Michael Ryan Hunsaker, M.Ed., Ph.D.

Behavioral Neuroscientist who became a Teacher for Students with Visual Impairments who loves to teach and write about assistive technology, visual impairments, and accessibility.

All 3D Prints printed using a Bambu Labs P1S 3D Printer

All software is meant to be cross platform unless explicitly stated

About Me

I earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience (behavioral neuroscience focus) from UC Davis in 2012, followed by postdoctoral work in primate neural development at the MIND Institute. During this time, I developed research methods to evaluate developmental disorders and gained experience working with children and adults across a wide range of diagnoses—from autism and cerebral palsy to genetic conditions like fragile X syndrome and Williams syndrome.

I have experience working directly with children and adults across a wide range of diagnoses: autism, cerebral palsy, fragile X syndrome, Williams syndrome, Down syndrome, ADHD, Tourette’s syndrome, and many others. This diversity of experience has taught me how individual each student’s needs are.

In 2014, I made a deliberate shift. Rather than pursue a traditional academic career, I wanted to apply my scientific training directly in classrooms. I became a special education teacher focused on understanding how each student’s disability uniquely shapes their learning needs and on developing teaching approaches that help them access their potential.

In 2019, I earned a Master’s degree in Special Education with a credential to teach blind and visually impaired students. I’ve since specialized in working with students who are visually impaired and have additional disabilities, grounding all my work in both neuroscience and practical classroom experience.

Through my years of teaching, I’ve noticed a persistent gap: accessible educational resources that are both practical and affordable are hard to find. This gap inspired TVI Resources—a collection of free, openly licensed materials designed to meet the real needs of educators working with visually impaired students.

About This Site

TVI Resources is a curated collection of free, open-source materials designed specifically for teachers of students with visual impairments. Rather than a research database or a product catalog, it’s a living library of classroom-tested tools: ready-made templates, 3D models you can print locally, small scripts and utilities, and detailed instructions for adapting materials to your needs.

This site exists because teachers deserve better options. Many teachers working with students who are blind or visually impaired face a common problem: accessible classroom materials are expensive, difficult to customize, and often designed without real classroom feedback. TVI Resources flips that script by publishing source files, build notes, and the actual processes used to create these materials—so you can adapt, reproduce, and improve them for your specific students and context.

How to Use This Site

Finding what you need: Browse by category or use the search bar to find resources for specific topics. Each resource page includes:

  • A clear description of what it is and what it does
  • Step-by-step instructions for use or creation
  • Source files (where applicable) so you can modify and adapt
  • Notes on materials, costs, and accessibility features
  • Feedback from other teachers who’ve used it

Modifying for your classroom: Most resources are published with editable source files (SVG, STL, Python, shell script, etc.). You’re encouraged to change fonts, scale, labels, spacing, or instructions to match your curriculum and students’ needs. No permission required—just keep the license notice if you redistribute.

Getting the most from scripts and utilities: The command-line tools and small applications here are designed to run with minimal setup on Windows, macOS, or Linux systems. Each includes usage notes and examples. If you’re not comfortable with the command line, the instructions walk you through it step-by-step.

Philosophy: Open, Transparent, Iterative

TVI Resources is built on four core principles:

1. Transparency Over Authority

Each resource includes not just a finished product, but the process used to create it: the file formats, the decisions made, the trade-offs considered. This transparency serves two purposes. First, it lets you judge whether the approach fits your classroom and students—you can see why something was designed a certain way, not just that it was. Second, it invites scrutiny and improvement. When someone finds a better way to do something, they can share it, and the resource evolves. Just as importantly, if a resource has limitations or doesn’t work well in certain contexts, that information is openly available rather than hidden behind polished marketing.

I created these resources based on my experience and the feedback I’ve received, but I am keenly aware of the limits of my perspective. I cannot possibly anticipate every classroom context, student need, or niche application these materials might encounter. I welcome—and genuinely want—your feedback on what isn’t working, what’s missing, or how a resource falls short for your specific situation. This includes edge cases I didn’t foresee, unusual student needs, specialized curriculum applications, or contexts very different from what I had in mind when I created something. Please don’t hesitate to reach out and tell me where these resources come up short. Your honesty helps me improve them for everyone.

2. Adaptation Over One-Size-Fits-All

Accessibility is not universal—it’s deeply contextual. A tactile diagram that works perfectly for one student might not work for another. A font size or braille spacing that suits one curriculum might not fit another. By publishing source files and build processes, these resources support the core idea that teachers (and families, and local makerspaces) are the experts in what their students need. The goal is not to dictate solutions but to provide starting points that educators can confidently modify.

