Podcasts about low vision

Each episode on Unstoppable Mindset I ask all of you and my guests to feel free to introduce me to others who would be good guests on our podcast. Our guest this time, Erin Edgar, is a guest introduced to me by a past podcast guest, Rob Wentz. Rob told me that Erin is inspirational and would be interesting and that she would have a lot to offer you, our audience. Rob was right on all counts. Erin Edgar was born blind. Her parents adopted an attitude that would raise their daughter with a positive attitude about herself. She was encouraged and when barriers were put in her way as a youth, her parents helped her fight to be able to participate and thrive. For a time, she attended the Indiana School for the Blind. Her family moved to Georgia where Erin attended high school. After high school, Erin wanted to go to college where she felt there would be a supportive program that would welcome her on campus. She attended the University of North Carolina at Chapple Hill. After graduating she decided to continue at UNC where she wanted to study law. The same program that gave her so much assistance during her undergraduate days was not able to provide the same services to Erin the graduate student. Even so, Erin had learned how to live, survive and obtain what she needed to go through the law program. After she received her law degree Erin began to do what she always wanted to do: She wanted to use the law to help people. So, she worked in programs such as Legal Aid in North Carolina and she also spent time as a mediator. She will describe all that for us. Like a number of people, when the pandemic began, she decided to pivot and start her own law firm. She focuses on estate planning. We have a good discussion about topics such as the differences between a will and a living trust. Erin offers many relevant and poignant thoughts and words of advice we all can find helpful. Erin is unstoppable by any standard as you will see. About the Guest: Erin Edgar, Esq., is a caring, heart-centered attorney, inspirational speaker and vocal artist. She loves helping clients: -- Plan for the future of their lives and businesses, ensuring that they have the support they need and helping them find ways to provide for their loved ones upon death. --Ensure that the leave a legacy of love and reflect client values -- Find creative ways that allow them to impact the world with a lasting legacy. She is passionate about connecting with clients on a heart level. She loves witnessing her clients as she guides them to transform their intentions for their loved ones into a lasting legacy through the estate planning process. Erin speaks about ways to meld proven legal tools, strategies, and customization with the creative process to design legal solutions that give people peace of mind, clarity, and the assurance that their loved ones will be taken care of, and the world will be left a better place Ways to connect with Erin: Facebook: https://facebook.com/erin-edgar-legal LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/erinedgar About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can 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 ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Hi everyone, and welcome to another edition of unstoppable mindset. We're glad that you're here with us, wherever you may be. Hope the day is going well, and we have Erin Edgar on our episode today. Edgar is a very interesting person in a lot of ways. She's a caring, heart centered attorney. She is also an inspirational speaker and a vocal artist. I'm not sure whether vocal artistry comes into play when she's in the courtroom, but we won't worry about that too much. I assume that you don't sing to your judges when you're trying to deal with something. But anyway, I'll let her answer that. I'm just trying to cause trouble, but Erin again. We're really glad you're with us. We really appreciate you being here, and I know you do a lot with estate planning and other kinds of things that'll be fun to talk about. So welcome to unstoppable mindset.   Erin Edgar ** 02:14 Thank you, Michael. It's great to be here, and I haven't sung in a courtroom or a courthouse yet, but I wouldn't rule it out.   Michael Hingson ** 02:23 I have someone who I know who also has a guide dog and his diet. His guide dog, it's been a while since I've seen him, but his guide dog tended to be very vocal, especially at unexpected times, and he said that occasionally happened in the courtroom, which really busted up the place. Oh, dear.   Erin Edgar ** 02:45 I imagine that would draw some smiles, hopefully, smiles.   Michael Hingson ** 02:48 Well, they were, yeah, do you, do you appear in court much?   Erin Edgar ** 02:53 Um, no, the type of law that I practice, I'm usually, I don't think I've ever appeared in court after I've written people's wills, but I have done previous things where I was in court mediating disputes, which is a kind of a separate thing that I used to do, so I've been in court just not recently. Yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 03:17 Well, that's understandable. Well, let's start a little bit with the early Erin and growing up and all that sort of stuff. Tell us about that? Sure.   Erin Edgar ** 03:26 So I was born in cold, gray Indiana, and, yeah, chilly in the wintertime, and I started out I was blind from birth, so my parents thought it would be a good idea to send me to the school for the blind for a while. And back when I was born, um, teen years ago, they did not mainstream visually impaired and disabled students in that state, so you went where you could, and I was at the blind school for until I reached third grade, and then we moved to Georgia, and I've been in the south ever since I live in North Carolina now, and I started going to public schools in fourth grade, and continued on that route all the way up through high school.   Michael Hingson ** 04:21 Oh, okay. And so then, what did you do?   Erin Edgar ** 04:29 So after, after that, I, you know, I was one of those high school students. I really wanted to get out of dodge and leave my high school behind. I went visiting a couple of colleges in Georgia, and I said to my parents, I said, I really don't like this. It's like going to high school again. Literally, I was meeting people I had been in high school with, and I decided, and was very grateful that my parents. Were able to rig it some way so that I could go to an out of state school. And I went to UNC Chapel Hill here in North Carolina, Tar Heels all the way. And I was there for undergrad. And then I got into law school there as well, which I was very excited about, because I didn't have to go anywhere, and graduated from law school again a while ago in the early 2000s   Michael Hingson ** 05:31 Okay, and so then you went straight into law from that.   Erin Edgar ** 05:37 I didn't I did some other things before I actually went into law itself. I worked with some local advocacy organizations, and I also mediated, as I said earlier, I did mediations with the county court, helping mediate criminal disputes. And we're talking about like things with you get in a dispute with your neighbor and you yell at each other, those kind of People's Court type things. They were fun and interesting. And then I did go into law. After that, I started working with Legal Aid of North Carolina, which is a an organization that helps people in poverty who cannot afford a lawyer to go and have have their options communicated to them and some help given to them regarding their public benefits or certain other, you know, public things that we could help with we weren't able to help with any personal injury, or, you know, any of the fun stuff you see on TV. So and then, when the pandemic hit, I started my own law practice and completely changed gears and went into writing estate plans and wills for a living.   Michael Hingson ** 07:07 Do you think that your time doing mediation work and so on taught you a lot about humanity and human nature and people?   Erin Edgar ** 07:16 It did. I bet it did. It was invaluable, actually, in that area taught me a lot about, I don't know necessarily, about human nature. However, it did teach me a lot about how to talk to people who were on different pages. You know, they had, perhaps, values and principles that weren't quite the same, where they had a different way of looking at the same exact situation, and how to bring those those people together and allow them to connect on a deeper level, rather than the argument we're able to get them to agree to kind of move forward from that, so nobody has to be found guilty, right? And you know a judge doesn't have and you don't have to drag a criminal conviction around with you. I think the most rewarding cases that I had, by far were the education cases. Because I don't know if anyone knows this, but in most states, in the United States, if you don't send your kids to school, you are guilty of a crime. It's called truancy, and you can be arrested. Well, the county that I live in was very forward thinking, and the school system and the court said, that's kind of dumb. We don't want to arrest parents if their kids aren't going to school, there's something behind it. You know, there the school is not providing what the child needs. The child's acting out for some reason, and we need to get to the bottom of it. So what they did was they set up a process whereby we come in as neutral observers. We did not work for the court. We were part of a separate organization, and have a school social worker there or counselor, and also have a parent there, and they could talk through the issues. And in a lot of cases, if the children were old enough, they were teenagers, they were there, and they could talk about it from their perspective. And truly amazing things came out of those situations. We could just we would discover that the children had a behavioral issue or even a disability that had not been recognized, and were able to come up with plans to address that with you know, or the school was with our help,   Michael Hingson ** 09:42 going back a little bit, how did your parents deal with the fact that you were blind? I gather it was a fairly positive experience   Erin Edgar ** 09:50 for me. It was positive. I was so fortunate, and I'm still so grateful to this day for having parents who you. I were very forward thinking, and advocated for me to have and do whatever, not whatever I wanted, because I was far from spoiled, but, you know, whatever, yeah, yeah, you know. But whatever, however I wanted to be successful, they advocated for me. And so my mother actually told me, you know, when I was born, they went through all the parent things like, oh, gosh, what did we do wrong? You know, why is God punishing us? You know, all that. And they, very early on, found support groups for, you know, parents with children with either blindness or disabilities of some sort, and that was a great source of help to them. And as I grew up, they made every effort to ensure that I had people who could teach me, if they couldn't, you know, how to interact with other children. I think, for a while when I was very little, and I actually kind of remember this, they hired an occupational therapist to come and teach me how to play with kids, because not only was I blind, but I was an only child, so I didn't have brothers and sisters to interact with, and that whole play thing was kind of a mystery to me, and I remember it sort of vaguely, but that's just A demonstration that they wanted me to have the best life possible and to be fully integrated into the sighted world as much as possible. So when I was at the blind school, and I was in this residential environment, and there was an added bonus that my parents didn't really weren't happy in their jobs either, and they weren't happy with the education I was getting, that they decided, well, we're just going to pick up and move and that was, quite frankly, as I look back on it now, a huge risk for them. And they did it, you know, 50% for me and 50% for them, maybe even 6040, but as I look back on it now, it's another demonstration of how supportive they were, and all the way through my school age years, were very active in ensuring that I had everything that I needed and that I had the support that I needed.   Michael Hingson ** 12:19 That's cool. How did it go when you went to college at UNC?   Erin Edgar ** 12:25 Yeah, that's an interesting question, a very good question.   Michael Hingson ** 12:29 You didn't play basketball, I assume? Oh no, I figured you had other things to do.   Erin Edgar ** 12:33 Yeah, I had other stuff to do. I sang in the choir and sang with the medieval chorus group, and, you know, all this other, like, musical geek, geeky stuff. But, or, and when we were looking for colleges and universities, one of the criteria was they had to have a solid kind of, like disability, slash visually impaired center, or, you know, support staff that would help in, you know, allow people with disabilities to go through the university. So at UNC Chapel Hill, the they had as part of their student affairs department Disability Services, and it just so happened that they were very aware of accommodations that blind people needed. I wasn't the first blind student to go through undergrad there. That's not law school, that's undergrad. And so you know, how much was it? Time and a half on on tests if I was doing them on the computer, double time if I was doing them in Braille. A lot of the tests were in Braille because they had the technology to do it. And also the gentleman who ran the Disability Services Department, I think, knew Braille, if I'm not mistaken, and could transcribe if necessary. But I was at the stage at that point where I was typing most of my exams anyway, and didn't need much that was in Braille, because I had books either electronically or they had a network of folks in the community that would volunteer to read if there was not, you know, available textbooks from RFD, and what is it, RFP and D? Now was at the time, yeah, now Learning Ally, there wasn't a Bookshare at that time, so we couldn't use Bookshare, but if there weren't textbooks available, they would have people in the community who would read them for them, and they would get paid a little bit. Now, when I went to law school, it was a totally different ball game, because I was the first law student who was blind, that UNC Chapel Hill had had, and it was a different school within the school, so that student affairs department was not part of law school anymore, and we had quite a time the first semester getting my book. Works in a format that I could read them in. They did eventually, kind of broker a deal, if you will, with the publishers who were either Thompson Reuters or Westlaw at the time to get electronic versions. They were floppy disks. This is how old I am. Floppy disks. They were in this weird format. I think it was word perfect or something. Usually it was, and they   Michael Hingson ** 15:27 didn't really have a lot of them new or no, they didn't know now, newer publishing system,   Erin Edgar ** 15:32 yeah, there wasn't PDF even, I don't think, at the time. And the agreement was I could get those, and I actually had to buy the print textbooks as well. So I have this whole bookcase of law books that are virgin, unopened, almost. And they are, you know, some of them almost 25 years old, never been opened and of no use to anyone. But I have them, and they look nice sitting down there in that bookshelf antiques books. They're antiques. So the first year was a little rough, because for a while I didn't have books, and we were able to make arrangements so that I could kind of make up some classes on a later year and switch things around a little bit. And it ended up all working out really well once we got started.   