Microsoft Partners with Be My Eyes to Offer Specialized Help to its Blind and Low Vision customers

Be My Eyes is a free application, available on iOS and Android, designed to help people with sight loss receive assistance from a sighted volunteer via a live video call.

The app works by allowing a blind or vision impaired user make a connection with a volunteer through a video call in order to help solve day to day tasks such as cooking, finding lost items, catching a bus, reviewing mail and more.

In one remarkable instance a Be My Eyes volunteer received a call from a vision impaired couple who needed help identifying the reading on a device they had used for a pregnancy test. The pregnancy was confirmed!

Picture2

With over 900,000 users across 150 countries, Be My Eyes has grown to become the largest online community people with sight loss.

Recently, the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk, a service offering customers with disabilities support for Microsoft Office and Windows, announced a partnership with Be My Eyes to provide 24 hours, 7 days a week assistance to its blind and vision impaired customers.

The app will work the same, connecting customers through video; but instead of reaching out to volunteers, customers will work directly with a member of the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk to receive support on questions about their Microsoft product or service.

According to Hans JĆørgen Wiberg, creator of Be My Eyes, “Contacting customer support through email or by phone isn’t always ideal. Direct communication with a business’s customer support agent could be a more vision-friendly alternative and less time consuming for you. If someone from the company could see the issue in real time, issues with their products or services could be resolved more efficiently.”

Now, when users update the app, they will see the new Specialized Help menu.

To download the free Be My Eyes app, visit theĀ Apple iOS storeĀ or theĀ Google Play store.