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A talking elevator might not sound like much to many of us, but it's significance for the visually impaired at Highbridge Community Housing comes through loud and clear.

"If the elevator didn't have those features, I would probably end up getting lost," says visually impaired resident Vivian Rivera.

Gregory Bell Senior started Insight for New Housing in 2000. His organization works with developers for free or a small fee to help design affordable housing, like Highbridge, that is accessible to the visually impaired.

"Insight for New Housing is an outgrowth of the pain and suffering that I went through as a combat vet and that thought that he deserved to have a place of refuge and at the time -- 15 plus years ago -- there was not a shelter at the time that would take in people with disabilities," says Bell Sr.

A Vietnam veteran, Bell was diagnosed with open angle glaucoma 35 years ago. Now legally blind he says he felt like the services he needed weren't available.

"So I determined myself that I would not let this happen to anyone else," says Bell Sr.

"Insight is reporting to us on a periodic basis on what's going on in our community, what he sees as trends that are going on. Also, again, he reports to us all the involvement that he has with our tenants," says Highbridge Community Development Corporation CFO Mark Mazzela.

Rivera says the talking elevator and the braille helps her get around her building a lot easier.

"I can visit my friend on the second floor, who is also visually impaired, and I can get to her apartment with ease," says Rivera.

"When we talk about speaking elevators, which is just switching a programmable disk in the elevator which is of minimal cost to the developer but developers might not even know about it," says Bell Sr.

Bell also started "Bronx on Broadway," which gives the visually impaired the opportunity to experience the Great White Way.

"To see The Lion King at the theater downtown and dinner...it was absolutely wonderful. I have never gotten to go to a Broadway show and it was a lot of fun," says Rivera.

"They have never even heard of it, they have never been to Broadway plays, they have never been to a restaurant where there is a table cloth, and where somebody will ask them what they want and somebody will bring it to them," says Bell Sr.

So for giving the visually impaired the chance to see a future, Gregory Bell Senior is our latest New Yorker of the Week.