Not a Kerry connection this time (as it’s been coined) but one from the other host of this podcast. It’s a Brian booking! Brian and Laura met, as teenagers, back in 2001 at the MIRA Foundation in Quebec, where they went for training for guide dogs. It’s social media which has allowed them to reconnect, something that wasn’t around when they last met in person and we’re glad they have and that we could have her on Outlook this week.

In her most recent role as an on air personality at Accessible Media Inc., Laura Bane has experienced a varied array of activities, from repelling herself down a three story building to rowing a giant, hollowed out pumpkin across a river, and even circus school over the last five years.

She was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa (or RP) at the age of four, but recently (in her mid thirties) has had her diagnosis come into question a little. She has a degree in philosophy and is now leaving the security of her position at AMI to get a masters in social work.

Employment and employability is a subject we like to discuss often on this show, to make people understand that with disability in the picture, finding paid work is not always made easy and once we do find some, it feels like a big risk to even consider giving that up. The three of us discuss the difference it makes to a blind child to have the right supports to be successful in their education, what it looks like when one doesn’t get that, and how to eventually find your passions and achieve your dreams, even when disability can make that more challenging.

As a bonus, Brian includes a couple cassette clips from 20 years ago of Laura and himself at Mira. While conjuring up memories from the past, Laura came across a sketch of him she drew when there which is posted on the Soundcloud page for this episode.