A sudden urge overtakes her to help mankind.
January 15, 2015 12:28 PM   Subscribe

Be My Eyes is an app which connects blind people needing assistance with a sighted person who can help them by providing a description of what they're seeing. You can be Amelie!
posted by kaibutsu (12 comments total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
I love the idea in theory, but inevitably:
"Can you identify this object for me?"
"That's... your penis."
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:31 PM on January 15, 2015 [9 favorites]


Yeah, they mention in the FAQ that they'll kick users who abuse the system. Success depends almost entirely on how good a job they can do with handling abuse.
posted by kaibutsu at 12:37 PM on January 15, 2015 [2 favorites]


I'm only doing it if I can talk in the McElroy brothers' Amelie voice from My Brother, My Brother and Me.
posted by Rock Steady at 12:45 PM on January 15, 2015 [3 favorites]


You can be Amelie !

Yeah, you can be an asshole who grabs a blind guy and drags him into traffic without even asking if he wants/needs a guide.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 12:51 PM on January 15, 2015 [4 favorites]


This is a great idea. I hope they can keep it free of trolls.
posted by Going To Maine at 12:54 PM on January 15, 2015


Tap Tap See was first, but this introduces a human element that's either useful (being able to infer the context of certain things, or with the surroundings) or, yeah...open to abuse. Or people giving directions/descriptions that places the user in an awkward or dangerous situation because they don't understand how most blind people use a variety of orientation and mobility techniques to get around, and aren't just blundering hopelessly around.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 1:01 PM on January 15, 2015


I'm going to get my husband to download this (he's blind) and ask for help starting the car.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 1:03 PM on January 15, 2015 [15 favorites]


I can't read about this without imaging huge amounts of potential liability for the people acting as eyes.
posted by indubitable at 2:19 PM on January 15, 2015


"I see a glass that is half empty"
posted by Carmody'sPrize at 3:27 PM on January 15, 2015 [6 favorites]


Yeah, you can be an asshole who grabs a blind guy and drags him into traffic without even asking if he wants/needs a guide.

I've never needed an app for that.
posted by Navelgazer at 3:36 PM on January 15, 2015 [1 favorite]


One of my best friends in college was blind and honest to Zod what he wanted the most seeing-person help with was the visual jokes on Seinfeld. Like, [TV laughter and laughter in room] "Wait, what did Elaine just do?" "Commercial!" (code for "I have to explain it at the commercial, it takes too long, you'll miss the next dialogue") "Okay so Elaine can't dance ..."

Also to know if his water glass was on the left or the right when we went to restaurants. SOME RESTAURANTS ARE TRICKSY.

I would totally join this app if I got to explain Seinfeld jokes again, it'd make me all nostalgic for college.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 4:37 PM on January 15, 2015 [3 favorites]


Eyebrows McGee: Degree of difficulty - describing this (highly NSFW) scene from Team America: World Police. Fortunately, we were watching it at home, so I could pause/rewind to appropriately convey its nuances and fully capture the, erm, flavour.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:43 PM on January 15, 2015


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