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The lessons I carried away from September 11 did not begin that day, and they certainly did not end there. In this solo episode, I reflect on how my parents taught me not to accept the limits others placed on blindness, how my guide dogs taught me about trust and teamwork, and how September 11 confirmed so much of what I already believed about fear, leadership, change, and possibility. I share why I work hard not to worry about things I cannot control, why I believe we can never truly go back to “normal,” and why strong teams are built through trust rather than control. I also challenge some of the ways we think about blindness and disability, because different does not mean less capable. I hope these lessons help you think differently about fear, change, leadership, and what it really means to live with an unstoppable mindset. Highlights: 00:46 – Why the lessons of September 11 began long before that day. 08:56 – How Michael learned that blindness is not the real barrier. 17:13 – Why focusing on what you can control can reduce fear. 24:28 – Why getting back to “normal” is not always the answer. 32:30 – What guide dogs taught Michael about trust and teamwork. 1:01:37 – Why disability does not mean a lack of ability. About the Host: Michael Hingson, blind since birth, was born in Chicago to sighted parents who believed in raising their son with a can-do attitude. Treated like all other children in his family, Michael rode a bike did advanced math in his head and learn to read and write – Braille that is! Michael's family relocated to the warm Palmdale area of California when he was five years old. It is here that Hingson had his first adventure with Guide Dogs for the Blind and received his first guide dog. He later went to college receiving a bachelor's and master's degree in Physics along with a secondary teaching credential from the University of California at Irvine. Michael then enjoyed a nearly-30-year career working for high tech companies spending most of his time in management roles. Michael Hingson's life changed dramatically on September 11, 2001 when he and his guide dog, Roselle, escaped from the 78th floor of Tower One in the World Trade Center moments before it collapsed. Soon after, Michael and Roselle were thrust into the international limelight where Michael began to share his unique survival story and 9-11 lessons of trust, courage, heroism, and teamwork. Mike has served as The National Public Affairs Director for one of the largest Nonprofit organizations in the nation: Guide Dogs for the Blind; He has served as the vice president of the National Association of Guide Dog Users; Michael has held a seat on the Fort Worth Lighthouse for the Blind. He is the chair of the board of directors of the Earle Baum Center for the Blind  and is the vice chair of the Colorado Center for the Blind; Michael is The National Ambassador for the Braille Literacy Campaign of the National Federation of the Blind. Until October 2019 he worked as the CEO of the Do More Foundation, the non-profit arm of Aira Tech Corp, a manufacturer of assistive technology which makes a revolutionary visual interpreter for blind people. In January 2021 Mike joined accessiBe as its Chief Vision Officer to help advance the company goal of making the entire internet fully inclusive. He held this position through June of 2026. He is the author of the #1 New York Times Best Seller: “Thunder dog –The True Story of a Blind Man, a Guide Dog & the Triumph of Trust” – selling over 2.5 million copies Worldwide. In 2013 Mr. Hingson published his 2 book “Running with Roselle”- which Is the first of its kind- A story for our youth shedding light on one of Americas Darkest Days. Mr. Hingson's third book, “Live Like A Guide Dog”, was released on August 20, 2024. This book shows readers how they can learn to control fear and not, as Mike would say, “become blinded by fear in the face of crisis”. Aside from his talents and advocacies, Mr. Hingson has traveled the Globe from Japan to New Zealand, the Netherlands to his hometown, Chicago. Speaking to some of the world's most elite: from former President, George W. Bush to Larry King, to Fortune 500 companies and colleges and Universities Nationwide. After sharing his story of survival on hundreds of TV and Radio programs, Michael is now an Expert hired by many of today's major corporations and organizations. Speaking and consulting on the importance of Teamwork and Trust, Moving from Diversity to Inclusion, as well as offering Adaptive Technology Training – spearheading innovation for ALL! - Thus, bringing organizations to the forefront of the ever-changing competitive modern world. In June, 2024 Mike was inducted as an alumni member into the honors Fraternity Phi Beta Kappa. Currently Michael lives in Victorville, California with Alamo, Michael's eighth guide dog and his rescue feline, Stitch. More information on Mr. Hingson is available on his website. Here also is a link to Mr. Hingson's press kit: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/q8uxu9u7pap4puj5de7rg/h?rlkey=22bziy0wmghf8111kad73685y&dl=0 http://www.michaelhingson.com/live-like-a-guide-dog www.michaelhingson.com www.michaelhingson.com/podcast Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/mhingson https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://www.facebook.com/Roselle911GuideDog/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/1568642850718948 https://www.facebook.com/?paipv=0&eav=AfZNi2VDR2R4nC6SveyCvZIyKtyi9VOLOzOKcG-v0Hk1glaVssEHwdR920w1_u-8B-k&_rdr https://www.facebook.com/?paipv=0&eav=AfZNi2VDR2R4nC6SveyCvZIyKtyi9VOLOzOKcG-v0Hk1glaVssEHwdR920w1_u-8B-k&_rdr Twitter, https://twitter.com/mhingson LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson Youtube channel, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfCx2L9OVN38Dv4mX6udP8g Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! 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Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson  00:04 What if the biggest thing holding you back isn't what's in front of you, but rather what you believe? Welcome to Unstoppable Mindset, where inclusion, diversity, and the unexpected meet. I'm your host, Michael Hingson, speaker, author, and advocate for inclusion and possibilities. This podcast explores how the beliefs we carry shape the way we live, lead, and connect with others. Each week, I talk with people who challenge assumptions, face adversity head-on, and show what's possible when we choose curiosity over fear. Together, we focus on mindset, resilience, and the small shifts that lead to meaningful change. Let's get started. Well, hello, everyone. I am Michael Hingson. I am your host on Unstoppable Mindset, and this happens to be episode 475. Yeah, we've done a lot of these, and most all of them have been conversations with people who said that they wanted to come on the podcast and talk about one thing or another. And I was really pleased to have them. This episode is going to be a little bit different, as the last few have been. Episode 472, which we published on September 4, was a talk I gave in April of 2024, which told my story of being in the World Trade Center on september 11, on episode 473 on the eighth of September, Michelle Abraham interviewed me, and we talked about a number of things around september 11 and so on. Episode 474, which was published on the 11th of September, 2026. was a conversation with Bob Ellis, who was in the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, an escape, and we hear his story, and we got to chat and kind of talked about notes from both of us. Now it's episode 475, and it was suggested that I ought to talk about things that I learned from September 11th and how my life has changed, and I'm going to do the best I can to talk about all that. So you're just going to be hearing me today. I hope you won't go away. I hope that you'll enjoy it. I just returned from speaking all week from September 9th through September 11th in Kilgore, Texas, at Kilgore College, they did an incredible job of doing some things to help people become aware of September 11th. They actually had in the library and around the library at Kilgore College a monument to September 11th. They had some columns or portions of columns from the World Trade Center. They had a list of all of the names. They had flags in a in a in several rows with the names of all of the people who were lost on September 11th. They had a timeline from my book Thunderdog: The Story of a Blind man, his guide dog, and the triumph of trust at Ground Zero-a timeline of what I experienced, and they also had, I think, a timeline of just the World Trade Center events in in general. Well, okay, so all of that happened. I got back last night, and now here it is, Sunday. It is the 13th of September, and I'm recording this so that we can publish it on Tuesday, september 15. So that's a little bit of a long way to get to where we are. But as I said, people asked me to talk about what I learned that day, and how I proceeded and progressed from that day, but I have to go back to long before September 11th to really do everything justice and to put it all in context. So let me start this way. I believe that I have said a few times on this podcast, and certainly in some of the speeches that I've given, that I was born two months premature, and I was given a pure oxygen environment when I was born, because I was born early. Medical science had started to hear that even too much oxygen might not necessarily be a good thing, but the doctors in Chicago where I was born didn't buy into that concept yet, and so the result was I was given a pre-oxygen environment, and my retinas didn't develop as they should, and I became blind. So was I born blind? If you're very technical, no. But for all intents and purposes, yes. The doctors told my parents to send me to a home, to send me away, because no blind child could ever. Michael Hingson  04:59 Grow up to amount to anything, and all I would be would would end up being a drain on my family, sucking up all the love that my parents might have had for their older son, two years older than I, my brother Ellery. But the reality is, my parents said you're wrong. He can grow up to do whatever he chooses, and we're going to give him that opportunity. And I grew up with that idea. I grew up with that concept. My parents told me at some point when I was still fairly young about what the doctors had said, and they said, "You know, we think that you can do whatever you want. We want you to have that opportunity. Well, they did a number of things to help the process along. For example, we lived in Chicago until I was five, but at the age of four, typically children in in Illinois start or in Chicago start kindergarten, and I did as well. My parents worked with other parents and the school district to start a kindergarten class for children who were blind, and there were a number of preemies in the Chicago area. In that class, Miss Lapree, my teacher, taught me Braille. See, I remember her name. Taught me Braille. Taught me other skills. Taught the other blind kids because it was a kindergarten class for blind children. Taught us all a variety of different things that we could use, and then unfortunately, in a sense, I guess after kindergarten at the age of four, and it was over, my father had gotten an offer and took a job out in California, and we moved to California. Well, in California, kindergarten starts at five, and even though I had had a course in kindergarten already, I had to go through a second year of it, but we didn't have any kind of facilities to teach us or teach me about Braille going forward, getting me Braille books and so on. So kindergarten, first, second, and third grade, I didn't have access directly to textbook material. My parents helped me though. My father taught me math. He was an electronics and electrical engineer. I was doing algebra in my head by the time I was six. My mother read other assignments to me, taught me the spelling words because in first, second, and third grade you learned to spell, and in theory beyond third grade as well, of course. But what happened for me was that I learned about spelling by my mother teaching me how to spell the words, and then she would say the words, and then I would spell them. Well, that ended up going even further because typically in classrooms, what happened was that when it came time to take the actual spelling test, which happened on Fridays, the teacher would say the words. All of us or all the children in the class would write down the answers. Then we would exchange papers, and the teacher would then write the correct spellings on the board. Not in my class. I had to. Well, I got to get up. I. I don't want to say I had to. That's a lesson that I want to get to. wasn't that I had to get up. I got to get up, and actually spell the words out loud. I remember once missing a word, at least starting to miss a word, and somebody made a noise, and I realized, oh, that must be wrong, and I corrected it. But I learned how to spell words, and I learned to spell them out loud for the whole class, and not be afraid of them, and that way students could grade each other's papers. And so, in a sense, I could say that's where I started to learn how to be involved in doing public speaking, and I learned not to be afraid of standing up and and saying things as long as they were the right kinds of things. Well, between third and fourth grade, I got access to Braille books. Cora Hershberger was hired by the school district to come in. She was a resource teacher with training in dealing with blindness and blind kids and so on. Michael Hingson  08:56 And there were a number of us, and she she was able to get us books, she was able to work with each of us and prove our Braille skills and my Braille skills especially, and so on. So I tell you all of that because I want to put things in perspective, and I think that the most important thing is the doctors told my parents that I couldn't do anything. My parents said, "Of course he can, and they brought me up believing that I could. So I rode a bicycle to school. Everybody still thinks that's amazing. One of the important things that I have learned over the years, and I've learned to articulate it even more effectively. I hope, certainly, I believe better since the World Trade Center, and I became a full-time keynote public speaker, which I've been doing for 25 years, I have learned to discuss this whole concept of blindness and accept the fact that there are going to be a lot of people who have eyesight who get it wrong. They think that, like the doctor said, blind people really can't do anything. You can't absorb the same material, or at least you don't get the same. As sighted people do, so you really aren't going to be able to do the things that we can do. And I have learned that I can't be angry at that. I've learned that in reality, I need to articulate the fact that blindness isn't the problem. The problem happens to be the misconceptions and poor attitudes that people have about blindness. It would be so easy just to be upset every time I hear some comment that talks about what I can do and what I can't do. You can't really ride a bicycle. That's amazing that you could do that. I can't imagine anybody else doing it. I know lots of blind kids who rode bikes, and I'm sure that they still do. Blindness isn't the problem. The reality is the problem consists of the misconceptions and poor attitudes that sighted people have about blindness. Whether you like it or not, that's the way it is. Blindness isn't the problem. We can learn to do the same things pretty much that you can do, and we can learn to do things that you can't do, and we learn all of that and use that knowledge to help us move forward and be more effective. What can I do that you can't do? Try walking around in the dark. You can't do it. You don't know how to do it. You don't have the techniques to do it. One of the things that has cropped up over the past significant number of years is restaurants do something called dining in the dark. Dining in the dark, and there are organizations that promote that, and they say, "Oh, you get to learn how blind people eat and how much of a challenge it is. That is so disgusting that people do that because dying in the dark isn't going to teach you anything about blindness. You don't get the training that you need in order to function as a blind person. Just like I don't get the training to learn how to function as a sighted person. Although I've spent a lot of time observing sighted people, and I understand a lot about eyesight, and I understand what you can do, and I accept that. But I expect, and I think it is reasonable for you to understand and accept that I can do lots of things. That it's not about eyesight. I wrote a book in 20, and it was published by Thomas Nelson Publishing in 2011. I and Susie Florey wrote the book. It's called Thunderdog: The True Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dogs, and the Triumph of Trust at Ground Zero. And there is a section near the end of the book called Guide Dog Wisdom. And number two in Guide Dog Wisdom includes a sentence that says, "Don't let your sight get in the way of your vision. You all strictly deal with eyesight, and if it's not something that you can see with your eyes, or you don't really separate eyesight from vision, you tend to really misunderstand so many things. But the reality is, don't let your sight get in the way of your vision. Recognize there's a whole lot more to life than eyesight. Michael Hingson  13:01 SEAL Team Six, other military teams, so many other people learn how to use those other senses, and that's the same thing that we as blind people do. We learn to use our other senses. They're not magically enhanced simply because we go blind, but rather we learn how to use those senses? I hope, or we try to, and by doing so, we improve them and we develop them. And those of us who truly do that are a lot more better off, and we're able to do so many things that people think are amazing, but they're not. They're not really amazing. They're certainly not amazing to me. Anyway, I grew up believing all of that, and of course, I was also very fortunate to have a number of jobs throughout my career. And the final result of all of that was I ended up getting the opportunity to open an office in the World Trade Center for Quantum ATL, the company that hired me to open an office in New York, and there we were on September 11th when everything happened. The night, as September 11th ended, was spent by me and my wife Karen. By the way, Karen was in a wheelchair her whole life. We got married in November of 1982, and we were married through into November of 2022. We were married 40 years. Karen was in a wheelchair her whole life. It was a great marriage, as I love to tell people. She read, I pushed, worked out well. How do I push a person in a wheelchair? Well, she used a manual chair, and when we got to curbs and so on, she would stop, and she would hold the wheels, and and I knew that she had stopped. And I would tip the chair back. She might say, "There's a curb. I would tip the chair back onto its back wheels. We'd roll down off the curb, put the chair down. We'd cross the street, tip the chair up. Front wheels go up on the curb on the other side, unless there was a ramp to go up. And we continued on our way. It's not that magical. It is just what I learned to do, and I enjoyed it. and And I enjoyed Karen's company and so on for 40 years. We were locked down during the pandemic and so on. We'll get to some of that in a bit. But I learned overall that in reality, what my parents taught me was true. Blindness wasn't going to be the problem; eyesight was going to be the problem. And that night after September 11th, we kind of tried to make sense of it. It was me and Karen and a friend of Karen's who I also got to know, and who became a friend of mine. Tom Painter had come down. Tom and Karen went to the same high school, but we all ended up in New Jersey. And Tom came to visit us, actually visit Karen after September 11th started. When he heard about the terrorist attacks, he just came down, not knowing whether I was in the office or not. But I was, and Karen and Tom, well, Tom stayed with Karen and and drove her to pick me up at the Westfield, New Jersey train station at about 7p.m. on september 11. We went home with my guide dog Roselle. When we got home, I took Roselle's harness off because I was going to take her outside. She would have none of it. She ran off. She grabbed her favorite tug bone and started playing tug of war with my retired guide dog Linnie. Well, that was kind of fun, and I didn't think a lot about it. But I went. That was interesting. The next day, I contacted Guide Dogs for the Blind because several people from there had visited us in the World Trade Center, and among others, I spoke to the head of the veterinary department, and I said, "So, tell me, how is all this going to affect Roselle? Because everybody's talking about how it's going to affect everyone and all that, and and he asked me, "Did anything threaten directly Roselle? Did anything really threaten her? And I said, No, not really. Nothing directly affected her. And he said, Well, there you go. Dogs don't do what if. They live in the moment. Michael Hingson  17:13 And when you took the harness off, it was over for her, and she was ready to go play. She wanted to relax. She wanted to play, and she did. Oh, and yes, we did eventually get her outside. But the bottom line is, I think that's one of the most important things that I learned coming out of September 11th, and I, I kind of knew it beforehand, but I really got to understand it afterward. We what if everything to death? We what if anything that comes into our lives, well, we're we're in a war with Iran. Well, what if Iran bombs us? What if Iran does this? What if the Hooties do that? What are we going to do? What if our government takes us to war in the first place? Well, they have. The bottom line is, though, we don't have control over all of that. We do have control over some things in our lives, and those are the things that we should worry about. We should stop worrying about everything else. And people say, "Well, it's natural to worry. No, it's not. Not any more natural to worry than it is not to worry. We learn to worry because we're taught that. But the bottom line is, if we learn only to focus on the things over which we truly have control, and be aware of the other things, but don't let them worry us. Don't let them cause fear in our lives. We will live much less fearful and much more stress-free lives than in any other way. If you want another example of why I believe this, on September 11th, David Frank, my colleague who had come in to be involved with the seminars, David had come in the night before, and he came to our office about 8o'clock in the morning on the 11th of September. When we were escaping from the towers, we ended up downstairs and outside. David saw fire in Tower Two, and the way we happened to walk took us very close to Tower Two. We were at Broadway and Vessi Street, maybe 100 yards away from Tower Two. And when David stopped, he said, "You know, there's fire in Tower Two. I want to take pictures of it. And and I also wanted to try to call my wife Karen to let her know that we had gotten out of the towers, I couldn't get through. The circuits were busy because, as we later learned, people were calling and talking to loved ones. But anyway, David had just started putting his camera away. I had put my phone away, and a police officer yelled, "Get out of here! It's coming down right now! And we heard this sound I describe as kind of a combination of a freight train and a waterfall. I could hear glass breaking, metal clattering, and then just the building collapsing straight down. We didn't necessarily know that it was going to do that, but it did. It did exactly what it was designed to do. Anyway, everyone turned and ran. David ran. I turned 180 degrees. With Roselle, and started running back the other way. And as soon as I started to run, I thought to myself, "God, I can't believe that you got us out of a building just to have it fall on us. And I heard in my head a voice as clearly as you hear me right now-a voice that said, "Don't worry about what you can't control, focus on running with Roselle, and the rest will take care of itself. And I had this absolute sense of conviction that if we worked together, we would be fine. Well, we were. Where'd that voice come from? It was God talking to me. I grew up with my father very seriously believing in the concept of God. If you don't, that's fine. That is your choice. I've had people on my podcast who don't necessarily have strong beliefs and convictions about God. I do, but it's not my job to force people or compel people to believe in God. I will tell my story, and people can accept it or reject it as they choose. But that's what happened to me, and I've realized from that time on: don't worry about what you can't control. And I really, truly work very hard to focus on not worrying about the things that I don't have any influence over. Michael Hingson  21:16 I like to be aware of them. I hear from people all the time today about don't watch the news. I don't like to watch the news because it just makes me so angry and so fearful. And my response is, I'm going to watch the news because I want to know what's going on. And sometimes I'll yell at politicians through the TV, but I won't really overall get angry at them. I will hear it. I will either accept it or decide I don't have any influence over it, so I'm not going to worry about it, and I don't because it isn't going to help me to worry about it. It isn't going to help anyone else to worry about any of those kinds of things. Don't worry about what you can't control. Focus on what you can and leave the rest alone, and that's one of the basic premises of the third book that I wrote, which was published in 2024, entitled "Live Like a Guide Dog: True Stories from a Blind Man and His Dogs About Being Brave, Overcoming Adversity, and Moving Forward in Faith. And that book was written by me and Carrie Wyatt Kent. The book was published by Tyndale House, and is out there for people to to read. The first book was published by Thomas Nelson Publishing, which is now part of Harper Collins, and a lady, Jeanette Hanscom, and I wrote the second book, which is called Running with Roselle, which is really a book more for children, teaching them about me growing up, Roselle growing up, and how we met. A little bit about the World Trade Center. That one was self-published, but all three books are available wherever you can find books, so you can get them always from Amazon, of course. And so I hope that that you'll get them and read them. They will help. Live Like a Guide Dog probably is the best book for me to talk about in terms of things that I learned over the years, but if I really summarize mostly what happened for me after September 11th, it is that what happened on that day validated everything that I've believed about me. Certainly, what I believe about God, but it validates everything that I've ever thought about blindness, blind people, what we can do, the challenges we face, some of the issues that other people have, and the validation is certainly something that helped what I learned. But I learned other things along the way, and you know I want to talk about some of those things. The first, as I said, is don't worry about what you can't control. Focus on what you can, and let the rest take care of itself. Speaker 1  23:56 If you enjoy Unstoppable Mindset and would like to help us continue bringing these conversations to you each week, we've created a way for you to support the show. Your contribution helps us cover production costs and continue sharing stories, insights, and ideas that inspire people to live with purpose and possibility. If supporting the podcast feels right for you, you'll find the link in the show notes, thank you for being part of the Unstoppable Mindset Community. One Michael Hingson  24:28 of the things that happened to me almost immediately after September 11th is I started hearing people say, "We got to get back to normal. If we don't get back to normal, that's a problem. We got to get back to normal. And I always reacted internally, at least pretty negatively to that. And I finally realized why I reacted to that statement about we got to get back to normal. The reason I reacted to that statement, and I still react to to myself to that statement, is normal will never be the same again. We can't get back to normal. If we get back to normal the way it was prior to September 11th, the same thing will happen again. We can't do that. We have to get back to a different normal, and and in fact, normal is probably going to be an ongoing, constant process of change. We ought to learn not to fear that either. Change is all around us. We always say that, but then we don't like change. It's kind of a paradox. But the reality is, change is all around us. And what we really need to do is to learn how to focus in change. And we need to learn that in reality, we can deal with change. And if we have any influence over it, then we should do something about that too. But the bottom line is, getting back to normal prior to September 11th isn't going to help any of us, and and it isn't going to happen. So that is an one thing that I will say definitely. I learned from September 11th: normal will never be the same again. As I said a lot earlier, I think I probably learned about public speaking at least the beginning of it by doing the spelling tests and so on. But after September 11th, the media got my story, and that happened because Joanne Ritter, the public and information services person at the time at Guide Dogs wanted to write a story, and I kind of agreed. And I said, "That's fine. And then she said, "I'll bet you'll be on TV. What television show do you want to be on first? So I kind of just sort of flippantly said, "Larry King Live. That was on the 12th of September when I talked with her. On the 13th, she called back and she said, "Larry King wants you on his show on september 14, which was a Friday, and they sent a car to pick me up, and and I recall Karen and and Tom one as well, and anyway, we went into the World Trade Center, not to the World Trade Center, but we went into New York, and I appeared on CNN, which was the first of five interviews with Larry. Larry also, by the way, at my request, wrote the foreword for Thunderdog. So when you read Thunderdog, you'll get to read Larry's words as well. But after being on Larry King, the media really got my story, and a lot of things happened after that. I started getting literally calls every day for interviews. People wanted to talk to me about September 11th and ask questions and so on. And one of the things that I learned was that talking to reporters could be a great therapy because they would ask virtually any kind of question you can imagine. And of course, a lot of people said things like, "Well, did you know what happened on September 11th when it was happening? And I said no. And they said, well, of course you didn't. You're blind, you know. And my response is, anybody who says that really needs to not let their sight get in their way or their vision to be polite about it. The fact of the matter is, as we were going down the stairs, no one knew anything about what was going on. When I got into the stairwell, I began smelling an odor, and it took me four floors to realize I was smelling the fumes from burning jet fuel. I did a lot of travel for my company, and so I was in airports a lot. So I recognized that smell. People were speculating about what they were smelling. People were speculating about what was going on. Nobody had a clue. Michael Hingson  28:20 When I realized I was smelling jet fuel, I observed it to everyone around me, and they said, "You're right. That's what we're smelling. It's burning jet fuel. We must have been hit by an airplane. You see, no one knew. We had no clue. Superman and X-ray vision just aren't real. And the bottom line is, nobody knew what was actually happening on September 11th. Blindness have nothing to do with it. People want to feel more comfortable by saying, "Well, most people probably did know, but you're blind. You didn't know. We've got to get away from these habits of thinking that just because somebody is different than we are, that they're less than we are. That's just not true. In any case, the bottom line is that we we really deal with those kinds of things, and that helped me as as time went by recognize and realize that normal would never be the same again, and it validated more my belief that blindness isn't the problem; it's the misconceptions and poor attitudes that people have about blindness that tends to truly be the problem that we face. So, as I began to talk with reporters, I didn't think about what was actually happening. But later, I realized when people started saying, "Well, did you ever get counseling or therapy, and I said no. And then it just popped into my head to say I probably had the best therapy around. I got interviewed by hundreds of reporters that asked basically any question that you can imagine, and I learned to answer those questions without being upset, especially when they were asking pretty derogatory questions or making derogatory comments. Your dog led you down the stairs. No, my dog did not lead me down the stairs. Guide dogs do not lead; they guide. And I understand the definition of lead, but it's a little bit different than what people were truly saying. What they were saying is you didn't know anything, and the dog took you all the way down the stairs because the dog could see. No, in fact, Roselle didn't lead me. Roselle's job wasn't, and no guide dog's job is to lead a person or to take charge. The dog's job is to make sure that we walk safely. I also have a job on the team. My job is to make sure that I know where we're going and how to get there. A lot easier now than it was 25 years ago, but the bottom line is that I'm the one that has to direct the dog and give the dog commands, and the dog needs to make sure that we carry out those commands safely. We are a team; we work together. I've always kind of known that guide dog schools didn't necessarily early in my guide dog career, express it that way, but it's it's a much stronger statement now. They recognize that truly we're a team. We each have a job to do on the team, and we have to work together to make the team work, which is true of any team. I've mentioned Seal Team Six earlier. They're a team. They work together. The firefighters in the World Trade Center and the other people who who were around there worked as a team, and they had to work as a team in order to develop a level of trust and a relationship where essentially each person knew what the others on their team were going to do, and it gave them more of a confidence to be able to function. Teamwork is so crucial in our world, and I learned, and and again on September 11th, it was totally validated how teamwork is so important. Roselle and I worked together well. The firefighters worked together well. Yes, we lost people, but the team really is so important, and we need to recognize that anyone listening to this ought to work in any of the things that they do to develop teams. Being alone makes no sense; it isn't going to work. You're going to have to and should learn to work with other people to make teams work better. I've seen companies where when they have award ceremonies, the leader of a team or the boss of a team gets an award, but the rest of the team doesn't really get the same recognition. Michael Hingson  32:30 If a leader is truly doing a good job at creating a team and being a part of a team, then that leader is really enhancing everyone else on the team, and that leader is the person who should help to make sure that when awards are given, that everyone on a team is recognized. We need to to learn and realize that a team is a bunch of people. It's not just one people, but they learn to work together, and that is also so important. And as I learned more and more about the events of the World Trade Center, I learned and realized more about the whole understanding of teamwork and trust and the value of it. I knew about it with me and Roselle, and I recognized the concept of teamwork. But certainly, September 11th again validated that a whole lot more effectively than anything else that I could think of, but I worked with eight dogs over the years, and working with eight dogs from my first guide dog Squire, who was a golden retriever, up through my current guide dog Alamo, I've learned probably I think more than I ever learned from experts and teamwork and sales and so on and motivation. I learned more from those dogs than I ever learned from the human experts because of the fact that one, I had to build a team with a creature who didn't think the same way I did, who didn't talk the same language that I did, and that expected things from me, and and as one of the things that I've learned is that dogs who are guide dogs really want the human to be the pack leader because it is the pack leader, it is the human who's supposed to tell the dog what they want the dog to do, and dogs take that so incredibly seriously. I mentioned Linny. Well, I didn't mention her, I think, by name. But Lenny was my fourth guide dog, and we were out in in San Diego at a company meeting one Friday in May of 1999, and we came home. It was a Saturday morning that we got home. I flew a red eye home, fed Lenny, and then rested and and all that. But Saturday night, when it came time to feed Linny, I called her. She wouldn't come. Karen even called her. She wouldn't come. We went. Upstairs and found her lying on her bed, kind of really not very responsive. We got her to a veterinarian, and it took a few days for the veterinarian to diagnose what she had as something called glomerular nephritis, which is a disease where the kidneys, the glomeria of the kidneys, which would normally pass out bad stuff from the kidneys but not the good stuff. They were passing out the good stuff as well, and Lenny was was not doing well. We were able to reverse that, but she had to retire from being a guide dog. In fact, we thought in late June of 1999 that we were going to lose her. We went off to a a meeting, not a meeting, but we went off to a hotel to say goodbye to Linny, if you will, on like the second of July. But Linny didn't pass away then, and she did get better. And then Roselle came into our lives, and Roselle and Linny became really good friends, but I mention all of it because I had no clue what was happening to Linny. Guide dogs love their jobs; they take them very seriously. And the fact of the matter is, as I learned, and especially after September 11th, I learned that these dogs will work till they drop. They will. They will do everything they can to please us, because they love what we do. They love us, and we need to bestow the same kind of love on them, which is all part of what teamwork is all about. Well, the bottom line was with Linny. She was with us for three more years, and she got to play with Roselle a lot, and so on. Michael Hingson  36:41 Of course, as I also mentioned after September 11th, but I again, especially because of what happened to Linny, but then afterward on September 11th, I realized how much it was important for me to do all I could to keep the team relationship a positive, strong one, to recognize that in reality these dogs work so hard on their own part to make the team's relationships work. They they deal with what they have to deal with. They get very stressed if we're upset. They take it very personally if we get upset, even if we're not necessarily upset at them; they still take it very personally. The more stress that a guide dog faces in their lives, the harder it's going to be for them, and frankly, the shorter their lives are going to be. So I learned, even before September 11th, but especially after September 11th, to do all I could to keep the stress away from the dog. As we were going down the stairs on September 11th, I constantly encouraged and praised Roselle. What a good dog! Keep going. What a good job! Good girl, Roselle. Even if I wasn't able to hold the harness because the stairs were so crowded that Roselle couldn't walk next to me and had to walk behind me at heel, and I would just hold the leash. I kept praising her because I wanted her to know for her I was okay, and I had to focus on not being afraid and letting that fear come out. Well, I was fearful like anyone was, and in fact, I love to tell people. Being a great fan of science fiction, I have a great imagination, and I was listening for the building to make creaks and groans, and you never knew what was going to happen. Fortunately, it didn't all the way down. But the bottom line for me was that doing so kept me focused. And I and I learned later that while I might have been afraid on September 11th, partly because I was encouraging Roselle and working to sound very calm and confident, I was able to also help other people, but help Roselle and keep Roselle from being afraid and and being stressed. And I work very hard to do that with my guide dogs that I've had since even more than prior to September 11th. My current guide dog Alamo and I travel the world speaking all over the place, if you will. We've been to Israel. We've been well, actually, Alamo didn't get to go to London, but we've been to Israel with my seventh guide dog, Africa. We went to the Netherlands, Alamo and I have been to Wisconsin. I've been to a variety of places, and of course, all around the the world, all around the United States, to Canada, everywhere. And again, I don't necessarily know a lot about where we're going in advance, but I ask a lot of questions so that I can learn where we're going to go, so that I can give the dogs the appropriate commands. I mentioned Wisconsin's. I've been all over the United States. It's been an honor, and I'm going to continue to do that. If anybody wants a public speaker to come and talk to their organization, please reach out to me. I'd love to hear from you. My email address is really simple. It's speaker@michaelhinkson.com. We'll put that in the show notes, and love to hear from you. So anyway, I learned a lot about teamwork from working with eight guide dogs, and I continue to learn every day. I think it's very important for me to learn and to focus all that I can to make sure that I do what it is that's necessary to make a team work, and I believe it is all about the team. I've mentioned that I've written three books, and each one was a collaboration with someone else: Susie Florey with Thunderdog, Jeanette Hanscom with Running with Roselle and Carrie Wyatt Kent with Live Like a Guide Dog, and and the fact of the matter is those collaborations I think were very important. Michael Hingson  40:49 They made the books come out a lot different than I might have imagined them coming out by themselves and the way I would have written them without having collaboration, and probably Live Like a guide dog more than more than the other two, just because of the way it all went. But with live like a guide dog, we focused on each of my my guide dogs and the lessons that we learned. So I mentioned Squire, who I worked with in high school and then went to college with Squire, and Squire was was all around where wherever I was. One night in a dorm, I was with a roommate. Well, actually, a person who lived in a room next door to mine, and I was in his room. We were dealing with a physics problem. By the way, my master's degree is in physics. I have a secondary teaching credential, but I was in with Richard dealing with a physics problem. When I went back into my room, there was no Squire. I didn't realize that a couple of the students decided to play a trick and kidnap him. I went looking around the dorm. I even went into the bathroom and opened the shower door and called Squire, and nothing was totally quiet, and finally, I was getting a little bit concerned. And one of the people said, "Oh well, look, we took the dog. We'll show you. They went into the bathroom, opened the shower door, and out comes Squire. He was in on it. He didn't do a thing when I opened the door, but when the other people did, then then he came out. I wasn't mad at him. Sneaky dog that he is, he had a great sense of humor. But I got vengeance because that that person didn't tell the other people that they showed him where showed me where Squire was. I went and hit Squire somewhere, and then I went back out into the main part of the dorm and I started going, "Who took my dog? What's going on? Where is he? And all the other people said, "Oh, come on, he's in the bathroom. And they went in and opened the door to the shower. No Squire, and they were starting to worry about what happened to him. And Squire, of course, was again not making noise. But eventually, I brought him out and I said, "Okay, I found him. I knew where he was. We're playing a trick on you just like you played a trick on me. That'll teach you. I learned that dogs have a sense of humor that day, but I also learned how much I valued having Squire around, and so Squire worked with me up until and through my first graduate year in physics at UC Irvine, and then Squire retired and went to live with my parents. And in 1973, I got my second guide dog, Holland. Holland was with me through 1986. He worked for almost 13 years, and in fact, was two weeks from retiring when he collapsed in our backyard one day, and we took him to the vet. And the vet said, "I could probably bring him out of whatever he's got, maybe a stroke or a heart attack or both, but he won't have a good quality of life. And so we said goodbye to to Holland. Holland and Squire were both golden retrievers, but again, Holland so strongly reinforced all the things that that I had felt about teamwork, and I learned so much more from him about what I needed to do in order to to function well, not just with a dog, but in my whole life. Then I got Klondike, who was my third guide dog, who was also a golden retriever. Soon after I got Klondike, well, about a year after I got Klondike, suddenly one day he had a very strong grand mal epileptic seizure, and we took him to the vet, and they put him on some medication that wasn't really helping that. And we then kept trying to to deal with it, and finally, and during that same time, I was looking for a job. I had owned my own company for four years, but decided I wanted to go back into the workforce, and and I finally got a job with a company. Michael Hingson  44:52 And on one of the first days that I worked there, Klondike had four grand mal seizures in the. Period of time, and we thought we were going to have to say goodbye to Klondike. But I talked to our veterinarian, and he said, "You know, before we do that, I want to send him to a neurologist who did an electroencephalograph. And he said, "I didn't see much, but he said one thing he did was to take some blood tests, and he said I noticed that his Klondike's thyroid level is low, and low thyroid levels in dogs like Klondike can make them more susceptible to have seizures, just like it can for children. Well, we put Klondike on synthroid, synthetic thyroid, as well as on phenobarbital to control the seizures. The synthroid had much more of an effect than the phenobarb did, Klondike actually became a much more active and playful and interactive dog, and did not have from that time on for the next seven years that he worked for me as a guide dog never had a single seizure. So the thyroid theory was a good one. Again, with with Klondike, it was about developing a team and recognizing that we had to work together. Well, then I got Linny, and again I mentioned Linny only worked for three years. Linny had glomerular nephritis that was really probably from a tick bite where the tick had Lyme's disease, and we didn't know any of that was happening until that night that Linny didn't wake up at all or didn't get up from her bed, and we finally got it diagnosed. And then I got Roselle. Now Roselle was a a wonderful dog. One of the things that I've always said is that when I get a new guide dog and I tell the trainers I want a dog with an on-off switch. That is, I want a dog that knows when the harness is on, it's time to work, and when the harness is off, then they can play. Clearly, Roselle had that when she was in harness. She was very focused. She did develop a phobia of thunderstorms, but there were a few times that we had thunderstorms, and she was able to continue to guide, even though she would shake and she would shiver a little bit. But she continued to guide. She focused. In fact, there was a thunderstorm the morning of September 11th, about 12:30 in the morning. But there was no thunder when we were going through what we did in the World Trade Center, so none of that caused her to be fearful. But again, Roselle was a dog that that taught me a lot about observation, learning what the dogs do, what what they fear, and how to help keep them focused and calm. And so I did that. My sixth guide dog was Meryl. Meryl only worked for about a year. Roselle retired in 2007. Merrill worked from 2007 to 2008, but Merrill became very fearful of guiding, and so ended up not being a guide dog very long. And I I'd never experienced that, although I had heard other people who had issues where dogs didn't work very long. Lenny only worked for three years, but a dog that didn't work for more than a year-that was unusual for me. However, poor Meryl wasn't able to do well as a guide, and so she retired. And then we got Africa. Now Africa was my seventh guide dog. Africa's mother was Fantasia. In January of 2006, we were working. I was working at Guide Dogs for the Blind, and we applied to be what were called breeder keepers. That is, they were the the people who would keep a breeder dog in their home because the guide dogs for the blind bred their own guide dogs and so on. And breeder keepers would keep dogs in their homes so that the dogs weren't just cooped up in kennels all day, and we volunteered to do that. And the director of breeding, Marina Hall, called us and said, "I've got four dogs for you to look at. I think one's better than the others for you, but I want you to come and meet these dogs. So we went down, and and she made the comment again. I think one dog is going to be better than the others. Michael Hingson  49:02 And and I said, well, if you think so strongly, but which one is it? Well, she finally sort of told us. She said, I didn't want to tell you, but I'll tell you. So she did. But anyway, the first dog who came in was a dog named Fantasia, and it works sort of the same way that when people get guide dogs, you're in a room. The dog is allowed to come in, and you see how the dog reacts to you. When I met Squire for the first time, I was sitting in a chair. They let Squire in. He came over and started sniffing me all over. Didn't leave me. He just started sniffing. And Bruce Benzler, who was the apprentice instructor at the time, later became director of Guide Dogs for the Blind, CEO anyway, anyway. Bruce then said, "Looks like you found a friend already, and we became friends. But anyway, when when Fantasia came into the room, she took one look at Karen and leaped into Karen's lap. She had no fear of the power wheelchair that Karen was using by that time. The other three dogs, we still looked at them, and they all expressed one level of fear or concern about being around this wheelchair. But Marina said Fantasia was the one that we thought you'd like best and would like you best, and she was. So anyway, in 2006, we got Fantasia in January, and later that year, she had a litter of puppies, and then in early or mid 2007, she Fantasia had her second litter. I guess it was late in 2006 she had the second litter, but anyway, by the middle of 2008, when we had to retire Meryl because she wasn't working out very well, we were notified that they found a dog that they thought would be a really good replacement for Meryl, and that's a dog named Africa. And Karen and I realized Africa was a name that we suggested as as breeder keepers that they could name one of their puppies if they had puppies who came from an A litter. And the way it works, by the way, is when a litter is born, they're assigned a letter of the alphabet, and they got a big book, and they go into that book and they get the next names that are available. They don't use names of current guide dogs, so when a dog retires, then they can start using that name again. But anyway, Africa was a name that we suggested, and as soon as we saw the email that said Africa, we knew Fantasia was Africa's mother. Well, Africa came and joined us, and mom and daughter did really well, and Roselle was still with us. So the three of them have a lot of fun together, but again with Africa, I learned about teamwork and doing the things that I needed to do. Every dog is different, and one of the things that I developed over the years was an understanding that to truly develop a relationship with a dog takes probably close to a year by the time we really are totally comfortable with each other, but I worked with Africa. We became good friends. Africa became good friends with Roselle. Of course, Africa liked her mom, and all worked out really well. Developing those teeming relationships is so important, and you can learn a lot more about them if you get live like a guide dog. I think you'll find them all very interesting to to read about. So in 2017, I noticed that Africa was starting to slow down and not do as well. She wasn't able to see as well at night. Sort of typical signs of a dog getting older, even though I work to to keep stress out as much as possible, but I applied and in 2018 on the 9th of February, Africa's puppy raisers, Bill and Peggy Sproul from San Francisco or San Diego rather, came to visit us in Victorville, and we had offered them the opportunity to take Africa because we had Fantasia, and we had Africa. And if we kept Africa and Fantasia, and I got a new guide dog, Karen would have a hard time taking care of two dogs when I traveled, because I was doing a great deal of travel by then as a keynote speaker, and so the Sprouls came and got Africa. Michael Hingson  53:26 Left our house, Africa didn't even look back. She was gone. We had visited her several times since then, and and in in the Sprouls home, Africa died in 2020. But we we got to visit Africa several times and it was a lot of fun and and she she loved us and all that and remembered us anyway on the 11th of February two days later I went to Guide Dogs for the Blind and I met Alamo who was my first black Labrador and I met him we we met in the room and he kind of sniffed me a little bit and walked around the room. But then came back and sniffed me, and then I took him on leash back to our our dorm room at Guide Dogs for the Blind, and I decided I'd sit on the floor to to visit with him. And the next thing I know, this big, huge, 60 pound Labrador is in my lap. Alamo was and is a lapdog, but he doesn't know a stranger, which is great. I mentioned earlier that I always said that when I get a guide dog, I want a guide dog that has an on and off switch. Another thing that I require is that guide dogs that I get be raised by cats. I have known of animals who of guide dogs who don't like cats, and I would not want that because we always have had cats. And by that time, when we got Alamo, we had Stitch, who we rescued in January of 2015. So now here it is, February of 2018. So I knew that we needed to have a dog that wasn't going to be. Be afraid of cats. Well, so Stitch and Alamo kind of walked around each other a little bit when we first went home, but they got to like each other pretty well pretty quickly, and they have been together ever since. Alamo has been on a number of aircraft, as I've mentioned over the years, he went to Israel with me. He didn't go to England when I spoke in 2024, but he's been to other places and will continue to travel with me. I work really hard to keep the stress out of his life. I don't want him to become any more stressed than he ever has to be, and he feeds off of how I behave, as as I've learned guide dogs do. So that's one of the most important things that I've learned is to keep that stress out of his life. I would point out that is just as much true for human teams. Don't stress out your team. If you are a leader, your job is to enhance what those leaders, what the team does. Your job isn't to boss them around. If you're doing that, you're only causing more stress, and you're going to find you're going to have a big job turnover, much more than you really should. I've always felt that my job isn't to boss people around when I hire them, my job is to enhance their abilities by using the skills that I have and learning to work with them to give them the benefit of what I know and to use the benefits of what they know to learn myself as well, so that we become more effective. And the people who really get that do very well. The people who didn't get that tend not to last very long at the company because they don't perform very well. Because I know that in reality, I add value to the team by working to add value, not bossing the team around. I think there's a big difference between leaders and bosses, and I've learned that over the years. That leaders are people who can enhance what other people do, who work to make the whole team effective and not just try to boss people around. In late 2020, I discovered a company called Accessibe, A C C E S S I capital B E. Website is accessibee.com. Was a company that made products to help make internet websites more inclusive, and at first, they had some challenges because they were using a lot of AI stuff to make their products work, and they sort of did. But there were there were challenges. But one day in January of 2021, the founder of the company, Sheer Eckerling. Michael Hingson  57:41 contacted me and said we're interested in you joining the company. I had been looking at possibly selling their products because the pandemic had hit, and I thought I could sell them from home because we were locked down. And and he said, well, you know, we we'd like you to not sell as a partner, just on your own, we'd like you to join the company. Well, he asked what I was doing, and by that time I had started to learn about podcasting because I couldn't travel and speak all over the world. So what I decided to do was to look at using podcast as a revenue source. And Shear said, "Well, you know, we we're really interested in having somebody do a podcast for us. And I said, "What do you want? And he said, "I want to just get somebody who will do a podcast to show that we're part of the world. And you join the company; you could do that in part. I joined the company, and he didn't have any specific agenda for the podcast. So, in August of 2021, I began Unstoppable Mindset, and soon it became unstoppable mindset where inclusion, diversity, and the unexpected meet. And I'll explain all of that in a moment. But the point is that we started the podcast. I created the title. I recreated the description, and I wanted the podcast to be conversations. And as anyone who has been on the podcast knows, we don't do interviews as such. We do conversations, and I ask people to send me materials to help me prepare to be able to do the conversation. And so a number of times we've had diversity experts on people from the DEI world, and when I ask them what they do, they say, you know, we focus a lot on diversity, and I say, what does that mean? And they say, well, we deal with race, gender, sexual orientation, and so on. And we chat for a little while, and then I say, but you haven't talked about disabilities. And they say, oh, disability is not a minority. And I say, what do you mean? He said, well, disability is a social justice thing. It's not like race, gender, or sexual orientation. And my response to that is balderdash. I like to use balderdash. I could go back and use what Colonel Sherman Potter did on Mash and say monkey muffins. But anyway, balderdash because diversity should include disability because it is a minority. Even the Center for Disease Control says that. Adversity, or that that people with disabilities are a minority of about 25% of people in the United States. Well, so the bottom line for me is that I would say to them, "What do you mean you're you're not including it? And they say, "Well, it's a it's a disability, but it's social justice. It's always about being a lack of ability, and as I have learned, especially since September 11th and and beyond, disability does not mean a lack of ability. You might want to think it does. You might want to try to make that fit, but it doesn't. And I learned that most effectively in March of 2023 when I went to something, by that time Karen had passed, and I was working with a person who had been Karen's caregiver, who decided to work for me. Very grateful for Josie doing that. Josie entered my name in the contest to be a guest at the Kelly and Ryan Oscar after party, which was going to be held the Monday after the Oscars at the Dolby Theater, well, I didn't even know she entered me, but I got a call the Tuesday before the Oscar after party and the Oscars, and I was and I picked up the phone and they said congratulations, and I said for what? Oh, you won an invitation to come to the Kelly and Ryan Oscar after party, and I went really well. Anyway, I went down with my niece and nephew, Tracy and Charlie Green. The there wasn't room for taking Josie, her husband, and her mother and her five kids. So it was just me, Tracy, and Charlie. Michael Hingson  1:01:37 We got up to our room about 3o'clock in the afternoon on the Saturday before the Oscars, the day before the Oscars, we put our luggage in our room and we were coming back down the main stairwell staircase actually from the third to the first floor in the Hollywood Roosevelt. It's a very open staircase, and all of a sudden I heard people screaming, and it took me a while to to try to understand what's going on, and finally I couldn't figure it out. I said, Tracy, what's going on? And she said, Oh, we just lost power and lighting on the stairs, and and power and lighting in and around the entire hotel. Now it didn't bother Tracy. Tracy had known me for a long time, but people were panicky because they weren't getting all the light they expected, even though the windows were open, the the shades were up on the first floor in the lobby, and so on. Lots of light, but it wasn't all that people expected. And I thought about that, and what I learned from that was, it proves that disability isn't a lack of ability; it proves that disability is a characteristic that we all have. Thomas Edison and others worked on the light bulb, and Thomas Edison is credited with developing the electric light bulb back in 1878. But in the 148 years since the light bulb was developed, all society has done in that regard is worked very hard on coming up with better ways of providing light on demand, so that you sighted people could have all the light you want when you want it. Nowadays, we have smartphones, we have flashlights, we have other ways of getting light on demand. But as the Americans with Disabilities Act would describe it. The light bulb is simply, or any piece of technology that produces light on demand, is simply a piece of technology that provides light on demand to light-dependent people who otherwise don't function well without it. The bottom line is, disability is not a lack of ability. We got words like discrete, discern, disciple. What is discern? Is it a lack of discern? What is it? What is disciple? A lack of viple? No. Disability is not a lack of ability. Disability is a character

