Mobile app simulates vision with a degenerative eye disease

VisionSim is a mobile app that's designed to help those with good vision see how the world appears to those with degenerative eye disease.

There’s nothing like having to walk a mile in another person’s shoes, as the old saying goes, for a better understanding of their perspective. Apply that maxim to visual health and you get VisionSim, a mobile app that’s designed to help those with good vision see how the world appears to those with degenerative eye disease. Created by the Los Angeles-based Braille Institute “to foster understanding and compassion for the millions of people affected by these eye conditions,” in the group’s own words, VisionSim is a free app that’s now available for iPhone, iPad and Android devices. Included within VisionSim are simulators for four different degenerative eye diseases: macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and cataracts. Users begin by choosing the disease they want to simulate. The application then uses the camera in the device to let them see the world through digital filters that simulate the symptoms of the disease in question; sliding touch-screen controls even permit the user to vary the severity. Real-time still images can be saved by the camera and shared or stored for later review in the phone’s image gallery. With augmented reality and other mobile technologies available today, there’s virtually no limit to the possibilities for creating more empathy and a common understanding of numerous diseases, conditions and disabilities. Mobile-minded entrepreneurs: be inspired! Spotted by: Matt