Blind Abilities Podcast

Kristy Viers joined Jeff Thompson in the Blind Abilities Studio and talked about her YouTube Channel Kristy Viers, her College Experience, Beta Testing Apps and Braille Screen Input on her iPhone. Kristy had a YouTube video go viral with nearly 30,000 people listening. Kristy had to shut down her notifications as every device was going off for a few days. Kristy is doing more videos with instruction and about being Blind and how she does what she does. Kristy gives some good advice to students headed off to college and she wants you to check out her YouTube channel and see what she has to say. You can find Kristy’s channel at Kristy Viers on YouTube. Follow Kristy on Twitter @Kristy_Viers and Kristy Viers on Facebook. Contact Your State Services If you reside in Minnesota, and you would like to know more about Transition Services from State Services contact Transition Coordinator Sheila Koenig by email or contact her via phone at 651-539-2361. Contact: You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities On the web

Gabby Mendonca joins Jeff Thompson in the Blind Abilities Studio to talk about her inspiring YouTube Channel @GabriellaMendonca, her educational journey, white and pink canes and her upcoming guide dog adventure. Listen in as Gabby explains how living in New York during the pandemic has effected her home life, education and social interaction. With a Guide Dog in her future plans, Gabby tells us about the Guide Dog Foundation and her timeline for obtaining her first Guide Dog. You can keep up to date with Gabby on her Social Network: YouTube: @GabriellaMendonca Twitter: @itss_g_ Facebook: @gabbymendonca Instagram: @itss_g_ Be sure to check out Gabby's spotlight from Bold Blind Beauty: Contact Your State Services If you reside in Minnesota, and you would like to know more about Transition Services from State Services contact Transition Coordinator Sheila Koenig by email or contact her via phone at 651-539-2361. Contact: You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities On the web at www.BlindAbilities.com Send us

Welcome back to Episode 19 in our ongoing series. Thus far we have spanned the globe  with  blind citizens Around the world, from Australia and Malaysia, to the United Kingdom, Trinidad and Tobago, and much more Our guest today is Manique Gunaratne, who  comes to us from Sri Lanka.  Manique’s story speaks of the situation that she and other disabled citizens    of Sri Lanka experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic this year. This in itself is not unusual. All of our guests have described their experiences in this way. What makes this report different is the contrast of the successful handling of the Corona virus by the nation of Sri Lanka, at least in the traditional statistical measures we are accustomed to seeing, as it is juxtaposed with her story of difficult conditions and sacrifices made by disabled persons in her country. Sri Lanka is  and island nation of about 21 million, in southern Asia, bordered by India and the Maldives.  After enduring a brutal  civil war and a devastating tsunami which killed m

Full Transcript Hilda Dunford is a mom with 3 children and with the distance learning being the virtual reality that it is, Hilda is fining more and more time to be with her children, learning, caring and growing together. I met Hilda through her @OurBlindSide Instagram account. Her Blog-like content gave me a peek into the life of Hilda, her family and her son who happens to be Blind/Low Vision. With the changes that the Pandemic has brought to all of us, Hilda never imagined that she would be teaching and managing her children's at-home learning and has found the upside to the way life is today. From being her son’s first advocate to witnessing him advocating for himself, the journey continues as Hilda is learning everyday of what it means to be a parent of a child who happens to be blind. Hilda gives us some great advice for Parents and Teachers of the Blind and Visually Impaired. Her words and perspective are worth listening to over and over, and her Instagram updates are another page turn every post. You

Full Transcript 3 is company and we were feeling Pretty, Pretty Good once we got the iOS14 downloaded and up and running on our various versions of the iPhone. Raqi and Jeff virtually High-5 each other and Serina just shrugs. With the new iOS full of features that extend beyond the reach of the iPhone 10, there was a lot to talk about and the Time Flies event was nearly the opposite. Kind of a lack luster event unless you were waiting for the new Apple Watch Series 6 or SE or an iPad in Sky Blue. Raqi, Serina and Jeff dig in and give their opinions and share some experiences with the iOS14 features. Jeff having beta tested for some time brought his unique perspective while Raqi dove deep into the Air Bud Pros, while Serina talked continuously about October. Hmm. Below is a list of topics covered in this deep dive into the Apple Orchard minus a few iPhone Apples. Hmm. Jeff gives a few demos, Voice Recognition and Precise and Approximate Location Settings.  iOS14: What iPhones get all the latest and greatest fe

