Sadriye Görece

Updated March 2024

A courageous spirit enables an entrepreneurial leap that benefits the blind community

People interact with the world–from ordering a meal to choosing a washing machine setting–largely through visual information. However, for the 285 million visually impaired people worldwide living independently, these daily tasks are not easy.

Sadriye Görece chose the name BlindLook for the YouTube channel where she intended to share her world and insights about the visually impaired. While she didn't launch the channel herself, she became a co-founder of the company BlindLook, using the same name.

Born in Turkey and raised in what she describes as an overprotective household, Sadriye left home in her teens for school in the United States–after pursuing a scholarship without telling her family. There she experienced life on her own as a blind person for the first time. This courageous step enabled her to take the leap with her co-founder, while still in school, of creating the early version of what would become BlindLook.

BlindLook’s smartphone app helps brands overcome a communication gap

“My co-founder and I met in a restaurant to talk about starting a YouTube channel about being blind. He looked at the menu and then turned to me and asked what I wanted to eat. I said, ‘You didn't even read the menu to me, how can I decide?’” He recognized it as a real problem and, with his technical background, developed a website within a couple of weeks.

They founded BlindLook after Sadriye learned that 90 percent of the blind population uses a smartphone. “Before BlindLook, a mom couldn’t make an online grocery shopping order,” Sadriye says. “She had to go to the store using a cane, carrying bags, trying to hold her child's hand. With BlindLook, she can make that order.”

In addition to translating the visual world via smartphone, BlindLook partners with brands to help them reach the millions of blind consumers they previously overlooked or struggled to reach. Sadriye explains: “There is a huge communication gap between brands and the diverse community because brands see me as a social responsibility. They don't know how to address me in their communications and they don't know I have money in my pocket. As a result, I am underserved, I am discouraged, and I am left behind, left out. BlindLook is overcoming this communication gap.”

Everyday experiences become more accessible to anyone with impaired sight

BlindLook works with more than 50 brands in 16 industries across the USA and Turkey. Its apps provide a bridge between blind consumers and the brand experiences that have become central to our lives. BlindLook’s audio simulations have reduced average shopping completion time for the visually impaired on e-commerce platforms from 42 to seven minutes.

Sadriye anticipates BlindLook’s impact extending beyond the blind community. “The technology we are developing will be useful for a much larger audience. In the future, BlindLook will be about much more than blind people.”