Dubai: As part of ongoing efforts to repurpose waste and connect with communities, Emirates has recently distributed more than 12,000 First Class eye masks to schools for the blind, sensory services, and vision support centres across the UK. The donation was inspired by an idea from a creative teacher in Scotland, who connected Emirates to a network of more than 80 service providers across the UK, and explained how eye masks can be used in the training of teaching staff.

Tracy Pearce, an outreach teacher with Sight Scotland based at the Royal Blind School in Edinburgh and her colleagues work with visually impaired children in Scotland, training teachers and support staff on how best to support young people who are blind or visually impaired. They often use eye shades during training activities, to simulate some effects of a visual impairment. The aim of these trainings is to encourage thought-provoking experiences, by taking part in everyday activities without vision.

Emirates has already distributed 12,250 First Class eyeshades to schools and centres like Guide Dogs for the Blind Associations, Learning and Inclusion Centres, Sensory Service providers, Schools for the Low Vision Community and Habilitation services.

Emirates is currently working with the Be My Eyes app for the blind and low vision community, making it the first airline in the world to launch the service. The Be My Eyes app provides accessible video support for customers. Customers can download the Be My Eyes app for free on their smartphones and are then able to place a call routed through the Emirates Call Centre for support via a live video call. The Emirates agent can then direct the customer on which direction to walk or what to do next. community.

Emirates provides a range of innovative assistance services for customers who are blind or visually impaired. These services are available for website accessibility, making booking, at the airport, onboard, enjoying in-flight programme among others.

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