TIPS FOR HANDLING AND GUIDANCE

How do I address a blind or partially sighted person?

- Greet a blind or visually impaired person by briefly touching his arm and addressing him by name. Also state your own name and, if necessary, your position (for example, as a nurse in a hospital).

-Always inform yourself when you enter or leave the room.
If you want to give a hand, just touch the hand of the blind or visually impaired person, or simply say that you want to give a hand. If there is a guide, always address the blind or visually impaired person directly!

How can I guide someone?

First, ask if and how you can help.
Offer your arm so that the blind or partially sighted person can hook up. He will then walk a little behind you and will feel it when you turn left or right. Some prefer to put their hand on your shoulder. Do not take the blind or visually impaired person by the arm: being pushed or pulled makes you feel unsafe.
Indicate obstacles or thresholds in time.

what is Bemyeye

Be My Eyes is a free mobile app with one main goal: to make the world more accessible for blind and low-vision people. The app connects blind and low-vision individuals with sighted volunteers and companies from all over the world through a live video call.

Since we launched in January 2015, more than 2,000,000 volunteers have signed up to assist blind and low-vision users. Be My Eyes users can request assistance in over 180 languages making the app the biggest online community for blind and low-vision people as well as one of the largest micro-volunteering platforms in the world! Every day, volunteers sign onto Be My Eyes to lend their sight to blind and low-vision individuals to tackle challenges and solve problems together.

How is the story started?

The story started in Denmark in 2012 with Hans Jørgen Wiberg, a Danish furniture craftsman, who has visually impaired himself. Through his work at ‘The Danish Association of the Blind’, he recognized that blind or low-vision people often needed a little assistance to solve everyday tasks. However, it wasn’t until a blind friend told him that he used video calls to connect with family and friends, who could help him with these tasks, that Hans Jørgen got the idea for Be My Eyes. He believed that the technology of video calls could be used to visually assist blind or low-vision individuals, without them having to rely on friends and family, but using a network of volunteers.

in April 2012, Hans Jørgen presented his idea at a Danish startup event, where he got connected with a team that was ready to make Be My Eyes a reality. On January 15th, 2015, the Be My Eyes app was released for iOS, and within 24 hours the app had more than 10,000 users. Since the release of the iOS app, an Android version has been in high demand. The Android version was finally released on October 5th, 2017. In December 2017 Be My Eyes was chosen as Google Play Best Apps of 2017 in the categories; “Most Innovative”, “Best Daily Helper” and “Best Hidden Gem”, and in May 2018 Be My Eyes won the Google Play Award 2018 for “Best Accessibility Award”.

Install the app

Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/be-my-eyes-helping-blind-see/id905177575

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bemyeyes.bemyeyes

QUIZ QUESTIONS AND DO-MISSIONS

1. Are there more blind people or more visually impaired?

there are more visually impaired people. This is mainly because there are more and more older people. They often don't see well anymore, but thanks to medical progress and better tools, they can still see a bit.

2. What does a blind person's watch look like? And that of the visually impaired?

Blind people can use a "Braille watch." The glass protective plate of such a timepiece can open. There are palpable dots or dashes on the dial. You can also touch the hands. This way you can read the timepiece with your finger.
There are also talking timepieces. When you press the button, a voice tells you what time it is.
For the visually impaired, there are timepieces with large numbers and hands, usually black on a white background, they usually use smartwatches like Apple watch because of the VOUCEOVER build in.

3. How can a blind or visually impaired person write to a friend?

Send an e-mail or write a letter with the computer. A blind person can check the text with a Braille display (a device that says what is on the screen in Braille).

He can also use a talking computer, or a program that brings the letters larger on the screen. When the letter is ready, he can print it in regular letters or in Braille.

Typing a Braille letter on a Braille typewriter.

Dictate a letter to a sighted person.

Leave a letter.
Handwriting, if that works. A writing frame can be useful for writing on a straight line.

4. Do the blind and visually impaired hear better than the sighted?

A blind or visually impaired person uses his ears better. We look around all the time, but a blind or partially sighted person must concentrate better and listen very carefully.

Those who have been blind from an early age can often really hear better. They use the part of the brain that is meant to see to hear. So they have more brains to hear!

5.How does a blind or visually impaired person recognize clothes?

Most blind and partially sighted people recognize their clothes by feeling the fabric, the model, the collar, the buttons or the stitching. In T-shirts they can sew a brand that has the color in Braille. There are also small buttons to indicate colors: for example, a round button means red, a square button yellow, ... Those buttons and brands are available at Blindzorg Licht en Liefde.
If you are blind or visually impaired, you must have a lot of order in the wardrobe to find everything quickly! All clothes get a permanent place.
Buying clothes usually does not do a blind person alone. He goes together with a good friend. He then tells you exactly what the clothes look like and whether the blind person is in good condition.