Michael Hingson ** 16:16 Yeah, I remember when I was going through getting my bachelor's and master's in physics, I needed the books in braille because, well, it's the only way to be able to really deal with the subject. You can't do it nearly as well from recordings, although now there's a little bit better capability through recording, because we have the DayZ format and so on. But still, it's not the same as reading it in Braille and for mathematics and physics and so on. I think that the only way to really do it is in Braille. And we had challenges because professors didn't want to decide what books to use until the last minute, because then, oh, a new book might be coming out and we want to get the latest book, and that didn't work for me, right? Because I had a network that I, in part, I developed with the Department of Rehabilitation out here, helped our office for disabled students didn't really have the resources to know it. They were very supportive. They just didn't really deal with it. But the bottom line is that we had to develop, I had to develop the network of transcribers, but they needed three to six months to do the books, at least three months and and sometimes I would get them one or two volumes at a time, and they barely kept ahead of the class. But, you know, it worked, but professors resisted it. And my the person who ran the Office for Students with Disabilities, said, Look, you have to work on these things, but if you're not getting cooperation from professors, and you come and tell me, and I will use the power of this office to get you what you need, there's another thing you might consider doing, she said. And I said, What's that? And Jan said, Go meet the chancellor. Make friends, yeah, friends in high places. And so I did. And Dan, oh, there you go. Became pretty good friends over the years, which was pretty cool,   Erin Edgar ** 18:15 you know, it was weird because we didn't, I didn't have that problem with the professors. They were, you know, I had a couple of old codgers, but they weren't really worried about the books. They were fine with me having the books, but it was the publishers. The publishers were irritated that that I needed them, and, you know, in an alternative format. And I didn't really, I was not. I was one of those people that if someone said they were going to do something for me, I kind of let people do it. And at the time, I was really not an advocate, advocator for myself, at that time, a very good self advocate. And so I kind of let the school interface with that. I think it would have been really interesting, if I look back on it, for me to have taken a hand in that. And I wonder what would have happened well, and at this point, you know, it's neither here nor there, but that's really fascinating. Making Friends with the chancellor, sometimes you have to do stuff like that   Michael Hingson ** 19:15 well. And the idea was really to get to know Him. And what there was, well, obviously other motivations, like, if we needed to go to a higher court to get help, we could go to the chancellor. I never had to do that, but, but the reason for meeting him and getting to know him was really just to do it and to have fun doing it. So we did,   Erin Edgar ** 19:36 yeah, and I kind of had a comparable experience. I met the Dean of the Law School for that very reason. And he said, you know, if you've got trouble, come to me, my parents got involved a little bit. And we all, you know, met together and maybe even separately at some points just to make sure that I had everything that I needed at various times. Mm. Yeah, and I made friends with the some of the assistant deans at the law school, in particular because of the situation, and one of whom was the Dean of the Law School Student Affairs, who was helping me to get what I needed. And for a while, when I was in law school and beyond. He was like, We lent books to each other. It was very funny. We found out we had the same reading tastes beyond law books. It wasn't, you know, legal at all, but we were like, trading books and things. So a lot of really good relationships came out of that.   Michael Hingson ** 20:37 And I think that's extremely important to to do. And I think that's one of the things that that offices for students with disabilities that tend to want to do everything for you. I think that's one of the things that it's a problem with those offices, because if you don't learn to do them, and if you don't learn to do them in college, how are you going to be able to be able to really act independently and as an advocate after college, so you have to learn that stuff   Erin Edgar ** 21:05 Absolutely. That's a very good point.   Michael Hingson ** 21:09 So I, I think it was extremely important to do it, and we did, and had a lot of fun doing it. So it was, was good. What are some of the biggest misconceptions you think that people had about you as a blind child growing up?   Erin Edgar ** 21:25 Oh yeah, that's a great question. I think that one of the biggest misconceptions that people had about me, especially when I was younger, is that I would know I would be sort of relegated to staying at home with parents all of my life, or being a stay at home parent and not able to be kind of professionally employed and earning, you know, earning a living wage. Now, I have my own business, and that's where most of my money goes at the same at this point. So, you know, earning a living wage might be up in the air at the moment. Ha, ha. But the the one thing I think that the biggest misconception that people had, and this is even like teachers at the blind school, it was very rare for blind children of my age to grow up and be, you know, professionals in, I don't want to say high places, but like people able to support themselves without a government benefit backing them up. And it was kind of always assumed that we would be in that category, that we would be less able than our sighted peers to do that. And so that was a huge misconception, even you know, in the school that I was attending. I think that was the, really the main one and one misconception that I had then and still have today, is that if I'm blind, I can't speak for myself. This still happens today. For instance, if I'm if I want, if I'm going somewhere and I just happen to be with someone sighted, they will talk whoever I'm, wherever I'm at, they will talk to the sighted person, right? They won't talk to you. They won't talk to me. And so, for instance, simple example, if I'm somewhere with my husband, and we happen to be walking together and we go somewhere that I need to go, they will talk to him because he's guiding me, and they won't talk. And he's like, don't talk to me. I have no idea, you know, talk to her, and part of that is I'm half a step behind him. People naturally gravitate to the people that are leading. However, I noticed, even when I was a young adult, and I would go, you know, to the doctor, and I would be with my my parents, like, maybe I'm visiting them, and I need to go to the doctor, they would talk to them and not me, yeah, which is kind of sad. And I think it happens a lot, a lot more than people realize.   Michael Hingson ** 24:10 Yeah, it does. And one of my favorite stories is, is this, I got married in 1982 and my wife has always been, or had always been. She passed away in 2022 but she was always in a wheelchair. And we went to a restaurant one Saturday for breakfast. We were standing at the counter waiting to be seated, and the hostess was behind the counter, and nothing was happening. And finally, Karen said to me, she doesn't know who to talk to, you know? Because Karen, of course, is, is in a wheelchair, so actually, she's clearly shorter than this, this person behind the counter, and then there's me and and, of course, I'm not making eye contact, and so Karen just said she doesn't know who to talk to. I said, you know? All she's gotta do is ask us where we would like to sit or if we'd like to have breakfast, and we can make it work. Well, she she got the message, and she did, and the rest of the the day went fine, but that was really kind of funny, that we had two of us, and she just didn't know how to deal with either of us, which was kind of cute. Mm, hmm. Well, you know, it brings up another question. You use the term earlier, visually impaired. There's been a lot of effort over the years. A lot of the professionals, if you will, created this whole terminology of visually impaired, and they say, well, you're blind or you're visually impaired. And visually impaired means you're not totally blind, but, but you're still visually impaired. And finally, blind people, I think, are starting to realize what people who are deaf learned a long time ago, and that is that if you take take a deaf person and you refer to them as hearing impaired, there's no telling what they might do to you, because they recognize that impaired is not true and they shouldn't be equated with people who have all of their hearing. So it's deaf or hard of hearing, which is a whole lot less of an antagonistic sort of concept than hearing impaired. We're starting to get blind people, and not everyone's there yet, and we're starting to get agencies, and not every agency is there yet, to recognize that it's blind or low vision, as opposed to blind or here or visually impaired, visually impaired. What do you think about that? How does and how does that contribute to the attitudes that people had toward you?   Erin Edgar ** 26:38 Yeah, so when I was growing up, I was handicapped, yeah, there was that too, yeah, yeah, that I was never fond of that, and my mother softened it for me, saying, well, we all have our handicaps or shortcomings, you know, and but it was really, what was meant was you had Something that really held you back. I actually, I say, this is so odd. I always, I usually say I'm totally blind. Because when I say blind, the immediate question people have is, how blind are you? Yeah, which gets back to stuff, yeah, yeah. If you're blind, my opinion, if you're blind, you're you're blind, and if you have low vision, you have partial sight. And visually impaired used to be the term, you know, when I was younger, that people use, and that's still a lot. It's still used a lot, and I will use it occasionally, generally. I think that partially sighted, I have partial vision is, is what I've heard people use. That's what, how my husband refers to himself. Low Vision is also, you know, all those terms are much less pejorative than actually being impaired,   Michael Hingson ** 27:56 right? That's kind of really the issue, yeah. My, my favorite example of all of this is a past president of the National Federation of the Blind, Ken Jernigan, you've heard of him, I assume, Oh, sure. He created a document once called a definition of blindness, and his definition, he goes through and discusses various conditions, and he asks people if, if you meet these conditions, are you blind or not? But then what he eventually does is he comes up with a definition, and his definition, which I really like, is you are blind if your eyesight has decreased to the point where you have to use alternatives to full eyesight in order to function, which takes into account totally blind and partially blind people. Because the reality is that most of those people who are low vision will probably, or they may probably, lose the rest of their eyesight. And the agencies have worked so hard to tell them, just use your eyesight as best you can. And you know you may need to use a cane, but use your eyesight as best you can, and if you go blind, then we're going to have to teach you all over again, rather than starting by saying blindness is really okay. And the reality is that if you learn the techniques now, then you can use the best of all worlds.   Erin Edgar ** 29:26 I would agree with that. I would also say you should, you know, people should use what they have. Yeah, using everything you have is okay. And I think there's a lot of a lot of good to be said for learning the alternatives while you're still able to rely on something else.   Michael Hingson ** 29:49 Point taken exactly you know, because   Erin Edgar ** 29:53 as you age, you get more and more in the habit of doing things one way, and it's. Very hard to break out of that. And if you haven't learned an alternative, there's nothing you feel like. There's nothing to fall back on, right? And it's even harder because now you're in the situation of urgency where you feel like you're missing something and you're having to learn something new, whereas if you already knew it and knew different ways to rely on things you would be just like picking a memory back up, rather than having to learn something new. Well, I've never been in that position, so I can't say, but in the abstract, I think that's a good definition.   Michael Hingson ** 30:34 Well, there are a lot of examples, like, take a person who has some eyesight, and they're not encouraged to use a cane. And I know someone who was in this situation. I think I've told the story on this podcast, but he lived in New Jersey and was travel. And traveled every day from New Jersey into Philadelphia to work, and he was on a reasonably cloudy day, was walking along. He had been given a cane by the New Jersey Commission for the Blind, but he they didn't really stress the value of using it. And so he was walking along the train to go in, and he came to the place where he could turn in and go into the car. And he did, and promptly fell between two cars because he wasn't at the right place. And then the train actually started to move, but they got it stopped, and so he was okay, but as as he tells the story, he certainly used his cane from then on. Because if he had been using the cane, even though he couldn't see it well because it was dark, or not dark, cloudy, he would have been able to see that he was not at the place where the car entrance was, but rather he was at the junction between two cars. And there's so many examples of that. There's so many reasons why it's important to learn the skills. Should a partially blind or a low vision person learn to read Braille? Well, depends on circumstances, of course, I think, to a degree, but the value of learning Braille is that you have an alternative to full print, especially if there's a likelihood that you're going to lose the rest of your eyesight. If you psychologically do it now, that's also going to psychologically help you prepare better for not having any eyesight later.   Erin Edgar ** 32:20 And of course, that leads to to blind children these days learn how to read, yeah, which is another issue.   