical applications for its use.
Google has recently open-sourced their model for identifying the images in a photo. Boasting a 93.9% accuracy rate, the latest version is their best so far.
A crowd sourcing app has been launched to help visually impaired commuters find the bus stop. Although it sounds simple, finding the actual post or shelter can be tricky. GPS only gets you within 30 feet and that can be the difference between catching the bus or having it drive right by. The app allows other transit users to provide full descriptions of the location of the bus stop to make it easier to find.
A recent study considered how the brain grasps mathematical tasks. Researchers compared the brain activity of blind individuals with that of sighted individuals while they figured out math problems. Their findings were interesting and showed that blind individuals used the region of the brain typically reserved for sight when doing the calculations while sighted people didn’t.
