Over the last year we at Be My eyes had the greatest burst of innovation we’ve had since our service began nearly ten years ago. We brought on AI in a big way. We added the ability to form personal Friend and Family groups. We’ve partnered with so many companies who want to provide accessible customer service. We’ve amassed a worldwide Service Directory of phone numbers. The list goes on.

The pace of innovation has caused us to think closely about who we are and how we communicate about disability with our 600,000 blind users and the millions of volunteers and our corporate allies. Honestly, a look at elements of our website and internal documents reveals that, like so many other organizations, we needed more than a refresh. Getting language right, after all, isn’t just proper word substitutions. It’s a way of sharpening our thinking, and consequently guiding our company in the disability-positive direction we wish to grow.

This spring Be My Eyes Vice-Chair Bryan Bashin spent some time developing our company’s new internal Language Guide. Already we’ve gotten requests to borrow it from corporate partners and others who themselves wish to tell blindness stories respectfully and with modern nomenclature. So we decided to post our "Inclusive Language Guide" on our blog, in hopes it will help others. Like any such document, it’s a snapshot of best language practices in our field today. It will – and must – change over time. We know that others in the vast English-speaking world will have other suggestions, and that’s expected. In our fast-paced tech world we need to make the best choices we can and go with them until we find something better. And so we have. As always, if you have suggestions or find the guide useful, you’re welcome to let us know by writing to support@bemyeyes.com

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Kind regards,

Bryan Bashin,

Be My Eyes Vice-Chair