Outlook on Radio Western

Whether it's being shamed by your appliance or corrupting the data stream (check out Part One for more on all this if you haven't yet), it's all in his own words with blind/gay writer, (lover of chocolate and chocolate chip cookies) who writes romance fiction with disabled protagonists and non-fiction celebrating every bit of love and found family he can find. It's Robert Kingett on Part Two of our pre-holiday 2025 show. This week on Outlook we're returning with Robert and some holiday cheer with musical clips from Ontario family fiddling and step dancing sibling band The Fitzgeralds. This one begins with a clip from sister/co-host Kerry's favourite Christmas song, sung in multiple versions including by Raffi, from her childhood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WvBFwEu710 Kingett says: “If Apple released a software update that made every screen black and nobody could see the screen then you'd have an uproar. The same thing needs to happen to accessibility and accessible design." Robert tells us about screen readers tech bros think can be created using AI instead of accessibility being a cornerstone on the syllabi in higher education environments of all kinds, about venting on the blank page/document about doorknobs, and about voicemails that hold the voice of a dear friend who was killed in a hate crime and keeping audio as memory artefact like sighted people keep pictures on their phones to be able to look back. Our chat in this second, slightly shorter, part picks up with a discussion on AI and the spots it comes up in our guest's writing and life and ends, in the spirit of the season, with a heartfelt voicemail message…wrapping things up with a third grader's letter to Santa. We're hearing more from Kingett's perspective, along with a selection of his essays, turned into audio essays narrated by Sean Crisden who you can find here: https://seancrisden.com/en-cad Don't forget to go and check out Robert's musings, perspectives begun with a feeling rather than sharing endless opinions over on social media, over on his own personal blog: https://sightlessscribbles.com Learn more about The Fitzgeralds: https://www.thefitzgeraldsmusic.com

Has your fridge ever thought you were in a cult? Has your date, on a first date, ever stolen your last chocolate chip cookie? Well our guest in this final interview for the year has written about these experiences and much much more on his blog: Sightless Scribbles He thanks us for “indulging his narcissism” with this one. Welcome to Part one of two parts with Robert Kingett who describes himself as: “an obscure, blind, and gay writer that writes fiction where disabled protagonists or disabled love interests find their happy endings and non fiction that is always personal but sometimes educational.” This week and next on Outlook we're speaking with Robert, digital nomad, who's everywhere and who “holds onto audio the way sighted people hold onto pictures” about his genre and essay writing along with hearing multiple audio versions of his essays on everything from a stolen cookie to a smart refrigerator named Chillbert. Whether it's a “deep bruised purple” or “a brittle bone white” Robert writes about how “even silence has its shades.” We're lucky to get to hear Kingett's perspective on his synesthesia when it comes to colour, along with his describing how, as an author who is disabled and writing about disabled characters getting their happy endings, he's come up against a publishing world with what he defines as “a defect in their media literacy” and he tells us how he wants the jagged and the gritty rather than some impossible standard. It's a December two parter and with Christmas approaching, this episode includes music clips from a recent live performance at Stonecroft Folk, A Fitsgeralds Christmas. Robert says: I may not see the colour of your eyes, but I will always see the colour of your intent. It is a language of profound and sometimes painful clarity. We'd love to have Robert back again sometime, and we will…whether it's talking romance or technology and AI - so that's “topics for another day,” but we're so glad he reached out and joined us to round out 2025 here on Outlook. Check out Robert's blog: https://sightlessscribbles.com Learn more about The Fitzgeralds: https://www.thefitzgeraldsmusic.com

Niagara Falls and a Christmas snail. Twas the grand month of Christmas and all through the studio, it was our final in person episode of 2025 you know. From Best Western to Radio Western, light shows and Niagara Takes Flight. At the Falls the mist was rising into the air, our 70th birthday celebrations to show our father we care. The photos of Bob through the years, made up by his eldest son whose artistic talents were clear. Sister/co-host Kerry and BF Barry and Oyster were all ready to fly back to Ireland for Christmas, Air Canada's accessibility features on their TV screens, inclusion and access so good we could cry. When what to bachelor brother/co-host Brian's hands does appear, but the best Christmas gift, from any sister, of any a year. When what with our blind eyes should appear, but Bill C15, announced by Canadian Assistive Technology, Canada Post appealing The Free Literature for the Blind Service, this development is unclear. Learn more here including how you can help: https://nnels.ca/news/bill-c-15 This December it was a snowy holiday visit to Niagara On The Lake for us and, for Kerry and Barry and parents, a Coyle's Christmas shopping extravaganza, coming home with gifts for parents, seasonal snacks, and nature themed ornaments for the minimal Christmas tree at Walter Street. Nollaig Shona duit BFB (Barry) and Lester/Oyster wish everyone, our amazing listeners, a Happy Christmas, from one Canadian weather extreme to the other, in the Irish language. So farewell as we at Outlook close 2025. Bob through the years, hands off Franklin The Turtle, and Niagara Takes Flight yet it could be even more inclusive with audio description. Happy Winter Solstice or however/whatever you celebrate this time of year. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night. And get ready to rumble! Reindeer rumble that is. Check out Snaildartha: The Story of Jerry the Christmas Snail,” played annually on John Solomon's 25-hour holiday radio show, with a soul jazz extravaganza in a festive league all its own: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k1jilPdaFEo5KA8cFOrGgZgOIfHTx4v00 This year, 2025, this month is the ten year anniversary of a bad fall Brian had, acquiring a brain injury and seizure disorder just before Christmas and we wrote a song about that time which premiered on Jon Solomon's show in 2020. Check it out here: https://soundcloud.com/skipatrolmusic/ski-patrol-lighting-up-a-dark-season And here's co-host Kerry's favourite Christmas song Brian plays for her on his Christmas edition of Chin Music every year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARq6uYSsUq0

Winding down and ramping up. Bf Barry and guide dog Oyster (not Lester) are back for a pre-Christmas visit and join us as our additional Outlook crew. The Centre for Independent Living Toronto, Fanshawe College and George Brown and Toronto Metropolitan University, Disability Without Poverty, and Alliance For Equality of Blind Canadians all celebrate December 3rd's United Nations International Day of/for Persons With Disabilities along with our other holiday related news. This week on the show we're pre-recording because of last minute 70th birthday celebrations, but we did a Friday night recording discussing IDPD and related events, Barry shares his AI personal assistance/unpaid testers and snowy return to Canada diaries, and we discuss how “seeing isn't knowing” on this Mixed Bag Early December episode. We've been eating a lot of cake lately and we talk Thanksgiving in the States, how this time of year can be a difficult one for many, and yet the arrival of changes of the holiday season becoming more diverse. On a high note, Happy 70th birthday to our dad, who met our mom 50 years ago this month, while we look back a few weeks ago to a special honouring of an early sibling organ transplant story at London, Ontario's Health Sciences Centre. Brother/co-host Brian's been winding down as the end of this year draws near while sister/co-host Kerry has been ramping up with Blind Beginnings, (more about that in January). Give Leona's article a read: https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/features/blindness-photography-paul-strand-walker-evans-jacob-riis-1234763708/ Check out the George Brown/TMU event with David Lepofsky: https://tinyurl.com/4k85hpnh

INCLUSION BENEFITS EVERYONE December 3rd is The United Nations International Day of Persons With Disabilities where the theme for 2025 is: “Fostering disability inclusive societies for advancing social progress" And this year, on Saturday, December 6th, from 1 to 4 PM EST, Alliance For Equality of Blind Canadians is putting on a virtual day of events to mark the occasion. This week on Outlook we're speaking with President of AEBC, Marcia Yale, about going from the busy streets of Toronto to the busy summer/sleepy winters of Huntsville, about her experience at what was then the Ontario School for the Blind and then being integrated locally at home, and about how she got involved in AEBC and ended up in her current position there. So check out the podcast and stay tuned for events all week, including replays on Youtube as We're discussing more about AEBC and the speakers and panel happening on the 6th - all with her guide dog companion Nottingham supervising our conversation. It's true that inclusion does benefit everyone and that's one of our main messages (of universal design principles) at the heart of what we do on this show. To register for the conference, click the following link: https://tinyurl.com/36bxf8v6 Or email IDPWD.event@blindcanadians.ca And learn more about AEBC on their official website: https://www.blindcanadians.ca

It's November and Indigenous Disability Awareness Month (IDAM) raises awareness about and celebrates the significance social economic and cultural contributions that Indigenous people experiencing disability bring to our communities. It's also an opportunity to mobilise to address the complex ongoing intersectional challenges Indigenous people face in their everyday lives. According to IDAM: Over 30 percent of Indigenous Canadians age 15 and over experience disability compared with 22 percent of all Canadians aged 15 and over. Created in 2015 by "Indigenous Disability Canada, British Columbia Aboriginal Network On Disability Society," proclaimed by government of British Columbia 2017 - United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities recommended Canada officially proclaim and recognise IDAM nationally every November. For the first boots on the ground Mixed Bag show of the season, this week on Outlook we're marking IDAM, Disabled Veterans Day, and Remembrance Day. Then sister/co-host Kerry shares about a disability focus group held by Irish literary journal The Stinging Fly, the “Say It Plain) course put on by her writer/activist friend Kerra, and howling like a wolf in community with a group of women creatives facilitated by other friend and previous Outlook guest Jen. Speaking of British Columbia, we're talking fear and risk as Kerry is traveling solo there, to the Blind Beginnings offices in Vancouver, for a training weekend, facilitated by a federal grant to put on what are known as Blindness 101 workshops in Ontario during 2026 (more to come on this early next year). Question: About how many needles have you had in your lifetime? Have you ever tried to count? We both wish we would have counted. We're discussing an event this month we're attending, with our parents, as the four of us who've donated and received kidneys are excited to be taking part in a celebration of 50 years since one of the earliest living donor transplants from one sister to another at London Health Sciences Centre back on November 19th, 1975. Finally, Santa, if you're listening, Kerry could use a new white cane for Christmas. Happy 70th birthday Dad and check out Irish literary journal The Stinging Fly mentioned in this episode: https://stingingfly.org Listen to an episode from the Outlook archives with Neil Belanger, CEO of The British Columbia Aboriginal Network on Disability Society: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/outlook-2021-12-06-neil-belanger-from-british-columbia/id1527876739?i=1000544243467

Don't mind the puns in this one, but we're entering the “home stretch” of 2025 as we discuss how to “level the playing field” for us, as blind Blue Jays fans, when comparing baseball radio broadcast with that done on television on this Monday after the Big Game. This week on Outlook it's a MLB Mixed Bag show as we're joined, virtually, by BF Barry until he can join us in studio soon--to lament the close call in Game Seven of this year's World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. We give a post-series blow-by-blow of watching the games together, the three of us, with Barry's international perspective, along with brother/co-host Brian's info about the father-son connection (Dan and Ben Shulman who broadcast on TV and radio respectively), and a special Radio Western connection to Dan Shulman who used to call Western Mustangs games, and an example of an exciting moment from the final game, using a clip of the radio broadcasters to illustrate the unique playing field levelling for those of us who cannot see the games visually. Shout out to both Ben Shulman and Chris Leroux for calling the games on the radio as it seems the TV broadcasters more often get recognized. Then sister/co-host Kerry shares about her Halloween (first year going trick-or-treating) in a while, alongside learning some sad news about an old classmate, all the while describing using her friend's daughter's plastic sorcerer's staff as white cane for the evening plus the haunted house they walked through, a notion truly scary to Kerry in most circumstances. First episode after clocks went back (a lack of sleep for some of us) as we three are all hyped up with the close call loss, a series so close to being a win for the Jays and for Canada, as emotions run high with Kerry sharing what it's like, looking back at one whole year now since the worst guy for the job got voted back in the Whitehouse - so from one horror to another and the disappointment all across the country, we end with a song from Obama's POV. "No man's ignorance will ever be his virtue.” —Seriously, from This American Life, written by Sara Bareilles, sung by Leslie Odom Jr. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI8TCA3fJcs

