Sky Ireland launches ‘Be My Eyes’ app, a free support service for visually impaired customers

[FP1997]

‘Be My Eyes’ app launches ahead of Global Accessibility Awareness Day

To celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Sky Ireland has today announced the launch of a new free support service for visually impaired customers, powered by ‘Be My Eyes’. Be My Eyes is a free app that connects blind and low-vision people with sighted volunteers and company representatives for visual assistance through a live video call.

Visually impaired Sky customers will now be able to access customer support via live video calls with Sky’s Accessibility customer support team. Through these live calls, the customer support team can help to set up or resolve any technical issues, experienced by the customer.

Global Accessibility Awareness Day takes place on May 18^th and focuses on driving awareness for digital access and inclusion for the more than one billion people who live with disabilities or impairments.

To get the 'Be My Eyes' app (ROI Only):

• Open the App Store (iOS) or Play Store (Android).
• Search for Be My Eyes.
• Select ‘Get’ (iOS) or ‘Install’ (Android) to download the app. Depending on your device and settings, you may be prompted to confirm with your fingerprint, facial recognition, or password.
• Open the app on your device.
• Select the option ‘I need visual assistance’, and sign in with your Email, Apple account, Google account, or Facebook account.
• If you already have a Be My Eyes account using your email, select “Sign In” on the next page and enter your details. Otherwise, create an account by completing the form on the screen.
• If you select Apple, Google, or Facebook, enter those account details as instructed.

You will remain signed into the app unless you actively log out.

Your Be My Eyes account details are separate from your Sky account, and you do not need to enter any of your Sky account details on the app. Once connected to a Sky advisor, they will verify your Sky account as they would normally on a phone call.

How to contact Sky on Be My Eyes

1. On the home tab of the Be My Eyes app, select Specialised Help.
2. Select Technical, then Sky from the list of companies.
3. You’ll be taken to Sky’s profile page where you can select Call Sky to start a call and connect to a Sky advisor.

PLEASE NOTE: The first time you use the service, you may need to agree to the terms and conditions.

 

Speaking about the new offering from Sky, Declan Meenagh, Advocacy Officer at Fighting Blindness said:

“Fighting Blindness members find Be My Eyes a very useful app and we thank all of the global volunteers for giving their time to such a useful service. Our members have also used the service to get help from other specialised help partners and really report a good experience. Sky has a long history of providing accessibility support and we are looking forward to using this new service and enabling people living with sight loss to enjoy more entertainment.”

 

Sky has already taken a number of important steps towards inclusivity, with Sky Glass and Sky Q offering features such as ‘Voice Guidance’ and ‘Voice Control’. These features provide navigational guidance for people with a sight impairment, enabling them to find what they are looking for with helpful audio cues. Other accessibility features available include audio description, high contrast, subtitles and highlighting of shows in the TV Guide which have audio description, subtitles or sign language to make them easier to find.