The Bay State Council of the Blind (BSCB) is a Massachusetts organization of blind and vision-impaired individuals, affiliated with the American Council of the Blind (ACB). Our mission is to enhance the quality of life of blind people in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and beyond.

We Are a Community

First and foremost, BSCB is a community. Through our events, members meet regularly to catch up on blindness issues, strengthen social networks, and have fun!

The weekend-long spring convention is our flagship annual event. Members come together from around the state to discuss issues related to accessible transportation, technology, employment, and lifestyles. In recent years, outside guests have spoken about their experiences as blind journalists, Olympic athletes, marine biologists, and disc jockeys.

Our annual fall Conference is a one-day meeting with specialized workshops and discussions. Recent advocacy-related topics have included youth transition from school to employment, and media and website accessibility. Lifestyle topics have included cooking in the dark and blind travel.

We also organize social events for members, such as get-togethers at restaurants, museum trips, birding, and bowling.

We are in the forefront of enabling people who are vision-impaired to take part in the rich, cultural fabric of the Commonwealth. Thanks to BSCB and our partners, Massachusetts leads the nation in accessibility to cinemas, live theater and museums through audio-described movies, plays and tours.

In addition to statewide events, we have four local area chapters (Boston, Charles River for the west Boston suburbs, South Shore and Central Massachusetts), and one special interest chapter (Guide Dog Users of Massachusetts). Our chapters also sponsor social events and work on advocacy efforts.

We Are Advocates

Our advocacy efforts focus on access to jobs, education, public transportation, health care, technology, and the arts. Our members work to provide critical input to state and local government, non-profit organizations and private companies.

In conjunction with ACB National, we have successfully reached settlements with Netflix to add audio description to their video streams, negotiated with a major Boston hospital to make healthcare services more accessible, and fought discrimination against guide dog users by local taxi companies and ride-sharing services, such as Uber and Lyft. We actively lobby Beacon Hill to ensure that blindness services receive sufficient resources in the annual state budget.

We Communicate and Educate

We work hard to keep our members informed about policies, services, and initiatives that impact blind people’s lives. We also educate the sighted community about the realities of blindness. Our communications services include:

  • Council Connection, a monthly radio program produced and hosted by BSCB members, broadcasts interviews on a wide variety of timely topics of interest to the blind community. It airs on the statewide radio-reading network, and a podcast version can also be downloaded from iTunes.
  • Bay Lines Express is a monthly bulletin that summarizes recent BSCB board decisions, upcoming events, and blindness-related news articles from the web.
  • A weekly email blast, prepared by the staff at Perkins Library, lists audio-described and captioned movies, live theater performances, and TV shows around the state.

Join Us

Whether you are totally blind, partially sighted, or a friend or relative of a person who is vision-impaired, BSCB membership can enrich your life. Join us to explore new opportunities to shape your future, access publications containing information you cannot get anywhere else, and become part of a close-knit community. For membership information contact:

Bay State Council of the Blind

57 Grandview Ave.

Watertown, MA 02472

Phone: (773) 572-6312

Email: info@acbofma.org.