You're listening to a Community Story from Be My Eyes. Hi, my name is Tucker Dupree, I am a three-time Paralympian, four-time Paralympic medalist, based out of Chicago. So I have a condition called Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy, and that took 80% of my central vision when I was 17 years old, so I have about 20% of my peripheral vision left. I still see in color, I just use accessibility technology to fill the void of my vision loss. So I currently work as the Colleague Experience Lead for the Americas at BP. And what we're trying to do at BP is make it, so that all of our colleagues and visitors and contractors, everyone that comes to visit BP, or comes to work at BP feels like they can bring their full selves to work, by making sure that we're mapping that colleague experience and having people really feel like they can bring their full selves to work every day, and not be afraid to speak up, if they have accessibility needs. No matter what that may be, whether it's visual impairment, or any other type of physical accommodations they're looking for, they know that BP is a safe place to have that conversation and have the opportunity to really come to work every day, feeling like they are part of our core value of one team, so really exciting stuff. Working with Microsoft, a lot of different partners, to really bring that experience to life, so that we can become the most accessible energy company in the world, that's our goal. All accessible technology, like Be My Eyes, especially all the different pieces that Be My Eyes offers, is something that I think is just really powerful. We're always looking for new technology and volunteering opportunities as well. So I think that's one of the coolest parts about Be My Eyes, is that it's not just an application that helps the visually impaired or non-sighted. It has the opportunity to have the sighted or people with great eyes, have that opportunity to help that community, all from a mobile device. So I think that's something that is so powerful. We're really trying to make sure that people know about Be My Eyes, to have that opportunity to really help the blind community and really make sure that they really understand the application and having that opportunity to help people like myself. I lost my vision at 17 years old in 2007. So when I started to lose my vision, I was just very inquisitive about just different technologies that would help fill this void of my vision loss. In 2007, the technology is not at all where it is today, and so now just in today's world of 2021, where we're attached to our smartphones, I think that it's just such a great opportunity to have the fact that this one device now puts all of those other, what would be now archaic devices, into one. So the fact that Be My Eyes is that tool, I've always been asking around, and I was actually introduced to Be My Eyes by one of my friends, who's completely blind, his name is Alex Gillette, and we were just talking about things that he used and everything like that. So I was actually introduced to it, I want to say, in like 2015, 2016, when we were just kind of training together and all that. He was just mentioning that he used this new app, and it was a volunteer that could help him, and I was just blown away. So I downloaded it, and I remember my first experience at Be My Eyes was actually at an airport. I was walking around and trying to see the terminal screens that would tell you which gate to go to, and it was one of those things where I was like, it's on my phone, let's give it a spin, so I pulled it out. I remember calling a volunteer and they helped me find my gate, and I was just like, that was so simple. And it didn't make me feel vulnerable to having to ask a stranger that was around me and having to explain that I am visually impaired because I'm not a cane user. So I don't look to the average person as a person that is visually impaired. So it's one of those things that I got to kind of keep that to myself, but also have the opportunity to have technology fill that void of vision loss, but not having to have that moment of vulnerability of talking to somebody, having to explain that I know I don't look blind and 80% visually impaired. I didn't have to have that conversation, so I got to skip that step and really have the opportunity to get to the gate that I needed to go to, and I made my flight on time. It's not just about the community on the receiving side that are helping the visually impaired, but we all talk to each other and we all know that the world is not built for the blind. So it's something that anytime we and our group of friends... We have a group chat of mostly blind or visually impaired athletes that we used to train with, and it's something that we talk about different technologies that are out there, but it's one of those things that you really... It's the community on the blind and visually impaired side too. So I think it's just such a great community on both sides, so I would say that it's just very powerful. Especially in today's world of COVID, I think that we're all trying to find great ways to give back. I think that, that's something that this opportunity as a volunteer gives, that community is the ability to help the blind community and give back to someone that can't see and that's just something that a lot of sighted people might take for granted, but those quick wins, that a blind person can expedite their day to day by using Be My Eyes, is something that being a volunteer does, and you can do it from the comfort and safety of your home. So I think that's just an awesome opportunity, especially in the environment that we're in today. Being blind like myself, we're always looking for quick wins, is kind of the way I try to explain it, of having that opportunity for you to say, you know what, I'm done with being frustrated with building this piece of furniture, doing a task. So it's like, I needed to just go to Be My Eyes first, but I'm a very prideful person. So I just need to remind myself that this is always a tap away, right? Like you can click, call a volunteer or whatever it may be on this side, so I think it's just one of those things that I need to always remind myself too, that I have this virtual assistant basically in my pocket, and I need to make sure that I use it more, but it is something that is very nice to still use while being in quarantine. As a visually impaired person in the corporate world, I do believe that most people want to always help, especially when they find out that I'm a visually impaired user. A great example is when I go to meetings, I can't normally see a presentation across the room, so I have to advocate for myself to ask people to maybe send a pre-read around or send something over to me prior to a meeting. But I think that once you have that conversation about 'Hey, I'm visually impaired', people's facial expressions, their whole demeanor will change and I think it's because of that feeling of belonging and community and wanting to have the opportunity to help. So I would say that a solution, like Be My Eyes, if you're wondering how do we help our visually impaired people in our workforce, this is just a great opportunity to one, have your sighted employees volunteer to help the visually impaired, but also having that opportunity to have a solution in place, for people that may come to your business that would have a need or an accommodation, like visual impairment or being blind. Having Be My Eyes set up in your business, would help that solution right away, so you have an answer whenever you start to maybe employ visually impaired people like myself. Thank you for listening to this Community Story from Be My Eyes. You can share your story too, send it to mystory@bemyeyes.com. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, download our app, or visit bemyeyes.com/community-stories for more.