What is Global Accessibility Awareness Day?
Global Accessibility Awareness Day – known as GAAD for short – is a day dedicated to highlighting the importance of digital access and inclusion. The goal of the day is to increase awareness and to advocate for more digital products and services to be designed with accessibility and inclusion in mind. It’s an international event and is always held on the third Thursday in May; the next GAAD will be observed on Thursday 21 May 2026.
New mainstream and assistive technology Guide Dogs is excited about
Inclusive mainstream and assistive technologies and products are being continuously developed and refined, but we’ve highlighted a few that we’re particularly excited about ahead of GAAD 2026.
Meta Ray-Ban and Oakley Smart Glasses
Smart glasses are where eyewear meets computing power. A pair of smart glasses look like traditional glasses, but they connect to your phone and contain discreet cameras, microphones, speakers, and sometimes even small displays. They can act as an extension of your phone and an AI assistant to help with in-the-moment tasks and questions. Right now, two popular smart glasses products are Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses (gen 1 and 2) and Oakley Meta smart glasses.
If you’re a person living with a vision impairment or sight loss, smart glasses can help you by:
Reading text aloud and summarising information
Identifying and finding items
Getting hands-free access to remote support
Allowing hands-free access to your phone
Describing surroundings, including things blocking your path
Read our review of the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses here.
Be My Eyes update
Be My Eyes officially launched on Ray-Ban Meta glasses on November 13, 2024. The latest update enables users with sight loss to connect with personal ‘groups’ of people and organisations' representatives via hands-free video and voice commands.
Using the Be My Eyes Service Directory, users can connect directly with participating companies to access support representatives who are trained to provide visual descriptions and assistance.
Although it’s useful to be put in touch with an anonymous volunteer for generic questions and assistance, users might feel more comfortable receiving support from people they know if they need help with something more personal, such as reading a bank statement. This is where the ‘Group’ function comes in handy. The user can create a group that includes people they trust, and when initiating a group call, the user will be connected with one person from that group.
To call private groups or the service directory hands free, you can use the prompt “Hey Meta, Be My Eyes with (name of group or company)”.
Find out more about Be My Eyes Groups
New accessibility integrations on Meta Smart Glasses via Device Access Toolkit
We are also excited about the third-party apps and integrations which are currently or will be available soon on Meta smart glasses. On releasing their Device Access Toolkit (DAT) in September 2025, the first five apps Meta announced were all designed to support individuals with vision impairments. The five apps on DAT are: Oorion, ScribeMe, AIRA, SeeingAI (Microsoft) and Stellar Trek (HumanWear). This is a strong statement that underscores how seriously Meta is taking accessibility with their smart glasses. This is especially significant for Global Accessibility Awareness Day, as it shows accessibility being treated as a core feature — not an afterthought — in mainstream consumer technology.
How does this technology break down barriers for people with sight loss?
As we approach Global Accessibility Awareness Day in 2026, it’s important to celebrate how advances in inclusive mainstream technologies, such as smart glasses, have positively impacted the lives of people with vision impairment, like Nathan Foy, a guide dog owner, who says:
“You have something as amazing as Be My Eyes, a way to have instant sighted assistance any time you need it. Then you make it even more usable by removing the need for a blind person to aim and line up a camera by using Ray Ban Meta AI glasses. The only way for this to be better would be if you knew who would answer. Well with the ability to ask your Ray Ban Meta Glasses to call a private group you can now have everything you want. This has changed everything for me.
As a blind person I often need help quick for a short simple reason, My Ray Ban Meta AI glasses mean that I can use Be My Eyes handsfree, and now I can get quick help from friends and family by asking Meta to call one of my private groups. It’s brilliant, such a simple way to do something independently.
It is very important to me to feel independent; although I might need help, I still want to be able to do something myself. Having the ability to call people in my private groups on Be My Eyes and share the view through my Ray Ban Meta AI glasses hands free, means I can have support but still do it myself. I can feel the independence I want and do the things I need. Its brilliant.”
Whilst Guide Dogs may be able to suggest various third-party websites and third-party applications which may be able to assist you, these are not endorsed by Guide Dogs. Guide Dogs have no control over these third parties and cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of information and support they can provide or the suitability and quality of any products or services they provide.
