Hi everyone 👋

I’m a student working on an assistive-technology project involving smart glasses for blind and low-vision users.

The original idea was pretty simple:

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But the more I think about it, the more I realize there’s a huge problem with that approach:

I’m not blind. So how do I know which problems are actually worth solving?

I don’t want to build a pair of “cool AI glasses” that looks impressive in a presentation but becomes useless in real life.

I want to hear from the people who actually live with these problems.

🦯 Let’s start with navigation

We often hear about white canes, guide dogs, GPS, smartphone apps, and environmental sounds.

But what do these tools still NOT solve for you?

When you're walking somewhere, what is the moment where you think:

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Maybe it's finding a specific entrance.

Maybe it's understanding what's happening in an unfamiliar building.

Maybe it's crossing a complicated area.

Maybe it's knowing whether you've passed the place you're looking for.

Maybe it's something completely different.

What is your biggest everyday navigation frustration?

And something I'm especially interested in:

👂 How important is sound to your navigation?

I've read and heard that environmental sounds can provide a huge amount of information when navigating.

So I'd love to know:

What do you actually listen for when walking?

Traffic? Footsteps? Voices? Echoes? Doors? Public announcements? Something else?

And would an AI device talking constantly be helpful or actually make things worse by covering up those sounds?

🤔 But here's the bigger question...

What if navigation isn't even the biggest problem?

Forget the glasses for a moment.

Forget AI.

Forget my project.

What other everyday problem caused by blindness/low vision frustrates you the most?

It could be something incredibly simple:

Finding something you've put down.

Reading a label.

Identifying an object.

Cooking.

Shopping.

Using technology.

School/work.

Knowing what's happening visually in a room.

Recognizing people.

Knowing which button or control you're touching.

Or something that people who aren't blind would probably never think about.

🔥 Here's what I'm REALLY looking for

Tell me about the small annoying problem that happens over and over again.

The thing that seems insignificant to everyone else but makes your day harder.

Those are the problems I'm most interested in.

And please don't feel like you need to give me “good ideas.”

I'd actually like to hear the opposite too.

Have you tried an assistive device that sounded amazing but was completely useless in practice?

What made you stop using it?

Was it inaccurate?
Too slow?
Too expensive?
Uncomfortable?
Too much audio?
Too complicated?
Not reliable enough?
Or did it simply solve a problem you didn't really have?

One last question:

If you could magically fix ONE problem in your everyday life with technology, what would you choose?

I'm not looking for a perfect answer.

I'm looking for the real answer.

Even if it's something tiny.

Because my goal isn't to make the most advanced glasses.

It's to find a problem actually worth solving.

Thank you to anyone willing to share. Every honest answer could change the direction of this project. 🙏