Podcasts about blind nfb

In episode 128 of White Canes Connect, hosts Lisa Bryant and David Goldstein welcome longtime National Federation of the Blind (NFB) leaders Gary Wunder and Chris Danielsen for a rich conversation about legacy, transition, and storytelling. Gary, former editor of the Braille Monitor, shares his journey from joining the NFB at 16 to his new role as Blind Narrative Curator, leading the Oral History Project to preserve the voices and experiences of influential blind members. Chris, now the Monitor editor, discusses taking the reins from Gary, the magazine's evolution, and the importance of member contributions. The episode explores how national communications can support local efforts, including promoting events and offering media outreach. Gary and Chris stress the urgency of capturing stories before they're lost and encourage affiliates to suggest interview subjects and submit articles or ideas. From digitizing historic documents to expanding the Monitor's reach—including a Spanish edition—they highlight exciting developments and invite broad participation. Listeners are urged to share their stories, tips, and feedback with the national team and to recognize those making an impact in the movement today. This episode is a heartfelt reminder that history lives in voices—and now is the time to listen, record, and share. Show notes at https://www.whitecanesconnect.com/128     Links Mentioned Reach out to the Communications team at the National Center: communications@nfb.org  Read and subscribe to the Braille Monitor: https://nfb.org/resources/publications-and-media/braille-monitor  Listen to the Braille Monitor via Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/braille-monitor/id818515069  The Braille Monitor en Espanol: https://nfb.org/es/resources/publications-and-media/braille-monitor   The Braille Monitor is on NFB-NEWSLINE® Want NFB-NEWSLINE®? Live in PA? Use the form at https://nfbofpa.org/nfb-newsline/  An Easy Way to Help the NFB of PA Support the NFB of PA with every purchase at White Cane Coffee Company by going to https://www.whitecanecoffee.com/ref/nfbp. When you use that link to purchase from White Cane Coffee, the NFB of PA earns a 10% commission! Share the link with your family and friends! Listen to Erin and Bob Willman from White Cane Coffee on episode 072 of White Canes Connect. Donate to the NFB of PA Like what you hear on White Canes Connect? Support us and donate to the National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania, visit https://www.NFBofPA.org/give/. We Want to Hear Your Story Reach out with questions and comments, or share ideas! We want to hear from you. Call us at (267) 338-4495 or at whitecanesconnect@gmail.com. Follow White Canes Connect Find out why White Canes Connect is currently ranked at #13 of the 100 Best Visually Impaired Podcast. Find the show on: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/white-canes-connect/id1592248709  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1YDQSJqpoteGb1UMPwRSuI  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@pablindpodcast 

Steven Scott and Shaun Preece are live from the 40th CSUN Assistive Technology Conference in Anaheim, California, bringing you an exciting lineup of guests and discussions about the latest in assistive technology.This episode features: • Stuart Lawler (Sight and Sound Technology) • Jade Lawler (First-time CSUN visitor) • Marty Sobo (Unmute Presents podcast host) • Sarah Arnold (Optometrist with low vision)We dive into travel experiences, the latest assistive tech innovations, AI-powered accessibility tools, and the evolving role of blind-led tech companies. Plus, we explore the ethics of disability simulation experiences and highlight key announcements from CSUN 2025.Chapters & Timestamps00:00 - Introduction: Live from CSUN 2025, the 40th-anniversary event02:39 - Travel Tales: Steven, Shaun, and Stuart's unexpected flight reunion05:00 - Meet the Guests: Marty Sobo and the Unmute Presents podcast07:12 - First-Time CSUN Visitor: Jade Lawler's experience and expectations09:23 - Why Assistive Tech is Hard to Find in Retail Stores11:41 - Glidance Wearable Mobility Device: What's the hype?14:02 - Blind-Led Tech Innovation: Why it matters in assistive tech16:12 - Vispero's Insert J Club: A new JAWS user community initiative18:29 - iPad Accessibility: Can it compete with Windows and macOS?23:08 - AI at CSUN: The role of artificial intelligence in accessibility25:20 - Envision Ally Launch: AI-powered assistance for blind users27:25 - Are Paid AI Tools Worth It? The cost of accessibility-focused AI29:38 - Introducing Sarah Arnold: The optometrist with low vision31:44 - Understanding Sight Loss: How Sarah bridges medical and lived experiences33:58 - Augmented Reality for Sight Loss Training (Sight and Sound Technology)38:42 - The Ethics of Disability Simulation: Does it help or hurt?41:07 - Personalizing Sight Loss Education: Family and workplace training46:01 - Braille at CSUN: 200 years of Braille and new multi-line displays50:51 - The Future of Assistive Tech: Final thoughts on CSUN 2025⸻Links & ResourcesCSUN Assistive Technology Conference → https://www.csun.edu/cod/conferenceUnmute Presents Podcast → https://unmutepresents.comSight and Sound Technology → https://www.sightandsound.co.ukEnvision Ally App → https://www.letsenvision.comVispero Insert J Club → https://www.vispero.comGlidance Wearable Navigation → https://www.glidance.ioNational Federation of the Blind (NFB) → https://www.nfb.orgHumanWare Braille Technology → https://www.humanware.comNew Haptics Braille Display → https://www.newhaptics.comGet Involved with Double TapEmail: feedback@doubletaponair.comVoicemail: 1-877-803-4567WhatsApp Audio/Video Messages: 1-613-481-0144⸻Thanks toBeMyEyes : https://www.bemyeyes.com/Glidance: https://glidance.io/and AMI Audio for supporting Double Tap's coverage of #CSUNATC2025.Subscribe and listen for more insights from the world of accessible technology. Find Double Tap online: YouTube, Double Tap WebsiteJoin the conversation and add your voice to the show either by calling in, sending an email or leaving us a voicemail!Email: feedback@doubletaponair.comPhone: 1-877-803-4567About AMIAMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.Find more great AMI Original Content on AMI+Learn more at AMI.caConnect with Accessible Media Inc. online:X /Twitter @AccessibleMediaInstagram @AccessibleMediaInc / @AMI-audioFacebook at @AccessibleMediaIncTikTok @AccessibleMediaInc

In Episode 125 of White Canes Connect, hosts Lisa Bryant and David Goldstein welcome Jesse Shirek, a government affairs specialist with the National Federation of the Blind (NFB). This episode focuses on the recently concluded Washington Seminar, an annual advocacy event where blind individuals from across the country meet with legislators to discuss key policy issues affecting their community. Jesse provides a historical overview of Washington Seminar, dating back to its origins in 1973, and emphasizes its continued importance today. He explains the rigorous preparation process, from training sessions to mock meetings, ensuring that NFB members present a unified and compelling case to lawmakers. This year, the seminar focused on three major legislative priorities: the Medical Device Non-Visual Accessibility Act, the Websites and Software Applications Accessibility Act, and the Blind Americans Return to Work Act. Additionally, a last-minute initiative emerged in response to concerning executive orders affecting disability rights and funding. Jesse shares his personal journey into advocacy, inspired by firsthand experiences witnessing systemic barriers faced by blind individuals. He highlights the power of grassroots advocacy and the significance of relationship-building with legislators. The conversation also touches on NFB-NEWSLINE®, a valuable resource for accessing newspapers and magazines in an accessible format. Listeners are encouraged to take action by reaching out to their representatives and participating in next year's Washington Seminar. For more information, Jesse provides direct contact details for those interested in advocacy or NFB resources. Show notes at https://www.whitecanesconnect.com/125   Links Mentioned Great Gathering In: https://youtu.be/wDUkAoyejtc?si=ZI0bUQdYR9TG8kgS  Washington Seminar Info & Fact Sheets: https://nfb.org/programs-services/advocacy/washington-seminar  Want NFB-NEWSLINE? Reach out to David at VP1@NFBofPA.org. An Easy Way to Help the NFB of PA Support the NFB of PA with every purchase at White Cane Coffee Company by going to https://www.whitecanecoffee.com/ref/nfbp. When you use that link to purchase from White Cane Coffee, the NFB of PA earns a 10% commission! Share the link with your family and friends! Listen to Erin and Bob Willman from White Cane Coffee on episode 072 of White Canes Connect. Donate to the NFB of PA Like what you hear on White Canes Connect? Support us and donate to the National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania, visit https://www.NFBofPA.org/give/. We Want to Hear Your Story Reach out with questions and comments, or share ideas! We want to hear from you. Call us at (267) 338-4495 or at whitecanesconnect@gmail.com. Follow White Canes Connect Find out why White Canes Connect is currently ranked at #13 of the 100 Best Visually Impaired Podcast. Find the show on: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/white-canes-connect/id1592248709  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1YDQSJqpoteGb1UMPwRSuI  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@pablindpodcast 

In episode 119 of White Canes Connect, host David Goldstein reflects on the highlights of the 2024 National Federation of the Blind (NFB) of Pennsylvania State Convention in Erie. The episode centers on President Lynn Heitz's powerful presidential report, where she draws inspiration from Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar to parallel the journey of blindness with the caterpillar's transformation into a butterfly. President Heitz poignantly compares the challenges, growth, and triumphs faced by individuals navigating blindness to the stages of the caterpillar's metamorphosis. The report celebrates the progress made by NFB members, from those new to vision loss seeking resources and skills to those fully embracing independence, advocating for change, and mentoring others. She emphasizes the importance of outreach, education, and mentorship in breaking societal stigmas about blindness and fostering self-esteem and empowerment. The episode also highlights the NFB's ongoing initiatives, including Braille instruction, partnerships with Pennsylvania agencies, and advocacy for blind children and adults. Listeners are encouraged to reflect on their personal journeys, participate in outreach, and contribute to building a stronger blind community. Mark your calendars for the 2025 NFB of Pennsylvania State Convention in Harrisburg, November 13–16, and stay connected with White Canes Connect for updates and opportunities. Show notes at https://www.whitecanesconnect.com/119   An Easy Way to Help the NFB of PA Support the NFB of PA with every purchase at White Cane Coffee Company by going to https://www.whitecanecoffee.com/ref/nfbp. When you use that link to purchase from White Cane Coffee, the NFB of PA earns a 10% commission! Share the link with your family and friends! Listen to Erin and Bob Willman from White Cane Coffee on episode 072 of White Canes Connect. Donate to the NFB of PA If you want to donate to the National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania, visit https://www.NFBofPA.org/give/. We Want to Hear Your Story Reach out with questions and comments, or share ideas! We want to hear from you. Call us at (267) 338-4495 or at whitecanesconnect@gmail.com. Follow White Canes Connect Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/white-canes-connect/id1592248709  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1YDQSJqpoteGb1UMPwRSuI  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@pablindpodcast 

In White Canes Connect episode 117, co-hosts Lisa Bryant and David Goldstein welcome Kennedy Zimnik and Karl Belanger from the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) to discuss the Accessibility Toolkit, a resource designed to empower blind and low-vision individuals to advocate for accessible technology. Kennedy, an Access Tech Specialist, and Karl, a Non-Visual Accessibility Analyst, share the story behind the Toolkit, which evolved from a 2018 Braille Monitor article to a comprehensive, step-by-step guide now available on the NFB's website. The Toolkit equips users with practical advice on reporting accessibility issues to companies, emphasizing professionalism and collaboration. Karl and Kennedy highlight the importance of clearly describing problems without needing technical jargon. For example, users can report that a screen reader reads "edit, edit, edit" instead of identifying form fields. They stress that most companies are open to accessibility improvements but often lack awareness, making user feedback essential. The episode also explores the growing role of AI in accessibility, the persistent challenges with PDFs, and the importance of self-advocacy. Listeners are encouraged to use the Toolkit, share feedback through the NFB's Inaccessibility Tracker, and engage with Karl and Kennedy for guidance. Whether you're part of the NFB or not, this episode is a valuable resource for making technology more inclusive. Show notes at https://www.whitecanesconnect.com/117    Learn More About the Accessibility Toolkit Find the toolkit at https://nfb.org/programs-services/center-excellence-nonvisual-accessibility/self-advocacy-toolkit-and-tracking-form. Call Kennedy and Karl at (410) 659-9314, option 5. Have a look at the Center of Excellence in Nonvisual Accessibility at https://www.nfb.org/cena. Email them at access@nfb.org or individually, reach Kennedy at kzimnik@nfb.org and Karl at kbelanger@nfb.org. An Easy Way to Help the NFB of PA Support the NFB of PA with every purchase at White Cane Coffee Company by going to https://www.whitecanecoffee.com/ref/nfbp. When you use that link to purchase from White Cane Coffee, the NFB of PA earns a 10% commission! Share the link with your family and friends! Listen to Erin and Bob Willman from White Cane Coffee on episode 072 of White Canes Connect. Donate to the NFB of PA If you want to donate to the National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania, visit https://www.NFBofPA.org/give/. We Want to Hear Your Story Reach out with questions and comments, or share ideas! We want to hear from you. Call us at (267) 338-4495 or at whitecanesconnect@gmail.com. Follow White Canes Connect Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/white-canes-connect/id1592248709  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1YDQSJqpoteGb1UMPwRSuI  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@pablindpodcast  Contact White Canes Connect Have you benefited from a mentorship experience that's helped you grow to the person you are today?? We'd love to hear from you! Send us an email at whitecanesconnect@gmail.com or give us a call at: 267-338-4495

Hello our fast and furious Olympians, and welcome to ep 103 of BGC. We have a full house this week as Jan is back from his 11th holiday of the year, and Mohammed Laachir is back with us again fresh from NFB in Florida, having enjoyed their all you can eat buffet.   Yes, Jan handed the car keys over to Tycho while he, Chantal and Princess Rosalie sat in the back seat of their lovely electric vehicle. After a 63-hour trip taking in the Norwegian fjords, St Paul's Cathedral and the Brandenburg Gate, they eventually arrived in Camp Nou, Barcelona's famous stadium, where fistfuls of money changed hands in order to purchase a Barca t-shirt and a can of coke. Oh, and Princess Rosalie bought some rather expensive makeup in a big international cosmetics and skincare store, or at least that's what Jan said.   Mohammed has just returned from NFB 2024 where he was demonstrating the new Picture Smart AI with JAWS. This is a cool new feature built right into JAWS allowing a user to scan a picture and hear what its contents are. Fair play to Mo for helping with the development of this feature.   While he was at NFB, Mohammed took the opportunity to take his hoover for a walk. Ahem... sorry, we mean the new Glide guide dog thingy from Glidance. Will Mohammed be purchasing? Tune in to find out!   So, jump off your pommel horse with a perfect 10; stay away from the Olympic cauldron – it's not a BBQ! Put down that shotput before your do yourself some damage, and get ready to listen to the best podcast in the world: Blind Guys Chat - 10 out of 15 boxing gloves prefer it to boxing.   Links for this show:   ·       National Federation of the Blind (NFB): https://nfb.org/ ·       NFB National Convention: https://nfb.org/get-involved/national-convention ·       Picture Smart AI with Jaws: https://www.freedomscientific.com/training/jaws/new-and-improved-features/ ·       Glide from Glidance: https://tinyurl.com/Glidance Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chatRead transcript