In this episode, Michael Hansen gives us an overview of the new VoiceOver and braille features in iOS 27.Topics covered include:Image DescriptionsNew Options for Text Exploration and NavigationNew Verbosity Options for VoiceOver Hints.Import and Export Pronunciation DictionariesEnhancements to Live RecognitionNew Cursor Visibility OptionsBraille ImprovementsLegacy Siri Voices Come to VoiceOverTranscriptDisclaimer: This transcript was generated using Google Gemini, an artificial intelligence (AI) tool. It was lightly edited and formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers' names, voices, or content.Michael Hansen: Hello Friends, it's Michael Hansen here with an overview of the new VoiceOver features and changes in iOS 27. Now, in my personal estimation, iOS 27 is a pretty big update for VoiceOver users. For people with Apple Intelligence capable devices, VoiceOver now has image descriptions and live recognition scene descriptions, the ability to ask questions about your environment, and all kinds of things related to that, powered by Apple Intelligence. It's really cool. And for all users, Apple has also made refinements to text navigation, braille screen input, and a few other things as well. In this podcast, I'm going to talk you through the main highlights of iOS 27 with VoiceOver. Also do a couple of demos along the way, too.Image Description. At long, long last, Apple has finally brought image description natively to VoiceOver in iOS 27. Now, this is a feature that does require an Apple Intelligence capable device. And how it works is that when you place VoiceOver focus on a picture, for example a photo in the Photos app or an attachment that someone sends you, a picture in Messages or a post on Facebook, you turn the VoiceOver rotor to the image recognition rotor if it's not already there. And then you can swipe through the options depending on what you're wanting to do. Available options include being able to get an intelligent image description, which is kind of your basic everyday one stop shop description. You can ask a single question about the image using the ask about image option. You can explore the image and kind of get a, kind of a separate screen that has the text of the image description and a chat box where you can type or dictate and have a follow-up conversation about the picture. You can recognize your screen, and this will describe everything that is seen on your screen. You can ask about the screen, you can get, you can explore the screen. And if you're in the Photos app, you can also save the intelligent image descriptions for when you go through your photos in the future. You can get started with VoiceOver's image description functionality right out-of-the-box by turning the VoiceOver rotor to image recognition. You can customize which options appear in the VoiceOver image recognition rotor by navigating to Settings, Accessibility, VoiceOver, Rotor, Image Recognition Rotor. You can also assign any of the image recognition functions to either a touch gesture or a keyboard command by navigating to Settings, Accessibility, VoiceOver, Commands. Now there are a lot of really cool things that you can do with image and screen descriptions. I'm going to show you just one…

Best of Cabrillo National Monument Accessibility You loved it the first time, so here is the updated Best Of Version.  This photo is with my friend Nancy Kramer on her recent visit to the park. In this episode, the FAQ:  How do I best enjoy the park? Today's Destination is Cabrillo National Monument Accessibility. Before you forget, please leave a review!!!!! Today's Misstep: Don't forget to stretch, as I did.   Travel Advice: Swimming? Watch your valuables. FAQ: My friends ask me how I enjoy Cabrillo Park. I love this question. First, you have to plan for it, so bring your National Park Pass and try to visit on a Tuesday or Wednesday, the slow days. Park at the top and see the Lighthouse. It's iconic. Then visit the overlook for views of San Diego and watch the boats come in and out of the channel. The visitor center is worth seeing, even if you don't buy anything. Then hike the bayside trail if you can; if not, follow the accessibility guidance below. Today's destination: Best of Cabrillo National Monument Accessibility   Last episode was about the trails and the tide pools, plus what you can do there. This is a follow-up for those who have limited access but want to enjoy the park, You can, because it's built for everyone.   Cabrillo National Monument is highly accessible for people with disabilities, with a range of features and services to ensure an enjoyable, inclusive experience. Here are some key aspects of its accessibility: Accessible Pathways and Facilities The monument has paved walkways, restrooms, water fountains, and seating areas that are accessible to visitors with mobility concerns. Parking and Transportation Designated accessible parking areas include spots near the Lighthouse, which you can request at the gate. Assistive Equipment Wheelchairs are available for use to help visitors navigate the park. If you ask for a pass, you can drive to the Lighthouse at the entrance to the visitor center, so you won't have to walk. Visual and Auditory Accessibility For visitors with vision loss, the park offers tactile models, audio-described films, tactile maps, and audio wayside signs. Braille users can utilize tactile maps and guides with a talking pen. Deaf/Hearing Loss Accommodations Services include ASL interpreters, signing rangers, open-captioned films, assistive listening devices, and one-way portable microphones. Cognitive Concerns The park provides quiet areas, sensory-friendly options, and clear signage to make the visit more pleasant and stress-free for visitors with cognitive concerns. Service Animals The park welcomes service animals, with specific accommodations and facilities to ensure a safe environment for both the visitor and their companion. Unfortunately, regular pets are not welcome here. Access Pass The National Park Access Pass, which is free for U.S. citizens or permanent residents with a disability, grants free entry into the park and can be obtained at the fee station. Overall Accessibility The park has been rated highly for its accessibility, with paved paths, accessible trails, and well-marked signage. It is designed to be fully accessible, allowing everyone to enjoy the natural, historical, and cultural aspects of the monument. Today's Misstep: I forgot to stretch. I ended up with a very sore back on a big hike day. If I had stretched like I usually do, I would not have had this issue. Do the stretch first.   Today's Travel Advice: If you are going swimming, leave your valuables at the hotel.    Its not wise to bring your valuables to the beach and then go swimming. It's common sense, but so many people forget this or don't prepare. Just say no to leaving your stuff on the beach.   Connect with Dr. Travelbest 5 Steps to Solo Travel website Dr. Mary Travelbest X Dr. Mary Travelbest Facebook Page Dr. Mary Travelbest Facebook Group Dr. Mary Travelbest Instagram Dr. Mary Travelbest Podcast Dr. Travelbest on TikTok Dr.Travelbest onYouTube In the news  

In this episode of Blind Techie Geek Speaks, media philosopher Kathleen Masciana connects Plato's Republic, Books 5 and 6, to questions about justice, equality, family, truth, leadership, philosophy, and education. She discusses an ABC7 New York report on New York City's one-year moratorium on student-facing generative AI and companion chatbots for students in K through 8, while high school students receive AI-literacy instruction. Kathleen argues that students should receive digital literacy and responsible AI education beginning in elementary school. She also discusses New York State's bell-to-bell policy for internet-enabled devices and explains why she supports focused classrooms but believes students should have reasonable access to their devices during lunch and study hall. Drawing on the founder's undergraduate experience in a Social and Political Philosophy class at Manhattanville University, where students placed internet-enabled devices in a box during class and collected them when class ended, Kathleen explains how accessibility accommodations allowed the founder to use a tablet and Braille computer to participate fully. This episode considers how justice requires fairness, critical thinking, meaningful access to learning, and responsible use of technology. #BlindTechieGeekSpeaks #MediaPhilosopher #AILiteracy

For this week's CEO update on RNIB Connect Radio as Chief Executive Simon Antrobus is still on annual leave Dan Fisher RNIB's Chief Strategy and Public Affairs Officer sits in for Simon to look at some of the big stories coming from the UK sight loss charity.Dan began by talking about the launch of the ‘Audio is King' report at the conference at the RNIB Grimaldi Building (Thursday 8 September 2026) looking into increasing audio description through the establishment of a possible secondary audience for AD.  Then to the first new Gruffalo story in 20 years with ‘Gruffalo Granny' and the launch of the Braille / print version which was released on the same day as the print version (Thursday 10 September 2026) which is now available in the RNIB online shop, a real sign of true inclusion for visually impaired children and adults too.If you, or someone you know, would like information on the support and services available from RNIB, go to www.rnib.org.uk.You can call our Helpline on 0303 123 9999 or ask your Amazon smart speaker to call RNIB's Helpline.#RNIBConnectImage shows the RNIB Connect Radio logo. On a white background ‘RNIB' written in bold black capital letters and underline with a bold pink line. Underneath the line: ‘Connect Radio' is written in black in a smaller font.

In this episode Shawn sits down with Mark and Graham from Braille Mountain Initiative to explore what it really takes to go backcountry hiking when you're blind and low vision. They share how blind and partially sighted adventurers tackle 40-pound packs, rocky trails, basecamp life, bear safety, and the mental game of doing something that feels “impossible.” If you've ever wondered whether serious hiking or even backcountry skiing is possible without full sight, this conversation shows why the backcountry isn't off-limits—it's waiting for you! Show Notes Braille Mountain Initiative Blind Beginning's mission is to inspire children and youth who are blind and low vision and their families through diverse programs, experiences, counseling and peer support, and opportunities to create fulfilling lives. Visit us online at www.blindbeginnings.ca to find out more!

