This is a story from Be My Eyes.
 
My name is Lisa, and I’m a member of the Google Disability Support team. My teammates and I handle questions about assistive technology and accessibility features within Google products. We come to work each day, committed to helping make all of Google’s products usable by as many people as possible. 
 
Each work day is different and unique. I can get calls from anywhere in the world, from Austin to India. The calls can be about anything from “How do I set up TalkBack?” to “How do I get on the internet?”. Most of our callers are blind or low-vision users; however, I’ve even received a call from a customer with a TBI (traumatic brain injury) which can interfere with how their brain interprets what their eyes see. 
 
At this time, answering calls on Be My Eyes is my priority. However, I still spend time supporting the disabled community through our other channels, such as emails and chats, whether from new inquiries or replies from inquiries I’ve been working on previously, including follow-up questions from Be My Eyes calls. 
 
A great example of what a blind or low-vision person would call in for would be my caller from just the other day. He let me know he was blind and had purchased a smartwatch online, and now TalkBack, the Android screen reader, wasn’t turning on. The caller was able to show me his watch through the Be My Eyes app’s video, and we discovered that the previous owner hadn’t reset it, so it was still paired with the previous device, plus set to a different language. I was able to walk the caller through resetting the watch and turning on TalkBack, so that he could continue setting up his devices independently. Another caller needed help with pairing her phone with a wireless keyboard. The devices had lost their connection, and the keyboard wasn’t accessible for her without the phone’s screen reader. The keyboard had a flashing light to signal when it was ready to pair, however there was no audible indicator. Through the Be My Eyes app, I was able to explain to the caller what was going on, and then emailed her an online copy of her keyboard’s device manual that I was able to find for her, so she could re-pair the devices at a later time that was more convenient for her. We’ve even had callers asking for help with YouTube. My teammates and I have been able to walk them through using their preferred screen reader, including ChromeVox, TalkBack, and even VoiceOver, to navigate YouTube, including sharing a few keyboard shortcuts to help make their experience easier.
 
I’ve heard from a number of Be My Eyes callers that they are really excited and grateful to have the ability to call the Google Disability Support team through the Specialized Help platform on the Be My Eyes app. Overall, it’s a less technical way to contact us, while providing my team with an additional tool to troubleshoot issues with. The video call gives us a personal way to connect, and a friendly conversation is always helpful when gathering more details. It’s been really heartwarming to hear multiple callers express their excitement to whoever is in the room with them or even just to themselves about how awesome, cool and wonderful this service is as the call is ending.
 
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