Inform & Connect: An American Foundation for the Blind Podcast

Melody's guest on this episode of Inform & Connect is Sara Minkara, founder and board member of Empowerment Through Integration and “Discovery in the Dark” series creator.

Leveraging all aspects of her identity—as a blind, Muslim, Arab-American woman—Sara uses blindfolds as a tool to encourage guests to embrace their own and others’ multiple identities, ultimately leading to true empowerment and inclusion. Sara has received multiple awards for her passionate advocacy, including Forbes’ 30 Under 30, the Echoing Green Fellowship, and the Clinton Global Initiative Outstanding Commitment Award.

“Sarah’s Discovery in the Dark series is innovative and unique and contains teachable, empathetic moments to anyone with an open mind,” Melody Goodspeed, AFB Major Gifts Specialist.

Transcript

This episode of Inform & Connect features Sylvia Stinson-Perez, director of the Vision Specialist graduate certificate program and the Independent Living Services at the Older Individuals who are Blind Technical Assistance Center (OIB-TAC) at the National Research and Training Center on Blindness and Low Vision at Mississippi State University.

The conversation will center around the issues the blindness and aging in our communities and across the country currently face.

“Less than five percent of the aging population that are losing their vision utilize rehabilitative services,” Sylvia says. “They simply do not know such services exist – something we’d like to remedy.”

“It is my hope that this conversation raises awareness to people and their families that are facing vision loss,” said Melody Goodspeed, AFB Major Gifts Specialist. “Sylvia’s passion for reaching those in need is powerful and a subject we must explore.”

Transcript

Richard Hunter is a four-time Boston Marathon finisher and has completed 22 marathons, three 50-mile endurance runs, and was the second visually impaired runner in the nation to complete a 100-mile run.  Richard was also the second visually impaired triathlete to complete Ironman in less than 12 hours, and the third to complete a Half-Ironman in under five hours.

Richard volunteers as the program coordinator for the USABA Marathon National Championships, held each December in Sacramento, CA. He was instrumental in the creation of United in Stride, an online database resource to unite volunteer sighted guides and blind runners across North America. In 2015, Richard was paired with Klinger, the first-ever certified running dog guide. Special honors include being selected as the 2014 National Road Runners Club of America’s Challenged Athlete Award recipient and the 2017 SRA Community Runner of the Year.

“Even though I’ve ran 23 marathons, three 50-milers, a 100-miler, and an Ironman, it all started with taking that first step,” Richard says.

“Richard’s passion as an athlete is a real testament that you can accomplish your dreams and create positive change through persistence and determination,” said Melody Goodspeed, AFB Major Gifts Specialist. “He takes it a step further by creating a pathway for connection through United in Stride as well as his other volunteer efforts.”

Read Transcript

Happy Global Accessibility Awareness Day (#GAAD)! We are excited to have Sarah Herrlinger of Apple and Christopher Patnoe of Google on Inform & Connect, the American Foundation for the Blind’s podcast. Both Sarah and Christopher sit on AFB’s Board of Trustees.

The conversation, led by AFB Major Gifts Specialist Melody Goodspeed, focuses on AFB’s centennial, technology and inclusion, testing products, and their role as AFB board members. They will also touch upon Teach Access, a collaboration among education, industry, and disability advocacy organizations to address the critical need to enhance students’ understanding of digital accessibility as they learn to design, develop, and build new technologies with the needs of people with disabilities in mind.

Transcript

At the age of seven, brothers Bradford and Bryan Manning were told they would go blind. Instead of letting their diagnosis set them back, it became their mission to help others. In May 2016, they launched a clothing brand, Two Blind Brothers, which makes ultra-soft clothing and donates 100% of the profits to research to cure blindness. Their "Trust” campaign, in which visitors are encouraged to “shop blind,” quickly went viral and became a positive force in advocacy for the blind community.

“Trust is something we all need in our lives, both personally and professionally,” said Melody Goodspeed, AFB Major Gifts Specialist, “Our community relies on trust in our everyday lives. I truly admire and respect how the Two Blind Brothers continue to bring this to our community.”

Transcript

This Inform & Connect episode features a duo who share a true passion for music and advocacy in the blindness community: Victoria Claire, professional artist in contemporary sculpture as well as published singer/songwriter; and Thomas Reid,  creator and producer of the Reid My Mind podcast.

Transcript

This episode of Inform & Connect—the American Foundation for the Blind’s ongoing series created to foster togetherness and camaraderie within the blindness community through informal storytelling and learning about relevant, interesting topics—features a duo who work in the technical aspects of sound creation in film and television: Jeff Ross, Sound Engineer; and David Porcellino, Audio Mixer.

Transcript

Inform & Connect, the American Foundation for the Blind’s ongoing series created to foster togetherness and camaraderie within the blindness community through informal storytelling and learning about relevant, interesting topics, is back with a duo who share a true passion for quality audio description work in film and television: Roy Samuelson, audio description narrator; and Stephen Letnes, composer.

Melody Goodspeed, AFB Major Gifts Specialist, will guide the conversation about the importance and inclusional relevance of audio description. The group will discuss, among other topics, Kevin’s Way - Roy's current initiative to develop a new measure of excellence and quality assurance for blind audiences via world-class audio description services.

“The duo of Roy and Stephen truly takes inclusion to a new level,” Melody said. “It is very fitting that we end the inaugural season of Inform and Connect with the story of working together to make systemic change a reality.”

Transcript

In this episode of Inform & Connect, Melody Goodspeed chats with Gabby Mendonca, blindness advocate and student.

Gabby is a senior at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, studying communications in digital media. Growing up, she didn’t have anyone in the blind community to look up too for guidance. With this in mind, she started her own YouTube channel to connect with others like her—blind individuals needing to know they are not alone. Gabby thrives on sharing her journey as a college student, navigating her passion alongside her sighted peers.

Transcript

This episode of Inform & Connect features a duo who share a true passion for bringing accessible entertainment to the blind and visually impaired community as well as the hearing impaired community through iOS devices. John Sweet and Petr Kucheryavyy of Charter Communications will discuss their work on Spectrum Access, a free app designed to provide entertainment access to persons with vision or hearing impairments. The app enhances the in-home entertainment experience by enabling customers to play audio description or closed captioning directly from their phone or tablet.

Read the Transcript