In this episode of White Canes Connect, hosts Lisa Bryant and David Goldstein speak with Laura Wolk Slavis, the first blind woman to clerk at the United States Supreme Court. Laura shares her remarkable journey, starting from her early involvement with the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) due to her childhood diagnosis of retinoblastoma. Her father's proactive engagement with the NFB's resources set Laura on a path of empowerment and opportunity. Laura discusses her professional trajectory, including her time in Washington, D.C., her work with federal judges, and her impactful year with Justice Clarence Thomas at the Supreme Court. Now working at a nonprofit focused on First Amendment constitutional law, Laura reflects on her initial career aspirations in psychology and music and how her experiences led her to the legal field. A key highlight of the episode is Laura's testimony during the confirmation hearings of Justice Amy Coney Barrett. She recounts how Barrett's support of assistive technology during law school exemplified true advocacy. Laura also emphasizes the importance of continuous learning and building communities, both within the disability sphere and beyond. Throughout the conversation, Laura's resilience, adaptability, and dedication to her work shine through. She offers listeners inspiration and practical advice on navigating professional challenges with a disability. Show notes at https://www.whitecanesconnect.com/105  More On Laura Watch Laura's testimony at Judge Amy Coney Barrett's Senate Judiciary Committee's Supreme Court confirmation hearing: https://youtu.be/erIxxlB8-II?si=QyUIhY4i6-uJVPTg. Laura's article from the Braille Monitor: https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/fr/fr39/4/fr390413.htm. The book Laura mentioned: The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World https://amzn.to/4eDIigo.  An Easy Way to Help the NFB of PA Support the NFB of PA with every purchase at White Cane Coffee Company by going to https://www.whitecanecoffee.com/ref/nfbp. When you use that link to purchase from White Cane Coffee, the NFB of PA earns a 10% commission! Share the link with your family and friends! Listen to Erin and Bob Willman from White Cane Coffee on episode 072 of White Canes Connect. Donate to the NFB of PA If you want to donate to the National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania, visit https://www.NFBofPA.org/give/. We Want to Hear Your Story Reach out with questions and comments, or share ideas! We want to hear from you. Call us at (267) 338-4495 or at whitecanesconnect@gmail.com. Follow White Canes Connect Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/white-canes-connect/id1592248709  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1YDQSJqpoteGb1UMPwRSuI  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@pablindpodcast 

Rachel (Rochel Yenti) Bodek holds a degree in Teacher of the Visually Impaired from Hunter College. She is visually impaired herself and has some family members with the same eye condition. Rachel teaches blind and visually impaired students of all ages. She teaches various skills to her students including reading and writing with adapted methods, using assistive technology, self-advocacy, and coaching them to obtain other needed services and supports. She co-runs a support group,  called Insight Beyond Eyesight,  for Jewish families with visually impaired members providing information, support, and advocacy. She is also involved in other organizations servicing the blind and people with other disabilities like the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and she's a board member of TRIPS (her local paratransit service).    Esther Markowitz has lived in Monsey, NY, for 50 years. She works at Cheder Chabad of Monsey as the office manager, a position she has held for 20 years. Esther is a proud mother and grandmother to many adorable grandchildren, each cherished individually. Additionally, she is the proud mother of her 21-year-old daughter, Hindy, who is blind. She is the co-founder, along with Rochel Bodek, of the organization "Insight Beyond Eyesight," which serves Jewish visually impaired children, adults, and their families. insightbeyondeyesight.org __________________________________________________ Sponsor the JOWMA Podcast! Email digitalcontent@jowma.org Become a JOWMA Member! www.jowma.org  Follow us on Instagram! www.instagram.com/JOWMA_org  Follow us on Twitter! www.twitter.com/JOWMA_med  Follow us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/JOWMAorg/Stay up-to-date with JOWMA news! Sign up for the JOWMA newsletter! https://jowma.us6.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9b4e9beb287874f9dc7f80289&id=ea3ef44644&mc_cid=dfb442d2a7&mc_eid=e9eee6e41e

In this episode of the PAVECast, we interview Mark Riccobono, President of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB). Tune in to hear President Riccobono's insights on the history of NFB, the advocacy work they do for blind individuals, and how autonomous vehicles can help create more accessible mobility options. President Riccobono also shares the origins of the Blind Driver Challenge, a project initiated by NFB in 2004 to explore the possibility of creating technology that would allow blind individuals to drive independently. We discuss the evolution from blind drivers to driverless cars, and the importance of including blind individuals in the development and testing of AV technology to ensure authenticity and effectiveness. Learn more about the NFB: https://nfb.org/

What does it mean to be blind in the 21st century? How can technology and community help people with low vision and blindness live the life they want? In this episode, Nate Carper talks to Mark Riccobono, the President of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the oldest and largest organization led by blind people in the United States.

The conversation begins with Elizabeth receiving the devastating diagnosis of a degenerative eye disorder, and her doctors informing her that if the disease took the course expected, she would be blind by age forty. At the time, she was twenty-two. Join her on an emotional conversation as she tells her story of blindness. The following information may not be accurate as the data is from JAN 2022 Prevalence of Blindness: Approximate Number of Blind Individuals: According to the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), there are around 7.3 million visually impaired individuals in the United States. This includes both legally blind and those with low vision. Annual New Cases: The specific number of new cases of blindness per year may vary. Causes of new cases can include age-related conditions, injuries, or underlying health issues. Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD): AMD is a leading cause of vision loss in older adults. It affects the macula, leading to a loss of central vision. Cataracts: Cataracts, a clouding of the eye's lens, can cause blindness if left untreated. However, cataract surgery is a common and effective intervention. Glaucoma: Glaucoma is a group of eye conditions that can damage the optic nerve, leading to vision loss. It often progresses slowly and without symptoms. Diabetic Retinopathy: Individuals with diabetes are at risk of developing diabetic retinopathy, which can lead to blindness if not managed. Injuries and Trauma: Accidents and injuries, including those to the eyes, can result in blindness. Vision Rehabilitation Services: Programs and services exist to help individuals with vision loss adapt to their environment, including orientation and mobility training, adaptive technology, and daily living skills. Advancements in Treatment: Ongoing research and medical advancements contribute to improved treatments and interventions for various eye conditions. Regular Eye Exams: Routine eye check-ups are crucial for early detection and management of eye conditions, potentially preventing or slowing vision loss. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/chucktuck/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/chucktuck/support

In this episode of the Nation's Blind Podcast, Melissa Riccobono and Chris Danielsen discuss Veterans Day and the role of veterans in the National Federation of the Blind (NFB). They are joined by Dr. Vernon Humphrey, the president of the National Association of Blind Veterans (NABV), a division of the National Federation of the Blind; and José Centeno, a blind veteran, marathon runner, and member of the NABV. They discuss the work of the NABV in supporting blind veterans and advocating for their rights and benefits. They also talk about the importance of raising awareness about blindness and the resources available to blind veterans. The podcast highlights the contributions of blind veterans and the ways in which they have paved the way for advancements in rehabilitation. The guests share personal stories and experiences, emphasizing the importance of camaraderie and support within the blind veteran community. They also discuss the need for continued advocacy and outreach to blind veterans, as well as the potential for more collaboration between the National Federation of the Blind and other veterans' agencies and organizations. CW: Mental health issues and suicide are mentioned in this episode. The 988 Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals in the United States. Call or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org.   Important links: National association of Blind Veterans website: https://nabv.org News item about José Centeno's marathon run: https://www.wdtn.com/news/local-news/blind-veteran-to-run-in-xenia-marathon-alongside-optometrist/

