On January 15th 2015, the Be My Eyes app was released for iOS, and within 24 hours the app had more than 10,000 users. Alcohol can be seriously detrimental to your eyes if abused too much for too long. Taptapsee[1] is a similar app that is commercial. I must admit it's a very low act but that's my only real thought about this. And then there's another thing, namely abuse. Could someone who has used the app tell us about the real-life experience please? Nearly any intoxicating substance can cause these problems, especially when a person ingests drugs or alcohol in large quantities for a long time. I'm a heavy user of text-to-speech at high rates to digest content easily, but prefer braille when coding or doing some work on a shell/terminal. Are you going to ask every developer as well to try to use a website by binding their arms as well, to see how mutilated people feel about the navigation ? What could be done to make it less intimidating? Equally important for HN-type readers to know is that Braille literacy is highly correlated with employment among the blind, and rates of Braille literacy are falling rapidly in the US, from a peak of around 50% in the 1950's to more like 12% today [1]. Changes in the eye, such as pupil size, motion, and color of the whites, can be used to assess whether a person is intoxicated as well. On the other hand, you might still be able to read. “It takes a few minutes to make a big impact on someone else’s life. Be My Eyes is a free mobile app with one main goal: to make the world more accessible for blind and low-vision people. If blind are willing to pay and volunteers are willing to help for free, then all the money can be spent on innovation. However I'm very impressed this is possible. “God bless you.”. :). Through his work at ‘The Danish Association of the Blind’, he recognized that blind or low-vision people often needed a little assistance to solve everyday tasks. Well worth a watch. I expect that using a screen reader and a blindfold would take some considerable time to get effective at, even for accessible sites. Changes in the eye associated with intoxication may lead to attempts to cover up the problem. Photo Courtesy of Pixabay. It'd probably also be useful when the text of something is important and you'd like a record after the call ended. Maybe we could team up and make a difference. “Stay very close to your phone”, Jensen said, “because you have to be quick to get them”. I'm all for empowering people but I doubt that given the current state of things, especially blind and visually impaired employment rate, this would be successful if it were for-profit. Both iOS and Android now have pretty good accessibility features for the blind. Especially when say, crossing the road! Nearly any intoxicating substance can cause these problems, especially when a person ingests drugs or alcohol in large quantities for a long time. ", The entire project is Open Source – check it out on. Please do contact us at info@bemyeyes.org.

Even if they can somehow manage to do "everything" a normal person can do, they can't do it with the same speed. 74% of the blind are unemployed [1] (there is another figure you will occasionally also see of 13% unemployment for the blind, that's a US Government statistic that excludes anyone who is not considered in the list of potentially employed people). I'd feel pretty cheeky helping a blind person if I was doing it just to get paid for it. 1 million people have signed up as Be My Eyes volunteers! These can all indicate intoxication.

We have optimised quite a lot for VoiceOver.

there isn't network delay when your passenger tells you its "clear right". I'd be more likely to help if it wasn't real-time (but still quick enough to be helpful). I finally received another video call in my office. Oh what happens if a serial killer uses it to lure blind people in? Post author By Faith; Post date August 7, 2017; No Comments on Hate in Cement; I racked my brain trying to think of what it is my sister can’t forgive herself for. Further, while I support this initiative, I have to wonder how sustainable it will be in the long run. If only there was an Android version I'd be on it right now. What the hell are you actually talking about?

Hopefully we can catch abuse through this mechanism.

There's a similar market to connect students with tutors, e.g. Occasionally that means he has to ask someone, despite having a 'routine' that is generally very effective. Why? Very hard. 20/250 vision is... really good. specify a certain threshold of "points".

Its a bit more limited / streamlined, in that it only sends one picture and one textual description instead of doing a video chat, but it does work really well.

Downloading now... Great idea, very pleased to see app with this passion to help and change. I don't know the answer to your question but it should be a required exercise for every web developer to use their website with a screen reader and a blindfold. I doubt anyone would rely on internet/videochat for something as high precision as that. The blind person gets an audio stream from the sighted person. vizWiz is an alternative, which is not real time. I couldn't find any for other European countries, but at least here in Germany Braille markings are very common, so I'd always thought that most blind can use them. Downloaded the app, and once I realized that I needed to make an account, in addition to my fear, I balked out.

I imagine they'd want to verify the identity of "helpers" through the same means that Paypal does: through bank account (not credit card) verification. There is one flaw with the app, albeit a heart-warming one: the number of volunteers signed up, which are in the millions, far outnumber the 138,455 blind or low-vision people using it. Put another way, sure I can wait 6 hours or so until a sightling happens to be around so I can read a letter, but how is me paying a few bucks for someone's time to do it now any different than you paying for Uber, Lyft, etc.

He received his medical degree from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. Sometimes during sex, mine would stare directly into my eyes for up to twenty minutes at a time. > With speech output instead of Braille devices? Put more practically, I've probably spent ~$100 on audio-only games in the course of my lifetime (would likely be more, I'm just not a huge gamer.)

"If we took wheelchairs away from crippled people, maybe the general public will be more inclined to treat them as equals and demolish the notion that cripples require the assistance of wheelchairs", Charge $5/mo to be a 'helper' and keep it free for blind users.