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Bryan Bashin has been a science journalist, nonprofit CEO, federal administrator, federal Commissioner, technology entrepreneur and until recently led the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind through 13 years of growth and reimagination.
Bashin, who became blind during his sophomore year at the University of California, Berkeley, went on to graduate with degrees in journalism and History. Over the next 15 years as a working journalist he reported about science and public policy issues in a variety of newspapers, magazines and broadcast media, including at the Center for Science Reporting, which he founded.
Mr. Bashin was later hired by the US Department of Education to manage its RSA Region IX office in San Francisco, overseeing $400 million in federal disability programs in four western states and Pacific island territories.
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Over 13 years as CEO of the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind he led a staff of 150 toward radical inclusive disability design efforts of projects whose value exceeds $200 million. His elegant UX contributions can be found in numerous products and construction projects including the new Lighthouse headquarters and the 311-acre Enchanted Hills Camp.
In 2021 President Biden appointed Mr. Bashin to be one of four private citizen members of the US AbilityOne Commission, an independent federal agency which leverages more than $4 billion in federal contracts to create 40,000 jobs for people with disabilities through 450 nonprofit agencies. Mr. Bashin has been working to modernize that program to provide excellent jobs and increase fully integrated competitive employment.
In 2022 Mr. Bashin became Vice-Chair of Be My Eyes, a global for-profit organization which uses smartphones, volunteers and AI which today links more than 1 million blind users with 10 million volunteers, the world’s largest digital volunteer network. There, Mr. Bashin led efforts to grow the user community and integrate AI and wearables – including the Meta AI smartglasses – into new functionality for increasing disability employment.
In 2024 Mr. Bashin was named to Meta’s Global RL Policy Council, an independent multinational entity advising the tech giant on ethical, humanistic and disability issues related to AI technologies. The council also advises on issues such as child safety, disability accessibility concerns, and marginalized and intersecting identities.
In 2026, to boost and accelerate long-term support of free blindness access technologies, Mr. Bashin and colleagues formed the Be My Eyes Foundation, where he now serves as President.
Mr. Bashin lives in Berkeley, California and enjoys camping, building projects in his workshop and continuing to design and advocate for the rights of people with disabilities. He is an avid and enthusiastic user of access technology of all kinds and believes in its power to bring equality and justice to the world’s 340 million people who are blind or have low vision.
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