U. partners with Aira to help individuals with visual impairments on campus

The Office of Disability Services recently featured its partnership with Aira, an app-based visual interpreting service, at the Zimmerli Art Museum in recognition of Disability Awareness Month, according to a press release.

Aira connects people with vision impairment or other unique needs to live representatives, or Aira agents, who verbally assist through visual interpretation of the individual's surroundings.

Carlie Andrews, senior director of the Office of Disability Services, said that Aira is intended to facilitate everyday tasks, from reading prescription labels to sorting laundry to navigating public transportation.

While the app was originally designed for people who are low-vision or blind, Aira's capabilities for assistance can extend to individuals with other medical conditions, she said.

For example, Andrews said that a student with a traumatic brain injury can utilize an Aira agent to finish reading a textbook chapter, given the limitations that student may encounter while reading a physical or online copy.

Regarding the launch of Aira at the University, Andrews said that she began collaborating with Aira after learning about the service at a conference and surveying its presence at other Big Ten universities and commercial institutions such as Starbucks, Walgreens and Wegmans.

"The only requirement to be using Aira for free is that you need to be physically located on the Rutgers—New Brunswick campus," she said. "Anyone can use it — staff, faculty, students, a visitor to the campus."

Andrews said that the Office of Disability Services has been advertising the accessibility of Aira to the Rutgers community this semester and partnering with other University units, such as the Libraries and Athletics Department, to inform more students about Aira.

"We've also done individual outreach to students that are registered with our office and the Dean of Students, making sure that we've done training … about how Aira works and what the potential uses of Aira are — knowing there may be students who they're interacting with that don’t necessarily have a disability but could really benefit from the use of Aira," she said.

Additionally, Andrews said that she has been focused on spreading awareness about Aira to the general public and non-Rutgers affiliated groups. For instance, a local association of blind soccer coaches organized a conference on Cook campus and were introduced to Aira, she said.

From a broader perspective of accessibility and inclusion, Andrews said that Aira does not provide people with the capacity to do something they previously could not but rather aims to eliminate and alleviate the reliance on others and the time-consuming nature of assistance for people with disabilities.

"When we look at Rutgers, we are a 250-year-old plus institution which comes with some amazing history, but it also comes with some amazing challenges (for) accessibility," she said. "I think that Rutgers is making great strides … and becoming an Aira access partner is really just one more step in that direction of creating the most inclusive community possible."

Looking to the near future, Andrews said that she hopes to receive feedback on Aira from students and other community members who have used the service and work further with campus partners on student referrals to Aira.

She said that she wants Rutgers students and community members to recognize two key aspects of Aira and its application: people with or without disabilities are encouraged to use Aira, and the service is open to anyone physically located on campus, regardless of their connection to the University.

"Even though (Aira) was designed initially for people who are blind or low-vision, one of the things that I've heard people say is, 'Well, I don't want to take time away from other people who might need it more.' That is absolutely not the point," she said. "(Aira) has a lot of agents standing by ready to assist anyone who thinks that they might be able to benefit from using Aira services."