A new app is making use of cameras and generous “guides” to help the visually impaired accomplish everyday tasks.
The “Be My Eyes” app pairs the visually impaired with sighted people who help them with a number of tasks, such as counting money, choosing an outfit or browsing the web.
“Most people who are visually impaired are getting really excited because they’re discovering that it’s really not that difficult to browse the web and communicate via email and work with word-processing programs…anymore thanks to this great new assistive technology that’s out there,” said Jeffrey Berman a rehab tech training specialist with the Central Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
The app uses the cameras on a visually impaired user’s smartphone to show the sighted person what’s in front of them. The sighted person then describes in detail the object or product in question to the visually imapired person over the phone.
So far, there are 230,000 sighted people helping 19,000 visually impaired users through the Be My Eyes app.
Other apps offer assistance
There are number of other apps for visually impaired users on the market. One reads paper money, another gives walking direction.
They key to using technology to help the visually-impaired, Berman said, is more participation from others who have full vision.
“We just need more people to volunteer as sighted guides then it could be an incredible app,” he said.
Be My Eyes is available from Apple’s iTunes App Store.
With a report from Bill Hutchison