6. get the experience

To empathize with the blind and visually impaired world a little more, try some assignments.

You will therefore not really know what it is to be blind or visually impaired. But you will notice how blind and visually impaired people are struggling.
Peel blindfolded (or with simulation glasses) an apple.

Fill a glass of water blindfolded (or with simulation glasses).
Write your name blindfolded (or with simulation glasses) on the board.
Write your name in Braille on the board. (You can use a braille alphabet for this).

Take off your shoes, put them between a lot of other shoes and find your own shoes back blindfolded. Put them back blindfolded.
Try to recognize products only by smelling them blindfolded.

Try to recognize sounds only by listening.
Cross the room blindfolded by tapping the floor with the white stick to your left and right.
Draw a man blindfolded on the board.
Try blindfolded, only by feeling, to recognize objects.

Try to play a party game blindfolded (or with simulation glasses).

What is Oko:
OKO helps you view the road through the lens of your smartphone. Your camera captures what's happening, and AI translates these images into information & sound. Think of OKO as a traffic assistant you carry in your pocket.

Who are the devloppers of Oko:

The young Antwerp start-up AYES launches the OKO mobile application that helps blind and partially sighted people navigate in public. Based on artificial intelligence (AI), OKO recognizes pedestrian lights and transmits the necessary information to the user via vibration and sound signals so that they can cross the road safely. In a later phase, the application will be expanded with a series of other options.

When Willem Van de Mierop and brothers Vincent and Michiel Janssen heard their visually impaired friend Bram talk about his challenges in navigating in public, they decided to look for a solution together. With their background and expertise in artificial intelligence, they founded their own software company AYES, with the aim of assisting blind and partially sighted people in everyday traffic. Now the young start-up is launching the first version of their mobile application OKO. “The AI app recognizes pedestrian lights and converts the information into vibration and sound signals for the user. This also allows visually impaired people to cross safely in places without rattle-tickers, which are often closed off due to noise pollution at ten o'clock in the evening and six in the morning," explains Willem Van de Mierop. Now the young start-up is launching the first version of their mobile application OKO. “The AI app recognizes pedestrian lights and converts the information into vibration and sound signals for the user. This also allows visually impaired people to cross safely in places without rattle-tickers, which are often closed off due to noise pollution at ten o'clock in the evening and six in the morning," explains Willem Van de Mierop.

who is Louis Braille

Louis Braille

Louis Braille (/breɪl/ (listen); French: 4 January 1809 – 6 January 1852) was a French educator and inventor of a system of reading and writing for use by the blind or visually impaired. His system remains virtually unchanged to this day and is known worldwide simply as braille.

Blinded in both eyes as a result of an early childhood accident, Braille mastered his disability while still a boy. He excelled in his education and received a scholarship to France's Royal Institute for Blind Youth. While still a student there, he began developing a system of tactile code that could allow blind people to read and write quickly and efficiently. Inspired by the military cryptography of Charles Barbier, Braille constructed a new method built specifically for the needs of the blind. He presented his work to his peers for the first time in 1824.

In adulthood, Braille served as a professor at the Institute and had an avocation as a musician, but he largely spent the remainder of his life refining and extending his system. It went unused by most educators for many years after his death, but posterity has recognized braille as a revolutionary invention, and it has been adapted for use in languages worldwide.

what is Braille?

Braille is a system of raised dots that can be read with the fingers by people who are blind or who have low vision. Teachers, parents, and others who are not visually impaired ordinarily read braille with their eyes. Braille is not a language. Rather, it is a code by which many languages—such as English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, and dozens of others—may be written and read. Braille is used by thousands of people all over the world in their native languages and provides a means of literacy for all.

The specific code used in the United States has been English Braille, American Edition but as of 2016, the main code for reading material is Unified English Braille, a code used in seven other English-speaking countries.

different white sticks

White stick.

The white stick is the first aid that people are considering for the safe movement of a person with a visual impairment.
The general public usually associates the white stick with complete blindness. However, the white stick is also an indispensable and welcome aid for a large group of visually impaired people.
The white stick has different functions, so there are 3 types of sticks:

The identification stick
The support stick
The long mobility stick

Which stick for which use?

The identification stick.

The identification stick is used during movements to make it clear to the environment that the person in question has a visual problem. In this way car drivers, cyclists and pedestrians will pay more attention to the person.

The support stick.

The support pole is used when a person with a visual impairment also needs extra support during his movements. Like the identification stick, the support stick is an identification means.

The long mobility stick.

