GSA Postgrad
Showcase 2021

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You Check : Master’s dissertation project

My master’s project focused on ableism in medical practice, which refers to discriminatory behaviours individuals with disabilities face accessing fair medical care, negatively impacting on their well-being and overall health.
More precisely, my project aimed to listen to and collect the experiences of women and non binary individuals with visual impairments accessing Sexual health care in Scotland, as no current research is available on the topic.

The project resulted in an online application named ‘You Check’, providing accessible information on STIs ( Sexually Transmissible Infections) available via Voice Control, Keyboard Shortcuts and Mouse clicks with mouse tracker.

Integrating skills from my BA in photography and illustration to my project was extremely rewarding and proved helpful designing animated visuals for the supporting videos presenting my project and the application, which, in return, aim to communicate and introduce viewers of all backgrounds to the consequences of medical ableism on the individual, and the importance of co-design in research to provide practical solutions suited to the individuals’ needs.

Thank you to Sight Scotland, The Glasgow Women’s Library and The Sandyford for their support and guidance.

 

 

Medical Ableism and Access to Sexual Health Care amongst Women with Visual Impairments

Presentation video for the following Master's project in Medical Visualisation and Human Anatomy by Léa Mariella (Brinon) : ‘How do women / individuals with a vagina (referring to non-binary individuals) with visual impairments in Scotland face medical ableism in accessing sexual health care, and how can digital technologies such as an online application assist in providing accessible information on Sexually Transmissible Infections, crucial to sexual health and well-being?’

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"You Check" Application Demo

The following video guides the viewer through the application content and functionalities such as Voice Control, Keyboard Shortcut and Mouse Clicks with mouse tracker. The application was designed using C sharp coding on Unity and follows Web Content Accessible Guidelines and Assistive technologies functionalities adapted to individuals with Visual Impairments.

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A digital drawing of material used to perform a SMEAR and a Sample test. The drawing shows the three different tools used to perform a SMEAR test which checks the health of the cervix, and a Sample test, to check on the general health of the internal genital organs. Three tools are depicted. The first tool is a speculum. The second tool is a test brush. A test brush has a long and thin handle with a small brush at the end. The third tool is a sample pot, which is a plastic cylinder where the sample from the test brush is securely stored for analysis. All of the three tools are sterile.

Examples of digital illustrations generated and used within the application

Digital Illustration of the material used during cervical screening and /or pelvic examination with labels. All visuals are accompanied by alternative text and zoom in functionalities for individuals with low vision.
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Graphic content: click to unblur
A digital illustration of the inner anatomy. The inner anatomy starts at the vaginal entrance, which is the lowest point of the vulva. The vaginal entrance continues in the body as the vagina, before reaching an end point called the cervix. The vaginal entrance continues inside of the body upwards and diagonally towards the back or the buttocks. The cervix acts as a barrier between the vagina and the uterus, in the case of bath water or tampons, for example. The cervix allows sperm carrying spermatozoids to enter the uterus. Beyond the cervix is the Uterus, which is a hollow muscle that plays an important role during pregnancy, which is to carry the infant inside the body until birth. On each side of the uterus are the right and left ovaries.

Outer Female Anatomy

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Graphic content: click to unblur
A digital drawing of genital warts, symptoms caused by some Human Papillomaviruses. The genital warts are clustered around the outer genital area, vulva, and are flesh coloured. In the drawing, the genital warts are around the vaginal entrance, anus and lower part of the outer lips.

Digital Illustration of genital warts on external anatomy, one of the symptoms of HPV

HPV stands for Human Papillomavirus.
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