Legally Blind girl on Vacation.

By Suzanne, 22 March, 2024

Forum
Assistive Technology

We need a tool to see sites on a Vacation.

We are going to be traveling to Europe. We are going to places our very curious 11 year old Visually Impaired daughter is desperate to see. Including the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, Duma, many sights.

She has an ipad, and i purchased a Go Sky Monocular ( which did not work well on an Alaska Cruise last summer)

Options

Comments

By Brad on Saturday, March 23, 2024 - 12:41

I can't help with the tech side of things but places like this usually have tours for the visually impaired.

I'd phone the places and ask them if they do that.

By Brad on Saturday, March 23, 2024 - 12:41

If you don't, i'd get on that ASAP, if she's not got an o and m/mobility instructer I'd get on that too, although I'm completely blind so am not sure if they would do other things for her instead of helping her use a cane if she doesn't need it.

By Suzanne on Saturday, March 23, 2024 - 12:41

FYII, our daughter has lots of support at home and school.

I worked in the technology field for years and I am always on the lookout for new tools to help her - ( Trade mags, Blogs, Forums, Vision Tech Sites). Most times the teachers at school are not aware of the newest , as they are limited on time to investigate.

That Said... She has O&M and Vision specialist for braille, and a teacher for living with visual impairments. She has a ipad pro at school and Home, a Desktop video magnifier at school and the same at home. She has a portable video magnifier for reading books. She also has a ESky monocular.
The Trouble with the monocular, is that the field of vision is so narrow, it is difficult for a sighted person to find things. (ie: a whale in the bay)

We are getting her a new ipad with a better camera. and a neck strap to carry it. I am curious about Apple's Vision Pro....as I think it will be a tremendous tool in the future.

Thank you for the information about contacting the Museums etc. AS they do not allow Video or Photography.....and getting a "Pass" to use the technology as a tool is a must.

I know you all are passionate about helping a relatively new person in the visually impaired world...and i am grateful.

By Siobhan on Saturday, March 23, 2024 - 12:41

This should be just fine using in a museum or other old world charm places which we should respect. It's a visual interpreting service. It's like you or your...(Sorry don't want to say the wrong gender or thing here), describing everything. In other words, if she's looking at the vatican and can look at the Pope's robe or something, this service can not only describe this in vivid detail, it can also take a photograph, labeling it as say your daughter's name is Jane. It might say Jane and her Mom gaze reverently at the Pope's robe, a look of respect crossing her face. It's I think thirty dollars for one month. The website is www.aira.io It's available in england, New Zealand, U.S. and Canada and Australia. Look on Youtube for this service. It also can do things like guide her through an airport, get food, find a restroom and when she gets older, help find a ride share. I know she's young but this is another tool in her arsenal. I hope this helps. I hope I didn't offend you Susanne. I just want to do the best i can. You're a wonderful Mom :)

By Louise on Saturday, March 23, 2024 - 12:41

I was in the Louvre in 2017, and they had a room with touchable replicas of some of the most famous pieces. Also, people were taking pictures all over the place. The room with the Mona Lisa looked like a camera convention with all the people snapping photos.

I think the iPad will be a great way to look at things.

By Brad on Saturday, March 23, 2024 - 12:41

I just looked at Aira pricing and I really don't like it.

For one thing, they don't have updated pricing for 2024, if you press enter on pricing,you then have to find the 2023 pricing link, press enter on that and then after that, press enter on another 2023 link just to find the damn stuff.

Aira says they pay part of the cost, which sounds nice but the minutes don't roll over so once they're gone, they're gone.

it's £22 a month for 15 minutes, there's more but that's shocking enough for me to know i'll never use the survice.

If you wanted to pay for what I'd consider a decent amount of minutes; here's the info; Plan name:  Platinum 1-star
Monthly Minutes:  300
Retail Cost:  $1200.00 US Dollars, £996.00, $1976.00 NZD, $1764.00 AUD

Your Cost after Aira’s Contribution:  $480.00 US Dollars, £399.00, $791.00 NZD, $706.00 AUD

I'm sure the survice is great for some people but that amount of money for about, what, 5 or so hours of Aira usage is just crazy to me.

If you do go for Aira; be prepared to spend a lot of money.

As Siobhan mentioned, they are rolling out an AI survice that is similar to BeMyEyes, from what i understand; you take a picture and have it described to you, with a human adding what's needed so you might want to try that,if you can, I'd just personally not use this survice, they're professionals, yes, but the price is just to high.

By Brad on Saturday, March 23, 2024 - 12:41

O I could pay it, that's not the issue, the issue is the minutes, 15 for 22 pounds a month, I wonder if people even go for that option?

That's 3 5 minute calls, I'd assume/hope that the agents would go over a couple minutes if the client is struggling.

By Holy Diver on Saturday, March 23, 2024 - 12:41

The Be my AI feature in Be my Eyes, or even just straight copilot or GPT 4 (I sprung for the plus version and don't regret it) might help a lot giving general descriptions of things. Free or ten dollars a month, I don't know the conversion to pounds offhand sounds a lot better than Aira pricing but you're limited to AI or a less trained volunteer.

By Siobhan on Saturday, March 23, 2024 - 12:41

Aira might be 22 pounds for fifteen minutes a month, however that's in addition to as many free five minute calls as someone wants. also, depending on what the person's looking at, sometimes they have access offers. such as starbucks and other places like banks and drug stores. You can use Aira for free no matter what country you are in if it's available. I'm sorry but i'm not trusting information with someone who has not signed an NDA so that I know my private information is just that. As for the money, it's expensive but this child's vacation should be expensive on happiness, not money costs. Just my opinion.

By Holy Diver on Saturday, March 23, 2024 - 12:41

Isn't it just one free five minute call a day? Or if you're a paying customer do you get as many five minute calls as you want? I know I can rarely get through to an agent, guessing it's because I haven't paid. I don't take much stock in the NDA either but some people do.

By Siobhan on Saturday, March 23, 2024 - 12:41

To be clear, I have no issue with someone from Be My Eyes, volunteering to describe a painting, or if colors match before an interview. It's the personal things like credit cards, banking info, and yes, women's health issues, I wouldn't trust. Plus, language barriers especially with a free service should be taken into account. As for the five minutes once a day, I probably messed up that one, I take accountability for it. I'm sorry. Depending on when you try to call, it could be a changing of the guard as it were. :) Whatever happens, I wish this family nothing but the best. Here's to a wonderful vacation.