Accessible Reading for Visual Media

Vizling makes comics, maps, and other visual texts more accessible for blind, low-vision, and sighted users. Grounded in narrative theory, Vizling helps readers understand how meaning is built across an entire page (global structure), from panel to panel (narrative flow), and within each image (item composition).

With audio modes for both big-picture layout and close-up detail, Vizling supports meaningful engagement with multimodal media—whether for enjoyment, education, or research.

The Vizling app was developed at Wichita State University with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Vizling was one of the winners of the Accessible Comics Design Competition, sponsored by The Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability in collaboration with Comic Studies and the Program in Visual Impairments at San Francisco State University.