Partnership will empower visually impaired visitors to engage with museum’s wide range of galleries and exhibits
HOUSTON, TX - The Houston Museum of Natural Science (HMNS) is launching a new partnership with Baltimore-based assistive tech company ReBokeh Vision Technologies to improve accessibility for vision-impaired visitors. The partnership provides all visitors with free, automatic, and unlimited access to ReBokeh, a mobile-app based assistive tech software which helps users with low vision to adjust the appearance of the world around them in order to fit their specific needs.
For more than 100 years, HMNS has operated with the ethos that science can enhance everyone’s lives. This partnership will expand that impact by creating new opportunities for visitors with low vision, allowing them to engage with the museum’s wide range of permanent and special exhibitions in a more powerful, visually-driven manner. The partnership expands on the museum’s pre-existing accessibility offerings, which offer a variety of accommodations for people with visual or hearing impairments, autism, or other disabilities.
“HMNS is thrilled to extend our accessibility offerings to include free, assistive technology for visually impaired guests,” said Matti Wallin, Accessibility Programs Manager at HMNS. “We hope to learn a lot from this partnership so we can continue to grow and serve the low vision community as best we can because here at the museum, we believe that science is for everyone.”
ReBokeh’s patent-pending, sole source technology empowers people to navigate the daily challenges of living with a vision impairment. The technology works by leveraging the live camera feed from a device and allowing users to overlay customized filters to adjust things like contrast, color hue, zoom and lighting to meet the needs of low-vision users. ReBokeh’s software also includes an AI-powered image description feature, which quickly provides a detailed text description of what the user is looking at. This feature was designed to help people with low vision easily determine what they’re looking at before making further adjustments.
Through the partnership, ReBokeh’s advanced geofencing capabilities will enable visitors within the space to download and use ReBokeh’s premium-tier software free of charge for the duration of their visit. This empowerment-driven approach to accessibility will allow visually impaired visitors - 85% of whom have some usable vision - to engage with the exhibit using their own vision. This creates a more accessible and enjoyable experience for low vision visitors, since many vision impaired individuals struggle to capture information through sight-replacing options, like audio or tactile only options. It also provides visitors of any visual ability the option to customize their viewing experience in unique and creative ways.
“The visual experiences that are available at the Houston Museum of Natural Science can inspire a lifelong passion for science and learning - especially among young people,” said Rebecca Rosenberg, Founder and CEO at ReBokeh. “We couldn’t be more excited to help open the door for people with low vision to engage with every aspect of the museum - from the Cockrell Butterfly Center to the Burke Baker Planetarium, in new and exciting ways.”
The partnership will also include a research component to help ReBokeh better understand the way that users leverage accessibility technology in the museum.
About ReBokeh Vision Technologies
Founded in 2019, ReBokeh is on a mission to provide millions of low-vision individuals with assistive tech that’s reflective of their needs. ReBokeh’s flagship product, the ReBokeh mobile app, enables users to adjust the appearance of the world around them in order to help them navigate their specific visual condition. This approach empowers low-vision individuals to make use of their functional vision, rather than trying to replace it with tactile or audio only options.
For more information, visit: https://rebokeh.com/
About Houston Museum of Natural Science
The Houston Museum of Natural Science—one of the nation’s most heavily attended museums—is a centerpiece of the Houston Museum District. With four floors of permanent exhibit halls, and the Wortham Giant Screen Theatre, Cockrell Butterfly Center, Burke Baker Planetarium and George Observatory and as host to world-class and ever-changing touring exhibitions, the Museum has something to delight every age group. With such diverse and extraordinary offerings, a trip to the Houston Museum of Natural Science, located at 5555 Hermann Park Drive in the heart of the Museum District, is always an adventure.
For more information, visit: https://www.hmns.org/