Have you ever heard of Ren'ee Rentmeester? Well, possibly especially if you lived in Florida in the early 2000s or if you searched around YouTube. Ren'ee is the producer and creator of a program called “Cooking Without Looking”. Ren'ee always wanted to have a career in journalism and began by getting her college degree in the subject.   She worked for television stations in Florida until she decided to start her own advertising agency. While interested in journalism Renee also has a strong entrepreneurial streak which was enhanced as she worked on a number of nonprofit boards.   In 2001 she decided to create this unique show called “Cooking Without Looking”. Ren'ee is not blind but felt having a program that would feature blind cooks and chefs was worth exploring. The program aired on a public tv station for a time in Miami. Now you can find it on YouTube and there is also a Cooking Without Looking podcast. Renee is seeking ways to bring the program back to a major streaming service. Don't be surprised if this happens as Renee is clearly unstoppable.     About the Guest:   For the past 22 years, I have advocated for people who are Blind/Visually impaired through the TV show called, “Cooking Without Looking,” the ONLY TV show which features people who are Blind/Visually Impaired. We aired on PBS in South Florida.   Blind people prepare their favorite recipes and speak frankly (including humor) about their lives as People living with Blindness. It's not sad. The feeling is like, “This is my life, and oh, by the way, I'm blind.”   Mr. Fred Schroeder, President of the World Blind Union, says this about our show: “Your work fits well with our belief that blind people need encouragement to live normal lives and the sighted public needs the opportunity to learn that blindness does not render people helpless nor grant them with superhuman gifts. Your show shows blind people doing normal things, and that is a powerful message for the sighted public and for blind people themselves.”   Over the years, I have spoken to thousands of Blind people in various organizations such as the National Federation of the Blind (NFB); the American Council of the Blind(ACB); and the American Federation of the Blind(AFB).   Before that time, I worked at CBS as a Press and Public Relations Manager/Spokesperson; Associate News Producer; and Assignment Editor. I've been nominated for two Emmys...one for a series of Black History Month PSAs about the Miami people who fought in the Civil Rights movement. The other was for the writing of a special on youth gangs, “Youth Violence: Walking The Line.” I've written/published two books of poetry available on Amazon…”Visions From a Dream Called, ‘Life': The Poetry of Meadowville”; and “Visions II: The Poetry of Life.”     Ways to connect with Ren'ee:   www.cookingwithoutlookingtv.wordpress.com   Twitter:   @cookwithoutlook   Facebook:   The Cooking Without Looking TV Show   YouTube channel:   Cooking Without Looking TV Show   Cooking Without Looking Podcast:   Anywhere you get your podcast, and is available on Alexa-enabled devices     About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app.   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.     Transcription Notes   Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i  capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Well, Hi, and welcome to another exciting episode of unstoppable mindset. They're all exciting, actually. So I don't know why I said that. But they are and it's fun to talk about whatever comes along. today. Our guest is Ren'ee Rentmeester Ren'ee has an actually a very interesting story to tell, in terms of what she's doing now, what she has done, and so on. And I think it is a fascinating thing that hopefully will fascinate all of you as well. So we are really glad that you're here to listen to it. And Ren'ee, welcome to unstoppable mindset. Good morning or afternoon to you.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 01:58 Well, thank you so much, Michael. And thank you for the honor, I'm truly humbled by you honoring me with the interview. So thank you so much.   Michael Hingson ** 02:08 Well, my pleasure. And you know, as usual, this is really more of a conversation than just a plain old interview. So feel free to treat it that way. It's it's both of us talking to each other. Well, let's start with a little bit about the early Ren'ee you know, before you did what you've been doing lately and so on, so tell us about you growing up and all that and how you got where you are is it were?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 02:31 Well, usually my airplanes perfect.   Michael Hingson ** 02:35 Come fly with me.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 02:38 I was a born and raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin was a daughter My father is Anthony rent Meester. My mom, Margaret and dad was a worker in a factory, paper factory Procter and Gamble. And so you know, I'm just just was born and raised there. And I always wanted to go into TV. And my family were, you know, farmers and factory workers. So that seemed like, sort of a crazy idea to them. Like, what are you talking about get real and such. But I did it anyway. And I worked myself through college, working about six jobs. The favorite I could tell about is working in a pickle factory working six days a week, 12 hours a day putting pickles in jars or one at a time. I don't know if you remember the I Love Lucy episode where they were working in a factory. It was pretty much like   Michael Hingson ** 03:42 Yeah, well, one at a time. So why one at a time.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 03:48 Because they were spears, the pickle spears and and you had to put them in there because you had to get them standing nicely. next to one another. And in the middle, there would be a half a pickle half a half a cucumber that would go in and then at the end of the whole thing. The machine would cut that middle pickle into more spheres. So it was it was quite a learning experience. And I knew that I wanted to continue with college so I wasn't working in a pickle factory the rest of my life.   Michael Hingson ** 04:26 You didn't want to be in that much of a pickle. Oh, I had to say   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 04:30 it was a doozy of an opportunity.   Michael Hingson ** 04:32 I get it. Yeah, well we've been so it's pretty unique that that that kind of a job. How did all the pickle juice get into the jars? Did they also put pickle juice in or did the pickles just leak   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 04:50 in cotton pickles was a in the machine. I'm trying to visualize it now because honestly I don't remember but I know There was a part of the machine that just poured the pickle juice into it. Yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 05:04 And then when you filled a jar, what did you do with the jar?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 05:09 Well, it was on a moving line. So you know I'm a conveyor belt would just take it and then someone was at the end of the line, and those people will have to put them in put the jars that are already covered into a box.   Michael Hingson ** 05:28 So did you put pickles in while the jars were moving? Or? Oh, yeah. So you had to work at a at a decent speed and they didn't let you slow down.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 05:40 And they didn't let me talk, which earned me rubber gloves over the head several times from little Katie, the four person   Michael Hingson ** 05:51 which is for talking.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 05:52 That's right for talking, you know, so um, yeah, it was a problem. My head I talked too much.   Michael Hingson ** 05:59 Well, so that was one of your unique jobs in college. What were you majoring in?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 06:05 Journalism? I have a degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire.   Michael Hingson ** 06:12 So you did pickles among other things? Yes. You go ahead. Oh, no, no,   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 06:20 and and worked in a disco bar? I thought I just throw that out there. So pretty much you can you can tell I was also a bouncer at that disco bar.   Michael Hingson ** 06:31 Wow. And did you throw pickles at people? Or why you? No, no, I hear you that that you had a variety of different kinds of jobs. You just were pretty flexible in that regard? Huh? Yes. Well, you know   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 06:45 what, I had the goal, I had the goal of working myself through college. And that was the only way I was gonna get through. And actually the I was bartending at the bar. But then they found that I could be useful as a as a bouncer as well, because guys didn't want to look nasty when I walked up to them on was really nice and said, Okay, you have to go now, you know, they couldn't get into a barber all with me and look bad in front of the girlfriend. So   Michael Hingson ** 07:20 that's pretty cool. What did your parents think of all these jobs?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 07:24 Well, a mom would after I got home from the pickle factory. Mom would make me take my most of my clothes off in the garage, and she gave me a set of clothes because I smelled so bad. Imagine vinegar times 1000. That's what I smell like. And then sometimes I would I had a marketing job in, in a mall, and I also worked at a TV station as a nighttime receptionist.   Michael Hingson ** 07:58 Okay. Well, so you again, you did a lot of different things. And that's pretty unique. But it certainly had to broaden your horizons and a lot of different ways that I can appreciate that. But you graduated then and had your degree in journalism, and what did you do?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 08:17 Um, hey, I moved to move to Tampa first. And I just looked for any kind of job I could get to keep myself going. And one of them was a receptionist at an employment agency. And so as people would come in to the employment agency, I would ask them if they knew anyone in TV because it's, it's, you know, it's always who you know, and all that sort of thing. And I talked to this one gentleman, and he told me all his sister worked at a TV station, which was amazing. And I'm so sure he gave me someone to contact by this time. I was in Miami. I was only in Tampa for a year. I sold magazines in Tampa, and then I moved to Miami. And that's when I became the receptionist. And they he led me to assist her who led me to a job at an independent station in Miami. I wrote on the back of a motorcycle I didn't have a car or in the back of a motorcycle to get there and it rained it poured. It was my summer. It's   Michael Hingson ** 09:35 Miami. Yeah. What made you move to Florida from Wisconsin?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 09:40 My boyfriend boy who I eventually married. Oh, good. Okay. Now here are the usual the usual suspect.   Michael Hingson ** 09:50 Well, so you moved down there and so you got a job. Then through your sister and her contact   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 10:00 The gentleman's sister Yeah, I don't have a system to gentleman sister. Yeah, through her and I got to know who she was. And she had been in Miami for a long time. And my boss was, was pretty amazing. And I was a writer there as a writer at the station.   Michael Hingson ** 10:20 So what kinds of things did you write for? What did you write?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 10:24 Um, I started out just writing voiceovers, you know, little voiceovers I used to have between shows, I   Michael Hingson ** 10:30 don't know shows. Yeah. Well, not commercials, not the commercials, but just   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 10:35 the little voiceovers, like telling you like you had an acute C and about the show that was coming up. Like Benson falls down the stairs. You know, whatever. And and so it was the little things like that.   Michael Hingson ** 10:52 And then again, the game say something like, can you believe that that Benson guy fell down those stairs? Like Benson we liked Benson. That was a fun show.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 11:03 BENSON Yeah. I don't know how I just started that. It just popped into my head.   Michael Hingson ** 11:08 Well, so you wrote, and then what   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 11:15 we see there, your independent station. I was there for 13 years, and it turned into CBS. And I just said one place. And so I became that an associate producer and news and an assignment editor and news. And that was pretty cool. Because as associate producer, you write the news stories, I was just gonna ask. Yeah, you write the news stories. And I remember one of my most memorable news stories that I wrote was about a little boy, he was three years old, and he needed a liver. And in Florida, there's a rule against giving livers to certain people of certain ages, like, if you're under certain age, and over a certain age, while I was on the news desk that day, and the mayor or the governor was doing one of those wonderful luncheons that they do. And I called the father of this little boy. And I said, Listen, I'm going to send my photographer over to you get over there. And my photographer is going to shoot you and the governor asking to get your son a liver. And it happened. I could have lost my job, but it happened.   Michael Hingson ** 12:36 So you created the news.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 12:39 Yes. Well, it helped because three days later, the little boy had a liver. So the Governor made it happen.   Michael Hingson ** 12:51 Well, that's cool. And then you took the the time and the interest in doing that. Because that certainly had to be, as you said, a little bit of a challenge and you could have lost your job over it.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 13:03 Right. But as your title is unstoppable mindset. I don't ever let any of that train stop me like, what's more important my job or little boy's life?   Michael Hingson ** 13:15 Yeah. So did anybody chastise you for it? Or because of that or not? Okay. They Oh,   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 13:23 yeah. Yeah. turned out great. I don't even know if a lot of people knew that my cameraman and I did that. I mean, that we set it up, sort of, because, you know, no one ever said anything about it afterwards. So, but it worked for a while. And then the little boy died a couple months later, because his buddy Jack did it. But at least he has a chance.   Michael Hingson ** 13:48 Yeah. What year was that?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 13:51 Ah, let's see. It was probably late 80s, early 90s.   Michael Hingson ** 14:00 Okay. So how long did you work at writing the news and being an associate producer and so on.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 14:09 I was I was there for that in a news department for one year. And then they created a job for me. I was a press and public relations manager. And that went upstairs because the news was downstairs and I went upstairs. And so I was I suppose, spokesperson for the station. And I also produced the PSAs. So that was pretty cool. And in the meantime, I started on a whole bunch of boards because I dealt with a lot of nonprofits. So that's, that's what I did there. And eventually, you know, 13 years later and you're like, Well, what else can I do? And I started my own advertising and PR company. I left the station started my own advertising PR company. And then I thought of something because then with so many different so many different nonprofits, like six of them at once I was on the board. I wanted something for myself, and I wanted something that was a legacy for my family. So I wanted to make a purpose have a purpose.   Michael Hingson ** 15:23 Before we get there, I'm just curious. So you were there until after the World Trade Center terrorist attacks, because you were there? 13 years is that right?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 15:33 Was I? Um, no. Okay. Because we're already to that. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 15:41 you're gone by then. Because I was going to ask what, what you did or what was it like at the station and so on? Around September 11. But you were gone by then.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 15:51 Yeah, I was gone by then. I I remember that day, I remember where I was, I remember. I had a friend in New York, and I called her to see if she was okay. And I just watched her the coverage and and I kept my daughter home that day, my daughter was nine. And I kept her home from school. Because, you know, you didn't know what was gonna happen?   Michael Hingson ** 16:19 Yeah. Yeah, there was no way to know. No. Well, you eventually started as you're saying something that became very personal to you a project that you've been doing for quite a while, and in of itself is an interesting story. So why don't you tell us a little bit about that?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 16:39 Okay, um, I created cooking without looking at the first TV show that features people who are blind and visually impaired,   Michael Hingson ** 16:47 which we really call low vision today and appropriately. So. Because when you talk about visually impaired, where we should be compared to people who have eyesight, just like, if you said hearing impaired to a person who was partially deaf, they probably Dec you because hearing impaired is as they recognize a way of comparing to people who can hear rather than saying deaf and hard of hearing, right. So it's learning continuum. And so the whole concept of visually impaired is really unfortunate, for two reasons. One, visually, we don't look different, just because we're blind or partially, why do we deal with it in terms of impaired saying, well, you're impaired if you can't see fully? And so we're learning to say, as deaf people already have blind or low vision, but anyway. Alrighty. So you want it you started this this show?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 17:47 Right? Right. Because TV was what I did, that was my tool. And if you want to change the way people look at people who are blind or, or, you know, low vision, you will have to show people, you know, and it's also a way to bridge between the sighted community, the low vision community, the blind community, just just to show what is done because we still have an old mindset. So I did my research, and I went on some blind listservs. And learned about blindness from a lot of people. I did not know a blind person, I do not have a relative who was a blind person. It was just something I saw that needed to be done.   Michael Hingson ** 18:42 And you of course, are not blind. No, I am not. So you did a lot of research, which is always a great thing to do, and a great way to start. So this When did all this start?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 18:57 This started in 2001. Ironically, I'm talking to you and 2001. I was in my first meeting about the show, as the twin towers are being hit. That's what happened. And we actually took a break from the meeting and saw as the towers were being hit. Yeah. So your your story is much more compelling. But But I remember like, How can this happen? How, you know, like, we become desensitized to things like this, and it almost seemed like we were watching a movie. It didn't make any sense.   Michael Hingson ** 19:46 Yeah, it was very surreal to people because who would have thought somebody would fly our planes deliberately fly airplanes into the World Trade Center yet? That's the end of the Pentagon. And of course Shanksville, Pennsylvania, but that's what happened.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 20:04 Yep, exactly. So.   Michael Hingson ** 20:06 So what was the first meeting about? Was it trying to sell it to a station or plan or program? What was the meeting? Like? What was it?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 20:14 It was at Florida International University, the School of Hospitality, because that's where I met a man who was a blind chef. And I met him. And then he was a professor there. And he introduced me to all the people he worked with. And we were looking for anything like how can we work together? Sponsorships, whatever. Um, and that's, that's what we did. That's what we did it first. So So,   Michael Hingson ** 20:48 so when did the show actually start airing or when did you start producing it,   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 20:56 we started producing an airing it. We started producing it in September of 2005. And after that, it went on in September. And we had a live studio audience at PBS station in West Palm Beach. And we were on like a couple of seasons. And then after that, we hit the recession at 2009.   Michael Hingson ** 21:31 How's my typical like three and a half years to actually bring the show to fruition? Since you had your first meeting in 2001. And it took until 2005, for the show to actually come on,   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 21:44 there are so many moving parts. First, I found a man who I thought we should use as a host right. And then I had to start going out and selling the program. Because even my I was on the Board of Governors for the National Academy, TV Arts and Sciences. And even they couldn't understand having a show with blind people, because they thought blind people only only are taught, and that a lot of times I still find that out, but they couldn't understand it. So it was a lot of selling them apart just to sell the idea. Then I went to talk to the TV station. And then we had to find a sponsor, because we actually had to pay to get it produced on there. And so I produced it. And it was just a lot of explaining to people and making people understand and once they understood, you know, everybody really loved it and moved on from there.   Michael Hingson ** 22:58 So you obviously had a lot to go through at the same time you had your own advertising agency, you said right,   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 23:07 right, exactly. So a lot of times whatever costs, I had to pick it up from my advertising company. And because I was you know, like, there were like three of us there. And PR, I do did a lot of PR for people. And I always tried to look at the positive side of it, trying to help people with my PR, you can have negative PR or positive PR. And I always I always used it for the positive and as a matter of fact, even just helping people with it.   Michael Hingson ** 23:42 Do you believe the in the comment, there's no such thing really as bad PR that even bad PR is really good PR?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 23:53 Well, I to a point, I won't say bad and good. Effective PR, which means that people at least know about you. And in some ways, because a lot of times they've done studies that people don't realize how they know about you or how they heard your name, but they just know you know, they know your name. And so So yeah, I just I believe that. Just getting your name out there. Sometimes people don't know how but they know of you.   Michael Hingson ** 24:36 And so there's no qualitative factor there. They just know who you are.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 24:42 Right. Exactly. Exactly. So then we continually went to many food festivals and people were just amazed we were at Macy's. We went to the Boca Raton wine and food festival. We do presentations with our hosts, one of which was time Although a blind on one was he has, he isn't nearly blind, nearly total and the other man who, who was not all the way blind at all, but we just we just had a lot of fun going together driving down the road hitting these festivals and showing people what it was like.   Michael Hingson ** 25:27 So was this before the show actually started airing or while the show   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 25:32 afterwards because when we hit 2009, we, most people didn't have any money to sponsor anymore because of the recession. So we just we had to find other ways to get the word out. And so that's what we did, we went on the road or went to the festivals and showed people, we pretty much closed down Macy's because the whole store when they announced that we were going to be there, everyone wanted to see people who were blind, you know, cook and give tips. And, and that's the cool part about our show because it actually is a bridge between, you know, the sighted and non sighted communities. And and so we can understand one another, we don't deal in stereotypes or, you know, something from the 1950s. We know what we can do, and we can do anything we want because we have an unstoppable mindset.   Michael Hingson ** 26:32 So is the show still airing at that time? Or were you just doing the festivals?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 26:37 No, the shows weren't airing but I had to keep, I had to keep it going. There was no way I was going to stop it. Because I had a purpose. And I felt like I had a commitment because so many people were backing it at least you know, supportive, even least just in their words. I had to keep it going. So I did we kept it going through. I started a podcast in 2018. Where we talk to people, our motto is changing the way we see blindness everyone there is either blind or low vision. And we also during the pandemic, we started doing it on zoom as a TV show, which we still do now. And we reached 61 countries.   Michael Hingson ** 27:33 Tell me if you want a little bit about maybe some of the unique recipes or some of the interesting experiences on the show. Love to hear some stories.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 27:44 Okay. Well, you know, um, we had South African, it was a, it was a sort of organization like the lighthouse. And its Cape Town society for the blind, and we had them on there and they made South African food, which was like pretty cool. And then we had one gentleman when we were in Palm Beach, it was funny. We had a live studio audience and he was an elderly gentleman and he was he was nice man a little crusty. And he was showing us how to make it was like a poor it was called poor man's I forgot what it was. Anyway, he was put here to test the noodles, he actually put his hand in the boiling water. And this was the way he did it. Obviously I cut it out for the TV crowd. But when I was there, the people were yelling at me stick his hands on the floor. It's like he's 80 years old, you know, he knows this is how he does it but I won't put it in I'll you know I'll edit it out because I don't want little kids watching that. But um, let's see what other types of stories we we've had just like a lot of fun. We went to a school in Minnesota and we taught blind kids how to cook and we did our own little cooking without looking with them. And that was a lot of fun. We had a special script for them you know, it was just it's just every everything is full of stories. We also have podcasts where we speak to individuals who are blind visually impaired, we they talk about their life as a person who's blind or low vision sorry, caught myself and and and then at The end they present a recipe and all of our recipes that we present is the cooking without looking recipes of the day are submitted to us by blind or low vision people, and they've actually made them themselves. So we know that you know that they're good recipes. We don't have any sighted people present them. We just, you know, we just have a lot of fun together, we went to a bar, a year and a half ago, we went to an NFB convention, the Florida NFB and was a net, Alan and I in that now in our, our hosts, and we just had a great time. It's like we're family, we've been together now the 22 years, a full 22 years. So we just get a lot of laughs that way too, because we each have our own personality. Oh,   Michael Hingson ** 30:59 well, and that's, that's, that's what really makes a long running operation work when you have a family and people are able to work together and so on. So what happened at the NFB of Florida convention? What did you guys do?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 31:16 Well, what we did was we put people on Facebook Live, and we had them tell their story. And then we took pictures with them, it's sort of like we were like, famous, quote, unquote. And we just, we just had a good time, we had people talk about themselves, and what they were doing at the NFB convention. And out of that, we got a sponsorship out of the Florida Division of Blind Services, and they appeared on one of our shows. So that was, that was a good time. It's nice to learn. I mean, every single person has a story that we can learn from, it doesn't matter who you are, where you are, where you are. Everyone has a story that we can all learn from. And that's it. That's what makes us unstoppable. You know, you know, my computer went down and and it was like, Okay, well, what's going on here? You know, what, what's happening with the universe, and my computer went down, because I couldn't do any of the shows or the podcasts. And those are really my fun. That's, that's the fun in my life. I don't bend to Disney World plenty of times.   Michael Hingson ** 32:37 There's a lot of that, then on cruises,   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 32:38 Ben to other countries. But this is my fun, because I feel like I'm doing something that matters.   Michael Hingson ** 32:47 So you, I remember in looking at your biography, you mentioned Fred Schroeder, who is the past president of the World Blind Union, tell me about meeting him and a little about that.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 32:59 Well, that was wonderful. I actually met him when he was president of the NFB. And we spoke there. And when I met him, I was I was just, you know, he seemed like a really great person. But when he said all the nice things about us, you know, how he loved the show, I was honored, because here's a man who has been all over the place and who is blind, and told me that, you know, what we were doing helped. And honestly, when when you start something that has never existed, you're sort of sitting there all by yourself, going, you know, what, what am I doing? Why am I doing this? And, and he made me feel like, we were doing something that mattered?   Michael Hingson ** 33:59 Well, today, is the show airing on any TV stations or is it?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 34:07 Well, that's what we're working on. We wanted to get the TV stations, we want to stream it. So been working on getting it either Netflix or the Food Network or, you know, something like that. I've been in contact with Rachael rays, PR people. And Stevie Wonder is PR person. She's very nice. So you know what, we're starting the rebirth. Round two, but we keep it going on Zoom. And with Zoom, we can reach people around the world, which is what we've been going.   Michael Hingson ** 34:47 Yeah. Which absolutely makes sense. Well, how are you being received by Rachael Ray is people Stevie Wonder and so on, and kind of what have you had to do to keep them interested and so on.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 35:02 Well, you know, it's really just keeping on reminding people that we're there. Stevie Wonder's person, her PR, the PR person, you know, is Shelley. And she was very, very nice. And so I just keep up, you know, reminding her, Rachael Ray now has left her show, but she's starting something new. So I emailed them, which is very recent, and they're probably on vacation right now. And and people, you know, are actually very receptive. Well, we'll see what happens. But just like before, you just have to keep on knocking on the doors chiseling something out, you know, just keeping on trying. That's, that's all you can do.   Michael Hingson ** 35:47 Have you looked at any of the other Food Network people in the the other celebrity types and gotten any, anywhere with any of them? Or have you tried?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 35:56 No, I really haven't. Because I'm, I like the philosophy of Rachael Ray, which is similar to what we do. It's you don't have to be a fancy chef or whatever. It's the home cooking. We've all learned from our parents, grandparents or whatever, how to cook, and survive and have a good time. And, and I liked the way she does it. So our philosophies are similar. In the past, the first, the first host that we had did reach out to one of the people, I don't like the idea of, of, you know, racing or doing things fast and cooking in the kitchen or having a contest and you know, getting angry at one another. I don't like that. I you know, I like just showing people as they are. Because I think that's how we see ourselves. We're not all we're not all celebrities, we're just people who are trying to get by and do the best we can.   Michael Hingson ** 37:07 I would say I think there are places for some kinds of competitions, but I hear what you're saying. I think a lot of the angry, sharp edge things are really a problem. And they don't, they don't really serve a useful purpose. And I've enjoyed a lot of the Food Network. But I like things that are really more fun than yeah, getting angry.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 37:35 Right, right. And I and you can have so much fun in the kitchen. Think of it like, a lot of times, that's the way we get to know our grandparents are our parents is cooking with them in the kitchen. You know, like, I cooked with my daughter, my daughter cooked with me from the time she was little. And honestly, I think she's a better cook than me. She's more of a detail person where I'm like, You know what, this is my art. I'm just gonna throw this in. This sounds like it's gonna be good. Try this. Try that. So I'm a little more experimental. But that's the way you get to know your family, in a lot of instances. So I like that part.   Michael Hingson ** 38:16 Oh, I still think it would be fun to somehow involve Bobby Flay because he's such a fun guy. And yeah, he's an incredibly fun guy. He's an incredibly sophisticated guy. He's got an incredible grasp on food preparation, but I bet he would be a fun guy to somehow be involved with   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 38:37 that, well, you know what, firm your lips to God's ears. I'll give that a try. And you know, I'm living in a place of Ray Charles birthplace I live in Albany, Georgia. And, and so I was thinking about reaching out to their foundation to see how we could work together to get something done as well. There's a beautiful monument to Ray Charles is in the Ray Charles Plaza on the river in Albany. And it turns around, it's blueish. And it turns around, and it plays all of his songs in his voice. And is is is just really beautiful and inspiring, and, and a lot of funny things, a lot of the songs my mom used to sing.   Michael Hingson ** 39:28 Well, yeah, I think any place like that where you can get some funding would certainly be a valuable thing. But I, I think that an innovative visionary kind of guy, like a Bobby Flay might really take an interest in something like this, because it's unique and it's because it's different. And since that's just a thought, you know?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 39:54 That's good. It's a seed I'll work on seeing how I can reach Bobby flaying. No problem.   Michael Hingson ** 40:02 So, how has the show changed over the years? Like, from the pandemic, to now and so on? Is it really still basically the same format? How has it evolved overall?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 40:16 Well, um, it really evolved from the way we were doing it before. You know, during the pandemic, we started off with people from the United States, and it evolved into going to like seven countries, and having people from all around the world actually watch us. And so, as I wrote in the letter to, I contacted the CEO, both CEOs on ones left now of Netflix, like, Okay, we've planted the seeds all over the world for you. And, and there's an audience all over the world. And Netflix is, is one of the most watched shows by people who are blind, most watched streaming services of people who are blind, and all over the world. So they were, I had heard that that particular CEO was a very nice man. And I've always found a lot of people in TV are really nice, not, not the way we look at them. And TV shows they're actually like, real human.   Michael Hingson ** 41:28 So have you had a response from Netflix yet? What was that? Have you had a response from Netflix yet?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 41:36 Um, no, no, we haven't. His name was Ted Saran dose, and he's the CEO over there. And so that's where I sent it. You know, we'll do Bobby Flay. But we're, it's just, you know, an ongoing process of planting seeds, planting seeds. To get it this far, has been pretty amazing. Because, you know, I'm sort of like the Wright brothers with the first airplane, no one can really visualize that, like, What the heck are you doing? And, and, and now we've gotten to a point where we can launch it in a bigger platform.   Michael Hingson ** 42:20 Have you had guests on the show from other countries? Or just the Yeah,   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 42:25 yeah. We have we've we've had seven countries. They're all blind people from other countries. It was, like I said, South Africa, Guyana.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 42:43 Barbados, Barbadoes. Let's see where else where else where else trying to think of the ones off the top of my head. But those are just some of them. But   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 42:57 everyone can go see them. They're all on our cooking without looking YouTube channel right now. And that's what we're focusing on just getting the things done and and showing people but yeah, we've had lots of different Oh, Jamaica, we had to make it too. So that was pretty cool. So yeah, we've had all these countries, that's really the biggest change that we've had is, is going and highlighting people from other countries, other people who are blind, cooking their native recipes in other countries.   Michael Hingson ** 43:35 How many shows have you produced so far?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 43:40 Wow. That's a good one. I think we were up to like 90 something. I'm not a numbers person. You know, I'm a writer. So um, but I'm pretty close to around 90 And then the podcasts as well. We just, you know, I've got another podcast to do tomorrow with a lady. So she's making peanut butter cookies. Yeah, only three ingredients. Peanut butter cookie. So she's going to talk about her life, and Tara coin. So that's what we do. So if you ever want to see or go to them, and enjoy them cooking without looking TV show on YouTube.   Michael Hingson ** 44:37 So how often do you produce a new show?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 44:42 Um, once a once a month, and we're going to start up again since my computer and then the podcasts are like, several times a month like whoever comes out and wants to do a podcast. We produce their podcast several times. The month.   Michael Hingson ** 45:02 So, you've, you've had a number of interesting people on needless to say, What's your favorite show so far?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 45:10 Oh my, well, that's hard. That's like asking her mother, a mother what her favorite child is, which one is your favorite child? It all depends on who was on there. We had a cute one. For Valentine's Day once, we had two blind couples on there. And we had a lot of fun with that. Um, that was, that was a cute one. And then I really liked the one from South Africa. That was, I was cool. Maybe it's like a little selfish because I love food from other countries. You can always see the similarities of of your own of the countries of your own. One of my favorite podcasts, we had a couple who was blind, and I actually they came to Miami and I walked him around Miami and the beaches and everything. And Mike Gravatt and his wife, Gianna, they're there just a hoot to talk to. Let's see what else they those are probably my favorites, that I can pop off the top of my head. But it's, it's nice to see that people get along and just enjoy themselves. And the blindness is really just a secondary factor. It's it's living and having fun and enjoying your life.   Michael Hingson ** 46:40 So when you do the shows, like on Zoom, and so on, you people are actually cooking during the shows. Oh, yeah,   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 46:47 yeah, we have a script, everything.   Michael Hingson ** 46:50 So how does all that work in terms of the fact that typically, if you've got to have a camera and everything so people can see it? How, how easy is it to set all that up? I mean, from your side, it's great. But if the other end where the people are actually doing the, the cooking and so on, how does that work? Oh,   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 47:08 it actually works really great. Um, I've only had edit like one or two of them just a tiny bit, that people put their cameras up either the cameras or their computers, and they are able to cook and we practice first, we have a rehearsal a couple of days before. And we look to see where their cameras set up a lot of times, we you know, they have a family member or something who sets the camera for them in a certain area. It's, and it goes really, really well because we we just do it ahead of time we show them you know, we take a look at see how their camera is set up or whether they're using their computer, and whatever works for them. But we've had lots of success that way. Not a big deal. People are always excited to be on the show the tips. We had one young man mica, he made like he has it down the perfect chicken breast because that's one of those things that can be really really difficult. And sort of dry, you can wear him as a shoe. And he he had a doubt and that became like, pretty popular. And he's a young man and he just took us through it. He was like, Okay, you do this, you do this, you do this. I'm very, very attentive, lots of attention to detail.   Michael Hingson ** 48:43 When people are cooking, there's, there's, there's the actual cooking part. And there's the preparation part. So do people move their cameras around? Or do you just have them in one spot? How does all that work?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 48:56 No, um, it depends. It really depends on the recipe. We have one lady who has a special syrup, and she was making some food, very special syrup. Oftentimes, if there's like a lot of cutting or preparation or whatever, we have them prep their food ahead of time. And then maybe just for example, if you need a cup of carrots, chopped carrots, they chop their carrots ahead of time, just like any other TV show, they chop their carrots ahead of time, and then show us just one. But there's there's not a lot of moving around. Most of them don't move around, we haven't worked out so like depending on the recipe, we tell them how to position your camera, how to position your computer, and, you know, look this way to your right to your love, you know. So, um, it actually hasn't been harder. This is probably the first time I'm thinking about it when you ask me this, Michael.   Michael Hingson ** 49:57 The reason I ask is I'm just thinking Have me. One of my favorite recipes is a recipe that I will do on the grill outside. But the preparation is inside. It's a chicken recipe. It's called Chicken Diavolo. It's actually a recipe my wife got from food and wine. And it's really our favorite recipe uses chicken thighs. And the marinate that you put the chicken thighs in is wonderful.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 50:26 Sounds good. And it's just, Michael.   Michael Hingson ** 50:29 And it's, it's, it's got a, it's, it's, well, it uses a fair amount of oil, but they're not really oily by the time you're done. But it's a wonderful recipe to do. But just the preparation or doing it and then putting it on the grill is in two different locations. And that's what really prompted me to ask the question, when I'm sure that we could figure out it would be fun to to do it. It's been a while since I've done chicken D. But   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 50:55 I would love to have you on that one that will be great. Because we don't have anything like that, I would have to see you do part of it, like part of it would be done ahead of time. Because that's really like a lot of TV shows the cooking, a lot of things are done partially ahead of time. And then do you have like some sort of a table alongside of you or?   Michael Hingson ** 51:22 Well, when I do the grilling, everything else is done. And then I take it out and there's there's a table on the grill. But it wouldn't be fun to to think about doing it. The preparation is really creating the marinade. Because then the chicken thighs go into the marinate and then they go on to the grill. So it would be it would be something to explore. And yeah, we'd love the idea would the idea would be that you create marinate, put the chicken in it, then let them marinate a while. And so that could be done inside and then just move the camera and everything outside. It might be fun to think about.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 52:00 Well, you could you could just you could have, are there like lots of ingredients for the marinade.   Michael Hingson ** 52:08 Not too many.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 52:10 But take those ingredients outside. You can have the chicken in the marinade already done, right?   Michael Hingson ** 52:16 Yeah, you can just take the ingredients outside that would go into the marinate and, and create a little bit of it. Yeah, that's another way to do it. Which also means when you do that, you get a second batch, which is also good. So that's fine.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 52:29 Right? You can never have too much grilled chicken. That's fine. No.   Michael Hingson ** 52:33 And and if unlike anything else, if done, right? They come out pretty moist. You don't want to overcook them. It is chicken thighs so that the marinate does get absorbed a lot better into the thighs than it would into like chicken breasts and so on, which is why thighs are used. But it's a it's a great recipe.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 52:52 Oh, that sounds good. Well, what's in it?   Michael Hingson ** 52:55 There's rosemary, there is oil. I'm trying to remember some of the the other spices are. Well, there's peppermint   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 53:02 rosemary.   Michael Hingson ** 53:03 Yeah, there's pepper. And I have to go back and find the recipe. It's been a while. My wife was ill last year and passed away in November. So frankly, I haven't made it for a while. So I'm going to have to do that. I've been lazy, but that's okay.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 53:19 Well give you a reason to make it. I'm sorry to hear about your wife, Michael.   Michael Hingson ** 53:23 Well, it's okay. We, we we continue to move forward. And and she's around watching. So it's okay. So I will do it right. Otherwise, I'll be in trouble. So it's no problem. Well, so what are your future plans for the show? You are? I know you said you're restarting it and so on. So kind of what are the plans? What do you expect to see happen?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 53:46 Well, I would like to get some sponsors. I would like to go to more events, the season in California, I'd like to go there, you know, bring my troops. So I'd like to be more on the ground with people. And I would like to find a resting place for us on a streaming service.   Michael Hingson ** 54:13 Well, I still think of Bobby Flay and Food Network as far as a place to go. I don't know Bobby, and then and all that, but I've watched him and just he's clearly an innovative visionary guy. And I would think if anybody would be intrigued it would be would be He. So something to think about.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 54:34 Well, I don't think I just do so um, this this week, I'll get a note off the bobby off the research how to get a hold of him. And um, you know, Rachael Ray knows him and the thing with her is Rachel has a her mother has macular degeneration, so I thought there will be a special in with her as well. Have you? Go ahead? No, no go up.   Michael Hingson ** 55:03 Have you ever had the opportunity to interview Christine? Ha, who won the Mastership?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 55:10 I did. And she's on our, our Facebook. I'm sorry, our Facebook, our YouTube channel. She's on her podcast. Oh, cool. Yeah. What did you want to know about Christine?   Michael Hingson ** 55:24 Well, no, I was just wondering if you had I mean, I've met Christine. But again, that might be a way to, to get some context, but I just was curious if you'd met her and had her on because she'd be a natural, that would be a good person to be on the show.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 55:41 Yeah, she, she wanted to be on the podcast. So she was on the podcast, it's quite interesting with her. She, they thought she had they, they thought she had multiple sclerosis at first. And then it went into blindness. And, you know, some of the medications she was taking, wasn't working, weren't working. And but, um, you can always, as I said, go to our YouTube channel. And she's there   Michael Hingson ** 56:10 to tell us if people want to watch the show exactly. Where do they go? Do you have a web address that you can give? Or do you have a website they can go to and we start from   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 56:19 the website, the main place they can go is a Cooking Without Looking YouTube channel, go to YouTube, and then type in cooking without looking. We have a website, which is w w w . cooking without looking TV,  .wordpress.com. And if that's a lot for you to remember what it is for me. You can always just Google cooking without looking TV show on or bring it to our, to our web.   Michael Hingson ** 56:52 Great. Well, and I assume that if anyone wants to reach out to you, they can go to your website and and make contact with you there.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 57:01 Yes, or, you know, we also have a Facebook page and cooking with the cooking without looking TV show Facebook page, and I can email me there.   Michael Hingson ** 57:13 And what is it called?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 57:15 What was that?   Michael Hingson ** 57:16 What is the Facebook page called? Specifically?   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 57:18 The cooking without looking TV show. Okay, cool.   Michael Hingson ** 57:23 Well, I want to thank you for being on unstoppable mindset today. This has been fun. We've done some good cooking talk here. And a body is now getting hungry.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 57:36 Well, Michael, thank you. I'm so grateful for you to invite me over and and talk to you. I'm really humbled by you asking me so thank you so much.   Michael Hingson ** 57:46 Well, it's been an honor. And I really appreciate it. And I hope you listening out there enjoyed this as well go check out cooking without looking in all sorts of places from YouTube, to Facebook and everywhere in between, and go to the website. Reach out to Ren'ee. And we, we will I'm sure be hearing more from her as the show progresses. And hopefully we've given her and you some things to think about. Blindness isn't the problem. It's our attitude, that is really the issue that we have to address. So really appreciate Ren'ee again, you being here. And again, for all of you listening, we'd love to get your feedback and your comments. We would appreciate you giving us a five star rating wherever you're listening to our podcast. And if you'd like to reach out to me feel free to do so at Michaelhi at accessiBe A C C E S S I B E.com. Or go to our website. www dot Michael hingson m i c h a e l h i n g s o n.com/podcast. And we'd love to have you rate us there and listen to all of the podcasts that are there. You can binge listen and spend a whole lot of time at it now. So we what we really appreciate you listening to us and all the wonderful comments that you've gotten. And again, Ren'ee, one last time, thank you very much for being here with us today.   Ren'ee Rentmeester ** 59:14 Thank you, Michael. Thank you.   Michael Hingson ** 59:21 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com. accessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