Michael Hingson ** 32:28 Which is another issue because educators are not teaching Braille nearly as much as they should, and the literacy rate is so low. And the fact of the matter is even with George Kircher, who invented the whole DAISY format and and all the things that you can do with the published books and so on. The reality is there is still something to be said for learning braille. You don't have sighted children just watching television all the time, although sometimes my parents think they do, but, but the point is that they learn to read, and there's a value of really learning to read. I've been in an audience where a blind speaker was delivering a speech, and he didn't know or use Braille. He had a device that was, I think what he actually used was a, was, it was a Victor Reader Stream, which is   Erin Edgar ** 33:24 one of those, right?   Michael Hingson ** 33:25 I think it was that it may have been something else, but the bottom line is, he had his speech written out, and he would play it through earphones, and then he would verbalize his speech. Oh, no, that's just mess me up. Oh, it would. It was very disjointed and and I think that for me, personally, I read Braille pretty well, but I don't like to read speeches at all. I want to engage the audience, and so it's really important to truly speak with the audience and not read or do any of those other kinds of things.   Erin Edgar ** 33:57 I would agree. Now I do have a Braille display that I, I use, and, you know, I do use it for speeches. However, I don't put the whole speech on   Michael Hingson ** 34:10 there that I me too. I have one, and I use it for, I know, I have notes. Mm, hmm,   Erin Edgar ** 34:16 notes, yeah. And so I feel like Braille, especially for math. You know, when you said math and physics, like, Yeah, I can't imagine doing math without Braille. That just doesn't, you know, I can't imagine it, and especially in, you know, geometry and trigonometry with those diagrams. I don't know how you would do it without a Braille textbook, but yeah, there. There's certainly something to be said for for the the wonderful navigation abilities with, you know, e published audio DAISY books. However, it's not a substitute for knowing how to   Michael Hingson ** 34:55 read. Well, how are you going to learn to spell? How are you going to really learn sit? Structure, how are you going to learn any of those basic skills that sighted kids get if you don't use Braille? Absolutely, I think that that's one of the arenas where the educational system, to a large degree, does such a great disservice to blind kids because it won't teach them Braille.   Erin Edgar ** 35:16 Agreed, agreed. Well, thank you for this wonderful spin down Braille, Braille reading lane here. That was fun.   Michael Hingson ** 35:27 Well, so getting back to you a little bit, you must have thought or realized that probably when you went into law, you were going to face some challenges. But what was the defining moment that made you decide you're going to go into law, and what kind of challenges have you faced? If you face challenges, my making an assumption, but you know what?   Erin Edgar ** 35:45 Oh, sure. So the defining moment when I decided I wanted to go into law. It was a very interesting time for me. I was teenager. Don't know exactly how old I was, but I think I was in high school, and I had gone through a long period where I wanted to, like, be a music major and go into piano and voice and be a performer in those arenas, and get a, you know, high level degree whatnot. And then I began having this began becoming very interested in watching the Star Trek television series. Primarily I was out at the time the next generation, and I was always fascinated by the way that these people would find these civilizations on these planets, and they would be at odds in the beginning, and they would be at each other's throats, and then by the end of the day, they were all kind of   Michael Hingson ** 36:43 liking each other. And John Luke Picard didn't play a flute,   Erin Edgar ** 36:47 yes, and he also turned into a Borg, which was traumatic for me. I had to rate local summer to figure out what would happen. I was in I was in trauma. Anyway, my my father and I bonded over that show. It was, it was a wonderful sort of father daughter thing. We did it every weekend. And I was always fascinated by, like, the whole, the whole aspect of different ideologies coming together. And it always seemed to me that that's what human humanity should be about. As I, you know, got older, I thought, how could I be involved in helping people come together? Oh, let's go into law. Because, you know, our government's really good at that. That was the high school student in me. And I thought at the time, I wanted to go into the Foreign Service and work in the international field and help, you know, on a net, on a you know, foreign policy level. I quickly got into law school and realized two things simultaneously in my second year, international law was very boring, and there were plenty of problems in my local community that I could help solve, like, why work on the international stage when people in my local community are suffering in some degree with something and so I completely changed my focus to wanting to work in an area where I could bring people together and work for, you know, work on an individualized level. And as I went into the legal field, that was, it was part of the reason I went into the mediation, because that was one of the things that we did, was helping people come together. I realized, though, as I became a lawyer and actually started working in the field, most of the legal system is not based on that. It's based on who has the best argument. I wanted no part of that. Yeah, I want no part of that at all. I want to bring people together. Still, the Star Trek mentality is working here, and so when I when I started my own law firm, my immediate question to myself was, how can I now that I'm out doing my own thing, actually bring people together? And the answer that I got was help families come together, especially people thinking about their end of life decisions and gathering their support team around them. Who they want to help them? If they are ever in a situation where they become ill and they can't manage their affairs, or if you know upon their death, who do they want to help them and support them. And how can I use the law to allow that to happen? And so that's how I am working, to use the law for healing and bringing people together, rather than rather than winning an argument.   Michael Hingson ** 39:59 Yeah. Yeah, well, and I think there's a lot of merit to that. I I value the law a great deal, and I I am not an attorney or anything like that, but I have worked in the world of legislation, and I've worked in the world of dealing with helping to get legislation passed and and interacting with lawyers. And my wife and I worked with an attorney to set up our our trust, and then couple of years ago, I redid it after she passed away. And so I think that there was a lot of a lot of work that attorneys do that is extremely important. Yeah, there are, there are attorneys that were always dealing with the best arguments, and probably for me, the most vivid example of that, because it was so captivating when it happened, was the whole OJ trial back in the 1990s we were at a county fair, and we had left going home and turned on the radio, only To hear that the police were following OJ, and they finally arrested him. And then when the trial occurred, we while I was working at a company, and had a radio, and people would would come around, and we just had the radio on, and followed the whole trial. And it was interesting to see all the manipulation and all the movement, and you're right. It came down to who had the best argument, right or wrong?   Erin Edgar ** 41:25 The bloody glove. If it doesn't fit, you must acquit. Yeah, yep, I remember that. I remember where I was when they arrested him, too. I was at my grandparents house, and we were watching it on TV. My grandfather was captivated by the whole thing. But yes, there's certainly, you know, some manipulation. There's also, there are also lawyers who do a lot of good and a lot of wonderful things. And in reality, you know, most cases don't go to trial. They're settled in some way. And so, you know, there isn't always, you know, who has the best argument. It's not always about that, right? And at the same time, that is, you know, what the system is based on, to some extent. And really, when our country was founded, our founding fathers were a bunch of, like, acted in a lot of ways, like a bunch of children. If you read books on, you know, the Constitution, it was, it was all about, you know, I want this in here, and I want that in here. And, you know, a lot of argument around that, which, of course, is to be expected. And many of them did not expect our country's government to last beyond their lifetimes. Uh, James Madison was the exception, but all the others were like, Ed's going to fail. And yet, I am very, very proud to be a lawyer in this country, because while it's not perfect, our founding documents actually have a lot of flexibility and how and can be interpreted to fit modern times, which is, I think the beauty of them and exactly what the Founders intended for.   Michael Hingson ** 43:15 Yeah, and I do think that some people are taking advantage of that and causing some challenges, but that's also part of our country and part of our government. I like something Jimmy Carter once said, which was, we must adjust to changing times while holding to unwavering principles. And I think absolutely that's the part that I think sometimes is occasionally being lost, that we forget those principles, or we want to manipulate the principles and make them something that they're not. But he was absolutely right. That is what we need to do, and we can adjust to changing times without sacrificing principles. Absolutely.   Erin Edgar ** 43:55 I firmly believe that, and I would like to kind of turn it back to what we were talking about before, because you actually asked me, What are some challenges that I have faced, and if it's okay with you, I would like to get back to that. Oh, sure. Okay. Well, so I have faced some challenges for you know, to a large extent, though I was very well accommodated. I mean, the one challenge with the books that was challenging when I took the bar exam, oh, horror of horrors. It was a multiple, multiple shot deal, but it finally got done. However, it was not, you know, my failing to pass the first time or times was not the fault of the actual board of law examiners. They were very accommodating. I had to advocate for myself a little bit, and I also had to jump through some hoops. For example, I had to bring my own person to bubble in my responses on the multiple choice part, it. And bring my own person in to kind of monitor me while I did the essay portion. But they allowed me to have a computer, they allowed me to have, you know, the screen reader. They allowed me to have time and a half to do the the exam. And so we're accommodating in that way. And so no real challenges there. You know, some hoops to jump through. But it got all worked out.   Michael Hingson ** 45:23 And even so, some of that came about because blind people actually had to go all the way to the Supreme Court. Yes, the bar to the Bar Association to recognize that those things needed to be that way,   Erin Edgar ** 45:37 absolutely. And so, you know, I was lucky to come into this at a time where that had already been kind of like pre done for me. I didn't have to deal with that as a challenge. And so the only other challenges I had, some of them, were mine, like, you know, who's going to want to hire this blind person? Had a little bit of, you know, kind of challenge there, with that mindset issue for a while there, and I did have some challenges when I was looking for employment after I'd worked for legal aid for a while, and I wanted to move on and do something else. And I knew I didn't want to work for a big, big firm, and I would, I was talking to some small law firms about hiring me, small to mid size firms. And I would get the question of, well, you're blind, so what kind of accommodations do you need? And we would talk about, you know, computer, special software to make a talk, you know, those kinds of things. And it always ended up that, you know, someone else was hired. And I can, you know, I don't have proof that the blindness and the hesitancy around hiring a disabled person or a blind person was in back of that decision. And at the same time, I had the sense that there was some hesitation there as well, so that, you know, was a bit of a challenge, and starting my own law firm was its own challenge, because I had to experiment with several different software systems to Find one that was accessible enough for me to use. And the system I'm thinking about in particular, I wouldn't use any other system, and yet, I'm using practically the most expensive estate planning drafting system out there, because it happens to be the most accessible. It's also the most expensive. Always that. There's always that. And what's it called? I'm curious. It's called wealth Council, okay, wealth. And then the word councils, Council, SEL, and it's wonderful. And the folks there are very responsive. If I say something's not accessible, I mean, they have fixed things for me in the past. Isn't that great? And complain, isn't that wonderful? It is wonderful. And that's, that's awesome. I had a CRM experience with a couple of different like legal CRM software. I used one for a while, and it was okay. But then, you know, everyone else said this other one was better and it was actually less accessible. So I went back to the previous one, you know. So I have to do a lot of my own testing, which is kind of a challenge in and of itself. I don't have people testing software for me. I have to experiment and test and in some cases, pay for something for a while before I realize it's not, you know, not worth it. But now I have those challenges pretty much ironed out. And I have a paralegal who helps me do some things that, like she proof reads my documents, for instance, because otherwise there may be formatting things that I'm not, that I miss. And so I have the ability to have cited assistance with things that I can't necessarily do myself, which is, you know, absolutely fine,   Michael Hingson ** 49:04 yeah. Now, do you use Lexus? Is it accessible?   Erin Edgar ** 49:08 I don't need Lexus, yeah, yeah. I mean, I have, I'm a member of the Bar Association, of my, my state bar association, which is not, not voluntary. It's mandatory. But I'm a member primarily because they have a search, a legal search engine that they work with that we get for free. I mean, with our members, there you go. So there you go. So I don't need Lexus or West Law or any of those other search engines for what I do. And if I was, like, really into litigation and going to court all time and really doing deep research, I would need that. But I don't. I can use the one that they have, that we can use so and it's, it's a entirely web based system. It's fairly accessible   Michael Hingson ** 49:58 well, and. That makes it easier to as long as you've got people's ears absolutely make it accessible, which makes a lot of sense.   Erin Edgar ** 50:08 Yeah, it certainly does well.   