Picture this - five ladies, two blind and three sighted and from Canada, the States, and Europe; getting together in a group to practice the skill of creating good quality audio description. Practice requires we now put our training into practice. Introducing “PICTURE THIS ADC (Audio Description Collaborative)” This week on Outlook, find out who the founders of Picture This are as individuals and the skills they bring to the collaboration - join in with Kerry Kijewski, Stephanie Johnson, Kristina Cosumano, Maureen Austen, and Lolly Lejewski. The five of them gather for a group chat to share what experiences with audio description have taught them, how each came to the group initially, the art and the craft of it, and the mission undertaken collaboratively to make audio description clear and inclusive. Picture This (in the mind's eye) creates quality audio description for blind people...for short films and documentaries, streaming programming, along with exhibits, museums, and galleries. Their combined experience, knowledge, and skill pooled together has made the collaborative they now are and they care deeply about making art, culture, and media accessible for blind users, coming together from across North America and Europe to do just that. For inquiries email the team at: picturethisadc@gmail.com Check out Kerry's previous work on behalf of audio description availability: https://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/2018/03/21/woodstock-resident-hopes-to-help-blind-people-enjoy-the-movies-with-better-descriptive-audio And check out links for where you can find some of us and our work: https://www.stephaniejohnson.pro https://kayconsulting.ca https://licustranslation.com Thanks to Brian Kijewski and Nick Marrs for their audio engineering.

Boo! She's back. Sister/co-host Kerry's back and up to her old tricks on Outlook this week. A lot to cover again on this Mixed Bag episode. Kerry teases her new audio description company she's part of that will be revealed on the next show, but first her and brother co-host Brian discuss the state of podcasting today, along with other social media trends and where to take Outlook. As we share about our fall so far, Brian reveals recording of some music with his band at a local studio, The Sugar Shack, as the weather grows cold, announcing something upcoming of his own. Kerry tells of a chronic grief about missing colours, like the colours of the changing leaves. She still has all the other senses this time of year. Halloween brings the end of October and the end of Bam. Blindness Awareness Month is still on for a little while longer, as Brian shares about ODEN (Ontario Disability Employment Network). Their theme for this one is Inclusive Employment Across Canada: Building a Workforce Without Barriers. Barriers oh barriers, that's all we keep hearing about, that barriers are recognised, but then what? Where are we headed with all of this? We're sharing trailers of documentaries today, where we demonstrate why audio description is so needed, The Alabama Solution and Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore, but what would it be like if you could only hear them? We debate documentaries not saying their names in the trailer. As No Kings just happened, we discuss oppression in prisons, shown on The Alabama Solution dock. Fighting defeat, apathy, we do not submit prematurely. This week Kerry explains about her team's most recent project on deaf actress and activist, Marlee Matlin, starting with the trailer, mostly sign language. On Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore, Kerry learned, through working to add audio description to it, how adding AD and ASL can produce something that flows well together. As Brian lets slip something controversial, we learn all sorts of things about Marlee's life, through this PBS documentary. Kerry explains, again, what extended audio description is as we lead up next week to the official announcement. And some tips about our tips, white cane tips. Go Jays! Note: At one point Kerry said translator when she meant intervener.

BAM! 2025 - coming to you live on location. Yep, October is more recognisable for being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but while Blindness Awareness Month is less familiar to some, it sounds better, more straightforward, rolling off the tongue as acronym than BCAM. This week on Outlook, with the start of a new month…October, we're highlighting BAM even though, we always say, every month is BAM for us. On this BAM Mixed Bag episode sister/co-host Kerry is streaming live and on route, but luckily makes it back to “the flat” still within the first half of the show, a major Uk cellphone service is down which made it difficult to get a cab back from the furniture warehouse. But luckily, freezer deal was found (with help from Barry's assistant AI as he terms his co-processor) and service from the store's sales guy was excellent (lovely British chap) who didn't necessarily know how to assist two blind people, yet was all the things we ask anyone to be when interacting with the public. BAM getting off to a pretty good start after last week's nightmare (see previous Outlook for more on what not to do. It's really not that much different from how to assist anyone else, just be willing to listen to our guidance, as we know what we need as blind people). It's Thanksgiving for brother/co-host Brian back in Canada, but it's also Columbus Day in the States (Indigenous Peoples Day in approximately 30 states now) and we're discussing this update/correction on which one is preferable, along with celebrating our lovely mother's birth, and thankfully the cab finally arriving to take Kerry and BF Barry home is hardly noticeable in the background. We're comparing Canada and The States as baseball rivalries intensify in October. Some things are, as “American as apple pie” while we're talking thankfulness (which should be as obvious as “Apple cake” with details of what Historian Heather Cox Richardson says about Columbus Day's origins, years of colonial subjugation, and the difference in definitions that can become glaringly clear in 100 years. Outlook On Radio Western stands on the foundation of Diversity and we're talking definitions of all of this, plus on things like BAM or World Sight Day, from orgs like the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) or the Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB) and using a daytime TV infomercial about “blind children in poorer countries” and how helpless images make it seem. While no country should think itself above another like how even the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) tries to raise money by using Canada's blind people and cute images of guide dogs to elicit pity and donations. The NFB thinks of BAM more from the standpoint of independence which often, to them means employment, but though we reject another definition that's all about the patronising angle of everything we do as inspirational, we lay out the harmful impacts of something like the messaging from World Sight Day's promotional material. While the International Agency for the prevention of blindness (the IAPB) is focusing on eye health around the world, some organisations and charities and nonprofits go about fundraising in reckless ways. Brian is riding the fader live in the studio while Kerry was out tracking down monkey nuts (but shhh Mom is listening), returning by cab and sharing how drivers often struggle (as sighted as sighted can be) to find the address, Kerry foreshadowing a recent struggle with such things plus one of Marlee Matlin's similar experiences with those of us who have our sense of hearing which Kerry heard on a recent audio description project. That's why our mom recently painted Kerry's garage door bright red and put up a huge house number, Barry in the process of doing something similar for those drivers who might as well be blind behind the wheel, Brian using the example of Uber drivers trying to find the door into the University Community Centre (UCC) where we record our show out of. We use the Pin The Tail On The Donkey example of disorientation to make the point that these are just more additions of those tropes that are harmful to us blind people and those that are simply the truth of our current reality. Multi sensory, multi media, and interactive - from a recent work experience she had doing cultural consulting and quality control for Toronto's version of the Nuit Blanche festival, she then tells of another Canadian connection (as we call it) when out during a Saturday pub night for many in neighbouring Belfast. Instead Kerry and Barry chose to attend a local boy's return performance, Brian Kennedy (Canada has Cory Hart while Northern Ireland has BK), to the classic Black Box Theatre as he played some Joni Mitchell covers including “Woodstock,” (not the same Woodstock but still). So on this one Brian with an “I” and Kerry with a “y” are talking the Dominos that have to fall in our lives with dealing with how sometimes sighted people can and do suck which adds up the blocks of frustration and fatigue as Kerry shares a bit about a recent visitor experience at Belfast's Titanic Museum and how baseball radio broadcasts put us on an equal playing field (baseball metaphor there for you). BAM! It gets someone's attention at least and we're thankful for our mother, apple cake instead of pumpkin pie, and the Toronto Bluejays beating The Yankees and moving on to take the American League championship, from east to west and north to south - BAM begins.

Milk worms, silkworms, and webs - oh my! It was a Silkworm September. From Chicago to Northern Ireland, where are we now? Some find it amazing we get out much at all. This week on Outlook - sister/co-host Kerry's recovering from another sickness and makes good use of the “mute” button, brother/co-host Brian is raving about his double Silkworm dream trip, and BF (3rd co-host Barry) he's researching all the things transplant patients can't take for symptom relief. For this Mixed Bag episode, Brian's sharing about his latest travel stories and adventures of music community gathering together in Chicago. He's making new friends, having merch made truly accessible and inclusive, and sharing a few clips of the songs that brought him to the States to begin with, for the second time this year. Kerry's back with Barry, in his flat, and on the sofa with guide dog Oyster as Barry relays a recent dreadful story, as September moves into October's Blindness Awareness Month, of the truly taxing and trying horror of being manhandled by ignorant people in public and community spaces who put their hands on you first and ask questions “never." As we go into BAM (as we call it) there's very little “awareness” of Blindness by the public. As the saying goes: when someone closes a door, they close another, and put up a sign which helps no blind person ever. September is also Pain Awareness Month, on the last day of September it's the National Day For Truth and Reconciliation, and we're here for all of it with music for our final show for our Outlook anniversary month as we talk church acoustics, assault, doubling down, and much much more. The Silkworm and Dianogah music featured in this episode was lifted from the following videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FKQFKTP1iE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQOUj_bWykg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmKxMODNpz8

The Music Director at Radio Western says: I'm just so grateful to have you guys on our station, to have Outlook here on our programming, and congratulations on reaching your 300th episode. Note at this point: we are a radio show first, as our theme states, and then become this podcast, if anyone was unaware of how and where we started/start each week - 94.9 on the dial locally, streaming audibly live at radiowestern.ca, at 11 AM EST weekly. Bird's eye view, an Outlook. It was a bird's eye view of our show with this one, as we were on Twitch, just for this particular episode and only for the live version. We love the irony to that as we discuss things like our pet peeve that many podcasts these days feel they need to have a visual component to them, even if podcasting is an audio art form so naturally we thought we'd “try” going live on Twitch for this. Irony or hypocrisy - you decide. This podcast episode still retains all the best bits, even if you've missed the live version. We are joined by those, we joked, who are forced to listen to Outlook every Monday, live, the staff from Radio Western in London, Ontario where we originally broadcast live from every Monday morning at eleven Eastern. To celebrate show 300 and our seven year mark we spoke with Radio Western Music Director (essentially Music Librarian) Ian, Marketing Director (Whirlwind) Elijah, and (new) News and Spoken Word Director Ryan and BF Barry (our sometimes third co-host) from Ireland. It turned out as a fun-filled and highly humorous discussion with friends and friends of the show about the last seven years, the history of Outlook On Radio Western, and what we want to highlight without claiming to speak for “all blind people” here. We talked wrongful interpretations of what blindness is in media while noting the correcting of that with things like book “There Plant Eyes: A Personal and Cultural History of Blindness” by Leona Godin and sharing a bit about sibling dynamics from everyone around the table. This sibling radio show/podcast celebrates that relationship with 300/7. And that's all contained here and not just live, even if you can't watch us, you could listen to Radio Western and/or on our show streaming there on Monday's. Elijah from Radio Western says to brother/co-host Brian: We all try to make this place as welcoming as possible. This is a place where everybody can feel as though they have a platform especially when you and Kerry are using this platform for good and to get such a positive message out and understanding…an a knowledgeable message, an informing message. Check out Ian's show Thursday mornings from 8:30 AM to 11,A Person Disguised As People and Elijah and Ryan's show Outside The Frame Tuesdays at 6 PM.

