How My Friendly Eyes Can Work For You

Community, Independence and Safety.

These are the three watch words for My Friendly Eyes (MFE).

They all support the Person Needing Assistance (PNA) whether they are challenged by intellectual, developmental or sensory disabilities.

For the Person Needing Assistance (PNA) community is about friends, family members and the professionals who are members of the PNA’s trusted group of supporters. It is also about peace of mind.

It’s about knowing that PNAs have help just a My Friendly Eyes (MFE) call away but are still as independent as possible.

It’s about the People Providing Assistance (PPAs) being able to assure themselves that everything is okay without visibly intruding on the PNA’s independence.

The People Providing Assistance (PPAs) are members of the PNA’s Trust Group (TG). The person managing the Trust Group is the Trust Group Manager (TGM).

We know that terms can be confusing at first so here are some definitions.

* My Friendly Eyes (MFE)
This always refers to the applications and/or the service. My Friendly Eyes, Inc. (MFEI) refers to the company that develops and supports the applications and the service.

* Person Needing Assistance (PNA)
The PNA is an individual who, from time to time, needs some kind of assistance to reinforce their independence.

* The Trust Group (TG)
Whether recognized or not, most people with some kind of disability have a group of friends, family and professionals around them that provide assistance as needed. Those people that sign up to assist via the MFE apps and service are the Trust Group.

* The Trust Group Manager (TGM)
To best utilize the My Friendly Eyes (MFE) technology it is necessary to identify one person to coordinate the Trust Group’s support of the PNA. The TGM is often the person who naturally does this such as a parent, guardian, spouse or other such trusted individual who knows the PNA well. PNA’s who have reached the age of majority may choose to be their own TGM. The PNA and TGM may be the same person when a person who may benefit from assistance from time to time forms their own Trust Group.

* People Providing Assistance (PPA)
The Trust Group (TG) is made up of people who have agreed to participate in providing assistance through the My Friendly Eyes technology on their own smart phones. These are the People Providing Assistance (PPAs).

How do you subscribe to a PNA’s use of the MFE technology?

After reading this document, click here and follow this link to the Access Ready, Inc. My Friendly Eyes Subscription Page.

The cost for an individual subscription is $100.00 annually.

As the TGM you will begin by entering the following required information:

* The PNA’s name,
* The PNA’s smart phone number,
* The TGM’s name,
* The TGM’s smart phone number,
* The TGM’s email address,
* The TGM’s mailing address, and

You will receive all activation codes and other notifications by text message.

Once the information has been submitted and the subscription fee has been paid, several steps must be taken.

1. Also, your subscription fee will immediately begin supporting Access Ready’s advocacy efforts on accessible information and communication technologies.

2. The My Friendly Eyes website will text the PNA an activation code. Using the PNA’s smart phone, go to the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store and download the My Friendly Eyes Application (App). Note: you will also find a My Friendly Eyes Assist App. Note the word “assist.” You will download this App later on to the TGM’s phone once the invitation has been sent. There will be no charge for either of the My Friendly Eyes Apps. My Friendly Eyes charges for the service.

3. Open the My Friendly Eyes App on the PNA’s phone after downloading it and input the activation code. You will be asked to review and accept the terms of service.

4. Use the PNA’s smart phone to send an invitation to the TGM’s smart phone. The invitation will include a code to allow the TGM to join the PNA’s Trust Group. The TGM will accept the invitation by downloading the My Friendly Eyes Assist App from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. The My Friendly Eyes Assist App offers TGM functionality to the TGM who set up the subscription. The Assist app offers PPA functionality to the TGM and the PPA’s.

(Note, If you are both the PNA and the TGM you will check the box labeled “I am both” which will generate your TGM activation code.)

5. The TGM will use their phone through the My Friendly Eyes Assist App to send invitations to friends, family members and/or professionals who know the PNA and are willing to assist them as part of their My Friendly Eyes Trust Group.

6. My Friendly Eyes allows all the PPA’s to choose a picture of themselves to allow the PNA to see who is answering. If desired, the App will allow the phone to verbally report who has answered if VoiceOver or TalkBack is turned on.

7. If possible, add an emergency contact into the Trust Group in the event that a call for help goes unanswered. If the call cycles through the Trust Group list twice without being answered, it will call all Trust Group members on the third try bypassing all availability settings. If the call for help is still not answered, MFE will default to one or more emergency contacts if one or more have been designated. This emergency contact would likely be a public responder or other professional used to dealing with distressed individuals who will be informed of the PNAs issues and who has given their permission to be added to the Trust Group as an emergency contact. The TGM can enlist more than one emergency contact. A local police officer, firefighter, postal carrier, teacher or other caring professional could fill this position.

8. MFE provides several vetted training scripts to help with training the PNA and PPAs. They will be found on the MyFriendlyEyes.com Documentation Page.

9. When the PNA taps on the MFE “get-help” owl icon the phone will begin a call and sound a repetitive tone to assure the PNA that the call has been initiated and the phone is finding them assistance.

10. When a PPA answers a PNA’s call for help and the App is opened it will display the live video from the PNA’s back facing camera. At the same time two-way audio is initiated.

To view the PNA’s location after answering a PNA call, tap on the map button.

If a PPA opens the app when they are not answering a call, they will automatically see the PNA’s location on a map if the PNA’s phone is on.

Each PPA may have more than one PNA tied into their My Friendly Eyes assist App. See the How My Friendly Eyes App can work for multiple Persons Needing Assistance on the MyFriendlyEyes.com Documentation Page.

To get a better look at the circumstances of the PNA’s need, the Person Providing Assistance can take a still photo in order to zoom in on text or an object.

12.You are ready to experience and use the App. The My Friendly Eyes Owl icon is your help button.

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