Michael Hingson ** 50:10 So do you regard yourself as a resilient person? Has blindness impacted that or helped make that kind of more the case for you? Do you think I do resilience is such an overused term, but it's fair. I know   Erin Edgar ** 50:24 I mean resilience is is to my mind, a resilient person is able to face uh, challenges with a relatively positive outlook in and view a challenge as something to be to be worked through rather than overcome, and so yes, I do believe that blindness, in and of itself, has allowed me to find ways to adapt to situations and pivot in cases where, you know, I need to find an alternative to using a mouse. For instance, how would I do that? And so in other areas of life, I am, you know, because I'm blind, I'm able to more easily pivot into finding alternative solutions. I do believe that that that it has made me more resilient.   Michael Hingson ** 51:25 Do you think that being blind has caused you, and this is an individual thing, because I think that there are those who don't. But do you think that it's caused you to learn to listen better?   Erin Edgar ** 51:39 That's a good question, because I actually, I have a lot of sighted friends, and one of the things that people just assume is that, wow, you must be a really good listener. Well, my husband would tell you that's not always the case. Yeah. My wife said the same thing, yeah. You know, like everyone else, sometimes I hear what I want to hear in a conversation and at the same time, one of the things that I do tell people is that, because I'm blind, I do rely on other senses more, primarily hearing, I would say, and that hearing provides a lot of cues for me about my environment, and I've learned to be more skillful at it. So I, I would say that, yes, I am a good listener in terms of my environment, very sensitive to that in in my environment, in terms of active listening to conversations and being able to listen to what's behind what people say, which is another aspect of listening. I think that that is a skill that I've developed over time with conscious effort. I don't think I'm any better of a quote, unquote listener than anybody else. If I hadn't developed that primarily in in my mediation, when I was doing that, that was a huge thing for us, was to be able to listen, not actually to what people were saying, but what was behind what people were saying, right? And so I really consciously developed that skill during those years and took it with me into my legal practice, which is why I am very, very why I very much stress that I'm not only an attorney, but I'm also a counselor at law. That doesn't mean I'm a therapist, but it does mean I listen to what people say so that and what's behind what people say, so that with the ear towards providing them the legal solution that meets their needs as they describe them in their words.   Michael Hingson ** 53:47 Well, I think for me, I learned to listen, but it but it is an exercise, and it is something that you need to practice, and maybe I learned to do it a little bit better, because I was blind. For example, I learned to ride a bike, and you have to learn to listen to what's going on around you so you don't crash into cars. Oh, but I'd fall on my face. You can do it. But what I what I really did was, when I was I was working at a company, and was told that the job was going to be phased out because I wasn't a revenue producer, and the company was an engineering startup and had to bring in more revenue producers. And I was given the choice of going away or going into sales, which I had never done. And as I love to tell people, I lowered my standards and went from science to sales. But the reality is that that I think I've always and I think we all always sell in one way or another, but I also knew what the unemployment rate among employable blind people was and is, yeah, and so I went into sales with with no qualms. But there I really learned to listen. And and it was really a matter of of learning to commit, not just listen, but really learning to communicate with the people you work with. And I think that that I won't say blindness made me better, but what it did for me was it made me use the technologies like the telephone, perhaps more than some other people. And I did learn to listen better because I worked at it, not because I was blind, although they're related   Erin Edgar ** 55:30 exactly. Yeah, and I would say, I would 100% agree I worked at it. I mean, even when I was a child, I worked at listening to to become better at, kind of like analyzing my environment based on sounds that were in it. Yeah, I wouldn't have known. I mean, it's not a natural gift, as some people assume, yeah, it's something you practice and you have to work at. You get to work at.   Michael Hingson ** 55:55 Well, as I point out, there are people like SEAL Team Six, the Navy Seals and the Army Rangers and so on, who also practice using all of their senses, and they learn, in general, to become better at listening and other and other kinds of skills, because they have to to survive, but, but that's what we all do, is if we do it, right, we're learning it. It's not something that's just naturally there, right? I agree, which I think is important. So you're working in a lot of estate planning and so on. And I mentioned earlier that we it was back in 1995 we originally got one, and then it's now been updated, but we have a trust. What's the difference between having, like a trust and a will?   Erin Edgar ** 56:40 Well, that's interesting that you should ask. So A will is the minimum that pretty much, I would say everyone needs, even though 67% of people don't have one in the US. And it is pretty much what everyone needs. And it basically says, you know, I'm a, I'm a person of sound mind, and I know who is important to me and what I have that's important to me. And I wanted to go to these people who are important to me, and by the way, I want this other person to manage things after my death. They're also important to me and a trust, basically, there are multiple different kinds of trusts, huge numbers of different kinds. And the trust that you probably are referring to takes the will to kind of another level and provides more direction about about how to handle property and how how it's to be dealt with, not only after death, but also during your lifetime. And trusts are relatively most of them, like I said, there are different kinds, but they can be relatively flexible, and you can give more direction about how to handle that property than you can in a will, like, for instance, if you made an estate plan and your kids were young, well, I don't want my children to have access to this property until they're responsible adults. So maybe saying, in a trust until they're age 25 you can do that, whereas in a will, you it's more difficult to do that.   Michael Hingson ** 58:18 And a will, as I understand it, is a lot more easily contested than than a trust.   Erin Edgar ** 58:24 You know, it does depend, but yes, it is easily contested. That's not to say that if you have a trust, you don't need a will, which is a misconception that some, yeah, we have a will in our trust, right? And so, you know, you need the will for the court. Not everyone needs a trust. I would also venture to say that if you don't have a will on your death, the law has ideas about how your property should be distributed. So if you don't have a will, you know your property is not automatically going to go to the government as unclaimed, but if you don't have powers of attorney for your health care and your finance to help you out while you're alive, you run the risk of the A judge appointing someone you would not want to make your health care and financial decisions. And so I'm going to go off on a tangent here. But I do feel very strongly about this, even blind people who and disabled people who are, what did you call it earlier, the the employable blind community, but maybe they're not employed. They don't have a lot of   Michael Hingson ** 59:34 unemployed, unemployed, the unemployable blind people, employable   Erin Edgar ** 59:38 blind people, yes, you know, maybe they're not employed, they're on a government benefit. They don't have a lot of assets. Maybe they don't necessarily need that will. They don't have to have it. And at the same time, if they don't have those, those documents that allow people to manage their affairs during their lifetime. Um, who's going to do it? Yeah, who's going to do that? Yeah, you're giving up control of your body, right, potentially, to someone you would not want, just because you're thinking to yourself, well, I don't need a will, and nothing's going to happen to me. You're giving control of your body, perhaps, to someone you don't want. You're not taking charge of your life and and you are allowing doctors and hospitals and banks to perpetuate the belief that you are not an independent person, right? I'm very passionate about it. Excuse me, I'll get off my soapbox now. That's okay. Those are and and to a large extent, those power of attorney forms are free. You can download them from your state's website. Um, they're minimalistic. They're definitely, I don't use them because I don't like them for my state. But you can get you can use them, and you can have someone help you fill them out. You could sign them, and then look, you've made a decision about who's going to help you when you're not able to help yourself,   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:07 which is extremely important to do. And as I mentioned, we went all the way and have a trust, and we funded the trust, and everything is in the trust. But I think that is a better way to keep everything protected, and it does provide so much more direction for whoever becomes involved, when, when you decide to go elsewhere, then, as they put it, this mortal coil. Yes, I assume that the coil is mortal. I don't know.   Erin Edgar ** 1:01:37 Yeah, who knows? Um, and you know trusts are good for they're not just for the Uber wealthy, which is another misconception. Trust do some really good things. They keep your situation, they keep everything more or less private, like, you know, I said you need a will for the court. Well, the court has the will, and it most of the time. If you have a trust, it just says, I want it to go, I want my stuff to go into the Michael hingson Trust. I'm making that up, by the way, and I, you know, my trust just deals with the distribution, yeah, and so stuff doesn't get held up in court. The court doesn't have to know about all the assets that you own. It's not all public record. And that's a huge, you know, some people care. They don't want everyone to know their business. And when I tell people, you know, I can go on E courts today and pull up the estate of anyone that I want in North Carolina and find out what they owned if they didn't have a will, or if they just had a will. And people like, really, you can do that? Oh, absolutely, yeah. I don't need any fancy credentials. It's all a matter of public record. And if you have a trust that does not get put into the court record unless it's litigated, which you know, it does happen, but not often,   Michael Hingson ** 1:02:56 but I but again, I think that, you know, yeah, and I'm not one of those Uber wealthy people. But I have a house. We we used to have a wheelchair accessible van for Karen. I still have a car so that when I need to be driven somewhere, rather than using somebody else's vehicle, we use this and those are probably the two biggest assets, although I have a bank account with with some in it, not a lot, not nearly as much as Jack Benny, anyway. But anyway, the bottom line is, yeah, but the bottom line is that I think that the trust keeps everything a lot cleaner. And it makes perfect sense. Yep, it does. And I didn't even have to go to my general law firm that I usually use. Do we cheat them? Good, and how so it worked out really well. Hey, I watched the Marx Brothers. What can I say?   Erin Edgar ** 1:03:45 You watch the Marx Brothers? Of course.   Michael Hingson ** 1:03:49 Well, I want to thank you for being here. This has been a lot of fun, and I'm glad that we did it and that we also got to talk about the whole issue of wills and trusts and so on, which is, I think, important. So any last things that you'd like to say to people, and also, do you work with clients across the country or just in North Carolina?   Erin Edgar ** 1:04:06 So I work with clients in North Carolina, I will say that. And one last thing that I would like to say to people is that it's really important to build your support team. Whether you're blind, you know, have another disability, you need people to help you out on a day to day basis, or you decide that you want people to help you out. If you're unable to manage your affairs at some point in your life, it's very important to build that support team around you, and there is nothing wrong. You can be self reliant and still have people on your team yes to to be there for you, and that is very important. And there's absolutely no shame, and you're not relinquishing your independence by doing that. That. So today, I encourage everyone to start thinking about who's on your team. Do you want them on your team? Do you want different people on your team? And create a support team? However that looks like, whatever that looks like for you, that has people on it that you know, love and trust,   Michael Hingson ** 1:05:18 everybody should have a support team. I think there is no question, at least in my mind, about that. So good point. Well, if people want to maybe reach out to you, how do they do that?   Erin Edgar ** 1:05:29 Sure, so I am on the interwebs at Erin Edgar legal.com that's my website where you can learn more about my law firm and all the things that I do,   Michael Hingson ** 1:05:42 and Erin is E r i n, just Yes, say that Edgar, and   Erin Edgar ** 1:05:45 Edgar is like Edgar. Allan Poe, hopefully less scary, and you can find the contact information for me on the website. By Facebook, you can find me on Facebook occasionally as Erin Baker, Edgar, three separate words, that is my personal profile, or you can and Michael will have in the show notes the company page for my welcome as   Michael Hingson ** 1:06:11 well. Yeah. Well, thank you for being here, and I want to thank all of you for listening. This has been a fun episode. It's been great to have Erin on, love to hear your thoughts out there who have been listening to this today. Please let us know what you think. You're welcome to email me at Michael H i@accessibe.com M, I, C, H, A, E, L, H i at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, i, b, e.com, or go to our podcast page, www, dot Michael hingson.com/podcast, I wherever you're listening, please give us a five star rating. We really appreciate getting good ratings from people and reading and getting to know what you think. If you know anyone who you think might be a good guest, you know some people you think ought to come on unstoppable mindset. Erin, of course, you as well. We would appreciate it if you'd give us an introduction, because we're always looking for more people to have come on and help us show everyone that we're all more unstoppable than we think we are, and that's really what it's all about, and what we want to do on the podcast. So hope that you'll all do that, and in the meanwhile, with all that, Erin, I want to thank you once more for being here and being with us today. This has been a lot of fun. Thank you so much,   Erin Edgar ** 1:07:27 Michael. I very much enjoyed it.   Michael Hingson ** 1:07:34 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite

In this final episode of the FTS season, I'm taking a fresh, dramatic look at the state of AD. It's an artistic exploration of how audio description went from a promising, groundbreaking career path to something threatened by AI and text-to-speech. To do this, we're taking on the true crime genre, but the case is about Audio Description itself. Follow or subscribe wherever you get podcasts. Transcripts available at ReidMyMind.com. FB/IG @ReidMyMindRadio

We are excited to talk to broadcast presenter, columnist, host, speaker, and now actor, Jennie Bovard. She stars in and is an associate producer for the scripted comedy series Pretty Blind on AMI. She is also the creator & host of the Low Vision Moments podcast, where she discusses her experiences with albinism and low vision. On today's episode, we talk about how Jennie developed the show based on the experiences she shared on her podcast. We also discuss albinism and low vision and what Jennie would love to see represented more on film and television – obviously, our favorite subject! Contact us: BraaainsPodcast.com Follow: @BraaainsPodcast Music: @_Deppisch_ Support this show: Patreon.com/BraaainsPodcast

Envision's Level Up program is more than a summer camp—it's a launching pad for blind and visually impaired students stepping into independence, college, and careers. Since 2006, Level Up has combined skill-building with hands-on experiences that prepare students for life beyond high school. From technology training to culinary arts, engineering, health careers, and team-building, every activity is designed to spark curiosity and confidence. Students live in college dorms, gaining valuable independence while connecting with peers who truly understand their journey. Parents and teachers see firsthand how the program strengthens self-advocacy, resilience, and readiness for the future. With mentorship from successful blind professionals and guidance on career and college pathways, students leave empowered to connect, engage, and act on their dreams. Whether it's their first year or a return visit, Level Up helps each student discover new strengths, friendships, and opportunities to thrive.   Be sure to check out the video mentioned in this episode and to find out more about Level Up and what Envision has to offer, check them out on the web at Envision Level Up.   Other Podcasts of interests:   From Confidence to Career: Explore Summer with the LEAP Program   Come Sail Away or Kick Into Confidence: Summer Camps That Empower at Lighthouse Center for Vital Living   From Classroom to Career: Vanward Consulting is Reshaping How Blind and Low Vision Youth Prepare for College, Careers, and Life   To find out more about the services provided at State Services for the Blind, and what they can do for you, contact Shane DeSantis at shane.desantis@state.mn.us or call Shane at 651-385-5205.   Full Transcript  

In the first of a four-part podcast collaboration between HiNZ and Blind Low Vision NZ, digital accessibility consultant Neil Jarvis discuss the critical issue of accessibility in healthcare for Blind and Low Vision people and the current mixed state of accessibility within the healthcare system. His personal experiences reveal significant gaps in accessibility, the importance of providing information in preferred formats, and the need for systemic changes and national policies to ensure equitable access to healthcare services. Neil's vision is for an inclusive healthcare experience that respects the dignity and autonomy of all patients. 

They offer real-time text recognition, scene descriptions, facial recognition and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gugs Mhlungu speaks to Dr Helga Abrahamse-Pillay, President of the South African Society for Paediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, about the varying degrees of blindness, the underlying causes of these conditions and the available treatments for types of vision loss. 702 Weekend Breakfast with Gugs Mhlungu is broadcast on 702, a Johannesburg based talk radio station, on Saturdays and Sundays Gugs Mhlungu gets you ready for the weekend each Saturday and Sunday morning on 702. She is your weekend wake-up companion, with all you need to know for your weekend. The topics Gugs covers range from lifestyle, family, health, and fitness to books, motoring, cooking, culture, and what is happening on the weekend in 702land. Thank you for listening to a podcast from 702 Weekend Breakfast with Gugs Mhlungu. Listen live on Primedia+ on Saturdays and Sundays from 06:00 and 10:00 (SA Time) to Weekend Breakfast with Gugs Mhlungu broadcast on 702 https://buff.ly/gk3y0Kj For more from the show go to https://buff.ly/u3Sf7Zy or find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/BIXS7AL Subscribe to the 702 daily and weekly newsletters https://buff.ly/v5mfetc Follow us on social media: 702 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TalkRadio702 702 on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@talkradio702 702 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkradio702/ 702 on X: https://x.com/Radio702 702 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@radio702 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Learn how to navigate Amazon Kindle with JAWS for Windows. This episode covers opening the Kindle for PC app, managing your library, using search and filters, downloading books, and reading content with JAWS commands. Plus, discover tips for using the Kindle Store, syncing devices, and creating a smoother reading experience with both speech and Braille.

:People with low vison are encountering problems at the tills if the payment machines don't have raised butoons or voice activated features which means they will have to rely on someone to enter their pin numbers which opens the door for them to be scammed. Jennifer Webster , independence coach, low-vision awareness consultant joins Zain for more on this issue. Views and News with Clarence Ford is the mid-morning show on CapeTalk. This 3-hour long programme shares and reflects a broad array of perspectives. It is inspirational, passionate and positive. Host Clarence Ford’s gentle curiosity and dapper demeanour leave listeners feeling motivated and empowered. Known for his love of jazz and golf, Clarrie covers a range of themes including relationships, heritage and philosophy. Popular segments include Barbs’ Wire at 9:30am (Mon-Thurs) and The Naked Scientist at 9:30 on Fridays. Thank you for listening to a podcast from Views & News with Clarence Ford Listen live on Primedia+ weekdays between 09:00 and 12:00 (SA Time) to Views and News with Clarence Ford broadcast on CapeTalk https://buff.ly/NnFM3Nk For more from the show go to https://buff.ly/erjiQj2 or find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/BdpaXRn Subscribe to the CapeTalk Daily and Weekly Newsletters https://buff.ly/sbvVZD5 Follow us on social media: CapeTalk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@capetalk CapeTalk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ CapeTalk on X: https://x.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CapeTalk567 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode we're diving deep into the creative possibilities of audio description with Blind Composer , Kemal Gorey. Hear about: - "Blending in" - The impact of his first time on stage as a boy - His personal experience with audio description  ... and how all of this lead to the opportunity for Kemal to score a silent film entirely based on its audio description.   Follow or subscribe wherever you get podcasts. Transcripts available at ReidMyMind.com. FB/IG @ReidMyMindRadio

On this episode of The Vergecast, we're going to dive deep into why accessible design is universal design. First, guest host Victoria Song will chat with Jason Valley, a visually impaired Verge reader. Jason initially reached out to Victoria after her Live AI hands-on, challenging the notion that the feature was a “solution looking for a problem to solve.” Jason shares how the tech has helped him live a more independent life, what he's hoping to see improve, and how the blind and low-vision community has enthusiastically embraced the technology. After that, Victoria sits down with Be My Eyes CEO Mike Buckley. Be My Eyes is an app that pairs blind and low-vision users with sighted volunteers to help them go about their day. Buckley gives his thoughts about how accessible tech design benefits everyone, why smart glasses and AI are a natural combo, and what challenges and opportunities in this space remain. And finally, we have features reporter Mia Sato on to answer a spicy question about smart glasses from the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email vergecast@theverge.com). Specifically, do smart glasses belong in the bedroom? Further reading: Live AI on Meta's smart glasses is a solution looking for a problem Meta's smart glasses can now describe what you're seeing in more detail The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses actually make the future look cool Be My Eyes AI offers GPT-4-powered support for blind Microsoft customers The principles of wearable etiquette Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, we highlight the newest features and enhancements in JAWS, ZoomText, and Fusion A key update across all three products is support for time-based Software Maintenance Agreements (SMAs), which let users run any version of the software released within their SMA period—offering more flexibility for perpetual license holders. For JAWS and Fusion users, a brand-new Label Manager simplifies managing custom labels for inaccessible web elements. The AI Labeler also gets smarter—suggesting and saving updated labels automatically. Spanish-speaking users benefit from MathCAT, now the default math interaction tool, offering better speech and Braille support for math content. Fusion's Live Text View now supports Navigation Quick Keys, enabling faster navigation through web pages, documents, PDFs, and emails. ZoomText and Fusion users can also try out DirectX 11 support through the Early Adopter Program, bringing improved performance, better multi-monitor support, and reduced resource usage. For ZoomText users specifically, this release brings improved compatibility with Google Docs, more accurate behavior in Outlook, and smoother cursor tracking in web and document environments. Additional updates improve AppReader, Reading Zones, and magnification stability. We also cover wide-ranging fixes and enhancements across Google Suite, Office apps, Braille displays, Visual Studio Code, and more. Whether you're a screen reader user, a magnification user, or both—this update delivers meaningful performance improvements and accessibility enhancements across the board.

