Hello and welcome. We’re glad you are here. Anita talking to you this week, and today, I would like to talk to you a little about seeing without vision.
Recently, a friend and I went to a local pharmacy. She has low vision, and I only have light perception. While she was shopping for specific items, I was amusing myself with my iPhone and Seeing AI. Perhaps you have already heard of this fantastic, free app. I have had it for a while, and I feel it is one of my more used apps. It has a money identifier, a channel for capturing data about the scene viewable via the camera, a facial recognition feature, a document scanner, and best of all, a short text recognition channel.
Now, I want to step away for just a moment to say that it can be annoying when sighted people say something like how it must be so hard to be blind. In an educational setting, I would respond that it isn't hard; people without vision just do things differently. While this is true, Seeing AI and another app called Aipoly Vision have taught me that some of the time, I am not always right. Aipoly Vision isn't always accurate, but if you select the general feature, it will call out what it thinks the camera sees.
My first glimpse of what it must be like to have vision came when it recognized my piano from clear across the living room in just a second. Sure, I already knew the piano was there, but the experience of hearing it was there from across the room was impressive for me. I didn't "miss" not recognizing someone from across the street until I viewed my piano with Aipoly Vision. I rarely use that app because its accuracy isn't real good, but it is still fun to play with on occasion, and can be accurate sometimes. Seeing AI does not recognize things real-time like Aipoly Vision, but when I was in that pharmacy, I was able to use it to identify items via its short text feature. Again, I was impressed. I found April Fresh Downey without even trying. I have been using barcode scanners for several years now. I love my Omni, and the one with Seeing AI is much better than Digit Eyes. However, it is still sometimes difficult to locate a barcode as quick as I would like. But, the short text feature not only told me what things were, as I was holding up my phone and walking randomly around, it even called out "As seen on TV" when I walked toward the shelf. It was an awesome experience! Again, I had a taste of what having vision might be like.
Yes, as a blind person, I can overcome most of the challenges associated with blindness. But, now I have a new attitude toward sighted people who fear blindness or who are "amazed" at everything we do. I will certainly still educate them and let them know blind people can be productive, happy members of society, but I will be more patient with them when they remark about how blindness is difficult or scary. Things we have not experienced can be scary. And many times, we do not know if something is difficult until we try it, or in my case, are allowed to see a small glimmer of a different world, thanks to revolutionary technologies.
Thanks for being with me today. Be sure and come back on June 28 for another edition of Interviews to Empower. If you have a comment or question, drop it below or send an email to adkinsandwells@gmail.com. We’d love to hear from you.
FYI, all the apps mentioned can be found in the app store. Play around with them and see for yourself which works best for you.
Also, S. J. Wells has a new book out. It’s called, “Caleb’s Story”, about a young man who dove into a pool when he was a teenager and broke his neck. It’s available on Amazon. Just click on the following link.
Until next time, take a good look at the world around you and enjoy what you see.
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