by Jessica Mandich
I know that a solar eclipse doesn’t really mean much or anything to the blindness community. But if you’re low vision or partially blind and love astronomy, then this is a big deal. The first time I witnessed a solar eclipse was back in 2017. My grandmother and I watched it on TV. The thing is, neither of our cities were in the path of totality, so we opted to watch on TV in real time via conference call. The very next year I received my kidney transplant.
Back then audio description wasn’t really all that well known. Fast-forward to 2024 and you have options for having things described to you, from your favorite TV shows and movies to using apps that utilize AI to describe objects in pictures that you take on your favorite iDevice.
So what is an eclipse? The easiest answer that I can give is the moon crossing between the sun and the Earth. When it does this, it blocks out light, sending the area into darkness for a couple of minutes. A partial eclipse blocks out a portion of the sun, while a total eclipse blocks out all light. Solar eclipses happens during the day, while lunar eclipses happen at night.
Sadly, because I’m a transplant recipient, I had to watch from home. A friend of mine was texting me what was happening from his vantage point so that I wouldn’t miss out. My view of the partial solar eclipse was disappointing, as all the fun happened on the other side of my apartment building. Still I was able to follow along to the different special reports from local and national news outlets. Once NBC News showcased one of NASA’s photos on one of their programs. I took a screenshot with my phone. It took a couple of tries to get it just right, but I was able to get the perfect shot.
Once I was satisfied with my editing, I submitted it to Be My Eyes’ Be My AI to be described. This is the description I received: “The image appears to be that of a solar eclipse. There is a large, dark circle in the center, which is the moon blocking the sun. Around the edges of the moon, there is a bright, glowing light that creates a halo effect. This light is the sun’s corona, which is usually obscured by the brightness of the sun itself but becomes visible during an eclipse. The background is black, indicating the darkness of space.”
It took me several hours to post that on my social media. I got quite a bit of compliments privately. I wasn’t really expecting any of that, because I was doing the photo description for myself. I wasn’t expecting it to leave such a positive impact.
I am also grateful for my sighted friend who made sure I felt included to some extent of the celestial event. I have retinitis pigmentosa in both eyes, and I’ve had the eye disease for 31 years. The next total solar eclipse in America will be in 2044. Twenty years from now is a very long time; I have no idea if I’ll still be able to see something like that ever again.