Read transcriptShow Notes In episode 187 of the iACast podcast, Michael, along with Taylor and Lynn, kick off the episode by giving a brief recap of the previous episode. We also mention the WayAround booth at a convention and our participation in the Tuesday Unmute Presents call for the ACB community. Moving on to the news segment, we delve into the limitations and negative press around ChatGPT, an AI language model, and discuss its potential future developments. We also touch on Meta's recent release of the app called Threads and its potential impact on Mastodon and accessibility. We express our curiosity about the interconnectivity between different platforms and raise concerns about possible restrictions and their impact on advertising revenue. We also mention the ongoing legal dispute between Elon Musk and Meta related to Threads. Next, we talk about rate limits on Twitter and share our experiences from conferences in the blindness and low vision community. We emphasize the importance of accurate resolution wording and discuss biases in AI models. Additionally, we shed light on the challenges that blind individuals face with services like Uber and Lyft and advocate for effective advocacy and communication. In the latter part of the episode, we touch on the decline in technical skills and discuss AccessiBe's web accessibility tool. Unfortunately, we are unable to pay a certain individual as they requested the content to be taken down. Nonetheless, we share our great experience at the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) conference, where we discussed accessibility. We spent a considerable amount of time in the exhibit hall and were intrigued by devices like the Sense Player and the Monarch. The Sense Player is an Android book player with the ability to control both iOS and Android devices. It also has its own Android apps in the works. On the other hand, the Monarch is a compact device with features such as braille refresh, image zoom, regular braille, buttons, and a lamination screen. It includes USB ports and HDMI as well. We express our excitement about the Monarch and eagerly await its pricing details. We also mention the Graffiti as another favorite device, although it lacks the ability to display braille in line with graphics like the Monarch does. We appreciate advancements in braille technology such as the modular Optima braille display and the use of Orbit Braille cells. The Optima display offers HDMI and customizable USB ports, and we anticipate its release. It is encouraging to see companies like Humanware advocating for accessible devices like the Monarch. We believe that innovation and the resolution of supply chain issues will lead to a brighter future for braille technology. We then discuss our experience at the Way Around convention where we showcased our public token signs and distributed tokens with NFC tags. The feedback has been positive, and we continue to improve and expand our platform. To wrap up the show, we each share our picks of the week. Taylor recommends Squarespace, a user-friendly website builder, despite its accessibility issues. Lynn recommends the Lookup app for word enthusiasts. I, on the other hand, recommend the Stormbox Blast speaker and express my excitement for the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy 3 movie. We thank Lynn and Taylor for joining us in the discussion and point out that we are approaching the two-hour mark. Stay tuned for the outtake show. Lastly, we express gratitude to our listeners and encourage them to check out our YouTube channel and other podcasts on the iACast network.Episode Notes Picks Taylor: Squarespace Lynn: Lookup for iOS Michael: Guardians of the Galaxy Volume...

