As we break barriers in science and technology at blitzkrieg pace, we hope tobetter serve those among ourselves who haven’t been lucky enough to receive the gift of vision. In recent years, our endeavour in this direction has moved only forward letting us know that we are coming close to eliminating visual impairment as a problem.
Here are a few inventions that have made lives of blind people a little easier-
- Shoes That Guide In The Right Direction-
Available for online purchase, these ‘Lechal’ shoes designed by Ducere Technologies connect with your smartphone to guide you in the right direction. As you walk, a vibration produced in the shoes will help you navigate routes with relative ease. A vibration in your left shoe indicates that you need to turn left while a vibration in your right shoe indicates that you need to turn right.
These are almost a necessity for the people who are both blind and deaf, as people with only vision loss can still use sounds to navigate routes.
- Guide Dots-
Guide Dots is an app that makes use of social networking sites to let you know which friend is near you. Plus, you can also use it to let your friends know where exactly you are. The app also informs you of points of interest with geotagging. It does all this via the use of sound. You need to wear earphones to keep listening to the information the app gives you. You can also give certain commands to the app using its push to talk feature.
- iBrailler Notes-
iBrailler brings the standard Brailler device used by the visually challenged onto an iPad. Once the app is opened on an iPad, you need to calibrate the device by placing your hands where usually, the keyboard would be. The app places a virtual Braille pad in place of a keyboard.
You can now use this calibrated Braille pad to do your work, type documents, write or Google. Google can be used by one-touch open button on the Braille pad itself. Using the Apple VoiceOver option, whatever you want to hear will be read back to you.
- Argus II Bionic Eye–
Taking a page out of ‘The Terminator’ book, Dr Robert Greenberg workedfor 25 years to make the bionic eye a reality.
Argus II is designed to help patients with retinal pigmentosa, which causes vision loss and eventually leads to blindness.
Patients are implanted with a small device that sits on their retinas. Patients have to wear a set of corresponding glasses which has a camera. When the glasses are on, the signal from the camera turns into electrical impulses on the patient’s eye allowing them to be able to see.
- Enchroma Lenses-
Enchroma lenses are lenses specially designed to help colour blind people see properly. The lenses have a lot of scientific work going on in them that makes it hard to produce these glasses. These lenses are shaded such that people who have trouble seeing particular colours will no longer have the same problem. From outside, these glasses look like regular sunglasses.
- Tiffy Template-
Tiffy template is an extremely simple device which helps people to keep track of what kind of currency notes are there in their pockets.
Made by Paul D’Souza, the Tiffy template is a metal plate which helps the blind measure the length and width of their currency notes, thus being able to differentiate between them. The length and breadth are measured using grooves on the template that can be felt after placing currency notes against the template.
- Be My Eyes-
Be my eyes is a non-profit app that helps blind people feel the world around them a little better. This app is aimed at blind people who don’t have anyone living with them to take care of them.
First, a person needs to take a video by pointing his camera at the place or object about which he wants to know more. The app uploads this video online, and volunteers using the Be My Eyes app will help describe the look of that object via audio.
Further, this app can also be used by taking pictures of documents and having the text read aloud by potential volunteers.
We still have a long way to go to make the lives of the visually impaired as comfortable as the rest of us. It is our duty to appreciate, and bring to forefront ways that help the visually challenged.
LSI Keywords- visual impairment, vision loss, Blind, blindness, visually impaired, Revolutionize The Lives Of The Visually Impaired, make the lives of the blind as comfortable as the rest, Enchroma lenses, retinal pigmentosa, Argus II Bionic Eye,