Justin and Cindy from the Minnesota Disability Law Center joined Jeff Thompson in the Blind Abilities studio for a discussion on voting rights for youth with disabilities. We also get to talk to Nate and Nikki, 2 young adults, about their experiences voting accessibly using the Auto-Mark device and completing an absentee ballot.   How do you find the information on where to vote and how to get your absentee ballot? You can go to the Minnesota Secretary of State Elections and Voting website and get all the information about registering online, election dates, voting by mail and where to cast your ballot.   Into Adulthood is A Project for Youth with Disabilities from the Minnesota Disability Law Center. You can find out more about the Into Adulthood Project  at https://mylegalaid.org/, email at IntoAdulthood@MyLegalAid.org and by calling 1-800-292-4150. You can read our voting rights factsheet for more information.   Contact Your State Services If you reside in Minnesota, and you would like to know more about

In this 18th episode in our series, Around the World with COVID-19 from a Blindness Perspective, we hear from Paul Mugambi in Kenya, Africa. Thus far we have spanned the globe  with  blind citizens Around the world, from Australia and Malaysia, to the united kingdom, Trinidad and Tobago, Canada, Japan, Seychelles, Columbia, and the United States. . Now we hear a first-hand report from Paul with his unique perspective on how the coronavirus has affected him, his family and disabled persons in general  in Kenya. Paul Mugambi lives in Kenya, on the Easter coast of the continent of Africa. Blind himself,  Paul is an active voice for the blind and visually impaired in his country. He describes how the virus has affected his family and him personally, beginning with having to relocate in order to reduce his family’s cost of living.  Paul has also lost a close personal friend  to the COVID virus. Note: Be sure to listen to an excerpt from a song entitled "I’m on My Lane," from a recent album of Paul’s in which that

Every day we are blasted with news updates on the impact of the Corona virus on people in our cities, states and countries, but have we heard specific reports of its effect on blind and visually impaired individuals?   This series brings you stories from around the World from a Blindness perspective. Despite the similarities around the world, we are still learning new aspects of Covid-19 and, more importantly, how our fellow blind and visually impaired colleagues are being affected by it. So, we continue our travels, our journey around the world with Covid-19, and focus on the blindness perspective: Brigitte Lablache is an articulate woman with talents, drive, initiative and overall life experiences which have allowed her to rise to a position of leadership in the blindness community in Seychelles. She shares many of those experiences with us, such as being bored in a public school because her teachers were ill-equipped to properly address her needs as a blind student; her initiative in learning both grade 1

Full Transcription Show Summary: John Panarese, Director and founder of Mac for the Blind, joins Jeff Thompson in the Blind Abilities studio to talk about what Mac for the Blind is and what services are provided. John gives a bit of background on how Mac for the Blind got started and how this year has boomed with the group sessions and more sessions for the Mac and iOS to come this fall. Here is an Update from John Panarese: Mac for the Blind is proud to announce the continuation of the online courses series!     After the success with the summer online courses and requests from several people, I will be conducting six more classes into the middle of December. Three courses are free and three involve a registration fee of $15.00. They will also cover a mixture of Mac and/or iOS material. Please feel free to register to as many or as few as you feel you would want to attend. Again, these will all be held via Zoom in the same manner as the summer courses with the Zoom links being sent directly to you when the c

Full Transcript: On this Tech Abilities show, Jeff and Serina dust off the third chair and our new co-host, Raqi Gomez, joins the Tech Abilities team in a well-rounded discussion on Apple's upcoming iPhones, Apple TV and other speculations that may or not be showing up on September 15. The Time Flies Apple Event may only be involving the Apple Watch as the name implies, and rumor has it that a new iPad may drop as well during this event. Will the 4 rumored iPhones be postponed a couple of weeks? Find out more by tuning in to the Sept. 15 Apple Event: Time flies. It’s almost here. Please join us for a special Apple Event broadcasting from Apple Park. Watch the show online at apple.com. September 15, 2020 10:00 a.m. PDT Raqi comes to us from California and works in the Adaptations Store at the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Raqi brings a wealth of knowledge and can banter with the best of the Tech Heads around the community and industry. John Panarese from Mac for the Blind gives

