GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — For years, people with visual impairments, like Casey Dutmer, experienced difficulties while shopping at the grocery store.
Blindness creates challenges when it comes to going through grocery aisles and taking items from shelves.
"I don't know where things are, especially as big as stores are,” says Casey. “And it's not like the old days where you had small stores and clerks to help you."
Now, a dedicated app makes shopping more accessible for people like Casey. The Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ABVI) showed us how the app works at a Meijer store in Grand Rapids.
Using the Aira app, a customer can reach out to another human, and that person, in turn, helps guide the shopper by telling them where to find what they’re looking for and reading their prices and other desired information.
Meijer pays for the app’s service as part of its diversity and inclusion initiative.
"We need to be committed to expanding our market and making sure that our grocery formats, our super centers, all of our business units are accessible to all people,” says Diversity and Inclusion Manager Katherine Lee Baker. “And so I was just thrilled to make sure that people have access to the resources they need to enhance and encourage them in their shopping experience."
Casey tells us he’s been informing others of the Aira app for some time now, saying he’s grateful that Meijer chose to adopt the app. He adds he has offered to cover the cost of its services for other shoppers who need it.
READ MORE: Meijer partnership makes shopping easier for the blind and visually impaired
