This is Part 2 of our conversation with Krishna Washburn, founder and artistic director of Dark Room Ballet. What begins as a conversation about dance becomes a much deeper exploration of memory, identity, belonging, and what it means to be fully seen.

Joy and Jenelle talk with Krishna about the importance of trusting our own experiences and perceptions, especially when they don’t fit other people’s assumptions. Along the way, Krishna shares fascinating insights into the world of blind dance education, the rich oral traditions that have preserved knowledge across generations, and the ways art can help us heal, connect, and better understand ourselves.

The conversation also takes an honest look at inclusion, challenging listeners to consider who gets welcomed into our communities, workplaces, and cultural spaces, and who is too often left on the margins. Whether you’re interested in dance or not, this episode offers a powerful reflection on the universal human desire to belong, to have our stories honored, and to contribute our gifts to the world.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode

• Reflections on memory, self-trust, and honoring our lived experiences

• The connection between identity, belonging, and the stories we tell ourselves

• How blind educators have preserved knowledge through oral tradition and innovative teaching methods

• Why dance can be a powerful tool for healing, self-expression, and personal transformation

• The emotional impact of being excluded from spaces where you know you belong

• What true inclusion looks like, and practical ways we can all help create it

• Why accessibility is about more than accommodation and is ultimately a matter of human dignity

Guest: Krishna Washburn

Krishna Washburn is a ballet educator, audio description specialist, and blind professional dancer. Through Dark Room Ballet, she has trained more than 1,500 dancers and developed tuition-free collegiate and pre-professional arts training opportunities for blind and visually impaired adults. She is also a contributor to the upcoming Oxford Handbook of Ballet Pedagogy.

Links & Resources

Dark Room Ballet
https://darkroomballet.com

Double Vision Podcast
https://www.doublevisionblog.com

Voicemail Line
949-414-8336

This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation recorded in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month. Joy and Jenelle sit down with Krishna Washburn, founder and artistic director of Dark Room Ballet, for a fascinating deep dive into the world of audio description, blind-led arts, and what true accessibility in the performing arts really looks like.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode

• What audio description is, and why even sighted audience members often end up loving it

• Krishna’s story of attending a live performance with audio description and realizing something fundamental was missing

• Why audio description designed for television often fails when applied to live dance, and what needs to change

• How Pacific Northwest Ballet is doing it right by integrating audio describers as full members of the production team

• What to look for, and what to avoid, when buying tickets to an audio described performance

• Krishna’s upcoming free 5-week Audio Description course beginning May 30th, open to everyone with no dance background required

Guest: Krishna Washburn

Krishna is a ballet educator, audio description specialist, and blind professional dancer. Through Dark Room Ballet, she has trained more than 1,500 dancers and developed tuition-free collegiate and pre-professional arts training for blind and visually impaired adults. She is also a contributor to the upcoming Oxford Handbook of Ballet Pedagogy.

Links & Resources

Dark Room Ballet
https://darkroomballet.com

Email Dark Room Ballet

[email protected]

Free 5-Week Audio Description Course
https://darkroomballet.com

Joy’s “Blind Dance Mom” post

Pacific Northwest Ballet
https://www.pnb.org

Double Vision Blog
https://www.doublevisionblog.com

Voicemail Line
949-414-8336

Expanding on a conversation Joy and Jenelle began in an earlier episode, “How to Handle Over-Helpers”, they are joined by one of their favorite authors, Rebekah Taussig, for her first appearance on the podcast.

Together, they dig into surprisingly similar stories, from growing up with internalized shame around disability to the awkwardness of being prayed for in public to delicately navigating well-meaning people and organizations. Along the way, they unpack the layers inside stories that are sometimes uncomfortable, sometimes funny, and always deeply human.

Rebekah Taussig is a writer, speaker, and author of the bestselling memoir Sitting Pretty and We Are the Scrappy Ones.

Connect with Rebekah Taussig:

• Instagram
• Substack
• Website

Join us as Dr. Kierstyn Napier-Dovorany, an optometrist specializing in low vision rehabilitation, shares her journey into eye care, her work supporting individuals with vision impairment, and her insights into emerging treatments and clinical trials.

With over 20 years of experience, Kierstyn brings a unique perspective as both a practitioner and a clinical researcher. She helps us explore the intersection of lived experience, mobility, and the evolving science of vision care, while also offering practical guidance for navigating resources and opportunities in the field.

In this conversation, we dive into topics such as:

* Why many people are not hearing about clinical trials from their eye doctors
* How to find and evaluate clinical trials
* The role of low vision rehabilitation in supporting independence and quality of life
* The balance between identity, self-acceptance, and advancements in treatment
* How Dr. Kierstyn approaches conversations with individuals who feel strongly connected to their blind identity and may not wish to pursue treatment
* What’s on the horizon in research for genetic retinal conditions

This episode weaves together science, accessibility, and real-world insight in a way that is both informative and deeply human.

