This is an Expedited award. The purpose of this research is to produce an Anatomical Atlas for the Blind. This research will, primarily, produce tactile anatomical diagrams of sufficient clarity that a blind student will achieve a vivid understanding of intricate structural details. In addition it will address the issue of computer and automated technology to be used in the production of graphic illustrations to produce detailed tactile diagrams that would permit the blind to study anatomy. This research will give to the blind a new and important avenue for intellectual development by opening up the field of anatomy; however, it has much broader implications. It is very possible that this research will initiate the development of computer means to produce tactile graphs from two dimensional pictures. Thus, this research could initiate a whole new field of technology which could permit three dimensional figures, which the blind and non-blind could perceive, to be constructed from flat pictures, which are completely unaccessible to the blind persons senses.
