Be My Eyes App for Visually Impaired. Hans Jørgen Wiberg

Danish furniture artisan Hans Jørgen Wiberg had a remarkable vision— ‘Be My Eyes.’ Hans perceives the world without borders and introduced a concept aimed at uniting people visually impaired through the power of helping eyes.
Transcript
This episode is dedicated to Gaelin of Germany.
Catherine:Gaelin you are going through so much with your 21 year old son's cancer diagnosis yet you
Catherine:find time volunteering, helping others in need.
Catherine:And you also find time to listen to my show and then share this amazing service with me Be My Eyes.
Catherine:Thank you.
Catherine:Hugs to you in Germany and Gaelin, thank you for your own positive imprints
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Catherine:What's your P.I.?.
Catherine:Let's see the world together.
Catherine:Danish furniture, craftsman Hans Jørgen Wiberg had a vision and idea that became
Catherine:reality for millions around the world.
Catherine:Be my eyes.
Catherine:Hans sees the world with no land borders, but rather all of us as citizens of the world.
Catherine:With that engraved in his heart, mind, and soul, he presented an idea that would
Catherine:bring the world together with helping eyes.
Catherine:Be my eyes is a hands-on way to rise to the challenge with your own positive imprints.
Catherine:And this is so incredibly interesting.
Catherine:Hans, you are truly amazing.
Catherine:Thank you so much and welcome to the show.
Catherine:Wow.
Catherine:It's fantastic.
Catherine:Well, you know, it was a listener, a friend that sent me the information about you and this fabulous
Catherine:app, be my eyes, which we will definitely get to.
Catherine:But you have this very interesting background that has absolutely nothing to do with
Catherine:the app and this idea that you have.
Catherine:And so you're a furniture craftsman.
Catherine:And before you go into that, I do have to say that some of my absolute favorite furniture
Catherine:that we have in our home is from Denmark.
Catherine:Hans,, furniture craftsmanship is so different from be my eyes app.
Catherine:So how did this come about?
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Well, I kind of married into it actually I'm born and raised on a farm and I was set
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:out to become a farmer because that was kind of what I wanted to but then when I was 25 and actually, yeah.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:The whole farming education and all of that, and was talking to my dad about taking over the farm and so on.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Then I discovered this eye disease.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:I realized that, that my vision would just be worse and worse over time.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So it would not be a good thing to start driving the tractor and taking over a farm.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:At that point,I didn't really know what to do.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:, so I went back to school, , and, , I got into the university in Denmark
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:and I started to study, philosophy.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And in that period I met my wife, , who is, , upholsterer.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:she puts new fabrics on old furnitures, , Then, , we got married and we got some kids and
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:then, , she wanted to have her own furniture, repair business, and I was helping her there
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:and I really got into this, , furniture thing.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So, so that's how it all started.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:It is something that I do together with my wife and it's her business.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So I'm helping her when I'm not totally sure.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Busy doing be my eyes.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So that's kind of the story of it.
Catherine:Oh, that's so interesting.
Catherine:And to me, it's just kind of a romance story because you get into doing these things
Catherine:together and you love being together and working together and you enjoy the work.
Catherine:I'm so happy for you.
Catherine:So what is the name of her shop?
, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:it is, , Wiberg's Weaving and Upholstery B usiness if you translate it into English.
, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Wibergs Flette- & Polstreværksted it's called in Danish.
, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:We have been, , married since, , 98.
, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:, and for the first, I don't know, 10 years, we were basically together day and night because we were yeah.
, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Living.
, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Course, but we were also working in the same room.
, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:It was only when we went to the toilet and we were not together.
, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So, so, so we have really spent a lot of time together.
, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So, I think we have straightened out what you need to do now that, so it's been absolutely
, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:wonderful, but I have also very much enjoy
, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:, going more and more into working with, be my eyes.
, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So, so we're not working that much together.
, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:But I'm still working at home and she has her shop where we live.
, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So whenever she needs a hand, I can go out and help her and the other way around.
, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So it works out perfectly fine.
, Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So that's wonderful.
Catherine:Well, I applaud the upholstery business the reupholstering business and that is something
Catherine:that we need more of throughout the world.
Catherine:Reupholstering because it is much more sustainable with regard to furniture.
Catherine:And it reminds me of repair cafe and you've heard of repair cafe, right?
Catherine:It started over in Europe.
Catherine:Yeah.
Catherine:Not too far from you down in the Netherlands.
Catherine:And it has hit worldwide.
Catherine:And I think repair cafe is something that truly, and it doesn't have to be, you know, the
Catherine:trademark recare pat recare repair cafe, but that type of notion, which is what you're doing.
Catherine:And you're basically doing what I think is really set for sustainability for the future and to keep things
Catherine:out of our dumps out of our landfills world wide.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Yeah.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Yeah, exactly.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Yeah.
Catherine:And you know, we also have fashion changes with fabrics for upholstery.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And interestingly, , now, and that this has happened within the last, I think
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:five, maybe a little more years that now you can get, , fabrics that are made out of old fabrics.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And that's super, super interesting.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:, and you can get , ecological, grown fabrics and all that you could not before.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:, and people are asking about that.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:, and also it's not cheap to have new fabrics on your old furniture.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So people really think about it and, , it's
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:a big decision for for a lot of people.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:But , for me, and especially for my wife, who's doing this, it's a wonderful
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:thing to kind of have this, process.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Yes.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:With the customers.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:They come in and they'll look at the furniture and they look at the fabrics and they, sometimes
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:they bring it home and then they come back.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Yeah.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:We want this one then when can you do it?
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And what's the price and all that.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And then you do it and they come back.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Yeah.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Yeah.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:They are very happy about the result.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:We have been doing this for now, , more than 20 years.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:A few times we have met the same chair twice because they have been using it and worn it
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:down and now they want to have it done again.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:That's kind of a funny thing.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:, and so that's absolutely wonderful to be in this process.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:The people that come to us they really think about that this is something, , that is worth doing and so on.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:They don't just want to throw it out.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Sometimes they could even get a cheaper chair, , if they'd just throw it out and bought a new one.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:, but they love this chair and that's also, some of these, , architect design chairs.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And they have a high price, , it's meaningful to kind of put money into havethem renewed once in
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:awhile, every 20 or 30 years or something like that.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:It's a wonderful business to be in because it's so meaningful, , in, in many ways.
Catherine:Oh, my gosh.
Catherine:Yes, Hans.
Catherine:Absolutely.
Catherine:And it's perfect for another podcast episode.
Catherine:. So let's move on to be my eyes.
Catherine:Your heart, your mind, and your soul went into this idea and how it took off is just amazing to me that
Catherine:there are so many millions and millions of volunteers
Catherine:and users of this app.
Catherine:Thank
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:you.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:It is amazing.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And it has also surprised me and the whole team.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Well the story is that, , as I mentioned before that, , I was starting to lose my
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:vision, , and I didn't know what to do.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And then, I got into this philosophy and I worked together for my wife.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And then at some point I got.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Just a few hours a week, , a small part-time job for the Danish blind association where I was, , visiting,
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:, other blind and low vision people in my area.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:, so I got to know a lot of blind people.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And at some point I got this idea that we should make a group of volunteers who you could make a video call to
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:so when you need some, visual assistant and , there was no one around you.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:many blind people live alone or they they live together with someone, but the other person is at
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:work or, and then, yeah, you'd need a pair of eyes maybe only for 20 seconds or something like that.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And you can make a FaceTime call or Skype or something like that.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:But then you would have to call a specific person and then you have to think is
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:this person at work or can I call him now?
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Or did I call her yesterday or all that?
