Seeing a better way

Technology is helping guide the visually impaired to where they want to go.

A project to help the visually impaired "see" through their iPhones is making steady progress in the city after making its debut on the mainland in June.

The project makes use of electronic beacons that transmit detailed information about the surrounding area, so that people with visual impairment can be guided all the way to the last meter of their journey.

The project, based on the iPhone-based device, iBeacon, marks a big advance over existing navigational signposts. iBeacon supplies users with the names of nearby shops, reports how far away they are, even the products for sale in those shops. The system can also be incorporated into the public transportation framework to provide commuter information. It can be adapted to read the menus of nearby restaurants. In residential settings, people with visual impairment can keep up to date on building notices, even warnings about suspension of utilities services for non-payment.

Matthew Ho Lok-hin, 55, who has a serious visual impairment, noted that current map applications are restricted and provide only general information. "For instance, the map tells you there is a fast-food restaurant within 175 meters. You don't know which way to go once you're close to the destination," Ho said. "The iBeacon narrows the scope and gives more precise location and service information, which makes us feel safer," Ho added.

The new system uses the phone's camera, Bluetooth technology, and an in-built screen reader called VoiceOver.

The pilot project, "Big Bulb", is the initiative of Edward Yip Bing-chiu, founder and chairman of Jabbok Charitable Foundation in Hong Kong. The project has financial support from the mainland government along with some private foundations. The China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation donated 1.5 million yuan ($224,792) to the project.

It's working to build the first barrier-free street in the country, by installing 1,650 iBeacons at crossroads, shops and public service facilities, along a main road in Anqing, Anhui province. The project started by collecting 500 donated, used iPhones (iPhone 5 or above) from Hong Kong and training 500 visually impaired young people in Anhui on how to use the system.

The young people are trained to recognize colors, identify objects, "read" newspapers and books as well as to use messaging and social media apps. They learn to use location information and how to follow directions sent from the iBeacons.

The vice-president of the China Disabled Persons' Federation Li Zhijun called the project a blessing for the blind and also an important step toward building the smart and barrier-free city. Li added that the scheme is worthy of being promoted nationwide, once it has matured.

Hopes for Hong Kong

Public information on how the system can help the visually impaired should be made more readily available, said Yip, noting that the concept has been slow to catch on here. Not a single iBeacon has been installed in the SAR up to now. Yip says he's talked to mall operators, who want to know right away, "how many blind people are there in Hong Kong and how many do you think will come here?" Yip hopes the pilot scheme on the mainland will inspire greater interest here. Figures from the Census and Statistics Department in Hong Kong show that there are 174,800 persons with visual impairment in the city.

Yip said, however, cooperation with a local school for the visually impaired, Ebenezer School and Home for the Visually Impaired, has started. The school is expected to install some iBeacons as a pilot project in August. Yip hoped more public service providers such as hospitals could join the plan in future.

A 2014 survey of 126 visually impaired people conducted by Barrier Free Access (HK), a subsidiary of the Hong Kong Society for the Blind, showed that 62 percent of respondents considered the barrier-free facilities in Hong Kong inadequate. The survey also found most of the visually impaired want more barrier-free facilities to help them with public transport, finding locations and reading menus and product labels.

Fear of getting lost and difficulty in locating places where they want to go are the two leading deterrents that keep visually afflicted people from going out, according to the survey.

Public awareness on how smartphones can help the visually blind is not widespread. Ho recalled once he entered a mobile phone store, the salesperson recommended traditional phones with buttons, saying touch-screen smartphones are not suitable to him.

The project is also collecting another 500 used iPhones to be donated to people in Hong Kong with visual impairments in the hope of providing them with training on how to use smartphones and apps to facilitate daily life.

The donations are coming in at a trickle. Yip said most people still aren't sufficiently aware of how the program can benefit the visually impaired. There's also the question of cost. iPhones are pretty expensive. He urged more people to help out by donating their used phones.

The concept of "Smart City" is frequently mentioned nowadays, but there's little done about improving the living quality of the visually impaired, Yip said. "Many visually impaired are still capable of working. With the help of technology, they could go out independently and work, which will not only increase the confidence of those people but reduce their dependency on government resources," Yip added.