We had an enjoyable social meeting in May at Avers Pizza. Over 14 people attended. We selected this venue in part because a private room allowed us to isolate our meeting from the sounds of other patrons, which was helpful for our members with hearing impairments. We also liked the pizza!

We discussed ideas for future meetings. One idea was to explore and share technologies, including potentially having workshops and demonstrations.

For our July meeting, chapter member Mary Stores will be presenting AIRA. Have you ever wanted to have a trusted and adept personal assistant? The creators of AIRA made a service that allows individuals who are blind to instantly connect with a sighted agent and receive that personalized assistance. It is like having your very own personal concierge.

The AIRA subscription service enables clients to press a button and immediately connect with trained visual assistants through audio and video. The service provides a pair of glasses that, instead of lenses, has a tiny camera mounted on the frame. Subscribers can also connect via a cell phone camera. The service also includes a cellular hotspot so there are no additional data charges. Mary will talk about the myriad of ways that AIRA helps her with her daily activities at home, work and while traveling.

Those that attend will also have the chance to interact with the AIRA agent to get a real sense of how they would use the service.

We think allowing those who are interested or curious to see and try new tools like AIRA is one way our chapter can help expand and enhance individual independence!

Please consider joining us on July 16 at 6:30 pm at the Monroe County Public Library.  We will have refreshments and would like to hear of your interest. Also, please contact us at info@heartlandacb.org or (812)  269-6531 if you have any questions or ideas!