[NABS-L] Experience with Seeing AI

[Mausam Mehta]

Hi all,
Hope everybody’s semester is going well.
I just wanted to share an experience I had recently with technology, because it really made me think about the tools that we as blind individuals have at our disposal.
After hearing about Microsoft’s Seeing AI at convention last year, I downloaded it to see what all of the fuss was about. Over the past few months, it has proved absolutely invaluable. The short text and document features are extremely accurate, and quite easy to use. I can’t even begin to express how useful the barcode scanner has been, with not only general products, but specifically food items. It even gives directions!!!
But let me get to the point. Today, I booted up my computer and waited for Jaws to announce the password field so I could log in.  Strangely, my computer remained silent. I have enough vision to be able to see the screen change when I log in, so I just hedged my bets and typed in my password to see if it would work. Nothing happened. I was at a loss for what to do, because there were no cited individuals around, and I really did not want to have to reboot my computer since I had many files open and all of my work would be lost. As I was considering my options, I thought about all of the apps for accessibility and independence that were downloaded on my phone. While I knew that Be My Eyes would provide me with the assistance of a cited individual,I didn’t particularly want to have to disturb someone for something so small. Then I thought, what would happen if I used the short text function in the Seeing AI app to read what was on my computer screen. Surprisingly, it worked. After some experimental clicking, I realized that I had been locked into another user, so of course the password I was entering wasn’t not correct. Short text told me that my username or password was incorrect, hence this conclusion. Eventually, I did manage to navigate to the correct user and log in.
I suppose the point of this rambling is to express how grateful I was that I had a solution to a minor inconvenience. It wasn’t even a huge solution, but it certainly existed in a manner that I didn’t necessarily expect. I guess this is what they mean when they tell you you have a tool belt with tricks for every occasion.
Best,
Mausam