Every day we are inundated with reports about COVID-19: statistics, new cases, and worse. Every day we hear of how the coronavirus has impacted people all over the world, but have we heard specific reports of its effect on blind and visually impaired individuals? Answer: not until now. In this sixteenth episode in our series, Around the World with COVID-19 from a Blindness Perspective, we hear from Alvaro Gutierrez from Bogota, Columbia. Thus far we have spanned the globe with blind citizens Around the world, from Australia and Malaysia, to the United Kingdom, Trinidad and Tobago, Canada and Japan. Now we hear a first-hand report from Alvaro with his unique perspective on how the coronavirus has affected him in Columbia. Alvaro Gutierrez hails from Bogota, Columbia, in south America, where he lives with his parents, providing physical, emotional and financial support in a city and country that has seen a difficult progression of COVID-19, from its first case in March 2020 through the evolution of imposed rest

Blind Abilities presents this special interview with Laura Wolke.  Laura initially began a career as a social worker in Philadelphia, with clients who were primarily Medicare recipients, planning to get her PhD and  go into counseling or become a psychologist. However she  eventually  grew weary of this work,  saying that while she has great respect for the people who do the job, she didn’t think she has the means to detach herself from the patients and their problems, something that is necessary with that kind of job. When attending a seminar at Notre Dane University on the subject of Bioethics, Laura learned about the myriad of intriguing applications for a law degree, and she immediately studied for and took her LSAT exams to pursue that path. Listen as Laura describes the tedious and seemingly unnecessary steps she had to take to take this mandatory exam, as much of it was not accessible to her as a blind student. Graduating from Notre Dame with her law degree, Laura describes the long emotional roller co

This Breakout Demo was released on the latest Blind Abilities show, TechAbilities, and here is the breakdown on how-to add Alt-Text to the images you post on Facebook. Upload an image from your Camera Roll or by taking a picture.  Tap on the image and swipe to the button labeled, “More”. Swipe down the options in the list and tap on, “Add Alt Text”. Tell your family and friends that they now can easily add the alt-text to the images they post to Facebook.  For more demos and podcast with a blindness perspective, be sure to subscribe to the Blind Abilities podcast on your favorite pod-catcher of choice. Give us a call and give us feedback and feel free to ask a question or give us a suggestion. The number is 612-367-6093. Let us know if we can use your voice on the upcoming podcast, our listeners would like to hear from you. Contact Your State Services If you reside in Minnesota, and you would like to know more about Transition Services from State Services contact Transition Coordinator Sheila Koenig by emai

Welcome back to Tech Abilities. We ran this series a couple of years ago and seems like a great time to dust off our Tech Abilities T-Shirts and Caps and jump into the Blind Abilities studio for some tech news and information surrounding the tools, gadgets, developments and news from a Blindness perspective. Serina Gilbert, Jeff Thompson and Marlon, aka Mr. TNT, or at least now he is, maybe. From the U.S. Mail, to the Aira 5 for Free changes, iOS 14 Betas, Facebook Alt Text and locking down some privacy from advertisers, the Serina and Jeff team are sporting new Stitch Fix attire and feeling good. Talk about feeling good, Serina experienced a house cleaning service and can you say, Ahhh. Jeff is enjoying the native Podcast app now that the Global settings have been set up just how he likes them.  Join us in this info packed episode and let us know what you think. Leave us some feedback by calling 612-367-6093 or drop us an email at Info@BlindAbilities.com and give us permission to use your question and/or voi

We are excited about the Aira Gift Cards rolling out and Aira CEO, Troy Otillio, teases us with something else rolling out next month. Operations Manager, Ryan Bresnahan, gives a great explanation surrounding the 5 Minutes Free changes.  This conversation dives into Aira’s decision making process and how the community drives the biggest changes and how Aira is always keeping their eye on the future for the Explorers, Agents and Aira Access Partners. Join Troy and Ryan along with Blind Abilities, Serina Gilbert and Jeff Thompson as we take a good look at Aira’s vision for the future. Gift Cards are rolling out and all you need is the phone number of the person to gift them an Aira gift card. Learn about the Aira plans and see what plan fits your lifestyle. Yu can find out all of the latest from Aira on the web site at https://aira.io/ Follow Aira on Twitter @Airaio Check out the Aira Explorers Community Group on Facebook subscribe to the AiraCast podcast Download the Aira App and get exploring today.. Aira o