Resources Mentioned:

* ClinicalTrials.gov: https://clinicaltrials.gov
* Foundation Fighting Blindness: https://www.fightingblindness.org
* Ray Therapeutics: https://raytherapeutics.com

Guest:
Dr. Kierstyn Napier-Dovorany is an optometrist who has practiced low vision rehabilitation for twenty years. She is a vision scientist specializing in vision impairment and mobility and currently works as a clinical researcher at Ray Therapeutics, a company developing treatments for genetic retinal diseases.

Join us as Dr. Kierstyn Napier-Dovorany, an optometrist specializing in low vision rehabilitation, shares her journey into eye care, her work supporting individuals with vision impairment, and her insights into emerging treatments and clinical trials.

With over 20 years of experience, Kierstyn brings a unique perspective as both a practitioner and a clinical researcher. She helps us explore the intersection of lived experience, mobility, and the evolving science of vision care, while also offering practical guidance for navigating resources and opportunities in the field.

In this conversation, we dive into topics such as:

* Why many people are not hearing about clinical trials from their eye doctors
* How to find and evaluate clinical trials
* The role of low vision rehabilitation in supporting independence and quality of life
* The balance between identity, self-acceptance, and advancements in treatment
* How Dr. Kierstyn approaches conversations with individuals who feel strongly connected to their blind identity and may not wish to pursue treatment
* What’s on the horizon in research for genetic retinal conditions

This episode weaves together science, accessibility, and real-world insight in a way that is both informative and deeply human.

Resources Mentioned:

* ClinicalTrials.gov: https://clinicaltrials.gov
* Foundation Fighting Blindness: https://www.fightingblindness.org
* Ray Therapeutics: https://raytherapeutics.com

Guest:
Dr. Kierstyn Napier-Dovorany is an optometrist who has practiced low vision rehabilitation for twenty years. She is a vision scientist specializing in vision impairment and mobility and currently works as a clinical researcher at Ray Therapeutics, a company developing treatments for genetic retinal diseases.

What would you do if someone offered you a cure tomorrow? For Joy and Jenelle, that question is anything but simple. In this episode, they explore the deeply personal tension between accepting who you are and wanting something more, unpacking cure culture, disability identity, and the vulnerability that comes with allowing yourself to hope. Plus, a sneak peek at their upcoming conversation with Dr. Kirstyn Dovorany.

We've all been there — someone swoops in to help before you've even asked, grabs something out of your hands, or insists on doing something for you when you were handling it just fine. It's well-meaning. It can also be exhausting.

In this episode, Jenelle and Joy get into the messy, nuanced world of helping — when it's welcome, when it crosses a line, and how to handle it when it does. Drawing from their own lived experiences as people with disabilities, they unpack why our culture tends to put helpers on a pedestal, and what gets lost when the focus shifts from the person being helped to the person doing the helping.

In this episode:

• Why everyone needs help sometimes — and why that's not a disability thing, it's a human thing
• How apps like Be My Eyes flip the script on what "helping" can look like when it's actually mutual
• The difference between helping someone and taking over for them (and why that distinction matters)
• Unsolicited touching, moved belongings, and other "helpful" behaviors that can feel anything but
• Where the fear of being a burden comes from — and why it's worth examining
• The gap between good intentions and real impact, and how to have the repair conversation when harm happens
• Practical ways to set boundaries without feeling like you have to justify yourself
• What it actually means to see someone as a whole person — not just their disability

If you've ever struggled to speak up when help crosses a line, or wondered how to offer support without overstepping, this one's for you.

Resources:

"How to Handle Overhelpers" on DoubleVisionBlog

Blind and unemployed is still the statistical norm in America.

So what actually changes that?

In this episode, we talk about the advocacy skills most blind and low-vision people are never formally taught, and why storytelling often moves policy faster than data ever could. We unpack the persistent employment gap, the power of learning how to speak your lived experience in professional spaces, and how programs like ASPECT are equipping blind advocates to influence real change.

Joined by Janetta Price and Julie Grutzmacher from Prevent Blindness, the conversation explores the history behind the name, the tension between statistics and human stories, and what it takes to shift public perception.

If you care about employment, equity, or learning how to advocate more effectively for yourself or others, this episode gets practical and personal.

We close with a powerful spoken word piece from Janetta Price that reminds us why voice matters.

For more info on the ASPECT program visit the Prevent Blindness website and their YouTube Channel.

Joy revisits a painful middle-school memory and reframes it decades later, while Jenelle explains how trauma lives not just in our minds, but in our bodies - shaping the stories we use to make sense of our lives. This conversation explores meaning-making, shame, resilience, anxiety, and the power of trusted support as we learn how to notice, question, and begin rewriting the stories that no longer serve us.

Resources & Links:

• EMDR Therapy Explanation
• Rising Strong by Brené Brown

In the third and final installment of the DoubleVision identity series, hosts Joy and Jenelle sit down with Sylvia Stinson Perez, a leader and advocate in the blindness field, for a conversation about identity, leadership, and navigating professional spaces as a blind woman. Together, they explore resilience, self-advocacy, burnout, and imposter syndrome, and they dig into the complicated role of the word “inspiration,” including the range of perspectives it can carry within the disability community.

Sylvia's Website (and free download): www.TotalImpactPartners.com

Kindle option (99¢): Treading The Waters Of Life: A Guide To Self-Reflection And Action