Welcome back to Outlook in 2022. We may be recording from home once again, as COVID-19 and specifically Omicron are prominent right now in Ontario, Canada, but we are nothing if not flexible.

On the first new show of this new year, we begin by emphasizing why we (two blind siblings who’ve had organ transplants) are once again mostly isolating while this latest surge crests. We know what it’s like to be in ICU, to have the other there, and this is our generation’s world war, with the healthcare and essential workers as the soldiers, and we, once more, make our declaration on what we all need to do to work together on this to lighten the load for hospitals.

We share a bit about our family’s Christmas, a Christmas and New Year’s that did not go as planned this year, with Covid finally getting a foothold with our loved ones. We had to alter holiday plans this time and again we made the best of it, but we’re glad to be back for a whole new year of this podcast.

We discuss those who’ve passed away in recent weeks: Desmond Tutu, Betty White, Sidney Poitierr, all legends in the things they achieved and the mark they all made, whether it was speaking out on homophobia in religion or the representation of women on the small screen or racial progress on the big. Right down to the loss of a musician, from PEI and band The East Pointers, Koady Chaisson, co-host Kerry’s own age, gone too soon. From social justice and progress, to the entertainment and music world. In White’s case, we air an old and forgotten commercial starring Betty as a blind woman, explaining to an ignorant cab driver why a guide dog is permitted in his cab, totally worth the listen.

Also, it’s January and we never let this first month of each new year go by without acknowledging braille and its importance in our lives and for the freedom and empowerment of blind people. This past weekend it was the first of four online events put on by Braille Literacy Canada (BLC), the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB), the CNIB Foundation, the Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA), the National Network for Equitable Library Service (NNELS), and the Provincial Resource Centre for the Visually Impaired (PRCVI).

The first of these events to be held was a panel entitled Looking Through the Crystal Ball: Innovations in Braille Technology for the 21st Century and Beyond and those on this panel represented a broad range of ages and backgrounds, but all recalling the braille technologies they remember fondly, those they use most now, and what they’d like to see in the future including more durable devices. Even subjects such as tactile graphics were discussed at length.

So join us as we take Outlook into 2022 to see what we get up to, starting with a blog post/interview with BookNet Canada which was published on January 4th, inventor Louis Braille’s birthday:

https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/2022/1/4/how-to-improve-braille-accessibility-in-canada

For more information on Braille Literacy Month and to register for the events discussed on this show:

https://nnels.ca/world-braille-day

BLC on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTmbEZuyVkV49OOo3SZ4c_g

Check out Wintergreen by The East Pointers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P05YtS75gR4

And the Betty White commercial can be found here:

https://www.seeingeye.org/assets/mp3/betty-white-taxi-cab-psa.mp3