Full Transcript available. Marilee Talkington, founder of the Access Acting Academy, joins Simon Bonenfant and Lisa Andrews for an in-depth look at not only the Access Acting Academy and the classes being offered, the conversation goes backstage to discover what drove Marilee to begin the revolution and bring Access Acting Academy from an idea to our reality. (From the web) Access Acting Academy is a 1st-of-its-kind actor training program for blind, low vision, and visually impaired adults, teens and kids. Training of this caliber, breadth, and level of accessibility have never been offered before. Until now.  Whether you are simply curious, a beginning actor, early to mid career professional, or someone who performed before experiencing vision loss and is eager to integrate your new perception so you can get back out there, there is something here for you. Our ONLINE Fall classes are made up of two 4-week online sessions offering study in the core classes of Acting, Voice, Embodiment, Musical Theater, Dynami

Full Transcript available. Olga Itsenko-Mahler  has basically gone from one World to another when she ended up in Australia and leaving her Ukraine homeland behind. Olga did experience a peek into the Western civilization during an exchange program in Texas while in her 11th year of education. What a difference and what an impact that her travel outside Ukraine had upon her understanding of her place in society and the places she wanted to go. Taking on the challenges of raising a child she set out to ensure her and her son would have a bright future and soon she was in Australia, married and raising another son, living the life she always wanted. The lockdown and isolation brought on by the COVID-19 led Olga to explore her inner creative self and from her container garden to her Born Blind to Inspire Channel on YouTube and an upcoming children’s book she authored, there is no telling what Olga will be up to next. Join Olga and Jeff Thompson in the Blind Abilities studio for this most interesting interview ex

Every day we are inundated with reports about COVID-19: statistics, new cases, and worse. Every day we hear of how the coronavirus has impacted people all over the world, but rarely  have we heard specific reports about its effect on blind and visually impaired individuals. In this fifteenth episode in our series, Around the World with COVID-19 from a Blindness Perspective, we hear from Chelsie Reid in New York City. Thus far we have spanned the globe  with  blind citizens Around the world, from Australia and Malaysia, to the united kingdom, Trinidad and Tobago, Canada and Japan. Now we hear a first-hand report from Chelsie with her uniquely fascinating  perspective on how the coronavirus has affected her in the states. Chelsie is a college student living in New York City. Her studies, her life and her well-being were interrupted by the Corona virus.  The pandemic happened to hit hard mid-way through her college semester causing Chelsie to experience anxiety and some depression.  As a person who finds it nece

Every day we turn on the  news to see and hear the news with statistics, cases, test rates and more  reports about COVID-19, to the [point of saturation.  We hear of how the coronavirus has impacted people all over the world, but we rarely if ever hear specific reports of its effect on blind and visually impaired individuals. In this ongoing Blind Abilities series, Around the World with COVID-19 from a blindness perspective, we have spanned the globe, introducing blind guests from Around the world, from Australia and Malaysia, to the united kingdom, Trinidad and Tobago, Canada and the US. Today we hear a first-hand report from Hiroyuki Shinagawa. Konichiwa with yet a different perspective on how the coronavirus has affected him in Osaka, Japan. Hiroyuki is a massage therapist in Osaka, and shares with us the impact  of Corona and Covid-19 on the Japanese people, inside and outside Osaka, including a unique insight into the Japanese culture which we have previously not seen in this series. Hiroyuki speaks of t

Director of Research at American Foundation for the Blind, Dr. L. Penny Rosenblum, Joins us in the Blind Abilities Studio to talk about the two recent surveys, Flatten Inaccessibility and Access and Engagement to Education. The full reports will soon be published, and you can sign up to be notified they are available and stay up to date with AFB’s future research projects. Find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting educational services for children birth to 21 years of age and their families. Discover how TVIs and O&M instructors are meeting students’ educational needs. Visit Results - Access Engagement for preliminary findings. Learn how adults who are blind or low vision were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in areas of healthcare, employment, transportation, education, social experiences, access to meals, food and supplies, and voting. Visit Results - Flatten Inaccessibility for preliminary findings. Dr. Rosenblum talks about an upcoming book, “Finding Wheels,” written for travelers in their