How can technology be used to help disabilities? How can we connect remote assistance and mobile telephones? Be My Eyes has distinguished itself by proposing a free and innovative mobile application that aims to help blind and visually impaired people around the world.
The beginnings of Be My Eyes
In April 2012, at a Danish startup event, Danish artist Hans Jørgen Wiberg presented his idea of creating an application to help people with disabilities. Indeed, being visually impaired himself, he noticed during of his work with the “Danish Association of the Blind”, the difficulty for some blind people to perform the simplest everyday tasks. Thanks to this event, he managed to surround himself with a team suited to make Be My Eyes a reality. Through a Ted Talk on October 4th 2013, where he presented his project Be My Eyes, Hans Jørgen Wiberg reached hundreds of thousands of volunteers around the world. The mobile application launched on the 15th of January 2015. The success was immediate, as in just 24 hours, the application reached more than 10,000 users.
The operation of Be My Eyes
Be My Eyes is a free mobile application designed to bring sight to blind and visually impaired people. In can be used in two ways: either you connect as a blind/visually impaired person or you connect as a volunteer. Once the choice is made, you need to field some informations such as your name, the language you speak and the country you live in. Then, just press a button, and the app establishes a live video connection between blind users and sighted volunteers. As soon as the connection is established, blind people explain the challenges they face to the volunteers, who can help them by answering their questions through the smartphone’s microphone and camera.This can concern any type of help: the color of a garment, the expiry date of a food, etc.
The video promoting Be My Eyes :

 
A diverse and growing community
By encouraging a system based on volunteering and generosity, Hans Jørgen Wiberg wanted to help the blind and the visually impaired so that they could lead a more independent life while promoting human connection through technology. Be My Eyes is now the largest online community for the blind and visually impaired people, with more than 47,000 blind and visually impaired users and more than 610,000 volunteers subscribed. In addition, this community is made up of users from 150 different countries, who speak more than 130 languages. A multi-linguistic diversity which makes the strength of Be My Eyes.
If you want to join the Be my Eyes community, the application is available on Android and IOS.
More information on http://bemyeyes.com/

A propos de Loïc FEISTHAUER