Frequently Asked Questions

United In Stride is designed to support blind/visually impaired individuals who are looking for guides, and sighted individuals who want to volunteer as a guide. The site is available for walkers and runners of all levels and with any level of guide experience.

For youth looking for guides or interested in guiding, visit our page for Users Under 18.

Users can start by creating a profile on the website, providing their location and activity preferences. They can then search for and message potential matches in their desired area using the Find A Partner search function.

For more on how to get started go to UIS Best Practices.

No, this website is completely free to use!

However, the success of United in Stride depends on donations from users like you. This includes the cost of maintaining the site and inventory of supplies. Donate today!

Yes! The United in Stride database of members will grow over time, and we believe a tool like this will pave the way for the next generation of blind/visually impaired athletes. Additionally, this resource will allow those traveling for work or vacation to reach out to you.

Visit our Building Your Network page for more tips on how to find people in your area.

United in Stride is powered by the Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, a division of MAB Community Services. MAB is a tax-exempt, nonprofit corporation under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, tax id 04-2109859.

Are you in a position where you won’t be able to respond to people reaching out to you? Or are you unable to accept new partners at the moment? We recommend switching your profile to “Inactive” so that you don’t appear in other members’ search results when they are looking for a partner.

To do this, you can go click the “My Account” button in the top right of the home screen and select “My Profile” from the dropdown menu. Then, click “Settings,” and select the “Profile Visibility” tab of the settings section. On this screen there is a large box titled “Account Status,” where you are able to toggle your profile between “Active” and “Inactive.” We recommend using this function any time you are going to be unable to respond to new messages for a period of time, and then toggling back to “Active” once you are looking for new partners again.