A woman with a vision impairment created an app to assist those with low vision
By Jonathan Hunter
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BALTIMORE (WMAR) — One woman grew up seeing the world differently from everyone else due to a vision impairment.
She decided to create an app to assist people like herself.
That woman is Rebecca Rosenberg. She has a rare genetic condition called albinism.
People with the condition have a lack of melanin production, which can cause vision issues.
While in college, she started working on the ReBokeh app. The app has been public for about a year now.
When you open the app, you will see a camera feed.
The app works like a live version of a photo editing app.
However, instead of all the functionalities being optimized to create a pretty picture, the focus is on vision.
So for instance, if there is writing on the wall, you can change the color to make it clearer to see.
Rosenberg says she is in a unique position.
She sees well enough to have a driver’s license, but can’t see like everyone else.
Rosenberg says sometimes she will struggle to see a low hanging branch when she is walking down the sidewalk.
She says she falls somewhere in the middle when it comes to vision.
Rosenberg says a lot of the technology is geared to help people who are legally blind.
However, she says people in her low vision category are sometimes forgotten about.
That’s why she created the ReBokeh app.
“So, what I aim to do, what ReBokeh aimed to do, was create an assistive technology for the people in the middle that helped enhanced that existing vision they did have, and help them make the most of that, as opposed to defaulting to these non visual cues,” said Rosenberg.
People all over the world use the app.
Rosenberg says there is one person who uses the ReBokeh to play in an orchestra.
He uses it to see the conductor.
She adds that another person uses the app to take a sign language class.
She says that user uses the app to see the professor sign.
Rosenberg is only 25.
She is committed to inspiring other people who have low vision.
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