In September 2024, Tracy Pearce, an outreach teacher with Sight Scotland at the Royal Blind School in Edinburgh, approached Emirates with a request for eye shades. These are typically used by passengers on overnight flights to simulate visual impairment during training activities. The goal of these trainings is to help teachers and support staff understand the challenges faced by visually impaired individuals.
Emirates' PR and CSR team responded positively, encouraging Tracy to reach out to her network across the UK. This led to requests from over 80 teachers who wanted to use the eye shades in their training sessions. By November, Emirates had distributed 12,250 First Class eye shades to various schools and centers like Guide Dogs for the Blind Associations and Learning and Inclusion Centres.
Tracy Pearce expressed gratitude for the donation: "These eye shades provide invaluable insight into the realities of living with a visual impairment... We’re grateful to Emirates for their generous donation."