Radio Eye Inc

Almost everyone knows someone with vision loss or a physical disability: grandparents, parents, other relatives - or a dear friend - who have been faced with these overwhelming disabilities, which cause loss of independence and the ability to read daily news and attain other vital information.

Radio Eye is here to help individuals stay in touch with the world around them.

"If it weren't for Radio Eye, I wouldn't be able to know what’s going on in the world,” listener Elaine says. “Radio Eye really comes in handy, and I recommend it to everyone." Elaine has been a listener for five years.

Elaine has retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited disorder which causes progressive loss of peripheral vision and difficulties with night vision. About her disability, she says, “Life could be worse. I don’t give up and keep striving in life.”

As a busy woman, Elaine listens to Radio Eye about twice a week. Her favorite programs are the Grocery Show and Shopper’s Guide, weekly shows featuring ads from local grocery and drug stores. She also enjoys Hope & Inspiration, a non-denominational spiritual program that broadcasts on Sunday mornings.

Our reading service broadcasts 24/7, every day of the year. We currently broadcast 65 programs each week, including:

• 30 newspaper programs, such as the Lexington Herald-Leader, Louisville Courier Journal, New York Times, and local newspapers
• 10 health and disability programs, including 2 exercise programs designed for people with visual and physical disabilities, as well as programs on diabetes, aging, and women’s health
• 10 entertainment programs, including readings from People magazine, Nash Country Daily, books, history magazines, and more
• 5 other community programs, including information such as community events, business news, and readings from Kentucky area magazines
• 3 consumer information programs, including ads from area grocery stores and pharmacies
• 3 science and technology programs, including readings from Smithsonian Magazine and Scientific American
• 2 national news programs
• 1 local sports program
• 1 non-denominational spiritual program, broadcast on Sunday mornings.

Many times, blind and print-impaired individuals are left out of much of community living due to a lack of access to information. 90% of America’s blind population can’t read Braille, and can only access print material that has been changed into an audio format (either through a computerized system, such as a screen reader or other text-to-electronic voice device, a family member reading to them, or a reading service like Radio Eye).

As an additional hardship, technology for the blind and low vision is expensive – the most popular screen reader software (which reads material on websites and other computer programs aloud to consumers) costs $1,200. Most of our listeners (70%) are low income; and more than half don’t even have access to the internet.

Radio Eye helps individuals with some form of print disability (ranging from blindness or other visual impairments, to physical disabilities like multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, or arthritis, to learning disabilities) access print information they otherwise wouldn’t be able to get.

Some examples are voter and political candidate information, community events, job and grocery store ads. We even broadcast two exercise programs designed for people who have lost their vision or have a physical disability.

By using our service, listeners can make informed decisions about who to vote for, know about what’s going on in their home town and across the nation and world, can find jobs they want to apply for, and on the whole live more independent, active, engaged lives.