In this episode of White Canes Connect, Preston and Simon talk with Joanne Kim and Ashleigh Rogers, NFB Scholarship finalists. Joanne is a rising sophomore at Temple University, while Ashleigh is an incoming freshman at Lebanon Valley College.  They discuss their experiences as visually impaired students and their career aspirations. Joanne studies environmental science and aims to work for the government to protect the environment, while Ashleigh plans to major in actuarial science and hopes to work in the insurance industry before transitioning to a government position.  Both students highlight their challenges in their schooling and the importance of having the right tools and support. They also share their involvement with the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and how they discovered the organization. Joanne emphasizes the positive impact of transferring to a school for the blind, significantly improving her academic success.  The students discuss their scholarship application process and offer advice to potential applicants. They express excitement about attending the NFB convention and meeting others with visual impairments. Both scholarship winners had suggestions on how to help themselves and the community. Joanne pointed to Temple University's Society of Environmental Engineers and Scientists https://www.instagram.com/tu.sees/, while Ashleigh thought the 4H Club benefited her growth. Find one near you at https://4-h.org/.  Show notes at https://www.whitecanesconnect.com/076    Support the NFB of PA & White Cane Coffee Support the NFB of PA with every purchase at White Cane Coffee Company by going to https://www.whitecanecoffee.com/ref/nfbp. When you use that link to purchase from White Cane Coffee, the NFB of PA earns a 10% commission! Share the link with your family and friends! Listen to Erin and Bob Willman from White Cane Coffee on episode 072 of White Canes Connect. Give Us A Call We'd love to hear from you! We've got a phone number for you to call, ask us questions, give us feedback, or say, "Hi!" Call us at (267) 338-4495. You have up to three minutes for your message, and we might use it on an upcoming episode. Please leave your name and town as part of your message.  Follow White Canes Connect Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon | IHeartRadio  Connect With Us If you've got questions, comments, or show ideas, reach out on Twitter. We are @PABlindPodcast. You can also email us at WhiteCanesConnect@gmail.com.      

In this week's episode, Nadia and Rob lament Elon's "U up?" email to Twitter employees, discuss Wimbledon's leap into the 20th century, and chat with guest Mary Fernandez about how DEI often leaves people with disabilities behind and what companies can do. Mary Fernandez's recommendations: Crip Camp: https://cripcamp.com/ Disability Lead Organizations Autistic Advocacy Network: https://autisticadvocacy.org/ National Federation of the Blind: Nfb.org National Association of the Deaf: https://www.nad.org/ United Spinal Association:: https://unitedspinal.org/ Blogs Words to wheel by: https://emilyladau.com/ Disability wisdom: https://www.disabilitywisdom.com/blog/ Quirky quad: https://quirkyquad.com/ Hosted by Nadia Butt and Rob Hadley. Produced by Rifelion Media. Contact us: inclusivecollective@rifelion.com For advertising opportunities please email PodcastPartnerships@Studio71us.com    Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast for free wherever you're listening or by using this link: https://bit.ly/InclusiveCollective If you like the show, telling a friend about it would be amazing! You can text, email, Tweet, or send this link to a friend: https://bit.ly/InclusiveCollective Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dr. Rosy Carranza facilitates the Teacher of Tomorrow Program with the National Federation of the Blind (NFB). In this episode, Rosy shares her background, her expertise, and her passion surrounding the education of blind students and the educators who teach them. To learn more about the Teacher of Tomorrow program visit https://nfb.org/programs-services/education/teachers-tomorrow

On Friday 28 August 2020, Everette Bacon joined a Braillists Foundation Stay Safe: Stay Connected call to talk about how the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) promotes braille literacy across the United States. Everette is a member of the Board of Directors of NFB and President of the Utah State Division. He told us ... Read more

I talk about the apathy and lack of interest the human race has for one another. I talk about the “Good Samaritan” law and why I think it should be strengthened and more readily enforced. I talk about Texas' decision to open everything up and discontinue mask mandating, and I talk about why the blind are so fractioned. Why do we need an American Council of the Blind (ACB) or national Federation of the Blind (NFB) and the Canadian chapter of these organizations? What is their use. I also talk about a possible future for my channel, and why I think it'll fail before it even gets out of the gate.

Join us for a special event with ACB President Dan Spoone, as he sits down for a fireside chat with leaders from across the blindness field, including Mark Richert, Interim Executive Director for the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER), Kirk Adams, President & CEO of American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), Craig Meador, President of the American Printing House for the Blind (APH), Don Overton, Executive Director of Blinded Veterans Association (BVA), Mark Riccobono, President of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), and Lee Nasehi, President & CEO of VisionServe Alliance.

2049 Programs and Services from NFB – Part 2 (Dec. 2, 2020) Show Notes The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) offers many services and resources for people of all ages whose lives are affected by vision loss. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey continue their conversation with Anil Lewis, Executive Director of Blindness Initiatives for … Continue reading 2049 Programs and Services from NFB – Part 2 (Dec. 2, 2020) →

2048 Programs and Services from NFB – Part 1 (Nov. 25, 2020) Show Notes The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) offers many services and resources for people of all ages whose lives are affected by vision loss. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Anil Lewis, Executive Director of Blindness Initiatives for the NFB, … Continue reading 2048 Programs and Services from NFB – Part 1 (Nov. 25, 2020) →

2044 Advocacy from NFB (Oct. 28, 2020) Show Notes The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) has long played a leading role in advocating for the rights of people with visual impairments in the areas of education, employment and civil rights. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with John Paré, Executive Director for Advocacy and … Continue reading 2044 Advocacy from NFB (Oct. 28, 2020) →

MentionsALinkerCMT Awareness MonthWebsite/Blog, Twitter, & Instagram HandleFacebook, @gayleweenie on InstagramName *Lisa WeinerDisorder InfoWhat is your disorder? *Charcot-Marie-Tooth diseaseHow To Vote By Mail In California: 2020 General Election: August 25, 2020 (full article detailed below).https://patch.com/california/across-ca/how-vote-mail-california-2020-general-election“Once your mailed-in ballot is completed, it can be inserted into the provided envelope and sent to your local county elections office.You can also return your ballot by:Bringing it in-person to any nearby polling place or elections office before 8 p.m. on Election Day, November 3.Dropping it into one of your county's ballot drop boxes before 8 p.m. on Election Day.Authorizing someone else to return the ballot on your behalf. (If you do this, you must fill out the authorization form on the back of the ballot envelope you receive.)If you are not yet registered to vote, you can register online here, up until October 19. California also offers same-day registration, which can be done on Election Day at your local polling place.If you need to change your address to vote by mail, you can:Write to your local county elections officialFill out this online application, print, sign, and date it, and then mail it to your county elections office. (Also available in Spanish, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Tagalog, Thai, and Vietnamese)Or, fill out the application printed on the voter information guide, which is mailed to every voter by their county elections office before the electionVisit the California Secretary of State's website for more information about how to vote in this fall's General Election.”CA 2020 Election: Voting In Person; What To Know: September 30, 2020 (click link below for full article)https://patch.com/california/across-ca/ca-2020-election-voting-person-what-knowMain points:*Governor Gavin Newsom made an executive order to mail absentee ballots to every registered voter in California.Though everyone will get a ballot in the mail, some will inevitably need to visit a polling place for many reasons — for lost or damaged ballots or for language or disability assistance. Some will need to register last minute on Election Day, which state law allows at polling sites.In person voting: begins as early as October 31 and ends on election day, Tuesday, November 3, at 8 PM. There will be fewer polling places per county than usual, so as to limit spiraling lines/congestion and mitigate spread of COVID-19. Also, due to pandemic, many usual polling locations i.e., retirement homes, community centers and churches are closed.Find your polling place by using this form on the California Secretary of State's website. California Secretary of State, Elections Division, 1500 11th St., 5th Floor, Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: (916) 657-2166, (800) 345-VOTE (8683), (800) 833-8683 (TTY/TDD) Website: www.sos.ca.gov/elections/Register to vote or check if your registration status is active here.If voting in person, you should bring your mailed ballot with you to your nearest polling place. Since all CA voters were mailed ballots this year, this is proof that you didn't already mail your ballot and vote twice.However, if you forget to bring your ballot to polling place, or it became lost in the mail, you may need to vote provisionally. This means that your vote may be subject to a screening. Officials may want to verify your registration status or confirm that it wasn't already mailed. With these extra steps, a vote may not be counted on Nov. 3, but it will eventually.Also, voters should arrive with the proper COVID-19 protective gear. Poll workers are instructed to keep their distance and wear masks. They will provide face coverings to voters who need them.Voting with a Disability: Federal law requires that people with disabilities have access to vote on Election Day.Federal law requires at least one accessible voting system in every in-person voting center. However, it's best to connect with your local election officials to confirm an accessible polling location in your area.If your assigned polling location is not accessible, you have the right to be reassigned to an accessible polling place or to be provided an alternative method of voting.If you encounter a barrier when you arrive, talk with a poll worker or election judge present to make accommodations.A person has the right to ask to vote curbside, in a car/vehicle if the polling place is not accessible.A person has the right to have a friend, family member, or polling staff help them to vote. The Voting Rights Act of 1964 states that any voter requiring assistance to vote because of a disability will have the ability to bring a person of their choice to assist them in casting their ballot. Though polling staff should be trained in accessible voting, that may not be reality at your polling location.A person also has the right to refuse help with voting if they don't need it.Other voting resources: For general and accurate voting information: https://vote.gov/ and https://www.healthyvoting.org/You can track your ballot on California's ballot tracker: https://california.ballottrax.net/voter/American Association of People with Disabilities; https://www.aapd.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/State-Voting-Guide-California.pdf (this is a thorough guide of voting resources including ones detailed below).To request remote accessible vote by mail, need to request by October 27. https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voting-resources/remote-accessible-vote-mailNational Association of the Deaf (NAD); American sign language (ASL) voting hotline: 301-818-VOTE or 301-818-8683; https://www.nad.org/asl-voter-hotline/National Federation of the Blind (NFB): they have voting information you can download in Word, braille, Word in Spanish, braille in Spanish, and a specific guide for young people, also in braille. They also have voter guide videos in English and Spanish. https://www.nfb.org/programs-services/center-excellence-nonvisual-access/national-center-nonvisual-election-3.Self advocates becoming empowered for voting and guardianship. Website includes informative videos on how to deal with potential voting problems at polling location. https://www.sabeusa.org/govoter/voting-info/voting-and-guardianship/.Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN): A Self-Advocate's Guide to Voting in the U.S. https://autisticadvocacy.org/policy/toolkits/voting/California easy voter guide; https://easyvoterguide.org/Voter's Edge California: https://votersedge.org/caDisability Vote California: https://disabilityvoteca.org/Disability Rights California: for voting publications https://www.disabilityrightsca.org/resources/voting. Disability Rights California: 1831 K Street, Sacramento, CA 95811; Phone: 916-504-5800, 800-719-5798 (TTY), 800-776-5746 (Toll Free); info@disabilityrightsca.org; www.disabilityrightsca.org/Election protection hotline: 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683); https://866ourvote.org/The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), recently sat down with Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey, about accessible voting and what he's doing in Congress to make voting more accessible for individuals living with disabilities. Click here to watch video: https://youtu.be/9e4w6bc5lkg . And, link for MDA‘s Advocacy Institute on accessible voting: https://strongly.mda.org/know-your-voting-rights-on-election-day-2020/.National conference on state legislators: voting info by state and how to restore voting right after a felony conviction. In 2016, California passed legislation allowing those in county jails to vote while incarcerated, but not those in state or federal prison. https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/felon-voting-rights.aspx.Attachments areaPreview YouTube video MDA Advocacy Institute Session 4: Accessible VotingMDA Advocacy Institute Session 4: Accessible VotingAt what age did your disorder become a daily issue? *29Who were you before your illness became debilitating? *I was a happy, healthy, young adult, recently moved in with my then-boyfriend, working full-time at a healthcare consulting company. Also, I had recently applied to masters public health program.(MPH) programs though was rejected from all 3 programs, where I applied. Though disappointed, I was still optimistic, and certain I'd find another way for career advancement or development.What would you do if you were not dealing with your disorder and/or disability? *Writing more, dancing, graduate school, traveling, volunteering in person, socializing a lot more with friends and family, having children (though can't anymore at age 49)... I did want to be a mother/have children.What would you like people to know about your daily life? *This is probably TMI, too much information but here's my answer:-): My daily life varies tremendously, depending on previous days activities, sleep, and the priorities to accomplish for the day. I frequently feel like a young person in an older person's body. Therefore, everyday tasks/activities often take longer for me, and utilize spoons, like taking a bath, getting dressed, putting shoes and braces on, etc. I often arrange MD or other health-related appointments, and sometimes transportation. I manage a multitude of healthcare paperwork, and receipts for medical deductions. Also, I usually stretch and do some movement each day. And like most people, I check and answer email, as well as read, research, shop and/or connect online. Though admittedly, I tend to find social media overwhelming and fatiguing, So, social media is usually my last priority. I'm definitely open to suggestions for mitigating social media fatigue. Typically, I prefer to text, email, call, FaceTime or zoom with close friends and family. Additionally, a couple of days a week I play mah-jongg with friends, and a couple of days a week I go to the local Peninsula Jewish Community Center (PJCC) for Pilates exercise or community events/activities, pre-COVID-19. I love to write, and free-write mostly for myself. I especially like writing personal essays and articles. I've written an article on caring for hands with CMT published on cmtausa.org, and CMTA's spring 2020 magazine. Despite hand challenges, I enjoy various arts and crafts. Before COVID-19, attended a few free adult arts and crafts classes/workshops. I've participated in a variety of volunteer projects over the years including, tutoring primary school-age kids, reading stories to preschoolers, participating in various consumer/market research studies and usability focus groups. I've organized and participated in many CMTA fundraising efforts, and in 2019, was a top individual fundraiser of all the annual CMTA walks across the country. Our annual SF/Bay Area September walk for CMT, usually located in Palo Alto, California, won't be taking place this year due to COVID-19. However, we will still fundraise online, and friends and family do their own walks. Last year, with the recommendation of San Mateo‘s Center For Independence and Disabled, Assistive Technology Coordinator, I worked with a local private high school for their Project Invent program. Along with other high schools across the country, each student group developed their technology device innovation for someone in the disabled community. Students interviewed and videotaped me for a couple of hours, as I told my story living with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. Then, I corresponded with their teacher via emails, as well as a couple Zoom calls with teacher and students. They developed a technology called Ruby, to automatically tie shoelaces through a click of the heel and/or handheld device/remote control. Because of COVID-19, students didn't have an opportunity to work with me after the prototype complete and test it. But, I saw a 3-D model they developed on the computer, during the virtual Project Invent Demo Day presentation. There were nine student teams. They had five judges from big tech companies around the country (i.e. Amazon) as well as the founder of Project Invent. Team Ruby were one of three runner up teams, winning a $500 prize to further test their product and try and bring to the marketplace. It was amazing seeing these brilliant and innovative kids! It was truly an honor to participate. Eventually, assuming we're able to be together in groups again, goal is to meet with high school student team, to test the prototype. The following link explains and shows a 3-D model of project: https://www.csus.org/news-detail?pk=1102892What would make living and moving in the world easier for you? *Packaging not so difficult to open on everyday items! I have heard you say on this podcast, that Uber and Lyft should offer reduced prices for disabled customers. I would broaden that to other company services, as well as movie theaters, live theater productions, and concerts, and sporting events. If had more energy, I'd like to aggressively advocate for increased opportunities for low-income housing, especially for young adults to middle-age, with physical disabilities, and include such offerings as rehabilitation pool, group activities, etc. One other thing is new innovations/technology for mobility...ways to be more mobile and active. Have you heard of the Alinker, https://www.thealinker.com/? It's not right for everyone, but a fabulous mobility aid developed by an engineer in the Netherlands.. It's somewhat pricey, and not covered by Medicare or most insurance plans. However, it's extremely well-made, and I'd love to have one

