Blind woman says smart glasses replaced her guide dog

In short:

A legally blind woman says she may never need a guide dog again due to her smart glasses.

She is calling for more education around the technology, as she says she is often accused of filming people in public.

What's next?

A Guide Dogs Victoria spokesperson says smart glasses will not replace guide dogs in the foreseeable future, but will work well together.

Victorian woman Heidi Biggin has been legally blind since she was 22.

For the past 16 years, Ms Biggin, who lives in Ballarat, has not been able to do regular things like cross a road or get groceries without the help of a guide dog.

But everything changed for the mum of three when she got her first pair of smart glasses.

She said she does not think she will ever get a guide dog again.

'Regular person in a regular shop'

Ms Biggin said AI glasses have given her an independence she never imagined she could have.

"I've had [the glasses] for about six months now and I've had my [current] guide dog for about four years," Ms Biggin said.

"I'd go as far as to say I wouldn't get another guide dog because of these AI glasses."

She said she felt like a "regular person in a regular shop" because of the glasses.

"I say, 'Hey Meta, look and tell what section of Kmart I'm in,'" Ms Biggin explained.

"And it'll come back straight into my ear, 'You seem to be in the women's section, to the left of you is the register and behind you seems to be the entrance.'"

She said when she was in public with her guide dog and three young children, she felt like she stood out, often being hounded with questions.

"But when I've got my glasses I can just blend in,"she said.

"My twin nine-year-old boys have their athletics carnival next week and I'm going to the shops to buy them a blue top for their aths day.

"I'll be able to do that completely myself."

Accused of filming

But the glasses are not without their problems.

Ms Biggin said she gets stopped at least three times a week by people accusing her of filming them.

"Halfway through the walk I'll have somebody grab me on the arm and say, 'Oi you just filmed me', because [the glasses] light up when they're in use," she said.

"People automatically assume I'm recording them. It gets exhausting having to explain every time."

She said people should educate themselves about how smart glasses can work to de-stigmatise wearers amid all the "pervert glasses" rhetoric.

"I don't look blind … [but] I also don't want to wear a big badge that says, 'I'm blind please be nice to me,'" she said.

She also expressed concern over a ban on smart glasses in Victorian schools, starting from term one next year.

As an inclusion coach who often works in schools, Ms Biggin said there was not enough information on how an exemption could be obtained.

"They said there's exemptions but they haven't listed what and how you get exemptions," she said.

"Whether it's a doctor's certificate, a working with children's check or a letter from your employee, we don't know what it looks like.

"As of now, I cannot perform my job wearing AI glasses within schools as of term one.

"I don't think they've taken into account that people are using them for legitimate reasons."

Will guide dogs become redundant?

In Victoria, it takes nearly two years and more than $50,000 to breed, raise, and train a guide dog — a cost that is covered by government schemes for clients.

Waitlists can be anywhere from three months to nearly two years in the state.

While smart glasses are proving helpful for people like Ms Biggin, Guide Dogs Victoria state partnership coordinator Erin Goedhart said seeing eye dogs were irreplaceable.

"Your primary mobility aid as someone who is blind or low vision should always be a guide dog or white cane," she said.

Ms Goedhart is vision-impaired herself and has used both guide dogs and smart glasses.

"I'm in-between dogs at the moment, so I'm using a cane as my primary mobility aid at the moment," Ms Goedhart said.

"There is absolutely no way I could get from A to B, with the glasses and not a mobility aid as well.

"At this stage I can't see guide dogs or white canes being replaced any time soon.

"In 50 years' time when technology is doing who knows what, let's have another conversation."