Successful test session of OFAI’s LEGO audio instructions at Munich school for the blind and visually impaired
LEGO accessibility platform manager Frederik Hansen and OFAI linguist Susanne Höfler met up in Munich to visit the Sehbehinderten- und Blindenzentrum Südbayern, an association housing schools and various day-care facilities for children and young adults with visual impairments.
The aim of the day: Putting their audio instructions for LEGO sets to the test. OFAI has been in charge of the LEGO Audio & Braille Building Instructions project since 2018, having released English instructions for over 100 models so far. That day, however, the team would test the waters with a new prototype: the first instructions in German.
A lively and eager group of seven students between the ages of 10 and 14 with varying degrees of visual impairment happily volunteered for a casual LEGO play session. After a short round of introductions, the kids split into three groups and were handed one tablet with instructions and one of three different LEGO models per group – they could pick between a green race car, a hot-dog truck and a cat playground. Most of our testers were quite experienced with building LEGO sets, but none of them had ever done so on the basis of LEGO audio instructions. Our team was eager to find out not only if the kids could smoothly build with the audio instructions but also if they would actually enjoy this new form of accessibility. The unanimous verdict after the play session was: Oh yes! And much to our delight, both fully blind children and children with considerably lower degrees of visual impairment were able to benefit from the audio instructions and engage in productive and enjoyable co-play using the different visual and auditory means provided in the instructions. The children not only helped us with providing a proof-of-concept, but they were virtually overflowing with suggestions and ideas on how to make the building experience for their target group more enjoyable. We’re very grateful for the children’s trust, time and enthusiasm and want to thank the Sehbehinderten- und Blindenzentrum Südbayern (PR and fundraising representative Stephanie Märkl in particular) as well as the children’s parents, caretakers and teachers for making this afternoon possible.
OFAI’s LEGO Audio & Braille Building Instructions project is all about providing blind and visually impaired LEGO fans with verbal instructions that can be accessed for free at legoaudioinstructions.com. The instructions come in three flavors: Users can access LEGO audio instructions directly via the website in a simple web UI (and if users need the help of a seeing person, all instructions are accompanied by the well-known LEGO images), download text instructions for Braille reader or access text instructions to be used with the screen reader of their choice.