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:, but if you have a group of volunteer, you can just make your call.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:, so, so that's kind of the idea.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:I'm not a technical guy.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:I have no clue how to make an app or anything.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So I really didn't know what to do with this idea.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:I knew it was possible, but I didn't know how to get there.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And then I I learned about a event called Startup Weekend where you can basically walk in from the
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:street and present an idea and hopefully somebody else also likes the idea and want to join your team.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And that's what I did in:Hans Jørgen Wiberg:, I was lucky that I think there was seven other people who joined my little group there.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And then we yeah, we won this award.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:You can say this weekend for the most innovative idea that there was no money in that.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So, so we were all fired up, but we didn't have any money or anything.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So we started to write applications to foundations in Denmark.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And so on to see if we could get some support to kind of try out this idea.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:After quite a while we got $300,000, , from one of the biggest foundations in Denmark.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Oh, wow.
Catherine:Congratulations.
Catherine:Yeah,
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:we could start to hire people who could actually do the coding and so on.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:th of January,:Hans Jørgen Wiberg:We didn't know what to expect.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:hours, , we had,:Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And we had 10,000 volunteers sign up , I clearly remember my, server guy, , called me and was kind
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:of freaked out because we were not ready for that kind of downloads and, it got even worse from there,
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:because within, I think the next two weeks we had a 100,000 volunteers signed up and 10,000 blind people.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So we really got a amazing start.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And
Catherine:and so before you go on, the a hundred thousand volunteers that you got so quickly,
Catherine:were they from Denmark or were they worldwide?
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:In the very beginning they were from Denmark but very soon after,
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:I cannot really explain how, but people are using Facebook or Twitter and so on.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And it, it spread like I don't know what and also we w were picked up by, , some of the tech
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:media, , and they started to write very small pieces about this exciting new startup in Denmark.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:They have many of those small super small short articles.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:But it seemed to kind of spread
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:like, I dunno what and my CEO and myself was interviewed, , I dunno for two months in a
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:row, on a daily basis, , it was totally crazy.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:You can see now six years later we have, , I think we have 4.8 million volunteers all over
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:the world, , in 185 different languages and in basically all countries in the whole world.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:, and we have not spent any marketing money simply because we didn't have any.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So, that was very easy.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:, but people has been so excited about being able to help in an easy way.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:It's super easy to download the app and say, yeah I'm volunteering here.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And we only ask people to, as the name says to be someone's eyes and
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:common use of be my eyes is that you are in your kitchen and you are cooking something
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:and you need to know exactly, , the recipe or, , what can is what, or have I set my
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:oven to this, number of degrees and so on.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And I mean, , anybody can do that.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:we have many calls that are, , 20 seconds.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Have I set my oven to 300 degrees?
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Yes, you have.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Thank you so much.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Okay.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:It can also be an hour long call when you need to restart your computer and all that.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:, or if you are out and about and or you have lost something on the floor
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:or you cannot find it then and so on.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So all those tasks but basically anyone can do it.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:It can be a little, , difficult sometime too to navigate, as you will have to tell the blind
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:person to move the phone a little to the right, a little to the left and then a little closer,
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:and it's a little dark here and all that.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:, but you talk about it and you work it out.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And people simply love it and they are posting about it on Twitter and Facebook afterwards,
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:and then we get even more volunteers.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So that's how it has spread all over the world.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So.
Catherine:So incredible.
Catherine:And I interrupted you when you were talking about the grant when you first started it.
Catherine:So if you want to backtrack and go back to when you initially put it out.
Catherine:And then you start getting the volunteers in case you had something important that
Catherine:you wanted to share and I interrupted you.
Catherine:Well,
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:It was kind of interesting because , we have no idea.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Basically.We thought it would be maybe a little difficult to find enough volunteers.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:, we even made, kind of a gamification elements that you would earn some point if you have
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:been helping a blind person, you could not use the point for anything but points are good.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:, but soon it turned out it was similarly difficult even to get a call because there were so many volunteers.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So, so this gamification didn't make any sense.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So removed that after a period of time.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:But of course, when I think about it now, it makes sense that I mean, everybody.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Pretty much once to help if they can.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And especially if it is, , in an easy way.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:I, myself not completely blind, but I'm using the white cane when I'm out and about.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:If I'm standing somewhere and, , trying to get across the street or something, I don't have to
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:stand there very long before someone asked me, oh, do you need help to get across the street?
