Anne Hansen was not born blind, but around the age of 10-years-old she was told she had problems with her sight.<br /><br /> That problem turned out to be a degenerative eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa. Around 10 years ago, she became completely blind.<br /><br /> But a lack of sight has not stopped the 50-year-old from living a full life, including working from her home in Copenhagen as a self-employed psychotherapist.<br /><br /> Now she has a new high-tech tool, ‘Be My Eyes’, a Danish-developed smartphone app that connects via a live-streaming camera to thousands of so-called ‘helpers’.<br /><br /> Hansen says she often uses it in the kitchen, to correctly set her oven’s temperature or telling certain canned goods apart.<br /><br /> “It is a way to become more independent. When I’m cooking for example, if I’ve invited guests I want it to look right as well. So I just call someone to say; ‘How does this look? Does it look done or does it need to have longer time?’ she says.<br /><br /> This is how it works. <br /><br /> Someone with a visual impairment connects to sighted helpers. They can then help look at the expiration date on milk or navigate new surroundings, for example.<br /><br /> ‘Be My Eyes’ is the brainchild of Hans Jørgen Wiberg, who also suffers from retinitis pigmentosa.<br /><br /> The 52-year-old realised smartphones were equipped with all the technology needed to give instant help to blind people or those with visual impairments.<br /><br /> “We hope that we can give a lot of people first-hand experience helping a blind person and in that way kind of bridge the gap, so to speak. And maybe also make it more easy for people. If you meet a blind person on the street, then you can kind of approach them and say; ‘Do you need help with anything?’ or something like that,” he says. <br /><br /> So far developers say they have been overwhelmed by willing helpers. Almost 400,000 people have downloaded the app in the hope of “lending” their sight.<br /><br /> For every blind person, the app now boasts around 12 or 13 volunteers willing to help.<br /><br /> The ‘Be My Eyes’ smartphone app is free to download and currently only available on the iPhone iOS operating system.<br /><br /> Developers say they hope to release an Android version in the near future.<br />
