While most businesses are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to improve technology and operations, human service agencies such as VisionCorps are looking at AI to help people in their daily routines.

VisionCorps serves people with impaired vision, and today they’re helping them access technology and use the advances available through AI and other sources.

Headquartered in Lancaster, VisionCorps provides vision rehabilitation services and support to individuals who are blind or experiencing vision loss in five counties:  Adams, Chester, Lancaster, Lebanon, and York.

The new Ray-Ban Meta glasses are one example of new AI technology that can help people with vision loss, becoming what one user described as a hands-free personal assistant.

VisionCorps client Tom Young of West Lampeter Township said his new Meta glasses help him do everyday tasks like read the newspaper and answer calls – all by using voice commands.

Young has macular degeneration, a progressive eye disease that causes vision loss over time. He struggles with simple tasks like checking his thermostat or reading bills, menus, or books.

“Using a magnifying glass gets very, very tiring,” said Young. He said using the Meta glasses to have information read back to him is “just amazing.”

After learning more about and trying out a pair of Meta glasses at VisionCorps, Young purchased his own pair fitted with prescription lenses at the local LensCrafters.

VisionCorps offers clients the ability to try and learn about new technology that can help them become more independent. Instruction and support from occupational therapists and an access technology specialist helps individuals better understand how to use the technology. Trying out the technology such as glasses, magnifiers, or software apps helps clients feel comfortable with using it. It also helps clients get their questions answered and determine if a new technology will help with their vision loss before they purchase it.

While Meta isn’t the first venture into the smart glasses field, it is one of the more affordable options packed with technology.

Meta launched the glasses in 2023, and they include a wide-angle, 180-degree, 12 megapixel camera in the front frame and five discrete microphones and open-ear audio speakers in each arm. Unlike earlier smart glasses that cost $2,500 and up, new Meta Ray-Ban glasses can be purchased for $299. Customizing the Meta glasses with prescription and polarized lenses will cost more, but about the same as a pair of new, prescription glasses.

Taylor Newswanger, an occupational therapist at VisionCorps, said the Meta glasses can be game changers for people with vision loss because they provide auditory support which places no strain on the eyes, she said. She has demonstrated the glasses individually with about 30 clients and most have decided to purchase them.

Newswanger explained when people with vision loss use magnification – one of the more common tools to help with vision loss — it can be physically tiring for the eyes and also mentally tiring because the higher the magnification level, the harder it is to read, remember and process the information.

The Meta glasses use optical character recognition, enabling them to read words on prescription bottles or thermostats, said Newswanger. The glasses are paired with the use generative AI, which wearers can use to answer any questions in the same way that people might ask through a mobile phone personal assistant or through a web browser.

Tim Runstrom, a VisionCorps client and employee, used the Meta glasses during his recent Amtrak train trip from Lancaster to Washington, D.C.

“They assisted me to help locate the Red Cap service desk, find the men’s bathroom, and locate the correct train platform for my next destination,” he said. “I can’t read print, so I also used them at restaurants to read the menu. It’s so much better than asking people to read it to me!”

Runstrom said the glasses were so helpful that he is planning to purchase a pair for his daughter, who is also vision impaired, to use next year for school.

“I think the Meta glasses will help her better navigate the school and also read paperwork that teachers give her,” said Runstrom. 

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By Carol Gifford, Community and Public Affairs Manager, VisionCorps

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