Guest Maria says: “God I just Love the feel of a good paperback.” To that co-host Kerry replies emphatically: “Books are thrilling!” “Working in the book industry and having a fresh book…the smell of a fresh book, there's nothing like it,” says Maria Johnson of Girl Gone Blind. This was her life, for many years, before the age of fifty and before she started over in health and fitness and then as someone diagnosed with a genetic blindness condition. On this Outlook we're speaking with her about what life was like before blindness which includes both books and fitness, about getting her diagnosis at age fifty, and about how to choose the right name for an online presence as an advocate for her post-fifty life as someone diagnosed with LHON, Lebers Hereditary Optic Neuropathy, a mitochondrial condition of the optic nerve. Our very own mother recognised the name of this particular condition when we told her what this week's show was about because it was a diagnosis doctors thought sister/co-host Kerry had at one time early on in our family's diagnosis journey with genetic blindness. Both conditions were first described by the same man: Theodor Karl Gustav von Leber, (discovering our eye condition, Leber's Congenital Amaurosis and Maria's, Lebers Hereditary Optic Neuropathy within two years of each other in 1869 and 1871). She describes her road to acceptance which includes family also being impacted in all kinds of ways and about how she got so involved with the international conference for patients, their loved ones, and all sorts of doctors, scientists, and researchers along with her hit panel she moderates there each year. Johnson says: “Sure, it wasn't what I expected. It's not what anyone expects when you lose vision later on in life, but you can still do so many things and that's what I discovered - to recreate, reinvent, and restart my life, just without vision.” In September, 2013 she was diagnosed with LHON and in September, 2025 she's joined us to talk about the intervening twelve years of learning, acceptance, and advocacy and becoming girl, gone, blind as Girl Gone Blind. Check out Maria's website including her most excellent blog: https://girlgoneblind.com

September has arrived and it's Labour Day with Laura Bain. Laura is wrapping up school and starting a new job and she's back on Outlook to tell us all about travel, transitions, and changes she's made since she was last on air with us. Speaking of schooling, Laura has been on an academic journey in psychology and social work, having just completed a Masters in Social Work, taking her own time to get here and we're talking making education work for people with all sorts of needs, part-time as Bain did it: “being able to engage more fully with the material,” with ablest views on course load and full-time vs part time program participation in a rigid system. We're asking for accommodations; there's no shame in this. Laura tells us about how she navigated through her schooling and then through unfamiliar cities as a traveler. We talk about the differences between travel with others, a sighted partner for example, vs independent travel, interdependence in this or group trips, tackling new surroundings solo with Bain's trips to New York for the No Barriers Summit. Or whether it's in France or England most recently: things like being less than bilingual in a non English speaking country, using technology to get around, and the total mental drain it can take to access all our sensory skills when traveling alone. Things like needing time to rest in the hotel and moving away from such a frantic tourist experience as most take on and for which we're encouraged to join in on in this fast paced world. So whether it's in schooling or in travel, doing things on our own schedule is going against the grain of go go go. We hear about Laura's experience doing London half on her own and then half with accessible tour group Seeable Holidays where the guides are trained but sighted people join the group and are there to assist those who are blind. Brother co-host Brian learned about local greeter organisations, specifically London Greeters and the guide Laura had who knew Brian and had been impacted by Brian's earlier advocating for himself, which prompted this local guide to access some blindness awareness training. It's a small world after all as the song goes. So with the summer coming to an end, Laura is back at it and telling us about the jobs she's had recently which include working once more for Accessible Media Inc. and then working locally for her municipal government, Halifax Regional Municipality Office of Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator Accessibility Community Outreach and Research, a long title for a seemingly sweet job with government but she shares a bit about being on a probational basis and finding it difficult, though in the diversity, equity, inclusion, and access (DEIA) spaces, she wasn't getting that direct community engagement she prefers to have. So we finish off, with a new school year ahead for many and for Laura Bain it means taking on a new role at the CNIB as a program coordinator, dealing directly with the community by, for example, coordinating a camp for the community of kids and families. She took the leap from government job, not quite the right fit for her at this time, and what she's doing on contract until next March and we hope to have her back with us to discuss more on where she's headed next. We at Outlook appreciate our friends, like Laura Bain, joining us in community as it truly is a small world after all and we look forward to getting Bain's own tour of Halifax, her city, very soon with the privilege of access to travel making us better, more well rounded people. The No Barriers Summit website says: WHAT'S WITHIN YOU IS STRONGER THAN WHAT'S IN YOUR Way - and that's what we three have in common as we navigate life with a disability: https://nobarriersusa.org Learn more about Seeable Holidays: https://seable.co.uk And free personalised walking tours for all in London, England: https://londongreeters.org

Content warning: (Please do take care while listening as this episode discusses themes around suicidal ideation and death. If you are in distress currently, across Canada you can call or text 9-8-8 toll free from anywhere around the country. *** We've known of this returning guest for years and first had her on with us back in 2021 - during Covid when she made podcasts from inside her closet, like many others did, while we were all recording from home. She joins us on the show to talk about one of the most contentious topics of our times in the country and especially for the disability community. We've wanted to discuss the situation with medical assistance in dying (MAID) on Outlook for a long time, but waited until a journalist could walk us through it, someone with both a professional and lived experience point-of-view. Meagan Gillmore grew up in London, the city where we broadcast Outlook from, but now she lives in Ottawa, Canada's capital city and reports for New online independent news publication Canadian Affairs which first launched back in 2023. What exactly is MAID and how does it, in any way, differ from physician assisted suicide, euthanasia or any of the other terms you may have heard mentioned in the news? We learn more about the history of medical assistance in dying so from the historical to the political, Meagan walks us through things like eligibility criteria and the two separate MAID tracks, along with changes in the criminal code, private members bills and legislative changes and other political elements, on lawsuits and the courts, and shares how most journalistic outlets do not cover medical assistance in dying with any sort of sustained coverage. We get an idea why journalists with lived experience of disability (either physical or mental) are well suited to keeping the media aware, along with the rest of us who often find MAID made more complicated by the sensitivity of the issue and society's cultural fear of discussing anything remotely related to death and dying. Gillmore shares with us a mixture of researched and reported details on the path MAID has been on in Canadian society along with her own personal up close experience with considering applying for it herself at one time. Plus we the hosts also share why this subject is so personal to us as Canadians living with disability and chronic illness during these capitalist times where barriers still exist with finding and maintaining steady employment and other factors toward fitting in in one's community. Common ongoing themes discussed on this show about struggling with independence and dependence (not feeling like a burden when it comes to feeling like we must not burden society) vs interdependence and the grey areas of life and being part of our communities while finding purpose and balance in all areas of life are covered between the three of us. Why would someone ever consider this rout for themselves or are there pressures put on those who have done it or are contemplating it? ? Why are people with disabilities feeling all this most intensely, has this gotten out of hand in Canada in particular, and what do disability organisations and groups think about all of it? How are physicians and other medical professionals feeling and viewing all this? From the legal system to advocating for human rights, all these things and more on this important episode. *** Read recent articles written by Gillmore for Canadian Affairs: https://www.canadianaffairs.news/author/meagan_gillmore/ Find an article on MAID by Gillmore from The Walrus in 2023: https://thewalrus.ca/assisted-dying/ And to learn more about Meagan, check out her prior Outlook appearance: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/outlook-2021-02-08-interview-with-journalist-meagan/id1527876739?i=1000508230958

After our conversation with today's guest, check out our thoughts on how theatre and performance spaces can work to be more inclusive and can work towards a greater focus on meeting the access needs of intersecting humans in artistic spaces. As Brian shares about his really missing out on being in those spaces, Kerry shares about others who are out there, if you know where to look as reflections following this week's guest joins us, live on location: “The broader systems and structures of our work in theatre - is now realising, in catching up essentially with the rest of us that have always had to exist in spaces as disabled humans, that actually this can allow us to think more deeply, consider things in a deeper more innovative way. And it's actually an exciting frontier, the disruption and the dismantling that access and disability causes in spaces is actually a really an exciting and innovative thing to think about artistically. I think ultimately that shift, we're at the precipice of that shift right now in the community. We're just at the beginning and it's gonna be a long journey and a long thing and many conversations from a space of listening. We're just at the start, let's put it that way,” our guest laughs. This week on Outlook we're hearing from accessibility coordinator Mandy E. MacLean, who has worked as an access practitioner in artistic and theatre settings since moving to Toronto in 2012: “We're far behind the UK and overseas in many ways, here in Toronto and in Canada…and in Ontario as a whole - it's an exciting place to be sitting in currently.” Mandy joins us from outside a deaf-led performance, in the shade on a boiling summer afternoon, to discuss how she started work as a producer focusing on access in artistic spaces, about working with young/first-time low vision and blind/disabled and trans performers, both in arts and theatre in Ontario and Manitoba including what she learned about herself and her job facilitating and producing inclusive theatre with students at the W. Ross McDonald School for the Blind. She describes what she learned from first-time performers in a drama class at the school and how she heard from them what they wanted to see in a performance of their creation and making. We talk things like integrated audio description and lighting design for theatre when considering full inclusion or sensory sensitivity as MacLean shares a bit about her own non-visible disabilities which include concussion and associated mental health (identifying as part of the Mad community) and sensory sensitivity symptoms. Mandy shares how first, as a performer, and now as facilitator of accessibility in the arts and theatre with less obvious disabilities of her own, she can be a bit under the radar in performance spaces and still approach her work from a lived experience perspective and to learn from the lived experiences others have as intersections. Also, how she invites others in such spaces to be open about their differences, both visible or non-visible, if they so choose which can diminish stigma. We also find out about her great love of dogs and the story behind naming her own (emotional support animal) cocker spaniel Mulder. *Cue X-Files music* We also learn a new word on this one, which we do every few years on this show, with the introducing of the term “dramaturg” to our ears. As dramaturg, MacLean asks: “How do we shape and hold this piece that eventually is going to be experienced by an audience?” She's sharing about her own personal curiosities exploring her own disabilities in theatrical settings and on a project she herself has in the works. Then she goes on to tell us about the Summer in the Park Festival with Crossroads Theatre she is working on as an artistic and access producer taking place over the span of three days (from August 22 to the 24th) with an opening night of free food (a community meal) and weekend brimming with performances and storytelling spaces across the three days for all ages and abilities and backgrounds - a welcoming cultural, creative, community driven event that offers a family friendly experience. “I encourage everyone to check out the Summerworks Performance Festival: https://summerworks.ca I was one of the accessibility coordinators there. If you're not able to make it out this year, I encourage you to check it out for the future. It's an awesome festival, downtown Toronto, and I also encourage you to check out the organisation I work for, Crossroads Theatre. We are excited to connect with folks at Crossroads. We wanna meet people and artists in the community that are interested in access and theatre and live performance of any shape and form and how those two things intersect.” Reach out on Insagram @crossroadstheatreto For more information on the Summer in the Park series and specifically Crossroads Theatre go here: https://www.crossroadstheatre.org