Surviving September 11 took more than courage. It took preparation, trust, and the ability to manage fear. I share my experience escaping from the 78th floor of the World Trade Center with my guide dog, Roselle, and the lessons that shaped how I responded that morning. You'll hear how years of learning my surroundings, trusting my training, and understanding my role as a leader helped me stay focused during the evacuation. I also explore blindness, the limits society places on blind people, and the power of teamwork between a guide dog and handler. Most of all, this story is about focusing on what you can control, trusting the relationships you've built, and preparing yourself to act when fear shows up. Highlights: 00:10 – Why Michael is revisiting September 11, 25 years later. 11:45 – How Michael learned that blindness itself isn't the limitation. 32:50 – Why preparation inside the World Trade Center mattered when crisis hit. 36:40 – How staying calm helped Michael lead others toward safety. 44:46 – The lesson Michael heard while running from the collapsing tower. 51:59 – What Roselle taught Michael about fear, trust, and moving forward. 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/ 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 subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Transcript: Michael Hingson  00:04 Hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of Unstoppable Mindset. I am your host, Mike Hingson, and today we're doing something a little bit different. This is Friday, september 4, 20/26, and this is the first of four episodes commemorating all of the events that happened in and around September 11, 2001. As many of you know, I was in the World Trade Center working for a company. I had opened an office for them on the 78th floor of Tower One of the World Trade Center, and on September 11th, I was in my office because we were going to be doing some special sales training for people, and I was there getting prepared to do all of that when the terrorists attacked the towers, and then later the Pentagon. And as you may know, a fourth aircraft was crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, because people on the aircraft took it over from the terrorists or tried to anyway, so one of the things that we thought would be helpful would be for me to give you again a taste of what I actually went through and what occurred on September 11, 2001, when we started this podcast back in August of 2021, I played a speech that talked about some of what happened to me in the World Trade Center. But today we're going to do a different speech. In April of 2024, I was invited to be a speaker at the Marshfield, Missouri Cherry Blossom Festival. Now that festival is a yearly event celebrating and commemorating different events in American history. In 2024, I was invited to come and speak and talk about my experience at the World Trade Center and to help put some of that into context. I thought it would be very relevant for all of you if we played that speech for you, so that you would again get a taste of what occurred with me, why I was able to survive and escape, and a little bit about the lessons that we should learn about not only September 11th, but frankly, from my perspective, being the fact that I have been blind since I was born in 1950, I want you to learn a little bit more about blindness. So we're going to present to you now my speech delivered in April on April 27, 2024, at the Marshfield, Missouri Cherry Blossom Festival. I hope that you'll enjoy it. I hope that it will teach you some things, and don't forget that we have other episodes coming up. We have another episode occurring on the eighth of September where I'm going to be interviewed by Michelle Abraham from Amplify You. Amplify You is the company that I work with to get these podcasts out twice a week, and Michelle has her own podcast, and she's going to interview me to talk about lessons we've learned, to talk a little bit about what happened on September 11th. But we won't give anything away for what's going to happen later in this series of episodes. On September 11th, I will be talking with Bob Ellis. Bob was at the Pentagon on September 11th and literally just walked out the door just before the aircraft hit the Pentagon. We're going to talk about that and again, hopefully, put some of things in perspective for you. Then on the 15th of September, I'm going to come back on episode 475 of our podcast, and talk a little bit more in detail about the lessons that I've learned, and talk about things that I hope people will take away and remember from september 11. I know many of you weren't even born when the World Trade Center terrorist attacks occurred, and so this episode 472, especially, I hope will give you a little bit better sense of what occurred, and from my perspective, why things occurred the way they did, and and how we proceed. So I hope you'll enjoy this episode. Hope that you'll enjoy what it brings, and we will definitely be moving forward to talk about some other things later on. Speaker 1  04:24 There are moments in American history that changed the national conscience. Yesterday, we heard about the assassination of President Kennedy. Some of you might be old enough to remember the attack of Pearl Harbor, and for most recently in American history, of course, the terrorist attacks September 11th. Today, you're going to hear a riveting account, a a heroic story of a man whose story I believe will really pull at your heartstrings. And to moderate that panel today, or that interview, to do is conduct our interview. Today is Mary Acher, who's no stranger to this stage, good friend, presidential historian, and a great interviewer. If you'll put your hands together for Miss Mary, Speaker 2  05:11 I just am so honored to met Michael Hinkson and Alamo. You know by what you see that he came down on the 78th floor of the North Tower with his guide dog Brosel, but I have a friend named Doug Weed who always told me, "You don't brag on yourself; you get somebody else to brag on you. And I want to brag on Michael before we start this. Before I ask him to tell this story, Michael was a premature baby, and at the time when he was born, they put the babies in pre in a the premature babies in a incubator sealed with 100% oxygen, and the doctors didn't know that then, but it blinded the children, and Michael was blinded at birth. So Michael was very fortunate that he had parents that refused to allow him to even think about being disabled. They mainstreamed him before mainstreaming was even known, and they taught him to ride a bicycle. They let him drive a car, and later in his life, he actually piloted an airplane. Is that amazing? He loved mathematics. He loved physics. He was taught geometry. He solved math problems in his head. He's got a master's degree in physics and another-not a master's, but a regular in in teaching. So that is why he is such an amazing man. He's never ever let this what enough people call a disability stop him at all? As a matter of fact, he has been such an amazing gift to the unsighted community in in the Braille and things that technology that blind people can utilize to be online and be all kinds of of things that they wouldn't ever have been allowed to do even 50 years ago. So anyway, I'm just so honored to have met you, Michael. It's just been amazing. I'm going to take him to Lambert's tomorrow. He says I have to catch the rolls, or somebody else will catch them and they'll eat them and he won't get it. I promised him I'd catch the rolls. All right, my dear Michael, would you start telling us about that horrendous day? I am Michael Hingson  08:00 going to not do what I said I was gonna do. I'm gonna stand up, and I'm gonna be very interested to go to Lambert's to see what they do with me, since normally they would throw the rolls, as I understand it. And I'm gonna point out that doesn't really work. So now, what are you gonna do? Because if they all fall on the floor and the dog gets them, and the dog gets sick, you guys are in trouble. So I'll be interested to see exactly what happens. No, I'm sure it will work out. Mary, thank you for those those kind words. I'd like to start by defining a couple things to help us in all of this. Mary is absolutely right about what my parents did in their position, the doctors told my parents when it was discovered I was blind at about four months of age that I should be sent to a home because no blind child could ever grow up to amount to anything or contribute to society. If you think that's bad, it was worse in other parts of the world where, when children were born who were blind, were just drowned in a bucket of water. So, in a sense, it wasn't as bad. Not every child who was born premature and put in an incubator did go blind, and it's unfortunate, in a sense, that at the time that I was born. Dr. Arnold Papps at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University had discovered that, in fact, oxygen could cause blindness, and even a few minutes a day of a non-oxygen environment would drop the incidence of blindness down to zero. But medical science didn't believe him because they said, "Well, too much oxygen can't be a problem. And what Dr. Arnold Pats essentially really proved is that too much of anything can be a problem. So it is it is an issue. I finally actually some time ago got to meet Dr. Pats. Before he passed, it was it was fascinating to talk with him about that. The condition at the time when I was born was called retroenterial fibroplasia. If you want to know how to spell that, I wrote a book called Thunderdog: The Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dog, and the Triumph of Trust at Ground Zero, which we plan to have here, but the publisher messed up, so it wasn't. But you can go buy Thunderdog anywhere, and you can learn how to spell retrolateral fibroplegia. It is now called retinopathyoprematurity. I guess that's a little easier to spell. I don't know still why they changed the name, but they did. So fine, I don't care. I am blind. I don't care. Blindness isn't the problem. I've learned from my parents and growing up and being alive now for yep 74 years, blindness isn't the problem. The problem is our perception of blindness, what we believe blind people can and can't do, as opposed to what they truly can and can't do. If you want to really see a story or something about a blind person driving a car, there is a website www.blinddriverchallenge.org. Blinddriverchallenge.org. The president of the National Federation of the Blind in October of 2001 challenged private industry and universities to create a vehicle that a blind person could drive, not an autonomous vehicle, but truly a vehicle that would transmit to the blind person the information necessary for them to drive the vehicle. What you will see at blinddriverchallenge.org is a video of a gentleman named Mark Riccobono. Too many marks. Mark Riccobono driving a vehicle independently without any assistance around the Daytona Speedway, right before the 2011 Rolex 24 race, he will go through an obstacle course. He will pass boxes that are being thrown out of a van to try to block his way. He will pass the van and a number of things like that. The reality is, what is driving? It's all about you having the information necessary for you to control your vehicle, and as far as I'm concerned, given what Mark Riccobono did, and given the reality that the information is available to us, given the way most sighted drivers drive, I'll take me any day, especially where I live in Victorville. My gosh! But the the reality is, blindness isn't the problem. I grew up believing that I went to public school. I went to college. Michael Hingson  12:26 I did get a master's degree in physics. As I love to tell people, I'm as good as Doc Brown from Back to the Future in building reactors and nuclear bombs. The only difference between me and Doc Brown is I won't go steal fissionable material from some source that might come after me later. So you know, I think I was a little smarter than Doc Brown, but the fact is, again, it's not the problem. I was also the program director of the campus radio station for a while, and I worked at the campus radio station KUCI 89.9 on your FM dial for seven years. I did a show playing old radio shows every Sunday night from six to nine. Didn't even know what 60 minutes was. I heard about it, and one day finally somebody from the show or from the the Orange County Jail called and said, "We really got a situation. We want you to know about it here at the jail. People who heard about you, they've heard about 60 minutes, and on Sunday nights we have to divide the jail in half. Half of the people go up to a television room to watch 60 Minutes, and the other half, which is the bigger half, want to hear your show playing old radio shows on Sunday nights. So you know we must be doing something right. That even at the jail, they liked us. I went to work in 1976 for the National Federation of the Blind. It's the largest organization of blind consumers in the country. I was offered a position because I was in in the science world, one of the few at the time in that world. And the president of the federation, Dr. Jernigan, told me in late 74, early 75, we got a situation. There's a guy named Ray Kurzweil. You may have heard of Ray. He's a futurist. He's an inventor. He's invented the singularity. I'm not totally sure I agree with everything that Ray says. You know, Ray once said the only problem with God is we haven't invented it yet. I don't agree with that. And the other part about it is Ray says that we're really going to all become part of the world when chips are created that will allow us to directly interact with computers. Well, we'll see. I don't want to chip in my brain yet. But Ray at that time had developed a piece of technology that would actually look at a printed page. It actually had to build it up line by line, so it wasn't like snapping a picture. But it would learn to recognize all the characters on that page, no matter what their type styles or print styles were, and it would read it out loud, called the Kurzweil Reading Machine for the Blind. Just like with blindness and retro-entral fibroblasia, the government didn't believe he could do it because nobody else had been able to do it, and so they wouldn't help fund it. He came to the federation, and the federation said, "Tell you what we're going to do." Ray, I'm not sure they said it quite that way, but tell you what we're going to do, Ray. We're going to send somebody up there with a bunch of material, and if your machine reads what we bring up, not what you want to read, if it reads what we bring up, then we're going to help you get funding. And Ray, I'm sure again it wasn't quite the way he said it, but he said, "Bring it on. They did. It did, and a relationship began that exists to this day-a machine that literally would read print out loud. And Ray wanted the first application of omnivore optical character recognition to be a machine that would read print out loud for blind people. We created a project where we purchased several machines, and then for 18 months, from 1976, in October through June of 1978, I lived in suitcases or out of suitcases in hotels, traveling around the country where we put machines at places like the New York Public Library, the Iowa Commission for the Blind, the San Francisco Public Library, and some other agencies for the blind around the country. Michael Hingson  15:59 The idea being that we wanted blind people to come and use the machine, read whatever they wanted to read, and then give us information about what needed to go into a final production model of the machine. I wrote training curriculum. I wrote the the technical manuals for teaching people how to use the machine. I taught people to use it. I observed people using it. Sometimes grabbed my old soldering gun and fix things that broke on the machines. These were $50,000, 400 pound machines. They weren't little things like an app on an iPhone today, right? So anyway, we finally wrote the final recommendations, and then Ray said, "I want to hire you to come and do the same sort of thing within the company. So I went to work for Ray, moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Actually, I learned I moved to Winthrop, Massachusetts, learned how to go from Winthrop to Cambridge every day, and we began a relationship. And I worked at Kurzweil Computer Products, in and that started in again October of 1978. In May of 1978, I was called into the office of the VP of Marketing, and Andrew Parson said, "We're laying you off. What? We're laying you off. Why? Oh, it's not that you're doing a bad job or anything, but unfortunately, like a lot of engineering startup companies, we've hired too many people who aren't revenue producers, and we have to have more revenue producers. And so, as important as your job is, it's not as important as making money for the company. So we have to lay you off. Then he paused and he said, "Unless you'll go into sales. Now, I'm a science guy. However, I thought about it for a micro nanosecond, and I said, "Sure, I'll go into sales. As I love to tell people, I decided I would lower my standards and go from science to sales, and did. I said I don't know anything about sales. He said we'll send you to a Dale Carnegie sales course and all that. Well, I started selling, but not the reading machine for the blind. Instead, I sold a new product they had called the Kurzweil Data Entry Machine, and unlike the reading machine for the blind that sold for $50,000, if you want one, we might be able to find one of the old machines for you for 49 995. Instead, I sold a new product called the Kurzweil Data Entry Machine, which was only $125,000. I guess they had confidence in my ability, and I was very grateful for it. The real reason that I didn't want to refuse the sales position is I knew that at that time, and it's still somewhat today, the unemployment rate among employable blind people is close to 70. That is seven 0% It's not because we can't do the work; it's because people think we won't be able to do the work and don't give us the opportunity. So the bottom line is, I lowered my standards and went from science to sales, and did that for a while. And then in 1981, while Xerox was considering and actually working toward buying the product, I was asked by Ray and the VP of Sales to move back to California, where I was from, to help integrate Kurzweil into the Xerox West Coast environment, including their research center called Palo Alto Area Research Center Park, and I did. And my thanks for that was that after the the whole sale was consummated and Xerox completely took over. I was the last salesperson in June of 1984 to receive a FedEx letter saying thank you for your service, but we don't want you anymore. Goodbye, because all Xerox wanted was the technology. They didn't want the people. Now I was confronted with the situation. How am I going to find a job? What am I going to do? 70% unemployment. and I went out and I wrote lots of cover letters, sent out lots of resumes, and I even got a headhunter who called me and said, "Love your resume. We're going to have you interview with this company up in San Jose, California. We'll send you a ticket. They sent me the ticket the night before the flight. The guy called. Back and he says, "You know, I was just looking at your resume again. I see you do a lot of things with blind people. Michael Hingson  20:04 Is there somebody in your family who's blind? You notice that? And I said, "Yeah, I'm blind. You're blind? Well, I'm going to have to call them. They're not going to want to talk to you. I said, "Nothing has changed. My resume is still the same, but you're blind. It's all changed. No, it hasn't. There were no laws to stand on. The reservation was canceled, and I didn't do the interview. Their loss. If Speaker 3  20:30 you enjoy Unstoppable Mindset and would like to help us continue bringing these conversations to you each week, we've created a way for you to support the show. Your contribution helps us cover production costs and continue sharing stories, insights, and ideas that inspire people to live with purpose and possibility. If supporting the podcast feels right for you, you'll find the link in the show notes. Thank you for being part of the Unstoppable Mindset Community. Michael Hingson  21:02 Eventually, not finding a job, I started my own company selling computer-aided design systems to architects. A blind guy selling CAD systems? Why the heck not? I didn't need to work the machine. What I needed to know was how to work the machine, so I could describe it to architects, and I could sit them down in front of a machine and talk with them and talk them through it. We also hired people to demo CAD systems, and I did that for four years. And then I went back into the workforce. And when I went back into the workforce, my wife and I were talking one day, and she said, "You know, I got this great job I just discovered in the newspaper. It's selling high-end, new, revolutionary, hot, pluggable disc technology. It's perfect for you. You should apply. And I said to my wife Karen, who I had married in 1982. By the way, Karen also had a disability. She was in a wheelchair her whole life. She reads. I push. Worked out well. I said, so do I say in my cover letter I'm blind or not? Because typically, if you say you're blind, same thing will happen with the headhunter. You won't even get a call back if you don't say you're blind. You might get a callback, but then they're going to have all their defenses go up when you show up for the interview. And she said, "You're an idiot. Wives can do that, gentlemen, and it's fine. You're an idiot. Why? What's the most important thing you always said to every salesperson you ever hired, well, I wasn't quite sure which things she was thinking of. I had several things that I always said to salespeople I hired. She said, "You always told every salesperson you ever hired turn here's the operative word perceived liabilities into assets. You ever watch those little cartoons in the newspapers and all that, where the light bulb goes on over your head. Well, that's what happened, and I went and I wrote a cover letter to send with this resume to this company. And here are the last two paragraphs of the letter. The most important thing you need to know about me is that I am blind. As a blind person, I have had to sell all my life just to be able to function and survive. I've had to sell to take my guide dog on airplanes. I didn't tell them that we had to sue one airline because they violated their own policy because they wouldn't let me go on an airplane with my guide dog. I've had to sell to convince people to let me buy a house, move into apartments, sometimes take my guide dog into grocery stores, and do anything else because I was blind, I've always had to sell. So, second paragraph: When you're hiring someone for this job, do you want to hire somebody who comes in and works for eight or 10 hours a day, and then just goes home because the job is over, or do you want to truly hire somebody who understands sales for the science and art that it is, and who sells 24 hours a day as a way of life. Sent off the letter. Waited for two weeks, wondering if I'd get a call or an email. Well, no, not an email, not back then. But in late June 19 or May 1989, I got a call. This is Doug Cooper, head of marketing for Articon. We love your letter. Would you come for an interview? And I said sure. Next day we were down there. I was hired and started on july 2, 1989. Love to start on the second of July, or actually the third of July, because then I got the next day off. It was great. So I went to work for them, and we moved from where we were living in Mission Viejo down to Vista, California. The company was in Carlsbad. I began selling to the East Coast, selling our technologies and other technologies, Sun Microsystems products, and so on. And then in 1996, the owner of the company asked me to move to New York for them because we were selling to Wall Street. Michael Hingson  24:37 Wall Street was always good at getting and demanding and getting what they demanded, and they always said, "If you are a manufacturer and you're selling products to us, we want a representative, not an agent, but we want the company in Wall Street Arena to be able to to hold responsible and deal with. So we moved to New York. And I went to work on the 23rd floor of Tower Two of the World Trade Center, and was there for about a year, and then was recruited away by another company, and it wasn't hard because Articon did not figure out how to support a branch operation. So I was recruited away, and then in 1999 I was recruited away by Quantum Corporation, and now we're getting to what Mary asked about. But I needed to give you the background. Hope it was okay. So in 1999, I was hired to open an office for Quantum Corporation on well in New York City. Quantum was a company that made products called tape libraries. They were big boxes that consisted of tape drives and lots of tape cartridges, and you would attach them to computer networks, and then you would use software like one called Veritas, which is still used today. And what you would do is you would back up all of your data over the network into these tape libraries, onto tape cartridges, and then you would take the tape cartridges out and store them off-site. Now I gotta stop and be spiteful because in New Jersey they love to say that they stored them in a town called Mountainside Under a Mountain. You ever see a mountain in northern New Jersey? I came from California where we had mountains that were eight, 910, 1000 feet tall. They didn't even have decent hills, but they still called it a mountain. That was fine, whatever. They still were able to store the tapes in safe places. But the point is that all the data was backed up off-site, which is what they needed to do. We opened the actual office on august 1, 2000. I hired a staff, and we had a staff that came in and and sold, and we also worked with resellers. And in August of 2001, our main distributor Ingram Micro said, "You know, we got a lot of resellers who are selling your products, but they don't really know how to do it. Can we hold some seminars to teach our your reseller partners, our customers, the resellers, how to sell your product? I said, "You bet. We worked it out with the folks at Quantum. David Frank, who was in charge of pricing and distribution, said he wanted to come back to be a part of the seminars, and we set up doing the seminars. The idea was that we would teach them. I would be their main point of contact since I worked and lived there. David would be the person that I or they would contact without with any pricing issues, but I would be the technical point of contact contact. Master's degree in physics helps, and so we set up the seminars. And wouldn't you know it, we set them up to be held on september 11, 2001. The evening before, or the morning of September 11th, about 12:30, Roselle, my guide dog at the time, woke me up. She was very nervous and fidgety. I knew what it was like when she was fidgety. It was usually because it was a thunderstorm. She didn't like thunder, and we went down to my office. And of course, a thunderstorm did happen, and the storm literally came right over our house. I've never been in an environment where bombs went off around me, but I got to say that in this case, the thunder claps were, as I said, literally right over us, and it had to be like what a bomb sounds like going off. Anyway, it went on till about two, and then we went back up and got a couple more hours of sleep, three more hours of sleep. I got up. We went in and got to the office at about 7:40 in the morning on September 11th. As I came to the door, somebody came up with a cart. It turns out it was a guy from the Port Authority cafeteria. Michael Hingson  28:33 We were going to be providing breakfast and snacks for the first and second seminarians. We had seminars going all day, so we went in. I showed him where I wanted to set up everything in the conference room. I went in, got my laptop computer out of my backpack briefcase. I got my PowerPoint projector, and I went into the conference room and set everything up because I was going to be doing a PowerPoint show that day to give people all the information they needed about the ATLP 3000, the ATLP 1000, and so on. Yes, blind people can do PowerPoint, folks. It's not magic. You sighted bigots. So I had a script, and my wife and I had created the script, and I'd used it many times. The script was in Braille. I knew what was on every slide. We put a couple of things in addition on the script. We put all the wording from the slides on the script, and we also put on the script descriptions of the pictures, as well as where the picture would show up on the screen. So I would, for example, when we showed this to other customers around the city, I'd blow their minds because I would be doing the presentation. My sales guys loved it when I went out and did PowerPoint presentations because I could just point over my shoulder. On the left side of your screen, you'll see the ATLP 3000 with 16 cartridge, 16 drives, 326. Cartridges, and you see the label that says Prism Technology. We could hook five of them together. On the right side of your screen, you'll see the ATLP 1000, which was a single unit with 30 cartridges and one tape drive. And people would come up to me afterwards, and they say, "You know, we're ticked at you. I go, "Why? Well, first of all, your presentation was not boring, which usually they are. But second of all, you never turned and looked at the screen. You kept looking at us, even though you were pointing right to where everything was with your laser pointer. We didn't dare fall asleep. We forgot you were blind. And my response was, "You don't get it. My dog was down here taking notes. If you'd fallen asleep, we would have got you anyway. But that was what it was about. My responsibility was to be the leader of that office, and I had to do what anyone else would do. One of the main things that I did was spend hours, days walking around the World Trade Center, learning what the kiosks were in the shopping mall on the first floor, learning where different offices were, consulting with the Port Authority police and the fire prevention people learning what to do in case of an emergency because sometimes I might be in the office all by my little self. There would be nobody else around. I didn't want my staff in the office. I wanted them out selling and working and supporting customers. Not being in the office, of course, they did usually come in at least once a week. And and so I learned never watched The Sopranos, but I got to tell you, I learned more about the Sopranos from all the Italian Americans on my staff who talked about the Sopranos constantly. Bada bing, bada boom, and I learned a whole lot about Tony Soprano without ever watching the show. But the point is that I needed to know all that stuff. I needed to know where the restaurants were. Customers come into the office. Oh, you want to go out to lunch? What kind of food do you want? There's a great deli downstairs called Fine and Shapiro. Let me take you there. How would it have looked if I didn't know how to do that, and I had to say to someone, "You're going to have to let me take your arm and lead me there because I don't know how to get there, and two hours later we're supposed to be negotiating multi-million dollar contracts? No, I needed to know it. I didn't have the luxury, and I don't regard it as a luxury. I regard it as a disability of reading signs. I needed to know all of that stuff. What I didn't realize is that was creating a mindset in me, which I'll talk about in a moment. Michael Hingson  32:15 Anyway, got all the laptop projectors and everything set up. The only thing I knew I didn't know how to do extremely well is to get it exactly aimed right, but about 8o'clock, David Frank came in and I said, "Say, David, this is all set up, but let's aim the projector just exactly where you want it on the screen. And we did have to turn it just a little bit, but not too much. But anyway, at 845, I was in my office and David was with me. We were creating a final list of all the people who were going to be attending the seminars, because the Port Authority police, the security people, needed to know who was coming. There were two ways you could get into the building: either we faxed on letterhead a list of people who were coming on any given day, and then the people coming in would show their photo IDs, and it would be verified against the list. And if they were allowed in, then they would be given a badge that they would put over their neck, and they would carry that, and they could scan barcode and go into the appropriate elevator to come onto our floor, or they'd have to call us every time somebody came in. And I didn't want a lot of phone calls coming in, so we were faxing the list. I was reaching for Letterhead to fax to to print the list on Letterhead when suddenly I heard and felt kind of a muffled thump and a vibration. And then literally, if you any blind people in the room, well, I'll do it anyway. I'm holding up my hand, and what happened was that literally, as I'm now tipping my hand toward you, the building began to tip. We probably moved about 20 feet. The building kept tipping and tipping. David and I said together, "What's going on? I don't know. What's going on? What do you think? Was it an explosion? I said. David said, "Didn't sound like it. Is it an earthquake? David was from New York, and now he's living in California. He didn't know about earthquakes. I said, "No, the building wasn't shaking around. It was going in one direction. And finally, and I went over and I stood in the doorway between my office and the the outside lobby of our our offices, and I stood there. Roselle was asleep under my desk. David was just on the other side of my desk, holding it near our windows, looking out over Manhattan, the south side of Manhattan. And finally, David and I both said goodbye to each other because we thought we had moved so far that the building was going to take a 78 floor plunge to the street. And then the building slowed down, and it stopped, and it moved back. As soon as it got vertical, I started walking back into the office. I met Roselle coming around from under my desk. I took her leash. I said "heel, which meant to come around behind me to sit and lie down, which is what I would normally have Alamo do, but he's comfortable, so we'll just leave him there. Roselle sat down, and about that time. The building dropped straight down about six feet. Why did it drop down? Because tall buildings like that literally are springs. They're made to flex in windstorms and other things like that. An Empire, an airplane hit the Empire State Building in the 1940s because it got lost in a fog bank. Tall buildings are flexible. They have expansion joints, and when the building was hit, the expansion joints took up all of the the things that were going on. And then when the building got straight again, the expansion joints dropped back down to their normal configuration. I knew that because I had talked to people about stuff like that. I'd forgotten it until later, but I knew it. What I hadn't realized is that what was happening when I was learning so much stuff was that a mindset was being developed in me that said, "You know what to do in an emergency. And as soon as the building dropped, David turned and looked out the window and started shouting, "Oh my God, Mike! There's fire and smoke over us! There were millions of pieces of burning paper falling outside the windows. Michael Hingson  35:59 We got to get out of here right now! Slow down, David. No, we got to get out of here. The building's on fire. I could hear things rushing and brushing outside our windows, and now I knew what they were. David told me millions of pieces of burning paper, right? And I didn't smell any smoke. Roselle wasn't doing anything to indicate any concern, and David kept saying, "We got to get out of here. The building's on fire. And I kept saying, "Slow down. Our guests began to scream. We had like five or six who were in our conference room. Early arrivals. They started coming out, but then they heard me say, "Slow down, stop, David. Just wait. And they waited to see what was going to happen. And finally, David used the big line: "You don't understand. You can't see Speaker 4  36:37 it. The Michael Hingson  36:38 problem wasn't what I wasn't seeing, the problem was what David wasn't seeing-a dog sitting next to me, wagging her tail, yawning, going, "Who the heck woke me up? I was comfy, not giving any indication of fear. And I eventually got David to focus, and I said, "David, get our guests to the stairs. Don't let them take the elevators, because I knew if there's fire, especially because if there's fire, the elevators could become fire traps. The fire could get into the elevator shafts, which it did, and anybody in the cars would be burned. David left with our guests, got them to the stairs. Meanwhile, I called Karen and told her that there had been an explosion or something. We had no clue. There was no way to know. I love it. Reporters, even today, and other people say, "Well, of course you didn't know you couldn't see it. Excuse me, you numbskulls. The last time I checked, Superman and X-ray vision were fiction, and the airplane hit 18 floors above us on the other side of the building. No one knew. All the way down the stairs, we didn't know because no one saw it. No one knew. Anyway, I called and told Karen she wanted to know more. I said, "I don't know anything else. I've got to go because we're not staying here. We knew instantly that we had to leave, but we got our guests out. Then David came back. We swept the offices one last time. Went to the stairs and we started down. If I knew it was the last time I was going to be in the building, I would have taken a couple of things that I didn't take. Like I had a really neat talking scientific calculator that I couldn't replace. And if I had known that I wasn't coming back, I would have taken it. It would have been a little heavier, but I would have taken it anyway. We started down the stairs. There were other people, of course, on the stairs. We got down about four floors, and I was smelling an odor. I couldn't quite figure it out, and suddenly I realized I'm smelling the fumes from burning jet fuel. I traveled 100,000 miles a year for my company. I knew what the odor of jet fuel was like. I knew the kerosene smell, but it took a while to associate it with the World Trade Center because no one would have ever thought you would have smelled it there. When I realized what it was, I observed to the other people around me on the stairs, "I'm smelling the fumes from burning jet fuel. And they said, "Yeah, you're right. That's what it is. We must have been hit by an airplane. You understand? Nobody knew. We must have been hit because of what we're smelling, so we all accepted that that was what was going on, but we had no clue. We continued down the stairs, about 10 floors down. At one point, a woman stopped right behind me, and she said, "I can't go on. I can't breathe. We're not going to make it out. And I stopped and turned around and said, "Sure, we are. Come on, this is my guide dog Roselle. He's guiding me, and and she'll encourage you. Roselle gave her kisses, and this lady gave Roselle a few pets, and so on. And other people surrounded her, and we had a group hug, and the lady was able to keep going. A few burn victims passed us on the stairs as we went down. At about the 50th floor, David, who had gotten a little quiet. Suddenly said, "Mike, we're going to die. We're not going to make it out of here. Now you heard that I have a teaching credential. What you don't know, and teachers won't generally acknowledge it, but I'm going to tell you anyway. There's a secret class we take called Voice 101: How to Yell at Students. Didn't know that, did you? And anyway, as soon as David. Said Mike, "We're going to die. We're not going to make it out of here. I just said as sharply and with a snap into my voice that I could, "Stop it, David! If Rosella and I can go down these stairs, so can you. And David told me later that that brought him out of his funk. Michael Hingson  40:12 What he then said is, "I got to keep my mind off this. I want to walk a floor below you and shout up to you what I see on the stairs. Is that okay? And I said, sure. Did I really need him to do that? No. Did it matter? No, but it did to David. However, what I came to realize over time was, David doing that was one of the most important things that I experienced on that day. So I'm going down the stairs. I get to floor 49. David, I'm on the 48th floor. All's clear here, Mike. Going on down. I get to 48 floor, 47. We keep going down. Finally, I get to the 45th floor, David. I'm on the 44th floor. This is where the Port Authority cafeteria is. Not stopping. So David was obviously doing better, and he kept going down. Why do I say what I did about David and doing that? Because David became a focal point for anyone within the sound of his voice who could hear him say, "43rd floor, all's clear, everything is good. He had to have helped 1000s of people stay focused and not panic going down the stairs, and I think that was so cool that he did that all the way down 42nd floor, all good. We kept going down the stairs. We met firefighters on the 30th floor. They wanted to escort me down, and I finally convinced them that I was capable of going down without them. And I did it by playing the sight card. I said, "Look, my friend David is here. He can see we're good, and the firefighters let us go. I didn't want them to escort me. First of all, they don't know how to work with a blind guy and do sighted guide. But second of all, I didn't want to break up their team because I knew that each of those people were carrying the equipment that they had to use to fight the fire. You couldn't store it somewhere. Where would you store it? Oh, the 34th floor. And what happens if a fire broke out on the 33rd floor, you couldn't get to it. You had to carry the equipment, so we kept going down the stairs. Finally, got to the first floor. David got there, and I was at floor two. And he said, "Hey, there are water sprinklers running. You're going to have to run through a waterfall or a down torrent of water to get out of the stairwell. Why was there all that water? Because it wanted to keep fire either in or out of the stairs, if fire was around. David ran through. Then I got to the bottom. Roselle stood there, and I picked up her harness and said, "Rosel, forward, hop up, which is a command to speed up. We went through this torrential downpour. It was a waterfall, and we came out the other side, soaking. David was there, and there were voices. Hey, don't go outside! No, no, don't go that way. Go this way. A PA system, a guy on a bullhorn. No, no, no! Don't go outside. Don't go to the outside. Go this way. What we didn't know is, if they had let people go out, they might have been right below where people were jumping. And so that was one of the reasons they didn't want anyone out. They wanted people to go through the complex and get out at the far side, as far away from where everything was occurring that they could. This guy comes up to us and he goes, "I'm with the FBI. I'll get you where you need to go. And of course, I'm sitting there with my warped sense of humor, going, "I'm sorry, I only talked to McGarrett, and I didn't do it. I'm innocent. I just thought that I didn't say any of it out loud. Anyway, he got us through out to the outside of Tower One. We passed now the empty Ben and Jerry's ice cream kiosk that was there. Darn didn't get a chance for a scoop. Kept going. Finally, went up an escalator and got outside into the sunshine outside of Tower. Well, of the whole complex, as far away from the towers as we could be, we got outside. Michael Hingson  43:44 We were told to leave the area, but David looked around and he said, "Mike, I see fire in Tower Two. And I said, "What are you talking about? There's fire in Tower Two, really? What's that all about? We didn't feel a thing going down. We were in our own little cocoon, our own little cave. We had no clue. Anyway, we were told to leave, so we went to Broadway. We walked across the plaza to Broadway, turn left, going now north on Broadway. There was a building on my left. Broadway was on my right. We crossed several streets, crossed Fulton Street, finally got to Vetsy Street. David said, "I want to stop because I can see the fire in Tower Two really clearly from here, I want to take some pictures, and I said, "Great, I'll try to call my wife. I got out my phone. David was taking pictures, which I have today. I tried to call Karen. I couldn't get through. Later, of course, we learned that people were saying goodbye to loved ones, and that was why the circuits were busy. I had just put my phone away, and a police officer, and while David was putting his camera away, and a police officer yelled out of here! It's coming down now. We heard this rumble that became this deafening roar. I describe it as kind of a combination of a freight train and a waterfall. You could hear glass breaking and tinkling, and metal crashing down, and then this white noise sound as Tower Two, 100 yards away from. Pancake down. Everyone turned and ran. David ran. He was gone. I literally lifted Roselle by the harness, turned her 180 degrees, and started running back the way we came. And the first thing I remember saying in my mind was, "God, I cannot believe that you got us out of a building just to have it fall on us. And as soon as I thought that, I heard in my head as clearly as you hear me now, a voice that said, "Don't worry about what you can't control. Focus on running with Roselle, and the rest will take care of itself. Who is God? Absolutely no question. Don't worry about what you can't control. Focus on running with Roselle, and the rest will take care of itself. And so I also had this incredible sense of peace and calm that came over me. That said, you're okay if you work together. We kept running. We got back to Fulton Street, turned right on Fulton Street, and ran about 25 yards. And suddenly we caught up to David, who had apparently gone the same way. And David suddenly realized that he had left us behind and he was going to come back, but we caught up to him first, and he apologized. I said, "David, don't worry about it. Let's just keep going. The building's coming down, you know. And we both just started to run with Roselle, and suddenly we were engulfed in all the dirt and debris and the dust cloud from Tower Two. It was so thick that David said he couldn't see his hand six inches in front of his face, and all I can tell you is that every breath I took, I felt dirt and debris and junk going down my throat into my stomach, and we knew we had to get out of that. So I started telling Roselle, "Go right, right. There was a building on our right side, and I wanted her to find the nearest opening if she could even hear me, see my hand signals, or whatever. And I was also listening for openings. Yes, I can hear when I pass an opening, and I and I can tell it's there and deal with it accordingly. Like during a time when you're running away from a collapsing building, run into it. Suddenly, I heard an opening on the right, and Roselle must have known what I wanted. She must have been able to see my hand signals or something because she turned right, she took one step, she stopped, and she would not move. Come on, Roselle, keep going. She wouldn't move. Come on, Roselle. Nope, wouldn't do it. And I realized, focus on running with Roselle, and the rest will take care of itself. So I stuck out a foot. Michael Hingson  47:13 I trailed a hand along a wall, and realized that we were at the top of a flight of stairs. Roselle had done exactly what she was supposed to do, and I knew what I was supposed to do if I wanted to get her to move. But before I did that, I gave her a big hug, good girl, and then I said, "Roselle, forward! That's the command. And we went down the stairs into an arcade area that was the entrance to the Fulton Street subway station. There were a few other people down there. Then a guy came up from the subway system and saw about eight or nine of us there. He introduced himself as Lou, an employee of the subway system, and he took us down to an employee locker room where we could sit down and and kind of hack and cough and get the dust out of our lungs. There was a water fountain and there were fans. We were there about 10 minutes. Then a police officer came, and he said, "You got to get out of here right now. The air's clear up above. You can't stay here. And so we followed him. Of course, he probably had already been told that Tower One was going to collapse. the The officials knew that each building was going to collapse probably about a half hour before it actually did. At least that was their presumption, and that's what I've been told. Anyway, we followed him back up the stairs, through the arcade, up the last two flights of stairs. We got outside. David looked around and he goes, "Oh my God, Mike, there's no Tower Two anymore. And I said, "What do you see? And he said, "All I see are pillars of smoke, hundreds of feet tall. We stood there for a moment, and then we just turned, and we kept walking. Now west on Fulton Street, we walked about 10 minutes, and we were in this little plaza area when we heard that freight train waterfall sound again, and we knew it must be our tower collapsing. We saw a little retaining wall David did, and we got behind it and ducked down, and we waited until everything stopped, and then we stood back up. And David looked around and he said, "Oh my God, Mike, there's no World Trade Center anymore. And I said, "What do you see? And he said, "I just see fingers of fire and flame, hundreds of feet tall. We see, I see pillars of smoke. It's gone. Are you sure? Yeah, it's gone. It's not there. We stood there a moment, then I tried to call my wife Karen again. That was kind of my first thought. I need to tell her we're okay. This time I did get through because clearly the circuits were were free. And after some tears on both sides of the phone, she is the one who told us how two aircraft had deliberately been hijacked and crashed into the towers, one into the Pentagon, and a fourth at that time was still missing over Pennsylvania. Who would have thought? We spent the rest of that day getting up toward Midtown Manhattan, and eventually I got to Penn Station, learned that the trains were running, and went back. Out to New Jersey, David wanted to go back up to be with his sister, who he who he was staying with. She lived on the Upper East Side, so I got on trains and I went back over toward New Jersey. I called Karen and told her what was going on, and a friend of ours, a friend that Karen had known since high school out in California, Tom Painter, was also living in New Jersey, he had come down to be with her, not even knowing at the time whether I was in the World Trade Center or working from home that day or whatever. But he drove her to the station in our accessible van, and as I came off the train, I heard the van show up. I went downstairs, climbed and went up the ramp into the van, and got to hug Karen about 7o'clock that night, for the first time since leaving home, we got home. Tom drove us home. We all went inside. I was going to take Roselle outside because she hadn't been out since like five that morning. Michael Hingson  50:53 Well, I take that back about six that morning, and I took her harness off. But before I could do anything else, she was off like a shot. She went to her toy box, found her favorite tug bone, and started playing tug of war with my retired guide dog Linny. Why? Because it was over for her. And I talked to the guide dog people later, and I said, "Will any of this affect her? And they said, "Was she threatened? Did anything hit her or injure her in any way, and I said no. They said then no. It was over for her because dogs don't do what if. It was over. It was done. She was fine. Lesson to be learned. Lesson you will learn more about if you buy our new book, Live Like a Guide Dog: True Stories from a Blind Man and His Guide his dogs about being brave, overcoming adversity, and walking in faith. That that book is available for pre-order, and I've been signing bookmarks all day. I still even have a few with me. But the point is, you can pre-order it, and and it's about something that I learned later. I thought about during the pandemic. I've talked a lot about escaping and not being afraid because I developed a mindset that said you know what to do, but what I've not done is to teach others how they can learn to recognize that fear is not something that needs to blind or overwhelm you. You can use fear as a very powerful tool to guide you and steer you in the right direction if you know how to control it, and live like a guide dog is all about that. So I hope that you'll all get that when it comes out in August. But again, you can pre-order it now if you go to michaelhinkston.com. There's a link there where you can go to a web page to get information and to go to a link where you can pre-order it. And like I said, I have some bookmarked with a QR code on it, and and I'm and I yes I am plugging the book, but I'm also saying, look, folks, the bottom line is we operate in so many ways with misconceptions about things. I've talked about blindness. Anybody could have been in the World Trade Center, and and a lot of people were. The reality is, though, if you learn what to do and how to prepare for situations in general, when it becomes something specific, you'll know what to do. People have asked a number of times, "Well, wasn't your guide dog trained to operate in an emergency like the World Trade Center? How are we going to do that? No, the dog isn't trained to do that. The guide dog's job is not to lead. Guide dogs do not lead blind people. Guide dogs' jobs are to make sure that we walk safe. It's my job to know where to go and how to get there to give the dog direction. The dog depends and relies on me to give it direction. The dog's job, as I said, is to make sure we walk safely. It's a team effort. We each have a job to do, and we develop a trusting relationship when we learn to trust each other and respect the job the other member of the team is doing, which is what it's all about. Which is what happens on any team, trust is all around us. Trust is under attack in so many ways from our politicians, and in so many ways. But the reality is, trust is all around us. I think we all trust that the roof isn't going to fall in on the church. I think that we trust that the PA system is going to continue to work, and so on. Trust is all around us. The difference between dogs and people is that dogs, while they do love unconditionally, do not trust unconditionally. But dogs are open to trust unless some incredibly traumatic thing has happened to them where they lose that ability. But dogs are open to trust, dogs want humans to give them direction to establish rules, and all too often with our pets and so on, we don't do that. We don't really develop the relationship that we should and can with them. Michael Hingson  54:54 If we would, we would have so much stronger bond and relationships with them. It would be. Amazing for for all of us, but the bottom line is that's the relationship that I get with each guide dog. That's the relationship I have with Alamo. He trusts that I am going to feed him before too awfully long. He trusts that you guys are going to buy books, so he'll have kibbles for me to feed him. Just saying, but but seriously, the the trust has to be earned with a dog or with people or whatever, and if you find that you you discover you can't trust someone, don't wish them ill will, forgive them and move on. So you don't trust them, but you know what you have, and you go off and make new friends and learn other trusting relationships that you can develop. Focus on running with Roselle; the rest will take care of itself. The reality is, we worry so much about so many things. We are always doing what if we create most of the fears that we face in our lives, and we Don't need to do that. If we would focus on just the things that we have some control over and leave the rest alone, well, we might want to be aware of them, but we don't have to worry about them. We don't have control over them. Trust and deal with the things that you have to deal with, and let the rest take care of itself. And that was what I learned on September 11th, listening to the voice of God, absolutely, and that is something that I pass on to all of you, and I think that's the most important thing that I can leave you with. Hi again, everyone. This is Mike Hingson. I hope that you found that speech to be helpful and relevant and interesting. I hope that you learn some things from it. From a personal standpoint, I hope that you learn that blindness isn't really the big problem that I face. The challenge that I face really comes from the fact that people who have eyesight tend to believe that blind people are not capable of doing much because they can't see. Wrong thing to believe. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on that because we did it during the speech, but I just wanted to thank you for being here today, for listening and watching this episode. I hope that you will also tune in for our episode on Tuesday, where I'm in conversation with Michelle Abraham on next Friday, the 11th of September, that you will tune in to hear the conversation with Bob Ellis, and then episode 475, which will occur on the 15th of September, where we will talk about lessons to be learned and and give you some things to hopefully take away that maybe you haven't thought about. Thanks very much for being here with us. I really very much appreciate all of your support. If any of you have any questions or want to reach out to me, you are welcome to do so. Please feel free to email me at speaker@michaelhinkson.com. That's s p e a k e r at m i c h a e l h i n g s o n.com speaker@michaelhingson.com hope to hear from you and as you gather I do speak I continue to speak publicly I've been a keynote speaker since September 11 if anybody knows of anyone that needs a keynote speaker or you can use us in events that you have please reach out to me at speaker@michaelhingson.com let's talk about it. Let's see how we can help. I'm always looking for ways to inspire, but also to teach and help. And I'd like to be part of your world in that regard. Thanks again for being here. Thanks for listening, and come back next time for another episode of Unstoppable Mindset.

The new documentary "Brailled It" follows a group of blind and low-vision kids as they compete in the Braille Challenge against the country's top readers. The documentary has five directors, three of which are the blind and low-vision children themselves. One of those kids, Christopher Morgan, joins us alongside the film's two adult co-directors, David Grabias and Brendon Shulze. "Brailled It" opens at Quad Cinema tomorrow.Photo courtesy of Artifact Studios Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

20260903 I Love Braille Originally Broadcasted September 3, 2026, on ACB Media 5 This month's guest speaker, Deborah Kent-Stein made her presentation on "Six Dot to Literacy". Sponsored by: East Bay Center for the Blind Contact the Facilitator Access Archives of the Call Join the Mailing List

Au service des personnes atteintes dans leur vision, Thoma Vuilleumier et Ivan Souza ont mis leurs dons à disposition de la MEB, la Mission Evangélique Braille. Rencontre avec ces deux collègues complémentaires autant que complices!Ils oeuvrent ensemble au sein de la MEB: Thoma Vuilleumier et Ivan Souza sont respectivement secrétaire général et responsable du secteur audio de la Mission Evangélique Braille. Nous les avons rencontrés dans la maison de cette association basée à Vevey. Après des études en ingénierie microtechnique, Thoma s'est dirigé vers la théologie tout en travaillant comme animateur jeunesse en église. Et puis, il entre à la MEB, où son collègue Ivan arrivera quelque temps plus tard. Ce dernier a étudié le droit et les relations internationales en France; il a découvert la MEB quand il est arrivé en Suisse, au travers de plusieurs personnes de son église. On sent ces deux jeunes gens passionnés par leur travail et, surtout, par les bénéficiaires de cette mission centrée sur les besoins des personnes qui ont une cécité ou une déficience visuelle. Ils adhèrent de tout leur coeur aux buts de la MEB, à savoir "que chaque personne atteinte dans sa vision puisse mener une vie digne, développer son plein potentiel, s'intégrer mieux dans son environnement social et combler ses besoins spirituels". Dans le mot "évangélique" pris entre les deux mots Mission et Braille, les deux collègues y voient principalement la bonne nouvelle du Christ: "C'est vrai que nous sommes souvent obligés d'expliciter ce mot-là, précise Ivan. Mais il est effectivement utilisé au sens de l'Evangile, pas d'un attachement à une dénomination chrétienne en particulier. Partager l'Evangile de Jésus-Christ, c'est vraiment très concret, c'est incarné, ça peut changer des vies".Hébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

Brian, Blake, and Richard are back for Episode 633 of the Chasing Tone Podcast - Nashville Bound: Brooks and Dunn, Musical Deepfakes and Eternal Glitter  Brian is Nashville-bound to record his debut album, hang out at a Brooks and Dunn rehearsal, but the big question is whether he can get through it without kicking over another microphone (like he did with Brad Paisley). Before he sets off, the guys get into AI deepfakes, after a friend cloned Brian into saying unspeakable things about country music.That leads into discussion of a new guitar innovation - a guitar with an integrated fold-out kickstand - clever engineering, or a solution in search of a problem? Richard then confesses that he let Gemini set up ten presets on his floor modeler and came away a little shaken by how good the results were, which reopens the big question of whether outsourcing your tone quietly kills the fun of chasing it.The guys look at accessible guitars with Braille-friendly controls, Brian shows off a fake Marshall he insists on calling a "farshall," and Richard makes the case for the seatbelt guitar strap that 100% needs to exist. Also Brian is plagued by eternal glitter that still haunts his garage six years on.Pedal Coin, the Tupac case, GTA 6, cowboy boots on Broadway, Married with Children reruns, the windiest gig ever played...it's all in this week's Chasing Tone!Support the show

¿Sabes qué facilidades existen para las personas con discapacidad el día de las elecciones? En este episodio de ONPE Podcast te contamos en qué consiste el protocolo de atención de la ONPE para las Elecciones Regionales y Municipales 2026: desde plantillas Braille hasta el voto asistido. ¡Escúchanos!

¿Sabías que el sistema de lectoescritura utilizado por las personas ciegas, el braille, ya es oficialmente Patrimonio Cultural Inmaterial en España?Pues, te lo contamos... porque tras un largo recorrido, el 14 de julio se aprobaba por el Consejo de Ministros y ya está reconocido ‘a todas vistas’ de forma oficial. Ahora se inicia el camino para su declaración como Patrimonio Cultural Inmaterial de la Humanidad por la Unesco que será otra página de la historia de las personas ciegas... en el mundo.Escuchar audio

Join our community. Text "freedom" to (202) 918-5348 In this episode of American Potential, host David From sits down with Kevin Williams, a longtime AFP volunteer and host of the Rocky Mountain Freedom Zone podcast, to share how he has refused to let blindness keep him from pursuing his passions. Born blind, Kevin developed a fascination with radio as a child that eventually led him to earn a degree in broadcasting and begin producing his own shows. He shares how technology—from screen readers and Braille displays to smartphones and AI-powered tools—has given him greater independence and allowed him to record, edit, and produce his own podcast. Kevin also discusses his passion for politics and his decision to move from simply following the news to getting involved. He has advocated on Capitol Hill, volunteered with Americans for Prosperity, helped fight a local tax increase, and even earned recognition for making the most grassroots calls during an AFP campaign. His message is simple: whatever obstacle may be standing in your way, find the tools and training to overcome it, start small, and take your own one small step toward making a difference.

With technology providing an increasing number of options for visually impaired people to access text, do we need braille food labels? Well a group of visually impaired people in Scotland certainly think so, and they've just relaunched a campaign to support their cause. Campaign leader Marie Harrower joins us to explain the objectives of their work and how it's progressing. We also hear what some of our listeners have to say on the subject.If you want to find out more about the campaign you can email policy@sightscotland.org.uk or phone 0131 378 2800 extension 7015.What is it that makes so many blind people keen on sport? Joining us to help answer that question is 13 year old Ravi Chahal, who is himself registered blind and already making his mark as a cricket pundit. Presenter: Peter White Producer: Fern Lulham Production Coordinator: Helen SurteesWebsite image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image, wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three individual white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch"; and the Radio 4 logo (the word Radio in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one of a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.'

