Emirates Brightens Future with Eye Shade Donation

A creative teacher in Scotland initiated this by connecting Emirates with over 80 UK service providers, explaining how these eye masks can help train educational staff.

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Emirates donates more than 12,000 eye shades to teacher-training initiatives in the blind and low vision community

These training sessions foster thought-provoking experiences through participation in daily activities without vision.

Emirates Supports Blind Teachers

Emirates donates eyeshades to Royal Blind School Edinburgh

Emirates is actively working to repurpose waste and engage with communities by distributing over 12,000 premium eye masks to schools for the blind, sensory services, and vision support centres throughout the UK. This initiative was sparked by a creative teacher in Scotland who linked Emirates with a network of over 80 service providers across the UK, detailing how these eye masks can aid in training educational staff.

In September 2024, Tracy Pearce, an outreach teacher with Sight Scotland based at the Royal Blind School in Edinburgh, had the idea to reach out to Emirates with a request for eye shades, knowing that these are used by passengers travelling overnight on Emirates flights to 140 destinations. Tracy and her colleagues work with visually impaired children in Scotland, training teachers and support staff on how best to assist young people who are blind or visually impaired. Tracy wrote passionately about the school and how they often use eye shades during training activities to simulate some effects of visual impairment. These training sessions encourage thought-provoking experiences by allowing participation in everyday activities without vision. Tracy stressed how impactful this exercise can be for teachers and wondered whether Emirates could support it.

Emirates’ PR and CSR team successfully found eye shades to meet Tracy’s request and encouraged her to contact her network of teachers throughout the UK for additional support. Within days, they received inquiries from over 80 passionate teachers eager to incorporate the eye shades into their training programs. By November, 12,250 First Class eye shades had been distributed to various educational institutions, including Guide Dogs for the Blind Associations, Learning and Inclusion Centres, Sensory Service providers, Schools for the Low Vision Community, and Habilitation services.

“These eye shades provide invaluable insight into the realities of living with a visual impairment. They are a crucial tool in our training sessions, allowing participants to experience first-hand the challenges faced by those with sight loss. We’re grateful to Emirates for their generous donation, which will make a significant difference in our ability to teach with empathy and expertise," said Tracy Pearce, Outreach Teacher at Sight Scotland.

Emirates’ inclusive services for blind and low-vision customers

Emirates is on a mission to enhance travel inclusivity and accessibility for everyone. As part of this effort, it has become the first airline globally to partner with the Be My Eyes app, which serves the blind and low-vision community. This app allows customers to access video support, creating compassionate experiences for individuals with disabilities. Users can download the Be My Eyes app for free on their smartphones. By selecting Emirates from the company profile list within the app, they can initiate a call directed through the Emirates Call Centre, using live video support. An Emirates agent will then guide the customer on where to navigate or what steps to take. With 8 million volunteers, the Be My Eyes app has gained significant popularity, providing essential support to the blind and low-vision community.

Emirates’ latest aircraft, the Airbus A350, features an upgraded inflight entertainment system designed specifically for visually impaired passengers. This interface provides optimal user experiences through audio-cue navigation help, voice feedback on the metadata, touch and swipe gestures support, and a wide array of audio-descriptive (AD) content, such as movies and TV shows.

Assistance for Emirates customers who are blind or visually impaired

Website Accessibility

Emirates is committed to making its digital experiences accessible to the broadest possible audience and is working to constantly improve the overall usability of the Emirates.com website, using the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level AA Success Criteria.

Making a booking

If a customer requires guidance through the airport and assistance on board, Emirates can support them if they contact their Local Office a few days before travel.

At the Airport

Emirates has introduced accessible self-service kiosks at Dubai International Airport (DXB), John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The solution is designed to support passengers with diverse needs, including those with visual, hearing, and physical impairments, ensuring a more inclusive and seamless travel experience across key international hubs.

Emirates introduced improved typography, contrast, and colour schemes to enhance readability and usability as part of this enhancement. Additionally, a text-to-speech capability has been integrated to assist customers with visual limitations, enabling them to navigate the application more easily and independently at Self-Service Kiosks (SSK).

Emirates can also arrange a meet-and-assist service from check‑in to the gate or from the aircraft to onward transport at all airports. Boarding announcements are made at the airport, and customers can ask team members for information anytime.

Onboard

Emirates can provide individual safety briefings for flights. Emirates cabin crew will explain the safety procedures, exit locations, and how they can best assist, read the menu options and explain the placement of items in front of the customer.

Inflight entertainment

Many movies and TV shows onboard the Emirates inflight entertainment system ice have audio descriptions to explain what’s happening in the scene. Before a flight, customers can explore what movies and TV shows with audio descriptions are available in advance by checking the ice section on Emirates.com.

Travelling with a guide dog

On board Emirates, guide dogs or service dogs can fly with a customer for free. On specific routes, they can travel in the cabin. Customers must inform Emirates at least 48 hours before a flight so arrangements can be made.

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