She's just a girl and she's on fire She's living in a world and it's on fire. —Alicia Keys It's a slow burn summer, burn as in the wildfires ravaging communities and landscapes across Canada while 18-year-old Canadian competitive swimmer Summer McIntosh is on fire, winning multiple medals at the World Championships, and this is another mixed bag episode in mid summer on the August long weekend as we're recording it. And one of us is getting over a summer cold as we acknowledge July's Pride celebrations as the anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act (35 years) arrived this summer season. This week on Outlook we're starting off sharing what brother/co-host Brian learned when he researched what exactly the August 1st holiday is here in Canada are represented by, either British Columbia Day, Terry Fox Day in Manitoba (the province he was born in), Heritage Day for one province while ours (Ontario) has municipality celebrations for places like Ottawa or Guelph. After this one, we won't be live for a few weeks with an upcoming Monday where sister/co-host Kerry has a specialist appointment at a connective tissue clinic with a rheumatologist to see if there's anything new they might be able to offer to manage her changing symptoms and Brian will be recording with his band at London's local Sugar Shack Studio. We then briefly mention the serious and controversial subject matter (content warning worthy) we've got coming up on an Outlook show planned for later in the month, current scarcity mindsets with Alberta's continuing going ahead with clawbacks for anyone there applying for the new Canadian Disability Benefit, and how that compares to the province we're in, speaking of different provinces on this August Long Weekend edition of our show. Our mixed bag of topics for this Mid Summer Mixed Bag also includes our friendly sibling competitions even when it comes to why Brian doesn't get as many colds as Kerry (even though we're both immunosuppressed as transplant patients) or why Kerry's creatinine has always remained safely below 100 while Brian's has steadily remained dozens of points above it. Speaking of clinic, with Brian's recent transplant clinic visit and dispatches from the waiting room we're considering a story from CBC about piping in calming bird song sounds into hospital and clinic waiting rooms rather than the less relaxing news television programs. Then, (speaking of content warnings) we recently viewed the first episode of Season 27 of South Park “Sermon On The Mount,” and we're discussing what we miss without audio description which led us to use a Wiki Fandom site and AI chatbot for more information, the design of the characters Kerry has seen at one time and now must imagine, and the type of satire its creators harness for trolling (passing the sensors by putting little eyes on 45/47's penis and comparing him to a certain deceased Iraqi so-called “leader” South Park featured in one of Brian's most favourite earlier season episodes. Reflecting on seeing the value of spending more time with family now that he's older, (shoutout to Nefertiti Matos Olivares for gifting our family with game Herd Mentality) making for a wonderfully entertaining and enlightening family game afternoon last month - Brian also shares about a sweet and special moment recently where our niece wanted to include him by writing her name tactilely so he could feel it, by writing it on the device we have called the BrailleDoodle (a teaching tool for educators and new braille learners). And speaking of the BrailleDoodle, we're still looking for somewhere to donate one and Kerry shares about introducing our educational assistant/braille transcriber from our school days to BF Barry and guide dog Oyster a few weeks back. BTW: If you hear this episode and know of anyone/anywhere that could use it, please do reach out by emailing us - outlookonradiowestern@gmail.com You can learn more about the Braille Doodle here: https://www.touchpadprofoundation.org Girl On Fire by Alicia Keys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J91ti_MpdHA

Bumbleberry and BF Barry back with us again. It's not all roses on Outlook this week, though it's another Disability Pride Month episode (celebrating brother/co-host Brian's July transplant anniversary) and we're talking poutine and pickle fries to mark the occasion. Actually, we discuss an evening out for the three of us at a family wedding as sister/co-host Kerry shares about her blind/female fashion concerns while the boys discuss how it is choosing their own wedding guest wardrobe. Then we cover the ways we utilise our remaining senses to take part in and enjoy festivities such as listening for the evening's playlist of songs (for dancing to or not) along with all the visual elements we miss, tasting the food truck flavours, and all the tactile elements of how weddings get decorated, like the tactile roses on the tables. Summer continues coasting along, for this Mixed Bag episode, as some of us try not to melt in our shades while others continue to bask in the sizzle of the season. One of us wears their Wayne's World hat while the other two sport some summer shades as we talk party favours with a dress code of beach formal from the weekend that was.

K: “Community is so important. To knowing you're not alone and then showing up for each other. H: 100 percent. K: even when a situation is scary and people are thinking about their own situations of course but also thinking about their loved ones and their neighbours. H: We will only survive this with community. We will only survive this together. We will only survive this by showing up for each other. That is our only way out. This is an exchange between sister/co-host Kerry and friend and returning guest Professor H Mayhem May on this week's show. We're continuing the celebrating of PRIDE on Outlook this week, as we did almost exactly to the day (three years ago) when May was on with us that first time to share about their short film, “Finding Tiresias”, an inclusively designed experimental piece about identity and diversity and change. Ozzy Osbourne, legendary rock performer died since having H May on this time. In his band's song “Changes” he sings: “I'm going through changes”. This is the theme of our second discussion, live in studio, with H from just across the border in The Finger Lakes region of New York State. Canada and the States both celebrate birthdays during the month of July along with Pride and Disability Pride, just within a few days of one another, as we're right next to each other. We're illustrating the need to recognise that closeness and connection and that need to keep connections between us strong in the face of so much chaos and adversity, both as neighbouring countries and in overlapping communities. So we're talking interconnection, intersectionality, and interdependence along with examples of loss and grief and accepting of changes as H considers a guide dog for continued outdoor adventures, keeping up blindness skills in an ocularcentric world since being in community with us and others at a Drama Club Camp week in Maine, and in the expanding possibilities developing the ideas from last year's Maine gathering into a future inclusive and representative theatrical statement with Dr. May's growing lived experience and directing stage knowledge and expertise at its heart. For more on our friend and ally Professor H May, visit their website and learn more about “Finding Tiresias” and other projects and perspectives: https://www.drheathermay.com Check out last summer's Maine experience on the two-parter episode we put together featuring our week in community with H and others: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/outlook-2024-10-14-our-week-in-maine-well-figure-it-out-pt-1/id1527876739?i=1000673780980 https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/outlook-2024-10-21-our-week-in-maine-well-figure-it-out-pt-2/id1527876739?i=1000675516532 And go back 3 years to hear H's first appearance on the show: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/outlook-2022-07-11-awaiting-tiresias-with-professor/id1527876739?i=1000569782476

“We will carve our place into time and space.” —Wild Things, Alessia Cara It's powerful outcry, a protest and empowerment song by Alessia, as sister/co-host Kerry loves music that's unapologetic - Things are heating up during July's Disability Pride Month (DPM). This week on Outlook we're continuing the Pride talk on another mixed bag with brother/co-host Brian's baseball adventures, reading image descriptions of the stadium, and then Kerry shares about her memories of seeing the Toronto Bluejay's Sky Dome (roof open and sky exposed or closed). Accessibility - how he and BF Barry asked at Guest Services for accessible ways to follow the game and a giant company like Rogers doing very little even with all their resources. Advocacy - summer being a time people love to attend festivals and a recent CBC London Morning segment speaking with an accessibility consultant in a wheelchair about how to make something like London's Sunfest more inclusive. And equality - describing the colours of the Disability Pride Flag as July's DPM continues. While Kerry and guide dog Oyster recently had a girl's day, watching Friends, sleeping on the couch, and going out in the back yard for which Kerry is writing an essay about in a July writing class: Oyster's Secret Garden, Brian and Barry had a good time out socialising in London and spending a lot of time on patios and at local spots across town. He shares about transportation issues and talking with Uber drivers, and. Kerry shares, while describing the need for colours and vivid imagery on a flag like that of DPM along with the grief she's now receiving peer support for when she misses seeing the colours she has always loved and once could make out. When Kerry was in Ireland and went forest bathing, she was encouraged to take her power back and she finds that works better through song lyrics than through cursing. It's a summer of Pride, a lifetime of advocacy, and demanding equality along the way with cross-community support so be one of the Wild Ones: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5vUBQBykJ4

As we cross over from June's Pride Month into July's Disability Pride, let's just say it is a summer of PRIDe with us here. This week on Outlook we're talking about the connections, the intersectionalities between those celebrating LGBTQIA2S+ and celebrating living with disability. Yes, we know that the idea of “feeling proud” of living with disability (in this society which stigmatises anything not able-bodied) sounds strange to some, but here we're trying to destigmatize the whole thing by refusing to let circumstances out of our control dominate our lives. We're sharing first about our Friday night excursion out in London and to the home of the host who did a music show (first before us Monday mornings and then directly after). Bernie Koenig (of From Bach to Rock and then Bernie's Jazz and Blues) is a musician himself, from way back, and hosts jams (out of his basement) where he invites anyone to come to watch some jazz/rock/blues playing. So we went, though Oyster the guide dog didn't take to the loud drums, guitars, and trumpet so co-host Kerry and BF Barry sat with her just outside on the patio. It turned out it was a nice evening for everyone that way and Brian (who played trumpet briefly from back in high school) enjoyed seeing Bernie in his element. Bernie's wife, supporting him from the back row, waving and smiling to him was described to us. We then go on to discuss some of the local music shows co-host Brian has been out to lately, some of the navigational issues he dealt with to travel to said shows, as well as the benefits of supporting his community and getting to hear some of the music he so enjoys. And sister/co-host Kerry has what she's coined a soft announcement on the audio description collaborative team she's a member of, Picture This, and she shares about the two recent PBS American Masters documentaries they've produced extended AD for. She explains more about the docs which includes one on political theorist and scholar Hannah Arendt: Facing Tyranny, as she also explains more about what extended audio description is. It's another mixed bag show where we look back on our guests for June including Linsay Lusyne of Vision Loss Travel, friend Zoe Rae Espinoza on blind gaming, and Marie Elise who travels as Beyond My Blur. Plus some podcast recs as we head toward our 300's episode sometime in the weeks ahead. Here's a link to the Arendt documentary, though we do talk on this one about how a VPN was needed to view it here in Canada by the person who did the quality control )QC) on it: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/hannah-arendt-documentary/36135/

Bf Barry says of summer starting, revving up, especially for co-host Kerry: Barry says “hanging out and hanging in” But as we greet the summer season, we're hanging out with someone Kerry came across through Steph McCoy of the fashion, style, and inclusion platform "Bold Blind Beauty". Of course, it's about the representation which I think is very important, also for the generations that are younger than me, but also because I think we should celebrate these different perspectives. And I also hope to show other travelers with low vision, that it's us who get to share this perspective with the sighted travelers and I think there's a cool aspect in that. Marie Elise joins us on Outlook this week to talk travel, the value of experiencing the loveliness and power of the planet by making use of all our available senses, and adapting to the shifting sands of genetic vision degeneration. Whether it's chickens, hummingbirds, or horses, Elise wanted to be a veterinarian growing up and now wants to share her message of experiencing the sound of a hummingbird and not just seeing it, and joins us from South America with the sound of those chickens outside the door. She describes her special connection to horses and the trust it takes to ride with fading sight, but the benefits of emotional regulation for a deeper connection and something she could apply to life going forward were helpful for coping with all of it. She says of her life travels, as she's worked to befriend the anxieties that developed in her 20s as the realities of her Stargardt's blindness became clearer: “I feel like that if you live in another country, that culture and that country becomes a part of you. It really has helped me develop as a human.” So whether it's growing up amongst the bicycles in the Netherlands, studying Spanish in Spain after high school, or her time in Argentina, Marie has a dream going forward: Of course, it's about the representation which I think is very important, also for the generations that are younger than me, but also because I think we should celebrate these different perspectives. And I also hope to show other travelers with low vision, that it's us who get to share this perspective with the sighted travelers and I think there's a cool aspect in that. Marie has a blog “Beyond My Blur” where she shares her own perspective on the places she's been lucky to get to experience and how to do this, with the full spectrum of senses, more fully: https://beyondmyblur.com

