{"id":85680,"date":"2020-09-10T11:02:47","date_gmt":"2020-09-10T16:02:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?p=85680"},"modified":"2020-09-10T11:02:47","modified_gmt":"2020-09-10T16:02:47","slug":"uwm-first-university-in-state-to-offer-aira-app-for-blind-and-visually-impaired","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-first-university-in-state-to-offer-aira-app-for-blind-and-visually-impaired\/","title":{"rendered":"UWM first university in state to offer Aira app for blind and visually impaired"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MILWAUKEE _ The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is introducing a new, free app to help those who are blind or visually impaired find their way around its campuses and buildings. UWM is the first university in the state to offer the app to students, staff, faculty and visiting community members. <\/p>\n<p>The app, Aira, allows users to reach a remote, trained agent at the touch of a button to help with accessibility issues. It will be available on the main campus, the satellite campuses in Waukesha and Washington County, other campus buildings such as the downtown Zilber School of Public Health and the Innovation Campus in Wauwatosa. The service can also be set up for use at university functions such as sporting events and graduation ceremonies held off campus.<\/p>\n<p>Funding for the Aira service came through a grant from Industries for the Blind and Visually Impaired, which is providing seed money for one year to get the project started. The university\u2019s Accessibility Resource Center is using the funding to pay for a subscription to the service.  Users can download the app for free to their smart phones. The app allows them to connect with a certified Aira agent in real time.<\/p>\n<p>The Aira app is currently in use at the Mitchell International Airport and a number of Milwaukee county facilities.<\/p>\n<p>The app can serve as a visual interpreter to help guide students and visitors around the campus, even when temporary barriers caused by construction or snowstorms interfere with their normal routes. It is also unobtrusive, according to Shannon Aylesworth, adaptive technology specialist at the university\u2019s Accessibility Resource Center.<\/p>\n<p>While UWM has only a small number of blind and visually impaired students, the service opens the campus and other UWM locations and events to visitors and community members, said Aura Hirschman, chair of the university\u2019s ADA accessibility advisory committee.  <\/p>\n<p>Even those who might not currently be visually impaired will benefit, said Jeb Willenbring, a professor who is visually impaired himself and a member of the advisory committee. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s for anyone at whatever stage of their life who has experienced some visual change that they\u2019re trying to accommodate,\u201d he added.  \u201cIf they don\u2019t need it now, they may in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MILWAUKEE _ The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is introducing a new, free app to help those who are blind or visually impaired find their way around its campuses and buildings. UWM is the first university in the state to offer the app to students, staff, faculty and visiting community members. The app, Aira, allows users to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":835,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[202],"tags":[],"section":[],"display_categories":[],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[],"class_list":["post-85680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-releases"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>UWM first university in state to offer Aira app for blind and visually impaired<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"MILWAUKEE _ The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is introducing a new, free app to help those who are blind or visually impaired find their way around\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-first-university-in-state-to-offer-aira-app-for-blind-and-visually-impaired\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UWM first university in state to offer Aira app for blind and visually impaired\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MILWAUKEE _ The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is introducing a new, free app to help those who are blind or visually impaired find their way around\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-first-university-in-state-to-offer-aira-app-for-blind-and-visually-impaired\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UWM REPORT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-10T16:02:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UWMNews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UWMNews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-first-university-in-state-to-offer-aira-app-for-blind-and-visually-impaired\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-first-university-in-state-to-offer-aira-app-for-blind-and-visually-impaired\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"UWM first university in state to offer Aira app for blind and visually impaired\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-10T16:02:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-first-university-in-state-to-offer-aira-app-for-blind-and-visually-impaired\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":386,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"News Releases\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-first-university-in-state-to-offer-aira-app-for-blind-and-visually-impaired\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-first-university-in-state-to-offer-aira-app-for-blind-and-visually-impaired\\\/\",\"name\":\"UWM first university in state to offer Aira app for blind and visually impaired\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-10T16:02:47+00:00\",\"description\":\"MILWAUKEE _ The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is introducing a new, free app to help those who are blind or visually impaired find their way around\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-first-university-in-state-to-offer-aira-app-for-blind-and-visually-impaired\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-first-university-in-state-to-offer-aira-app-for-blind-and-visually-impaired\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-first-university-in-state-to-offer-aira-app-for-blind-and-visually-impaired\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UWM first university in state to offer Aira app for blind and visually impaired\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"UWM REPORT\",\"description\":\"News from the University of Wisconsin - 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