Aira Sponsors Blind Travel Foundation
Contact Information:
Mike Walsh
Founder and Executive Director
(608) 609-8919
Mike@blindtravel.org
Release Date:
July 12, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aira Sponsors Blind Travel Foundation
NEW YORK, NY – Visual interpreting service Aira has donated minutes to be used by Blind Travel Foundation’s 2023 grant recipients on their journeys. Blind Travel Foundation awarded three $10,000 travel grants this past June and the winners are already planning and embarking on their adventures. Having access to Aira will allow them to more easily navigate unfamiliar locations along the way.
“We want to give our grant winners the opportunity to use the latest blind technologies. This is a really wonderful benefit Aira is providing them,” said Mike Walsh, Founder and Executive Director of Blind Travel Foundation. “We hope this will be the first of many partnerships with organizations that share our mission to make travel accessible to individuals who are blind or have low vision.”
Aira is a California based company founded in 2015 that provides live, human-to-human assistance via its app and the user’s smartphone camera. Professional trained agents are available to describe surroundings, read signage, provide directions, locate places or items, and anything else someone with a visual impairment may need. This is a great way to give travelers independence and confidence.
Speaking with grant winner Brian Fischler on the new Blind Travel Foundation podcast, Aira’s new Vice President of Blindness Initiatives Everette Bacon stated, “We are really happy to help as you go and explore your new places.”
Many public places including airports, transit systems, and museums provide Aira at no cost. Blind Travel Foundation winners will be testing Aira in additional locations like baseball stadiums and concert venues and including their findings in videos and blogs they create as part of their travel grants. Learn more about Aira online at aira.io and stay tuned to Blind Travel Foundation’s socials for updates on our current cohort of travelers as they put Aira to use.
About Blind Travel Foundation:
Blind Travel Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded by Mike Walsh in 2021 with the mission of giving individuals who are blind or have low vision the opportunity to explore the world, engage with others, and educate people about their lifestyles and experiences. Mike was diagnosed with Usher syndrome in 1997. By 2014, his vision had deteriorated to the point where he was no longer driving and used a cane to get around. He launched a social media campaign to crowdsource ideas of places he should see before his vision became any worse. Along the way he conducted interviews with other people experiencing vision loss and created a blog. He established Blind Travel Foundation to give others the chance to take a meaningful trip and produce educational content to advance the understanding of blindness and vision impairment. Blind Travel Foundation is online at www.blindtravel.org.
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