Nog steeds vanop SightCity in Frankfurt namen we voor onze slechtziende vrienden een kijkje bij twee interessante bedrijven. De EyesReality-bril van het Franse CFLOU laat anderen zien hoe jij de wereld ervaart: ideaal om begrip te creëren bij mensen om je heen. Bij Ablecon ontwikkelden ze een camerasysteem waarmee je eenvoudig kunt inzoomen op je […] Het bericht SightCity beurs 2025: low vision verscheen eerst op Tech Touch Podcast.

Reinecker Vision zeigte in Frankfurt gleich zwei neue Produkte für sehbehinderte Menschen: Das Topolino Pad verwandelt ein vorhandenes iPad in ein vollwertiges Bildschirmlesegerät – inklusive Raum- und Lesekamera. Die passende App lässt sich einfach über den App Store laden, ältere und neue iPads sind gleichermaßen kompatibel. Besonders für Schulen mit bestehenden iPad-Systemen ist das eine flexible und kostengünstige Lösung. Zweite Neuheit am Stand: das Mano Pro, ein tragbares Bildschirmlesegerät mit großem 17,3-Zoll-Touchscreen und Anschlussmöglichkeit für Android- und Apple-Smartphones. Inhalte vom Smartphone lassen sich auf dem großen Bildschirm nicht nur vergrößern und farblich anpassen, sondern auch direkt streamen und über Lautsprecher ausgeben – eine Kombination aus klassischem Lesegerät und Medienzentrale. Die Möglichkeiten gerade der Schul- und Arbeitsplatzausstattung sind vielfältig - Beratung und Tests sind um so wichtiger. Diese erfolgen Am besten mit Termin in einer der bundesweiten Filialen oder direkt vor Ort mit einem Außendienstmitarbeiter.

What if audio was your only signal of trust in a digital world saturated with AI?   In this compelling episode of The ADNA Presents, I spoke with Dr. Tanusree Sharma-assistant professor at Penn State and researcher at the intersection of AI, security, and digital authenticity.   We explored how audio description (AD)-originally designed to make media accessible to blind and low vision audiences-is evolving into a critical signal of trust for everyone. From anime to e-learning, from synthetic voice to stolen identity, this conversation dives deep into what it means to create ethical, empathetic, and secure systems in an AI-saturated ecosystem.   Dr. Sharma's insights for AI leaders are clear:   - How to treat audio when developing AI   - What AI system designs should include   - Who to recognize as pioneers in media literacy   If you work in voice tech, AI policy, or digital storytelling, this episode is a must.

Learn how to save time and edit documents more efficiently using the Find and Replace feature in Microsoft Word with JAWS. In this episode, Ron Miller walks you through practical examples—from replacing single and multiple words, to inserting special characters like ñ, to using the built-in thesaurus to find the perfect synonym. You'll also discover handy JAWS tips like using the clipboard viewer and jumping to specific pages in long documents. Whether you're a student, professional, or just want to sharpen your editing skills, this episode offers step-by-step guidance to boost your productivity with JAWS.

Steven and Shaun return to the inbox with tech frustrations, personal updates, and listener messages on future AI, smart mobility devices, and sunglasses for blind users. From garden mishaps to thoughtful reflections on accessibility, it's one of those episodes that somehow works—warts and all.This episode is supported by Pneuma Solutions. Creators of accessible tools like Remote Incident Manager and Scribe. Get $20 off with code dt20 at https://pneumasolutions.com/ and enter to win a free subscription at doubletaponair.com/subscribe!In this episode of Double Tap, Steven and Shaun dig into listener feedback while navigating everything from technical hiccups to health annoyances. Steven shares the chaotic behind-the-scenes story of reviewing the Synapptic Smartwatch—complete with dead batteries and dying phones. Meanwhile, Shaun recounts his heroic (if slightly painful) attempt at DIY gardening.Listeners weigh in on emerging AI tech, with comparisons to the film Her, and the potential—and risks—of operating systems that rely solely on voice input. Marc in Montreal and Steven reflect on the Glide device as a supplement, not a replacement, for traditional mobility tools like canes and guide dogs. The episode closes with a deeper discussion about "useless vision," blind identity, and the challenges of partially sighted education.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:25 - Steven's still ill… and still complaining about it13:22 - Listener Chris on the future of AI wearable devices22:47 - Listener Marc really wants a Glide mobility aid29:48 - Sponsor: Pneuma Solutions30:42 - Get your ad on the show!31:43 - Listener Peter on AirTags and AirTag holders for use with dogs32:52 - Listener Dean on Shaun's noises and Meta AI50:58 - Listener Ryan on teaching screen readers54:25 - Listener Negative Julian is back to prove his Android phone is updatedRelevant LinksSynapptic Smartwatch: https://www.synapptic.comGlide Mobility Device: https://www.glidance.ioDolphin SuperNova: https://www.yourdolphin.com Find Double Tap online: YouTube, Double Tap Website---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/linkedin Subscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://www.doubletaponair.com/appleSpotify: https://www.doubletaponair.com/spotifyRSS: https://www.doubletaponair.com/podcastiHeadRadio: https://www.doubletaponair.com/iheart About 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.

Navigating Visual Sequela Progression due to TBI THE INTERVIEW Mike Corrado discovered the power of music while serving in the U.S. Marine Corps. Music offers the power to heal, honor the fallen and inspire. He has seen firsthand how teaching songwriting to amputees helps them heal and move forward. Corrado talks about his lifelong love of music, its power to heal, his singer/songwriter retreats for veterans and more. SCUTTLEBUTT The moment 250 years ago today, June 17, when General William Prescott uttered the famous line, “Don't one of you fire until you see the whites of their eyes!” An update to the Veterans Legacy Memorial's online project A “not friendly” macaque that is terrorizing military bases Special Guest: Mike Corrado.

Steven Scott, Shaun Preece, Shelly Brisbin, and Carrie Morales break down Apple's WWDC 2025. From Apple Intelligence to the controversial “liquid glass” design, they dive deep into what works, what doesn't, and what it means for accessibility.In this WWDC 2025 roundtable, Steven, Shaun, Shelly, and Carrie share their unfiltered reactions to Apple's latest announcements. Shelly and Carrie provide low vision perspectives on the new "liquid glass" design, raising accessibility concerns. The team critiques Apple Intelligence, comparing it to Gemini and other AI models, and questions its real-world impact.They also explore major OS updates including iOS 26, macOS Tahoe, and iPadOS enhancements like native window support. Features such as hold assist, live translation, visual intelligence, and workout AI on Apple Watch spark lively debate about functionality and user experience. Shelly also highlights accessibility challenges likely to emerge with dynamic UI elements.Chapters00:00 - Introduction01:58 - Expectations Ahead Of WWDC03:05 - What Is WWDC?03:40 - All Apple's Operating Systems Are Now Version 2608:28 - Let's Talk About Apple Intelligence14:25 - New Liquid Glass Design For Devices24:59 - Visual Intelligence Gets New Features28:29 - Sponsor: Hable One Discount Offer Only On Double Tap29:52 - Let's Talk About iOS 2639:21 - Updates To Watch OS 2646:42 - TV OS 26 Gets Updated48:03 - Mac OS 26 Gets Lots Of Updates53:50 - iPad OS 26 Gets Major UpdatesRelevant LinksApple WWDC 2025: https://developer.apple.com/wwdc25Speechify App: https://speechify.comLand of Livia Game: https://www.landoflivia.comHumanWare Stellar Trek: https://www.humanware.com Find Double Tap online: YouTube, Double Tap Website---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/linkedin Subscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://www.doubletaponair.com/appleSpotify: https://www.doubletaponair.com/spotifyRSS: https://www.doubletaponair.com/podcastiHeadRadio: https://www.doubletaponair.com/iheart About 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.

The ACB convention is rapidly approaching and we thought it might be fun to invite a few of ACB'S special interest affiliates to tell folks about what they have planned for the convention and other things they are doing. It is our plan to have the Braille Revival League, Library Users of America, Families and the Council of Citizens with Low Vision. Remember our convention extends over two weeks. The first week includes virtual presentations. The second week we will be in a hybrid situation in Dallas Texas. We will hear about planned presentations from these groups and, later in the program, if other special interest folks are there, we will give them a chance to tell us what they are doing! Library Users, the Braille Revival League, Families and CCLVI all have virtual and hybrid events that deserve your attention. If you register for special interest affiliates at convention some are offering door prizes. If you have already registered you can go back and add with no penalty! Find out more at https://acb-tuesday-topics.pinecast.co

Expanding Market Reach Through the Power of Disability in the Workplace Mike Hess of Blind Institute of Technology highlights the significance of AD expanding market share for movies and other digital content. He emphasize that the market for people with disabilities is substantial, amounting to trillions globally, and that including AD can attract a larger audience.

Whether you're new to Windows 11 or upgrading soon, this episode offers ten essential tips for navigating the new environment using JAWS. Join Liz and Rachel as they demonstrate how to manage notifications, set focus sessions, access system settings, create desktop shortcuts, pin apps to the Start menu, and more. You'll also learn how to use File Explorer's updated toolbar, change default applications, and manage running tasks efficiently. This episode is packed with practical guidance to help screen reader users feel confident in Windows 11.

Panelists: Brian Norton, Josh Anderson, Belva Smith Q1. Personal Voice on iOS, Q2. Mobile Voice access for verbal processing challenges, Q3. Rayban Meta Smart Glasses, Q4. Apps for Low vision, Q5. Wildcard: How do you see AI helping with assistive tech?