To move, a person with a visual disability must have the necessary response time to observe the identification signs and obstacles. The mobility stick is longer than the other white sticks so that the user can feel and hear the necessary signals in time by "tapping" in front of him. However, moving quickly and safely requires training in movement techniques. These techniques are taught at the Braille League. With correct use, this pole is an important aid for movements.
The long white stick with a roller is used by 'rolling' the ground surface in front of it in a scanning manner (by a kind of "broom technique"). Thanks to the permanent contact with the ground, this gives more precise and tangible information than the stick without a roller.

Orcam

OrCam’s mission is to harness the power of artificial vision by incorporating pioneering technology into a wearable platform that improves the lives of individuals who are blind, visually impaired, and have reading difficulties.

OrCam was jointly founded in 2010 by Prof. Amnon Shashua and Mr. Ziv Aviram, who are also the co-founders of Mobileye, the collision avoidance system leader and autonomous driving innovator. The original OrCam MyEye device was launched in 2015, and the next generation OrCam MyEye 2.0 was launched in 2017.

for more information please check the website of orcam

Help People who are Blind or Partially Sighted - OrCam

What is Torbal:

Torbal is a ball sport that is practiced in a team and has been specifically developed for people with a visual impairment. You don't necessarily have to be blind or visually impaired to play torbal, because a blindfold brings everyone on the same visual level: seeing nothing. Practicing this sport requires the players to have a good basic condition, a great sense of orientation and concentration.

The playground Torbal is played on a playing field of 16 by 7 m. Preferably on a smooth floor and in a room with good acoustics. The goals are set up on both short sides of the field and are 7m wide and 1.30m high. In front of the goals are 3 thin mats in a fixed place that serve as an orientation point for the players. A thin rope is stretched across the center line at a height of 40 cm, as well as at 2 m to the left and right of this center line. Outside the field, bells hang from these ropes so that every movement of these ropes can be heard. This 4m includes the 'neutral zone'. The 6m to the left and right of this form the team A player zone and the team B player zone respectively.

What is Showdown:

Showdown is a fast reaction sport, originally developed by and for the blind and partially sighted, but is also practiced by people with good sight. It is an individual ball sport, which is played entirely by ear. All players wear blinding glasses for this, so that everyone's vision is nil. It is often described as table tennis for the blind. Joe Lewis, a blind Canadian, invented the game and further developed it in collaboration with the Canadian National Institute for the blind in Vancouver. He got his inspiration from air hockey. Showdown is therefore rather a combination of table tennis and air hockey, in which 2 players hit a jingle ball to each other's half with the help of a bat. The players face each other, each on a short side of the table. The purpose of the game is to defend one's own goal and to make a goal for the opponent. Showdown enables blind and partially sighted people to exercise independently. Besides the positive influence of sports on the general physical condition, a big advantage of showdown is the social aspect. It gives the blind and visually impaired the opportunity to compete and interact with other people, both recreationally and competitively. To practice the sport, a limited amount of equipment and material is required: the specially designed game table, 2 bats, a hard plastic ball the size of a tennis ball with steel balls in it, a hand protection for the bathand and blind glasses (eyshade). The sound in the ball is created by the rolling of the steel balls in the plastic ball, which allows the localization of the ball during the game. A classroom or meeting room is suitable as a play location. Each table is in a separate room, so as not to disturb other matches

More about:

A showdown table is, as it were, a large elongated box of 3.66 m long by 1.22 m wide (internal dimensions), provided all around with a 14 cm high upright edge, with corners that run smoothly. In the middle of the table is a 10 cm opening across the entire width, under a transverse plank, which stands on the side walls. Target holes have been made on both short sides of the table, with a palpable target line. The screen divides the playing field into two halves . The ball is played back and forth with an elongated bat and the object of the game is to score a goal against the opponent and to defend the own goal and keep it clean. The ball must be hit under the crossboard, so that the position of the ball can be determined when passing over. Determining the position of the ball on the playing field requires a lot of training. This creates an exciting and exciting game, in which concentration, orientation and responsiveness purely by ear are important. Movement awareness, ear-hand coordination and sense of space and time are also trained in the game..

Race course:

A showdown match is played in sets. Each player, in turn, serves 2 consecutive times. On a serve, the ball must be passed through the side, to the opposite side of the table, under the center screen. The player who first has at least 11 points, with a difference of at least 2 points than the opponent, wins the set. With a difference of 1 point, play continues until one of the players with a difference of 2 points wins. However, either player has 17 points, so if the score is 17-16, then whoever makes the next point wins. In the preliminaries of one-day tournaments, a match often consists of one set. In competition, the game is played according to the 'best-of-three' principle, whereby the first to win two sets wins the match. In addition to individual matches, team matches in duo and trio are also played.

coring:

a goal earns 2 points. Making a mistake (unlawful act) gives the opponent 1 point. Illegal acts include: * hit the ball against the crossboard * wrong serve * getting the ball to the body within the playing field (except the bathand and bat) * hitting ball outside the table * defense foul (touching the ball inside the goal area)