Show Summary: (Full Transcript Below) Jim Barbour is a dynamic guest who has a wonderful story to share with the Blind Abilities audience. Jim speaks of his blindness, his education and employment, his deeply felt views around independence and his belief in developing and maintaining strong blindness skills. Jim takes us through his high school and college years, where he became involved with the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), to which he accredits his independent mindset, and his almost fearless approach towards life and its challenges. Jim shares his experience seeking new jobs and  divulging his blindness to prospective employers.   Jim has put his computer programming talents to worked with various tech companies including Qualcomm, google and Yahoo, recently completing an oversees assignment in Ireland.   He is an Aira user and describes how the service can work as a Reasonable Accommodation in the workplace, as well as helping him acclimate to a new country oversees.   Finally, listen as Jim shares his advice for blind students who are aspiring towards college and/or employment. Join Jeff Thompson and Pete Lane as they engage in a fascinating conversation with this tremendous guest, as only Blind Abilities can!   You can find Jim on Facebook, and reach out to him via email. Thanks for Listening! You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities On the web at www.BlindAbilities.com Send us an email Get the Free Blind Abilities App on the App Store. Get the Free blind Abilities App on the Google Play Store Full Transcript: A Conversation With Jim Barbour - Fiercely and Fearlessly Independent, and Well-Spoken Advocate Jeff Thompson: Welcome to Blind Abilities, I'm Jeff Thompson. Pete Lane: And I'm Pete Lane. Our guest this morning is Jim Barbour. We'll be talking with Jim today about a variety of topics ranging from his visual condition, his education, his transition to college and the workplace, and his views on blindness and independence. Jim Barbour: When I was high school, my dad an Apple III computer, and I was able to use it and get it to do what I wanted it to do. I decided that computers would probably be a fun way for me to make a living. In 1988, I took time off to be one of the first students of the Colorado Center for the Blind, which actually did an awful lot to kind of strengthen and tighten my own confidence in my belief in myself. I have had several jobs, including working for a company called Qualcomm, and I worked for Google for several years, and I worked for a couple years in a company call Yahoo. The transition was mostly just me needing to learn a lot about how to advocate for myself and manage my own resources a lot better. Jim Barbour: People need to learn to do this, and it's better to learn to do it early because when you go off and get a job somewhere, there aren't people waiting around to kind of take care of this stuff for you. The question that comes up a lot around looking for jobs is, when do you disclose about your blindness? The one thing that also happened there was that no one asked me anything about my blindness, and that really seemed like a bit of a red flag to me. Jim Barbour: I really kind of felt like, if they don't know anything about my blindness, it's gonna be really easy for them to just decide that it isn't work the risk. They understand the problem, but it's just such a hard problem to fight. The inertia will take you in inaccessible directions unless you fight it really hard. Don't let yourself go down this inaccessible road because you'll make it really hard to hire blind people in the future. Jim Barbour: I think that Ira's absolutely gonna be an invaluable tool for people in the workforce, and in fact, Aira knows that. Aira helped me quite a bit to get accommodated. I also took a couple weeks off and went traveling around Europe. Again, Aira was just very helpful in allowing to very quickly orient myself to a neighborhood. Aira is much more efficient at that than what I used to do, which is to just ask people for directions. Jim Barbour: The biggest advice I can give them is that a nobody's gonna look out for you but you. You need to decide that it is up to you to get the things that you need in this world. I think I am adventurous I enjoy that. I'm a very happy, very lucky blind person. Pete Lane: And now let's meet our guest, Jim Barbour. Pete Lane: Good morning, Jim, welcome to Blind Abilities. Jim Barbour: Good morning, Pete. Good morning, Jeff. Thank you for having me. Jeff Thompson: Good morning, Jim. Pete Lane: Our pleasure. Jim why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and your visual condition? Jim Barbour: I was born with an underdeveloped optic nerve. I found out as a grown up that they called it optic nerve hypoplasia. I never spent a lot of time trying to figure out about a cure or anything like that. It was a condition I had. It left me with partial vision in both eyes. When I was growing up in the '70s, they actually did not teach me Braille. They got me how to read large prints and how to use a closed circuit TV even though they were sort of very fatiguing and very challenging for me. But that's how I did a lot of my schoolwork. When I got into high school, I started learning how to use readers, so that's kind of a little bit about my visual condition, and a little bit about what it's done for me. Jim Barbour: I graduated from high school in the early '80s, and went to the University of Colorado at Boulder where Marci Carpenter and a gentleman named Homer Page ran the Disability Student Services Office. They were actually very strong NFB folks who insisted that blind people manage their own readers, and in my case since I was in computer science, they actually insisted that I find my own readers because I needed to find people who could read the advanced math and the computer science that I needed. I would go and look for them and hire them, and on occasion fire them because either they weren't doing what I needed in a timely manner, or they actually didn't know how to read the material, or they wouldn't follow my instructions in reading the material. Jim Barbour: I was in college for actually a very long time. I did not follow the four year in and out program. I was struggling a bit to finish some classes, and had to take a few classes over again. In the middle of all that, in 1988, I took time off to go be one of the first students for the Colorado Center for the Blind's, which actually did an awful lot to kind of strengthen and tighten my own confidence in my belief in myself and my NFB philosophy. Jim Barbour: I did that for seven months. I left there and went back to school. Still didn't finish, but did a much better job of taking classes and stuff. Then a couple years later, I left there and started my career as an IT, Unix IT person, and I have had several jobs since then including working for a company called Qualcomm twice, and I worked for Google for several years in the middle. I worked for a couple years at a company called Yahoo!, which most of you probably heard of as well. Pete Lane: Jim, you studied computer science with a heavy emphasis on math courses. What drew you to computer science? Jim Barbour: When I was in high school my dad had an Apple III computer, and I was able to use it by putting the monitor really close to my face, and then later by using the original OutSPOKEN program for the Mac, but it was just a way that I got to play with a cool toy, and get it to do what I wanted it to do. It was certainly a lot of fun for me as a high school kid. I decided that computers would probably be a fun way for me to make a living. Jim Barbour: Later on in high school, I was part of a summer work program for blind people, and I got a job learning how to do basic Unix computer stuff at the University, again using large print, and having the monitor really close to my face. Nobody really understood about screen-reading technology for Unix systems at that time. I got to learn to do a lot of that. It was a lot of fun, and I had a lot of people around me who weren't really sure how I would do things as a blind person, but we kind of figured it out together. Jim Barbour: Later when I started going to NFB conventions, my first NFB convention was my senior year of high school. When I started going there, I met a bunch of other blind people who were into computer science, and who showed me a bunch of different technologies for accessing computers. I kind of got solidified on the idea that this was actually something I could do, and had spent a lot of time in college both doing work and coursework to kind of build up my skills, and decide this was a job I really enjoyed, and would do well at. Jeff Thompson: Jim, what was some of your first technology that you used? I know you used the early Mac, but once you decided to give up on the large print, what did you migrate into? Jim Barbour: I actually never did give up on large print. I still use large print for some things, but I also use Artic's Business Vision and progressed on to different screen readers, of course, eventually landing with JAWS, and then later, of course, when the iPhone came out, I used that with VoiceOver. Jim Barbour: What I have sort of decided to do is a lot of the work I do is just work I do in a terminal, in a command prompt, and so for work like that using large print works just fine for me. When I need to go visit busy complicated websites with different font sizes and where there's a lot of reading involved, then I will use a screen reader of one kind or another. Jim Barbour: One thing I actually never got particularly good at was using magnification technology, like zoom and so on. What I generally did is if I could tell the program to give me a bigger font size, I would do it because I found that to be a much better experience, and if not then I switched primarily to using a screen reader. Jeff Thompson: When you transitioned from high school and decided to go to college, how did you prepare for that? Jim Barbour: I didn't. College was a huge wake up call for me. High school had been a relatively easy time in my life where I had materials prepared for me, where things were either recorded for me or made readable for me in large print, and I didn't have to worry about a lot of that stuff. Then I moved onto college, whereas I said the Disabled Students Office had pretty high expectations of their blind students. They insisted that I get readers to do recording. Back then, of course, it was all recording onto cassettes, and also get readers to take diagrams and other things that needed to be made readable by me and draw them out, either using large pieces of paper, or often I'd sit with them, and they would draw them on a whiteboard. Jim Barbour: This combination of having things enlarged and having things recorded using different readers. But it was a big transition, not only in terms of needing to plan and make sure that all of my materials became accessible in a form I could read, but also just took me longer to study. I just had to allocate a lot more time to doing school work and getting things ready to use. Jim Barbour: The other thing I had to do in college that I didn't have to worry about in high school was arrange for test taking. I would have to go talk with the professor and say, "I won't be able to take the test in class because I'll need someone to read to me." And depending on the kind of test I needed to take my answers, and maybe do my work on a whiteboard. I would have to make arrangements to take the test outside of the class with a proctor from the professor. Jim Barbour: I know these days a lot of that work is done by offered services for disabled students, but at the time the Disabled Students Office I was at insisted that I go make those arrangements. If the professor insisted on talking with the office, the office would talk to them, but basically would say work it out with them. The transition was mostly just me needing to learn a lot about how to advocate for myself, and manage my own resources a lot better than I did in high school. Jeff Thompson: And that's a great thing to have because once you start advocating for yourself, that's a lifelong skill that you can bring with you because you can't bring the disability services with you when you go looking for a job. Jim Barbour: That is an excellent point, and it's true that people need to learn to do this. It's better to learn to do it early because when you go off and get a job somewhere there aren't people waiting around to kind of take care of this stuff for you. You need to know how to do it. Jim Barbour: I also think that you come off much more professionally, and much more competently if you're able to explain to people what you're going to need, and if you're able to explain to them that you'll take care of getting it done, right? If you just sort of show up and say, "Okay, someone's gonna have to take care of this, and someone's gonna have to take care of this, and someone's gonna have to take care of this." That doesn't sound anywhere near as professional as, "Okay, I'm gonna have to make sure this gets done, this gets done, this gets done." People feel much better if they know that you know what needs to happen. Jeff Thompson: Especially during a job interview. Jim Barbour: Yeah, that's right. Pete Lane: Jim, I'm curious, when you had to schedule proctors and administrators for your tests, was that similar in some ways to finding readers in your specialty field, where you had to find somebody who was familiar with the math and the science that you were testing on? Jim Barbour: Similar, but when I went to find readers, I just went and put up notices on bulletin boards in the computer science and math department, basically saying I was looking for somebody who was willing to read math and computer science textbooks out loud. I would train them how to do it, and they would get paid a little bit of money to do it. Getting paid was enough to recruit a bunch of people. I would then sit down with them and I would give them a sheet of special characters, and tell them how I wanted those characters read, and I also showed them some simple math equations and gave examples of how I wanted them to be read. Jim Barbour: I would have them look at it for a couple of minutes, and then I would give them some example reading, and I would sort of see how they would do with the reading. I could tell pretty anyway, even if they didn't get it perfect. I could tell pretty quickly who was gonna pick it up and who wasn't, so that was basically the job interview. Jim Barbour: When it came to taking tests, what I needed to do was to find somebody who could do that reading and writing, but also could be really efficient at it because I was in the middle of taking a test. I had favorite readers I liked to use for those things. Jim Barbour: The other thing is the professor had to be around. The professor and I would sort of negotiate what times would work for me taking the test, and then I would have to find a reader who could sort of meet those times. I would, of course, do everything I could to make sure that my favorite readers were administering the tests. Jim Barbour: I never really thought much about how you could sort of use a system like that to cheat, like I could bring my best friend in to just take the test for me. I never even really considered that that was a problem. I was a pretty upstanding young man, and I brought readers in to do reading, but I realize now that a system like that is a big candidate for abuse. Jim Barbour: Mostly taking place now is that universities kind of pick the readers, and that's a real problem because you don't have any way of vetting the reader, and making sure that they are efficient, and that you and them have a rapport about how you want things read to them. Pete Lane: I would think it's kind of like a dual edged sword where the professor's sitting right there. You really can't conceal your knowledge or lack thereof if he's listening to your interaction with the reader and the writer, if he's right there. Jim Barbour: Well, so generally if I had a reader doing the test, the professor wouldn't be right there. The professor would in another room doing his own thing. It did wind up being the case, on a surprisingly large number of occasions, where the professor would just give me the test. While I was okay with that because the professor knows the material and so I can usually get him to read things in a way that would make sense, it seems like a huge waste of the professor's time. Jim Barbour: The one thing that was often convenient about it was that I often didn't wind up actually having to take the test. The professor and I would sit and talk about the material. He would ask me how I would go about solving it, and I would sort of tell him I would set up the problem this way, and he would go, "Okay, I believe you." Pete Lane: Yeah, I did that a lot too. Jim Barbour: In some cases that's good, and in other cases I think that kind of gave me short shrift on whether I really knew the material or not, but that is often what happened. Jeff Thompson: Yeah, some of these skills that you're developing as you're transitioning from high school to college, how to contact your professor yourself, how to hire and fire your own readers. These are skills that you're gonna take with you. So when people are looking for a job, who have vision loss, are actually developing a lot of skills that employers are looking for. Do you see it that way? Jim Barbour: I do. Not only are you generally more able to kind of handle yourself, have a lot of responsibility, know how to handle responsibility particularly well, know how to manage other people, even if you're not a manager, knowing how to sort of give people work and check up on them. Those are just really good skills to have. Jim Barbour: The question that comes up a lot around looking for jobs is, when do you disclose about your blindness? For me, for most of my life it was a pretty easy question. I didn't disclose until I was in the room with them. I kind of felt like I could do a much better job of managing expectation if I was there, rather than if it was like on my resume, and they had to kind of think about it before they brought me in. Jeff Thompson: And that's a good time to sell yourself too. Jim Barbour: I think that's right. But what has happened a lot before you ever get in the room with somebody, you are asked to take an online exam, or do some other kinds of work that may or may not be accessible to you as a blind person. So, now you have a tougher choice to make. Am I gonna find a reader, and do this inaccessible work myself, or am I gonna let the employer know that I'm a blind person and I'm gonna need some alternate form of exam? Both of which have their good side and their down sides. It's now, I think, a much harder question, but I do think whenever possible, holding that information until you are in a room with the people interviewing you helps a lot. Pete Lane: Now you're transition into the workplace happened back in the late '90s as I understand it, where the internet was either in its infancy, or not even in existence yet. Talk about that and how that might parlay into today's students who are migrating into the workforce looking for jobs. Jim Barbour: The World Wide Web was in its infancy, it didn't really exist. I was actually working as a contractor for the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, but I was getting bored there. And so I wanted to look for other work, but the web didn't exist yet, and so you couldn't just go to a job board and look for jobs. There were a couple of important board lists, but what mostly happened was that there were email lists. I got an email one day from a company called Qualcomm out in San Diego. I was in Colorado at the time. They were looking for someone to come and join their team. I thought that sounded like a great idea and a lot of fun. Jim Barbour: I replied back and I said I was interested. They, I think, sent me a couple of programming questions and said, "Can you write some example code, and show us your work?" I did that, and then they said, "Great, we would like to fly you out here, and give you a job interview." And so far blindness had not come up at all. The thing I remember most about that was they wanted to put me in a hotel several miles from the office and just have me rent a car. I think what I wound up doing was telling them I didn't drive, but that I would like to stay in this other hotel that's right nearby the office. They were readily agreeable to that. I don't know if that tipped them off or not. Jim Barbour: I flew out to San Diego, checked into the hotel, and I think I checked in on a Sunday night, and the interview was Monday morning. I, actually, on Sunday night asked the hotel for walking directions to the office, and walked it Sunday night, just so I would know exactly how to get there on Monday. And then I did, I walked over there Monday morning, and found the front door, let them know who I was, wound up talking with the HR person, talked about my blindness a little bit. Then I wound up interviewing, and the interviews all went really well. Jim Barbour: The one thing that also happened there was that no one asked me anything about my blindness. No one asked me how I was gonna do this or how I was gonna do that. And that really seemed like a bit of a red flag to me. I really kind of felt like, if they don't know anything about my blindness, or about me and my blindness, it's gonna be really easy for them to just decide that it isn't work the risk. At the end of the day I was talking with the person who was gonna be my hiring manager. I said, "Look, this is the time when you get to ask me about my blindness." He was like, "Oh, no, no. We were told we can't ask those kind of questions." Jim Barbour: I'm like, "I understand that this is the nature of things, but you need to know about me, and you need to know about my blindness, and so I'm giving you whatever permission you need to ask me any questions." He asked me a few questions that were pretty straightforward. How was I gonna get to work every day? What kind of assistive technology would I need? Some other things like that that I answered pretty readily. I think that that really helped get him over the hump. And he's just like, "Well, I don't know what else to ask, but I'm sure that you have the answers." And I'm like, "Yes. Yes, that's true." Jim Barbour: I wound up getting that job, and it was a great job. Qualcomm was never a problem for me in terms of getting me the equipment I needed, or the readers I needed, or whatever else I needed. They were very cooperative about that. Pete Lane: What type of work were you doing with Qualcomm, programming still? Jim Barbour: Programming. Basically, my life has been either as a programmer writing tools for systems administration, or then I moved into being an architect where I designed bigger platforms and stuff, and mentored other people in how to write programs. Even at Google, that's mostly what I did, was to write a lot of code for them. Pete Lane: Just to clarify, Jim, while you had some usable vision, obviously, you were a cane user were you not when you walked into that interview? Jim Barbour: Yes. So when I walked into the interview, they knew. I started using a cane in high school. At the time I lived in Boulder, Colorado, which at that time was a really small, sleepy little town. One of my biggest challenges with my cane was figuring out how I was gonna strap it to the bicycle I was riding at the time. I always look back at that, and I'm like, "I cannot believe I rode a bicycle." I quit doing that not too long after because I think I ran into something and really hurt myself, so I was like, "Okay, this is pretty stupid." Jim Barbour: I mean I had enough vision that I could sort of get away with riding a bicycle. I got talked into using a cane pretty early by the NFB. It actually turned out to be a very good way for me to solve a lot of problems I was having, not only around sort of tripping over things, and always looking down at the ground, but also just as a way of identifying myself as a blind person, not so much to other people, but to me. I really kind of was a little unclear about my status as a blind person, and carrying a cane allowed me to be a much better traveler, and to kind of identify myself as a blind person, both of which turned out to be very useful things. Jeff Thompson: It really helps, especially when you walk into a store, that the clerk sees the cane, they kind of get the idea too. So it lets you arrive a little bit early for some explanation. Jim Barbour: Exactly, yeah. Jeff Thompson: You talked about acquiring equipment through the company. Can you talk about reasonable accommodation? Jim Barbour: Sure. I have always felt like the company can and should, and generally will, meet any reasonable request I had. For sure, I needed a screen reader. I needed them to buy a JAWS for me. For sure, I needed readers, much more then than now, but back in the late '90s I needed people to read me journal articles, textbooks. I needed to learn how to do new things, and the way that you did that back then was by going and reading stuff off of print. Those were the two main things. Jim Barbour: The other accomondation I needed, which was also not a problem for them, was I needed a way to put the computer screen right next to my face. So I mean, literally, my face two or three inches away from the screen. We needed a way to do that that was ergonomically reasonable, so I wasn't bent over all the time hunching and squinting. We had somebody come up and built this stand to put my monitor on, and then we put the keyboard underneath of it. That actually worked out really well. Then, of course, later monitor arms came along. Jim Barbour: The other accommodations I needed, well they feel into two different categories. But there were two different types of tasks that were just really hard for me to do. One was if I would travel, filling out expense reports was just a very time consuming difficult process. Originally, it was on paper, and so I needed to get a reader and stuff to do all that, and then later it was online, but it was a very poorly designed inaccessible website. I just made arrangements for one of the secretaries to take care of that for me. Again, Qualcomm was like, "Sure, I mean, that's not a problem." That was one type of task. A task that doesn't happen very often that isn't very accessible, and so someone else would do it. Jim Barbour: Another task, or tasks, that were part of my daily life as a technologist, but were not easy for me to do, and they had to do with certain kinds of looking at graphs and looking at other kinds of very visual material. There were two ways that I would handle that. One way to handle it is to go in and fix the code so that it's giving you numbers and other kinds of text-based information that's useful to you. There were times when I did that, but there were other times when I just said, "This is a task that someone else needs to do. I am not gonna sit and interpret this data all the time, nor am I gonna go in and fix it so it gives me data I can use. Give me some more programming to do, or some more other kinds of things to do, and give somebody else this task." Jim Barbour: Again, Qualcomm did it for me. Again, I think that Qualcomm trusted me to make good decisions about what I could and couldn't do. Also, Qualcomm knew that I was bringing value to the company. They would make this decision, and they would understand the trade-offs, but they were totally fine with it. I think it would actually be a lot harder today to get started because of the fact that a lot of what I would've been doing if I had gotten hired is much more visual and much more inaccessible. I would've had to spend a lot more time interacting with Qualcomm and getting them to fix their websites, or fix their other things, so that I can actually do the work. Jim Barbour: I'm now at a place in my career where I am mostly doing planning work and other kinds of work that I know how to do, and then other people are doing the day to day technical work. But over time, Qualcomm like most companies, they've kind of grown, and their equipment has become less accessible. They understand the problem, but it's just such a hard problem to fight. The inertia will take you in inaccessible directions unless you fight it really hard. And that is something that the NFB and lots other places are kind of fighting for and advocating for. Don't let yourself go down this inaccessible road because you'll make it really hard to hire blind people in the future. Pete Lane: You make a good point there, Jim, about today versus then, and tasks that may or may not be negotiable, for lack of a better word, because reasonable accommodation, essentially, by definition is intended to allow you to perform essential job duties. If the employer deems that some of those tasks are not essential, then they shouldn't have any problem offloading those to a secretary or whomever as you described. But if they're essential duties then there may be a tough point to work with them on. Jim Barbour: The other thing is that these days there are also far fewer secretaries. I mean I am lucky that I kept track of a couple, but 20 years ago there were a lot more of them. Now a lot of people are expected to do their own secretarial work. Pete Lane: Right, it's overhead. Jim Barbour: It's hard to find people around who are available to sort of do one-off jobs for you like that, right? So, you wind up either hiring readers more or doing other things, but it's harder to find people who are just around who can do reading at the last minute, or fill out forms, or other kinds of things like that. Jeff Thompson: Yeah, times have changed, and so has the technology. Now with Aira, as a reasonable accomondation, I think some people could justify using the Aira technology, the smart glasses, to access stuff. Jim Barbour: I think that Aira is absolutely gonna be an invaluable tool for people in the workforce. In fact, Aira knows that. Aira has several programs in place right now to help people get jobs, and to help employers figure out how to pay for the service, and when the service is going to be valuable and when it's not. Jim Barbour: I have to say that I have lots of conflicting feelings about Aira. I have it and I use it, and I enjoy the service a lot. The way I tend to think about Aira is as a reader, where the definition of reader is sort of broadened a bit. Three were always tasks I felt like weren't good tasks for me to get a reader to do because basically the reader would be doing the work. So, for example, reading documents and filling out forms. There's really no reason for me to be involved in that process if the point is to get the forms filled out. Jim Barbour: That kind of feels like not something I wanna hire a reader for. That's something that the company should just sort of take care of. The reader is to get me information and sometimes for me to give other people information, but I should be involved in that process. How I feel about Aira in this case is that if Aira is giving me information that I need to do my job, I think that's great, but if Aira turns out to be the entity doing my job, then I think that that's gonna be a problem. Jim Barbour: I also wanna say that I think that Aira is also going to be an interesting tool for blind people to learn how to incorporate into their toolbox because I think that it's entirely possible that there will be people who won't learn the blindness skills I learned 20 years ago because they'll just start relying on Aira for that. I think that's going to be an interesting give and take about how we as blind people develop over the next 10 or 20 years, but I am hoping that we figure out a way to make sure that blind people still learn the blindness skills that have served me so well. Pete Lane: Well, you know Aira does insist that travelers who use their product use their cane or their dog, but I'm not sure that applies to any other tasks. Jim Barbour: That's right. I'm glad Aira does that. I just think it's something that came up early, and Aira put a policy in place, and I like that policy. Jeff Thompson: I'm just real glad that Aira actually went to the NFB, to the AFB, to all these associations, and got feedback how to make this product not an enabling device, something that someone would bypass, like even using Chloe the OCR. My wife uses Aira, and she said more and more she's using the OCR part because it's so quick and easy to use. I just meet them as an accommodation, not as a crutch or a one size fits all, this is all I use, no cane, no dog, no everything like that. I'm just saying like in the workforce it might be another tool with the changing of times. Jim Barbour: I agree with you 100%. I think that Aira is going to be very, very interesting to watch over the next decade or so. I also agree with you that it's good that Aira has embedded themselves with the organizations of the blind, like the NFB, to get some feedback and to get some idea about what's going to work and what isn't gonna work. Jim Barbour: Having said all that, I do also think that how blind people work and live are going to change because of Aira, and that's gonna be really interesting to see how that goes. I am looking forward to watching the evolution, for sure. Jeff Thompson: Yeah, we've seen changes come. You yourself, from when you went from high school to college to the workplace. You've seen technology come along, and it has been changing fast with the iPhone. It's moving so quick, and they always say like, "Now's a good time to be blind with all this technology," but I'm looking like, "What can happen in two more years?" It's moving fast. Pete Lane: The landscape will totally change. Jim Barbour: I always feel a little uncomfortable when I talk about how my life as a blind person has been enhanced by technology. I mean it certainly has. My iPhone died the other day and I was without it for 24 hours. I was just amazed at the number of things I rely on it for. That's just one example of technology. But I also know that if I didn't have any technology, I know that I could take my cane and go downstairs, and sort of problem solve my way through my day. I know I could do that. Jim Barbour: I am worried that this is becoming less and less true over time, and I have mixed feelings about it. I definitely think that problem solving skills, and the ability to kind of build a map of your world and other things, are skills that we need to have even if we have a lot of technology. Jeff Thompson: Well skills and confidence, the confidence to be able to apply the skills. I've known people that have two master's degree, but they don't have the confidence to apply them. Jim Barbour: That's right. A real belief in yourself as a blind person. I go back every so often, and I talk to the Colorado Center, which is where I got a lot of the .. The Colorado Center taught me how to cook food, and how clean, and how to paint. We did a lot of painting of buildings and stuff. They taught me a lot of skills, but really the thing they taught me was that my blindness is not gonna be the thing that stops me from doing whatever I need to do. That's not gonna be the thing. There might be other reasons. I might not be smart enough. I might not be rich enough. I might not be brave enough. But that my blindness is not gonna be the thing. Jim Barbour: I will figure out ways of dealing with my blindness, and that is the kind of confidence and belief in yourself that I think is really, really important for a blind person. The technology and all the other things, they will come and they will play a role, and they will be even important, but a real belief in yourself is really, I think, the most important thing. Jeff Thompson: I've always said that if a person has a drive, if they have something that's pushing them, then they can utilize a Colorado Center or a training center to help them go further, but the drive comes from within. The technology, as you said so well, enhances some areas, or assists. But when you get to the core of it, it's you, it's your determination. It's your self-determination that is gonna push you. Jim Barbour: I think that's right. I think that that's true for everybody. I think that in life how much you accomplish, what you do, is mostly determined by your drive, by how much you wanna push yourself, what you wanna accomplish, what's important to you. The sooner you can be aware of what those things are ... I'm really into this, or I think this is really important, or I wanna make sure that these things happen in my life. Whether it be being a parent, being really good at your job, or whatever it is, I think you're right that having a drive and really having a sense of goals, and a sense of what's important to you is very important. Pete Lane: Speaking of drive and independence. I'd like to segue over to your most recent assignment with Qualcomm over in Ireland. Talk a little bit about that Jim. Jim Barbour: That was amazing. I had recently moved to Berkeley, and was living there, and was realizing that I was having a lot of fun in Berkeley, but that I was kind of in a rut. I didn't have any family responsibilities to worry about. I went and talked with my boss, and I asked him if he had any expat opportunities, a way in which Qualcomm could send me to another country and pay for me to live there for a while because often we have offices in Europe and in India that need people from the headquarters office to go over there for a while. Jim Barbour: He said he had no expat opportunities at the moment, but that he was perfectly happy if I wanted to just pick an office, and go live there for a while. I would have to pay for my own housing and stuff, but he didn't really care where I was working from. Jim Barbour: I'd looked around. There was an office that we have in Cambridge, England, which is a little bit north of London, and there was an office that had in Cork, Ireland. I went and visited those for a week each, and decided I really wanted to go live in Cork. I spent some time making arrangements, and also talking with people about where to live and stuff like that. Jim Barbour: One really interesting piece of that was I could not find any blind people to talk to. I kept looking around on lists and in other places for blind people in Ireland, and I had a very hard time finding any blind folks to talk to. I mostly just wound up talking with people who could tell me which apartments were within walking distance from the office, and how the buses were and a bunch of other things. Jim Barbour: I did as much prep work as I could, and then in January of this year I flew over, and was met by the relocation folks who were helping me out. Remember, I'd been on a plane for 12 hours, and was pretty ragged out, but they took me to my apartment, and then they took me to a grocery store to get food, and sheets and some other basic things. The apartment was furnished, but we needed to get some stuff to put in it. Then I basically was on my own. I used my phone a lot to kind of figure out how to walk to my office. I learned how to get to the grocery store and some other things that were nearby. I started to learn how to use the buses. Jim Barbour: I sort of just had a really wonderful time, not only meeting my coworkers and a bunch of other friends I met in Ireland, but also just exploring a brand new place. I spent a lot of time explaining what I needed to other people in Ireland, who had never really seen a blind person. They were all very receptive. Again, if you know what you need, and can advocate for yourself, people are often willing to come on board. Everything from getting some markings put on my apartment mailbox, to getting help at the grocery store, to a lot of other things. Jim Barbour: Another real interesting thing about that was I had had the Aira service for quite a while before that, but hadn't really used it for much. I had used it on a couple of occasions to identify some objects, but really I hadn't used it for much. I really wasn't sure what I was gonna use Aira for. But one day, on a weekend, I had a bunch of time on my hands, and I needed to go grocery shopping. I really did not feel like dealing with the cultural friction of trying to explain to an Irish grocery store worker the things I was looking for, the names of things were just a little bit different. They aren't used to shopping generally at all. Generally, these are college kids or other people who haven't done a lot of grocery shopping, so I didn't want that friction. Jim Barbour: I decided to see how Aira would do at the grocery store, and I was frankly amazed at how well it went. I was like, "There is no way Aira is gonna be able to help me with this." The idea of scanning all these grocery store shelves was just really daunting to me. I thought it would never work, but I wanted to see. I was just amazed. They helped me to not only find the things I needed, produce and milk and eggs, and a bunch of other things, but they also just taught me a lot more about what was in the store, where things were, how things were laid out, what's down each aisle. Jim Barbour: I spent 90 minutes with them, which is more than I would normally spend on a shopping trip, but I learned so much about the store, and had such a good time doing it that I felt like it was an incredible experience, and one of the really cool ways in which I think Aira is very helpful. Jim Barbour: In future shopping trips, sometimes I would use Aira, and sometimes now that I kind of understood the layout of the store, I was able to go and find things on my own, or go get near what I needed, and call them up and say, "Okay, I'm looking for the low-fat milk rather than the whole milk," and they could pick that out for me. Jim Barbour: I used Aira for that. I used Aira for some exploring what all was in this mall, what all was in my neighborhood. The other thing that's really interesting about Cork, and about Europe cities in general, is that streets are not laid out on a grid at all. There's no way for you to sort of problem solve your way around how to get from here to there. You just have to kind of learn where all the streets are. Jim Barbour: In the beginning I would use Aira a lot to just say, "How can I get from here over to this other place?" And then say, "Oh, oh, I see. You have to go all the way over here." They were able to kind of look at maps, and kind of help me figure a lot of that stuff out. Aira helped me quite a bit to get accommodated. Jim Barbour: I also, when I was over there, took a couple weeks off and went traveling around Europe. I went to Edinburgh, Scotland and to Berlin, Germany, and down in Sardinia in Italy, and a couple of other places in the UK, as well spending quite a bit of time in Dublin and those few days in Belfast. Again, Aira was just very helpful in allowing me to very quickly orient myself to a neighborhood. Aira is much more efficient at that than what I used to do, which is to ask people for directions, people who are not used to giving walking directions, people who don't know how to work with blind people. Jim Barbour: In the past I had to an awful lot of advocating and educating about, "This is what I need to do. Can you explain this to me again? Can you explain it to me this other way?" But Aira turns out to be much better at that. Even in European cities where they certainly didn't have a lot of colors, they were very good at bringing up maps. I do find Aira to be very, very useful for that kind of getting used to new neighborhoods, and navigating around new environments. Jeff Thompson: You know, Jim, we usually ask people what advice they would give to someone that's transitioning from high school to college, but I think you've answered most of those questions through your experience. But do you have any quick advice that you would give to someone that is transitioning. Jim Barbour: I spent some time talking to the computer science division, the NFBCS, at the NFB convention this summer. There were several students and several parents who were going off to college. They weren't actually asking for advice, but they were there, and they were trying to ask questions. The biggest advice I can give them is that nobody is gonna look out for you, but you. You need to learn how to make sure that you get the materials you need, that you get the mentoring you need, that you get the tutoring you need, and that you get the experiences that you need. Jim Barbour: Because, otherwise, you can easily find yourself as a blind person being sidelined, and being given the minimum amount possible in order for them to feel like they can pass you. That's not what you want out of college, and that's not what you want out of life. You need to decide that it is up to you to get the things that you need in this world. Self-advocating is the most important thing you can do for yourself. And start doing it early so that you can do it forever. Pete Lane: Good advice. Jeff Thompson: Well put. Pete Lane: We're speaking with Jim Barbour. Jim, thank you so much for coming on, and sharing your story, your views on blindness and independence, and I think that your story is going to be motivational to our listeners because you are definitely one who pushes the envelope in terms of looking for new and different challenges, as you mentioned, being adventurous. And I think that helps build that sense of confidence that we talked about earlier. Pete Lane: I think that's within you, and you can't create it out of nothing, I think it can certainly be enhanced, developed with a mindset kind of like yours. We appreciate that. Thanks so much for coming on to Blind Abilities. Jim Barbour: I enjoyed it a lot. Thank you both. Jeff Thompson: Jim, if you would like any of the listeners to contact you if they have any questions, or they wanna get some advice from you, is there any way that you wanna allow them to connect with you? Jim Barbour: I'm certainly available on Facebook if people wanna find me there, but also you can email me at jbar@barcore.com. Jeff Thompson: Awesome, we'll put some stuff in the show notes for that, and thanks a lot, Jim, for coming on to Blind Abilities. Jim Barbour: Hey you guys, this was great. Thank you very much. Have a good day. Pete Lane: Thanks again, Jim. Talk soon, you take care. Jim Barbour: Yep, all right. Pete Lane: Bye bye. Jim Barbour: Bye. Pete Lane: This concludes our conversation with Jim Barbour. Jeff and I wanna thank Jim for taking the time to chat with us. Thanks so much for listening, and have a great day. Pete Lane: For more podcasts with a blindness perspective, check us out on the web at www.BlindAbilities.com. Speaker 4: We're on Twitter. Speaker 5: We're on Facebook. Pete Lane: And be sure to check out our free app. Speaker 4: In the Apple App store. Speaker 5:  And the Google Play store.

