Calls have been made for Covid tests to be adapted for the visually impaired, with one social media campaigner calling the testing process "completely inaccessible" to the blind.
Lucy Edwards, a blind YouTuber and TikToker, told Metro.co.uk that the only way she can do a test independently is to use an app called Be My Eyes, which connects her to an NHS professional who then talks her through the process.
"Once I am connected my iPhone’s camera can pick up what I am doing, although it is hard to point a camera when you can’t see what you are pointing at and you need both hands to do the test," she told Metro.co.uk.
"I am capable of doing the test independently in theory, but I do rely on my sighted fiancé because it just takes so much longer if I do it alone as it just is not an accessible process for me at all."
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", according to the company's website.
The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is seeking to improve Covid tests for the visually impaired.
Mike Wordingham, policy and campaigns officer at the charity, told Metro.co.uk that the RNIB is working to improve PCR and lateral flow tests for low-vision people.
Current difficulties for visually impaired people doing home PCR tests, he said, include reading the box and receiving the results, along with registering the test and ordering one.
"We’ve managed to get lots of changes made, like more support through 119 so you don’t need an email address to order one or get results, a new box and instructions which don’t require visuals," he explained.
While apps like Be My Eyes are crucial to helping the visually impaired administer their tests and read the results, Mr Wordingham said that more changes to the product must be implemented in order to make the tests more accessible.
He said the charity is calling for entirely different types of tests that are easier to administer, such as saliva tests. The charity is also suggesting that lateral flow tests with bumps be made available so the visually impaired are able to feel rather than see the result.
In 2020, the RNIB commissioned a prototype of the world's first tactile pregnancy test.
For more stories from where you live, visit InYourArea.