In Episode 135 of White Canes Connect, hosts Lisa Bryant and David Goldstein welcome Martha Steele and Natanya Sortland to spotlight the inaugural Blind Birders Birdathon happening May 18, 2025. This nationwide event invites blind and visually impaired individuals to identify birds by sound during a flexible two-hour window within a 24-hour period. No birding experience required—just a love of listening. Martha, a lifelong birder from Massachusetts, was inspired by an article about a blind bird guide and helped launch the event to build community and highlight that birding is, above all, an auditory experience. Natanya, an ambassador for VisionCorps and a self-described "bird-loving beginner," is leading a group walk in Malvern, PA at Brightside Farm, with expert Rick Kaiser guiding participants through the art of bird song recognition. Supported by Birdability and fueled by grassroots passion, the Birdathon already has 160+ registered participants. Everyone who registers is eligible for a prize drawing that includes birding gear, books, and even a guided birding tour. The event is open to anyone blind or low vision—and yes, even sighted allies are welcome to join the fun. Register at https://www.birdability.org/blind-birder-birdathon and be part of this first-of-its-kind movement. Show notes at https://www.whitecanesconnect.com/135         Links Mentioned Want to join Natanya's group in Malvern on May 18? Reach out to her at natanyasortland@gmail.com. Have questions about the Birdathon? Contact Martha at marthajs@gmail.com. Attend Spring Fling Blind Vendor Showcase: https://www.pablindmerchants.org/fling/  Exhibit at Spring Fling (sorry, blind & low vision vendors only): https://www.pablindmerchants.org/exhibit/  Sponsor the Spring Fling Blind Vendor Showcase: https://www.pablindmerchants.org/sponsor/  Have you checked out Federation Focus yet? https://www.youtube.com/@nfbofpa/  An Easy Way to Help the NFB of PA Support the NFB of PA with every purchase at White Cane Coffee Company by going to https://www.whitecanecoffee.com/ref/nfbp. When you use that link to purchase from White Cane Coffee, the NFB of PA earns a 10% commission! Share the link with your family and friends! Listen to Erin and Bob Willman from White Cane Coffee on episode 072 of White Canes Connect. Donate to the NFB of PA Like what you hear on White Canes Connect? Support us and donate to the National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania, visit https://www.NFBofPA.org/give/. We Want to Hear Your Story Reach out with questions and comments, or share ideas! We want to hear from you. Call us at (267) 338-4495 or at whitecanesconnect@gmail.com. Follow White Canes Connect Find out why White Canes Connect is currently ranked at #13 of the 100 Best Visually Impaired Podcast. Find the show on: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/white-canes-connect/id1592248709  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1YDQSJqpoteGb1UMPwRSuI  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@pablindpodcast 

Founded by Gary Horton and joined by technical specialist Bahz, Vanward Consulting offers immersive, skill-building programs like *Lean In* and *Lean In Prep*. These initiatives go beyond job training—empowering students through entrepreneurship, real-world work experience, mentorship, and confidence-building “life work” that lasts well beyond the classroom. With a focus on virtual accessibility, teamwork, and practical tech fluency, Vanward Consulting helps students discover their strengths, build professional networks, and shape their futures with purpose and resilience. It's a hands-on launchpad to independence, inclusion, and impact.   Here are the links we mentioned during the show: Information about the Lean In! program:   Lean In! Prep program details:     The Lean In! Prep Store:     College tour Interest Form:     Full Transcript:   To learn more about the services available through State Services for the Blind and how they can support your independence, contact Shane DeSantis at Shane.DeSantis@state.mn.us or call 651-385-5205.  

On today's show, Wellness Coach Frances Wong joins us to talk about something that everyone does every day, whether they do it loudly and proudly at home or are more discreet about it in public and that is… farting. Trade tensions got you nervous? Kevin Shaw joins us to share some smart and surprising Canadian tools, programs, and platforms that can help entrepreneurs keep their businesses strong and self-reliant.And grab your handkerchiefs because pollen counts are higher than ever this spring. Jennie Bovard guides us on surviving the worst of allergy season. Find Kelly & Company on YouTube!About AMIAMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.Find more great AMI Original Content on AMI+Learn more at AMI.caConnect with Accessible Media Inc. online:X /Twitter @AccessibleMediaInstagram @AccessibleMediaInc / @AMI-audioFacebook at @AccessibleMediaIncTikTok @AccessibleMediaIncEmail feedback@ami.ca

In this episode, we explore how to effectively manage your browsing history in Google Chrome using JAWS. Learn how to access, navigate, and search your browser history, as well as how to delete it selectively using advanced settings. We also dive into browser history display quirks, explain how to use table navigation and link lists with JAWS, and demonstrate how to search directly from the Chrome address bar. Plus, get an introduction to Chrome extensions that enhance history management, including how to install, manage, and toggle them. Whether you're cleaning up your digital trail or just trying to find that one page you visited last week, this episode has the tools and tips you need.

In this edition of Hoopsology, Justin and Allan are joined by Growth and Sports Partnerships Lead Alexa Garay and Jerred Mace CEO and Lead Designer at OneCourt. OneCourt is making live sports more accessible to fans with Blindness or Low Vision. They've worked with the Blind and Low Vision community to design a haptic device that conveys hard-to-describe details through spatial vibration and generative audio. Alexa and Jerred share how their device is making the NBA accessible to all fans and how they plan to make their devices accessible to low-vision fans everywhere. Podcast Person? Subscribe here: https://open.spotify.com/show/2sIa6O4u4TnIBSygXu9qDm?si=acff6d3796a14c9a Or search “Hoopsology” anywhere else you listen to podcasts! Join the conversation! Twitter: https://twitter.com/hoopsologypod Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Hoopsologypod/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/hoopsologypod/ Email: Hoopsologypod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of 20 Minute Tech Tips, Liz demonstrates how to use the JAWS Text Analyzer to proofread documents more effectively. Learn how to detect and correct common inconsistencies like double spaces, stray punctuation, unmatched parentheses, and formatting issues when working in Microsoft Word. Liz walks through enabling and customizing Text Analyzer settings, using quick keyboard commands to navigate errors, and applying Text Analyzer to finalize documents and blog posts. Plus, discover how to toggle the feature on and off for a streamlined proofreading experience. Stay tuned at the end for updates about the Insert J Club and upcoming Freedom Scientific training events!

In this exciting episode of ADNA Presents, host Roy Samuelson welcomes Lee Pugsley and Alex Howard from the Dark Room Podcast. Lee Pugsley, a visually impaired actor, producer, writer, and director, shares his passion for storytelling and accessibility in media. Alex Howard, an accessibility consultant and co-host of the Dark Room podcast, joins the conversation to discuss the importance of AD. They delve into their love for AD, the reasons behind starting their podcast, and the gaps in understanding and quality within audio description. They also touch upon their positive and negative experiences with feedback from the industry, and envision a future where audio description is universally present. Tune in for an enlightening discussion that also covers their personal wishlist for the future of audio description and how you can advocate for better accessibility in media.

CCLVI is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and a Special Interest Affiliate of the American Council of the Blind. We are an international nonprofit organization and community of individuals who understand low vision needs and experiences. CCLVI is here to provide support, resources, education, and advocacy for those who are impacted by low vision and visual impairment. From publications, to live Zoom calls, online resources, and conferences. Discover what we have to offer you. https://cclvi.info/

** My new book, Paws for Thought (second edition) is now available. Get your copy at https://www.loisstrachan.com/shop/#acc-content In today's episode, Lois chats with Dr Lionel Smith, a medical doctor who was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) at the age of 60. Despite his diagnosis, he continued to work in the medical field. During the conversation, Lionel describes his life both before and after his diagnosis, explaining how he was able to continue making a significant impact on the medical field in South Africa despite his deteriorating eyesight. He also talks about the challenges he is facing now that his RP has progressed. *Note from Lois: This episode is dedicated to the memory of Dr Lionel Smith, who passed away shortly before the interview was published. Image description: A middle-aged man wearing a light blue shirt. He has glasses resting on his short gray hair. The background of the image is out of focus, emphasizing the man's face. I'd love to hear from you – contact me at Web: https://www.loisstrachan.com/ LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/lstrachan Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/loisstrachanspeaker This episode edited by Craig Strachan using Hindenburg PRO – find out more on Hindenburg.com Credits and music by Charlie Dyasi.

Following on from the RNIB Inclusive Design for sustainability Conference in Glasgow a number of Chief Executives from blind and partially sighted organisations who were attending the conference met up with RNIB Chief Executive Matt Stringer to discuss topics that visually impaired people face across the world.  RNIB connect Radio's Toby Davey caught up with Andrea Midgen, CEO, Blind Low Vision New Zealand to find out more about the issues that blind and partially sighted people are facing in New Zealand. (Image shows RNIB logo. 'RNIB' written in black capital letters over a white background and underlined with a bold pink line, with the words 'See differently' underneath)

Guide Dogs Victoria CEO Nicky Long joined Ross and Russel in the studio. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New for 2025! On The ADNA Presents podcast, host Roy Samuelson dives deep into the heart of disability inclusion in the workplace with two powerhouse guests: Melody Goodspeed and Mindy May. Melody, Associate Director of Development at the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), shares how authentic storytelling and connection can inspire donors and corporations to invest in accessibility, not as charity, but as a strategic advantage. She sheds light on the damaging impact of outdated perceptions of blindness and challenges companies to reframe inclusion as a pathway to excellence and innovation. Mindy, a certified career coach and HR strategist, reveals how bias still blocks opportunities for disabled professionals, and what leaders can do about it. From inclusive hiring practices to mentorship and accessible tech, she outlines actionable steps companies can take to create workplaces where everyone can flourish.   Together, they explore how accessibility benefits us all, with real-world examples like curb cuts and closed captions - and how small, intentional shifts can transform company culture, boost retention, and spark meaningful engagement. They also discuss the surprising value of integrating audio description into workplace settings as a tool for deeper inclusion.   Their message? Start small, lead with empathy, and let connection drive change.

The Evolution and Nuances of Audio Description: A Conversation with Samuel Wilkins How does audio description differ between the US and the UK? How is it evolving across TV, film, live theater, and even sports? And what role do audiobook narrators play in shaping immersive AD experiences? In this compelling episode of The ADNA Presents, host Roy Samuelson sits down with Samuel Wilkins, a seasoned audiobook producer and narrator, to unpack the intricacies, artistry, and future of AD. Together, they explore:  

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

Episode Notes Airacast The Road to CSUN Week 8 Pregame! In only a few short days the 40th annual  CSUN Assistive Technology Conference will begin. Our Pregame Show features Geoffrey Peddle, Everette Bacon and Jill Ratliff, ready to take the field. Geoffrey gives us a brief glimpse at what our engineers have worked on this year to make our apps the premiere way to receive visual and ASL interpreting. Everette and Jill will talk about their workshops and all the activity in the Aira booth. If you're heading out to Anaheim be sure to visit us at Booth 216 in the exhibit hall to learn about the Aira ASL app, new partnerships and yes, Aira swag.   Aira Presentations  State of Interpreting Services for Blind and Low Vision, Everette Bacon Thursday, March 13, 2:20pm Pacific time,  On-Demand ASL Interpreting as a Public Accommodation, Jill Ratliff  Friday, March 14, 9:20am Pacific time,  For more about CSUNATC 2025, visit https://web.cvent.com/event/2c5d8c51-6441-44c0-b361-131ff9544dd5/summary Learn more about visual and ASL interpreting from Aira at https://aira.io. Find out more at https://airacast.pinecast.co This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

The Mic Drop: Roy Samuelson Chats with Eagles Voice Bill Larson Roy Samuelson interviews Bill Larson, the voice of the Philadelphia Eagles and a passionate audio description performer. Despite their differences, both fields demand precision, preparation, and a deep connection with the audience. Bill's journey into audio description was accidental but life-changing. "Once I realized how many people rely on AD, I was hooked," he says. His announcing background helps him bring the same energy and timing to AD, ensuring audiences stay immersed. "Whether it's a touchdown or a dramatic scene, people count on me to deliver," Bill shares. His advice? "Prepare relentlessly and never give up." Find Bill's work at Bear Hug VO—a name as warm as his voice.

