Inside the American Council of the Blind: My Conversation with Michael Babcock

Hello again, I hope you have had a good week.

On this episode, I caught up with an old friend, Michael Babcock, who is now the Membership Engagement Specialist for the American Council of the Blind. Michael has been blind since birth and has spent 26 years working with assistive technology, dating back to when he was 10 or 11 years old and first started troubleshooting his way around the internet. We hadn’t recorded together in about a decade, so this conversation was overdue in more ways than one.

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Teaching as a Way of Learning

Michael’s approach to assistive technology has always been hands-on. He described a habit that’s shaped his whole career: whenever he figured out how to solve a technical challenge, he’d immediately go teach someone else how to do it — not just to help them, but because teaching something forces you to understand it more deeply. He was talking and teaching about accessibility, in his words, “before I knew accessibility was a thing.” He doesn’t have formal professional training in the field, but he considers his lived experience more valuable than credentials the kind of knowledge that only comes from actually hitting a barrier yourself, like reaching the final step of booking an expensive flight only to find the credit card field won’t accept keyboard navigation.

How ACB Is Structured

Michael walked through how ACB is organized: local chapters feed into state and regional affiliates, which feed into the national organization. ACB currently has around 62 or 63 affiliates nationwide, including 45 state affiliates and 18 special-interest affiliates built around specific communities groups like ACB Teachers, ACB Radio Amateurs, ACB Diabetics in Action, ACB Families, the Randolph-Sheppard Vendors of America, and the Independent Visually Impaired Entrepreneurs affiliate. If someone reaches out looking for a local connection and there isn’t a chapter in their state, ACB will help match them to a special-interest group instead, based on what they’re already interested in or used to do before losing their vision.

ACB Community: Daily Connection Born Out of COVID

One of the most valuable resources Michael described is ACB Community, a program that grew directly out of the isolation of March 2020, when blind and visually impaired individuals suddenly lost the informal support of neighbors, caregivers, and everyday outings all at once. What started as one or two calls a week on a conference line has grown into something remarkable: since 2020, ACB Community has held more than 29,000 events, averaging around 100 events a week, running from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Eastern, seven days a week.

Membership isn’t required to participate anyone can join an event, and anyone can propose to host one, as long as the content stays family-friendly. Events range from Braille instruction and technology discussions to cooking shows, religious services, and even a weekly community karaoke night. ACB relies on around 150 volunteers to keep things running smoothly, including trained hosts who moderate conversations and make sure everyone is treated respectfully.

Michael also walked through the structure of ACB Community’s daily schedule email in detail and I made a point of flagging why that mattered beyond ACB Community itself. The email uses clear heading levels, consistent formatting, larger bolded headings, and specific font and color choices drawn from ACB’s own low-vision guidelines. That’s not just good practice for an email blast it’s a direct, practical example of the same heading structure and formatting principles that make websites navigable for screen reader and screen magnifier users.

Advocacy Made Accessible

ACB’s advocacy work happens on two fronts. Accessibility consulting and compliance services, led by Colby Garrison, work directly with organizations to identify and fix accessibility barriers in their websites, apps, and tools. Separately, ACB’s advocacy platform lets anyone member or not contact their legislators about federal legislation using a “Speak For” tool. The letters come pre-written, so all a person has to do is fill in their information, review the message, and hit submit. Michael said he’s used the tool over a dozen times himself and regularly gets real, substantive follow-up responses from lawmakers’ offices, not just form replies.

Free Wills and Audio-Described Entertainment

Two other ACB programs stood out. ACB covers the cost of a fully accessible online will-writing tool, available to anyone regardless of membership. And the Audio Description Project, accessible at ADP.acb.org, functions like a searchable, accessible programming guide for audio-described content across streaming platforms, cable, and over-the-air TV tracking more than 14,000 described titles. ACB also hosts an annual awards gala recognizing outstanding work in audio description.

AI, Just Try It

Michael shared a story from ACB’s national convention about a session he did with Ed Summers of GitHub, discussing how AI tools are changing daily life for blind users from AI-powered smart glasses that free up your hands while using a cane or guide dog, to Ed’s own project using GitHub Copilot to edit footage from a GoPro mounted on his dog. Michael’s core message was simple: just try it. AI tools won’t be perfect on the first attempt, but trying something new is the only way to find out how it might change what’s possible for you.

About Michael

A close-up selfie-style photo of a smiling man with short, closely cropped dark brown hair, taken from a low angle looking slightly upward, standing near a white door.

Michael Babcock is the Membership Engagement Specialist for the American Council of the Blind. Blind since birth, Michael has extensive experience with assistive technology, accessibility, audio production, podcasting, and community engagement. He works to help ACB members connect with the organization, its programs, and one another.

About the American Council of the Blind

The American Council of the Blind is a national member-driven organization representing people who are blind or have low vision. ACB works to increase independence, equality, opportunity, and quality of life through advocacy, education, accessible information, and community involvement.

Connect with ACB

Keep the Conversation Going

This conversation was a reminder that community and advocacy don’t have to be complicated to be effective sometimes they just take showing up, consistently, and making it easy for people to participate. So here’s what I’d ask of you:

Watch or listen to the full episode and hear Michael’s insights in his own words.
Email community@acb.org to get added to the ACB Community daily schedule, no membership required.
Visit acb.org to explore ACB’s advocacy campaigns, accessibility consulting services, and the Audio Description Project.
Tell us what you learned. Drop a comment, reach out to Michael or ACB directly, or email me at maxwell@theaccessibilityadvantage.com.

And if you’re a business or organization wondering how accessible your own digital tools and services really are, that’s exactly what I help with at The Accessibility Advantage. Reach out and let’s figure it out together.

What’s your excuse?