Speaking Out For The Blind

Because of the coronavirus, many blind and visually impaired folks have to stay away from large social gatherings. But that hasn’t stopped them from enjoying their favorite audio described TV shows at home. To talk about some of these offerings along with the latest happenings in the industry is the American Council of the Blind’s Audio Description Project’s very own Joel Snyder.

How does the Coronavirus affect the blind and visually impaired? And how does COVID-19 affect the American Council of the Blind and its day-to-day business? Joining me to talk about this are American Council of the Blind President Dan Spoone, California Council of the Blind President Judy Wilkinson, and ACB Membership Services Coordinator Cindy Van Winkle.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that the Nevada Blind Children’s Foundation just opened the State’s first blind and visually impaired school in Henderson. Nevada Blind Children’s Foundation CEO Emily Smith will join us to talk about that school.

KTVT-TV in Dallas reports that Mariah Maryman is visually impaired. This Kennedale, Texas high school student will explain how she’s accomplishing a lot both on and off the field.

Spectrum News reports that the Lighthouse for the Blind and Vision Impaired in San Antonio, Texas offers a robotics program for kids. Joining us to talk about the program are the Lighthouse’s Children’s Program Manager Cindy Miller, robotics coach Kathleeen Gately and mentor Paul Flores, along with blind robotics team members and students Leonard Santos, Madison Oliver, and Hameed Wilson.

West Philadelphia’s Overbrook Educational Center (OEC) Principal Meredith Foote joins us to talk about her school’s new inclusive playground for the blind.

Pleasanton, California based IrisVision has invented a user-friendly headset that helps low vision individuals regain or more fully utilize their sight. IrisVision founder Dr. Frank Werblin and CEO Ammad Khan tell us more about the headset.

The Seeing Eye President and Chief Executive Officer Glenn Hoagland and Advocacy Specialist and former Seeing Eye student Melissa Allman join us to talk about this special guide dog school and answer your questions about guide dogs.

Cindy Van Winkle, the American Council of the Blind’s new Membership Services Coordinator, joins us to talk about what she’s doing in this role and her very full life supporting the blind community.

There’s a special internationally recognized organization for the blind. This organization represents over 250 million blind and visually impaired people in 190 member countries. The organization is called the World Blind Union, or WBU. World Blind Union President Dr. Fredric Schroeder joins us to explain how the organization helps the blind around the globe.

Newly-elected ACB President Dan Spoone will join us. He’ll explain how he’s improving ACB now and in the years to come.

John McGaffey, the President of Polara, joins us to talk about some special kind of pedestrian signals. He’ll tell us how they’re actually accessible for the blind.

SailBlind’s Katherine Kern and Tom Rowen join us. They’ll talk about this specifically structured program for blind sailors.

WBZ-TV in Boston says that the Talking Information Center, or TIC Network, is a special non-profit radio station for the blind and visually impaired in Marshfield, Massachusetts. TIC Executive Director Anna Dunbar, blind listener Richard Chapman, and new volunteer reader Paul Pesa join us to talk about the station and how it’s a special reading resource for the visually impaired.

Blind musician Joey Stuckey joins us. He’ll talk about his huge and award-winning musical talent.

Pleasanton, California based IrisVision has invented a user-friendly headset that helps low vision individuals regain or more fully utilize their sight. IrisVision founder Dr. Frank Werblin and CEO Ammad Khan tell us more about the headset.

We’re going to talk with eight-year-old visually impaired Leilani (Leila) Gonzales, her mom Vanessa, Ceres, California School District Inclusion Support Specialist Stephanie Alvarez, and high school sophomore Nathan Pethyon. We’ll learn how some special 3D-Printed Braille magnets are helping Leila read letters, words, and sentences.

Thomas Panek is the visually impaired President and CEO of Guiding Eyes for the Blind. Thomas joins us to explain how he and three guide dogs just made history at the New York City Half Marathon.

Hari Bhimaraju and her big sister Divija are not your average high school and college students. They are avid inventors who’ve combined their love for community service and technology to make some very special tools for the blind and visually impaired. Hari and Divija will tell us about these tools.

Joel Snyder of ACB’s Audio Description Project will join us. He’ll talk about the latest happenings in the audio description world for 2019.