What this also means is that I recognize the resources here are built from my perspective and experiences. You may encounter situations, student profiles, accessibility needs, or specialized applications that my initial designs didn’t account for. That’s not a flaw in the approach—it’s exactly why the source files and processes are available. But it also means I’d genuinely appreciate hearing about those gaps. If you find yourself thinking, “This would work great if…” or “This doesn’t address…”, please let me know. Those insights help me understand where the resources are falling short and where improvements or new variations might be most helpful.

3. Sustainability Through Community

Centralized, commercial products eventually become outdated, discontinued, or financially unaffordable. Open, community-maintained resources can evolve indefinitely. When teachers share feedback, report bugs, or post better versions of a resource, the whole collection improves. This distributed model also means no single person or organization has to shoulder the burden of maintaining everything—it grows and improves through shared effort.

I’m committed to this iterative improvement, but I can’t do it alone—and I wouldn’t want to. My understanding of what works in classrooms is shaped by the teachers I’ve worked with directly, which represents only a small slice of how these resources might be used. Teachers working with different student populations, in different curricula, in different countries, or with specialized accessibility needs may discover aspects of these resources that need rethinking. I want to hear about those discoveries. Whether it’s a comment on a resource page, an email noting what didn’t work, or a bug report about something that breaks in unexpected ways, your feedback is how this collection grows beyond my individual limitations and serves the broader community of educators.

4. Cost as a Measure of Access

Free materials with publicly available source files represent a commitment to equity. When resources are openly licensed and can be created locally—through printing, 3D fabrication, or scripting—they remove financial barriers that often exclude students and teachers with limited budgets. Cost isn’t the only measure of access, but it’s a crucial one.

How This Differs From Other Resources

Many accessibility sites focus on teaching about accessible design or publishing research. TVI Resources is different: it publishes ready-to-use materials. You can download an SVG, modify it in 10 minutes, and have tactile diagrams printing by afternoon. You can run a Python script and generate 50 large-print worksheets from one source. That focus on immediately actionable resources is what sets this site apart.

We also prioritize materials that teachers can adapt and reproduce locally—not materials that require a specific piece of software or equipment. A 3D-printable model, an SVG file, a shell script, a PDF—these can be reproduced anywhere, by anyone, without subscriptions or licenses.

Contributing Your Classroom Experience

If you use a resource here and refine it—better spacing, clearer instructions, a new variation—please share it. Even a one-paragraph note about what worked in your classroom helps other teachers make faster decisions. You can:

  • Comment directly on a resource page (via the form at the bottom of each post)
  • Open an issue or submit a pull request on GitHub
  • Email your feedback and revised files for consideration

But I also want to emphasize: please share what didn’t work, what was confusing, or what fell short for your students or context. That kind of honest feedback is just as valuable—if not more valuable—than success stories. If you tried a resource and found it had limitations for your specific situation, didn’t address a particular accessibility need, or missed an important edge case, I genuinely want to know. Tell me what you were trying to accomplish, what got in the way, and how you solved it (if you did). This information helps me understand the blind spots in my thinking and ensures that the resources here become more robust and applicable to a wider range of real-world situations.

Contributors are welcome to publish their materials under the same open license, so that improvements circulate back to the community. Whether you’re contributing code, documentation, bug reports, or simply letting me know where the gaps are, you’re making these resources better for everyone.

Design for Sustainability

This collection is built to last. Every resource is version-controlled on GitHub and archived in plain-text, standard formats (Markdown, SVG, STL, Python). There are no dependencies on proprietary software or hosting platforms. If this site ever goes offline, anyone with access to the GitHub repository can rebuild it or fork it. That commitment to long-term availability—not just long-term accuracy—is part of the vision.

Licenses, etc

The text descriptions on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You are free to share and adapt the text as long as you provide appropriate credit, indicate if changes were made, and do not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

All linked resources are licensed under the Apache 2.0 License. What that means for you:

  • You’re free to use, modify, and redistribute these materials — including in commercial or for-profit settings — as long as you keep the license and attribution notices intact.
  • You can adapt or build on the resources for classroom use, product development, or other projects; you do not need to open-source your derivative works, but you must not remove the existing license text from materials you redistribute.
  • The license also provides an express patent grant from contributors, which reduces legal uncertainty for users and developers.

Standard disclaimer: All resources are provided “As is,” without warranty of any kind, so please review the full license for details and limitations.