April Fool’s Day pranks that revolve around vision loss or visual impairment are often not funny at all, since they can impact how people access information, make individuals question if they can trust someone to tell them the truth, or become frustrated with their vision loss. However, there are options for incorporating pranks and humor into assistive technology lessons or expanded core curriculum (ECC) lessons for visual impairment that can make concepts more memorable and fun to learn, or that can serve as more “wholesome” pranks that are more amusing. Here are some creative prank ideas that incorporate low vision assistive technology in a practical and positive way that can be used to introduce new tools or strategies for accessing information beyond April 1st.
Introduce the new “Brale” emoji for April 1st
Google Emoji Kitchen is a tool that allows users to combine two emoji into one unique image, with thousands of different combinations available. One option to view the different offerings is on the unofficial Emoji Kitchen website, which can be used to browse available emoji and save images to the user’s device.
One of these unique designs? A mashup of Bread and Whale emoji. Or as I call it, the “brale” (Bread and Whale, pronounced like braille). I sent an audio message to some of my friends asking if they wanted to see a “braille” emoji for April 1st and then responded with a picture of the “brale” bread/whale emoji.
Some options for incorporating the bread/whale emoji into expanded core curriculum or assistive technology lessons include:
- Navigating the Emoji Kitchen website with magnification
- Learning how to add images as stickers to iPhone/iMessage, which are larger than typical emoji.
- Identifying strategies for accessing real emoji with visual impairment (see post on emoji accessibility, which also covers how braille emoji actually look)
- Drawing different types of emoji combinations or imagining what they would look like
- Creating custom home screen or desktop icons with images from Emoji Kitchen, which can be used to customize devices.
Trying to imagine what a bread/whale emoji would look like? Here’s the image from Emoji Kitchen:
Image description: A combination of the bread emoji and whale emoji, created by Google’s Emoji Kitchen. The bread emoji is a loaf of bread that has some slices cut, showing the off-white inside of the bread with a dark orange crust. Whale fins and a tail have been added to the loaf of bread, which mimics the body of the whale. The bread/whale emoji is visible in full profile and angled to the left, just like the whale emoji, though there is no mouth or eyes.
Related links
- Emoji Kitchen
- Emoji Accessibility and Low Vision
- How To Make Accessible ASCII Art and Emoji Memes
- How To Customize Icons For Windows
- How To Create Custom iOS Icons and Custom Home Screen Designs
- How To Create A Custom Android Home Screen With Microsoft Launcher
- Free Braille Art and Tactile Image Libraries: World Braille Day 2024
Add a silly word or phrase to a text expander for writing
Also called text replacement, text expanders “expand” acronyms or shortcuts into longer words, phrases, or sentences. On iOS devices, the default text replacement example given is “omw”, which expands to “on my way!” and is not case sensitive. Examples of tools that I use for text expanders/text replacement include:
- Adding custom acronyms/words/phrases to the iPad keyboard. This can be configured in Settings by opening the Keyboard menu and then selecting Text Replacement.
- Within Microsoft Word and Microsoft OneNote, text expanders can be configured by opening the Options menu, followed by Proofing and AutoCorrect options. Text can be added within the option “Replace text as you type.”
- Espanso is a free and open source text expander tool available across multiple platforms, including MacOS, Windows, and Linux.
- On an Android phone, the personal dictionary can be configured in GBoard settings under the Dictionary option, which includes an option for indicating a text shortcut.
There are several possibilities for introducing text expanders as part of prank-themed lessons, but it’s important to make sure that these don’t interfere with schoolwork or other communications. Some potential ideas for incorporating text expander pranks into assistive technology or expanded core curriculum lessons can include:
- Having the instructor be the one getting “pranked” by changing a common word to be replaced with something else. Mention that someone must have used a text expander to replace what they were writing. For one of my friends, we replaced every instance of them typing “JAWS” with “baby shark, doo-doo, doo-doo, doo-doo”, which the JAWS screen reader would read out loud (or someone could see their screen). Make sure to remove this after the lesson!
- Set a text expander shortcut so song lyrics or funny quotes “magically” appear when a student types a short phrase.
- Learn how to add new phrases or templates to the text expander of choice
Related links
- How I Use Espanso Text Expander With Dysgraphia
- Mainstream Technology and Low Vision: Keyboards
- How I Manage Dysgraphia In Online Classes
- Assistive Technology For Dysgraphia
Place funny labels on items with large print or RFID stickers
There are a few different labeling strategies that can be useful for blind and low vision individuals, including the use of large print labels, talking labels/audio labels, and RFID labels that can be used with smartphones or other high-tech devices. Many RFID and talking labels/audio labels can be edited or re-recorded, providing options for users to add more details or change what a label says when necessary.