Our guest says: “Let me tell you, nothing…nothing in the world is as satisfying as fighting a salty gamer bro online in Mortal Combat, winning a match, and then telling them - hey you just got beat by a blind, trans girl. Have a good one. No rematch!” We featured a sibling pair, Zoe and Jessica (both born with the same blindness condition as us, LcA) on our Siblings episode four years ago and Zoe returns as we here celebrate Pride Month throughout June. This week on Outlook we're speaking with Zoe Espinoza about gaming while blind, a pastime many would assume isn't accessible for anyone unable to see the screen and the visuals found there, but Zoe and regular co-host/boyfriend Barry geek out on this subject on this week's episode. With vast knowledge of the gaming universe, our guest shares early memories of adaptations made to play, a love of narrative based games, and a childhood dream to write the stories for these games. She also shares some of the techniques she and her partner (not blind but with other disability such as hearing trouble/brain fog/fatigue) have now come up with to play as a team, co-piloting and coordinating using the skills they both bring to the table to support the other. Barry offering a gaming term, “You're each other's augment.” And according to Zoe, “The couple that plays together stays together.” Here at Outlook On Radio Western we start every show by saying - Accessibility, Advocacy, and Equality. So we discuss deliberately accessible vs accidentally accessible and why it's worth it for companies to make their games inclusive. Zoe Espinoza and Barry advocate by playing and showing the world that there's an interest and a desire to escape into the gaming world. Sibling co-hosts Kerry and Brian didn't grow up with video games at home, and blindness is a spectrum of course, but we do encourage geeking out, in all kinds of ways, on this program whether it's AI or gaming or anything else. Barry and Zoe share resources and tips if you, too, are blind and want to play. Or maybe you aren't blind yourself, you have other disabilities or work in the gaming world, may simply be interested in the topic, making sure it's an accessible and inclusive activity for everyone. Check out Zoe's previous appearance on our show with her sibling Jessica: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/outlook-2021-04-12-siblings-series-part-2-jessica-zoe/id1527876739?i=1000516853367

It all started with a trip to Cuba. Our guest on Outlook this week explains: At one moment in life you don't really know what you're doing and then, all of a sudden, you get this opportunity and a huge passion just grew out of it. From Belgium to Canada, Linsay Lusyne has a love of travel, opening it up to everyone along the way starting with a previous experience training blind people on navigating and guide dogs for blind travel before travel coaching in a different way. Lusyne shares about growing up on the coast of a small European country and her early memories of saving up for eye surgery at age five,, about her family's reaction when she left for an island trip, and the empowering feeling she had from that first big solo adventure. We discuss her entry into training guide dogs and their companions which started with a love of dogs and an internship, the move she made to Canada with a desire for long-term travel, and her eventually stepping into becoming a travel coach who helps plan and book travel including recently creating group trips and trips of all kinds, as she helps blind travellers in particular to break down their travel and adventure dreams into manageable actionable steps. As a sighted lover of travel and with her knowledge of orientation and mobility and guide dogs, she runs the Vision Loss Travel group on Facebook and hosts meet-up calls to discuss the group trips she organises with both sighted and blind people, showcasing her love of experiencing the world as independently as one possibly can for everyone. Lindsay says: Travel is not about ticking destinations off a list. I believe in the transformative power of exploration, and I'm passionate about making travel accessible and life changing for those with vision loss.” Check out more about Linsay Lusyne, Travel Coach, by visiting her website: https://www.visuallyimpairedtravel.com Find her Vision Loss Travel Community on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/617168270274903/

LOOK OUT - Goose crossing ahead! Not all take kindly to the following of directions. Communication takes practice. Patience is needed to get where you'd like to be. Last week was National Accessibility Week (beginning on the final Sunday of May) and this time on Outlook (where “accessibility” is a given) we discuss the unhelpful helpers, how we orient ourselves, plus goose crossings and fermented mushrooms. This first Mixed Bag of June we're talking what's in store for these warmer months ahead including Pride celebrations, as we examine our gratitude toward those, in other marginalised communities, who come before us in all this disability community's diverse group and anticipating a new show reboot of the animated King of the Hill with the importance of understanding modern relevance vs a snapshot from a previous generation. Also, we touch on and go over the eager waiting for this month's announced applications to open up to qualify for the new Canada Disability Benefit and speaking of federal government, with Canada's new federal cabinet (and Mark Carney at the helm) doing the “Cabinet Shuffle” by eliminating the Minister of Diversity, Inclusion, and Persons With Disabilities. Happy Indigenous History Month and Pride Month to our First Nations, Metis, and Inuit and 2SLGBTQIA+ friends and listeners - from May mixed bags to June, toward the strawberry moon, and celebrating kidney transplant anniversaries during this summer season.

The theme for National AccessAbility Week this year is “ Breaking barriers together: Paving the way for an inclusive future .” Established in 2017, National AccessAbility Week celebrates, promotes and showcases the diversity, inclusion and accessibility in this country, and highlights some of the important initiatives aimed at creating an Accessible Canada. We begin and end in Cornwall with this one as we celebrate “Breaking Barriers” together through exploration and investigation. The birds are out and for this Outlook, we're back live, as we discuss the themes of this year's National Accessibility Awareness Week (airport assistance stories) along with a few narrated image descriptions we all caught on our travels lately, with the birth of an old friend's baby girl to the serenity of the resort's deck in Cornwall, we share our image descriptions provided by accessibility app Be My Eyes.. From a shoutout to Scott the Uber driver, cheers to George, and thanks to Tim's clear directions, we're celebrating accessibility with kindred spirits and friends who make it easier instead of harder. On this last May 2025 Mixed Bag show, Barry and Kerry share about a dog encounter on their recent springtime block rout walk with guide dog Oyster and brother co-host Brian shows us a musical release he found, Robyn Rocket from the UK with People You May Of Heard Of and an inclusive audio version of the record's accompanying comic strip. From chats with life guards and other visitors including the Cornish gulls at the seaside in Cornwall, England back into studio in London, Ontario - it's National Accessibility Week, (end of May) as we soon bridge into June. Learn more about NAAW: https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/campaigns/national-accessability-week.html Check out the Robyn Rocket album: https://robynrocket.bandcamp.com/album/robyn-rocket-and-people-you-may-of-heard-of-2

Irish bells, to kick things off, to celebrate Oyster on her seventh birthday like the bells worn around her neck as she runs free at her favourite place. It's our post-election Mixed Bag show on Outlook this week, until the next one when sister/co-host Kerry and Regular co-host Barry can hopefully be back in studio with brother/co-host Brian. In the meantime, it's early May and we're looking back on the recent federal Canadian election after we discussed voting accessibility, amongst other things, on the pre-election episode from a few weeks back. Brian kicks things off sharing about ambulance rides and stitches with his evening adventures in emerge and we share our plan to get him to wear a helmet. We're looking back on and Brian explains what made him emotional about a recent “Blind Baseball” episode, a review of recent Elections Canada voting accessibility, and about public vs private as Canada goes forward with our new prime minister on the world stage. We also describe double-sided ice cream cones while navigating and getting turned around (like anyone who takes a wrong turn) as we found ourselves using structure discovery at Oyster's park, using terms like “structure discovery” or “shore lining” to explain how we, as blind people, get around (a blueprint for being blind) - our discussions this week are all about getting lost and found again including mobility, accessibility, and the multi-sensory with Oyster bells and church bells. Fifth day of the fifth month, 2025 as we talk marking the occasion of Red Dress Day on Turtle Island and anniversaries, including it being the eightieth anniversary of Victory In Europe (or VE Day), during the same week, along with guide dog Oyster's birthday. We're celebrating, in Ireland, with a delicious lemon cake, which we eat to honour Oyster. Along with all that, the ideal absence of wars, the kinds which sweep disabled people up in the danger and the chaos humans perpetuate with these things, we at Outlook instead honour guide dogs and peace in this month of May. Learn more about Red Dress Day here: https://amnesty.ca/red-dress-day/

Irish bells, to kick things off, to celebrate Oyster on her seventh birthday like the bells worn around her neck as she runs free at her favourite place. It's our post-election Mixed Bag show on Outlook this week, until the next one when sister/co-host Kerry and Regular co-host Barry can hopefully be back in studio with brother/co-host Brian. In the meantime, it's early May and we're looking back on the recent federal Canadian election after we discussed voting accessibility, amongst other things, on the pre-election episode from a few weeks back. Brian kicks things off sharing about ambulance rides and stitches with his evening adventures in emerge and we share our plan to get him to wear a helmet. We're looking back on and Brian explains what made him emotional about a recent “Blind Baseball” episode, a review of recent Elections Canada voting accessibility, and about public vs private as Canada goes forward with our new prime minister on the world stage. We also describe double-sided ice cream cones while navigating and getting turned around (like anyone who takes a wrong turn) as we found ourselves using structure discovery at Oyster's park, using terms like “structure discovery” or “shore lining” to explain how we, as blind people, get around (a blueprint for being blind) - our discussions this week are all about getting lost and found again including mobility, accessibility, and the multi-sensory with Oyster bells and church bells. Fifth day of the fifth month, 2025 as we talk marking the occasion of Red Dress Day on Turtle Island and anniversaries, including it being the eightieth anniversary of Victory In Europe (or VE Day), during the same week, along with guide dog Oyster's birthday. We're celebrating, in Ireland, with a delicious lemon cake, which we eat to honour Oyster. Along with all that, the ideal absence of wars, the kinds which sweep disabled people up in the danger and the chaos humans perpetuate with these things, we at Outlook instead honour guide dogs and peace in this month of May. Learn more about Red Dress Day here: https://amnesty.ca/red-dress-day/

“Blind baseball - it's like the great equaliser. I've found the experience of playing the adaptive sports just as fulfilling, motivating, and frankly competitive as the sports I played as a sighted person growing up.” Our guest on Outlook this week was used to adversity in life, having faced both grief and treatment of a serious chronic illness as a teenager. When Zach Ship was newly blind, years later, he was wished a “Happy Disability Pride Month” by The Lighthouse Guild and he didn't believe there was much to be proud of though he soon learned otherwise. Zach explains to us some of the rules of blind baseball and about what it meant to him when he discovered the sport, in its adaptive form, which gave him something back of the years playing sports like baseball competitively. So when he heard a documentary on the blind baseball team was being made, he was thrilled others might see what blind baseball (difficult to imagine for so many) is like.. So from our friendly cross-border Major League team rivalry to the support group and club we three are all a part of/considering starting, Ship has been through everything( from acute/sudden and unexpected health situations/acquired disability to the loss of a parent at a young age) and shares some of the lessons on the possibilities of adaptation and the power of community. “No way of reacting is right or wrong, but focusing on what things we do still have, the things you can still enjoy. Even if it's just you can eat this delicious meal or you can feel the sun on your face. It could be small things or it could be big things, always keeping that very very close in mind is critical.” We first heard Zach Ship on “It Happened to Me, A Rare Disease and Medical Challenges Podcast - It happened to me. I'm not alone and neither are you.” This is the message he both benefited from thanks to others, in his own journey, but also the message he believes as he's become a disability advocate now himself. To learn more about Blind Baseball and the documentary being made about Zach Ship's team, check out this Indiegogo page: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/blind-baseball-documentary-halfway-funded#/ Watch the documentary teaser trailer here: https://vimeo.com/963770229

“On the way to the library, I flew a kite.” We here on Outlook decide to begin this particular Mixed Bag episode with the above quote, start to a social media status, because we on this show love libraries/love books and love the outlook of writer Leona Godin, also close friend of this radio show/podcast, but really because elections make us want to take a break to fly a kite too. As the federal elections here in Canada approach, we're together, just after Easter, to discuss some of the issues in our country's politics from a disability perspective as issues facing disabled Canadians have been mostly overlooked during this election season, so soon off of the rushed Ontario provincial elections we just so recently dealt with. We're telling about the realities of the PC Party being no-show's at both provincial and now federal disability town halls and a still-totally inaccessible, inadequate, and inequitable voting system/process. Kerry shares about experiencing a new holiday, Irish style, after being in Ireland for Halloween and now Easter, along with being in Ireland last time during the presidential elections in the States and now, being back this time during our Canadian ones. Also, she and Barry celebrated Easter by having KFC fried chicken for their Easter meal, coming to the conclusion that KFC in Ireland seems better to her than eating it in Canada. Parades, Irish Sea gulls, and Kerry cuddling with an Oyster guide dog as we talk traditions, whether holidays or looking for change (but not necessarily only for change's sake) when voting for politicians who often ignore the concerns of disabled voters. Kerry also shares about a plane ride conversation with a generation z stranger, about the multi-sensory experience of taking guide dog Oyster to her favourite park again, and Brian's revisiting previous voting attempts and their inaccessibility as he's off to try again himself. So, it's Canada's federal election on April 28th and we're doing a mixed bag edition, one co-host in studio live and the other in Northern Ireland. With a bit of distance from the anxious Canadian citizenry, sister/co-host Kerry hasn't flown a kite, but instead has flown like one into the future of the UK time zone five hours ahead of brother/co-host Brian and yet modern technology makes it possible to open up a bit of a pre-election mixed bag of discussion topics, both silly and serious as one voted already while the other is on his way after this show and we will continue with a post-election wrap-up shortly.

