A new app for the visually impaired

Young entrepreneurs C Sriram and Srikant realised that getting a scribe to write an exam for the visually impaired is no easy task. They developed an application called ‘Scribe Finder’ that would act as an interface between people who need scribes and volunteers on a single platform. Currently operational only in India, the app has been running successfully in all four southern states. In an interview with Metrolife, Sriram talks about how he developed the application and more.

How did you come up with this idea?

The foundations of the application were laid four years ago, when I was a volunteer for visually impaired students and was assisting them in their examinations. I realised that finding scribes or people who volunteer for this endeavour was an arduous task to even sighted people, let alone someone who is visually impaired. Furthermore, in due time, I was acting as an intermediary between the volunteers and the visually impaired people which was time-consuming. Hence, in early 2018, I decided to bridge this gap by building an application that can bring the people who need scribes and volunteers together on a single platform without any intermediaries and published the app in 2019. Now, it’s helping a lot of visually impaired people to seamlessly get the volunteers to write for their exams.

Could you elaborate on the features of this application?

The features include a separate interface for volunteers who want to register in this application and the visually impaired users who are looking for scribes. The visually impaired can either look for scribes in their nearby location or select an area where they need the scribe. Furthermore, they can broadcast a request specifying the location, date, language and exam centre which will notify available volunteers.

In the former search feature by location, the visually impaired person has to contact the volunteer and provide additional details. In the broadcast, however, once a volunteer decides to take up the task, it becomes that person’s responsibility to contact the visually impaired person for further details. The talkback feature enables the visually impaired person to communicate with the volunteer seamlessly.

Tell us about the design and how navigable it is.

The design behind the navigation has been addressed with the intention to keep it simple for the users. Having a complicated design will spoil the user experience and the team decided to keep it extremely simple yet functional in all aspects

How can one purchase this application?

The app is free and is available on the PlayStore for Android. Currently, we do not have an iOS version

Where all is it successfully working?

We have a large presence in South India with Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh showing the maximum utility. This app can be used by anyone in India, however, it cannot be used outside of India.

(Sriram can be contacted on scribefinder.info@gmail.com)