Discover the latest in accessible tech for blind users, including the Ploud One AI earbuds for meeting transcription, multi-line Braille displays like the Dot Pad, and the emerging world of tactile graphics. Steven Scott and Shaun Preece unpack real-world experiences, frustrations, and hands-on insights with their guest Holly Anderson. In this episode of Double Tap, Steven and Shaun dive into the growing field of AI-powered accessibility tools. They explore Ploud One, a pair of AI-enabled earbuds that can record, transcribe, and summarise meetings on the go—sparking a lively discussion on privacy and whether these devices are worth the $249 price tag. The conversation shifts to the Dot Pad multi-line Braille display. Holly Anderson from the Maccessibility Podcast shares her hands-on experience, describing how multi-line Braille transforms reading documents, scanning banking apps, and even playing games like Tetris and Solitaire through tactile graphics. She also reflects on tactile graphics as a non-visual user and the pros and cons of using the Dot Pad with iPhone, Mac, and web apps. The episode closes with an honest discussion about tech frustrations, including listener Gregory's dissatisfaction with the Ally glasses and the importance of tech companies maintaining transparent communication with blind users. Relevant Links Maccessibility Podcast: https://macaccessibility.net Ploud One AI Earbuds: https://ploud.ai Dot Pad by Dot Inc.: https://www.dotincorp.com/dotpad ----Follow on:YouTube: https://www.doubletaponair.com/youtubeX (formerly Twitter): https://www.doubletaponair.com/xInstagram: https://www.doubletaponair.com/instagramTikTok: https://www.doubletaponair.com/tiktokThreads: https://www.doubletaponair.com/threadsFacebook: https://www.doubletaponair.com/facebookLinkedIn: https://www.doubletaponair.com/linkedinSubscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://www.doubletaponair.com/appleSpotify: https://www.doubletaponair.com/spotifyRSS: https://www.doubletaponair.com/podcastiHeadRadio: https://www.doubletaponair.com/iheartAbout Double TapHosted by the insightful duo, Steven Scott and Shaun Preece, Double Tap is a treasure trove of information for anyone who's blind or partially sighted and has a passion for tech. Steven and Shaun not only demystify tech, but they also regularly feature interviews and welcome guests from the community, fostering an interactive and engaging environment. Tune in every day of the week, and you'll discover how technology can seamlessly integrate into your life, enhancing daily tasks and experiences, even if your sight is limited."Double Tap" is a registered trademark of Double Tap Productions Inc. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A diagnosis can change your life, but it does not have to decide what comes next. My guest Paul Bugeja has built a life shaped by curiosity, career change, travel, creativity, and a determination to keep moving forward. Paul lives with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, or FSHD, a condition he calls his “dark angel.” We talk about how disability has influenced his choices without defining them, why staying active matters to him, and how personal agency has helped him face uncertainty without becoming trapped by fear. Paul also shares his path from acting and writing into journalism and digital media, where he now works as a quizmaster. We explore disability advocacy, media accessibility, the role of AI in journalism, and the danger of losing critical thinking. Paul's story reminds us that resilience is not about denying challenges. It is about understanding them while continuing to choose how we live. Highlights: 01:10 – How moving often helped Paul learn to adapt. 12:15 – How a gym visit led to his FSHD diagnosis. 20:39 – Why disability gave Paul a stronger drive to live fully. 22:53 – How knowledge of his condition gave him more agency. 38:35 – Why accessible media still has room to improve. 45:57 – How staying present helps Paul manage worry and fear. About the Guest: Working as a quizmaster for a major media organisation isn't somewhere I could have predicted I'd end up professionally, but, then again, life has taken so many twists and turns it doesn't surprise me this is where I currently find myself. Despite early aspirations to be an actor, I completed a double degree in Arts and Commerce at the University of Melbourne, with the final year spent on exchange at UC Berkeley, California. On my return to Australia, not to be denied, the ever-persistent actor in me got me admission to the prestigious Victorian College of the Arts Drama School: the decade or so following saw me immersed in the challenging but exciting life of the struggling actor. This period was also the launching pad into studies in writing, editing, journalism and screenwriting, which I did as I worked in book publishing and wrote half a dozen books, even as I edged into the rapidly evolving professional world of content, digital marketing and journalism. Throughout this entire time, I've lived alongside and managed my “dark angel”—a diagnosis of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy—which has only served to galvanise me further to live a life less ordinary along the road less travelled … And that has made all the difference. Ways to connect with Paul**:** LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/peebee/ 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/ 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 subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . 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  00:04 What if the biggest thing holding you back isn't what's in front of you, but rather what you believe? Welcome to Unstoppable Mindset, where inclusion, diversity, and the unexpected meet. I'm your host, Michael Hingston, speaker, author, and advocate for inclusion and possibilities. This podcast explores how the beliefs we carry shape the way we live, lead, and connect with others. Each week, I talk with people who challenge assumptions, face adversity head-on, and show what's possible when we choose curiosity over fear. Together, we focus on mindset, resilience, and the small shifts that lead to meaningful change. Let's get started. Hi, everyone. I'd like to thank you once again for coming to another episode of Unstoppable Mindset. And if you're new to the podcast, we hope you enjoy our episode today. We're glad you're here wherever you may happen to be. Today we are communicating a long way away. We're communicating with Melbourne, Australia, to Paul Bugeja, and Paul is fondly known as a quizmaster. We're going to have to find out more about that, but he's had a lot of interest in acting and media and such things as that, and has had clearly a pretty adventurous life. And again, I'm sure we're going to hear a lot about a lot of that today. So, Paul, welcome to Unstoppable Mindset. We're really glad you're here. Paul Bugeja  01:44 Thank you for having me, Michael. Michael Hingson  01:46 So why don't we start? I love to do this with the early Paul, kind of growing up and how things all got started. If you remember back that far, or at least as far back as you remember, or what you were told anyway. Paul Bugeja  01:59 You know, pretty standard like childhood story for me. Grew up in the green leafy sort of suburbs of Melbourne. You know, did all the things that kids do in their growing up years. My my mother actually divorced my father quite young for me, so that was a little bit of a a critical sort of point for a child to sort of, you know, have to grapple with, but um, it was pretty smooth, and you know, um, it didn't really disrupt my childhood, except it meant that I moved around a lot when I was quite young. So I probably moved about seven or eight times by the time I was maybe eight years old. Um, but I think, in a way, that that that sort of has worked for me because it meant that even as a young child, I had to learn to adapt and change and evolve very quickly. Particularly when it came to meeting people, and you know, as a child, obviously making friends-that's one of the trickiest parts as a kid sometimes. So I think that actually stood me in good stead in in that regard, yeah. Michael Hingson  03:04 Well, I I didn't have to move a whole lot growing up. We moved from Chicago to California when I was five and stayed in the same house since college. I have moved a bunch of times, but those things happen. I understand what you're saying. I'm I'm used to it, but am am of the opinion that I'd rather not move again. It is a lot of work to move, and now also it's just me. My wife passed away two almost two and a half years ago, so I don't want to pack and move again. But yeah, well, we're in a house that we built, and and so we built it really around her because she's in a wheelchair her whole life. So it's an accessible house, but it's a very comfortable house. So I I have no complaints, and and the dog and the cat seem to like it as well. So we're here. Paul Bugeja  04:01 It's a win for everyone, and I think look, that's that's a really interesting. I had this very similar conversation with a friend yesterday about there's a time to put down roots and there's a time to be a you know a rolling stone, and and for some people that's at different times in their life, you know. So I I can understand why you would have chosen to find your comfy spot to settle into and enjoy. Michael Hingson  04:23 Well, and I have a good mortgage rate and all that, so yeah, we're happy with with things the way they are. And as long as the dog and the cat are happy, I can't complain a bit. Paul Bugeja  04:33 Excellent, excellent. Michael Hingson  04:34 But but now you're and and you you're not moving as much around anymore. Paul Bugeja  04:40 Sort of the opposite, actually. I think, like, to to go back to what we were originally discussing. Like, I think having moved so much as a younger person has meant I've lived a life that's almost constantly moving. Like, there certainly have been periods where I've lived for reasonably long periods in the one place, but particularly over the past. We maybe 10 to 12 years or so. I've moved like literally maybe 10 to 12 times. Like it's becoming, Michael Hingson  05:09 it Paul Bugeja  05:10 almost becomes a bit addictive. Sort of the ability to to be transportable when your professional life allows you and your personal life allows you as well. Michael Hingson  05:18 Yeah, I can understand that. For me, I don't want to go through all the rigors of packing and finding a new home and all that, so we're good. But but it it's okay because I can go anywhere from here, and so that works out pretty well. So I'm I'm content, and that that's the way it it should be. So we'll see how it all goes. But I'm glad that you did well, so you grew up, had kind of a normal life, even though you moved around a lot. Yeah, did all the things that that that kids do growing up, and so on. And where did you go to college, or did you? Paul Bugeja  05:53 Yeah, so I my original, I've I was a bit of a perpetual student for probably you know the first several decades as an adult, my original degree was from the University of Melbourne, which is one of the sort of larger universities in both Melbourne and Australia, and I did a double degree in arts and commerce. But you know, I had long wanted to be an actor, and so originally, like when I finished high school, my my intention was to audition for drama school. But my mother very wisely convinced me to go to university first, and then check that out. And if I didn't like it, then maybe audition for drama school a bit later on. And it was, as mothers can be on most occasions, very sagely advice from her, because the thing that she wasn't aware of was that even though I I definitely enjoyed the academic aspect of my studies at MLB Uni, it has a very strong theater department as well, and very big names have actually been through there and gone on to bigger and better things, namely Kate Blanchett. She was one of my colleagues back in the day. So you know, it was a it was a proving ground for talent. And so I did a lot of theater during my my studies at the University of Melbourne while completing the academic side as well. So I never quite lost that sort of underlying desire to maybe go on and and study acting and maybe do some acting. I actually completed the final year of my degree at Cal at UC Berkeley, which was an amazing experience, and sort of also launched me into the next part of my life. So that that was at a time when you know, like I think in a lot of ways, more and more students were traveling between countries to study. It was becoming a real thing to study overseas, so it was such an amazing experience to finish at Cal. Michael Hingson  07:48 So, do you keep in touch with Kate at Paul Bugeja  07:52 all? Haven't seen Kate in probably maybe 20 years or so. We kept in contact during the beginning of her career, of course, and then you know that life has taken her to such places that it's almost impossible to keep Michael Hingson  08:07 touch, right? Paul Bugeja  08:08 That's right. But you know, I dare say, if I think she's probably maintained the sort of personality and character that she had when I knew her, which would mean that if I bumped into her on the street and I said hello and gave her a bit of a nudge about where we knew each other from. She'd be the first one to lean into that and and you know be quite happy to reminisce on old times as you know she's not an aloof sort of person. I think that's my feel about her, even given her amazing success. Michael Hingson  08:37 I've never had that impression of her either, so I I'm with you. Well, that's pretty cool. What What took you to Berkeley for your last year? Paul Bugeja  08:45 Yeah, so I actually started working during my studies on campus at the university, and I worked in the international student office. So I was dealing with a lot of incoming study abroad and exchange students, which meant I began to have a real desire to do the same thing myself, and initially I was looking at a couple of other universities like Georgetown. I think NYU was one of the options, and I actually met a guy from Cal who was like, "You should come to Berkeley and study. It's an amazing institution. You'll love California. It's so similar to Australia, and I'd I'd I'd actually been to California before my first overseas trip when I was 19, and so I had a taste of California already. So initially, I was looking at the whole sort of Cal system, the whole you know UC system. So I looked at UCLA, UC San UCSJ maybe and anyway yeah and and then I fell and I fell in Berkeley as the final one just because what a great city to live outside of you know San Francisco's such a beautiful city and and yeah so I ended up spending an entire year there which was just like you know life defining. Michael Hingson  09:57 What'd your mom think of that? Paul Bugeja  10:00 Yeah, typical of mum's. There was a lot of tears at the airport, but you know, and this was you know like at a time when social media was really not even happening, so it was all about the phone calls regularly. But she was happy. She's I'm very lucky in that, even though I'm an only child, mum's not a clingy a clingy mum, you know, she has always encouraged me to just go out and do everything that I possibly can, and and she would never, she would rarely, you know, get get in the way of me living out my life and my dreams. Michael Hingson  10:33 Do you still? Is she still here? Paul Bugeja  10:35 She is. Yep, she's um 78, so she's you know I'm still a youngish older person, and even though we don't, we sort of you know like see each other as much as maybe I'd like because we don't live in the same place. You know, we we talk every two days or so on the phone, and I stay in regular contact. And yeah, it's it's still a very very strong relationship. Michael Hingson  10:56 That's cool. That that's a good thing though. So you you went to Berkeley. You were here. You were out here in California for a year, and then what happened? Paul Bugeja  11:05 Well, I actually I bounced back to Australia, feeling very encouraged to to follow my acting pursuits because I I did a couple of shows at when I was at Cal. I did one drama class as well in the drama department, you know, made some lifetime friendships and and felt very connected to myself as an actor again. And so, even though originally my plans were to apply to become a diplomat through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the acting thing was a bit too strong. So I came back and and felt a little not torn, but certainly I had to I had to weigh up the competing desire to want to be an actor against the fact that I had a great degree that I could maybe go on and do something completely different with. So in fact, I spent a year thinking about that and ended up quite on a different track and enrolled in a master's of environmental studies, which you know was something that interested me definitely. And but decided that I would, in addition to drama school as well, which I did do, and I got into. So I did one year of that master's, and then I went on to study at the Victorian College of the Arts, which is one of the big three drama schools in Australia, and so I finally got to that took that circuitous route to drama school, despite my mum's earlier advice, and she was happy because you know I got there under my own auspices in terms of I'd made a decision as an adult to finally get there, rather than maybe as an excited teenager who you know could obviously do so many things, and so I had both the academic degree, and now I was into a program that I'd always wanted to sort of be involved with. Michael Hingson  12:49 Right. Well, and and that that's fine. That makes sense. Yes. So I'm not sure when to bring this up. So I'll bring it up now. Sure. Tell us about your dark angel. Paul Bugeja  13:01 Yeah, absolutely. So probably in my in my in my late 20s, I started working at a university in back at University of Melbourne. Actually, my old alma mater, and by then, you know, I was actually you know sort of I I was doing some acting, you know, some professional acting, not a lot of it, but enough to sort of be remain interested. So I needed a part time job on the side, you know, to to keep it going as most actors do. And when I started working at the university, I became very interested in fitness as well. I joined a gym and started going to the gym there and made some sort of friends with the local personal trainers. And one day I was doing some training and on one of the big, big sort of bouncy medicine balls that you can sit on for balance and training work, and one of the instructors came up to me and said, "Do you realize that your scapular wings? And I was firstly thinking, "Well, what the hell is my scapular? And then I sort of made sense that it was my shoulders, you know. And and I said, "What do you mean? He said, "Well, when you do upper body workouts, your scapula has quite a lot of movement in it, and it's quite visible. Now, I've always been a very thin person, like I've always sort of been. We've joked about being a tall, skinny dude, you know, and and so I I'd never thought anything about maybe the fact that my my shoulder blades were a bit more prominent. I figured that was because I was a slim person, you know. Of course, so he recommended I see a physiotherapist, and I did. I saw a sports physio in case I'd injured myself or there was some underlying issue. After a couple of sessions with a sports physio. I was referred to a neurologist because the sports physio had some inklings about it may be being a neurological condition potentially of some kind, but had no idea what it might be. And this is when I guess my dark angel first really. Began alerting me to its presence in the background of my life, and I'll explain why I call it my dark angel in a moment. Yeah, the neurologist and I did some tests, and I went in for a biopsy, a muscle biopsy, and I was diagnosed with one of the variants of muscular dystrophy, which is fascioscapiohumeral muscular dystrophy, so it affects the face, the humerus, and the scapula, but in general affects the muscles across the body. It's a degenerative neuromuscular disease. It's not that common; about one in 8000 have it. So you know, enough people have it that it's out there. Some people live with live with it their entire lives and don't know they have it for the reasons that I've just sort of elaborated on, which are it can it can be there but be so minor that you just think it's because you're a slim person or you don't have much you don't go to the gym so you don't work out so your muscles aren't growing or whatever. So yeah, and I was not that thrown by it at the time. It was it was in our family, so it wasn't that much of a surprise to me that maybe I had it. Given that another family member, even though they're quite distant on the family tree for me, also had it, and yeah, I began to just think about you know like what life would be like with this condition, and you know began to have regular sort of checks with the neurologist and you know other sort of allied health professionals around how to manage that. Luckily, it was very my and still is very mild in terms of how severe that it can be. But as I sort of began thinking more about my professional life. I I actually took on a an editing and writing degree and a screenwriting degree as I started to move away from acting because I figured I am a creative person. I love writing and I want to improve my craft. I was interested in journalism as well and I could do that as part of this degree. Paul Bugeja  16:58 So I started studying and that then led to me actually writing a couple of books, four or five books, working as an editor, and then at one point I began thinking, I think I need to write my own book about my journey with this condition, or you know, disability, whatever you want to call it. And I had watched the TV show Dexter, which you may or may not have watched. Yep, and Dexter talks about his dark passenger. You know, as and that's the the sort of I mean, it's a weird correlation. I know in some ways, but that's the serial killer in him. That's his dark passenger. But it really resonated as um this idea of there being this sort of passenger in your life. You know, for whatever reason, whatever it is, and I didn't obviously want to steal that sort of figurative term, but I began thinking about a dark angel instead because, for me, it's a double thing. I mean, I was whatever Catholic. I'm not a practicing Catholic anymore, but you know, the notions of angels around us is something you know we all sort of think about, I guess. But the notion of my scapular wing and those being wings as well was very sort of resonated with me, and so I began feeling that for me my entire life this dark angel had been somewhere in the background, very very far in the background to the point where I wasn't even really aware of that dark angel, and then of course when the diagnosis came along, the dark angel began to make its presence more known, and yeah, and and then over time, I'm very, I live with, you know, like anyone with any sort of disability or chronic medical condition, like you live with it 24/7, and some days it's more of a burden, other days you don't not even aware of it, but you have to learn to live with it, and and so I now feel like I have this sort of dance with the dark angel, I like to call it, who sometimes is more present in my life and sometimes much more in the background. Michael Hingson  18:53 So, what kinds of things does it sort of limit you, or what what do you have to do to to make sure you don't let it get too much of a control over you. Paul Bugeja  19:04 Sure. So for me, the biggest thing I ever did was start going to the gym. You know, I did that just out of pure practicality because there was a gym on campus. It was very easy to join it. It was very close to go to on my lunch break, and so I've now maintained a really rigorous gym schedule, even though my upper body strength is quite weak and limited. I've been able to, I think, the my GP and say allied healthcare professionals like physios and exercise physiologists and occupational therapists have all commented that my gym program is one of the things that may you know this it's a may but may have prevented the condition progressing more severely than it has. So staying fit has been really important. I think by nature, I like to call myself a pragmatic optimist or optimistic pragmatist. By nature, I'm a practical person. I sort of feel as though, unlike I mean, look, everyone manages the news of some sort of health situation differently. You know, some people it can lay low, and I understand why because it can be very confronting, and every condition has a different set of limitations, like you know, it can be quite severe for some people. Like my my cousin had a different form of muscular dystrophy, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which meant that he was in a wheelchair from the age of five and died at the age of 28. So you know, like like in my case, I feel blessed on some level that my condition is slowly deteriorating, but I do think that I'm lucky that I have enough of a practical and positive attitude about not letting it. I don't call, I never ignore it or or deny it, but I call about. I just resist it. The resistance is there. Like I I push back against it. So mentally, I try to stay positive physically. I try to stay healthy, but you know it does limit me. I have part of the condition. I have something called foot drop, which means that my feet catch a lot as I walk. So I trip a lot. So I I have damaged elbows and knees a lot because of that. So as a consequence, I have to be conscious when I walk. It's not just a. It's not like for most people, walking is an unconscious action. Of course, for me, it's a conscious action to ensure that I trip less. And of course, as I get older, tripping becomes a thing as you get older anyway, because you know your muscle tone changes and you know all kinds of things. So you know, it's about almost in a way you have to become. You do have to be aware of it all the time, and you have to manage it all the time. But that doesn't mean it has to become a burden. I think in many ways it's pushed me the other way, which is it's made me have a lust for life. It's made me want to do more. It's it's probably pushed me to be more nomadic while I can be, just in case there's a point where I can't be, and that sounds a little bit sad, and I mean probably in some ways, but I see that as a positive. Like a really small example I can give you is whenever I visit my mum, like I don't drive, so I use public transport like trains and busses and and the like. And if I catch a train to to go visit my mum, she always insists I'll come and pick you up at the at the train station, rather than you walk to my place, and I insist every time I'm going to walk because while I can walk, I want to walk. You know, so I don't. It's not. I reject. I don't reject her kindness, and I understand it. But it's me saying to the dark angel, "No, I will. Does she? Michael Hingson  22:36 Does she understand Paul Bugeja  22:38 it? I think so on some level, but she still Michael Hingson  22:41 wants to come and get you. Of course, Paul Bugeja  22:43 she does. Of course, there can be the tiniest trickle of rain, and she's like, "Oh, you can't walk in that rain. You know, I've got an umbrella, mum. No, no, no. You know, it's all that stuff. Um, it's it's delightful of her, and I'm glad, and I'll always expect the offer in those situations. But um, yeah, no, she um, you know, unfortunately, and I think a lot of parents will who pass on genetic conditions because this is a genetically passed on condition for me. She feels a sense of guilt about you know having passed on through her line, and so I think she we've talked about it a few times, and it's not a heavy weight on her shoulders, but she has a sense of it. Yeah. Michael Hingson  23:20 Well, I I appreciate that. What was it like when you first got the diagnosis? Though, did it did did it depress you? Did it kind of knock you on your ear in in any way, or did you really decide almost right from the beginning? Okay, this is here, but I can deal with Paul Bugeja  23:37 it. Yeah, it look, you know. So I'm writing a book about this, as I was saying at the moment, and in the in the chapter of the book that I'm writing, I think I wrote something along the lines of life just moved on. You know, like there was no discernible difference. Like I didn't feel physically any difference because there was no physical difference. But for me, I mean, you know, I I work in the media and I've worked in the knowledge industries of any kind for quite some time. Knowledge is power, you know. And and I would rather know about something and then be able to to to have some agency about how to act on it than to bury my head in the sand. Or, but by the same token, I can understand that knowledge can really throw some people. And you know, I have a friend, for example, who I was diagnosed with MS, and that can be an awful condition to be diagnosed with because it can progress very quickly. And for her, the knowledge wasn't great. You know, it's it's been a very big challenge for her. But you know, five years on, now that she has much more knowledge about it because she's had to live with it, she's going the opposite way. So you know, everyone is different, but for me, the knowledge actually catapulted me forward rather than weighed me down. Michael Hingson  24:46 Well, that was a choice that you had to make, or that you got to make, and you made it. And you're you're choosing to move forward with life, which is great. Paul Bugeja  24:55 Yeah, yeah. I feel lucky. As I said, I know. Everyone can can make that choice because of their own set of circumstances, and I do feel lucky about some of my circumstances. And you know, so I don't think everyone can necessarily be that practical or optimistic about things. But I encourage people to you know take a breath and and try and sit with whatever it is that they have to manage at any particular time, because you know people. A lot of people have a lot heavier challenges than I do, and they meet them as well. So it's possible to meet your challenges, I think, even if it limits you still. Michael Hingson  25:36 Well, so it's something that you live with, and so on. And I appreciate that. What what makes you get out of bed every day and and move forward, or is that what what you've been describing? Paul Bugeja  25:48 Look, I think I mean you know I'm I'm an I'm a lark, so I'm at about 430 in the morning, and I'm a Monday person, and I had this conversation with someone just this past Monday at the gym who you know dragged herself into the gym, and she was you know can't be bothered. I hate Mondays so much, you know, blah blah blah. And I get all that, you know. People love their weekends and a break. I love, I love the beginning of a day, and I and I have no problems getting up because I love the thought of there being so much in front of me, you know. And and even as as I grow older, and and you know, life obviously begins to go into a different phase. I still feel there's so much ahead, and and and it sounds a little bit Pollyanna of me, maybe, and a little bit overly optimistic, and a little bit Hollywood. But you know, I feel so hungry for life, and and even though that doesn't mean my life is perfect by any means, and that every day is perfect, and that there are some days that are are challenging. I face that all the time, as do we all in our different ways. But I I just feel so eager for the things that I mean. I have a great professional life, I have a great personal life, I have great friends, I have a good family. You know, my health is fine given the situation. Doesn't mean it's perfect, like I just said. But I don't have much to complain about, really. So, really, getting up is each day is is not a hard thing for me. It's it's it's a joy most days. Michael Hingson  27:15 So, are you married? Paul Bugeja  27:17 No, single. And this is, and I often frame conversations with this because sometimes my friends say to me, "Gosh, you have a great life, and I say, "Yeah, but I chose to be single, to not have children, and to not have pets-the three big things that change the course of your life sometimes in a good way, quite often. But also, I have more choices ahead of me because I am single and childless and petless, you know. Michael Hingson  27:42 Yep. Paul Bugeja  27:43 But you know, I don't. I'm not. I don't. I don't feel. I feel like I could have made other choices around this, of course. And I don't think there is a right or a wrong choice. It's just you have to find the right choice for you, especially when it comes to these big life choices. Michael Hingson  27:59 Well, you know, and when I got married, my wife and I had discussions about children, and she felt that she didn't want to have a child because she was in a wheelchair, and she felt in her specific situation, it would have been a lot harder on the body, and she would have been in bed a whole lot during a pregnancy, and she was afraid she would lose a lot of the the upper body strength and so on that she had. And my belief was that was her choice to make, and so we we both decided that we didn't want children. We would very happily entertain our nieces and nephews and throw them out of the house at the end of the day and send them home, which worked out really well. Paul Bugeja  28:49 I can I can understand that choice, and I I certainly I always thought I would be a father to be to be honest about that. When I was in my late teens and early 20s, it was forefront of my mind. Even though I had all these other adventures planned, and I had a couple of opportunities, actually, probably in my 30s, where I could have chosen to go down that road. And yeah, around the time I was diagnosed, I began thinking what that might mean. Like, and I began to not fear passing on my my FSHD to my potential children, but because often it passes through the female to the male, so it's less likely to pass through me. But if I had a female child, I might have passed it on genetically to her, who then passed it on to my grandchild. And not that that should stop anyone ever wanting children, but to your point and and the way you and your wife discuss the situation, I I made a conscious decision that probably given the life choices I was making around my career as well and other and personal life, it might not be the best choice. So yeah, I can understand where where. If Speaker 1  30:04 you enjoy Unstoppable Mindset and would like to help us continue bringing these conversations to you each week, we've created a way for you to support the show. Your contribution helps us cover production costs and continue sharing stories, insights, and ideas that inspire people to live with purpose and possibility. If supporting the podcast feels right for you, you'll find the link in the show notes. Thank you for being part of the Unstoppable Mindset Community. Michael Hingson  30:36 So, in in your life, what is one of the well? What would be the greatest thing in your life, personal or professional, that you've experienced so far? Paul Bugeja  30:47 The greatest thing, yeah, it's a it's a great question. That's a Michael Hingson  30:52 toughie because there are probably several. Paul Bugeja  30:54 Yeah, no, there are, there are. I mean, you know, I think, and this will seem a little sort of not so great. I mean, as in not great. Sorry, but I think the the first job in journalism that I got, which was working for the Guardian, the Australian Mars said version of the Guardian, that was pretty amazing for me because I had I had thought, and it wasn't as a journalist. It was as a like a community sort of an audience sort of person, basically. So I wasn't writing and I wasn't generating content, but just to be finally in a media organization after probably 10 or 15 years of always thinking, God, I'd love to work in the media. I'm a real news hound. I love news. I love current affairs, and even though for some it was just getting a job, for me it was taking a step into something that I had thought about for a while, and finally, and you know, working for a really reputable and very well known masthead as well, that had a lot of credibility. So that was pretty exciting, and and that sort of set me on the path of, I think this is where I will stay now if I can. Even though, as you would know, the media is under a lot of pressure to sort of evolve with a lot of external threats to the way it works and and you know staying financially viable. So I've sort of put myself into a very hot pot, and I hope I'm not the frog that jumps out. But I don't think I will be. I think I've managed to forge a bit of a career now that will keep me going. So yeah, it's not a a life like sort of fireworks sort of moment, but it was a it was certainly the day that I got the phone call saying we'd we'd love you to come and join us was was you know very similar to that? I got the phone call from drama school saying you got into drama school. It was a real like everything felt lifted. You know the whole I felt like I was floating that day. Michael Hingson  32:52 Yeah, I'm with you. So what other kinds of jobs then did you progress to over time? Paul Bugeja  32:59 Yeah, so because because I was pursuing acting for for quite some time, probably for about 10 to 15 years, really. You know, I had to do what most actors do, which is work a lot of other jobs. You know, like you just have to. The work is never constant, even for the for the biggest actors in the world. You know, I mean, most of them obviously work constantly, but you know, like to be a working actor is is never let anyone say that being an actor is not a real job. It's a really hard job, you know. And so, I I worked for a long time in casual jobs. I worked in a lot of theaters in in like the sort of the ticketing sort of area of of theaters. So I worked at both the Sydney Opera House and the Victorian Art Center, two big theater. You would know the Sydney Opera House, obviously, but yeah, Victoria Arts Center is another big theater organization in Australia. And while I was doing that, I began doing some freelance editing as a book editor. This was where I really began getting interested in content and copy, and and I had the part-time job at the university while I was studying and sort of doing all these other casual things and acting, and a role came up working in digital sort of content with a large betting agency. So you know, sports betting, which is very big in Australia, and it was managing their blog, their sports blog. So lots of content about what's happening in all the different sports, but you know, sort of a marketing slash copy role. But it was my first foray into digital content, you know, and this was at a time when it was really starting to amp up, and that therefore, you know, made me really think much more about journalism and and wanting to pursue that. So that was sort of the springboard into working in digital marketing, working as a sub editor, and then sort of finally landing this role at the Guardian, which didn't last super long, unfortunately, because I was completing a master's in publishing and communications at the time, and discovered that I. I'd left I'd left Melbourne to move to Sydney to work in the role and had two subjects left and I'd been told by the university that I could complete them in Sydney, and then I was told by an administrator that that was not possible, so I had to leave my job at the Guardian to go back to Melbourne to finish the masters, which was fine to do, and I kept doing other casual kind of jobs and you know contract roles. Well, I did that, but it meant leaving the Guardian, which was a bit disappointing. But it meant I got my masters, which was really critical because again, that was more of a springboard onwards. In fact, I, as part of my masters, I went to China and did a an intensive class in Shanghai, and from that, got offered a role in China, in Shanghai, with a with a Chinese media company that that produced content for for the very big expat community in Shanghai, and I was about to leave to go to Shanghai to take up the role, and you'll you'll probably will have a wry smile, which was February 2020, and fortunately, not long after that, everything kind of went pear-shaped with COVID, and so had to. I mean, it's sort of lucky in a way because Shanghai had a pretty awful time during COVID, where it was a very strict lockdown. So I probably dodged a bit of a COVID bullet in that regard, even though Australia had its own share of lockdowns. But yeah, so that sort of threw a bit of a spanner in the works of what looked like the next part of my media career. But then, of course, you know, I'm a I'm a fatalist. I I run with fate. I I don't push back against the things that sort of maybe look like negatives or or take us off our path. Paul Bugeja  36:38 And I just feel like it's another another fork in the path that takes us on a on a route that will hopefully get us to where we were meant to be, and not taking that role meant, of course, about a year later, I saw the job with Stuff, which is the New Zealand media company that I currently work for, and that was the middle of 2021. It was based in Auckland. We were still in the middle of COVID, but I applied anyway because why not? And yeah, they offered me the role pending the borders opening, effectively. And luckily for me, there was a two-week window where New Zealand and Australia thought things were going to go okay, and the borders opened, and I jumped on the first flight out and got myself to Auckland, and then I started my current job, or actually a different version of my current job with stuff. Michael Hingson  37:27 And what is your your current job? Paul Bugeja  37:30 So I am currently I create digital content for stuff for stuff digital, as we're called now. I mostly create trivia quizzes, so fun daily quizzes that we have a very very dedicated audience for. People love a quiz. I also create a word puzzle called the Hard Word, which is an anagram kind of puzzle. I create that every day. I create a news quiz for them. I also help manage the community, the online community that interacts with with us as another part of my role, which is the role that I originally went to New Zealand for, but as a full time gig, and now it's just sort of part of my my role. So yeah, I am a quizmaster. I love it. I had previously worked in television quiz shows during my time in Australia when I was juggling other stuff, so I had a bit of a background in in quiz question writing and quiz research and verifying, and so I'm now really in such a wonderful job. But I always like to be very clear about this to people because it sounds like the best job in the world. Wow, sitting and making cool quizzes every day-it's a really involved job, and it it takes a lot of kind of like time to research and put together these quizzes because you know you're trying to please a very broad audience of from you know 15 year olds to 75 year olds. So you know, it's it's a it's a very involved job, even if it's a fun job, and so it does, you know, it it does still have a very critical kind of like professional aspect to it, even though it sounds like to some of my friends and and people who learn about it the best job in the world. Michael Hingson  39:17 Well, I'm sure it's a great job, but it is a clearly a challenging job. Have you ever encountered people who talk to you about making your your quizzes or trying to work with staff to make quizzes and some of the things they do more accessible? So, like people who are blind can solve the quizzes or work the quizzes and use screen readers and so on to do the same things that others do. Paul Bugeja  39:45 Excellent point. So yeah, I feel quite often when I'm making my quizzes that clearly they are for an audience that can access them very easily. You know, as opposed to an audience that might need assistance to access. Them and you know we do the the the basic stuff as we you know you must you know um like you know putting an alt tag so that um you know people who maybe are but are able to to use to access the quiz as a as a an audio rather than a video rather than a written um quiz but you know, I think you're right. And look, to be fair, I think you know the way that the media is going. The media is going very video oriented now, anyway. I think, which is a brilliant thing for people who do need have some access, because you know, with the video, of course, a video quiz, there'll be audio as well as visual, as well as the written word potentially. So there's a way that covers off all the bases, you know, or you know, many of the bases anyway. At the moment, you know, we are starting to bring in some minor changes, but I think going forward, it's pretty critical because you know the world is very aware that people do have some limitations in the way that they can access, especially digital content, and even though there are a lot of great forms of software that you can use to to make like your your life less limited by whatever you know sort of limitation you may have, it still isn't as good as it can be. And and I think certainly as someone with a disability, I'm an advocate for disability. You know, I'm on the board of a major disability organization in Australia. I'm on an engagement advisory committee for the same organization. I'm very pro and very much an advocate for ensuring that anyone with any form of disability can access and have as as great a life as possible, as untrammeled. I'm not untrammeled. That's the wrong word. As as as you know, as a life that has no barricades to them, basically. Michael Hingson  41:49 Well, the the reality is that crossword puzzles, for example, can be made accessible. Yep. And of course, I wouldn't expect the organization to suddenly produce Braille puzzles, but there are there are still ways Speaker 2  42:11 to do it Michael Hingson  42:11 to create audio, for example, kinds of things. And you mentioned the the value of video that only works if people truly put the appropriate descriptions in in audio form, the video, which a lot of people don't do, which is unfortunate, but it is possible to make to make them more accessible than they are. Paul Bugeja  42:36 Yeah, but it is a but it is a it is Michael Hingson  42:38 a challenge, and I hope that over time more more kinds of things will be accessible. I get the New York Times online, and a lot of what they do isn't nearly as accessible as it should be, and I can see how it it could be made more Accessible, but they haven't just been really willing to do it. And and ironically, a lot of the media has been one of the places where access has has truly not been addressed nearly like it it should be. And and the the result of that is that there are problems, and of course they say, well, things change so fast. They they do, except that it's all about coding and it's all about understanding programming and coding. And if you do it right, and if you know it, you can keep up either way. But you know, people don't necessarily do that. Paul Bugeja  43:38 Yeah, look, I agree, and I think you know. Look, without I'm not going to become a defender of the media, even though I'm part of it. But I think they definitely can do better as a as an entire sort of profession. I think that the tricky thing for the media at the moment is, I mean, you look at what happened this week. You know, 300 reporters, you know, sacked at the Washington Post. You know the media is under a lot of pressure to be financial, and that's not a great defense against not being accessible, mind you. But their mind is on survival at the moment, and that's an unfortunate thing because it means that they can't do the stuff that would actually benefit everyone, you know, their entire audience. So, not to defend it, but that's that's the only sort of rationale I can think of as to why they're not doing more. But that shouldn't stop them trying. That shouldn't stop them trying. Michael Hingson  44:32 Well, and I think that's really the issue: is that people do need to try, and people need to make an effort. And if they would, it would help a lot more than than it does today. Paul Bugeja  44:43 Agreed. Michael Hingson  44:44 So, if you could change one thing about your life, what would it be? Paul Bugeja  44:47 Not very much. Like I really love my life. You know, I I I even and this will sound quite odd. I even probably wouldn't change having a disability. You know, like it it who I am. It's it's in my. You know, it's it's so it's in my DNA. Like you can't get any deeper into someone than their DNA. You know, like of course I'd rather not have this, but it's it it it doesn't as we've discussed. It doesn't stop me. It doesn't limit me. It just modifies my life on the edges. It's Michael Hingson  45:16 just it's just part of you. Paul Bugeja  45:18 That's exactly right. And so I have to embrace that. You know, as you know, does anyone with any sort of situation that is slightly left of you know what people might call you know normal or ordinary, you know? And I, I always say I try to live my life less ordinary, you know, and and I think it's that attitude which really stands me in good stead because when you choose like I like as we discussed earlier, I'm in a position where I can make different choices to people who do have a partner, or do have kids, or do have a massive mortgage, or do have whatever you know job that keeps them in one place. But you know, you know the old saying about you make your own luck, right? And circumstance does change things definitely, and some circumstances are outside of our control. For example, getting having a genetic disability is outside of my control, but you know you do make your own luck as well. And I sort of feel that I am so about agency, and I'm so about you know like taking responsibility for your actions that I feel that everything about my life is because of the choices that I've made, and I want to own that. So you know why would I want to change any of that? In terms of, if I want to change it, then I will change it. So I think I have a great life. I'm healthy. I'm happy. I've got a you know like I was saying earlier, I have great friends, a good family, a great job. I'm able to you know like talk to people like this about things and and and like it's yeah life's pretty life's pretty good for me. Um, you know, there are things about the world I'd like to change, like as would we all, you know, like, um, but those things we can only sort of change on the edges, and I do that as much as I can as well. So, well, there are things that we don't Michael Hingson  46:54 have control over, and and if we worry about them, that's just going to cause us grief. It's not going to bother others. Paul Bugeja  47:01 No, no worries. Worry. I mean, I worry about something. Of course, I do. We all do. But you know, eventually, I manage to bat most of my worries away because I realize, as you said, it's usually something that is out of my control. It's funny when I talk to my actor friends, and speaking for myself, of course, you know, actors have to rehearse. You know, we rehearse favorite. You know, you rehearse for roles and whatever, and that sometimes for me has meant that I tend to rehearse things prior to you know the situation. So it means that my mind goes at 100 miles an hour about a lot of things, and that can lead to anxiety and worry. You know because you overthink, you worry about a situation that hasn't even occurred yet. You're thinking, not over. Well, that's exactly right. That's exactly right. So, you know, I think the the biggest lesson I've probably taken as well from my diagnosis and and the the thing I committed to this year a little bit as a part of my New Year's resolution or whatever you want to call it is to just be as present as I can. You know, like to live in this moment right now. That doesn't mean I don't have an eye to the future, and and I don't make plans, and I don't am not excited about the future. But I'm I'm trying to be as present as I can because if you're present, then all then all this worry disappears in a way because you just can only deal with with with what's right in front of you. Michael Hingson  48:18 Right. Do you have any regrets? Paul Bugeja  48:22 Um, not really. I mean, you know, like there've been a few moments in my life. So, for example, I can I can name a few things. Like when I was in my early 30s, I entered the the diversity visa program, which is the green card lottery in America. Yeah, and I I got it. I got a green card, you know, and so I was all ready to move to the states back in the late 90. Oh no, when was it? Yeah, the late 90s. Yeah, yeah, um, early noughties, and I got into the writing editing course in Australia. So I was really enjoying that. I was doing some acting and some paid acting work, and so I had to. I had a moment where I was like, "Well, do I really want to take up this green card off and become a resident of America? I have lived there before when I studied. I travel there regularly to see my friends, you know. And so I had this crunch time. It was a sliding doors moment. I I did visit a few times. I spent a bit of time in the states, and then I eventually dropped the green card. Now, occasionally, I look back on that and think, "Was that a silly thing to do with what would have opened up to me had I moved to the states? You know, like would my acting career have taken off? Would I have ended up working for the New York Times? Look, whatever it is. So there's a sense of regret about it, but it's such a faint shade of regret that it doesn't it doesn't hold me back. You know, I don't want to be held back by anything in my life. And I think, for me, regrets can hold you back too much. You know, oh yeah, Michael Hingson  49:49 yeah. Oh, absolutely. Well, and and it seems to me that that it's one of those things that could have gone either way, as you said, a sliding door moment. I think that's a really interesting way to put it. But but the fact of the matter is, you made a choice. You're happy with the choice, and you may or may not have been as happy with the choice if you had moved to America. But you wouldn't have experienced a lot of the things that you have experienced. So it's okay. Paul Bugeja  50:14 That's exactly right. That's exactly right. So even you know occasional relationships that went awry, or you know what else? Gosh, what if I stay pursue my career as an actor? There are always going to be what ifs with life, you know, and it's the what ifs that tend to cause us regret. I think, and Michael Hingson  50:29 well, and and cause us so much fear. Paul Bugeja  50:32 That's exactly right. And regret and fear should be the same word, effectively, because that's all that's playing. And if you can find a way to manage that as best you can, and and look. I always say I try to to look down at my feet on the ground to see where I am, and to look forward to see where I'm going, rather than look back where I've come from. And look, we can learn a lot from where we've come from. And in fact, the book that I'm writing is almost like a detective novel, where I track back through my life to see if I can see moments where I might have known that I had FSHD much earlier, so in that regard, I do look backwards. You know, I'm happy to to to have a critical eye on the past and to learn from it. You know, but I don't ever want it to drag me back to it. I'm always looking to be pulled forward. Michael Hingson  51:18 Well, that's the operative part, right? There's nothing wrong with looking back and and learning from what you've experienced, and and more people should should do more of that. It seems to me, but Paul Bugeja  51:29 oh yeah, let's. That's a much longer conversation, isn't it? It Michael Hingson  51:32 is. Who's been the most most influential person in your life, and why? Paul Bugeja  51:38 Yep. Michael Hingson  51:40 Besides Kate Blanchett, but that's another yeah, Paul Bugeja  51:42 of course, very influential, Kate. If you're listening, if she is, I hope she'll Michael Hingson  51:47 reach out. I'd love to have her on the podcast. But anyway, you Paul Bugeja  51:50 never know, my friend. You never know. Look, I mean, it's it's a hard question because, but it's a good question. I mean, there have been so many influences in my life, you know, and and I don't want to step on toes by not naming people in a way, but you know, for one one really influential person who has given me, you know, I have a friend who's a film journalist actually, and has written, you know, a lot mostly about the production side of the industry rather than film reviews, and I feel she only came into my life about maybe 10 or 12 years ago. So she's a relatively new friend, but a very dear friend. And I think I did an internship at a magazine that she worked for, and she was the the editor of at the time, and I think she had a really great influence on my life because she made me realize that I definitely wanted to pursue a career in the media. That I was done with journalism. That working in the media was exciting and interesting. You know, she made sure she pushed me in a lot of ways that I might not have been pushed otherwise, and she's remained a really dear and constant president in my life ever since. So yeah, I really feel like her coming into my life at that particular moment really was like critical in a lot of ways. But you know, she was one of many that have that have definitely given me great advice, or have been very supportive, or have just been there for me. So, yeah, big call out to her. She's she was being wonderful. Michael Hingson  53:29 Do you think that if you had never been diagnosed with or ever had FSHD, that your your job and your careers would have gone differently, or do you think that this was just a natural progression and FSHD is there, but it didn't really dictate what you did. Paul Bugeja  53:46 I think because of my approach to this situation, which is it's there, but it's not going to stop me. I think that look clearly, it's a physical condition, so it does limit me a little bit physically. So, like, I was never going to be like for for instance even with acting you know it did limit me a little bit with acting like there were certain things that like I can't do a headstand you know and I know that's a really a small thing but like in in drama classes there was I remember one class particularly always asked to do a headstand and I couldn't do it and this was pre diagnosis and I had I just thought it was because I was clumsy or uncoordinated or not muscular enough, so like certainly the diagnosis probably gets in the way of some some some kinds of careers that I might have pursued. But generally, you know, I'm a I'm a computer based person. I'm a knowledge and and and and content based person, and I was already going that way pre-diagnosis, so you know I don't think it really intervened in where I would have gone, whether it helped me or not, or whether you know it was part of the reason why I'm where I am. Look, I think it's it's part of the reason of everything that I do. You know, even if it's not all. That the defining reason, but it's it's a consideration definitely. Michael Hingson  55:04 Well, it is, and and it's helped build your resilience, and there's nothing wrong with that. Paul Bugeja  55:10 Yep, and that's right. And I'm in a career that requires resilience, and so it definitely, in that regard, yes, it's it's helped me build that further resilience. Michael Hingson  55:18 So there you go. Has AI helped you in terms of any of the things that you do on your job? Do you use it to to help in finding out information about quizzes or or that you put in quizzes or any of that? Has AI been a useful tool for you? Paul Bugeja  55:35 So again, this we could talk about this for 12 hours a time. Topics right, especially working in the media. I am. I love the fact that I'm an early adopter. Right, I love technology. I I embrace it. I'm you know I'm that guy who gets the new iPhone not every year but every other year. You know, I I'm really I embrace the new. You know, I was doing digital content well the beginning like not at the beginning of it all but you know I was I was I jump in quickly with AI I have reservations I certainly you know I tend to still use standard search but of course now with Google search AI is built into that Google search so I am using it in that regard as a media organization, we have a very strict policy about AI, as one must. You know, we have to be very careful because while it's definitely the next big revolution for everyone, whoever you are, from you know like a dog walker to a you know president, like it's going to affect everyone's lives, you know. I feel as though, so you know, for example, as a media organization, we're encouraged. We are looking at improving the way we work with AI, but there always needs to be a human oversight. Yeah, Michael Hingson  56:57 absolutely. Paul Bugeja  56:58 Yep, yep. And you would appreciate that, of course. So I don't use it in the way I think. I I think over time I will have to use it because I won't have any choice. But you know, we in the media, I think we're looking at. I don't think this is giving anything away, but we're looking at agentic AI more than generative AI because agentic AI is really useful. If I can ask an AI bot to put together the the not the quiz itself, but the the actual article the quiz will appear in that goes on the site. Well, that's just a practical like role you've given a system if you had one anyway, right? So I definitely think the media and me in in my role will will more and more embrace agentic AI as we're able to build it into our systems to help us with mundane practical tasks that you'd give the intern, that you'd give the the first year journal student out or whatever. Right? In terms of generative AI, I I've used it a bit just to see what it will throw back at me, and for example, I do a lot of quizzes as a quizmaster because I love to just do quizzes. I can tell a quiz that's been made with AI. It's very clear. I did a quiz the other day, and I kid you not. The first question was, "If I'm a Bolivian, what country might I come from? Now, I mean, for an editor or the actual person who put together that quiz, not to realize that a that's a pretty awful quiz question, but but it's such an obviously AI generated quiz question, you know. So yeah, I think we I think, and I'm also very aware that the amount of money that's being poured into AI at the moment is looking like a big bubble that will burst at some point, you know, because they can't keep plowing all this money in and expect big returns because it's not returning anything at the moment to them. Really, that doesn't mean it's not going to continue. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't embrace it. That doesn't mean that it's not going to maybe find a cure for cancer. Like I feel like there is a lot of positive that can come from it, so long as the humans stay in control. Michael Hingson  59:03 Well, I think that's the the real issue in the operative part of it. I have used AI in in writing articles, and the way I've used AI is I've I've asked it to give me give me your thoughts on or write an article about, and I'll do that like about six or seven times, and I will go through all of the things that that are created, and it gives me ideas. But I would never let it write the article, and I I would never do that because I want it to be me. And even if it could get to the point where it truly emulates me, it's not me, and I wouldn't want to do that. I so I'm I'm with what you're saying. Paul Bugeja  59:44 Yeah, yeah, and I think that's the trick. My, I think probably like with all you know, sort of new ages of technology, whether it was just the internet, and then it was sort of probably social media was the next big you know sort of critical juncture, and now it's AI. You know, it it means that the a younger. Generation that comes along that only knows this. So my my probably biggest concern would be, and I don't have children, but you know for my friends' children and the children that are going to grow up with AI, that they come to rely on it so heavily that they lose the ability to critically think, that they that they believe everything that AI says, and it will get better and it will get more accurate, but it's still throwing back. So I'll give you one quick example. When I was playing around with it back in 2022, I think, or whatever year the Queen died, Queen Elizabeth II died. I asked it, "Who's the current monarch of England? And I kept bringing Queen Elizabeth II back, and I kept arguing with it, and it kept saying no, and I started feeding it New York Times articles, Guardian articles, you know the Telegraph articles, and I kept saying these aren't reliable sources. Now this was you know back three or four years ago now, but that really concerned me, and I fear that that's the only fear for me is that people will lose their curiosity and their own ability to critically think and and and rely on it so heavily that they forget how to do really simple tasks that we should still be able to do. Michael Hingson  1:01:04 If you could change one thing about the world, whether it's big or small or whatever, what would Paul Bugeja  1:01:10 it be? I actually, so this will reveal me as a like a bit of a almost a communist. But I wish that people's obsession with money would change. I would love to change that. Like I love that people want to be comfortable and they want good lives and that we want our creature comforts and that we want to travel and have a great TV and all that somewhere to live. But I do feel li