Speaking on the Canadian (Can lit) literary scene and on April/May's The Festival of Literary Diversity (FOLD) specifically, Canadian author and accessibility advocate Amanda Leduc says: It's impossible to have something that's 100 percent accessible all the time. We're always working towards a more accessible world, working towards making those adjustments, bit by bit by bit. And that's where I think having a sense of humility about this and an openness and willingness to learn and to change and grow, for all of us, is really important. This week on Outlook we're talking with Amanda and learning more about Cerebral Palsy and her own experience with the neurological condition causing everything from muscle weakness to fatigue to pain. Leduc tells us about her time getting her Masters at St. Andrew's University in Scotland and something she calls “a monument to exclusion” when it comes to the inaccessibility of heritage buildings and old cities. From the built environment of capital Edinburgh to the natural environment of Canada's winters, Amanda is speaking to us on the show about her own accessibility needs plus considering other's accessibility considerations after being bullied for a visible limp in childhood to her practice of valuing rest and energy preservation (recharging and rejuvenating) in order to be at her most creatively as a writer. For Amanda Leduc, it's about reimagining what storytelling can mean. Check out more on Amanda's work by visiting her website: https://amandaleduc.com Leduc tells us about her previous role as the Festival's Communications and Development Coordinator, about the origins of FOLD for filling a void in Canada's literary and festival spaces as far as diversity and representation are concerned, and about some of the events being offered (both virtual and in-person) such as the Friday night Literary Cabaret and the Sunday High Tea and her involvement in some panels from April 27th to May 4th. And so as The FOLD celebrates its tenth year here in 2025, we're talking bringing people of all experiences and perspectives into the fold with creativity and innovative opportunities for diversity, just as we do every week on Outlook On Radio Western. For more on FOLD go to: https://thefoldcanada.org

Taking a big bite out of life, brother/co-host Brian has returned from a birthday celebration trip to New York City and he's back and telling us all about it. He shares about his accessible travel and airport experiences at Toronto Pierson, JFK, and LaGuardia, the music show “An Evening With Ida and Tsunami” at Bowery Ballroom he attended with friend/Outlook guest Nefertiti Matos Olivares on Birthday Eve, and another round (after his experience in London, England) and again he set up an exploration of a city with greeter organisation Big Apple Greeters to be shown around by a local along with meeting up with friends from around the state, including sushi with an upcoming Outlook guest. His snapshot of NYC and most of its boroughs includes a tour of NYC transport including a tactile map of the subway system and its history (one puzzle pieced put together at a time) found Brian checking out the tactile further with an exhibit of subway station turnstyles through the years and an accessible touch tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. For us at Outlook though, it wouldn't be the same without audio to tell a fuller tale along with hearing about a few wild New York City encounters with security guards, allowing Brian to get a broader, more personalized feel of the place he's in. Check out audio from the live show he attended, his latest subway and other NYC transport and being live at Grand Central Terminal, and his special time spent on Roosevelt Island and The East River. And time in New York wouldn't be the same, especially a first visit, without stopping in Central Park to listen to some live saxophone music. Brian shares both audio and Be My AI image descriptions of some of the photos he took for sighted family and friends to see what he did, it's a full multi-sensory glimpse of the landmark New York City as we meet Brian beneath the big clock. At one point, he stands with his NYC local guide at FDR's statue there on Roosevelt Island, with The United Nations right there and the words of Roosevelt clearly underscoring some of the dangerous changes sweeping the States these days. Plus, also on The Island, they make a brief stop at the Accessibility Services booth to find out if they have any information for that spot available in braille. Stay tuned for the answer. Along with a sharing of some comforting cuisine prepared by a dear friend, plenty of King of the Hill watched, and a homestay at a Manhattan apartment, with the added benefit of getting to explore NYC with the blind leading the blind, he won't ever forget his first Big Apple experience shown to him by its locals. Book your own personalized tour with Big Apple Greeters: https://bigapplegreeters.net/visitor/register Check out a segment from Ida's Bowery Ballroom set: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUTcW325GT4

We're running to keep up with the train of time, yet through slivers of memory, on this yearly audio diary looking back on the year that was. It's our original podcast, Ketchup On Pancakes, and we're recapping 2024 as 2025 rushes forward in a blur. On this one, we're joined by friend/boyfriend Barry Toner from Ireland, someone who's joined us in the past, down in the basement where it all took place. We're looking back, on this annual By The Fireside with a tribute episode, dedicated to our dear friend Andrew. As we sit, beers in hand, by the crackling fire, Andrew's very own drums nearby. We share a few songs featuring or in tribute to Andrew, as well as looking back on travel to Maine (for a drama club camp arts residency) and Ottawa (Kerry and Barry joining the parents on a road trip), and to the things we're proud we tackled, in fitness and in mental health for instance. We keep up the silly and imaginative with feature Cassette Clip of the Week and new feature Word of the Year, while lamenting the loss of a once-in-a-lifetime sort of fellow, a friendship lost. So farewell, 2024 (with your last taste of security in the wider world), and to friends gone along the way in the march of time. That's how that was. That's how it was. That's how it is. Find Fowler's Meaning No Harm on streaming services and Bandcamp: https://fowlercanada.bandcamp.com/album/meaning-no-harm Check out Barry's first appearance, down in the basement, on Ketchup On Pancakes from 2018: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ketchup-on-pancakes-episode-14-orange-so-it-is-feat/id1527876739?i=1000633134110 And take a listen to our two-parter Outlook show where we visit our new friends in Mount Vernon, Maine, for Drama Club Camp: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/outlook-2024-10-14-our-week-in-maine-well-figure-it-out-pt-1/id1527876739?i=1000673780980 https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/outlook-2024-10-21-our-week-in-maine-well-figure-it-out-pt-2/id1527876739?i=1000675516532

Records sound better than t-shirts. Today we're talking literature and CanLit, sports, and music around the theme of accessibility as we continue to promote women in the arts for the remainder of Women's History Month. Well this week on Outlook we're discussing wearing our message on our clothing as The Festival of Literary Diversity's (FOLD) schedule of events and festival sign-up has gone live on their website which we'll share at the end of this episode's description. It's an eight day long event (first, half virtual and the second four days in person) as we discuss the importance of both options for events and gatherings, workshops, and festivals of all kinds, for people with disabilities which make in-person attendance more difficult, something we've sadly moved away from since coming out of the worst of the pandemic. A friend told sister/co-host Kerry about a recent online author talk, put on by the FOLD, from their FOLD Academy, with Amanda Leduc called “Building a Life as a Disabled Writer” which included topics such as managing energy for writing when living with disability or chronic illness and information on applying for arts grants which are geared to creators with disabilities. (The next FOLD Academy takes place on April 19th at noon Eastern.) Spring has sprung )or is trying to) and that means baseball so brother/co-host Brian is ready, with his fantasy league and with the real thing, as we highlight the usefulness of listening to games on the radio for those of us who can't see the visuals of the live thing. It's like audiobooks or podcasts, an audio method of listening. He's traveling to New York City shortly, but only time will tell if he ends up attending a New York team's live game, as Kerry remembers the experience of attending a Bluejays game in the Sky Dome, as we forever refer to it. We talk the creative projects we've worked on together and the factors which make them more or less possible, about the need for diversity in literature and art, and even about the ignorance of certain authors who don't understand the value of authenticity reading or even what it is. Proud to be woke on Outlook, it's part II of a March Mixed Bag pile of topics, including the FOLD, and sister/co-host Kerry will be attending the online portion next month and sharing more come May. So many books, so little time, but check out more info on The Festival of Literary Diversity, from April 27th to May 4th, by going to their website here: https://thefoldcanada.org

“When I was a little girl, I used to dream as a man, because I wanted to do things that women didn't do back then such as traveling to Africa, living with wild animals and writing books," said Dr. Jane Goodall. "I didn't have any female explorers or scientists to look up to but I was inspired by Dr. Dolittle, Tarzan and Mowgli in The Jungle Book — all male characters. It was only my mother who supported my dream: 'You'll have to work hard, take advantage of opportunities and never give up,' she'd tell me. I've shared that message with young people around the world, and so many have thanked me, and said, 'You taught me that because you did it, I can do it too.'" (Jane's quote is excerpted from a 2018 op-ed with Time magazine.) March - It's a lot of things really. It's another Mixed Bag, a Mid March Mixed Bag, along with it being a St. Patrick's Day Monday special when we aired live and we on Outlook are also still celebrating Women's History Month. We're looking back and reflecting on what was the five year anniversary of the start of the “stay at home” orders and lockdown and the start of Covid. Speaking of medical things, and spring, sister/co-host Kerry shares facts about the lotus flower and its symbolism of rebirth in nature and science, which leads to celebrating March being Kidney Health Month as she and her dad recall the rebirth and fresh start of the kidney transplant Kerry received from him, a rebirth of sorts. Kerry shares a health update with her kidney and levels being as stable as ever. Kerry in blue and our International Women's Day edition guest Jane Piper in red, like the Radio Western sign in the background, brother/ally/co-host Brian starts the second half of the show reading the Be My AI image of the two ladies posing in the lobby of the studio after, as we like to take photos with our live and in-studio guests when we are lucky enough to get them, as we look back on the previous week's episode and the discussion with restorative justice activist Jane. We've managed to post the actual photos even with the accessibility issues that come along with social media these days. The second half is dedicated to what's going on in politics, both provincially and nationally as we share concerns about our premier receiving a third win last month, even with his silence and lack of action on matters concerning the disability community. Last week's guest Jane spoke a lot about accountability and the lack of it in our society, these actions or lack of that politicians often are modelling and still being voted in by those who don't consider marginalized populations. Also, we finish up talking about the Canadian Disability Benefit set to come into effect this summer and a federal election on the horizon, we share more about the CDB and provinces like Ontario which has not yet promised not to put in clawbacks and Alberta which has put in the barrier of clawbacks to the already set provincial benefits. Organisation Disability Without Poverty is working to pressure politicians to live up to the promises to combat disability plus poverty across the country. “Green alligators, long neck geese, chimpanzees.. We begin the show with a song about these animals, including the ones Jane Goodall worked with, the featured woman in history for the month of March and finish off talking the spring promise of an upcoming baseball season. Today though, we're unfortunately celebrating St. Patrick's Day without our Irish co-host Barry and Oyster the guide dog with us live, but they'll be back, but so we've started off the show with a silly song from our childhood - The Unicorn Song, The Irish Rovers version proving that spring is on it's way to green things up in honour of our Irish connection. We love all things Ireland, but we at Outlook are Canadian and proud to be so. https://www.disabilitywithoutpoverty.ca

