The masks of the eyes given by the crew in the executive class of Emirates help customers sleeping during flights. However, the masks have much more potential, such as the airline recently demonstrated when it distributed more than 12,000 of the ocular masks to schools for blind, sensory and vision support centers in the United Kingdom.
The airline says that the donation was inspired by an idea of a creative teacher in Scotland, which connected Emirates with a network of more than 80 service providers throughout the United Kingdom, and explained how masks can be used for the eyes when training to teaching staff.
In September 2024, the teacher in question, Tracy Pearce, a dissemination teacher with the sight of Scotland based in the Royal Blind School in Edinburgh, had the idea of communicating with Emirates with a request for shadows for the eyes, knowing that They are used on Emirates flights during the night. Pearce and his colleagues work with children with visual disabilities in Scotland, teacher training and support staff the best way to support blind young people or visual disabilities.
She wrote passionately about school, and how they often use eyes during training activities, to simulate how difficult everyday activities can be for those with a visual disability. Pearce emphasized how shocking these exercises can be for teachers and wondered if Emirates could support his work.
The Emirates and CSR Public Relations team could locate tones to meet the application, and also encouraged Pearce to connect with their teachers network throughout the United Kingdom so that multiple requests could be met. In a few days, Emirates had received requests from more than 80 dedicated teachers throughout the United Kingdom, who shared that they would love to use the tones of the eyes in their training.
For November, 12,250 business class eyes had been distributed to schools and centers such as guide dogs for blind associations, learning and inclusion centers, sensory service providers, schools for the community of low vision and qualification services.
Pearec said that the shadows of the eyes are a crucial tool in the training sessions, and added: “We are grateful to Emirates for their generous donation, which will make a significant difference in our ability to teach with empathy and experience.”
Emirates inclusive services for the low vision community
Eye shadow donations are part of the broadest work of Emirates to make trips more inclusive and accessible to all. The airline is also currently working with the Be My eyes application for the blind and low vision community, which makes it the first airline to launch the service.
The application provides accessible video support for customers, creating empathic experiences for customers with disabilities. Customers can download the Be My Eyes application for free on their smartphones, and by selecting Emirates from the company’s profile list in the application, they can make a called called through the Emirates call center for support through of a live video call. The Emirates agent can direct the client in which direction to walk or what to do next. The Be My Eyes application has grown in popularity and has the support of 8 million volunteers who become the eyes of the blind and low vision community.
In the newest aircraft of Emirates, the Airbus A350, the airline has brought a new user interface in the Ice Entertainment System (IFE) designed to help customers with visual disabilities. The interface teaches experiences of best practices, including audio-CUE navigation assistance, voice metadata feedback and touch and swipe gestation support. A large selection of audio-descriptive content (AD), including films and television series is also available.
Other Emirates assistance initiatives for customers who have visual disabilities include accessibility to the website, reserve support, accessible self-service airport kiosks and services to gather and help check-in services to the door, or from the aircraft to the aircraft to The forward transport in all airports.
