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Danish app Be My Eyes reaches volunteers in 150 countries supporting people with visual impairment

Sep 7, 2021

Two hands hold a smartphone. Colorful bubble decorate the photo

Christian Erfurt and Hans Jorgen Wilberg are the co-founders of Be My Eyes, an app that they discussed in an article with technology news site ITP.net. Erfurt, who is also chief executive of the company responsible for the app, states in the article that Be My Eyes connects users with visual impairment to seeing volunteers who help them with tasks that require the use of eyesight. The app is available in 150 countries and currently holds almost five million volunteers supporting 313,000 users with visual impairments.

Erfurt tells ITP.net that users of the app begin by selecting their preferred first and second language. This information, along with the user’s time zone, is applied to match the user to a sighted volunteer, who they then speak to through a video call. The article states that each time the user requests a volunteer, the match changes based on what volunteers are available at that time. Erfurt adds that volunteers are not contacted between 10 pm and 7 am, so when a volunteer is chosen, they have agreed to take time out of their day to help. 

According to Ehfurt, volunteers at Be My Eyes have assisted users with multiple life situations, from reading pregnancy test results for expecting mothers with visual impairment, to guiding a man to visit his father’s grave. Erfurt credits Wilberg, who has a visual impairment, with the idea for the app. He expresses, “The random act of kindness element really appealed to me”[1].

Source and Citation:

[1] Dham, Mrigaya. “Be My Eyes to connect visually impaired people with volunteers via video calls.” ITP.net, https://www.itp.net/emergent-tech/98580-be-my-eyes-to-connect-visually-impaired-people-with-volunteers-via-video-calls

Photo Credit: Rodion Kutsaev on Unsplash

Summarized by: Sasha Leys, Intern

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