Today, Envision, the award-winning assistive technology innovator, announced its partnership with Aira, the worldwide leader for visual interpreting services, adding the live, professional service to the Envision Glasses.
The integration between these market-leading assistive technology services, enables Envision Glasses customers with an Aira account*, to effortlessly place hands-free video calls to Aira Agents. Until now, Aira users have had to rely solely on chest harnesses to mount their mobile device when they sought a hands-free experience. Now, the Envision Glasses offer Aira Agents a unique field of view from the customer’s perspective, with the panning and pointing of the camera happening at eye level, and natural head movement directing them toward what is of interest.
For Envision Glasses customers, the integration with the Aira service provides access to 24/7, human-to-human, professional visual interpreting for just about any task at home, work or when on the move. This addition of Aira to the Envision Glasses substantially strengthens Envision’s Ally video call feature which enables customers to make video calls to chosen family members and friends.
"We all like to have a choice of people to go to when we need assistance. From professionally trained agents to family and friends. With the addition of Aira to the Envision Glasses we are delighted to not only be able to offer our customers that choice but also an easier, hands-free Aira experience." said Karthik Mahadevan, CEO and co-founder of Envision. "This partnership provides people who are blind or have low vision with the ultimate technology and productivity tool to enhance independence and personal productivity as never before," added Troy Otillio, CEO, Aira Tech Corp.
The integration enables new levels of efficiency and ease of use to power many popular experiences already in play but now further improved:
Information workers for workplace autonomy:
- on-demand assistance with computer-related tasks, with inaccessible documents, describing inaccessible materials like charts and graphs, and navigating to meetings, offsites, and during business travel
Manual laborers for workplace efficiency:
- on-demand assistance stocking and managing inventory, reading computer screens, setting up equipment, locating tools, navigating through unfamiliar spaces, and learning new tasks and processes as roles change
Individuals for personal independence:
- objective assistance with anything personal or time-sensitive where enlisting a friend or family member is not desired or not possible
In these instances, having the ability to call a professionally trained agent who can reliably offer assistance is incredibly empowering to the individual.
Aira and Envision Support Inclusivity in the Workplace, Envision Enterprise Division Announced
The Aira partnership comes as Envision also announces Envision Enterprise, a dedicated division that focuses on working with leading organizations and low vision and blind workforces to enable greater inclusion and independence in the workplace.
“Aira’s integration on to the Envision Glasses has been my number one request from day one. Being an expat, I have a very small social circle to call upon for help so by having Aira on my glasses I have access to a huge, trained network to ask for assistance whenever I need it. Thank you for joining forces to make hands-free Aira calls possible!" Parham Doustdar, Engineering Manager of Accessibility, Booking.com.
In many countries, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is far greater than the national average. A shared vision of Envision and Aira is to increase employment opportunities amongst people who are blind or have low vision by making assistive technology tools more readily available to them. A significant step toward achieving this, is partnering with enterprises that currently employ and/or wish to employ low vision or blind people. Enabling employees to be more productive at work, while enabling enterprises to be more inclusive, is a major focus of both Aira and Envision.
Otillio said, “With Envision Glasses and Aira, innovative organizations are able to expand their candidate pool and realise their vision of having diversity and inclusivity embedded within the fabric of their workforce.”
“We are continuously looking at ways to enhance the user experience of our glasses and app,” concluded Mahadevan. “The partnership with Aira is just the start of a roll out of feature enhancements and third-party integrations that will enable the millions of low vision and blind people to live a more independent life, albeit at home or work. “