On this episode of Change Makers, we're continuing our spotlight series featuring the incredible cast members of The Dot Experience. Opening Friday, October 30, The Dot Experience is a new immersive, inclusive museum that invites visitors to explore blindness, braille, accessibility, and the power of human connection. Today, we are learning more about Anthony Ferraro. Anthony is a motivational speaker, skateboarder, content creator, most importantly, a cast member of The Dot Experience.On this EpisodeNarratorAnthony Ferraro, The Dot Experience Cast MemberSara Brown, APH Public Relations ManagerAdditional LinksAnthony Ferraro InstagramThe Dot Experience websiteEmail Change Makers

20260827 I Love Braille Originally Broadcasted August 27, 2026, on ACB Media 5 Terri Nettles provided a presentation on braille games on this Braille Fun day. Sponsored by: East Bay Center for the Blind Contact the Facilitator Access Archives of the Call Join the Mailing List

It is never too late to chase a dream, even one that has waited decades for its turn. My guest, Evan Katz, built a career in journalism, public finance, and local government before taking an unexpected path into professional baseball. After first playing organized baseball at age 45, Evan became a professional player at 61 and later coached professional baseball at 69. We talk about how fear can become motivation, why setbacks can be powerful learning opportunities, and how skills gained across a lifetime can prepare us for challenges we never expected to face. Evan also shares what he learned from calling himself the “least qualified coach in professional baseball,” and how listening, mentoring, and supporting others became some of his greatest strengths. His story is a wonderful reminder that personal growth, career change, and lifelong learning do not come with an expiration date. Highlights: 02:47 – How family work ethic shaped Evan's drive. 11:26 – How fear can become motivation. 13:08 – Why setbacks can become learning opportunities. 35:06 – What local government taught Evan about growth. 42:29 – Why he started playing baseball at 45. 53:37 – How he became a professional baseball coach at 69 About the Guest: Evan grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts two miles from Fenway Park in the 1960s and quickly learned the emotional highs and lows of being a Red Sox fan.  When the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004, after an 86-year championship drought, he rang church bells to celebrate. After a long award-winning career in municipal and public school finance in Massachusetts, and raising a family of four with his wife Liz, Evan began his late-life baseball career in earnest at age 65.  He was an assistant high school coach for three years, and documented the team's Massachusetts state championship in the story “No Earbuds in the Outfield.” Evan Katz's pro baseball career began at age 61 when he pitched for the White Sands Pupfish of the independent Pecos League in 2017. When euphoria subsided and his infinity ERA began to sting, Evan returned to the Pecos League at age 67. With the Austin Weirdos he became one of the oldest pitchers ever to start a minor league game and lowered his ERA to 29.25 After an aborted stint as pitching coach with the Roswell Invaders in 2024, Evan returned to the Pecos League in 2025 as bullpen coach of the North Platte 80s. As the 80's scout he recruited players for the second-year Nebraska team.  As bullpen coach he supported the North Platte pitching staff which anchored the team's 27-21 record and helped the team reach the second round of the playoffs. And this despite just three years as a high school coach, and no college coaching experience. There were more than 2000 coaches among nearly 300 major, minor and independent pro baseball teams and Evan was the least qualified. To share his second career in baseball and other inspiring baseball stories, Evan manages his baseball website “Baseball by the Sea Media.” It includes exclusive feature stories plus biographies and game stories published by the Society for American Baseball Research. It also links to the 2024 award-winning two-season podcast he co-hosted with Bruce McClure, “Baseball's Last Frontier: Stories from the Pecos League.” Ways to connect with Evan**:** https://sites.google.com/view/baseballbythesea/home https://www.linkedin.com/in/evan-katz-351554b/ 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/ 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 subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . 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  00:04 What if the biggest thing holding you back isn't what's in front of you, but rather what you believe? Welcome to Unstoppable Mindset, where inclusion, diversity, and the unexpected meet. I'm your host, Michael Hingston, speaker, author, and advocate for inclusion and possibilities. This podcast explores how the beliefs we carry shape the way we live, lead, and connect with others. Each week, I talk with people who challenge assumptions, face adversity head-on, and show what's possible when we choose curiosity over fear. Together, we focus on mindset, resilience, and the small shifts that lead to meaningful change. Let's get started. Hi, everyone, and welcome to another Unstoppable Mindset podcast episode today. We get to chat with Evan Katz, and Evan's got an interesting life, especially since, if you will, he started the second part of his life, or maybe it's not the second, maybe it's later, of being a professional baseball coach at the age of 61. Well, we're going to hear about that. Evan lives in Massachusetts, in Swampscott, grew up in Brookline, which was very close to where the Red Sox play. I'm sure he's got lots of stories that we get to talk about with that. But anyway, Evan, I want to welcome you to Unstoppable Mindset. We're really glad you're here. Evan Katz  01:42 Thanks, Michael. I really appreciate the invitation. I I think that I'm excited to be part of a show with with with the theme that that you emphasize because I think that that when you reached out to me to ask if I was interested in in sharing some of my life experiences, I realize that there's a there's an unstoppable part of my mindset that has allowed me to achieve some things I didn't think were going to be possible. Michael Hingson  02:10 There you go. Well, you know, a lot of times we plan, and what we plan doesn't always necessarily go exactly the way we thought. But that's okay. It's it's a question what we do with it and what we learn from it. I suppose why don't we start by you telling us a little bit maybe about the early Evan growing up and and all that. And I know that you had mentioned that you think you actually got your kind of unstoppable mindset attitude from your parents and all that. So if you want to talk about that as as we go, you're welcome to. But anyway, why don't you start by telling us a little bit about the early Evan, if you will. Evan Katz  02:42 Sure. Well, you know, as you mentioned, I grew up outside of Boston in the town of Brookline, which is about two miles from Fenway Park. I'm a baby boomer. My my parents worked really hard, and they they worked hard to get their first house. They worked hard to fix it up. My mother was at home. My father worked in his parents' hardware store and was always fixing up the house. We ended up upgrading houses because of all the work that he did. And my mother, although she wasn't working, you know, she was involved in local politics, trying to improve the schools. And one of the stories I told when she passed away a number of years ago that she was so effective about mobilizing people to make changes in the school system. One of the school principals said to somebody else, "Get that Pawnee cats off the phone, Michael Hingson  03:34 because of course Evan Katz  03:35 at the time telephone was the only way to connect with people. But you know she had her unstoppable mindset in terms of making changes in public education in Brookline, my dad in terms of living the dream that he had for his family, and I really think that that in my own way I picked up that same hard worth it work ethic, and it's popped up along the way throughout my my life and my career. I Michael Hingson  04:00 I know what you mean. I know my parents were somewhat the same way. My dad worked at. Well, we moved to California when I was five, and before we moved, we were in Chicago. And he and my uncle owned a TV repair shop, and my dad left that to move to California. Wanted to do that anyway, but he began working at a government installation, was called Plant 42, and then later transferred to Edwards Air Force Base. My mom stayed home for a while. She actually helped sell real estate, helped sell some of the houses on the street where we moved because they were they were brand new, and the real estate people trusted her, so she she did some of that. Don't know what she earned or how all that worked, but but she did okay. But my dad worked, and I I feel very blessed. They they clearly taught me a lot, and I value very much their work ethic. I know what you're talking about. Evan Katz  05:01 Well, family is a great resource, whether it's your immediate family or extended family. And also, again, at the time that that I was growing up, most of our extended family lived right in the area, so there was a lot of connecting with cousins and uncles and grandparents. And I think that had its own way of shaping because we had a pretty hardworking, determined family, and I think that got passed on again, not just in my parents, but from my extended family as well. We Michael Hingson  05:28 had aunts and uncles and cousins. A lot of them were in Chicago. Then aunt and uncle and their two boys and our cousins moved out to California, but it was long after we moved. And then our next closest relative was actually up in the San Francisco area. Aunt Bella and Uncle Oscar owned a shoe store, and but and there were some other people who we called aunts. I'm not sure that they actually were, but aunts and uncles. But they they lived in the L.A. area. But most of our relatives were not very close by. Well, that's that's fine, but value the relationships nonetheless. So what was what was school like for you? Well, elementary school and high school and so on. Evan Katz  06:22 Well, I went to the local elementary school, and as I think, as I as I suggested, it was one of the schools that was being neglected by the town. My mother and her friends advocated for equal resources. It was also during the time where Christmas carols were being sung in school, and it was not something that my parents thought was appropriate. I was Jewish. There were other Jewish kids in school, not very many, and just didn't seem like this was the thing that should be happening, given where our country was at the time. And so I did well in elementary school. I mean, the interesting thing was I skipped kindergarten, so I was always the youngest and the slowest on the playground, and it actually contributed to my not participating in sports through my early years and into into high school, which we will we'll hear more about that later. But I got a good education. I loved numbers. I learned in high school after I had horrible year my sophomore year writing. I was determined to learn. I took a couple of English classes from mr. Carey at Newton South High School. Learned to become a good writer, and ultimately that led to my writing on college newspapers and becoming a newspaper reporter. My first job out of college. So, you know, the kind of thing when you go through school, you try to figure out, you know, what are the things that that that sing to you. And first, it was numbers for me, and I ended up going into a career in public finance, and then the writing, which I ended up becoming a newspaper reporter, put that on hold. And about 10 years ago, or eight years ago, I started a baseball social media website, and I ended up writing baseball stories. So, so here I am in my my my formative years in school, taming numbers, becoming a CFO in the public sector, and becoming a good writer-they got me through life. Michael Hingson  08:33 How did you end up being able to skip kindergarten? Evan Katz  08:37 That was back in the day. They didn't have minimum age requirements. If you pass the test, you you got to go right to first grade. Michael Hingson  08:44 Ah, well, I know I went to kindergarten in Chicago, and you started in Chicago at age four. Then we moved to California, and the problem is in California you couldn't start kindergarten till age five, but I had had a year of kindergarten already, but they wouldn't let me just go to first grade because I was only five, so I ended up with two years of kindergarten. And I'm not sure that second year was all that exciting for me, because kids were drawing and doing all sorts of stuff that I wouldn't do being blind. But we coped, and we got through it. I also did love numbers and so on, and my dad taught me how to do math in my head, so I was really doing well with math. And my my mother helped me with spelling tests and reading other material to me, and so on. So we got through it, and again, they took that on without any remorse at all, which, as I think back on it, was just part of their gutsiness and their unstoppability. Because the doctors told them that no blind child could ever amount to anything, and they were going to prove the doctors wrong. And I would like to think that they did, but we. We went through it, and I didn't actually. I learned Braille when I was in kindergarten in Chicago, but then didn't have access to Braille till the fourth grade out here in California. Yep. Yeah. Well, but my my parents read and kept me up with everything, but still it was a problem. But then I got Braille again, and so it all worked out, but I, but I, but I know what you're saying. It still gets back to the work ethic, and our parents were gonna do everything they could to make sure we all succeeded, didn't they? Evan Katz  10:32 Well, and I think also, Michael, you've touched on it, and I did as well. You know, there are things, there are areas we go into, whether it's school or work or relationships, we're blessed with certain talents and traits, but we also have areas that are not our strengths, and we're always having to work to figure out how to how to compensate for our areas of call it weakness or limitations, and also how to allow our strengths to to overcome those and and then to help generate success. Michael Hingson  11:05 Yeah, and and we do need to do that. And and the reality is that we're all generally better at some things than we are at other things, but we can make it work if we if we try. I wrote and published with a colleague, Carrie Wagg Kent, two years ago a book called *Live Like a Guide Dog* which is all about learning to control fear and its life lessons that that tell us that fear doesn't need to overwhelm us or, as I put it, blind us. That that we can use fear as a very powerful tool to help us, and I mention that because there are so many things that we fear in the world, and most of them we don't have any control over. I mean, I know that there are things that that I don't get to do right now that other people do because they can see different things. But at the same time, I have gifts that most of those people never either learn to use or choose to use or can use, and so we all have to work together to make the world successful. And I think that's the big issue. Evan Katz  12:11 Well, I think your point about fear is really important because we we all have fears, we all have worries, and fear can be paralyzing, and but it can also be motivating, and I think it's important that if you get into a situation that that you're concerned about or worried about, you should acknowledge that you're in something. Maybe you're over your head, and we'll talk about my coaching a professional team at age 69 without ever having coached college baseball, going right from high school coaching to professional coaching, that was the hardest job of my life, and that fear motivated me to figure out how am I going to come up with those compensating skills? How am I going to be able to succeed? Because I want this to succeed not just for me, but for the players around me. So, so fear. It's important to to recognize it, and so that you know that it's there, but also be able to take advantage of what fear can motivate you to do. Michael Hingson  13:13 Well, and fear doesn't need to paralyze you unless you let it. And that's the the big issue: is that we don't learn generally how to control fear and to use fear in a positive way. We worry about so many things over which we'll never have control because we just don't, and we let all of that worry us, and that that certainly adds so much to the fear levels that we face, and if we would only learn to just focus on what we can control, that doesn't mean you don't be aware of other things. But don't worry about the things over which you don't have control. It will help your life a whole lot. Evan Katz  13:53 And another aspect to that is, and I and I learned this, and as I mentioned, I worked in the public sector for for for almost 40 years, and I came up with the phrase at one point, and I I don't remember the circumstances. And somebody said, "I don't know if this is going to work. I don't know if we have the money. I don't know we have the people. This may not be a good solution, or the operation may not work. And I said, "Well, I think we have to see if it fails because if it fails, then we're going to learn something. Obviously, we didn't want anyone to lose a job or to get hurt. It wasn't failing in that regard, but but the you have to have enough courage so that if something isn't going to work, you can use that as as a learning opportunity as well, so you can't have fear of failure either. Because then we can all look back. You're old enough. I'm old enough to look back on our lives and see those learning moments. Many of them came from times that didn't work out so well, Michael Hingson  14:55 which doesn't mean that we failed. And I think that's the big issue. I think we have to deal with. Failure is is something that we have to really get over thinking about because failure isn't really it. What what it is is that things didn't work out the way we planned, but that doesn't mean that we failed, which means we just can't go on. We're we're stuck. It's it's a learning experience, and that is part of what dealing with fear is all about. Is rather than worrying about it. All right, so this didn't work. Don't fret. Don't worry. Don't panic. What did you learn from it? How do we get beyond that? And that's the thing that we generally tend not to do very much: is to do a lot of self-analysis in our own lives. Take time at night to step back and look at what worked during the day, what didn't work, and the what didn't works weren't failures, but they were learning opportunities if we take advantage of our own skills to develop our mind muscle to do that. Evan Katz  15:57 Absolutely, I Michael Hingson  15:58 think that's that's so important. Well, so for you, you you where did you go to college? Evan Katz  16:08 I graduated from Newton South High School. We went from Brookline to Newton in the 70s. I went to a small college in Western New York, Alfred University, for two years, and ultimately graduated from Colby College in Maine in 1977. As I mentioned, I wrote for both the newspapers at Alford and Colby, and that's where I got my my my journalistic experience back then. Writing for college newspapers was was a big deal back then, Michael Hingson  16:39 yeah, Evan Katz  16:39 and that worked out really well. I was going to go into teaching. That was my original plan. I did some internships in college. I even, when I was at Colby, I took a semester and helped out at a small fourth grade class in neighboring Oakland, Maine, helping out kids doing lessons in the in the corridor and in the back of the room to help them with their math, but when I left college, I had done enough writing, primarily sports, that I decided to to follow journalism. But the college years were really an eye opener for me. As I mentioned, I was a year young. You know, I was the drinking age was 18, and I was still only 17 and a half when I went to college, but somehow my IDs got me through into the pub. But it was a really eye-opening experience going to college in New York. I'd been in Massachusetts my whole life and was in a small town in Western New York, and it was just so eye-opening to see a part of the country and people that were very unlike where I lived in terms of Alfred. Most of the kids were from New York, and then going to Maine, they were more from New England. But it was just a real eye-opening experience. I think we all go through that in our late teens and early 20s, really beginning to discover, you know, who we are, what situations are we comfortable in? We test ourselves. We do crazy things, and it all turned out okay because I was able to get a job right out of college. Michael Hingson  18:11 So teaching was your plan, but it didn't go that way. Evan Katz  18:16 No, it didn't. And interestingly enough, I was looking back through my father's memorabilia when he died, and I think I knew this, but I was reminded that he wanted to teach originally, and he actually was a mentor to many people during his working career. And he took great pride and went to the Peace Corps actually for a number of years in his 60s, and so you know the whole teaching mentoring thing ran in our family, so I guess it's kind of ironic that I ended up coaching baseball at age 65 as a as a teacher and a mentor. But but the college experience, you know, I still think about it. I just sold my vinyl records. It was it was a little traumatic, but I did sell my vinyl records recently because I can listen to everything over the internet now, and but that was a water watershed moment selling my vinyl that I listened to in college for all those years. Michael Hingson  19:14 I still have mine from working at the campus radio station. I got a lot of records back here, and I I am somewhat of the opinion of the I don't know whether I would call them snobs, but I still think the best quality is still vinyl. Evan Katz  19:30 Well, as you know, Michael, one of the best attributes of vinyl records is when they were originally the songs were compiled and sequenced. It was they were designed to listen through the whole side of an album. Michael Hingson  19:44 Yeah, Evan Katz  19:44 and I mean obviously Pink Floyd was classic, and I'm sure that there were others that come to mind that I can't think of. And I was a big fan of the Doobie Brothers, and to this day I'll still turn off my radio in the car and put on a couple of Doobie Brothers albums and listen to them straight. Same with Chicago. It just the music was meant to be arranged, you know, for half an hour or 35 minutes, not just three and a half minutes. And I think a little bit of that has been has been lost with today's music. Michael Hingson  20:13 Yeah. Well, I think there's there's truth to that. And I even go back further. I've been a fan for many many years of big bands, primarily Swing, Benny Goodman, and and so on, but also doop and early rock. But I and I like some of the other rock. But I've never been a great heavy metal fan. But that's okay. Some people like it, and then that's fine too. But I really enjoy my records as well, which is a lot of fun. Yeah, I Evan Katz  20:42 did listen to Van Halen cassettes driving. Somehow, a Van Halen arrangement wasn't quite the same as Chicago. No, Michael Hingson  20:50 no, it is a little bit different. There's no doubt about that. So, what was your job that you ended up getting out of college? Evan Katz  20:57 I ended up worked as a stringer, which I don't even know if there are any anymore, but I think I got paid 10 cents an inch for covering soccer for the Newton graphic. I covered the Newton South soccer team, and also I I don't know how much an hour I got. I covered the Westin Wildcats. That's a small town west of Boston for the Westin Town Crier. That's how I got started in journalism, and I ultimately was hired as a part-time reporter by the Walpole Times, which is small town southwest of Boston. And I eventually became a full-time reporter there, covering town government, writing feature stories, learned how to use a 35 millimeter camera. We we had our own darkroom there, and I thought it was so much fun going out to meetings, interviewing people, compiling stories. It was just it wasn't like work. It was it was it was exciting, and it paid the bills, and I was living on my own for the first time. Michael Hingson  22:06 That didn't get you to graduate to things like going into television on WEEI and doing sports for them, huh? Evan Katz  22:13 No, the the the written word at the time, and even today still is is where I am. Although, as I joke with my friends, just put a microphone in front of me, and I'll start talking. Michael Hingson  22:26 So that's okay. Well, so how long did you write? And then what happened Evan Katz  22:32 was, so as I mentioned, my mother was very involved in local government, and I grew up in Brookline. And the interesting thing was, I was covering the planning board and the school committee in Walpole, and I'm I'm going to the meetings and I'm listening to them talking about the issues that they're dealing with, and I'm thinking to myself, so this is what 1979. I'm 23 years old, and I'm thinking, I mean, I can do better than this. I mean, listening to these these people talk about how they're going to solve problems, and I said, I think I can really help. So, the local legislator from Walpole, his name was Frank Woodward, had an opening in his office, and I started working as a legislative aide for him, working in the state house. It was very exciting. My mother was so proud. When some one morning in March, I don't know if it was 1979 or 1980, and I walked up the steps of the State House. Big blue sky in Boston. It was a big golden dome. I'll never forget. I walked up the front steps, looked up at the golden dome and the big blue sky in March of whatever year that was, so excited. My mother was so proud. My dad was too, obviously. And then I got involved in government, and that's where it all started. Working in the state house to really begin to understand the importance of issues. You know, it wasn't just local government, but how the state government intersected with the federal government, and how much how how important government is to making people's lives safe and protected. Michael Hingson  24:07 Yeah, and I think that is that is something that although there is certainly a lot going on today that is not necessarily the the model of what government ought to be, probably, but still, government and what the House of Representatives and the Senate do at the federal level, and what happens at the at the state house and in the state government is really important. And I wish more people would seriously get involved with it, and and do it from an ethical standpoint. But you know, we, I guess, we go through through different kinds of eras of how things work. Evan Katz  24:54 Well, it's interesting in the tumult that we're going through here. I recently had a chance. Last month to go to England with my wife. I hadn't been there for a while, and and I was really struck by how the history dates back centuries and centuries and centuries prior. You know, to 1066, I guess is one of the lines in the sand or the dirt in England. But when they started the more modern era, and what I was really struck by when you think about a country like England and all the difficulties, all the changes, all the times that they were under threat from external forces, internal forces, all the chaos, and somehow they've survived. And I think this is one of the real attributes of Great Britain. And I just began to think about what we're going through here, and I think I have to be hopeful in the same way. Michael Hingson  25:56 Yeah, I agree that Evan Katz  25:57 that that we've been here for 250 years. I know it's short compared to England. Supposedly, one author says that republics die after 250 years. I don't know if I buy that necessarily, but but the point is that that that I think somehow, some way, we're going to survive this because other countries have been through much more over much longer periods of time, and here they are. And 2026 is stable, viable countries. Michael Hingson  26:25 Yeah, and they're still there, and they're going to be there. And I agree with you. I think that we're we're going to continue, and maybe republics die after 250 years, but it doesn't mean they have to. And I think that's that's part of it. So what did you what did you do in terms of you you went to work in the state house or what did you do? Evan Katz  26:48 And I was a legislative aide, so we would get information on legislation, take a lot of constituent phone calls because at the time the only time only way you got a hold of your legislator was either make a phone call. Of course, I think from Walpole to Boston, it might have been a toll call at that time. So maybe we got more letters from Walpole. I don't know, but constituent constituent concerns, working with state agencies to resolve things, and and it just got me acquainted with with with how government works, and it just gave me an appreciation for what it takes to make government work for for the the residents of Walpole and a couple other nearby towns, and also you get to see the the leaders of the state at that time the the Senate President and the the Speaker of the House, and you get to understand a little bit more how they show leadership and what skills and attributes work well, and what ones in your mind don't work well. But the whole bottom line is, you know, how is it working for the constituents? And to me, that became more and more important. Is what's the bottom line here? It's not about power. It's not about success at the legislator. The bottom line is the impact on people. Michael Hingson  28:13 Well, I remember that when I lived in Winthrop, every year I would go with people from the National Federation of the Blind, we went to Washington every year. Five, 600 of us descended on Washington and visited all of our legislators. And I remember actually once having the opportunity to set up an appointment and meet with Tip O'Neill. What an amazing guy he was! Yeah. But then also there was a new congressman who had just joined, Ed Markey. Evan Katz  28:45 Oh sure. Michael Hingson  28:46 Now look where he is. He's but but it was it was so much fun seeing Congress in action and actually being a part of it, talking about different kinds of issues, and of course it got to meet Ted Kennedy and also Paul Songas along the way as well. And I and I also was involved in things in in Massachusetts because one of the problems we had in the early '80s in Massachusetts and around the country was that blind people couldn't buy life insurance because the life insurance companies said we're a higher risk, we'll have a higher mortality rate, and finally, to keep the story short, we discovered that unlike what insurance companies say they do, which is they make their determinations always based on actuarial statistics, evidentiary data, and they create mathematical models based on evidence. They had absolutely not one single solitary thing to show that blind people or other people with disabilities were a higher risk than anyone else. So I worked back in the late 70s, early 80s with I don't you may. I've known him, Al Evan Katz  30:02 Sagasi. I recognize the name. Michael Hingson  30:03 Yeah, and so he he helped us shepherd a bill through that eventually eliminated discrimination in dealing with life insurance in Massachusetts, and and actually was something that passed in every state that all all the states dealt with that because the insurance companies were just playing games, which was so unfortunate. So when I was growing up, my parents couldn't insure me. When I was in college, I couldn't buy life insurance, and and eventually it got addressed. But it was, and it still is fascinating to think back and be a part of making a difference and really working to help constituents and help the legislature. Evan Katz  30:48 Well, there's a great example of numbers not being in action. You know, they're hiding behind perceived numbers, and then you do do a little bit of digging, and you find out that it's not quite as fact-based as they made it sound, Michael Hingson  31:02 yeah, and in fact there was no fact, and but still we worked through it, but the process was, I think, and still is for me one of the most fascinating things to to be able to go and be a part of dealing with things and and hopefully getting legislators to deal with issues and I'm not sure that there's as much of that that's happening today with everything going on but it'll come back. Evan Katz  31:34 Not not in Washington anyway. I think you've got to look to the states more than Washington. Washington's an anomaly right now. Michael Hingson  31:42 Yeah, Washington is really a big problem, and and but it'll it'll it'll switch at some point. I hope. I think it's going to have to, but but we'll see how it goes. If Speaker 1  31:55 you enjoy Unstoppable Mindset and would like to help us continue bringing these conversations to you each week, we've created a way for you to support the show. Your contribution helps us cover production costs and continue sharing stories, insights, and ideas that inspire people to live with purpose and possibility. If supporting the podcast feels right for you, you'll find the link in the show notes, thank you for being part of the Unstoppable Mindset Community. Michael Hingson  32:27 So you you went to work and you were legislative aide. How long did you do that? Evan Katz  32:32 Actually, not not. I think it was a little over a year because I ended up working on a referendum campaign. There's a thing in Massachusetts to limit property taxes, that's called Prop Two and a Half, that passed in 1980. I ended up working for Representative Woodward and a couple of other reps. There was an alternative on the tried to get on the ballot as an alternative to Two and a Half that wouldn't be quite as dramatic. Although I think, looking back as someone in the public sector, I think it's a good thing that Prop two and a half passed, but I got involved in working on a referendum campaign as an alternative to Prop two and a half. It didn't pass, and then at that point, I decided needed to get some professional training, and I went to get my graduate degree in public administration from the Kennedy School at Harvard, so I would have more credentials and I could really get into local government, and that really opened the door. Once I got my master's degree, I ended up working for the state. I think I mentioned my mother and family were from were from Brookline. We were acquainted with Governor Dukakis, and my mother worked actually very close with Govern was very close with Governor Dukakis, and he really encouraged me to go to graduate school, and I ended up going to the Kennedy School. And from there, I went and worked for his administration. The Massachusetts Department of Revenue started a division to support local government finance. It was really very innovative at the time in the early '80s. You know, cities and towns were separate. The state was just a regulatory reagency, and Governor Dukakis wanted to create an agency that could be a resource to local government to help them make better decisions. We created a municipal data bank to try to gather information to get to gather statistical information and ultimately help guide cities and towns to budget better, to plan their capital budgets better. And I was involved in the formation of that bureau in the Mass Department of Revenue. It was called the Division of Local Services, and I ended up working there in the early '80s, to really get a feel for how state government worked, state aid, and all that sort of thing, and then I learned enough there and decided to go out and see what it was like myself to work in a city or town, and that that's was around 1980. So I got my training at is in graduate school, learned more in state government, and then in the mid '80s went out to work in town halls and and city halls, and that that talk about fear, that that was frightening. Michael Hingson  35:18 It was a new experience. Evan Katz  35:20 Absolutely, you know, you you you you're in the state house, and there's there's 240 state reps and 40 senators, I think, all kinds of legislative aides. You're working in a state agency, and it's a whole bunch of 20 something and 30 something colleagues and bosses and this and that. There's always someone you can ask, always someone that can support you. You go to a town hall, and there's there's three clerks and a bunch of select board members. In Massachusetts, there are boards of selectmen in the small towns, or the select board now. Back then, it was select men, but you're on your own out there, and it's very, very different. You know, having a bunch of colleagues to support you in the big city when you're out in the small town of Groton, 40 miles from Boston, with 7000 people, and you're the resource in town hall. It's a lot different. Michael Hingson  36:18 I was just going to say that you you became the resource that people look to. Evan Katz  36:24 Yeah, and and so you take your professional training and you begin to develop some of those personal skills. And how do you relate to people? How do you gather information? How do you recover from from your mistakes? How do you make sure you have enough successes so that you got a good success to mistake ratio? But it's it it is very scary. I mean, I was what how old in 1986? So I was 30 years old, and it never. And I wanted to work in a small town, and I did, but it was a real, real eye-opening experience. But by the same token, you know, one of our biggest fears-you're the only person. One of the greatest attributes to the situation was you're immersed in everything. You learn everything. You learn about the police department, the fire department, which was a call department at that time. You know, if there was a fire, all the firemen, there might have been a couple of women as well, went to some went to the station to get the truck, and some drove in their cars to the scene of the fire, and and and you get a small town with one police officer on duty, you know, from from 11 to seven, you got a water department with two employees. You really get a feel for what's important and what isn't, and how do you make the system go, and what do you do in an emergency, and how do you plan for the future? And so it was it was it was frightening at one level because you're on your own and you're learning a brand new thing, but at the same time you're immersing yourself so deeply, and you're learning so much that that that that you're growing, you know, professionally and personally at a very very fast rate. Michael Hingson  38:16 And although you may or may not realize it at the time, those fears that that you started with slowly would be dissolving away because you were learning how to deal with things, and you were discovering that you had the ability to deal with things, and so you became less afraid in a positive way. Evan Katz  38:37 Right. Well, you know, you all know that the cycles in in businesses and cities and towns, and it's all in an annual cycle, the budget cycle, and you know you get through the first year and you start doing it again, and you're doing it again, and you really then you begin to expand your knowledge base. You're willing to to to experiment a little bit more, and and you're growing again at a very fast rate because you're able to do more and more that you weren't able to do when you first got there. Michael Hingson  39:10 Did you ever run for any office? Evan Katz  39:13 Actually, I did. When I left Groton, I finance was my area of interest, as as I mentioned earlier. I was hired by the city of Medford, which is just north of Boston, up Route 93, probably I don't maybe 810 miles north. And when I was working there, I was the city's finance director. You talk about culture shock, so I go from the small town of Groton with seven people to a to a 50,000 the city of 50,000 with a with a palatial city hall right off Route 93 and but I was chosen for because of my background in finance. And when I was working there, I decided that the town of Groton might benefit from my experience as an elected official. So I was working in Medford as finance director, and I ran for assessor in Groton to get started. Elected assessors to value properties and administered the taxes, and then ultimately I ran for select board a couple years after that. Michael Hingson  40:27 Were you elected? Evan Katz  40:29 I did. Yeah, I won. Okay. And here's another thing that I learned. You know, I haven't always seen elected boards, whether it was the select board or city councils or legislators, you see elected officials in action at meetings and talking about problems and making phone calls, but you forget there's a lot of other work that goes on behind the scenes when you're at home at night and when you run into somebody on the street. And so I was I was very prepared for the for the technical aspects of it, the problem solving, but I forgot about the time that it takes when people call you or have a have a have a problem with a nearby dog, or someone put up a fence, or the traffic on my street is going too fast. You have to call people. You got to follow up. You got to again. Back in the old days, it's all by telephone. So the amount of time that it took to resolve problems and have meetings, I forgot about the the the extra time that it takes when you're an elected official to do that behind the scenes stuff. But but I enjoy doing that as well. Michael Hingson  41:41 Yeah, I'll bet. And you know, it it is just it it you figure out that that's part of what you have to do. And again, I think the big issue is in figuring all that out is learning to recognize that's part of what you have to do, and accepting that that's definitely part of the job, and not trying to blow it off, not trying to get angry at people, which all too often happens today, I think more than it than it needs to. But it is part of the job. It's all part of the job, and no matter what, that hasn't really changed. Evan Katz  42:19 And I think it's I think it's in any job, and I think people have perceptions about certain types of jobs, whether it's you're you're you're a plumber, a truck driver, a lawyer. You know, people understand the responsibilities at the surface level and the visible level, but they're they're not as aware of what goes on behind the scenes, what it takes to to get things going, and and I think that's probably not and maybe underappreciated in some situations about what it takes to to to do things behind the scenes that are not as exciting, where there's more drudgery, and and and the amount of time that it takes to get you into the seat of the truck, to get you to have a meeting with clients, if you're some kind of professional, if you're a doctor, there's there's there's a lot more to any job, and I think that that that it's important to recognize it for ourselves. You know, it's not just the let's call it the glamorous part of the job. Michael Hingson  43:29 Yeah, Evan Katz  43:30 there's the behind the scenes part of the job, and the same goes for all jobs. And I think it's important to remember that. Michael Hingson  43:36 I agree. Well, you did all this work, and you kept doing it for quite a while. So, what got you into baseball, other than being a fan? But you know, Evan Katz  43:46 well, loyal Red Sox fan, been to Fenway hundreds of times, as I mentioned earlier. Was started school a year early, so I never played sports, and my kids in my 40s had finished little league, and they were all done with their sports careers at that point. And I decided I wanted to play baseball at age 45. Michael Hingson  44:14 There you go. I had Evan Katz  44:15 never played. I had never played little league. I never played high school. Never played college. And at age 45, a friend of mine who I grew up with in Brookline, he encouraged me to go to a baseball camp in Florida in 2002, and at that point, my my interest in baseball and my fandom in baseball expanded to becoming a a player and having to learn about the game as a player, not just as someone watching the game. Michael Hingson  44:47 And what did your wife think of that? Evan Katz  44:49 Well, my my wife will mention that my my wife Liz, our first date was on march 30, 2002, and that was the date. Of my first baseball practice in Massachusetts, so she has been there from the beginning of my baseball career. And if it wasn't for her one acceptance of it and her support of it, I never would have been able to achieve and enjoy all that all that I have, but she she is is is my biggest fan and supporter. Michael Hingson  45:29 That's great. She's a Red Sox fan, I would presume. Evan Katz  45:33 Yeah, Red Sox fan. Yep, and you know we watched them clinch it in 2004. We've been to Fenway together, and you know she, you know, like I played adult baseball, and and you know the when guys join, their spouses or girlfriends come the first for a bunch of games in the beginning, but then they just lose interest. Understandably, it's you know it's old man baseball. It's not like it is on TV. She she comes from time to time, but but she she's got her own life to live now. So that's okay. Michael Hingson  46:05 Well, so so tell me how baseball progressed for you. So you you started working at playing. Evan Katz  46:15 Yeah. So I went to this baseball camp in Florida, which I actually just came back from. It's called the Ponstellion Baseball Camp, and it's from a league in Washington, and they started going down for a week of what they call spring training. Well, for Washington, baseball starts a little earlier, Washington D.C. So we go down the end of January, and you know, getting on the field isn't too far away as long as there's no snow on the ground in the DC metro area. But I started going to that camp in 2002, and there was a group of professional coaches at this camp who were major league and minor league affiliated, and they have been coming to this camp since the beginning. This is now 2026. They've been going to the camp as long as as the longtime players, and so what happened was, you know, I was playing adult baseball, and there was a year where it rained a lot, and we had games postponed, and I'm driving around Fort Myers, and I think I was 60 years old at the time, so this would be 2016. And I said to myself, you know, what would be the chances that I could find a minor league team that would let me play, so I could live my dream of being a professional baseball player? And I grew up around in Brookline. I collected baseball cards. I played imaginary baseball games in my yard. Played wiffle ball with my friends. Watched the Red Sox on TV. You know, it's been in my blood since I was a little kid. And of course, many little kids want to be professional basketball players, hockey players, football players. Well, for me, it was baseball. So here I am, 60 years old, and I asked a couple of people at the camp. One of them was Stan Clyburn, played for the Angels in the 80s, and he's managed in the minor leagues for 1000s of games. He's still managing to this day. And Steve Little, who was a coach at the time with the Twins, I asked them, "Do you think I could find a minor league team that would allow me to play for them, so I could live my dream, play professional baseball? And they said, "Sure. Oh yeah, you you should give it a shot. And they gave me a couple names. Ultimately, it took me a year and a half, and I found the Pecos League, which is a low level of independent baseball. I got a hold of the commissioner. His name is Andrew Dunn, and I called him up in March. It turned out this would be March of 2017. I went out to my car at a lunch break from school. I had his phone number, and he answers the phone, "Hello, baseball. And I explain the situation, and he said, "You want to get in a game? We'll get you in a game. And that was that was in 2017. Michael Hingson  49:15 Wow! Evan Katz  49:16 And way it the way it turned out, he invited me out to play for the White Sands Pupfish the last weekend of the season, it had to be with teams that it wouldn't affect the playoffs. And I went out to White Sands, New Mexico, White Sands National Park is there. Alamogordo and the the White Sands Pupfish. I I pitched to two batters, walked one and hit one. I had one plate appearance and was called out on strikes. Didn't lift the bat off my shoulder. Too much fear, as I look back on it. But I became a professional baseball player at age 61. Michael Hingson  49:57 Well, so you got to live your dream. Evan Katz  50:00 Yep, Michael Hingson  50:00 and so after you pitched, what did you do? Evan Katz  50:04 Well, it was all very exciting, and I I actually was interviewed by Bill Littlefield on the NPR radio show Only a Game, talking about playing baseball at age 61, and my friends thought it was really neat and cool, and I had some pictures made, and I gave a lot of graph pictures to Stan Clyburn and Steve Little to thank them for inspiration, and it was all fun. But you know, in baseball, if you're a pitcher and you give up a run without getting anybody anybody out, you have an ERA, which is an earned run average. How many runs you give up in nine innings? Michael Hingson  50:43 Right. Evan Katz  50:43 I had an ERA of infinity. I'm in baseball reference with all these big known baseball players. I'm there with my my my stat line with an ERA of INF infinity, and I'm 65 years old, and I'm saying, man, I don't want to have an ERA of infinity. I don't want to retire with an ERA of infinity, so I got a hold of of Andrew Dunn again, and I said, Andrew, can I come out and pitch again? I want to get my ERA below infinity. I want to get somebody out. So it turns out in 2023, he assigned me to pitch for the Austin weirdos keep Austin weird, right? Keep Portland weird. Keep Burlington weird. You know, keep but whatever weird city you know they have their slogans of keeping the city weird. So Austin weirdos. And the interesting thing was that the weirdos that year in 2023, they had a home field in Austin, but it got burned out. They didn't they didn't have enough water, so they lost their home field. They turned into an all road team, and no player likes to drive through the Pecos League through the desert Southwest from Texas to Arizona, Michael Hingson  52:00 right Evan Katz  52:01 up to Kansas and Colorado for weeks on end. I get to the end of the season, the last weekend of the season in Alpine, Texas, to play the Alpine Cowboys, of course, in Texas, and the Austin Weirdos only have 11 players, and I can pitch. It's a Friday night, and there's a doubleheader on Saturday, and the manager decides, well, we got a guy here who hasn't pitched recently. He should start the game on Friday night. I get a text from the manager in the middle of the day. Evan, you're starting tonight, Derek Dominguez. Talk about no fear. Yeah, starting a 67-year-old pitcher against a lineup of 20-year, 25-year-olds, and I I started against the Alpine Cowboys, and talk about managing your fear. They have it's an old baseball stadium was built in the 1940s. It's got a grandstand behind home plate. You know, a couple things happen there. First of all, I get to the park early because the team was driving. They had to drive. This is the amazing thing. 1111, players. They had to drive 700 miles from the night before from Blackwell, Oklahoma, to Alpine. Michael Hingson  53:20 Wow. Evan Katz  53:22 The catcher comes in the dugout. Wonderful young man. You know, pitchers always worry who is going to catch them. Who's my catcher? And I'm in the dugout waiting, and a young man comes up to me, and he knows who I am, and he says, "I'm Marcus Bracy, and I'm catching you tonight. And the way he said that to me made me feel like he was going to take care of me, and we warmed up. I didn't have any fear. And one thing I did though, when I went out to the mound in the bottom of the first inning, and every inning after that, I made it to the fifth. By the way, I never looked up into the stands. I never wanted to see the crowd. I wanted to keep my eyes focused on this catcher, and that is what helped me get through. And I gave up two runs an inning into the fifth inning. And the interesting thing was that that that was about the team's average. The earned run average for the Austin Weirdos that year was 18 because they had lost so many players, they didn't have many pitchers, and I ended up for that game with an ERA of about 18. So I pitched the same as all the 25-year-old pitchers that pitched for Austin that year. Michael Hingson  54:39 There you go. That certainly is. That certainly is pretty cool. So, what year was that? Evan Katz  54:48 That was 2023. Michael Hingson  54:49 Okay. So, what's happened since? Evan Katz  54:52 Well, I was so taken by the Pecos League and some of the players there, and I had been coaching high school for three years. You know, I had. I had coached at Manchester Essex High School, just north of Boston. I had coached the pitchers and the catchers there. We won the state championship in 2022, and yeah, I saw I'd done a little bit of coaching. And I knew the Pecos League didn't have a lot of money. It didn't pay the players anything hardly. Players make less than $1,000 for most of the teams, and many of the coaches are volunteer coaches. And I asked one of the players; his name was Alex Westman, really nice, nice fellow. I met him for breakfast actually in the fall after the season. I was out visiting my my son in Arkansas. Met him in Missouri for breakfast, and I said, think, think the Pecos League could use a coach like me, and Alex is always an upbeat guy. And unfortunately, Alex was passed away a couple years ago in a tragic motorcycle accident. But I'll always be thankful for Alex for him saying to me, "Oh yeah, you should coach. So I got a hold of the commissioner. I I did coach for a few games for Roswell in 2024, but my mother-in-law took ill, and I had to come home. So last season I ended up teaming up with Todd Everleth, the manager of the North Platte '80s, who I had connected with during 2024 and introduced him to the league. He managed in North Platte, and I asked Todd if he could use a coach, and Todd invited me out to North Platte, Nebraska. And last summer, I was the bullpen coach. One of the hardest things I've ever done, if not the hardest, going from high school coaching to professional coaching at age 69, but somehow it was successful. I helped the pitchers. We ended up going to the the second round of the playoffs. We had a couple of guys called up to higher level leagues, and and it was a success. But but it was again one of the hardest things I've ever done, but at the same time, one of the most rewarding. Michael Hingson  57:04 That's pretty cool. You you did you did so much of that. So you also you've been coaching. So you've been coaching a fair amount over the last few years. You said I think at one point, you were the worst coach in 2025. Evan Katz  57:23 Oh right, not not the worst, close, the least qualified. Oh, the Michael Hingson  57:28 least qualified. Okay, right. Yeah, this is a good story. Evan Katz  57:31 So, so, so Todd and I, you know, Todd Everleth, we're driving his truck around the Midwest. I don't know, it's probably the second second or third road trip, but I'm I'm sitting there, and I'm really beginning to understand the credentials, my new Todd's credentials, and the credentials of the other coaches in in in the Pecos League, which, as I mentioned, is the lowest level of independent baseball. It's not connected to Major League Baseball, and I'm thinking to myself, there's got to be 1000s and 1000s of coaches in professional baseball, major leagues, minor leagues, other independent leagues. Here I am. I'm a coach in the Pecos League. I I have three years of high school coaching experience. I have got to be the least qualified coach in professional baseball. So I said, Todd, I think I'm the least qualified coach in professional baseball, and he he got a real kick out of that. Michael Hingson  58:30 Well, so the real question is, what's going to happen this year? What are you doing now? Evan Katz  58:35 Well, this year, you know, I I am definitely retiring from coaching, as I mentioned, you know, at my age, 69, coaching in professional baseball, you know, your your days start early. They go till late at night. You're traveling a lot in the Pecos League. We drove our own cars, so we drove over 7000 miles last summer. Michael Hingson  58:57 Wow! Evan Katz  58:57 And that that was on top of driving out to Nebraska and coming home, so over 10,000 miles over the course of the summer, way way too demanding. So, but what I'm what I'm doing, Michael, is I think that that I really have some some lessons to share and some experiences to share. And as I as I joked with Todd and some of the other players, the the pitchers out in the bullpen. We were sitting out in the bullpen one night, and the pitchers knew that I wasn't didn't have a lot of experience. And once we all got used to each other, we had a really good time out there. And I'd said to them, I said, I think I'm going to write a book, and the book is going to be the least qualified coach in professional baseball, a survival guide, basically telling the story of how somebody with the least credentials of all the professional coaches was able to figure out how to cope with the challenges and ultimately support the pitching staff. And contribute to the teams going 27 wins and 21 losses, making it the second round of the playoffs, and having players called up to higher level leagues. I think there's some lessons there to share to inspire other people, and so that that's my plan. I'm hoping to do a little bit of motivational speaking. I'm planning to write a book and tell the story of the least qualified coach in professional baseball. Michael Hingson  1:00:28 But you brought a lot of life experience to coaching. Evan Katz  1:00:31 Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, this is one of the things I had to figure out. I knew my technical background was limited, so I had to figure out how can I support these players, how can I be available, and I figured out where to where to sit in the bullpen, so I could listen to their conversations and chime in when needed, and still see what's going on in the game, where to where to be in the outfield during batting practice to have casual conversations, and then I also-I don't think I mentioned this earlier-I had a podcast that I did, and so the podcast, which had a weekly episode and a guest from the Pecos League, I was always looking for stories from the team to interject into the podcast, and that was a great conversation starter. I also took a lot of pictures of the players, candid shots that they would never have been able to take on their own, and then also provide some baseball lessons along the way. You know, there was one pitcher who was very dissatisfied with his outing one night. He said, "I didn't, I don't, I didn't strike out as many guys as I wanted, or I gave up too many runs. And I said, "You left the game when we were ahead here in the Pecos League, where the team score a lot of runs. It's not the absolute results; it's the relative results. Yeah, you did your job. You left the game with the '80s in the lead, and you did great. So I figured out ways to support these guys because they had their own challenges, being away from college, being away from home. Try to figure out how I could support them to bring out their best. Michael Hingson  1:02:12 What a great story, and what a a great insightful thing you said to that pitcher. Well, if people want to reach out to you, how can they do that? Evan Katz  1:02:21 Well, I have a website called Baseball by the Sea Media, where I have some of my writing that I talked about. I've done some baseball biographies and some baseball game stories and some exclusive stories. Baseball by the Sea Media. I'm also on LinkedIn. Those are probably the two easiest ways to find me. Michael Hingson  1:02:44 How do they find you on LinkedIn? Evan Katz  1:02:46 Evan Katz, just I don't think least qualified as a search parameter on LinkedIn. No, it's probably blocked. So, Michael Hingson  1:02:55 so Evan Katz is spelled Evan Katz  1:02:57 E V A N K A T Z. Michael Hingson  1:03:00 So there you go. Well, I want to tell you that when that book comes out, we have to to do another one of these because I want to really have a chance to feature the book and all that. So keep us posted. Evan Katz  1:03:13 Absolutely, I'm I'm I'm looking forward to to working on it, Michael. And I appreciate you having me on today. Michael Hingson  1:03:18 Well, I want to thank you, and I want to thank all of you for watching and listening, and I'd love to hear from you. Feel free to email me at speaker at michaelhinkson m i c h a e l h i n g s o n.com. Love it if you'd give us a five star rating, but more important than a rating, please give us a great review. Review the podcast and say nice things about Evan. That's a that's a beautiful thing to do. If anyone knows anyone who ought to be a guest on our podcast, Evan, including you, feel free to introduce us. We're always looking for people to come on and tell their stories. But for now, I want to thank you for being here, and I want to thank you for spending an hour with us and and making it a very enjoyable and an unstoppable day. Evan Katz  1:04:03 Absolutely, Michael, it's my pleasure. Michael Hingson  1:04:08 Thank you for being here with me on Unstoppable Mindset. I hope today's conversation left you with a fresh perspective, a new insight, or at least something worth thinking about. If you're ready to go deeper into the ideas that shape how we see ourselves and others, I have a free gift for you. Head over to michaelhingson.com and download my free ebook, Blinded by Fear. It explores the invisible beliefs that hold us back and shows you how to reframe them so you can move forward with clarity and confidence. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share this show with someone who can use a reminder that growth starts with mindset. When people think differently, we all move forward. Together, thanks again for listening. Keep learning, keep questioning, and keep choosing to live with an unstoppable mindset.

