[gui-talk] Ap to help blind see

[Mike Freeman]

I think this app reinforces poor attitudes about blindness not to mention
that one is dependent upon people one hasn't personally hired to do the
work!

Mike


-----Original Message-----
From: gui-talk [mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of hawkeye via
gui-talk
Sent: Saturday, January 17, 2015 1:45 PM
To: hawkeye
Subject: [gui-talk] Ap to help blind see

A new app lets you -- yes, you -- help the blind see.
Copenhagen-based app
Be My Eyes
, which launched on Thursday, connects blind people and sighted people
through their
iPhones and iPads. Here's how it works: If you're blind, you can sign up for
the
service and reach out to sighted users through a live video connection on
the app.
Once connected, blind users can ask sighted users questions over video chat.
If you're
sighted, you can sign up to help blind users.
If you're a sighted user and you get a request, it will come through your
phone as
a push notification with a ringing sound. If you tap the notification,
you'll be
connected and a video will pop up, showing whatever the blind user is
filming. You'll
also be able to hear him or her speak and ask a question.
Sighted users might be asked to help navigate a new place, read a sign or
label,
or help in some other way. One example of how someone might use the app is
to help
distinguish between two cans of food:
be my eyes app
iPhones and iPads have services built in to help blind users. You can
use VoiceOver for iOS
 to get your iPhone or iPad to help you navigate your screen, type, read,
use apps
and more.
Since you're connected to each other via live video, there are obviously
some ways
in which users could abuse the system. "Both the blind person and the
sighted person
are allowed to report each other for misuse," Be My Eyes co-founder and CEO
Thelle
Kristensen told The Huffington Post in a phone interview on Friday. If you
get reported
enough times, you won't be able to connect to anyone through the app
anymore.
If you're a sighted user and a notification appears but you don't answer it,
the
request will simply go to someone else. As of now, there are currently more
than
17,800 sighted people and 1,500 blind people using the app, according to the
Be My
Eyes website. More than 2,900 pairs of blind and sighted people have been
connected
so far.
"Not every helper has gotten a call yet," Kristensen said. "We hope to see
that picking
up more and more."
The entire service is free, and Be My Eyes is a nonprofit. It's only
available on
iOS devices for now, but you can
 request to be notified
 when the Android app is available.


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