By Chris Cornford
Sight for Wight, the charity supporting visually-impaired Islanders and their families, have installed a Hello Everyone QR code outside Newport Police Station, adding to those at the Hovertravel terminals at Ryde and Southsea.
The QR code can be scanned using the camera on a smartphone equipped with QR reader software. This software then opens the phone’s internet browser and directs the user to an audio file which contains a verbal description of the environment.
Lisa Hollyhead, CEO of Sight for Wight, said: “As someone born with 88 per cent sight loss, I have found the huge number of physical Covid-secure changes made in, what were, very familiar surroundings, difficult to judge. I knew voice was the way to help resolve this, but how to turn a poster into voice was the challenge.
“Lockdown allowed me to research to resolve this, and Hello Everyone was born. Our audible QR codes provide audible guidance giving a basic layout, where to go and what to avoid in any building or environment.
“In order to enable a visually-impaired person to find the QR code, it will be placed in the same location every time, and that is 5ft from the ground on the left-hand side of the doorway on an external wall. This is so that people, regardless of their level of sight, know where to aim their phone to scan for the code.”
The audio file for the Newport Police Station QR code informs the listener of the opening hours for the front counter, how to contact police outside of these hours, and the layout of the building to assist with navigation.
For more details on the Hello Everyone QR codes visit iwsb.org.uk/hello-everyone/.
Press Release