Speedcubing for a blind person?

S

speedcuber50

Regular
Joined
Sep 3, 2012
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Hello,

I used to be a fairly regular poster here and I was very much into speedcubing. I grew tired of it a few years ago though. Since then (not related to my hiatus with cubing) I have gone blind.

Obviously a blind person cannot really be a real speedcuber as such, but I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about other ways in which a blind person could enjoy cubing?

Thanks,

speedcuber50
 
You can solve mirror blocks or special rubik's cube with textured stickers, that helps you recognize where the piece belongs. If you have a cubing friend nearby, you can do event called teamBLD. It's an unofficial event, where one person calls the moves and the other one solves.
Hope it helped, and stay strong.
 
First of all I am sorry for what has happened. But you could definitely use shape mods like the mirror blocks or ghost cube! Stay strong.
 
cashis said:
Definitely raised or textured stickers
(although im not sure how you're reading these?)
Click to expand...

I think he may have a text to voice program or something. anyway, all the suggestions above are great and I just want to say it's inspiring that you want to get into cubing again despite your loss, and I wish you the best of luck. keep at it
 
You could learn blindfolded solving, by like memorizing a textured cube and then doing the solution with a non textured cube with the same scramble, I've always wanted to see a blind person do it, you'd properly need a person who can see to help you with it, Noah's blindfolded tutorial is good.

Textured stickers would be the best ways to go. You could probably still somewhat get decently fast if you had a sighted person (preferably a cuber to help you) teach you stuff like algs.
 
Yes, I am using screenreader software which means that the computer reads out the text on the webpage using a synthesised voice.

I might give the textured stickers thing a try. Also I did used to do some BLD before I went blind, and to me that seems a logical thing to do if one is a blind cuber however you would need to have a way to memorise the cube, and while I like to cube on my own (so I haven't got someone to e.g. scramble two cubes exactly the same way for me) I do like the idea of using two cubes, one textured and one not textured.

I wonder even if a blind person could compete in BLD, with either a textured cube or a sighted assistant to help with memorisation...
 
This kind of cube might help:

https://i.imgur.com/4iOyVle.jpg

I'm not sure how helpful it is sending a picture, so here's a description: it's a normal cube, but with raised textured tiles instead of stickers. The three sides we can see have circles (orange), triangles (yellow) and rows of dots (blue).

Not sure where to buy that from, or what it's called, but this web page has more examples, including a Rubik's brand one:

http://www.project-ray.com/blog/blind/10-rubiks-cubes-specially-designed-for-the-blind
 
It is possible for a blind person to enjoy speedcubing.
The only textured stickers I have seen for sale and tried and can actually solve without seeing are oliver's glow in the dark textured stickers: http://oliverstickers.com/glow-in-the-dark-stickers, which currently have 2x2, 3x3, 4x4 and megaminx variants.
As for competitions, I'd suggest to contact a local delegate for further discussion, but I personally see no problem in competing in speed events with textured stickers. In BLD solving, the key fact is to solve without any reference on what the current state of the cube is. So in case of a blind person, one possibility is exactly use one textured cube to memorize and one regular stickered/stickerless cube to solve. But that requires approval and discussion on the specific case with the WCA Delegate.

I tend to disagree with the notion that you can't be a real speedcuber being blind. It depends if you enjoy solving or not and if you have fun getting fast. Not everyone can be super fast, and although it's certainly hard to reach the levels of the top speedcubers that can use all their senses, I am sure with a decent amount of dedication and practice you can be pretty fast and reach very good times with it and can embarass people that see and are much slower!
 
speedcuber50 said:
Yes, I am using screenreader software which means that the computer reads out the text on the webpage using a synthesised voice.

I might give the textured stickers thing a try. Also I did used to do some BLD before I went blind, and to me that seems a logical thing to do if one is a blind cuber however you would need to have a way to memorise the cube, and while I like to cube on my own (so I haven't got someone to e.g. scramble two cubes exactly the same way for me) I do like the idea of using two cubes, one textured and one not textured.

I wonder even if a blind person could compete in BLD, with either a textured cube or a sighted assistant to help with memorisation...
Click to expand...

yeah textured cube seems like the way to go, cube orientation might be a problem though, you should contact the WCA at [email protected] before you decide to go to a competition and compete in BLD.
 
Welcome back! I would love if you got fast using a textured cube, it would be insperational for all! Dan and James are our UK delegates so getting in touch with them would be good!
 
I might follow up with the delegate thing, but I am not planning on entering any competitions at the moment. Heck, I didn't even enter a competition before I went blind, but I did think about it many times so that's why I'm just thinking about what options are available, but yeah the textured thing sounds good and I'll see what I can do with that - I should even be able to make some stickers myself...
 
You definitely should consider going to competitions once you're comfortable with solving a cube again, even if you're really slow at first. I went to my first comp a few months ago, when my times were utterly shameful (and they still kind of are), and I don't regret it one bit. I'm now constantly excited for whenever the next competition is. Never think it's too early, or that you're too slow to attend. So many great people to meet, and it's generally just a fun environment to be in.

Plus, I'd be really excited to meet someone at a comp who isn't immediately turned off and disgusted by my ugly face! (Was that too insensitive? Sorry...)
 
speedcuber50 said:
I might follow up with the delegate thing, but I am not planning on entering any competitions at the moment. Heck, I didn't even enter a competition before I went blind, but I did think about it many times so that's why I'm just thinking about what options are available, but yeah the textured thing sounds good and I'll see what I can do with that - I should even be able to make some stickers myself...
Click to expand...

3d1) For competitors with a medically documented visual disability, the following exceptions apply:
3d1a) Competitors may use textured puzzles with different textures on different faces. Each face should have a distinct colour, to aid in scrambling and judging.

Even if you don't necessarily consider yourself fast, you should definitely show up at a comp! I think it's really inspirational that you want to get back into it even with the obstacle in front of you. Good luck!
 
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