Sky launches free support service for visually impaired customers

To celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Sky Ireland has today announced the launch of a new free support service for visually impaired customers, powered by ‘Be My Eyes’. Be My Eyes is a free app that connects blind and low-vision people with sighted volunteers and company representatives for visual assistance through a live video call.

Visually impaired Sky customers will now be able to access customer support via live video calls with Sky’s Accessibility customer support team. Through these live calls, the customer support team can look at tech set up for Sky TV and Sky Broadband and help to set up or resolve any technical issues, experienced by the customer.

Speaking about the new offering David Nason, Sky Ireland’s Accessibility Lead and accessibility advocate, said:

“Sky has always been a champion of inclusivity and we always strive to ensure that all of our customers’ needs are met. We’re incredibly proud to be the first telecommunications company in Ireland to integrate the Be My Eyes app into our customer service offering and provide essential assistance to all Sky customers. Be My Eyes means we can now offer specialised assistance and technical support to visually impaired customers when they need it, through live video calls.”

Sky has already taken a number of important steps towards inclusivity, with Sky Glass and Sky Q offering features such as ‘Voice Guidance’ and ‘Voice Control’. These features provide navigational guidance for people with a sight impairment, enabling them to find what they are looking for with helpful audio cues. Other accessibility features available include audio description, high contrast, subtitles and highlighting of shows in the TV Guide which have audio description, subtitles or sign language to make them easier to find.

Global Accessibility Awareness Day takes place on May 18^th and focuses on driving awareness for digital access and inclusion for the more than one billion people who live with disabilities or impairments.

For further information, please contact: rachael.cleary@fleishmaneurope.com