An Interview With David Bradburn of Zoomax – Low-Vision Products Expert Blind Abilities was out on the Exhibit Hall floor at the 2018 national convention of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB). Pete Lane was able to grab an interview with David Bradburn to chat about his company, zoomax, makers of a wide variety of CCTVs and similar devices, as well as a brand new AI headset which promises to be helpful for low vision individuals. Have a listen to David as he aptly describes the devices and prices of the various Zoomax products. You can find more about Zoomax and a complete list of their products and prices at: www.ZoomaxUSA.com And you can reach out and contact David Bradburn via email at:  DBradburn@ZoomaxUSA.com   Or call:  866-296-8388   About Zoomax Since 2011, Zoomax has been committed to developing assistive technology for people with vision impairments. Today, with a full line of low vision products including handheld, portable and desktop video magnifiers, Zoomax worldwide sales and service network have covered 60 countries. At Zoomax, user experience is the most important aspect guiding new project development. We listen to voice and request from users and involve user’s suggestion in new product definition. Thanks to the valuable opinions from users and partners, the principles of open collaboration for ongoing innovation have been our steady belief from the very start.   If you want to know more about Aira and the services they provide, check them out on the web and become an Aira Explorer today! www.Aira.io Image of the Aira Logo Your Life, Your Schedule, Right Now. Using augmented reality, Aira connects people who are blind or low vision to a trained professional agent who is dedicated to further enhancing their everyday experience – completely hands-free assistance at the touch of a button. You can learn more about the National Federation of the Blind on the web at www.NFB.org Thank you for listening! You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities On the web at www.BlindAbilities.com Send us an email Get the Free Blind Abilities App on the App Store. Get the Free blind Abilities App on the Google Play Store

