I am writting to find out if it is possible to have a piece of tape around the top of the clear scoring tubes. The reason I ask is because one of our members is visually impaired and it will be very hard for him to see the top to score. By putting either black or another color around the top would give some contrast. By doing this it would not give him a unfair advantage as everyone would benefit.
Unfortunately, the field design for VEX Toss Up has been finalized. However, we will be sure to consider this option in future game designs.
Thank you for your reply. We are a bit perplexed from your reply. Perhaps if we give more details, it may help understand the request is simply one to “level the playing field” for those with a visual disability and it does not negatively impact anyone else. Bottom line, our student has non-correctable low vision and this makes his task equivialent as trying to line the robot up to a clear cylinder from approximatly from 60-80 feet away - VERY challenging. Also, this is not the first time we have requested this - we originally wrote a letter over a year ago with a similar point. Schools help level the field for him, an ID cane helps, we hope that VEX would encourage these young bright minds to do everything possible even when they face challenges such as a visual disability.
We hope give this further information will create a robust conversation among the game designers and that you will give this request more consideration having more details.
So that you know, below is the email we sent to Mr. Morella after receiving the reply here.
sent on June 24, 2013 ~
Hello Mr. Morella ~ In March 2012 as part of an English project our son emailed and wrote a letter requesting for the planning team to consider visually disabled students when designing the field. The original email is below. The VEX Challenge for 2012/13 was perfect, the colors enabled low vision people to see as equally as others. However, the design for the 2013/14 presents a significant challenge with the clear cylinder for visually impaired students. The clear cylinder is near impossible to see from 10/12 feet away for our son, Ryan Poston. He has several non correctable eye conditions, and has a vision of 20/160 in his best eye (His last eye examination results are attached).
Our request is that a color tape (white, yellow, blue) be allowed to be added to the top of the clear cylinder that holds the bucky balls. Adding tape does not give any one person any further advantage over another, it only levels the playing field for people of all visual acuities. Additionally, adding the tape is not too cost prohibitive for any school/competition. Could it be written into the rules that tape “may” be added if a participant can prove the a medical condition that warrants the situation? Perhaps if one of the designers tried to align their robot to shoot a bucky ball into a clear cylinder from at least 60 feet away, they could better empathize with the situation a low vision student has. We made the request on Forum recently and feel completely dismissed by the response received (it is inserted below).
We sincerely hope that VEX will reconsider its position on adding the tape to the clear cylinder and make every effort to include and encourage students of all abilities into this field.
Kelly & Jim Poston Robotics Education, VEX and FRC
visit Redirecting... to learn about our team!
05-31-2013, 11:26 AM
From: “Kelly & Jim” [email protected]
To: “jason morrella” [email protected]
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2012 8:38:39 PM
Subject: special request for VEX fields competittions
Dear Mr. Morella:
The purpose of this letter is request an addition to 2012-13 VEX competition field, a minor accommodation for the visually impaired.
I have low vision, acuity of 20/160 in one eye and 20/200 in the other, which cannot be corrected with glasses or anything. My request is that you add some highlighted colors at the goal locations. For example, on this year’s game, Gateway, you could add yellow tape around the tips of the goal posts. I am on team 6A, and I did pretty well considering this was my first year. Adding a brightly colored tape would allow me to see the goal as clearly as those who have 20/20 vision. Having to stand at one side of the field and see the other side is difficult. Everything in this year’s field was gray, the floor, the perimeter, the goal post, making it difficult to distinguish the goal posts well, especially with a robot in front of it. This change would level the playing for field for visually impaired students and encourage more students with vision conditions to try robotics, specifically VEX.
Thank you for your time and consideration. I hope the 2012-13 game will have an adaption for the visually impaired. I look forward to the next season; hopefully I can qualify for the world competition this time.
Sincerely,
Ryan Poston
Thank for you bringing this issue to our attention. We actually had a chance to discuss this question at the RECF Event Partner Summit this week. We are aware that clear goals can be difficult for any driver to see, especially those who are visually impaired. As such, this is part of the reason we always include white tape lines leading to the goals; they not only allow sensors to better track towards the goals, but they also provide visual cue to help drivers find the goals. In terms of tracking the tops of the goals, with the goals being of a fixed height, we encourage teams to use sensors (for example, a potentiometer on an arm joint, allowing the arm to always reach a fixed position at the top of the goal) to allow them to detect and/or consistently reach the desired height.