Discover how blind and visually impaired users navigate books, tech frustrations, and accessible smart glasses in this lively conversation with Steven Scott and Shaun Preece. Learn about text-to-speech (TTS), Braille reading, AI voices, and how updates can completely change the experience of devices like Meta smart glasses. Steven and Shaun kick off with Monday mischief, from tangled cables to noisy dogs. The episode dives into how visually impaired users consume books: audio, Braille, TTS, and apps like 11 Reader with Eleven Labs voices. They debate whether natural-sounding AI voices can sustain long-form reading, and how Braille use can improve concentration and reading speed. The conversation shifts to Meta smart glasses, including the Adventurer model, mic issues, and a surprise software update that seems to improve call quality. They discuss spatial audio, voiceover quirks, and how accessibility in apps like Meta AI can affect independence. Listener emails bring real-life stories about learning screen readers, accessibility frustrations, and advice for safer tech setups. From Sonos app accessibility to domain registration headaches, the show offers relatable tips and humour, highlighting the importance of patience and perseverance when adapting to living with vision loss. Chapters 0:00 – Monday chaos and tangled cables 6:15 – Reading books: audio vs TTS vs Braille 19:40 – Meta smart glasses update and mic testing 34:55 – Spatial audio experiences and accessibility 48:22 – Listener emails: screen reader learning curve 1:19:00 – Tech safety, Sonos, and domain registration Like, comment, and subscribe for more honest and humorous insights into living with vision loss and accessible tech. Share your experiences with TTS, smart glasses, and learning screen readers—we'd love to hear your story. Relevant Links Be My Eyes: https://www.bemyeyes.com Double Tap Show: https://doubletaponair.com 11 Labs: https://elevenlabs.io ----Follow on:YouTube: https://www.doubletaponair.com/youtubeX (formerly Twitter): https://www.doubletaponair.com/xInstagram: https://www.doubletaponair.com/instagramTikTok: https://www.doubletaponair.com/tiktokThreads: https://www.doubletaponair.com/threadsFacebook: https://www.doubletaponair.com/facebookLinkedIn: https://www.doubletaponair.com/linkedinSubscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://www.doubletaponair.com/appleSpotify: https://www.doubletaponair.com/spotifyRSS: https://www.doubletaponair.com/podcastiHeadRadio: https://www.doubletaponair.com/iheartAbout Double TapHosted by the insightful duo, Steven Scott and Shaun Preece, Double Tap is a treasure trove of information for anyone who's blind or partially sighted and has a passion for tech. Steven and Shaun not only demystify tech, but they also regularly feature interviews and welcome guests from the community, fostering an interactive and engaging environment. Tune in every day of the week, and you'll discover how technology can seamlessly integrate into your life, enhancing daily tasks and experiences, even if your sight is limited."Double Tap" is a registered trademark of Double Tap Productions Inc. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Angie and Kimberly sit down with Craig Duffeck, a close friend of Kimberly's and a recent college graduate who spent a semester studying abroad in Japan. Craig is blind and has cerebral palsy, and he came back with plenty to say about what actually works over there and what doesn't. The JR trains and subway system turned out to be one of the easier parts of the trip. Tactile paving runs through stations and along sidewalks. Braille shows up on public facilities in places you'd never find it here. Craig connects a lot of that infrastructure to how Japanese culture treats its older population, which changes the whole calculation on what gets built and why. Getting there was another story. Craig walks through the back-and-forth of setting up accommodations, why talking directly to the university mattered more than any official process, and the odd reality that a Japanese public restroom was more accessible than the airplane that flew him across the Pacific. His advice for anyone thinking about it: pick up some basic Japanese before you go, and get away from the tourist stops if you want to actually experience the place.

Join Kathleen Masciana for a new episode of Blind Techie Geek Speaks, where she brings together a screen-free Saturday, accessible online graduate study, and Plato's Republic, Books I and II. Kathleen reflects on time spent with family, listening to an old-school radio, writing with a Braille typewriter, and using an analog recording device to review academic work aloud. She also discusses how a Braille computer and tablet support coursework at Holy Apostles College and Seminary, where she is pursuing online graduate study. Through Plato's accounts of justice, she considers the claims of Polemarchus and Thrasymachus, Glaucon's Ring of Gyges, the relationship between knowledge and the Good, and a thought experiment about digital curfews for young people. The episode also examines the proposed Fostering Optimal Classroom Use of Screens Act, or FOCUS Act, introduced by New York State Senator Andrew Gounardes. The proposal would create largely screen-free learning for kindergarten through fifth grade, provide computer carts or labs for specific middle-school lessons, allow individual computer access for high-school students with parental consent, and restrict social media, chatbots, generative artificial intelligence, direct messaging, gaming, and computer-based cameras. It would exempt people with disabilities who need computers or other devices to access learning materials and learn. Kathleen offers a careful reflection on how technology can be used intentionally without overlooking the tools that make education accessible. Her perspective invites listeners to consider how justice, character, knowledge, and thoughtful boundaries can shape a more inclusive approach to learning and digital life.

Annie Sargent sits down with Elyse Rivin to tell the story of Louis Braille. He lost his sight at age three. He was completely blind by five. That didn't stop him. By his teens, he had invented a whole new way to read. Annie and Elyse trace his path from a small village school to Paris, where teachers resisted his system at first. Then it spread like wildfire. You'll hear how blind students tested it, how one public demonstration changed everything, and why Braille still matters today, even with screen readers everywhere. Annie also shares guide dog etiquette and an update on Igor, her retired guide dog. Subscribe to Join Us in France so you never miss an episode.

The BT Braille is a powerful, Braille first computer with an eight-dot Braille keyboard with speech and Braille output in 20 cell and 40 cell models. This device can be as simple as being your trusty notetaker but it's powerful enough for those who want to write their own code and run your own software. It has more features than you can shake a white cane at. To name a few, it has a phone book, appointment calendar, calculator, stopwatch, an email program, two Web browsers, a radio tuner, a YouTube app and more. We can't wait to tell you more about the BT Braille and answer your questions about it. Presenter Contact Info Blazie Technologies Phone: (772) 214-1616 Email: info@blazie.net Web: www.blazietech.com

Struggling with Microsoft account passwords and accessibility? Steven Scott and Shaun Preece dive into the frustrations of password management, passkeys, and account recovery, while exploring the everyday challenges blind users face with Windows, Mac, and smart home tech. In this episode of Double Tap, Steven shares his exhausting three‑day battle with Microsoft account recovery while setting up a new virtual machine. From forgotten passwords and elusive 25‑digit recovery codes to the unreliable implementation of passkeys, the hosts candidly dissect the frustrations of modern authentication. The conversation expands into wider accessibility concerns for blind users: Inconsistent screen reader feedback at login screens. The pitfalls of passkeys across Windows and Mac ecosystems. Real-world workarounds, including text file password “solutions” and the role of password managers like 1Password and iCloud Keychain. They also touch on the future of accessible DIY tech, from 3D printers and tactile merch to the elusive dream of truly seamless, secure logins. Finally, the episode highlights global Braille surveys, community emails, and the importance of data to shape inclusive technology. Relevant Links Global Braille Survey: https://kusurvey.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_77Dg1BuBQDi54RE WebAIM Screen Reader Survey: https://webaim.org/projects/screenreadersurvey11/ ----Follow on:YouTube: https://www.doubletaponair.com/youtubeX (formerly Twitter): https://www.doubletaponair.com/xInstagram: https://www.doubletaponair.com/instagramTikTok: https://www.doubletaponair.com/tiktokThreads: https://www.doubletaponair.com/threadsFacebook: https://www.doubletaponair.com/facebookLinkedIn: https://www.doubletaponair.com/linkedinSubscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://www.doubletaponair.com/appleSpotify: https://www.doubletaponair.com/spotifyRSS: https://www.doubletaponair.com/podcastiHeadRadio: https://www.doubletaponair.com/iheartAbout Double TapHosted by the insightful duo, Steven Scott and Shaun Preece, Double Tap is a treasure trove of information for anyone who's blind or partially sighted and has a passion for tech. Steven and Shaun not only demystify tech, but they also regularly feature interviews and welcome guests from the community, fostering an interactive and engaging environment. Tune in every day of the week, and you'll discover how technology can seamlessly integrate into your life, enhancing daily tasks and experiences, even if your sight is limited."Double Tap" is a registered trademark of Double Tap Productions Inc. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The meeting began with personal topics, including Keith’s upcoming dental surgery where he may have eight teeth removed, and Terry’s acquisition of three lemon trees for his kitchen. The discussion included detailed planning about how to care for the lemon trees, including potting them in buckets with appropriate soil and managing their indoor winter care. Jill shared her experience attending a performance of Something Rotten! at Muni with a group of eight people, describing it as a funny show with updated music and Shakespeare references. Be sure to support us by using our Amazon affiliate link. Watch for updates as Keith is beginning to add things. News of the Week Terry reported on a news story about a woman in Houston whose home was flooded after a pole-dancing accident activated a fire sprinkler. Jill discussed a fire at a Virginia school caused by an escaped python knocking over a heating lamp. Keith covered a story about the theft of 210 Mini Mozart statues from Salzburg, Austria, on the composer’s 270th birthday, with officials suspecting an organized crime ring rather than individual thieves. He shared details about the stolen golden statues from a public art display, which were valued at $115 each. Terry told a story about a deer caught trespassing at Hersheypark in Pennsylvania, and the team discussed how the actress who played Bambi’s mother had recently passed away. Jill shared a heartwarming story about a kitten named Gelato in Ohio who received a custom 3D-printed wheelchair after a video went viral showing her using a makeshift one made from rulers, zip ties, and Hot Wheels. Keith described how TSA agents discovered seven stolen Civil War-era cannonballs in a passenger’s luggage at an Alabama airport. The items were determined to be non-explosive but were still classified as military munitions. Terry shared a story about two goats that boarded a bus without paying and rode to the next stop before exiting at a shopping center. Keith mentioned trying to get Terry a goat, but it didn’t work out, leading into a discussion on the challenges of keeping goats as pets. Jill's Weird Words Jill led a segment on unusual words, defining terms like “spore,” “diesel,” and “videlicet.” Keith and Terry explored definitions for words like “sonder,” “zugzwang,” “decorticate,” and “dunnage.” Terry's Top 10 List Terry presented a humorous top 10 list of reasons why someone might want to smash their computer, including issues with software updates, fan noise, autocorrect, and printer problems. Anchor Topic The group discussed various methods for blind individuals to access news and information, including using news apps, radio, NFB Newsline, and Braille services. Keith shared his preference for using multiple news sources to cross-check information, while Jill mentioned relying on local websites and radio for news updates. Email and Final Thoughts The conversation included a humorous email about a car with advanced features and another about a minister’s rule regarding premarital abstinence. Keith concluded with two stories from the voicemail line: one featuring a Marine’s marriage advice and another about administering medication to a cat named Louie. The final word from our AI companion The meeting appears to be a podcast recording session where Keith, Jill, and Terry discussed various topics including marriage advice, giving medication to pets, and sharing jokes. The group then engaged in a casual exchange of jokes and humorous one-liners before concluding the recording with promotional mentions of their podcast website and contact information. Show notes taken by AI, edited as needed by Keith. Sponsored by: Retro Radio Podcast. Bringing you family-friendly entertainment through classic, old-time radio. Episodes are posted daily. Keith and his Retrobots share everything in his collection from the days of vintage radio. Adventure, comedy, detective, westerns, and lots in between. If you don't hear your favorite show? Just ask. Visit the web page today, Retro Radio Podcasts

20260820 I Love Braille Originally Broadcasted August 20, 2026, on ACB Media 5 Our polestar, Karen Petty, for the month of August, shared her experience with learning, teaching, and using braille. Sponsored by: East Bay Center for the Blind Contact the Facilitator Access Archives of the Call Join the Mailing List

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) supports people with the extra costs of a disability or long-term health condition and it is currently under review. The steering group behind The Timms Review now wants disabled people to apply to participate in a series of workshops throughout September and October to provide feedback on draft recommendations. Decisions on these recommendations are then expected to be announced in late Autumn. The deadline to apply for the workshops is Friday 21st August. There is an email address to request reasonable adjustments if you are not able to access the online application form: timmsreview.shapingrecommendations@dwp.gov.ukMore information on these workshops, including application form, can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/timms-review-of-personal-independence-payment-register-your-interest-in-a-shaping-recommendations-workshop/timms-review-register-your-interest-in-a-shaping-recommendations-workshop#information-for-workshops-in-wales-northern-ireland-and-scotlandTerra Sarda Wines is a small Sardinian wine company based in Yorkshire that have a big ambition to provide all of the wines they sell with braille labels. It currently includes the braille labels on demand on three of their range. Terra Sarda isn't the first wine company to do this, but the inspiration came from hearing Brandon Hulcoop from transcription service All Things Dotty on the In Touch programme. Brandon and Sue Scott from Terra Sarda Wines tell us how their partnership developped.Presenter: Peter White Producer: Beth Hemmings Production Coordinator: Helen Surtees Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image, wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three individual white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch"; and the Radio 4 logo (the word Radio in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one of a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.