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Or can I do something for you?
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And so on?
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So my experience from my own life is that pretty much everybody wants to help it is
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:something that they can do in an easy way.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:, we are all busy.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And it's difficult for a lot of people to sign up to volunteer to do something.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:But with Be My Eyes you can just sign up and if you're busy, you can just ignore the call.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And if you have time, you'll say yes.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And then, you will be connected with this, , blind person maybe, across the world.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:we use the time zones and to our advantage.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:If I need help, , four o'clock in the morning, we don't call anybody in
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Denmark, four o'clock in the morning.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:, then we find someone who speaks Danish or English.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:, in another time zone, and this means that, you might get a call, early in the morning or something
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:like that, because I'm in another time zone.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So, so that's how we can provide help 24 7 without disturbing our volunteers 24 7.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:The amazing thing is that when you have 4.8 million volunteers many of them speak more than one language.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Then you always have, even in a small language like the Danish.
, Catherine:it is so amazing.
, Catherine:Yeah.
, Catherine:that so many, volunteers actually, it's not amazing because positive imprints are all over
, Catherine:the place and we meet them every single day.
, Catherine:Like you meet them at a traffic light and you may only meet them for 20 seconds.
, Catherine:And.
, Catherine:They've left a positive imprint and people do rise to the challenge.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:I joke about that I'm not quite sure who am I helping the most, , because the
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:volunteers seem so excited about being able to, , to do this little thing you can say but impactful, at
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:least, a blind person who needs to set the oven,
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:that's not a big deal, but for this volunteer who has maybe been waiting for a month to get this
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:call and finally get, and many of the volunteers, they don't know a blind person they read about
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:this on Facebook or Tik TOK or something like that.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And then they say, oh, I can do that..
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:and then they pretty much forget about it and suddenly one day tingling and then oh,
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:now I'm a volunteer and then they get all excited and they post about it and so on.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So it's pretty amazing how happy people are getting.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And it really impacts both, , of course the blind users, but very much also the volunteers.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So, so that's a wonderful feeling to have.
Catherine:Oh, absolutely.
Catherine:I think that whenever anybody uses or owns their own positive imprint for a better word it is rewarding.
Catherine:I received my first call, but I didn't know what the ring was.
Catherine:What is my phone doing?
Catherine:Cause it's a different ring, which is good
Catherine:that it sounds different because now I know that ring.
Catherine:I picked up and then finally I saw the notification.
Catherine:I clicked on it and I got excited.
Catherine:Like you say.
Catherine:And then of course, by that time, several other volunteers were clicking
Catherine:and so on, which is a good thing.
Catherine:And it is easy to use . It's so, so user-friendly, it took less than a minute to sign
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:up.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:We have put a lot of effort into making the App as accessible as possible, both for the sighted,
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:but especially for the blind people of course.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:You have to verify your email and so on.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:We cannot skip that part.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And also, when you have a signed up, then there is only two buttons in the app, which
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:is also something we're very proud of.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And one of them is Call First Available Volunteer.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:, and that's where you get a volunteer and the second button is called Specialized Help
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:and in that you can call, , a company to get, , some special assistance from Google or Microsoft and so on.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:. Catherine: Do you collect any of the data?
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Nope.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:No we don't we, we just to see when we are connecting a stranger so, and we like to know
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:what's going on and especially if there's some complaint about something and we record the videos
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:so we can go back and see what really happened.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:, so in that sense, we are collecting some data, but we're not sharing it with anybody.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So it's it just for the sector.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Yeah, that's
Catherine:good.
