accessible design program

3d Printing & Accessibility

This is a picture of an accessible 4 digit abacus prototype. Most basic abacus' have just three digits and they are expensive. 3d design and printing can provide a custom and inexpensive solution! This abacus has a name, braille, specific color, and four digits.

Design Projects

Over the past three years the Makerspace has developed its high school universal design program, which provides opportunities for high school students to both be part of or develop unique empathy building projects.

What is universal design?

Universal design is a creative process that involves multiple perspectives. We focus on designing with and not for. Universal design is an iterative process which focuses on improvements and a long term goal of developing functional and engaging projects that can be replicated. It is wonderful to reach 10 students. It is fantastic to reach 100 students!

The Mountain Lakes Public Library believes in sharing resources and ideas. Our theme is "small in scale, large in reach". We have been developing our universal design / open source portfolio of projects with partners such as St. Joseph's School for the Blind, Build a Better Book, Sound Start Babies, Clovernook Braille Printing House, and the local schools.

We would like to thank all of the students that have put in tremendous work and effort to develop projects over the past three years. Additionally, we would like to thank all of our wonderful partners who provided invaluable feedback. Thank you!