Finding an item in a crowded fridge can be a challenge, even for someone with 20/20 vision. Be My Eyes, an app developed in 2015, connects visually impaired and blind users with volunteers who help them navigate daily life using their phone’s camera. Volunteers are great for distinguishing a jar of grape jelly from a jar of gefilte fish, for example. They also help users get around town.
But the app’s developers are now experimenting with AI, which can do the same kind of navigating – plus it offers up more than the human eye can see. "We took a picture of our refrigerator and it not only told us what all the ingredients were,” says Be My Eyes CEO Mike Buckley, “but it told us what we could make for dinner."
Buckley says he hopes the AI won’t completely replace volunteers – users value the human interactions they have with volunteers. Here’s how AI could help blind and visually impaired people become more independent.
Plus: Perceiving without seeing: How light resets your internal clock |
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According to the National Alliance for Caregiving and the AARP, one in five Americans are unpaid caregivers. This often comes at the expense of their own mental, physical and emotional health.
At 29 years old, Jacqueline Revere left her life in New York City to become a full-time caregiver to her mother and grandmother, who were both living with Alzheimers. Her first piece of advice for caregivers is to be easy on yourself.
"Forgive yourself because when you're starting out, you will make mistakes. You will get short-tempered," Revere says. "You will build up resilience over time. And so you sitting in a corner completely having a meltdown will happen one year, but in year four, you'll be like, oh, just another Tuesday."
Revere and artist Trezure Empire, who has been a caregiver to her mother for two decades, agree that essential to being a caregiver is not going it alone. Friends and family members who can provide a meal, help with cleaning, or a sympathetic ear go a long way. For caregivers who also work outside the home, communication with your employer and educating yourself about programs like FMLA can also help.
Here’s 4 pieces of advice from caregivers, to caregivers.
Plus: On #dementia TikTok, family caregivers find support and bring the disease to light |
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Andrea Muraskin and your Shots editors |
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