[NFBWATlk] [Whitman College] Mapping Access, One Sign at a Time; Whitman | Upward Together; June 15, 2026

[Nightingale, Noel]

About Whitman college in Walla Walla.
https://www.whitman.edu/about/inclusive-excellence/updates/june-15-2026-mapping-access-one-sign-at-a-time

Mapping Access, One Sign at a Time

Whitman | Upward Together

By the Division of Inclusive Excellence

June 15, 2026

This summer, the Division of Inclusive Excellence and the College Accessibility Committee<https://www.whitman.edu/about/inclusive-excellence/accessibility-at-whitman/college-accessibility-committee> have engaged Artemis Gilbert '28 to undertake a special project that will touch every corner of campus-literally.

Gilbert is conducting a comprehensive audit of braille signage at Whitman, surveying roughly 40 buildings on campus. Braille-the tactile code that blind and low-vision people use to read and write-appears on room signs throughout campus and makes our spaces dramatically more navigable for blind and low-vision students, employees, alumni and visitors, including prospective Whitties.

Periodic signage audits are a best practice for any campus. Buildings are renovated and rooms are renumbered over time; signs gradually age and weather, especially outdoors; and standards continue to evolve-both legal accessibility standards and the braille code itself. A building-by-building review gives the college a current, complete picture of its signage and a strong foundation for future planning.

Gilbert is a rising junior double-majoring in Philosophy<https://www.whitman.edu/academics/majors-and-programs/philosophy> and Classical Studies (Latin)<https://www.whitman.edu/academics/majors-and-programs/classics-and-classical-studies>. They are literate in Unified English Braille<https://iceb.org/publications/ueb/> and are working toward national literary braille transcription certification. They've paired that expertise with a close study of the Americans with Disabilities Act's signage requirements<https://www.access-board.gov/ada/#ada-703> and consultation with the U.S. Access Board for Technical Assistance<https://www.access-board.gov/ta/>. Gilbert began this work in the spring semester, cataloging signage in a few key buildings. This summer's project will extend the survey campuswide, giving the College Accessibility Committee a comprehensive resource for long-term planning and informing the college's future signage decisions.

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We asked Gilbert a few questions about the project:

Q: What attracted you to this work?
A: I have wanted to work somewhere in education for many years now, mainly just inspired by my teachers at the time, though I think I have been aware of substantial educational inequities for longer. But when my friend helped teach me braille last year, I grew to care particularly about this accessibility issue about which most people do not think, even if they walk through doors with braille signage every day. Especially as I started the transcription course I'm taking, I also just developed a personal, technical interest in the code itself, which is far more complex than I initially would have assumed-for a quick idea, the current manual for literary Unified English Braille is 408 pages long. The specific trigger for me starting this project was seeing some obvious misspellings on signs in Harper Joy Theatre.

Q: How many braille signs does Whitman College have?
A: I would roughly estimate that campus currently has 2,000 braille signs.

Q: What's something most people don't know about braille?
A: Braille is generally a lot more than letter-by-letter translations. Six dots offer 63 possibilities (excluding space) for each cell for regular English braille (that qualification is important because, for instance, Luxembourgish braille and some electronic braille displays use eight dots per cell). So capital letters and numbers, for example, are written with multiple cells, to save space for other things. Many letter combinations are also contracted, including common suffixes like "tion" and "ness" as well as whole words like "braille" or even "thyself."

Q: What does auditing a braille sign actually involve?
A: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) says only a couple hundred words about braille in particular, and many issues come from the much longer regulations about signs in general or from that giant ruleset of braille casually cited once in the ADA itself. There's obviously innumerable things that could possibly be wrong with a sign, but often I just read the text visually, and ensure that there's legally adequate (18" x 18") clear reading space, the sign is not too high (>5') or too low (<4'), and the sign is on the correct (usually latch) side of the door. Occasionally I also measure whether braille cells are too close or too far apart. I usually just walk around with my phone, laptop and measuring tape. Honestly, reading the braille is generally the easy part; a lot more of my work than I initially expected relies on the specifics of the ADA.

Q: What do you hope will come out of this project?
A: Ultimately, I hope that this project will radically mitigate the risks of difficulties and dangers of someone here not knowing where they are or where they are going. I hope that this project can increase navigability for everyone. Accessibility does not exist in a vacuum-for other examples, consider curb cuts or closed captions which able-bodied people enjoy and for which disability justice activists have fought so hard.