“You don't know what you're doing, you're basically recreating your life, and there's no map for it. I just went through the motions for a long time, I was just a shell of who I once was, but by talking about my experience I realised I could help other people and I began to share my story in front of audiences.” Power, control, empowerment. Rebirth, trauma, healing, and even forgiveness and on finding the places, the spaces to talk about hard things, in life changing communication and accountability terms with our fellow human beings. As spring once more approaches during March is Women's History Month, with March 8th being known as International Women's Day, it's time for another one of sister/co-host Kerry's annual IWD featured spotlights on a woman she knows who is doing important work in intersectionality and gender equity spaces. This guest can be an ally, but does not necessarily need to be blind or even disabled, but rather a woman that's making an effort to foster human connection…with conviction for a more equitable world, as it meets the themes of diversity, intersectionality, and interdependence that make up the crux of this show.. This week on Outlook for International Women's Day 2025, the guest is Jane Piper, (performer, artist, and restorative justice lived experience advocate) local and live in studio. Kerry and Jane look back on how they met in the autumn of 2018, how they very nearly attended a Bernie Sanders rally together, and Piper shares more about what sharing her own story means and does for her each time she tells it. She shares openly about the brutal attack she faced in 2003 and about how she handled the trauma and life afterward, leading her to take on surrigate victim/offender dialogue. Piper runs storytelling workshops with both women in abuse shelters and with the men who've been incarcerated for violent acts against women and she talks to Kerry about cultivating empathy for others, even those who have committed unspeakable acts, and on what it means to offer/find forgiveness in a world more divided than is good for any of us. Women's History Month/International Women's Day this year's theme is “The Strength In Every Story” and Jane Piper has both worked to facilitate that in others (like she did when Kerry took her storytelling workshop locally in London) alongside showcasing the same in her sharing of her own, in the work Jane's done on herself and with/for others such as her work with abused women (as a peer support worker) and inside correctional facilities doing accountability workshops with men imprisoned for violent crimes against women. Jane shares with us what it was like the first time she stepped foot into just such a facility for one of these accountability workshops, what restorative justice has meant in her life, and what it's like working with these offenders. To find out more about the public speaking she does, as she's progressing on the book she's written (Coming Out of The Fog) about her rape survivor experience, check out her website here in the meantime: http://janepiper.com

Heading toward International Women's Day on March 8th, our guest this week says: “Listening to live music for me is just such an incredible experience because I'm not someone… I don't personally enjoy the nightclub spaces, that stuff overwhelms me, but when it comes to listening to music, I could do that for hours. That's good audio stimulus.” This week on Outlook we're speaking with Amanda Shekarchi, a musician and someone who works in media, about music, perfect pitch and its multi-sensory elements, and community/campus radio stations like the ones all three of us broadcast out of. We talk family and sighted siblings, about working collaboratively with community whether sighted or not, and how collaboration involves everyone, including the essential role a mentor can play. Amanda tells us about her radio experience, including working with Met Radio. (Her university station at Toronto Metropolitan), then onto the CBC with her work on shows like Day 6 and the doc she both produced and hosted “Playing By Ear”, and also her work as a monthly on air contributor and host for AMI (Accessible Media Inc.). It was Family Day, just last month, when both us siblings happened to be listening to the CBC when Amanda's “Playing By Ear” came on and speaking of family, we're talking Amanda's experience growing up in Toronto with hers and so much more on this first of multiple International Women's Day episodes. So check out her radio show on Met Radio (12 80 AM) on Monday, March 10th at noon in Toronto for a Met 30 Special IWD Show. `listen to Amanda's CBC documentary “Playing `by Ear” here: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/audio/1.7110160 Find her interviews with musicians on Met Radio's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx_HD2TZjQc&list=PL0t7bx4aRZ25qxBBq1rWly3scN5gl4S6S And follow her on social media: https://www.instagram.com/amandarayaofficial/

“For twenty-four years of my blindness journey I wandered around this world pretending I was sighted. I wouldn't use a cane, I didn't want to draw attention to myself, I didn't want to identify as somebody with a disability,” but then Gina Martin says, “In 2015 I met two women who were both confident and blind and it actually blew my mind”. This week on Outlook we're speaking with Gina with an emphasis on out-of-the-box thinking and the shift” which leads to action which leads to change, leading the disability awareness charge with her company: Diverse Abilities. It's a disability awareness education program she offers, with everyone from children to seniors, in schools, workplaces, and retirement communities and community centres where she teaches about the diversity to be found in disabilities and the people living life with them. From power tools to axe/dagger throwing, this Canadian is up for it all. This advocate, teacher, and our guest states: Rather than saying “I'm losing my sight,” I refrained it as “I'm gaining my blindness.” She does this by focusing on exploring the other, non visual senses with her audiences, but by also doing it with her partner, friends, and others in her personal life. With some tough words from our guest for Canadian society, it's a truly international discussion as we learn more about Gina's months-long blindness skills training in Louisiana and what that felt like and how it has prepared Martin for living her best blind life ever since. We're, all three, the rest of us curious about how those centres work and we pose the question as to why our guest thinks Canada does not offer structure discovery in the same way. And we hear from Barry, who's Irish, about the language we use in North America, specifically the word “handicapped” in terms of things like a parking pass or public bathroom, that this word is no longer acceptable or common over there. Gina shares about the language she prefers in her own life and in the work that she does teaching kindness, given and received. Our guest says: It's IDEAL - Inclusion, diversity, equity, accessibility, and language. So check out Gina Martin and more about her programs by going to Diverse Abilities: https://diverseabilities.ca And follow her on Facebook for such excellent informative posts: https://www.facebook.com/DisabilityAwarenessConsultant/

“It's my party and I'll cry if I want to.” February is birthday month in the family and this episode happens to fall on co-host Kerry's forty-first exactly so we're celebrating all things Sister/Co-host with this one. This week on Outlook we're talking Kerry's favourite movie (unavailable with audio description), about the trick of FaceTime “Share Content”, along with the boys discussing fantasy baseball and Brian's continuing work with his swimming lessons. Also, the first week of the month of February was White Cane Week, live on air (clean-up on isle three), and find out why the birthday girl is “troubled,” her words. Nine years till fifty … or halfway till eighty-two as brother Brian likes to say. Check out Kerry's official website: https://kayconsulting.ca

“I can't just sit there and watch life pass me by - I wasn't built for that,” says Keisha Robinson, a Brian Connection with this one. They first met when she ushered him to a seat at an AODA (Accessibility For Ontarians With Disabilities Act) round table event at King's University College, at Western for International Day For Persons With Disabilities. When, in fact, we have a more personal family/community connection to our first 2025 guest. Our first guest of the year and of February, Keisha Robinson describes herself as a social butterfly, now, but what was it that made her come out of her shell? She grew up with pain, was labeled “drama queen,” and with a diagnosis realised it all finally made sense. Keisha shares about her life lived (before and after) the progressively deteriorating muscular disease diagnosis she received as a teenager, about the umbrella of various symptoms and deterioration predictions and timelines of Muscular Dystrophy (MD, and the philosophy she has gained with her plans with work giving back to sick children in hospital and her study of disability. Robinson is working towards a double major in Childhood and youth studies and Thanatology—which is the study of death, dying, grief, and loss including all sorts of non-death losses. This week on Outlook we're learning more about her studies and discussing how to demystify loss and grief and normalise the open dialogue on these parts of life we all share. We explore the inaccessibility to be found out there (IE housing design) and hear about how it is to get around Western and King's University College as a wheelchair user, not to mention around the city she lives in, along with some of her tools for doing that. So while one host says he doesn't miss a friend he's never met, the guest might miss ice skating or swimming, while the other two hosts might miss seeing colours or video games and that's the cross-disability perspective in an example of a non-death loss we've been navigating grief over. It's one really important part of the “Outlook” umbrella we're showcasing on this show and with guests here, both past and present.

BRAILLE … IS … NOT … A … LANGUAGE!!! Welcome to our final 2025 Braille Literacy Month episode - kicking things off with a poem from a child who loves braille for (Braille200) an initiative by The European Blind Union. Meanwhile, for this week's Mixed Bag on Outlook, we continue to speak about our new low tech device The BrailleDoodle and its role in making braille more accessible, such as for students and for Barry. (Learn more on this item and hear the unboxing we did on the previous show. It's like a white erase board for blind message writers and note leavers.) We discuss Braille Literacy and Braille Literacy Canada getting a shoutout on a CBC Radio Morning show (even if they incorrectly referred to braille as a language), about the practical uses for braille, and we dive deeper into the lived experience (what's known about it) of the code's inventor: Louis Braille. So airing originally on International Holocaust Awareness Day, we're talking the realities of DEI (diversity/equity/inclusion) and what disregarding them can point and lead to, along with Ontario's upcoming provincial election at the end of February and what it might mean for blind voters like us, with braille still being our primary topic on this one: Braille, then and now and in the lives of all of us who need and read it. And so, we say again, for those way far in the back: Braille is a code! Learn more about Braille Literacy Canada: https://www.brailleliteracycanada.ca/en

While sure there are big things, big horrible things happening in Washington, D.C. - on a freezing day in January, we are on air for another Mixed Bag, lurgy filled episode. This week on Outlook On Radio Western we're finally all back, in-person, together at Radio Western after holidays and illness and continuing the celebration of Braille Literacy Month (Braille200) by sharing an unboxing of a new low-tech braille product. The BrailleDoodle from the TouchPadProFoundation has arrived and we explore its design and uses, live in studio. It is a laptop-sized product with magnetic braille dots and the letters teaching the braille code while on the other side, a tactile grid with holes and magnetic dots pop up with the help of the attached pen or stylus. We discuss the uses of the BrailleDoodle vs the electronic braille displays we use, along with other braille teaching methods. We share about places braille is appearing, on hard cover books, clothing, and Lego, all sorts of novelty braille as well. Kerry and Barry give an update on braille lessons/learning while Brian updates us a bit on his lessons which are of the swimming kind. Who says our Monday must be Blue? While there's so much nonsense happening in the world, here on Outlook we're playing with The Doodle and having fun. For more information on the Braille Doodle, teaching device for students and learners using both braille and tactile graphics, check out more here: https://www.touchpadprofoundation.org And purchase one here: https://atguys.com/products/brailledoodle-braille-stem-and-art-for-everyone

Broadcasting live from both Kerry's office/house and the Radio Western studio, the year and our first show of 2025 begins with the sound of guide dog Oyster's nails and paws on the floor with our first episode being partially from home as a result of snowy Canadian winter. It's our first Outlook of a new year and, instead of being all together in studio like we'd planned, two of us are joining from home with co-host Brian there in person. We talk about the previous year of Outlook (Kerry taking her Barbie white cane wherever she goes/regular Outlook listener shoutouts/Others Like Me) including guest totals and new episode numbers, all things Brian loves while talking the holidays and the interdependence a nasty virus or two can highlight between Kerry, Barry, and Brian who avoided the illness for the most part. Kerry shares about being cursed with technology, a fact Barry has arrived at from witnessing it up close as we discuss inaccessibility of modern appliances such as a new air frier, troubles with Kerry's cell phone and a mysterious lack of data, and more as the love/hate relationship between accessible tech continues in 2025. We discuss how grief isn't at all linear, Kerry's recent experience visiting the emergency department on her own and the excellent care she received at her town's hospital, and about venturing out in the winter terrain as a blind person as Kerry and Barry recently did to go to retrieve their new couple's Tim Hortons pyjamas from the community mailbox. It's our first mixed Bag show of the year and on this one we mostly dedicate things to Braille, braille, and the literacy that system/code of communication has in the lives of blind people and this will be our overall theme for the rest of the month on Outlook.