Catherine:Yes.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:If you sign up as a blindperson, we to make sure that you, , understand how to use it.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And we also give people ideas for how they can use it and make sure they know , it's a free service
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:and, but you also have to behave in a certain way.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:We do give the blind users more information than the volunteers, simply because they are the ones who are,
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:In front of it., so to speak, so, right,
Catherine:I clicked the learn more and it was a video that was short and it was to the point.
Catherine:This video the app provides is, I think it was which one is red.
Catherine:I can't remember.
Catherine:And then it tells you, you would say it's the one on your left so the blind person or
Catherine:the person who is visually impaired or color blind, , will know which one is the red one.
Catherine:So it was very easy.
Catherine:And so as a volunteer, you're not giving your life information or watching,
Catherine:you know, three, four hours of video
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And also kind of to underline that it's not rocket science.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:It's just your eyes that we need.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Because the blind people, they know exactly what they are doing.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So, so you don't have to be their brain.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:You just have to be their eyes for a little while.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And this is of course super, super important.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Some somebody may ask you, oh, would you.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Go with this color.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And then yeah, you can say well, I don't know.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:, but I wouldn't do that.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Or, but if you are a young hipster myFICO for you or something like that so, so you might be asked something
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:like that, but then you can absolutely feel free to say, well, I'd rather not have any opinion about that.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Or if you are comfortable many are oh, I don't think, , this color goes with this car.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:, sometimes they even ask, oh, but what color are your shoes?
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Can I see them?
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And then they get into this whole conversation.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Yeah.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:What is going with with what?
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:that is super interesting.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:I have no clue what they're talking about.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:But
Catherine:so that's funny.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:We even have people who are using, be my eyes when they putting on because all
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:the different whatever you put on the containers, it is in, , pretty much the same, all of them.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And maybe you have, , three or five or six different colors and it's impossible
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:to kind of keep them apart and all that.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:That's a very personal interaction you have with another person putting on makeup there.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:I sometimes get emails about that.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Oh, I actually help this person get ready for a job interview or something like that.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So it's yeah, sometimes it's really important stuff you're doing so.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:You are alone and your wife is not there and you are in this job interview and yeah, I want to make sure
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:that this shirt kind of fits the rest of it and so on.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And then they can use the, be my eyes for that.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:it's not only for, , for blind people.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:We also have, dyslexic people who, scan something and have it read to you, but sometimes yeah dyslexic
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:person needs a person to, read it, to understand it.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Volunteers are happy to do that as well.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So.
Catherine:I am so glad that you offer that.
Catherine:And I didn't think of that.
Catherine:I'm a teacher and I work with students with dyslexia and they need help and they need
Catherine:that extra eyes and orally they can process a lot but visually they have a hard time,
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:I met one who said that sometime I simply need a human being to
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:read to me instead of a computer because, It doesn't make sense when the computer does that
Catherine:I think that your idea is so phenomenal and I'm so glad that you were able to get it
Catherine:off of the ground and get it developed into this remarkable app that is so easy to use.
Catherine:So now you mentioned Google and Microsoft.
Catherine:So how did their involvement play in all of this?
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Part of the history is that from day one, we decided that Be My Eyes should
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:be a free service, simply because, , no matter what country you live in, , Blind people in that
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:country are most likely in the low income end.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:, we could see that the 90% of the blind people in this world, they live in India and Africa and other low
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:income areas, and they might get a smartphone but we cannot charge them to not have as much or anything.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So we decided that eyesight should be free.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And then we had to find another business model and that is what we are doing.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:The second button, as I mentioned is called specialized help.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And when you pressed up one, you can find a number of companies.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And then for instance, you can call Microsoft.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And then when you press that button, We sent the call to Microsoft, but they know it's coming from,
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:be my eyes so they can make sure that those, I don't know, 10 or 15 people at Microsoft who know about
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:what kind of program the blind people are using,
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:that those people are the ones who is answering those calls.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So it's way easier for the support people.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:I mean they have a huge circle center.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:I dunno somewhere in the world would maybe thousand people but very few of them know anything about being
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:blind, but they do have some experts in this and those people are the ones answering the calls, coming
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:from, be my eyes and they also get the video part.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So it's way easier for Persons in this call, the blind person and the support person to have
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:this conversation because they can simply show the person what's on the screen now and so on.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And this is Microsoft and Google and Proctor and Gamble and the pharmacies and a number
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:of other companies are so happy about this.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So they are willing to pay, be my eyes to be on our platform.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And you can say that we are helping the companies be better companies for the blind customers.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And so we we have this it's from a postcard I believe this motto ' everybody wins only when nobody loses.'