Dr. Penny is back to share with us her personal experiences growing up with low vision and how important it was for her to develop independence, whether it involved having chores at home, exploring and accessing textbooks at her university, or getting around as a non-driver. Check out her latest resources at the links below.     Links:   Dr. Penny's previous Feeling This Life episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2iSBlbAUjaCE6KuvzlFVqh?si=21Gi3BYOTLqcWxQYVfMRtQ Project Inspire 2: Access and Equity in STEM Learning for Individuals who read braille  https://www.pathstoliteracy.org/resource/project-inspire/     Finding Wheels:  Strategies to Build Independent Travel Skills for those with Visual Impairments   https://www.tsbvi.edu/product/finding-wheels-strategies-to-build-independent-travel-skills-for-those-with-visual-impairments-electronic-file    Please give us your feedback using this survey link: https://educationutah.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_39OmBvMih6MlgNw    Make a Donation to-  VIPS: https://secure.vips.org/np/clients/vips/donation.jsp?forwardedFromSecureDomain=1&campaign=495    Get in touch with us!  Follow us on Facebook @Feelingthislifepodcast and Instagram @Feelingthislife  Email: feelingthislife@vips.org  www.vips.org 

In this episode, host Liz Whitaker walks you through creating desktop shortcuts to apps, files, and web pages using JAWS in Windows 11. Whether you're looking to streamline your workflow or make navigation more accessible, this episode provides step-by-step instructions to help you get there. Tune in and simplify your accessible tech experience!

In Episode 124 of White Canes Connect, hosts Lisa Bryant and David Goldstein sit down with Patti Cox, President of the Council of Citizens with Low Vision International (CCLVI), and Glenda Such, head of Low Vision Now! The discussion, which takes place during Low Vision Awareness Month, highlights the challenges, advocacy, and support systems available for individuals with low vision. Patti shares her personal journey with aniridia and how she became deeply involved with CCLVI, a national organization affiliated with the American Council of the Blind. She outlines the importance of advocacy, education, and peer support for those navigating fluctuating vision loss. Glenda, who has experienced progressive vision loss from Stargardt's Type IV, recounts how Low Vision Now! evolved from a local chapter to a multi-state organization offering valuable resources, peer support, and education to individuals across the country. The episode delves into the importance of self-advocacy, misconceptions about blindness, and the unique needs of the low vision community. Patti and Glenda also highlight the various programs, scholarships, and resources available through their organizations, emphasizing the significance of connection and empowerment. Show notes at https://www.whitecanesconnect.com/124  Connect with Low Vision Now Learn more about Low Vision Now on their website at https://lowvisionnow.org/. Email them at lowvisionnow@hotmail.com. You can also call them at (484) 566-3619. Connect with Council of Citizen with Low Vision International Learn more about CCLVI at https://cclvi.info/. Call them toll-free at (844) 460-0625. Email Patti at CCLVIPresident@CCLVI.org. An Easy Way to Help the NFB of PA Support the NFB of PA with every purchase at White Cane Coffee Company by going to https://www.whitecanecoffee.com/ref/nfbp. When you use that link to purchase from White Cane Coffee, the NFB of PA earns a 10% commission! Share the link with your family and friends! Listen to Erin and Bob Willman from White Cane Coffee on episode 072 of White Canes Connect. Donate to the NFB of PA Like what you hear on White Canes Connect? Support us and donate to the National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania, visit https://www.NFBofPA.org/give/. We Want to Hear Your Story Reach out with questions and comments, or share ideas! We want to hear from you. Call us at (267) 338-4495 or at whitecanesconnect@gmail.com. Follow White Canes Connect Find out why White Canes Connect is currently ranked at #13 of the 100 Best Visually Impaired Podcast. Find the show on: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/white-canes-connect/id1592248709  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1YDQSJqpoteGb1UMPwRSuI  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@pablindpodcast 

In our final episode of our special week of shows celebrating Braille at 200, Steven Scott welcomes Shaun Preece back to the show to get his and your feedback on the conversations we've been having this week.Listener emails are the focus of the show today and they highlight the significance of Braille in today's world and explore its relevance, accessibility, and the diverse range of perspectives and opinions surrounding whether Braille is or isn't literacy. Contributors also talk about Braille as a tool for independence and safety, while also addressing the need for respect towards various forms of literacy, including those who use screen readers. The role of technology in enhancing learning and accessibility is also brought up, alongside the challenges faced by people in acquiring Braille skills, and the importance of having touch typing as a foundational skill. Listeners also bring up the need for better resources and training for Braille instruction, while also addressing misconceptions about its relevance in a technology-driven world.Get in touch with Double Tap by emailing us feedback@doubletaponair.com or by call 1-877-803-4567 and leave us a voicemail. You can also now contact us via Whatsapp on 1-613-481-0144 or visit doubletaponair.com/whatsapp to connect. We are also across social media including X, Mastodon and Facebook. Double Tap is available daily on AMI-audio across Canada, on podcast worldwide and now on YouTube.Chapter Markers:00:00 Intro11:26 Diverse Perspectives on Literacy and Braille23:40 The Role of Technology in Learning and Accessibility28:55 The Importance of Braille Education34:11 Challenges in Braille Literacy39:23 Advocating for Braille Literacy45:10 Braille as a Tool for Independence51:56 Personal Experiences with Braille Learning

In our second episode celebrating Braille at 200, Steven Scott discusses the significance of Braille education in the United States with blind QTVI (Qualified Teacher of Visually Impaired Children) Kate Crohan who works at Perkins School for the Blind.The discussion highlights the challenges and opportunities in teaching Braille to visually impaired and low vision students, the importance of acceptance in learning Braille, and the balance between traditional Braille and modern technology. Kate Crohan talks about the need for Braille education to adapt to the needs of individual students, including those with low vision, and both Steven and Kate explore the ongoing debate between different input methods for Braille technology.The conversation also explores the various applications of Braille beyond academics, such as in personal life and community engagement. Also, concerns about the future of Braille in the face of advancing technology and audio resources are addressed, with a hopeful outlook on the continued relevance of Braille.Get in touch with Double Tap by emailing us feedback@doubletaponair.com or by call 1-877-803-4567 and leave us a voicemail. You can also now contact us via Whatsapp on 1-613-481-0144 or visit doubletaponair.com/whatsapp to connect. We are also across social media including X, Mastodon and Facebook. Double Tap is available daily on AMI-audio across Canada, on podcast worldwide and now on YouTube.Chapter Markers:00:00 Celebrating Braille Education02:25 The Role of Braille in Education10:33 Acceptance and Learning Braille15:36 Braille vs. Technology: Finding Balance19:00 The Importance of Braille for Low Vision Children20:51 Navigating Braille Learning Levels23:11 QWERTY vs. Perkins: The Braille Input Debate28:28 The Importance of Braille Usage32:16 Technology's Role in Braille Education36:47 Braille Beyond Academics46:47 Concerns for the Future of Braille

In this episode, Ron Miller dives into the world of AI with a focus on Microsoft Copilot and FS Companion. Discover the differences between free and paid AI tools, their practical applications, and tips for leveraging AI in productivity, creativity, and technical support. Ron also introduces FS Companion, a tailored AI for Freedom Scientific, providing insights into its features and functionality for JAWS and other tools. Whether you're new to AI or an experienced user, this episode offers valuable insights and a practical demonstration of how these technologies can simplify your day-to-day tasks from a JAWS user perspective.

In this festive episode of Blind Level Tech, hosts Evan Starnes and Kelvin Crosby explore creative, accessible ways to enhance holiday décor with their guest, Michael Sisneros, an outreach specialist and holiday décor enthusiast. Michael shares innovative tips for making holiday decorations inclusive for individuals with low vision or blindness, incorporating textures, scents, and sound-based elements. The episode also features discussions on their favorite holiday tech, quirky traditions, and how to find joy during the holidays. Thank you to everyone who gave to Colorado Gives Day and Aftersight. It was a huge success, and we couldn't have done it without you! Chapter Markers: 00:01 – Recording in progress, introductions by Evan and Kelvin. 00:59 – Hosts discuss holiday energy and whimsical octopus metaphors. 02:39 – Tech Picks of the Week: Kelvin's alarm clock and Evan's smart plug. 06:58 – Guest introduction: Michael Sisneros, holiday décor expert. 08:06 – Michael's favorite décor piece: A yearly redesigned Christmas tree. 10:45 – Accessible décor: Lights, textures, and music for everyone. 15:27 – Tips for interactive decorations: Motion sensors, sound effects, and smart tech. 17:18 – DIY holiday crafts: Applesauce and cinnamon ornaments. 22:00 – Inclusivity in holiday décor: Creating textured and scented spaces. 27:35 – Kelvin's final thoughts: Finding joy during challenging times. 29:45 – Closing remarks and sneak peek at upcoming guests and topics.

On this BLT Bite, we take a quick look at InnoSearch, an AI-driven online shopping center that allows users to shop from major retailers as well as finding and booking flights. We look at the features of InnoSearch, including its user-friendly interface, product search capabilities, and the integration of AI for enhanced shopping experiences. We also take a verry quick look at its flight booking aspect. Learn more and visit Innosearch at www.innosearch.ai

Explore the world of JAWS and refreshable braille displays with episode 12 of the Freedom Scientific Training Resources Podcast. Hosted by Ron Miller, this episode offers hands-on guidance for assistive technology instructors, teachers, and anyone looking to enhance their skills in teaching JAWS. Learn how to install and configure braille displays, utilize the Braille and Text Viewer, and master Braille Study Mode. Perfect for educators and professionals in assistive tech, this podcast transforms comprehensive training modules into convenient audio lessons. Listen now to empower your teaching journey!

In this lighthearted episode of Blind Level Tech, hosts Evan Starnes and Kelvin Crosby share their Top 10 Sandwiches of the Year, featuring both restaurant favorites and their own creative concoctions. They also discuss holiday leftovers and unique recipes, all while engaging in humorous debates—like whether a hot dog qualifies as a sandwich. The episode begins with updates from Aftersight, including the organization's success with Colorado Gives Day fundraising and the departure of senior programming manager Alex Flynn after a decade of service. Evan highlights his experience with the new iPhone 16 Pro, and Kelvin introduces a custom-made braille card case. This episode offers a delightful mix of humor, gratitude, and creativity, perfect for the holiday season. Listeners are encouraged to share their feedback via email at feedback@aftersight.org or by phone at 720-712-8856. Chapters 00:15 Introduction and Thanksgiving Greetings 02:31 Aftersight Updates 04:54 Tech Pieces of the Week 09:17 Top 10 Sandwiches of the Year 23:10 Sandwich of the Week 25:32 Listener Engagement and Closing Remarks Aftersight Contact Information: Address: 1700 55th Street, Suite A, Boulder, CO 80301 Phone: 303-786-7777 Toll-Free: 1-877-443-2001 Email: contact@aftersight.org Website: aftersight.org Colorado Gives Day Information: Colorado Gives Day is an annual statewide movement to celebrate and increase philanthropy in Colorado through online giving. This year, it takes place on December 10, 2024, with early giving starting on November 1. Donations can be made through ColoradoGives.org, supporting a wide range of nonprofits across the state. Listener Feedback: Listeners are encouraged to share their thoughts and suggestions: Email: feedback@aftersight.org Phone: 720-712-8856