“So after I was injured, all of a sudden I was discovering - Oh, there's a whole other possibility of how I can use these artistic disciplines I'm really passionate about, but with now this whole new lens on it of being somebody with a disability, somebody who's part of a community that has largely been marginalised and devoiced and that I think, by putting on stage, putting in the stories, suddenly there's a transformative element there. So I think it's something that I rediscovered, post disability, and rediscovered with new purpose,” says our new friend (made in 2024), Regan Linton. Barry's back, and guide dog Oyster too, joining us on our final episode of the year to speak with Linton to finish 2024 off with a bang. This week we're speaking with theatre and VoiceOver artist, performer, writer, and educator/advocate Regan Linton about finding one's voice and using it optimally as she has had to before and since the accident she experienced around her college years. Linton is one of our new pals from the disabled artist's retreat in Mount Vernon, Maine over the previous summer and together we're looking back over our time together at Drama Club Camp. We talk cross-disability solidarity, along with intersecting access needs, as Linton shares about her experience living as a wheelchair user. She shares with us about how theatre became a part of her life (both pre and post accident that caused paralysis from the chest down. She tells us about the road trip she took through southern states immediately after this year's election on her way to Warm Springs, Georgia, a special spot for her study of disabled president Franklin D. Roosevelt, a part adapted/and being played by Regan on stage as we discuss staying locked in our own bubbles vs being more open to other people's lived experiences which helps us better understand our own overall. We're looking back at the week we spent together getting to know each other, including the road trip we went on in Linton's wheelchair accessible van, an adventure from Maine to Boston, Mass, interdependence being key with our friend Regan and a key theme for this show. We're talking the umbrella of disability and disability experience with social change agent and artist and expert Regan Linton, as she shares about her own internal revolution, on Outlook on the final show of 2024. To check out more about our guest this week, her VoiceOver and educational work plus so much more, visit: https://www.reganlinton.com

Q: What do Lego and musical theatre have in common? A: Our guest for this second last show of 2024 that's what. This week on Outlook we're speaking with our new friend Matthew Shifrin, someone we met with the rest of the gang at the drama camp/artist's retreat we attended in Mount Vernon, Maine over the summer. We spend the first half of this episode talking all things accessible Lego as Matthew shares about how the world-wide children's activity was finally made accessible for him on his 13th birthday, about his visit to LEGO HQ in Denmark, and how he's created Bricks For The Blind, a non-profit organisation bringing sighted allies and blind testers/users together to adapt 220 complex sets in its first year in operation, not to mention unthought-of uses for the famous stackable blocks. In the second half of this second last show of ours for 2024, we hear about how Matt's love of musical theatre began, including learning to play accordion in a week to attend an Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and his work at one time with a gesture coach, Matt being kind enough to share with us and the listeners a bit of his immense musical talents with a few songs from his various performances such as the musical he wrote about his Jewish grandmother. Bonus Material: we've included a second song (two-for-one) for this episode of the podcast which wasn't included for the live airing on Radio Western originally. And, whether sighted or blind/young or simply young-at-heart, go check out Bricks For The Blind to learn more about how LEGO's being made accessible, one brick at a time, by Matthew Shifrin and friends: https://bricksfortheblind.org

From dusk till dawn. It's always darkest before the dawn, but what's wrong with dusk? Where's the beauty in it? It's December and nearly are we arriving at the shortest, longest, darkest day/night of the year.. On our International Day of Persons With Disabilities 2024 episode, we are discussing disability within a larger framework of discussion, expanding into age and the changes it brings, including experience with illness and disabilities as we all, inevitably, get older. Through a sudden scare with the sight in his right eye, Frank Bruni goes ahead, in his book, to explore a shifting perspective on themes of vulnerability, ageing, and the perspectives that come from a life turned into life lessons well earned. This week on Outlook we discuss New York Times columnist Frank Bruni's medical memoir The Beauty of Dusk: On Vision Lost and Found which came out a few years back. We examine themes from the book such as light and dark from the images held in the book's title referring to beauty found in the dusk and the influence of language and using such words as “affliction” and the negative weight such a word holds for the imagination. We need more thoughtfully written books like Frank's to normalise disability as a part of all our lives. Co-host Kerry stumbled upon this one and, upon reading, wanted to review it on the show, to explore how those who gain valuable lived experience of disability suddenly, or later in life, can still write about these things from a thoughtful and careful place with sensitivity and wisdom. Find the book available in various formats here: https://www.amazon.ca/Beauty-Dusk-Vision-Lost-Found/dp/1982108576

Co-host Kerry's back! Sister/co-host Kerry returns and is live in studio after being away for a month. It's a month away from Christmas on this late November, mixed bag show. This week we discuss what was and what has been, with a badly sprained ankle, Kerry luckily got all her Dublin exploring out of the way, mostly. And Brian has been taking action regarding his mental and physical health. We talk about Others Like Me: The Lives of Women Without Children book release and the unfortunate lack of access in audiobook versions available for those, like some blind people, who would prefer or are best able to read any book in its audible format. Also, Kerry shares about her recent literary and media wins with The Toronto Star and CBC Radio. Kerry is wearing her Poets For Harris t-shirt in protest, while accepting results while Brian broke the pool, referring back and ahead to the 2003 Elf film which is over 20 years old this December. This upcoming Christmas. We're looking forward but we are also looking back, on Kerry's time in Ireland this last time, as well as the holidays and traditions of the season, along with recent guests. It was a big deal, having/seeing her writing in newsprint - check out a link to Kerry's Toronto Star travel essay here: https://www.thestar.com/life/travel/i-m-blind-but-i-still-wanted-to-experience-my-beloved-ireland-through-my-other/article_84ee3c60-983e-11ef-9c6e-ef822316d85c.html And listen to Kerry on CBC radio's Fresh Air: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/audio/9.6567168

In preschool, her teachers noticed she wasn't hearing and she soon got hearing aids, but it wasn't until she was in her teens that our guest on Outlook this week had to face that she was losing vision as well. Natalie Shearer is with us, for one of our final interviews of 2024, to discuss her position as an advocate, with her diagnosis of Usher syndrome. She's telling us about what eventually caught her attention and made her sit up straight, seriously thinking about the necessity of learning to use a white cane, facing blindness head on. From Two Canes Consulting, job as Head of Accessibility and Operations at Lotus (wearable assistive tech), to her position as Usher Syndrome Canadian Coalition's Ambassador. So with her lifelong experiences with both disability and chronic illness, Natalie Shearer is eager to get back to accessibility and community. And community is built through connections, one of which led to Natalie coming on our show in the first place. Thanks to Anne Mok (Purpose In View) for the intro. Check out the wearable ring Lotus Natalie speaks about in this episode: https://getlotus.com

Words like “childless” and “blindness” are both too harsh for some ears, often diluted by using other words or terms. These are conversations we on Outlook seek to take on and not hide from every day because we're living it. November 5th is the official North American release of Others Like Me: The Lives of Women Without Children by writer and translator Nicole Louie and this week sister/co-host Kerry is taking a deeply personal dive into the book's themes. Kerry and Nicole met online six years ago when Louie Was on the end of a years-long search for others like her, in the sense that they were not mothers, could not be, chose not to be in her pursuit to write a book about a subject often shied away from. There are plenty of misconceptions around “childlessness” in society and how we're less vital to the world because we're not reproducing for the next generation, but Nicole has pushed back on that message in OLM and in the work she does surrounding the topic. On this episode we hear from Nicole Louie about her first book and why she wanted to have the conversation to begin with, the over-decade long road to publication, and her and Kerry share about the growth of their friendship and collaboration during the writing process, including the book club discussion Kerry was lucky to get to join, at a special spot in Dublin, as one of the featured women appearing within its pages. Nicole shares about things like the research process, her on-the-ground time when she visited Kerry in Canada and when Kerry then visited her in Ireland, and the audiobook narration experience she had in studio, as she comes into Kerry's virtual Outlook studio for a chat. This is not an anti-natalist position book, but rather the further opening of a discussion on the rights and freedoms of women and a dialogue between women and their partners, families, and communities on a choice for a life, a path different from what we're taught, as girls, about our sole job being to grow up, get pregnant, and become mothers. Kerry is very glad this book is out, after so long, and she wanted to use her platform with this show to talk about this intersectionality, of the lives of many others, that's not always easy or painless or certain, but just that her friendship with Nicole and her own search to find community have brought her to where she is and she wants girls and women to know they have options for different paths in life. It's a book, by one woman, interspersed with the stories of fourteen more including Kerry's story. To check out more about Others Like Me: The Lives of Women Without Children go to the North American publisher's website for more information: https://houseofanansi.com/products/others-like-me

While Kerry is still in Ireland and away from the mic, this week there's a special spot filler in her seat. We're talking magic and monsters on what we've coined our Monster Mixed Bag show. This week on Outlook, the Fab Four return, including sister/co-host Kerry and boyfriend Barry in Northern Ireland and brother Brian and friend Nefertiti Matos Olivares, visiting from New York City, in studio after her first appearance as our guest back in July and the show where we visited Perkins School for The Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts as a group. Nef is visiting Ontario and Brian has been showing her around its capital, around London, and even Kerry's house (without Kerry herself being present). The four of us discuss the adventures Brian and Nef have been having, including tours of Toronto and its Islands, an accessible art gallery experience at Tangled Art + Disability, and a proper Kijewski immersion around the Woodstock area. While Kerry and Barry share about watching two wildly different retellings of Dracula (both audio described) and tell tales of a spooky ghost bus excursion, in Dublin, along with their awesome hotel find at an historic spot included on said spooky tour during their pre-Halloween visit to Bram Stoker's Dublin. Sharp and stabby, flaming hot like the fiery depths of hell, this is Halloween on Outlook as Kerry experiences the holiday, Irish style (including trying monster themed snacks) and tells all on the show on this final episode of October. Learn more about Tangled Art + Disability: https://tangledarts.org Listen to the four of us back in July on Nef's first Outlook appearance: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/outlook-2024-07-15-scars-the-oscars-the-voice/id1527876739?i=1000664231625 And us four exploring Perkins School for the Blind: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/outlook-2024-09-23-our-field-trip-to-perkins-school/id1527876739?i=1000671209448

Frogs and toads, rubber ducks, and loons - oh my! It's time for Part Two - this week on Outlook we share the second half of our audio scrapbook of our week in Mount Vernon, Maine this summer for Drama Club Camp. Last week we heard from several of the others in attendance and this week we continue hearing from those from our "cast of characters,” as our host called it. Host Scott spoke with us last time about his philosophy of “one step, two step, three” and this week we further explore the bonds of friendship and collaboration in working toward a theatre piece featuring the blind aesthetic, along with loons on a lake and six blind people jumping in to swim with them. We hear from Scott's partner, in work and in life, Shannen about his hopes for their inn and artist retreat, plus we hear from Chef Jeanelle and cross-disability friend and collaborator Regan. It's a fun-filled dive into the week that was. This episode features interviews with Regan Linton, Jeanelle Krawchuk, and Shannon Morrison. It is dedicated to Brian's longtime friend and drummer Andrew McIntyre (1978-2024). RIP. The clip from “Frog and Toad Aren't Friends” found in this episode is taken from Meaning No Harm by Fowler featuring drums by Andrew. Find it here: https://fowlercanada.bandcamp.com/album/meaning-no-harm And learn more about Scott and Shannon at: https://www.dramaclubproductions.com