A popular April Fool’s Day prank involves placing funny labels on items, such as labeling a bag of Cheerios “donut seeds.” This is a great opportunity to practice reading labels and environmental text using a variety of assistive technology, which can include:
- Reading labels with large print
- Using magnification tools or visual assistance apps to read labels
- Recording silly audio labels for items and placing them on objects and learning how to use audio labels, or recording audio labels in a silly voice
- Adding a new RFID label to an object with a funny label, and practicing how to use the RFID labels on different types of objects
- After the prank is over, learn how to edit audio or RFID labels so that they are more accurate!
Related links
- Assistive Technology For Medication Labels
- Assistive Technology and Dressing Aids For Low Vision
- Low Vision Assistive Technology For The Bathroom
- All About Visual Assistance Apps For Visually Impaired
Use find and replace for a common word
Several years ago, my brother played a prank on my mom by replacing every instance of the word “cloud” with a completely different word on the computer. When she found out about the prank, she told him that he would need to come home immediately after school and change everything back!
This is another prank lesson topic that shouldn’t be used in a way that interferes with access to schoolwork, but it can serve as a fun introduction to using tools like search, find, and replace within applications like Microsoft Word and Google Docs. I’ve used a variation of this strategy to insert parenthetical citations for research papers, search for text in a document using a placeholder, and fix errors with capitalization or formatting.
Related links
- Secret Microsoft Office Accessibility Features I Use Every Day
- Designing Accessible Documents With Microsoft Word
- How I Create Citations For Research Papers With Low Vision
- Highlighting Information With Low Vision
Read a picture book with Novel Effect hidden on another device
Another one of my friends that is a teacher of students with visual impairments (TSVI/TVI) is working with a student who is practicing with reading books out loud during their lessons, and had mentioned that some of the reading was boring. In order to make things more “exciting”, I suggested they try using the Novel Effect app to add sound effects as the student reads from one of the books out loud. My friend hid the device playing the Novel Effect sound effects from the student at the beginning of the lesson, and the student was wondering where all of the sounds were coming from as they were reading! The student’s family started using the app after learning about it through this lesson.
Related links
- Reading With Novel Effect And Low Vision
- How To Find Accessible Picture Books For Low Vision
- How To Create Accessible Summer Reading Lists For Print Disabilities
- Accessible Classroom Library Ideas For Print Disabilities
Read a prank article and engage in fact checking
A few years ago, I fell for a prank article about a newly opened capybara cafe and sent it to two of my friends before I realized that it was a joke and that the cafe didn’t exist. The date for the article had been written in a small font, and I didn’t do any other research to figure out if this was actually real or not. This is a great opportunity to practice concepts related to fact-checking and digital literacy, especially when it comes to gathering information when doing online research.
For this activity, individuals can either read a “real” prank article, or the instructor can write their own prank article. While I am having trouble locating the original, the Royal National Institute of Blind People did a prank article a few years ago about their fictional “CATNAV” program for training guide cats.
Related links
- Accessing The News With Assistive Technology
- A to Z of Assistive Technology for Reading Digital Text
- Online Safety For Visually Impaired Users: Safer Internet Day
- How To Write Video Descriptions For Animal Videos
More funny and prank-themed lesson ideas for low vision assistive technology
- I don’t like the idea of doing pranks that are centered on inaccurate alt text or image descriptions because they are an essential part of image accessibility. However, practicing with accessing alt text and/or image descriptions for memes could be a fun lesson! I share more at How To Write Alt Text For Memes and Lemon On A Pear: Accessible Memes For Low Vision
- To introduce different voice options in a lesson on text-to-speech, I found a voice that sounded like a pirate and switched the default voice to the pirate voice to make the student laugh. I then showed them other options that were much easier to follow and showed them how to customize text-to-speech. I share more about text-to-speech in How To Use Text-To-Speech With Low Vision
- When two of my teachers swapped places for a prank on the class, one of them told me beforehand so that I was “in” on the joke and didn’t think that I walked into the wrong classroom. This may be necessary for students who rely on cues like voices to orient themselves to their surroundings.
- Looking for more activity ideas for introducing low vision assistive technology concepts? Check out 12 Safe Alternatives To The Bird Box Challenge and How Students Can Celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day
Published April 1, 2025. Updated April 2025