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And this is kind of what is driving our business model.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And we strongly believe that the companies are getting absolutely value for their money
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:because they have a easy way to step up to the responsibility for all of that customers.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Also the blind customers.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:It's difficult to give support to a blind person when the technology is not working.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And that's the only reason why theystarted calling or they have issues with signing
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:up with Google or something like that.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:But now they can actually get help from someone who knows exactly what's going on.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And that's super, super valuable for both for the company but especially of course for the blind users.
Catherine:Wow.
Catherine:You have done so much for the visually impaired around the world.
Catherine:And I'm impressed.
Catherine:I am so impressed with all of the different pieces that you worked on to make sure that they're
Catherine:being served in all of the positive ways and yeah.
Catherine:And to do this with the companies.
Catherine:Wow.
Catherine:Can you imagine the questions that people, I mean, I have questions, but I couldn't even imagine, you know,
Catherine:Yeah.
Catherine:Oh, I just love this app
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Nobody has done this before, so, so we could not kind of copy
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:anyone or look at the, oh, they are doing good.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:. And also this last month has been
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:totally amazing because we, we won the Webby award and
Catherine:oh,
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:congratulations picked up a apple design award, which is a super big deal.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And maybe especially for the developers and designers on my team was super, super excited about I am as well.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Of course.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And then.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Pretty much the same week
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:we got a Helen Keller award, which is the biggest award in the blind community.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So this month has been over the top.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Absolutely.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So, we are super, super happy that we get this recognition from, I mean, apple, they have millions.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Apple apps in the app store.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And then they pick be my eyes and six others, I believe and give this design award
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:which is, yeah, that's a pretty big deal.
Catherine:It is a very big deal.
Catherine:Well, like I said, I was impressed with your design.
Catherine:I was very impressed with the design and the ease, just user friendly.
Catherine:Absolutely.
Catherine:You are so deserving of the recognition because I think, yes.
Catherine:Oh, absolutely.
Catherine:And it, this is such an amazing positive imprint and it's worldwide and you are
Catherine:helping so many people, not just the visually impaired, but the volunteers are enthralled
Catherine:and their mindset is changed because of you.
Catherine:Well,
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:that is a great thing.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:We gaining people on our side because as I said before, many people don't know a blind person
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:and they just read like, you, they read about this on Facebook and think, oh, I can do that.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:But then suddenly they are one-to-one with a blind person.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Doing something that actually means something to, to the blind person.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And suddenly they look at their washing machine with totally new eyes and say, this cannot
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:be right that these washing machines doesn't.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:To us or our so impossible, if you could not see.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And we need to do something about that.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And certainly we have ambassadors out there speaking to the more inclusive world and so on.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And that's I think that makes me very proud when I get the emails like that from people who have gets afired
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:up and say, , we have to do something about this.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Yes.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Thank you.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And
Catherine:And so you're changing the world and it's not just changing the world for
Catherine:the people that are visually impaired.
Catherine:It's going to change the world.