Learn how Steven Scott and Shaun Preece tackle listener emails, guide dog refusals in hospitals, and the daily challenges of using Meta smart glasses and social media apps with accessibility tools. This episode blends humour, honesty, and practical tips for blind tech users. Steven and Shaun dive into a packed session of listener feedback, starting with a controversial hospital guide dog refusal and the balance between empathy and professional responsibility. They share anecdotes about medical staff, public attitudes, and the generational differences in accessibility awareness. The conversation moves into the challenges of Instagram and Facebook for blind users, exploring third-party tools like “Describe Me” for richer image descriptions. The hosts also troubleshoot Meta smart glasses, Orion, and Aira issues, discuss voice recognition quirks, and share workarounds for stubborn tech. The episode rounds off with reflections on braille's role today, accessibility gaps in education, and the importance of preserving skills like braille literacy alongside modern tech solutions. ----Follow on:YouTube: https://www.doubletaponair.com/youtubeX (formerly Twitter): https://www.doubletaponair.com/xInstagram: https://www.doubletaponair.com/instagramTikTok: https://www.doubletaponair.com/tiktokThreads: https://www.doubletaponair.com/threadsFacebook: https://www.doubletaponair.com/facebookLinkedIn: https://www.doubletaponair.com/linkedinSubscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://www.doubletaponair.com/appleSpotify: https://www.doubletaponair.com/spotifyRSS: https://www.doubletaponair.com/podcastiHeadRadio: https://www.doubletaponair.com/iheartAbout Double TapHosted by the insightful duo, Steven Scott and Shaun Preece, Double Tap is a treasure trove of information for anyone who's blind or partially sighted and has a passion for tech. Steven and Shaun not only demystify tech, but they also regularly feature interviews and welcome guests from the community, fostering an interactive and engaging environment. Tune in every day of the week, and you'll discover how technology can seamlessly integrate into your life, enhancing daily tasks and experiences, even if your sight is limited."Double Tap" is a registered trademark of Double Tap Productions Inc. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this episode of Change Makers, we're continuing our spotlight series featuring the incredible cast members of The Dot Experience. Opening Friday, October 30, The Dot Experience is a new immersive, inclusive museum that invites visitors to explore blindness, braille, accessibility, and the power of human connection. Today, we are learning more about Marcus Engel. Marcus is a professional speaker, author, consultant, podcaster, professor, and, most importantly for us today, a cast member of The Dot Experience.After our conversation with Marcus, we'll take you inside The Dot Experience as we share highlights from a recent preview event where attendees of the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER) International Conference toured the museum and experienced a sneak peek of the progress, including the factory tour.On this EpisodeNarratorMarcus Engel, The Dot Experience Cast MemberSara Brown, APH Public Relations ManagerAdditional LinksMarcus Engel websiteMarcus Engel LinkedIn profileThe Dot Experience websiteEmail Change Makers

20260813 I Love Braille - I Have a Question Originally Broadcasted August 13, 2026, on ACB Media 5 I Love Braille participants discussed braille-related questions. Sponsored by: East Bay Center for the Blind Contact the Facilitator Access Archives of the Call Join the Mailing List

Most schools reward kids who give the right answer — but real life rewards kids who know how to ask the right question. If you want your child to lead instead of simply follow, thinking differently about education is where everything starts.This episode shows you exactly how to shift from raising compliant students to raising confident thinkers, with 3 practical changes you can make starting this week:✅Why followers wait for answers but leaders learn to ask better questions✅The difference between checking memory and developing real thinking skills✅How discussion builds discernment, communication, and confidence in your kids✅Why one better question this week can do more than an entire curriculum change✅What two brothers with no college degrees teach us about thinking differently✅One practical thing to do this week that builds wisdom instead of knowledgeClick the link below to join the Raising Leaders Not Followers Early Access List and get a private homeschool chat.Resources for You Raising Leaders Not Followers Early Access ListFREE Masterclass - Start School Right in 2026 STOP your overwhelm and find confidence for this school yearShow Notes:Followers Wait for Answers. Leaders Ask Better Questions.Imagine your child is 25 years old. The boss gives them a problem no one has seen before. How does your child react? Do they say — well, what am I supposed to do? Or do they say — let me think through this?That's the difference between followers and leaders. Most schools reward students with the right answer. Leaders become leaders because they learn to ask the right questions.Today I want to challenge you with one of the biggest assumptions we've inherited from the current school system.The School System Was Built for Workers, Not LeadersTraditional education often rewards memorization, compliance, following directions, and getting the right answers. Those skills have value. But leadership requires something different. Leaders evaluate. Leaders solve problems. Leaders make decisions where there isn't one correct answer.The Wright Brothers Never Had Engineering DegreesMost people think of the Wright brothers as one person. There were really two of them — and they used their individual giftedness together.Wilbur Wright was steady and focused. His father described him as never rattled in thought or temper. He was highly intelligent, an avid reader, a talented writer, and a gifted speaker. After an accident in high school, he was uncertain of his health and future, dropped his plans to attend Yale, and spent most of his time alone — reading and thinking.Orville Wright was curious, optimistic, energetic, and impulsive. He had a wide range of interests, a quick mind, and was always coming up with new inventions. He actually chose a series of advanced college prep courses in his junior year of high school — but that meant he couldn't graduate at the end of his senior year. So he just decided not to attend school that term.That's right. The co-inventor of the airplane never graduated from high school.Despite their lack of formal diplomas, both brothers committed to broad learning. All the reading they did would have been equivalent to — or bigger than — a modern four-year college degree. And they did it on their own, outside of school.Neither one had an engineering degree. They owned a bicycle shop. They questioned accepted scientific ideas instead of assuming the experts were right. They built wind tunnels, tested hundreds of wing designs, and learned by experimenting. Their willingness to think independently led to the first successful powered flight.They weren't simply collecting information. They were learning how to think through problems. And that's what I want for my kids — and I think that's what you want for yours too.The Questions That Develop Thinking — Not Just MemoryInstead of asking what did you learn today, ask what surprised you today? What question do you still have?There's a real difference. What did you learn just repeats facts. What surprised you and what questions do you still have make your kids think. One checks memory. The other develops thinking.For older kids, ask what do you think about this topic? That forces them to have an opinion. And opinion is a higher-level thinking skill.Followers wait for answers. Leaders ask better questions. And great education is less about you, mom, giving answers — it's about teaching children to investigate. It's about asking questions and letting them discover answers. Instead of saying here's what to believe or here's what to know, teach them to ask — is that true? How do we know? What's the evidence? Does this line up with Scripture? What are the consequences?Charlotte Mason understood this over a hundred years ago. She believed education is the science of relations — that children connect ideas, not just memorize facts. She encouraged narration, living books, nature study, and discussion because those require children to think instead of repeat information.Louis Braille Changed the World by Refusing to Accept the ProblemLouis Braille lost eyesight in one eye at age three, and by the time he was five, an infection took his sight in both eyes. But instead of giving up, he kept learning. Schools for the blind had almost no useful books. And so he thought — there has to be a better way.His curiosity changed education around the world. At age 15, he invented the Braille reading system, which has impacted millions — possibly billions — of blind readers around the world.His education wasn't just about covering subjects. It was about persistence, creativity, and solving real problems. Followers in life accept problems. Leaders solve them.The Power of DiscussionOne reason homeschooling is so powerful is that you can have real conversations with your children. Discussions develop thinking in ways that lectures, worksheets, and fill-in-the-blank assignments simply cannot.Try asking — why do you think the character acted the way they did? What would you have done? Was it wise? Is this what God would want? Those open-ended questions build discernment, communication skills, and confidence — all part of leadership education.Katherine Johnson was a NASA mathematician featured in the movie Hidden Figures. She was known for asking serious, careful questions and checking her calculations before accepting anything. Even after computers arrived, astronauts trusted her mathematical reasoning. John Glenn specifically requested that Katherine run the same numbers by hand — and said if she says they're good to go, I'm ready to go.Leadership often begins by asking better questions. That's exactly what Katherine Johnson did.What to Do This WeekWhen your child asks a question this week — don't answer it. Ask them instead — what do you think? How could we find out? You might be amazed at what happens when your children have permission from you to wrestle with ideas.Replace one answer this week with a question. Just watch what happens.The goal isn't smarter kids. It's wiser leaders. Twenty years from now, would you rather your child know every state capital — or know how to make wise decisions?Knowledge matters. But wisdom matters more. In Proverbs it says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That is the direction we need to go if we're raising godly Christian leaders — not simply educated children, but leaders who love God, think biblically, and influence the world around them.Every discussion, every read aloud, every family conversation, every dinner table question can become leadership training.Leadership education is at the heart of my Raising Leaders, Not Followers course. Right now there's an early access VIP list open. Join it and you'll be invited to my private VIP chat, get early access to Raising Leaders, and receive $150 in early bird bonuses.

Explore how blind tech enthusiasts Steven Scott and Shaun Preece are harnessing AI tools like Claude, co-work, and code agents to improve accessibility, automate daily tasks, and enhance life for visually impaired users. In this lively episode of Double Tap, Steven and Shaun dive deep into the evolving world of AI-powered accessibility. From humorous morning mishaps without coffee to serious discussions on open-source AI tools, they explore how anthropic's Claude, co-work, and Claude Code can manage files, automate tasks, and even control multiple devices to simplify life for blind users. Listener emails and voice messages highlight real-world applications, including filling inaccessible PDFs, managing spreadsheets with Claude for Excel, and using AI agents to handle complaints or schedule posts without relying on traditional apps. The hosts also discuss the growing importance of aesthetic design in assistive technology, sharing experiences with modern Braille displays and smart glasses that balance function and style. Relevant Links Hymnary: https://www.hymnary.org No Sight Required by Tony Gebhard: https://www.nosightrequired.com ----Follow on:YouTube: https://www.doubletaponair.com/youtubeX (formerly Twitter): https://www.doubletaponair.com/xInstagram: https://www.doubletaponair.com/instagramTikTok: https://www.doubletaponair.com/tiktokThreads: https://www.doubletaponair.com/threadsFacebook: https://www.doubletaponair.com/facebookLinkedIn: https://www.doubletaponair.com/linkedinSubscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://www.doubletaponair.com/appleSpotify: https://www.doubletaponair.com/spotifyRSS: https://www.doubletaponair.com/podcastiHeadRadio: https://www.doubletaponair.com/iheartAbout Double TapHosted by the insightful duo, Steven Scott and Shaun Preece, Double Tap is a treasure trove of information for anyone who's blind or partially sighted and has a passion for tech. Steven and Shaun not only demystify tech, but they also regularly feature interviews and welcome guests from the community, fostering an interactive and engaging environment. Tune in every day of the week, and you'll discover how technology can seamlessly integrate into your life, enhancing daily tasks and experiences, even if your sight is limited."Double Tap" is a registered trademark of Double Tap Productions Inc. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This time for our regular browse through the RNIB online shop with Charlee Jarvis, RNIB Shop's Buying Coordinator, we have the launch of the 2027 large print and Braille stationery which includes; diaries, calendars and note binders plus news that the LED light and fan that we highlighted last time is now back in stock after a bit of a rush on the product.To find out more about the 2027 large print and Braille stationery, more stock of the LED light and fan plus many other products do visit - https://shop.rnib.org.uk/Image shows the RNIB Connect Radio logo. On a white background ‘RNIB' written in bold black capital letters and underline with a bold pink line. Underneath the line: ‘Connect Radio' is written in black in a smaller font.

CBTA 330 abre carreras técnicas para jóvenes de Texcoco Edomex fortalece atención a mujeres con discapacidadPerú registra nueva especie de orquídea en parque nacionalMás información en nuestro Podcast#grc

In this episode of the AppleVis Extra, David Nason is joined by blind software developer Yannick Plassiard for a fascinating conversation about accessibility, software development, and what happens when the person building an accessible app is also someone who relies on accessibility every day. Yannick is the developer behind App-Suite, a growing collection of accessibility-focused applications that includes aGram, aScan, aCapture, and other projects spanning MacOS, iOS, Windows, and Android.Yannick takes us back to his earliest experiences with computers, learning to program on MS-DOS and working primarily with Braille at a time when screen readers and assistive technology looked very different from what we use today. From there, he discusses a career that has taken him through accessibility, Braille technology, healthcare, financial systems, and backend development. That varied background has given him an interesting perspective on accessible software design: techniques developed to solve problems in one industry can often prove surprisingly valuable when applied somewhere else.The conversation then turns to App-Suite and the accessibility problems that inspired Yannick to start building his own applications. We hear about aScan, his approach to making document scanning and understanding easier for blind users; aCapture, which grew from his frustration with the complexity of recording and streaming audio on the Mac; and aGram, an alternative Telegram client designed with accessibility firmly in mind. Yannick also shares some of the lessons learned while developing aGram, including why newer technology isn't necessarily the best technology for every job and how performance problems led him to reconsider an initially SwiftUI-heavy approach.One of the most intriguing parts of the discussion concerns Talk Forward, Yannick's Android screen reader project. Built from the open-source foundations of TalkBack, Talk Forward explores what an Android screen reader might feel like if some of the interaction techniques familiar to VoiceOver users were brought across to Google's platform. Yannick discusses adding concepts such as rotor-style navigation, improving responsiveness, experimenting with AI-powered dictation and image descriptions, and even developing a custom keyboard in an effort to make typing more predictable and efficient. For anyone who has considered trying Android but found the transition from VoiceOver difficult, it's an especially interesting glimpse at another approach to accessible mobile interaction.David and Yannick also explore the rapidly changing relationship between artificial intelligence and software development. Yannick explains how AI tools have changed his workflow, allowing him to spend less time writing routine code and more time reviewing, testing, debugging, and thinking about how an application should actually behave. Just as importantly, he makes the distinction between making an interface technically accessible and making it genuinely pleasant and efficient to use with a screen reader. Whether you're a developer, a VoiceOver user curious about how accessible apps are made, an Android user interested in Talk Forward, or simply someone who enjoys hearing how accessibility challenges can inspire new software, there's plenty in this conversation worth hearing.Thinking About Giving It a Try?If Yannick's approach to accessibility sounds appealing, App…

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Discover the legacy of Rui Fontes, the creator of beloved screen reader voices, and hear how Adi Kushnir and Access Mind are keeping his work alive with new, high-quality voices for iPhone and beyond. Steven Scott and Shaun Preece reflect on the remarkable impact of Rui Fontes, whose work on Vocalizer voices and Tiflotecnia quietly shaped the daily lives of blind and visually impaired tech users. They discuss the often-overlooked individuals behind assistive technology and how Rui's contributions continue to resonate through the community. Adi Kushner from Access Mind joins to explain how his team is honouring Rui's legacy while introducing innovative new voices for iOS and other platforms. The hosts also dive into listener emails, covering topics like accessing hymn lyrics in Braille, using AI tools effectively, and the challenges of obtaining an accessible passport. Plus, your emails lead to a candid conversation around blind subculture, community experiences, and the ongoing social issues like guide dog refusals. ----Follow on:YouTube: https://www.doubletaponair.com/youtubeX (formerly Twitter): https://www.doubletaponair.com/xInstagram: https://www.doubletaponair.com/instagramTikTok: https://www.doubletaponair.com/tiktokThreads: https://www.doubletaponair.com/threadsFacebook: https://www.doubletaponair.com/facebookLinkedIn: https://www.doubletaponair.com/linkedinSubscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://www.doubletaponair.com/appleSpotify: https://www.doubletaponair.com/spotifyRSS: https://www.doubletaponair.com/podcastiHeadRadio: https://www.doubletaponair.com/iheartAbout Double TapHosted by the insightful duo, Steven Scott and Shaun Preece, Double Tap is a treasure trove of information for anyone who's blind or partially sighted and has a passion for tech. Steven and Shaun not only demystify tech, but they also regularly feature interviews and welcome guests from the community, fostering an interactive and engaging environment. Tune in every day of the week, and you'll discover how technology can seamlessly integrate into your life, enhancing daily tasks and experiences, even if your sight is limited."Double Tap" is a registered trademark of Double Tap Productions Inc. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

20260806 I Love Braille Originally Broadcasted August 6, 2026, on ACB Media 5 Our guest speaker, April Anderson, spoke on the role of B R L (Buelah Reimer Legacy) in promoting braille. " Sponsored by: East Bay Center for the Blind Contact the Facilitator Access Archives of the Call Join the Mailing List