In this week’s VIP, Nelson and James are back talking about the top stories from the world of assistive tech and give you their Cool Picks. News Flash Say Goodbye to Groove Music and Hello to Spotify Be My Eyes is Now Available for Android You Can Now Change Your Google Assistant in to a Male Amazon Echo Can Now Call Canada, US and Mexico for Free More Accessibility Features Come To Forza Motorsport 7 Pornhub Gives Blind and Visually Impaired Users More Accessibility Top Stories Google’s Pixel Event In 6 Minutes Google announced the new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL; a camera called Google Clips; Google Home Mini and Max; a Pixelbook and a new Google Daydream. Sonos Smart Speaker Unveils with Multiple Personal Assistants and AirPlay 2 Support The Sonos system has been accessible for blind and low vision users for the past few years and now they have unveiled a new ‘Sonos One’ smart speaker that is capable of supporting multiple voice services. New Tactile Reading System Claims to be Easier to Learn Than Braille According to the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), just 1% of the blind population is born without sight; the vast majority of the estimated 10 million Americans who are blind or visually impaired lost their vision later in life. In 1987, Andrew Chepaitis’s grandmother became part of that statistic: She started to lose her vision due to macular degeneration. It was this experience that would lead Chepaitis, 13 years later, to found ELIA Life Technology, a company that wants to mass-produce an easy-to-learn tactile reading system based on the Roman alphabet. Cool Picks Introducing Google Pixel Buds Google Pixel Buds are designed for high-quality audio and fit comfortably in your ear. The all-new Pixel 2. When you purchase a Pixel 2, you'll get a promo code for a Mini.

In this week’s VIP, Nelson and James are back talking about the top stories from the world of assistive tech and give you their Cool Picks. News Flash Say Goodbye to Groove Music and Hello to Spotify Be My Eyes is Now Available for Android You Can Now Change Your Google Assistant in to a Male Amazon Echo Can Now Call Canada, US and Mexico for Free More Accessibility Features Come To Forza Motorsport 7 Pornhub Gives Blind and Visually Impaired Users More Accessibility Top Stories Google’s Pixel Event In 6 Minutes Google announced the new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL; a camera called Google Clips; Google Home Mini and Max; a Pixelbook and a new Google Daydream. Sonos Smart Speaker Unveils with Multiple Personal Assistants and AirPlay 2 Support The Sonos system has been accessible for blind and low vision users for the past few years and now they have unveiled a new ‘Sonos One’ smart speaker that is capable of supporting multiple voice services. New Tactile Reading System Claims to be Easier to Learn Than Braille According to the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), just 1% of the blind population is born without sight; the vast majority of the estimated 10 million Americans who are blind or visually impaired lost their vision later in life. In 1987, Andrew Chepaitis’s grandmother became part of that statistic: She started to lose her vision due to macular degeneration. It was this experience that would lead Chepaitis, 13 years later, to found ELIA Life Technology, a company that wants to mass-produce an easy-to-learn tactile reading system based on the Roman alphabet. Cool Picks Introducing Google Pixel Buds Google Pixel Buds are designed for high-quality audio and fit comfortably in your ear. The all-new Pixel 2. When you purchase a Pixel 2, you'll get a promo code for a Mini.

In this week’s VIP, Nelson and James are back talking about the top stories from the world of assistive tech and give you their Cool Picks. News Flash Say Goodbye to Groove Music and Hello to Spotify Be My Eyes is Now Available for Android You Can Now Change Your Google Assistant in to a Male Amazon Echo Can Now Call Canada, US and Mexico for Free More Accessibility Features Come To Forza Motorsport 7 Pornhub Gives Blind and Visually Impaired Users More Accessibility Top Stories Google’s Pixel Event In 6 Minutes Google announced the new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL; a camera called Google Clips; Google Home Mini and Max; a Pixelbook and a new Google Daydream. Sonos Smart Speaker Unveils with Multiple Personal Assistants and AirPlay 2 Support The Sonos system has been accessible for blind and low vision users for the past few years and now they have unveiled a new ‘Sonos One’ smart speaker that is capable of supporting multiple voice services. New Tactile Reading System Claims to be Easier to Learn Than Braille According to the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), just 1% of the blind population is born without sight; the vast majority of the estimated 10 million Americans who are blind or visually impaired lost their vision later in life. In 1987, Andrew Chepaitis’s grandmother became part of that statistic: She started to lose her vision due to macular degeneration. It was this experience that would lead Chepaitis, 13 years later, to found ELIA Life Technology, a company that wants to mass-produce an easy-to-learn tactile reading system based on the Roman alphabet. Cool Picks Introducing Google Pixel Buds Google Pixel Buds are designed for high-quality audio and fit comfortably in your ear. The all-new Pixel 2. When you purchase a Pixel 2, you'll get a promo code for a Mini.

Chris Danielsen, Director of Public Relations for the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) explains the recent Supreme Court decision that strengthens the Individuals with disabilities Education Act. No longer can educators simply reinforce low expectations by not challenging students with disabilities, a meaningful education steps up the definition of appropriate public education which is the key language for the IDEA. Join Chris Danielsen and Jeff Thompson as they walk through what the unanimous Supreme Court decision means for the Blind and Disabled communities. You can contact Chris Danielsen Director of Public Relations National Federation of the Blind by E-mail: Thank you for listening. You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities On the web at www.BlindAbilities.com Send us an email Get the Free Blind Abilities App on the App Store.

Blind Abilities once again presents this interview with Suman Kanuganti, CEO of Aira, a visual interpreter for the blind. Aira is not only progressing with its product, but it is making a significant splash in the technology world. Aira recently won the innovative technology award at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in early January. Additionally, Aira is bolstering it’s standing in the blindness community with its major partnership with the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and with AT&T to strengthen its connectivity and accessibility with blind users. Listen to this interview and stay tuned as we are working on the follow-up interview with Suman, Aira users, and the sighted agents. Thank you for listening. You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities On the web at www.BlindAbilities.com Send us an email Get the Free Blind Abilities App on the App Store.

Happy holidays to all of the Find Your Fit listeners. Jessica and Kevan welcome all listeners, talk about some of the things we discussed in this year's episodes, and thank all of our sponsors, partners, and supporters. United Association of Blind Athletes (USABA), National Federation of the Blind (NFB), The Colorado Center for the Blind ... [Read more...]