Be My Eyes won an ADA! No, not that ADA – though the Americans with Disabilities Act is always worth celebrating! – we’re talking about the Apple Design Award.
Now in its 24th year, the Apple Design Awards are, for a software developer, one of the highest honors you can receive. With past winners such as Adobe Illustrator, Evernote, djay Pro and countless innovative Mac and iOS games, the ADA is given out each year at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in an assortment of categories.
This year, we were thrilled to take home the signature “aluminum cube” trophy in the Social Impact category – an honor that we never could have imagined when we started this movement back in 2015.
“Be My Eyes won because it’s so clear the benefit that’s being provided,” said Mike Stern, a Design Evangelist at Apple. “There’s just countless stories of humans helping humans. That resonates deeply with us.”
Mike really did hit the nail on the head: Be My Eyes is great software but really we’re nothing without the human spirit. Our small team of designers and developers, led by our fearless CTO Henrik Jachobsen, work hard to make sure Be My Eyes runs smoothly, connects quickly and easily, and gives the user the greatest experience possible. But it’s the generous, curious community of volunteers and app users, who have enabled eyesight – and insight – to be shared all around the globe.
“I’m so proud of our team,” said Be My Eyes CEO and Co-Founder Christian Erfurt this week. “There’s nothing quite like getting an award from the platform that made it all possible – made the smartphone work for people who are blind. That’s a great honor.”
“This is a wonderful achievement for the community to share.” said Co-founder and Be My Eyes inventor Hans-Jørgen Wiberg, chiming in on Twitter: “feeling grateful for the teamwork that brought us this far.”
Since Hans first presented the idea in 2012, Be My Eyes has allowed millions across the globe to volunteer their eyesight to those who need it – and in turn given them a whole new perspective on the importance of access, inclusion and good design in every aspect of daily life.
“Every Be My Eyes call represents a barrier with a product, service or experience – a barrier that doesn’t necessarily need to be there.” said Alexander Hauerslev Jensen, Chief Commercial Officer at Be My Eyes, “The Be My Eyes community is helping to spread knowledge about the best ways in which the world can be improved – to be more accessible for everyone.”
On the heels of winning a 2021 Webby Award, enrolling our 300,000th visually impaired user, and bringing on a group of new corporate partners – including LinkedIn, Verizon, Zendesk and the UK Government – the Be My Eyes team is more determined than ever to ramp up efforts to assist more individuals by providing faster, easier and as always, free support.
Now with a suite of business and customer support solutions and an expanded Corporate Volunteering program that allows companies of all sizes to join Be My Eyes’ mission and power this unprecedented platform, we’re inviting all organizations large and small to join the community and redefine what it means to “see the world together.”
Contact us:
Business Solutions and Partnership: solutions@bemyeyes.com
Corporate Volunteering: cv@bemyeyes.com
Press and Interviews: press@bemyeyes.com