Discover how ChromeVox on Chromebooks is transforming accessible computing for blind users. With insights from Charmaine Cole of the Accessible Learning Lounge, Steven Scott and Shaun Preece explore whether Chromebooks can truly replace traditional PCs or Macs for everyday tasks. In this episode of Double Tap, Steven and Shaun dive into the world of Chromebooks and Google's built-in screen reader, ChromeVox. They're joined by Charmaine Cole, who has recently expanded her Accessible Learning Lounge courses to include training for ChromeVox, NVDA, and VoiceOver. Together, they discuss how Chromebooks perform for blind users, the surprising accessibility improvements in ChromeVox, and how these affordable devices could meet daily computing needs like email, Google Docs, and cloud work. Charmaine shares her journey of learning ChromeVox, the benefits of free screen reader tools, and the accessibility challenges still present in areas like Braille support and missing place markers. The conversation also touches on inconsistent hotel accessibility, the rising cost of tech, and why Chromebooks might be the budget-friendly solution for many users. Like what you hear? Share your thoughts in the comments, subscribe for more accessible tech discussions, and check out Charmaine Cole's courses for 10% off with code doubletap. Relevant Links Accessible Learning Lounge: https://accessiblelearning.gumroad.com ----Follow on:YouTube: https://www.doubletaponair.com/youtubeX (formerly Twitter): https://www.doubletaponair.com/xInstagram: https://www.doubletaponair.com/instagramTikTok: https://www.doubletaponair.com/tiktokThreads: https://www.doubletaponair.com/threadsFacebook: https://www.doubletaponair.com/facebookLinkedIn: https://www.doubletaponair.com/linkedinSubscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://www.doubletaponair.com/appleSpotify: https://www.doubletaponair.com/spotifyRSS: https://www.doubletaponair.com/podcastiHeadRadio: https://www.doubletaponair.com/iheartAbout Double TapHosted by the insightful duo, Steven Scott and Shaun Preece, Double Tap is a treasure trove of information for anyone who's blind or partially sighted and has a passion for tech. Steven and Shaun not only demystify tech, but they also regularly feature interviews and welcome guests from the community, fostering an interactive and engaging environment. Tune in every day of the week, and you'll discover how technology can seamlessly integrate into your life, enhancing daily tasks and experiences, even if your sight is limited."Double Tap" is a registered trademark of Double Tap Productions Inc. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Discover how Thinkerbell Labs' Annie, the world's first self-learning Braille device, is revolutionising Braille literacy for blind children. Learn how gamified, voice-guided technology bridges the gap where Braille teachers are scarce. Braille literacy has been declining worldwide due to a lack of qualified teachers. In this episode, Steven Scott and Shaun Preece speak with Sanskriti Dawle and Dilip Ramesh, co-founders of Thinkerbell Labs, creators of the Annie device. Annie empowers blind children to independently learn to read, write, and type Braille using a playful, gamified approach. We explore the origins of Annie, its impact on education in India, partnerships expanding access across the US and UK, and the future of Braille learning—both for children and adults. The conversation also delves into cost-effectiveness, societal perceptions of blind education, and how AI and refreshable Braille displays like the upcoming Tactera could transform literacy and content access. Relevant Links Thinkerbell Labs: https://www.thinkerbelllabs.com American Printing House for the Blind: https://www.aph.org ----Follow on:YouTube: https://www.doubletaponair.com/youtubeX (formerly Twitter): https://www.doubletaponair.com/xInstagram: https://www.doubletaponair.com/instagramTikTok: https://www.doubletaponair.com/tiktokThreads: https://www.doubletaponair.com/threadsFacebook: https://www.doubletaponair.com/facebookLinkedIn: https://www.doubletaponair.com/linkedinSubscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://www.doubletaponair.com/appleSpotify: https://www.doubletaponair.com/spotifyRSS: https://www.doubletaponair.com/podcastiHeadRadio: https://www.doubletaponair.com/iheartAbout Double TapHosted by the insightful duo, Steven Scott and Shaun Preece, Double Tap is a treasure trove of information for anyone who's blind or partially sighted and has a passion for tech. Steven and Shaun not only demystify tech, but they also regularly feature interviews and welcome guests from the community, fostering an interactive and engaging environment. Tune in every day of the week, and you'll discover how technology can seamlessly integrate into your life, enhancing daily tasks and experiences, even if your sight is limited."Double Tap" is a registered trademark of Double Tap Productions Inc. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A bestselling computer book and a mayor's office may seem worlds apart, but Dan Gookin's path connects them through curiosity, clear communication, and public service. I talk with the DOS for Dummies author and Coeur d'Alene mayor about making technical writing useful, challenging industries that resist new ideas, and finding success by improving work others do poorly. Dan also shares why he entered local politics, how transparency and community engagement built public trust, and why responsible leadership often means asking the questions others overlook. We close by exploring political division, religious freedom, social media algorithms, and the need to reduce online anger without losing the internet's benefits. Highlights: 00:06:48 - Why leaving your comfort zone creates growth. 00:11:07 - How doing something better can become a business. 00:12:39 - Why writing for beginners changed computer publishing. 00:27:06 - How transparency concerns led Dan into politics. 00:37:30 - Why responsiveness helped Dan earn public trust. 00:54:49 - How social media fuels anger and division. About the Guest: Dan Gookin is the mayor-elect of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, having won election in November 2025 after serving on the City Council since 2011. Known as a fiscal conservative, outspoken advocate for government transparency, and a committed budget hawk who asks tough questions, he is often described as “the lone voice of reason” on the council, consistently championing the public and the “little guy” against bureaucracy. Gookin views his public service as protecting individual rights. He prides himself on listening to all perspectives, welcoming alternative viewpoints, remaining open to new information, and never being a rubber-stamp vote. Professionally, Gookin is known as a writer and online trainer. He has been writing about technology since the early days of personal computing, combining his humor with a passion for gadgets to create informative and entertaining books. He authored the groundbreaking DOS For Dummies in 1991—the world's fastest-selling computer book at the time and the title that launched the iconic For Dummies series, now a publishing phenomenon. With more than 170 titles to his credit, over 12 million copies in print, and translations into more than 30 languages, his popular works include PCs and Laptops For Dummies, Android For Dummies, Word For Dummies, and C For Dummies. He maintains two helpful websites, wambooli.com and c-for-dummies.com. He creates online courses for LinkedIn Learning on diverse topics, and in 2020 published Running for Local Office For Dummies. Gookin graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a BA in Communications/Visual Arts and minors in cognitive psychology and theatrical design. He put his creative talents to work as artistic director of the Lake City Playhouse, where he designed sets, lighting, and directed many productions between 1997 and 2002. First and foremost, Dan considers himself a father who raised four boys in Idaho. Gookin resides in Coeur d'Alene with his wife, Brie, along with various children and pets. In his leisure time, he enjoys woodworking, playing the piano, riding his bike, cooking, gardening, and making lists of things he enjoys doing along with occasionally annoying those who think that they're important. Ways to connect with Dan**:** LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-gookin-46995713/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dangookin 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/ 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 subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . 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  00:04 What if the biggest thing holding you back isn't what's in front of you, but rather what you believe? Welcome to Unstoppable Mindset, where inclusion, diversity, and the unexpected meet. I'm your host, Michael Hingston, speaker, author, and advocate for inclusion and possibilities. This podcast explores how the beliefs we carry shape the way we live, lead, and connect with others. Each week, I talk with people who challenge assumptions, face adversity head-on, and show what's possible when we choose curiosity over fear. Together, we focus on mindset, resilience, and the small shifts that lead to meaningful change. Let's get started. Hello there, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Unstoppable Mindset. I am your host, Michael Hingston, and today we get to chat with Dan Gookin. Do you know who Dan Gookin is? Probably not, but you will by the time we're done. But I will tell you one thing about Dan. He was elected mayor of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, in November of 2025. I think Dan, you're the first political person as such that we have had on, which is kind of cool. I'm really honored to to have you here, and and we can spend the the whole time picking on on other politicians, but there's no need to do that. I mean, what good does it do? It's a waste of time. But I want to welcome you to Unstoppable Mindset, and Dan, thanks very much for being here. Dan Gookin  01:44 Thank you, Michael. Thank you for having me on. Michael Hingson  01:46 Well, this will, I think, really be a lot of fun. I'm sorry that you guys aren't getting a lot of snow up there. My brother-in-law has been keeping me posted on the lack of snow, so today here we're expecting a temperature at about 70 degrees. Last week it got up to 39. So I don't know. There's something going on with the climate. Dan Gookin  02:10 Something. Michael Hingson  02:11 Yeah, whatever it is. Speaker 1  02:13 Well, there was a name for that. Michael Hingson  02:15 Yeah, yeah. If if there were enough people, would only believe it. But that's another story. You are right. Well, thanks very much for being here. Why don't we start? Tell me about the early Dan growing up and all that. Speaker 1  02:31 So I grew up in San Diego, California. Good place. I still say San Michael Hingson  02:35 Diego has the best weather in the country. Speaker 1  02:38 They do. It's changed a little bit as everything has, but I escaped from there back in 1991. Went up to Washington State because I was doing some work with Microsoft, and then decided that that was Seattle was another big city. So we kept looking east and finally landed in Idaho in Coeur d'Alene because it's pretty. Michael Hingson  03:01 It's a nice area. So you you did your schooling and all that down in San Diego. Speaker 1  03:06 Yeah, I graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a degree in communication visual arts. That was in 1983. Michael Hingson  03:13 Cool, wow. I've spent many a a day down in San Diego. I lived in Vista for six years, so I'm familiar with the area. Yeah, I liked Vista. Vista was a nice place to be. You Speaker 1  03:24 did a radio show out of Vista. Did you for a while? Yeah, computer call-in show. So that was way back. Michael Hingson  03:32 What did you discuss, or just anything dealing with computers? I Speaker 1  03:36 was editing a magazine, a local computer magazine at the time, and we purchased an hour, and so I would drive from my home in Tierra Santa all the way up to Vista to be in this little tiny radio station, where we would do call-ins. And sometimes people would call in, and I would help them solve their computer problems. And sometimes I had to talk to myself for Michael Hingson  03:57 an hour. And and and did you get answers when you talk to yourself. Speaker 1  04:02 No, but I got really hoarse. Ah, okay. Michael Hingson  04:04 Well, you know, just just checking. Well, that's cool. Well, I guess we could tell everyone that, among other things, Dan is also the author of a number of books, including DOS for Dummies. I still like DOS. Thank you. I I like DOS. I've just always enjoyed it. Although, I have to admit, Windows has progressed a whole lot more. But I always liked DOS. Speaker 1  04:27 Yes, it was good, and and it was its complexity or its a rudeness, I shall say. Yeah, that's a good. Sold the book because you had to type. You had to know the commands in Windows. You can kind of look and point and do all this stuff, but in DOS, you had to know the commands and type the commands, and people wouldn't-they couldn't remember. There were all these options, and so we sold a lot of books doing that. It's still, like I said, I I like it too. I like the command line because it's faster if you know what you have to type. Yeah, it takes less time to type. Than it does to look around, point and shoot with the mouse. Michael Hingson  05:04 Yeah, there are a number of blind people on some list serves that I am part of that every so often something regarding DOS comes up, which is I think kind of cool. Speaker 1  05:15 Yep, hasn't gone away. It's it's still lurking in there somewhere. Michael Hingson  05:19 It is still a kind of the basic underpinning foundation of a lot of Windows, isn't it? Speaker 1  05:25 Well, Windows actually does run on top of it still. If you if you when you start a program in Windows, you're actually issuing a text command. So inside there is a long text command that is issued that gets everything running. It's just that you're configuring that from a graphical perspective, Michael Hingson  05:44 right? Yeah, but but it is still running. DOS essentially runs under Windows, which is which is something that is is relevant. So I guess we could blame that on Bill Gates, Speaker 1  05:57 or credit him. I don't know. Michael Hingson  05:58 Or yeah, yeah, one of the other. Well, so you you graduated, you moved to Seattle. As you said, it is a big city, although you know it's kind of hard to fight Pike's fish market. Speaker 1  06:11 Well, there's there's the fun and charming parts of of Seattle that I really enjoyed. So I mean, I can't say that you know it was a horrible city. The thing I admired about Seattle the most was that Seattle would occasionally not take itself seriously, and I liked that it had a sense of humor and that people there were generally good natured. San Diego was a little bit more uptight, you know, fair weather fans, that kind of stuff, where Seattle was more of a community, and I admired that greatly. Michael Hingson  06:43 And there used to be a lot of rain up there. Speaker 1  06:45 Not as much as people say. That's kind of their reputation. The Pacific Northwest we do have. So I moved from Southern California where you have 360 days of sun a year to Pacific Northwest where you have 180, so it was kind of a shock from that point of view. It's mostly like today; it's overcast. It's just there's no sun, so that's the big difference. Michael Hingson  07:10 And then you moved up to Idaho, and and how many days of sun or not sun are there a year? Speaker 1  07:16 Oh, still about 180. 180. Uh huh. But it's you know so you get used to it after a while, and when the sun comes out, you're all happy, and it's like, look, the sun's out, everything's pretty. Michael Hingson  07:27 Yeah, fair. Yeah. So when you were in San Diego and so on, what did you want to do or be when you grew up? Speaker 1  07:36 So originally, I wanted to be a doctor, and then I had the misfortune of being in a hospital, and I said I don't ever want to be back here, and changed my mind and figured I would be a writer. So for years I started writing and submitting things to magazines, trying to work on books and stuff. I mean I wrote a few books, and they say that you have to get about a million words of junk out before you actually are a good writer. So I I worked on that for a long time, and got to the point where I I actually had a reputation with some of the editors in the magazines who would write me back personal notes instead of the generic you know dismissal, and so that was working really well. But then what happened in 1984 was I wrote something for the local computer flyer, and they liked that, and it got published, and that was what really started the career for tech because tech wanted people who knew how to write, so that was good timing. Michael Hingson  08:35 Yeah, so many technical manuals are just so boring. I really wish people would learn how to write more interesting books. Of course, I say that about textbooks as well. I am of the opinion that having a master's degree in physics and having read many a physics book, the and there are so few of them. The best books are the ones where the authors have put some actual personal stories in to draw people in with human interest parts of the science, and I wish more people would do that. Speaker 1  09:03 And that was my point too. It was like these books are dull and boring. And the problem I had because I was writing computer books at the time, I had a computer book literary agent. There is such a thing, and it's it's backwards in that industry though, because the publisher says what they want a book on, and then they have you write the book on the topic, and so I was doing that for many years. But I did not like the fact that they would edit my books to make them dry, and the editors would actually complain to me and say, "There's too much personality in here. You can't have this. It was like it was like they thought that was a built-in feature of the book, and my protest was, "Well, no. Let's make them interesting. Let's use real life examples. Let's have some personality in there. Let's have some interaction with the with the reader. And they didn't like that until DOS for Dummies came around, and the publisher was willing to change the paradigm. Michael Hingson  09:55 Jeez, yeah, it's so unfortunate. They they think they know. Everything there is to know, and the reality is they don't. Speaker 1  10:04 That's the way it is with just about any industry. You know that I think the corporate mentality is kind of to resist innovation, even in the most innovative industries, until something crazy comes along. And I think that's why in Silicon Valley you had all these startups. You know, if you look, if you trace the lineage of a lot of the big companies, they started at other big companies that were unwilling to do the crazy ideas these guys had, and so they went off. I mean, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak left Hewlett Packard and started up Apple Computer, and I'm pretty sure there's probably been some engineers from Apple Computer who've left and started up their own company and becoming Michael Hingson  10:43 well. And Bill Gates is essentially the same way. It's it's he started out doing something, but he attracted people's attention by some of the other things that he did. Speaker 1  10:53 Yep. Michael Hingson  10:54 And that was was very relevant. But I I hear what you're saying. It makes perfect sense because people just don't like to be innovative and don't like change, and and that's unfortunate that we have so many people that just, as much as they talk about the fact that change is everywhere, they don't like it. Speaker 1  11:10 No, it's well, I think yeah, we we get in our comfort zone, and you don't grow out in the comfort zone. So I like to challenge myself and do interesting things like become mayor, and you know you leave your comfort zone. And what what can I do here, or how can I do this better? Michael Hingson  11:26 Yeah, well, and that makes makes perfect sense. Well, what got you started writing about technology? Just because you were writing that that one article there, or those articles that got interest on the part of a publisher, or what? Speaker 1  11:41 What got me started was that I got paid. Ah, Michael Hingson  11:44 good point. Speaker 1  11:45 You know, they they paid me, and then you know, as as someone who was you know using a computer at the time, and they were called microcomputers, and they were really primitive compared to what we have today. Oh yeah, I I used it to write. So, and the the problem with that was that the the documents, the manuals that we talk about, were so dry and boring, and eventually, all of a sudden, it would dawn on me: it's like, well, this is what it's trying to say. So why don't they just come out and say it this way, or why don't they use an analogy and try to explain it in that manner instead of coming at it from this hardcore technical? And that was what really turned off a lot of people, so it motivated me to want to do it better, and that's kind of what I tell the kids, like my kids. I say you should start up a business. That's really the best way to get successful is start up your own business and become famous like that. And they're well, what business should I start up? I said that the easiest way is to find something that you like, something that's being done poorly, and just do it better. Yeah, and that's really a lot of the the creative, insanely genius stuff that's happened throughout the world is just someone who does something routine but does it better. Michael Hingson  12:52 And that's really the operative part about it, and and the real key. I think you're you're absolutely right. Find something that people aren't doing well, and by the time you get creative enough to figure that out, you're well on your way. Speaker 1  13:05 Yep. So that's that's what I did. Michael Hingson  13:08 Yeah. And so you started going off and and writing a variety of things. What what actually got you to write Dos for Dummies? What specifically? That's first of all, I love the the title of all the Four Dummies books. I think it makes sense. But what got you started in writing DOS for Dummies directly? Speaker 1  13:27 Well, I I knew that there was an appetite out there for beginner computer books, but the publishing industry would not publish beginning computer books because they said beginners don't buy computer books. And I explained to them, well, your problem is you don't write beginner computer books. You write something and you call it, you know, the easy guide to whatever, but the content of it is not written for a beginner. Maybe the first chapter is very condescending and patronizing, and then the rest of it is just technical garbage. So I said you have to keep that tone throughout the entire text. You have to identify who it is you're writing to, as who's a smart person who may just not get it, and explain it to them, and just keep going. And that was the problem. So I I did originally called it the Idiots Guide for DOS, which was based after the Idiots Guide to Volkswagen Repair. My dad had a copy of that, and I thought, well, what a brilliant idea. Michael Hingson  14:20 Yeah. Speaker 1  14:21 And so the publisher saw me speak at a conference, and where I was bemoaning the fact that the books were so boring, and they kept editing out my personality. And then went to to him, and and he's like, "This is great. Your outline that you have for this book is perfect. Except we want to call it DOS for Dummies. I thought, like a lot of other people, that was condescending and patronizing, but that it's an alliteration, so that's what they go with. And then he said to make it a reference. Don't make it a tutorial because, and this is brilliant, these people don't want to learn anything; they just want to do their job. Yeah, that makes sense. So that was and that was it, and we put a lot of humor in it. You know, people would tell me that they'd read the book on the subway, and you know, you'd see someone laughing reading a computer book. That's weird, but there would just be enough humor, and I'd use Mad Magazine as my inspiration. So it was kind of like us versus the nerds, and and that was what really founded the whole thing, and I tell you what, it caught on. I did not think it would. There was no way we were planning on writing a book that would sell, you know, 8 million copies. We were just thinking, well, this is going to be fun. Let's just do this, get it out of our system, and then go back to writing boring books. Michael Hingson  15:36 Made the publisher very happy. Speaker 1  15:39 Oh yeah, they were printing Gold bricks, yeah. Michael Hingson  15:43 That, of course, was the real key. Well, that started a brand, didn't it? Speaker 1  15:47 Oh yeah, they did. There was no intention to do that, but then they they followed that up with Max for Dummies and a bunch of other titles that were just very popular at the time. AOL for Dummies, you know, Windows for Dummies eventually came out, and that was the King for Dummies book. But yeah, they have and they have it on all topics. I've even so as someone who is you know starting in government, I got Robert's Rules for Dummies, which you know you've been to a meeting, you know they follow Robert's Rules, which is very dry and boring, but it's it's important. And Robert's Rules for Dummies is a good example of a For Dummies book because it explains everything carefully. Lots of humor in there, and so there's a lot of them. Wine for Dummies was another one that I really liked. I thought they did a good job. Golf for Dummies. There's a there's on every topic. There's a For Dummies book. Michael Hingson  16:37 How many of them did you write? Speaker 1  16:40 Only wrote the ones with my names on them, but probably about 40 separate titles. So over the years, most of them have been rewrites. So technology changes. So there have been 16 editions of Word for Dummies, and 13 editions of PCs for Dummies. There were four editions of DOS for Dummies. So you're you're always writing new editions, so all totaled 180 separate titles. But individual titles, without not counting multiple editions, right? About 60. Michael Hingson  17:09 Wow. Speaker 1  17:10 Yeah. Yeah, Michael Hingson  17:10 and I can appreciate that that books like Word for Dummies or even iPhones for Dummies has to change over time. Speaker 1  17:19 Yeah. Well, some of them. I mean, I've been doing a kind of a review on on YouTube. I've been doing short videos highlighting some of the goofy images that I put in the books over the years. And way back about 20 years ago, I think I was updating these titles once a year. They would say, "We need a new version of this. We need a new version of this. And at the time, technology was just. I mean, they were cranking out new stuff all the time. Michael Hingson  17:44 So, who's written AI for Dummies? Speaker 1  17:47 I don't know, but that is a title, so I wouldn't be Michael Hingson  17:50 surprised. Speaker 1  17:51 It should write itself, though. You think about Michael Hingson  17:53 it. Yeah, you you know, they they really should do that. It should write itself. Speaker 1  17:56 Someone told me once that they they they wanted to do a manual in my style, so they directed AI to write something in the style of Dan Gukan, and apparently AI can do that. So, am I going to get paid? I don't know. Michael Hingson  18:10 Well, that's another story, of course. Yeah, but still, it it is a it's a it's a great franchise. It's a great brand all the way around, and I know different people have written different different kinds of books like that, but still, the the fact is we need that in the world, and and I agree with you, especially that it's good to put humor and personality into it. And I really wish more people would do that. I really wish that would go into the the textbook world, but it hasn't yet. Speaker 1  18:37 No, that's that, and that's a different planet. I tried to break into that world, and that academia is is it's different. It is weird. Michael Hingson  18:44 Yeah, there are just not that many people who can get away with it like Richard Feynman did with some of the things that he did in physics, and even there, his his books were a little boring at times. But still, Speaker 1  18:56 he was awesome. His of course, his his autobiography is a lot of fun. Michael Hingson  19:00 Yeah, surely you're joking, mr. Fineman. Speaker 1  19:03 Exactly. Michael Hingson  19:04 Adventures of yeah, it is. I I keep it around. I've got an audio copy of it, and every so often I will go back and read parts of it. It's a it's a great book. Speaker 1  19:14 He's kind of an inspiration to me, especially in the area of government. And one of the parts of his book where he was on the panel that was reviewing textbooks for, I think, the state of California, and he noticed that one of the books was blank; it was empty, and he was the only one on the panel who did it. And I kind of echo that often in government because I'm occasionally the only person who actually reads some of the material they provide. Yeah, and and those kind of moments are classic. I love those. You know, when you can say, "Well, as everyone notices, you know, page 14 is blank, and they all madly flip to page 14, like, "Oh my gosh, how did you find this? Well, I, I did my job. I read the thing. Michael Hingson  19:54 I had a roommate in college, and we at that time we were using the Berkeley Physics series. I don't know. Whether that even still exists anymore, but different professors from Berkeley wrote various books, and the guy who wrote the book on waves, I had a roommate who was reading that book, and he searched vigorously to try to find a single misspelling of a word in the whole book. Wow! He finally found one. He said there really was one in the book. Kind of makes you wonder if that was deliberate, but but he actually found one. But it took him most of the quarter we had the book to find it. But but he did. Speaker 1  20:33 Excellent. Yeah, I got to say that's that's an art form. I used to work in a publishing house, and we would pore over books looking for spelling errors and mistakes and punctuation and all this stuff and of course you don't find them until the book's actually printed. Michael Hingson  20:46 Of course not. Yeah, yeah. Now it's it should be easier, but it's not, and they still don't come out until the book is already published and it's out there, and then you find out what isn't right. Speaker 1  20:58 Right. Michael Hingson  21:00 I suppose that gives the publisher an excuse to republish the book and make more money. Speaker 1  21:05 Well, yeah, it depends. It's if it is selling. If it doesn't sell, then obviously the the mistake's going to linger out there. Of course, with digital copies, they can update it right away, but not with a print book. Michael Hingson  21:17 Yeah, nowadays there's so many print books that are done pretty much on demand, so that if you want a copy, unless it's just something where they're selling literally millions a month, the book is available on demand. Although there's a little bit of a lag time to get it, my book Thunderdog, which is the story of Roselle and me in the World Trade Center, is is still selling pretty well, but it is more printed on demand by Thomas Nelson than now Harper Collins. Speaker 1  21:46 Yeah, Michael Hingson  21:47 and I understand that as long as it's available, I'm not going to complain. Speaker 1  21:51 And they and they they prefer to sell it that way as opposed to printing out 5000 copies they have to store somewhere. So Michael Hingson  21:56 right, yeah, they don't have to pay for storage and they just print it, and so it takes an extra week to get somewhere. That's fine. We can cope with that as long as it's available, and then that's all that really matters. Speaker 1  22:08 Yeah. Michael Hingson  22:09 But you've written a lot of books. How come so many? Because they're not all for dummies. Ah, okay. Speaker 1  22:16 Well, it just you know that was my profession, and that's what I did. And so, and I had a good agent who would find me a lot of work, so yeah, they would come up and they would want me to write a book on this or that, and a lot of it was because at the time in that industry I had a name and a reputation. I'm also very fast, so and that that kind of surprises people. In fact, there's some someone who accuses me of having a ghostwriter, which I do not. It's just I've been doing it so long, and you know, when I started, my agent said that he said the more you do this, the faster you'll get, the better you'll get. So, whereas in the original book, the first book I wrote took about six months to to write. I've written books in less than a month. It really depends. It depends on the topic, how well I know the topic, but also I do a lot of organizing with an outline, and so I will will work with an outline almost until it's down to the paragraph level, and then that makes it really easy to write the book, especially a technology book where there's a lot of cross references, and this sequence, you know, assuming someone's reading it front to back is really important, so you got to make sure that you touch upon things and do it in the right order. And then that's so yeah. I just got really good at it, which annoyed a lot of my fellow authors because as I was writing and I would get faster and faster, the contracts would start demanding the books in a more expedient manner, so other authors would complain to me and say, "You know, I have to write this book, and they're only giving me three months to do it. They're blaming me because I can do it in three months, and they figure everyone can do it in three months. So that was fun. Michael Hingson  23:54 Have you had books that someone asked you to write where you really didn't know much of anything about the subject, and you had to spend more time researching it, or you just spend time researching it, but you still did that very quickly. Speaker 1  24:06 Yeah, when I first started, that was pretty much the case. In fact, I talked with a guy who he had written the like the best-selling DBase three book. So DBase was a database way back in DOS, and it was the most popular database program, and he wrote the number one best-selling DBase three book that everyone who used that that program would buy, and he told me that he knew nothing about it when he signed the contract. So the the process of writing the book involved this intense deep dive into finding out what it is the program does, and then working on that. Of course, in those days, the books, the software came with a manual, so it was possible to go through the manual and see what the thing was capable of, and maybe get a few hints about that. But the books were not just a rephrase. The manual; they were a little bit better, the project oriented, whatever. So there was one one book that I did on a program called Super Card for the Macintosh, and it was the it was the there was no documentation, and I could call up the developer and I could ask him. So that was that was a tool I could use if I had access to the developer. I could call them up and I could say, "Okay, so I'm I'm doing this. What can you tell me that's like a secret or that is not obvious? And they love to share that stuff. Sure, I just write it all down, and then that that'll make the book better. If you could get through the the gatekeepers and get into where the nerds were, then you could get a lot of good information, and they were happy to share it. I did a few books on OS two that were like that, where I finally was able to escape into the lab and ask them. And the the guy they were so friendly, and they're like, "Oh, you got to tell him this, this, this, this. You know, we we couldn't put this in the manual. You have to tell him this, and so you write a great book. But of course, OS two, no one used it, so no one bought the book. Michael Hingson  26:05 Yeah, yeah, OS two was not one of those things that everybody loved. If Speaker 2  26:13 you enjoy Unstoppable Mindset and would like to help us continue bringing these conversations to you each week, we've created a way for you to support the show. Your contribution helps us cover production costs and continue sharing stories, insights, and ideas that inspire people to live with purpose and possibility. If supporting the podcast feels right for you, you'll find the link in the show notes. Thank you for being part of the unstoppable mindset community. Michael Hingson  26:46 I remember when I was a student at UC Irvine. I wasn't an information computer science major. I was physics major, but several people took ICS one, two, and three, which was a three quarter course, or well, it was a year course, and the the book they used was Introduction to Computer Programming by Ken Ingram. And what was fun about that was that on the first day of class, the professor would come in and he'd say, "Okay, I want you to read chapter one of information of introduction to computer programming by Ken Ingram. It's the textbook we're going to use. I want you to read that before our next class. And of course, most everyone had not touched the book prior to that. And what he didn't say was that that first chapter took up half the book. Speaker 1  27:40 I like it. Michael Hingson  27:43 Yeah, I know. Wasn't that? And I, I, I heard about it. I, I never did get the book, and I didn't get it transcribed into Braille. But I thought that was cute. Chapter one was half the book. Speaker 1  27:53 No one would have suspected chapter one's an easy chapter. It's four pages. Right, supposed to be right. I think it was like Michael Hingson  28:00 180 pages. It was amazing. Michael Hingson  28:03 I'm not sure whether Ingram had a sense of humor or what, but anyway, there you go. But yeah, that that was kind of kind of amazing. So you you wrote all these books and you continue to do that, but somewhere along the line, you got interested in doing things in politics. What was that all about? Speaker 1  28:25 Well, that was frustrating. Not Michael Hingson  28:28 bad, Speaker 1  28:29 because I. So I think a lot of people are kind of interested. They follow politics. If I call up my mom in San Diego, she has to complain to me about you know the mayor of San Diego and what the city council is doing and and it's it's common it's just I think I think the most most people who are active in in their community know a little bit about politics or whatever and in my case I had just moved from the county here near Courtland and then I'd moved into the city, and I had heard that there was someone was buying up properties in my neighborhood, and I thought that was curious, and I wanted to see if this was something that you know are they going to tear down houses? What are they going to do? So I started researching using the the county website to see who was own who owned these properties, and it was a place called the Lake City Development Corporation, and I thought, well, I need to find out what that is, and it turned out that was an urban renewal agency that was formed by the city of Cortland, and I started reading the statutes and I started reading their minutes and finding out what it is they do, and while on the surface it sounded really fun, there were a lot of curious things that I didn't like. A lot of non-transparent things, a lot of things where you know they're spending public money on what I thought were frivolous things, and so I started asking questions. I started coming to meetings, and they're missing. Was that they pushed back, and so I just something triggered me, and I had a red flag, and I just started going after it. We started, we formed a group of people who were all interested in this, and we would meet regularly and go over what was going on with the government. We'd find issues regarding transparency and spending, and lots of interesting stuff. Never really anything nefarious. Never anything that would. But just a lot of stuff that, as we let the public know about what was going on, they would become outraged and they would say, "Wait a second! They're spending millions of dollars on this, and you know, with property taxes so high, and what is this, and why is it affecting me? And and so I went to the city council meetings here in Portland, and I was frustrated because no one else seemed to get it. And I would look at them, and they would have some issue that would come up, and everyone on the council-there were six members on the council-they would all vote in unison, and no one had asked a question. And I would say, "Well, wait a second, why aren't they asking a question about this, or why aren't they concerned about this, or what about the side effects of this? And so I started writing articles for the paper. I eventually did videos and to speak to various groups and such because I was like, we got to hold government accountable. So I ran for office in ran for the city council in 2007, and I lost. And then I ran in 2009, and I lost, but only by like 29 votes. And then I was done at that point. I really didn't want to do it again because running for office is a pain. Michael Hingson  31:33 Yeah. And Speaker 1  31:34 then they had this huge thing where all of a sudden they were going to redo a park without a public vote, and I wanted a public vote. Lots of people wanted to vote on it, but no, they were going to do it, and they didn't care what the public thought. So they made me run. They made me run a third time, and I won. And I've been on the city council ever since. And then, of course, well, since last November when I got kicked up to the mayor seat, which is where I'm sitting Right now, strange journey. Michael Hingson  32:04 Well, yeah, but on the other hand, there is something to be said for transparency, and there's somebody something to be said for somebody who really wants to look out for what what people want and what people are doing. I I got involved. Well, I've not run for public office, but I've been very much involved in political kinds of things because I've been involved in the blindness world since early 1970s, and the National Federation of the Blind has had for well now, gosh, more than 50 years or around 50 years, what used to be called the March on Washington. Now it's called the Washington Seminar, which is a an event that takes place every year, where several 100 blind people descend on Washington and go off and visit legislators. And the idea is to really get them to understand what the needs of blind people are and try to get them to vote on issues that directly relate to issues concerning us, and sometimes they do. Although it's gotten a lot harder to get things passed, especially in the last eight or nine years. But still, that it it has to be done. But I remember, among other things, I was living in Massachusetts when I first started going, and among other things, we we went and saw the Speaker of the House, who was Tip O'Neill at the time, which was kind of fun. And what an interesting, what a charismatic guy! Didn't matter what party he was with; it was a charismatic guy. And we also visited people like Senator at the time Paul Songis, and what was interesting about him was we we talked about our issues, and it was the end of the day, and then suddenly he said, you know, I'm not going anywhere for the next few minutes. Do you guys have time? And we ended up just talking for about an hour and a half about his view of of and our views of what Massachusetts needed to do, not only for blind people but just in general, it was just fascinating. There weren't very many politicians who would do that. Speaker 1  34:08 That's awesome. Yeah, I liked him. I liked Tungus a lot. Michael Hingson  34:12 Yeah, I wish he'd been able to run for president, but he got cancer, and that's that's unfortunate. Yeah, but because I think that he's one of those people who would do what really needed to be done and do it the right way. Speaker 1  34:26 In other words, the people who never win. Yeah, that's unfortunately Michael Hingson  34:31 really the case, isn't it? Speaker 2  34:33 Yeah, Speaker 1  34:33 yeah. Michael Hingson  34:34 But but you got to do that. Speaker 1  34:36 Yeah. Michael Hingson  34:38 So you you know, but you you hopefully you'll make a big difference, and maybe you'll be able to get people to believe in climate change. Oh, did I say that Speaker 1  34:48 this year? Nah, Michael Hingson  34:53 not unless you predict snow when it actually comes. Speaker 1  34:56 That and that and that's the key. Yeah, Michael Hingson  34:59 yeah. No, I understand, but it but it is fascinating. I you know I I enjoy the concept of politics. I enjoy people who really have a vested interest in making government go well, but it is so unfortunate that we don't see that much of it, which is just too bad. Speaker 1  35:18 There are a lot of good dedicated people out there. I think so. Of course, the the problem is is you know, like they say, politics is sports for the uncoordinated, and it's drama for the ugly. But the the thing is, the people who really do a good job, who are out there doing what you want them to do, they don't get the headlines. It's the noisemakers. It's the extremists. It's the people who are going to have some obnoxious opinion because that that gets everyone's attention. You know, the the guy out there who's doing the job, who's putting in the time, representing the citizens, and making his community a better place. You know, you're never going to read that guy in the paper, unfortunately. Michael Hingson  35:59 Yeah, and that's also part of the problem: is that the media looks for all the drama rather than really looking to to represent the the average citizen and what they truly want and need. Speaker 1  36:10 So those don't the actual the things don't make headlines. In fact, it was a it was really funny. There was a guy who was elected to the state house from this county, and one of his campaign platforms, he was going to repeal all the useless laws, all the things that are still on the books. That you know, just we don't need those laws anymore. They're old. They're outdated, and he did that for about a week, and it doesn't make headlines. So here he is, you know, doing this, doing the job that you think they they would want to do and making government more effective, no one cared. I remember there was one year where we actually we cut property taxes here in the city, and I thought, wow, everyone's going to come up and say thank you. No, no one did. So it's like, what's the motivation? If you go, they say, I want you to be I want you to be my mayor and I want you to work to cut that budget and so you cut the budget and then no one says thank you. Michael Hingson  37:08 We got Tom Steyer here in California who wants to become governor and he's talking about all these things that he's going to do. He's going to get electric utility rates lowered by a significant amount. He's going to encourage and bring competition to the electric grid industry, and he talks about lowering housing costs by building a million homes and doing so many things. And every time I hear his campaign commercials, the thing that I keep asking myself is, haven't we learned anything? And no offense to Donald Trump, but Donald Trump made a lot of promises that we're not seeing. Steyer is making a lot of promises that he has yet to say how he's going to pull any of them off. Speaker 1  37:56 Oh yeah, and that's and that's the thing is you got to. There's so much. There's only so much you can do. But you can you when you campaign, they can say anything. Of course, I know they might as well just say free ice cream and ponies for everyone. Michael Hingson  38:07 Yeah, and and that's almost essentially what's happening. And I'm not saying that he'd be a bad governor. I I haven't researched him enough, but the commercials just don't do anything to make me thrilled because he's not saying how he's going to do any of it, and and that's what I really want to know. Speaker 1  38:25 Yeah, I didn't when I when I ran this campaign, I didn't really promise anything that was sexy at all. I said, you know, I'm going to work on a policy manual. I'm going to increase the amount of information and transparency, and it was like nothing that you want to put on a bumper sticker, but I still won. I mean, there were people who were in the race who were promising this and that, and they were going to do this and all this stuff, and somehow I eked it out. Michael Hingson  38:51 Why do you think you won? Speaker 1  38:52 Name recognition, Michael Hingson  38:54 okay, Speaker 1  38:55 and that's and that's pretty much that's a lot of what politics is is is just the the name recognition. You can win on that. I also do have a reputation. I mean, being on council for 14 years and being often called the lone voice of reason, like I said earlier, I'm the one who asked that obvious question. Yeah, and people are in the audience are going, "Well, thank you. Someone's finally asking what what they wanted to ask, and so there was there was that, and and I also, you know, I I do return my emails. I answer the phone calls. I make sure that I'm I'm available. So you know, and I think that that reputation kind of spread itself around that that I would be responsive. It didn't mean that I actually did anything because the you know the powers are really limited. So if someone wanted you know they want to put in a stop sign somewhere, I'll go visit them, and we'll look at the thing, and we'll look at the traffic data, and all this stuff. But there may not be a stop sign there. Still, I showed enough time that I paid attention to them, and I responded to them, and you know, we'll see what we can do. That's the best you can say. Michael Hingson  39:55 And if it didn't happen that there was a stop sign, but there was a good reason for it. I would suspect that you would be the kind of person who would say, "Here's why it didn't happen. Speaker 1  40:03 Right, exactly, and and to explain that for and a lot of people don't understand things like that because it's easy to get defensive with government because sometimes it can be so colossally stupid. Yeah, but but it's just as long as you have that explanation, and sometimes it's it's really it's refreshing because then they hear the answer and they're good with it, so we have a problem here with there's noise on the freeway because they're expanding the freeway, and a lot of people are upset, so they call city hall, but it's not our project; it's the state highway district. So you know, it's like I can do only what I can do, but it's still you know, if you're the only elected official who bothered to reply to them and told them, you know, I hear what you're saying. I'm going to do whatever we can. Sometimes that makes people happy. They may not be happy in the big picture, but at least they got a response. Michael Hingson  40:48 And when you discover something that's relevant, I'll bet you are the kind of person who would then initiate another letter saying, "Here's why it didn't work, or "Here's why it will work. Speaker 1  40:59 Right, and I do follow up. So I did. In that case, I wrote a letter to the governor and said, "You know, is there anything you can do? And then I forwarded the letter on to the person who had contacted me and said, "Okay, this is the best I can do. Let's let's see what he can do. So yeah, Speaker 1  41:14 yeah. Michael Hingson  41:15 I'm I'm curious. You mentioned that property taxes did get lowered once in Cordellane, but nothing. No one ever did anything with that. How come? Speaker 1  41:23 Well, no. It's just we we did. We we kept them. You got you got them lowered. Michael Hingson  41:27 But but why didn't anybody pay attention to that? Speaker 1  41:30 No. Well, see, I'm sure they paid attention to it. We are only one entity on your property tax bill, so there's there's a few. Ah, good Michael Hingson  41:39 point. Speaker 1  41:39 We might have been the the one who kept it down, but the other ones may have kept it up. And then there's all the the formula is really complex, and so it could be that you know their assess property assessment went up, a lot of other things that would have happened that would have affected it. But like I said, I mean we made a big to do about it, saying hey look we worked, we cut the budget. We kept it flat for all you guys, and then no one said anything. But you know that that's it's discouraging, but it doesn't discourage me from continuing to try because I'll always try. Michael Hingson  42:12 You can only do what you can do, but at least at least you're doing it. Yeah. Now, if you want to live in a state where the taxes are very interesting, move to New Jersey, yeah, where we lived, the the taxes every town, every city had its own property taxes. You could live on a street, yeah, you could live on a street where you had a property tax of some amount, and if you walked across to the other side of the street, the property tax would be twice what yours was because the border runs right down the middle of the street. Speaker 1  42:45 That's crazy. Michael Hingson  42:47 We thought it was. Yeah, we thought it was kind of interesting, but we fortunately never had too horrible of property taxes in Westfield. But still, we heard about some other places that had some some horrible property taxes, but you know it's it's what what you have. Speaker 1  43:07 Yep. Michael Hingson  43:08 So you were in the city council for 14 years. What made you decide that you were going to run for mayor? Because you had to do that. You had to make that decision. Speaker 1  43:17 Yeah, didn't want to. You know, wasn't on my on my dance card to like, oh, next step up is going to be mayor. It was more of there was frustration that I had because the the past couple of mayors, good men, good people, but I always wanted to do more. I mean, being on the council, it was frustrating because I wanted a little more leadership out of the center seat wasn't seeing that, and then I worked earlier last year. I called up a bunch of people to see if they'd be willing to do the job. You know, good strong community members who would be provide the leadership and had the name recognition required to do the job, and no one wanted to do it. So I was like, okay, well, I'll I'll see if I can do it. I still have two years left on my council term, so if I lost, I'd still be part of the process. But there ended up being four people in that race, so it was pretty crowded. Which to me, you know, if if you're running if you run unopposed, it's pretty much a sign that people kind of like the way things are going. They're not they're not upset with you. Generally, if you have one opponent, you're considered that you know oh well good you know I get to compete for for the job or someone else is unhappy. But if you have a lot of opponents, it generally means that the public isn't happy with what's going on and they want to see some change. So there were four people in the race. I won with like 38% of the vote, so that's wow, Michael Hingson  44:45 yeah. Well, but clearly you're different than a lot of people. For example, you're a member of the Kootenay County Republican Central Committee, and yeah, and they sued you for defamation. What was all that about? Speaker 1  44:59 Well. So we had an episode here where the first of all the local Republican Party decided that running partisan races wasn't enough; that they wanted to get involved with nonpartisan races. And in Idaho, a lot of the local offices are nonpartisan. So city council is nonpartisan, school districts are nonpartisan. You know, water district, highway district, all these smaller local offices, and we have a community college here called North Idaho College. And the Senate committee decided that they would start to what they call rating and vetting candidates to determine who was the most conservative. And while a lot of Republicans appreciate that and they want to know who the real conservative is. The central committee realized that it was a way for them to exercise political power, because when people would get their recommendations, that would be the person who would win. And so they got power mad, and in my opinion, they hijacked the trustees of our local community college, and pretty much almost ran the thing into a ground. It was the it's the only college a community college in the history of the country that's ever been put on probation for disaccreditation due to board governance. Normally, when you disaccredit a college, you're disaccrediting it because of financial reasons, or something else, but or academics. Never, never has it happened that the board has been so crazy that the the ACL ACCU whatever it is the accreditation agency for community colleges has said, "What we're gonna we're gonna pull away your credentials, and all your students will not be receiving college credit. So, I mean, what what this board did that was endorsed by the local Republican Party, the extremists on the party, they they fired the president for no reason. They they started running up the bills, increasing the athletics budget. The board meetings were just pure chaos. Employees would leave. The local high schools stopped their their co education programs. It was just crazy. Wow! And and a lot of people didn't really understand what was going on. So I did a YouTube channel called Kootenay Rants, and Kootenay is the name of our county. Michael Hingson  47:20 Kootenay, yeah. I said Kootenay. Sorry about that. Speaker 1  47:22 It's no, it's okay. It's it could be either way. Who knows? Up north, they do say Kootenai, so we don't know. But anyway, this really got under the skin of the central committee because I pinned the blame on what was going on at the college on them, which is was justified, and I would not make anything up. Instead, I would just put in highlights from the meetings and say, "Here's what's happening, and here's the crazy stuff. You know, trustees yelling at members of the audience, making fun of them. You know, interrupting people, saying just weird, strange things. I mean, it just-it was odd. It was so bizarre, and so it was easy for me to make these videos. My background is in communications, and I know video production, so I was able to put together these videos on a YouTube channel, and you know, hundreds of people in the county would start watching them, including the central committee that did not like that I was exposing what I consider to be their corruption and their the the fact that I think they were responsible for this and they didn't like that so they accused me of defamation basically mean tweets because I would tweet about them and their nonsense and it was like they they made a big to do out of it because I was running for re-election for city council, so they came to a city council meeting to serve me, and you know recorded it and put it up on the internet and all this other stuff that that was just crazy. But my insurance company fortunately decided to represent me, and they just they thought the the suit was without merit. They don't say frivolous. They say without merit. Without Michael Hingson  49:04 merit. No, yeah. Speaker 1  49:05 And so yeah. And so eventually, now the suit is over, and I figured I would either win in court or it would be dismissed. But the insurance company settled, and I it was against my wishes. I said no. I said don't settle with these people. But the insurance company did settle, and I made sure that, as part of the settlement, that they would not say that I agreed to it, or that I said I was wrong, or I apologized, or anything. No, the insurance company just didn't want to waste any more money, so they decided to settle. They wrote a check. I don't know what it cost the central committee. As a member of the central committee, it has never been reported to the committee how much money they spent on that? Because it's it's pretty much the the Republican Central Committee of Kootenay County is pretty much a tyranny run by one guy and a personality cult, and there are members of the committee. There are some good Republicans such as myself on the committee who do believe in transparency and limited government and all those Ronald Reagan things. But there are these extremists on there who are just nutballs, and so there's a group of us here called North Idaho Republicans who are working to counter their insanity. And we've done a good job, but we need to do more work, and that's the story of the KCRCC. And they sued me for defamation. Michael Hingson  50:21 That's kind of crazy, though. Nevertheless, Speaker 3  50:23 of course. Michael Hingson  50:24 And it's only kind Speaker 1  50:26 of that. I wasn't laying awake. I mean, occasionally someone would call me up and they would say, "So what's the case? What's the what's happening with a lawsuit? And I'd say, "Well, a lawsuit. I said, "Oh yeah, that's right. They're suing me. I mean, it was never really. I was never obligated for it. Michael Hingson  50:39 Yeah. Well, so just out of curiosity, since the Republicans were doing this, where were the Democrats in all of that? Speaker 1  50:47 Well, we don't really have a lot of Democrats. That's Michael Hingson  50:49 what I was wondering. Yeah, Speaker 1  50:51 and so and and I always used to joke. I would say that the the Democrats, the Kootenai County Democrats, are looking for a new meeting location, and if anyone has a spare closet, got it. You let them know. No, they're they're all they're all very nice people. Michael Hingson  51:05 Yeah, Speaker 1  51:05 but they're they are in an extreme minority, and unfortunately, they they do try. So last time they had a body for every seat up for election, but they don't really come close. And it's a lot of it comes down to name recognition, but you also have a lot of red blue state refugees who come here. You have a lot of COVID refugees who came here, and so Idaho is very red. Kootenay County is very red, and it would take a tremendous amount of effort to to have a Democrat win here. We do have Democrats in the legislature, not a lot, but we do have them, and the the National Democratic Party is unwilling to spend a lot of money here because they know they're going to lose. So that's what I hear from them. But they are they are generally nice people. I mean, like you said, you if you wanted to vote for me here and you're a Democrat, I'd happily accept the vote. It's a nonpartisan position. We don't deal with those big divisive issues that you know that you you see on the news. Yeah, we're pretty much community-minded people, and I appreciate anyone who is. I do fight the KCRCC because I don't see them as community-minded, and that's one of the issues. Michael Hingson  52:18 Yeah. Well, it's it's unfortunate that that people are that way, but I I see it all too often in so many different ways. I mean, we face it with even in the blindness world with so many things where there ought to be major improvements and there ought to be defenses of the civil rights of blind people. For example, some of the rideshare programs don't do a lot to train their drivers about the fact that in reality they're obligated to take blind people with guide dogs, and oh, there's there is a fair amount of that, and it's and and the companies aren't willing to do anything about it, and we have to keep fighting it, which is just too bad. But there's just so many stuff, and there are so many people who just have these hidden agendas, or they just what it really comes down to is we don't want anybody telling us what to do, Speaker 1  53:09 right? Michael Hingson  53:11 And that's what it really comes down to. So, do you find that that religion gets into any of it at all, like with the conservative Christian movement or any of that, Speaker 1  53:24 there well, there's I do not like the politicization of the church. Michael Hingson  53:29 Yeah, Speaker 1  53:30 my favorite quote on that is that politics poisons the purity of the church. So I think we should keep the separation of church and state as much as possible, but there are you know politically motivated, politically active pastors, and I just I I think that's that's not the proper role of religion. I know that that there's kind of a battle going on in the far right about you know how much religion or how much that should should should be involved in politics in the public arena. In fact, there's a little across from the Costco up here. There is a little yard sign in front of some business that says "Vote Bible, and I always think that's kind of. I mean, I understand what the sentiment is, and I would always want to think that the people who we elect are good moral people. You know, Adam said that our Constitution is best suited for a moral people. I don't believe that means that there's morality in the Constitution. I believe there's morality in people, Michael Hingson  54:32 right? Speaker 1  54:33 And we do want people who have good ethics and good morals in public office, and it's very obvious when that doesn't happen. But I do not think. I think the purpose of our Constitution and the First Amendment is to ensure that we all have the the right to enjoy whatever religion we want, and we don't want to pick favorites. And so, what I see with a lot of these people is that they want to pick a favorite. Michael Hingson  54:55 Yeah, Speaker 1  54:56 they they not only want to pick the first religion, but they want. Everyone to go to the same church and the same service and sit in the same pew. Yeah, and that's not going to happen in any church. It's not going to happen in any denomination of any church. And then, and see, that's the other question: is if you know if you're going to insist that this is a Christian nation, it's like okay, but which denomination is it? Catholic? Is it Protestant? Is it Mormon? I mean, I you know you tell me because it's just going to be this incredible knot of worms, which is why I think the genius of the founders was that you know the the clause about religion is is two things: it gives you the freedom to exercise your own religion, and it also restricts the government from declaring that there's a religion. Yeah, and I think the far right kind of misses that when they when they take the message of we like moral people in office, but to dictate the morals to someone else is wrong. Michael Hingson  55:52 You know, I and it was Tolstoy who once said the biggest problem with Christianity is that people don't practice it, and I I see that so often. It's it is so unfortunate, but it is Speaker 1  56:03 there. Yeah. So that is a tough one. Michael Hingson  56:07 So if you could change one thing in the world, what would it be? I'd Speaker 1  56:12 get rid of the internet in a heartbeat. Specifically, social media. I think the the problem with social media is it amplifies our immaturities, and that is a huge issue. the The solution to that is to make the the publishers responsible for the content. So, in other words, Facebook could be sued for anything that someone puts on Facebook, and that would terrify Facebook, but it would terrify them to the point that they would actually regulate themselves and and start dialing back. I mean, I can say 20 years ago or so, when I whenever I was first on Facebook, I would go on there and I would see my kids, and they'd be playing a ball game or they'd be over at a friend's house. You'd see birthdays, vacations. It was just kind of like it was a social thing. You go on there now, and it's politics, and it's like this person deserved to be shot, and it's just-it's so-it's so extreme, and it's so rude. And you know, some of the stuff they said about me is not very nice, but I think that if we're going to solve one problem in the world, we really need to dial back all the animosity that's on the inter

Can blindness be funny? This week In Touch discusses recent projects by two visually impaired comedy writers. One is a new podcast called You've got Braille, co-written by visually impaired comedy writer and TV producer Reece Finnegan. The podcast focuses on a young blind man who is muddling through life's complexities, with the disability adding another tricksy layer. The podcast was produced by production company Hat Trick and RNIB.Blind comic Aarian Mehrabani will soon be hitting the Edinburgh Fringe with his debut stand-up show 'How's your Head?'. Aarian has worked within comedy writing for a while, producing work with his own disability-led theatre company FlawBored. In the run up to Edinburgh, Aarian has been hosting comedy nights at Salford's Lowry Theatre, where he will also be previewing his debut stand-up show.Presenter: Peter White Producer: Beth Hemmings Production Coordinator: Helen Surtees Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image and he is wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three separate white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word ‘radio' in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside of a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one is a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.

Three buses passed Santiago “Santi” Velasquez because he could not see when to hail them. Instead of accepting that public transport was not designed for him, the blind electrical engineer decided to build a better system.In this episode of ListenABLE, Dylan Alcott and Angus O'Loughlin sit down with Santi to discuss the experience that inspired Halo, an accessibility-first public transport app that alerts drivers when a passenger needs assistance, where they are boarding and where they need to get off.Santi explains how he became one of the relatively few blind electrical engineers in the world, why his parents taught him that “the only thing you cannot do is see”, and how he learned advanced mathematics, coding and engineering through Braille, audio technology and problem-solving.The conversation also explores the risks and opportunities of artificial intelligence for people with disability. Santi argues that AI can be incredibly useful, but only when people with lived experience are included in the data, design and decision-making process.From accessible public transport and guide dog discrimination to Braille literacy, rideshare accountability and the danger of treating people with disability as charity cases, this is a powerful conversation about independence, expectations and designing a world that works better for everyone.As Santi says:“We're not just charity cases. We have to have high expectations of ourselves because otherwise, who else is going to have them?”In this episode00:00 “I'll be damned if I'm going to be a second-class citizen”01:00 Welcome to ListenABLE02:05 Meet Santiago “Santi” Velasquez03:24 Growing up blind in Colombia06:14 Becoming a blind electrical engineer09:12 Learning mathematics, coding and engineering through Braille10:28 The tactile display that lets people feel a screen15:22 Is artificial intelligence actually accessible?20:58 Why blind children still need to learn Braille24:07 High expectations instead of charity25:58 The three buses that inspired Halo28:44 Why disability-led inventions benefit everyone30:20 How passengers with disability become invisible to transport systems31:55 Santi's global ambition for Halo34:39 How the Halo public transport app works36:25 Who should pay for accessible transport technology?38:14 Creating accountability across transport and rideshare services42:36 Why sharing lived experience matters44:04 The Bowl of Uncomfortable46:10 What people need to know about guide dogs48:07 Santi's final messageLearn more about Santi and HailoRequest Hailo in your city:Download and use Halo if you are travelling on participating services in Victoria.Follow the ListenABLE hostsDylan Alcott:https://www.instagram.com/dylanalcott/Angus O'Loughlin:https://www.instagram.com/angus_oloughlin/ListenABLE:https://www.instagram.com/listenable_podcast/ProductionListenABLE is recorded and produced in partnership with SESSION in PROGRESS, Melbourne's video podcast studio and production team.SESSION in PROGRESS:https://sessioninprogress.com.au/Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/session.in.progress/Subscribe to ListenABLE for honest, funny and educational conversations about disability, accessibility and the experiences that connect us.#Disability #Accessibility #PublicTransport

Discover the Sensaball Cane Tip, a multidirectional tip from Australia that's transforming mobility for blind cane users. Learn how it improves safety, glides over tricky surfaces, and why early testers call it a game changer. This episode of Double Tap features Peter and Brent, the team behind the Sensaball cane tip. They share the story of its invention, born from the frustration of cane tips catching on uneven pavement and causing painful jabs. Unlike traditional tips, Sensaball rotates freely in all directions, offering smooth, constant contact and enhanced feedback from surfaces like stairs, gravel, grass, and even sand or snow. The conversation also explores the challenges of Braille literacy, including cost, education, and societal attitudes. Steven Scott and Shaun Preece debate the decline of Braille usage, the impact of technology like AI coding assistants, and the importance of honest discussions about accessibility tools. Listener feedback adds depth—raising concerns about banter, Braille's future, and the realities of parent and teacher engagement. Relevant Links Sensaball Cane Tip: https://Sensaball.com.au ----Follow on:YouTube: https://www.doubletaponair.com/youtubeX (formerly Twitter): https://www.doubletaponair.com/xInstagram: https://www.doubletaponair.com/instagramTikTok: https://www.doubletaponair.com/tiktokThreads: https://www.doubletaponair.com/threadsFacebook: https://www.doubletaponair.com/facebookLinkedIn: https://www.doubletaponair.com/linkedinSubscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://www.doubletaponair.com/appleSpotify: https://www.doubletaponair.com/spotifyRSS: https://www.doubletaponair.com/podcastiHeadRadio: https://www.doubletaponair.com/iheartAbout Double TapHosted by the insightful duo, Steven Scott and Shaun Preece, Double Tap is a treasure trove of information for anyone who's blind or partially sighted and has a passion for tech. Steven and Shaun not only demystify tech, but they also regularly feature interviews and welcome guests from the community, fostering an interactive and engaging environment. Tune in every day of the week, and you'll discover how technology can seamlessly integrate into your life, enhancing daily tasks and experiences, even if your sight is limited."Double Tap" is a registered trademark of Double Tap Productions Inc. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Blind Abilities team reunites for a wide-ranging conversation about how hobbies, learning, technology, and relationships shape daily life. Jeff, Pete, Christina, and returning guest Callie share how Braille practice, woodworking, gardening, music, audiobooks, book clubs, podcasting, and learning new technology keep their minds active and create purpose. The group compares favorite reading sources, immersive audiobooks, classic books, and the occasional danger of missing an exit while listening to a great story. They also debate smart homes versus reliable buttons, knobs, keys, and appliances that have survived longer than some friendships. Food enters the discussion through air-fryer grilled cheese, pesto, egg muffins, oatmeal, and other hunger-inducing ideas. The conversation becomes more reflective as Callie asks whether travel can still feel meaningful after vision loss. The team discusses grief, adaptation, tactile experiences, audio description, tour guides, friendship, and finding new forms of joy without pretending the loss is not real today. Links of interests:   seedlings Braille Books for Children  Bricks for the Blind ACB Groups   thanks for listening!

Jay Dhaliwal, founder of Super Patch, joins Mind Pump to break down one of the most unconventional technologies in health and wellness — haptic patches that alleviate pain, improve sleep, boost athletic performance, and more with zero compounds or drugs.  Sal opens up about being deeply skeptical until reviewing the peer-reviewed studies, and the guys walk Jay through the entire origin story — from a passion project to help his mother with MS, to 17 years of research, $40 million of his own money, and 16 published peer-reviewed studies.  They cover the neuroscience of how skin receptors communicate with the brain, what the studies actually show (50% pain reduction, 85% sleep improvement, 5–8% athletic performance gains in D1 athletes), and why half the teams in the NFL are already using the product. Super Patch — https://mindpump.superpatch.com $30 off — no code needed, discount automatically applied at checkout (price drops from $99 to $69) SPONSORS Seed Daily Synbiotic — https://seed.com/mindpump Code: 25MINDPUMP — 25% off first month MAPS 15 BOGO — https://maps15bogo.com Buy 1 get 1 FREE — limited time (all 7 MAPS 15 programs same price) LINKS Mind Pump Store: https://mindpumpstore.com Maps Fitness Products: https://mapsfitnessproducts.com Instagram: @mindpumpmedia 0:00 - Intro 1:48 - What is Super Patch? Sal's skepticism and what changed his mind 5:13 - How this compares to when red light therapy first came on the scene 8:02 - Jay's origin story — his mother's MS and 17 years of research 13:16 - The Loretta Z database — quarter million EEGs and the search for normative neural networks 20:10 - The first breakthrough — identifying the vestibular response network in 2014 24:47 - First proof: comparing his mother's EEG against the normative database 27:43 - From brainwaves to skin receptors — how Braille unlocked the next phase 30:08 - The 2010 discovery of piezo two ion channels and skin sensation science 34:07 - The first product — socks that improved balance and gait by 31% 36:59 - Brain mapping 35 people with the world's leading EEG expert — the impossible result 39:07 - How the pattern in the patch is designed — 1200 iterations of micro tooling 43:52 - 2017 Japan study — skin sensation is permanently imprinted on the sensory cortex 45:46 - From socks to patches — how pain and sleep networks were identified 49:01 - The first clinical study — 50% reduction in perceived pain, 70% reduction in interference scores 53:02 - Sleep study results — 85% of subjects went from bad sleep to good or great sleep 56:51 - Pain relief comparable to 400mg Advil — without the drug 58:38 - Stress patch — 33% reduction in perceived stress, 24% improvement in mental health factors 1:01:35 - D1 athlete study — 5–8% improvement in lower extremity power at University of Arizona 1:03:55 - Half the NFL is already using Super Patch 1:04:17 - Stacking patches — which combinations work best for athletes 1:05:30 - Neuroplasticity — why your baseline gets higher over time with consistent use 1:07:52 - Full product lineup — pain, sleep, stress, focus, libido, immune, Zen flow state & more 1:11:28 - Appetite suppression pilot — 20% improvement in resting metabolic rate 1:13:32 - 5000 MDs in America now recommending Super Patch