On a monitor, a brightly colored microscope image shows part of the cerebral cortex of a person with advanced Alzheimer’s disease. For a blind young student, studying the universe hidden within that image would be practically impossible, limiting their access to the sciences. But that is about to change, thanks to a technology—developed in part by Puerto Rican minds—that promises to bring inclusion for this population to levels previously unimaginable.
“We don’t believe in ‘you can’t,’ in ‘you can’t study math, you can’t be a scientist because you’re blind.’ The reality today is that our blind students do not study STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Zero. When our blind students get to college, they look for any major that has nothing to do with math or science because, from a young age, they’re told, ‘that’s too hard, that’s too visual.’ From childhood, there are no materials or technologies that allow them equal access. We want to change that,” said Dr. José Manuel Álvarez Cabán, a blind professor at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) in Río Piedras.
Álvarez Cabán is a researcher at the educational center Arecibo C3, which will partially open its doors in January at the former Arecibo Observatory. As part of its inclusion initiatives, the professor led a collaboration with the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) to develop a tool that allows blind individuals to represent microscope images on an innovative tablet capable of digitally reproducing the braille system.
The tablet was developed as part of the Monarch Project, named—like the butterfly—for its transformation of braille from paper to digital. In addition to combining braille with tactile graphics, the device includes other integrated functions, such as a word processor, a graphing calculator, and a book reader.
Álvarez Cabán explained that one of the goals is for blind university students pursuing STEM disciplines to be able to independently operate the advanced microscopes—controlled from a computer—at the Neuroimaging and Electrophysiology Facility (NIEF) of the UPR Molecular Sciences Research Center, certified as a Nikon Center of Excellence. The tool allows users to rely on other senses, such as touch and hearing.
“The feedback is that it’s ‘life-changing technology,’ the same reaction I had the first time I touched it. All my life I was told that Puerto Rico looked like a rectangle. When I started uploading images to the tablet for the first time, my first curiosity was to upload the map of Puerto Rico. When I touched it, it was ‘wow.’ It’s incredible—there’s an element of proportionality. You immediately say, ‘this is life-changing technology,’ something that breaks paradigms in the learning process,” he emphasized.
Currently, there are five Monarch tablets in Puerto Rico. The Arecibo C3 researcher shared that about 40 teachers from the public school system who serve 230 legally blind students—completely blind or with low vision—recently received training on this technology. They also learned about two applications that promise to shape the future of these children.
Before reaching the university level, blind children need developmental tools that allow them to learn about science.
To address that gap, the professor created an application that functions as an interactive coloring book that speaks and displays visuals, allowing children to explore the solar system. It also helps them develop motor skills by letting them color on paper with raised-relief planets and braille-labeled crayons what they first explored on the computer. Meanwhile, another application—combining artificial intelligence with research conducted at UPR—will teach them about the parts of a mosquito and, in the future, will integrate other organisms such as bees and the human body. The goal is for these technologies to reach classrooms next year.
“From a young age, we’re giving them tools so that science becomes fun, accessible, and something they can really contextualize—what they’re learning and what the solar system actually is. They lose their fear, but what truly matters here is empowerment. Special education tells us we must empower students for independent living. In the end, that’s the essence—you begin eliminating all the ‘you can’t,’” he highlighted. “We want them to be exposed and master these skills so that later they can make a choice. Not everyone will be a teacher, not everyone will be a scientist, but they will have the option. Our blind students, today, do not have that option.”