Catherine:But I think that as word continues to spread and as this grows, which already has, and maybe some
Catherine:of these companies, like you mentioned, the washing machine company, are looking into now sound.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So it doesn't matter that a piece of equipment is accessible if it is not
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:financially accessible, then it's not accessible.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And this is that don't get me started on that one.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:When we start to talk with Microsoft I mean, their accessiblity the team was maybe one or two people,
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:and I believe they have maybe 100 people now in accessibility looking into whatever they are doing.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And Microsoft is doing a amazing job, making their whole organization think about accessibility.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Most people, at some point in their life, suddenly they are impaired and, or they will hopefully
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:grow old and start to lose some of their hearing
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:. Everybody at some point in their life has
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:It is really smart if you are accessible to all kinds of handicaps and so on.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And Microsoft is really thinking about that.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And that's also why they together with be my eyes,.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Microsoft also got a Helen Keller award simply because they are acting, stepping up to this they
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:are active how can we make this work for everybody.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And not only thinking about blind people here, but also deaf and even deaf, blind and so on.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Yeah.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Yeah.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:That's really encouraging to see, and we see it is active becoming a department , in some of
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:the big companies and that's really encouraging
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:. So, so I am somewhat hopeful that
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:It is.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And there's also yeah legal stuff being put in place.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So they actually have to do this but even legal stuff you can make a lot, then 10 years later, not
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:everybody is following that but it seems to be moving in these years and that's very encouraging to see.
Catherine:This is very impressive.
Catherine:And it's one of the things that does go through my mind when I do my podcast is that we humans around
Catherine:the world have to do so much for our tomorrows.
Catherine:And sometimes that just doesn't feel right and just that we have to work so hard for tomorrow
Catherine:and for the future, you know, that things should already have been in place for life in the future.
Catherine:But, you know, that's of course my optimism saying, you know, well, that's how life really is, but it's not.
Catherine:And that's why we have people like you who do rise to the challenge and you, because of your app,
Catherine:you are bringing opportunity to people around the world as volunteers to rise to the challenges.
Catherine:And providing such a phenomenal service to the visually impaired.
Catherine:And I, so thank you for that.
Catherine:So is there anything else that you have forgotten to share before we get
Catherine:into the last segment of this episode?
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:I think we have touched a lot of things, so, but I'm happy to answer
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:any questions also from your listeners.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:If they have anything, they can just reach out.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And I am more than happy to answer.
Catherine:Okay.
Catherine:And we'll get that information here right now.
Catherine:So first of all, the website, Hans is BeMyEyes.com
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:the email that you can reach us is info@BeMyEyes and then myself or some of my
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:colleagues will answer the questions, maybe not right away, but we try to do it as fast as we can.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So.
Catherine:So, my last segment is of course, your last inspiring words that you would like to share.
Catherine:Oh,
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:I didn't think about that.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:But
Catherine:Take a little bit and think about inspiring words that you'd like to share.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:It reminds me of another award that we got and the appy award.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And I had seven words to give a a speech by the end.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And I said "volunteering makes our world beautiful.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:Thank you.".
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:And that was seven words and it was kind of fun too, to make that super short speech.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:But I really believe that the fact that people can volunteer and we like also to, . So use the word
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:micro volunteering, because it is most calls are less than three minutes and they really make a
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:difference and it's super easy for you to do that.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So, so I really believe that the world gets a little more beautiful when you
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:can volunteer in, in this easy way.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg:So, yeah.
Catherine:Hans Jørgen Wiberg, you are an amazing positive imprint that has allowed the
Catherine:flourishing of volunteers around the world
Catherine:to use, to show, to implement their own positive imprints, but even more so your positive
Catherine:imprint is bringing a service and bringing happiness, bringing joy to people who are
Catherine:visually impaired and something that I just, I love your phrase that you have on your website.
Catherine:'Let's see the world together.' And I love that there are no borders.
Catherine:, I love that.
Catherine:And so BeMyEyes.com and thank you so much for developing this idea into reality
Catherine:Hans Jørgen Wiberg, thank you for your positive imprints, your positive imprint.
Awesome information. There are so many useful ideas that need a positive imprint to put into action.