John Morris

Since presenting during the Launchpad assistive technology pitchfest at last year’s TravelAbility Summit, Aira attracted more users, new partners, greater adoption, and international expansion. According to an interview with CEO Troy Otillio, their user base has nearly doubled since Covid due largely to word of mouth and new partnerships such as the one they’ve just announced with Starbucks that will help the blind buy coffee while they social distance like everyone else.   

We caught up to Troy recently and had a few questions.

Q: Can you describe Aira in 25 words or less?

A: Aira is an app that connects people who are BLV (blind or low vision) with trained professionals who come in through their smart phone to provide visual assistance. 

Q: What is the new pilot program with Starbucks about?  

The program’s success will be measured in terms of usage and social media engagement. A successful test with Starbucks will increase awareness about the importance of inclusivity and show how creativity and partnership can deliver genuine benefit. Once Starbucks chooses to invest in accessibility, other businesses are likely to think about how they can serve customers with visual disabilities. 

Q: How can the TravelAbility community help you be successful with the Starbucks test?

The TravelAbility Community can help by encouraging friends or acquaintances in the seven test cities (Baltimore, D.C., New York, Boston, Seattle, Minneapolis, Los Angeles) to make just one call to a participating Starbucks location, or post one mention on their social media. This will help Starbucks connect with the larger community of those with unique abilities as well as the organizations that support them.

Q: How did you grow Aira’s user base? 

As our user base continues to grow, so do our online communities. Aira has hosted over 1,000,000 sessions with a positive feedback rating of over 98%. Our international growth has recently expanded into the UK, also often providing service to users located outside of the countries we officially serve. Also, we have established over 75 new partnerships across all industries including but not limited to universities, municipalities, banks, and retail stores and over 50 of our existing partners have entered into second and third year renewals to date.

Q: What is the new “Aira for social distancing” initiative and how will it help at Starbucks?

On a practical note the fact Aira enables Social Distancing as well as simply maintaining a safe distance with other people is appealing to all venues and establishments with foot traffic.    Currently, social distancing markers and instructional signs are purely visual, making it completely inaccessible to those who are blind or have low vision.  One aspect of our Starbucks partnership test will be Aira agents providing specific distance estimates in relation to other individuals in the area as well as any other visual information needed to respect any outlined safety guidelines. As a result, BLV (blind and low vision) individuals can maintain their independence and everyone feels safer.

Q: What part did the “Blind Vine” play in your growth?

The blind and low vision community is highly engaged on Facebook, Whatsapp, Aira Groups, Twitter and other online groups as its hard for them to find specific information they need through conventional sources. 

Q: What progress have you made with the tour and travel segment?

Even with the slow down, conversations with several top 10 hospitality brands and destinations have started picking back up and we plan to announce some new destinations once those organizations are ready to move forward. Retail has been quicker to adopt as Aira is easy to deploy, effective, and garners media attention: something we are waiting for destination and tour organizations to experience. 

Q: Can you cite examples of best practices within the travel industry?

Our largest growth has been in museums as we support both on-site experiences unique to each visitor as well as online/virtual experiences. We attribute this to the attention gained by some of our early adopters such as the Shedd Aquarium, Smithsonian, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Museum of Science Boston, Space Center Houston along with other cities such as City of Minneapolis, City of Houston, City of Miami Beach.