“A blind person is calling you.”
The notification popped up and I raced to unlock my phone and answer the call. The calls don’t come that often and there are hundreds of thousands of people like me waiting to help, so if we don’t answer quick they move on to the next volunteer.
I answered the call and was greeted with a live video of of multi-colored gaming dice, the kind you find playing Dungeons & Dragons or other RPGs (role playing games). I immediately got excited. A deep voice asked, “Are these green dice?” as a hand picked up some of the dice. “No,” I replied, “the green ones are a bit to the left.” They dropped the dice and moved their hand to the left, passing over piles of different colored dice until I told them to stop. They picked up some of the dice directly below and asked if those were the green ones with the purple numbers. I asked if they could pull the dice away from the camera a little so it could focus better so I could see the numbers. They did and I was able to tell they were purple numbers on green swirled dice. The caller was very happy and put the handful of dice into a white box that contained 6 little black boxes. They informed me they were heading out to a game and wanted those particular dice for the game.
The app is called “Be My Eyes” and it connects people who are blind or visually impaired to seeing people who can help them find what they are looking for. If you want to be a seeing volunteer (like me) download the app from the App Store or Google Play Store and register as a volunteer and then wait for a call. Like I mentioned before, there are thousands and thousands of us waiting to take calls. That is a wonderful thing for the callers because if a volunteer doesn’t answer in just a few seconds the call will roll to another volunteer until someone picks up. A caller may be in a time crunch and need help pretty quickly, so I appreciate that the app doesn’t waste time waiting too long for volunteers to pick up.
I’ve taken three calls so far in the few years that I’ve had the app. I’ve helped a woman put together her perfect job interview outfit (she knew what she wanted to wear she just needed my help finding a particular colored skirt in her closet), helped another woman get around in a place she was unfamiliar with (describing the room she was in) and today’s call. Today’s was by far my favorite: a fellow gamer who was happy to show me his dice collection once I shared that I was a newbie gamer myself.
I have no idea what it’s like to be deaf, hard of hearing, blind, or visually impaired, but I am trying hard to understand by learning American Sign Language and more about blind and deaf culture. Degenerative eye disease and hearing loss run in my family, so I’m sure I’ll get firsthand experience with them soon enough. But for now I am absolutely content learning and helping on the sidelines and being an ally wherever I can.
Click here to get more information about the Be My Eyes app.
Click here to get more information about ASL classes from Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind.