Be My Eyes Newsletter - JANUARY 2020.

In this month’s edition: Be My Eyes’ 5th Birthday, Holman Prize & 100 ways to use Be My Eyes app.

Hi, welcome to the January Newsletter!

TITLE: News & Updates.

IMAGE ALT-text: Group photo of the Be My Eyes team on the app’s 5th birthday. Founder, Hans Jørgen Wiberg, is standing in the middle of the group, holding a cake.

TITLE: Happy 5th birthday to the Be My Eyes Community!
On January 15th 2015, the Be My Eyes app was launched. It’s been 5 amazing years, and we look forward to many to come. Thank you for being part of the journey!

IMAGE ALT-text: Person holding a white cane. Logo of the Holman Prize.

TITLE: Applications for the Holman Prize 2020 are now open! (article link)
The Holman Prize for Blind Ambition is awarded annually to three blind individuals to carry out a dream project. Applications for the 2020 Holman Prize are now open – here’s how to apply.

IMAGE ALT-text: Person holding a smartphone with the Be My Eyes app open.

TITLE: 100 ways to use Be My Eyes. (article link)

We put together an extensive list of all our favorite ways blind and low vision users are utilizing our app in daily life. Feel free to try one – or all – of these out for yourself!

TITLE: Featured Story of the Month.

IMAGE ALT-text: Watch Emma’s Story on YouTube. (YouTube video link)
TITLE: Emma’s Story: A Mental Health Advocate with Wanderlust.
An Irish woman teaching Primary School in Brazil, Emma finds her joy in helping others, traveling, and writing books that help children deal with mental health – and answering Be My Eyes calls always gives her a fascinating new experience. Read or listen to Emma’s Story (link).

TITLE: Be My Eyes Loves.

IMAGE ALT-text: Amy Kavanagh walking on the street with her white cane. Image features her Twitter handle @BlondeHistorian.
TITLE: Dr. Amy Kavanagh AKA Blonde Historian
Do you want to know more about how it’s like to navigate a busy city as a white cane user? Amy Kavanagh documents her daily experiences commuting around London on her Twitter profile @BlondeHistorian (link) and on her blog Cane Adventures (link). Her experiences has led her to create the #JustAskDontGrab campaign to educate people on how to offer assistance to a disabled individual. She has also used her voice to create awareness of the issues that dockless bikes create for people with a disability. Amy gives an excellent view of both her positive and less positive experiences she has as a disabled woman in the big city. Check her out on Twitter or on her blog!

TITLE: Selected articles from the news.

Jan 29, 2020 by Unilad: Blind Man Able To Find His Father’s Grave Thanks To Stranger On Video Chat. (link)

Nov 5, 2019 by Forbes: The Power Of Purpose: How Sam Latif And P&G Are Innovating To Serve The 1.7 Billion People With Disabilities Market. (link)

TITLE: What People are Saying.

"What really surprised me, and it’s amazing, when you make a Be My Eyes call, you may get an answer from anywhere in the world." – Fernando, Blind user from Chile.

"I’m just anxiously awaiting my next call from Be My Eyes, and I’m excited to get connected with more people through the app." – Lizzie, Volunteer from USA.

"Sometimes, a Be My Eyes call makes the days better. It’s nice to have solidarity between human beings." – Gil, Low-vision user from Israel.

That’s all we had for you for this first checkin of 2020, we’ll be back next month with the latest news. Until then, remember that you can stay up to date by following us on Facebook (link), Twitter (link) and Instagram (link).

Bye for now! The Be My Eyes Team.

Total sign-ups to this day: 188,595 Blind. 3,465,821 Volunteers.