August is half gone and “back To school” will soon be here. Our returning guest this week, Mitch Kidd, knows about the butterflies on the first day (both as student and as educational worker) speaking with us about the new teaching program they’re starting this fall.

This time we two are back in studio and speaking with Mitch all the way from their home on Canada’s west coast once again. This episode discusses taking breaks between guide dogs, “now celebrating a year with Mitch’s third guide dog Mario”, on always traveling with a white cane in their backpack (as a backup) to be able to explore their surroundings tactually, and on the cross-animal relationships and interaction as Mario met Mitch’s miniature horses and on hiring an animal translator for guidance.

We’re glad to have them back to hear an update on things such as self employment services and training, on musicianship and accessing braille music, and their feelings on traveling on Vancouver’s Sky Train now and on asking for assistance through the station.

We talk a recent ADHD diagnosis, being able to access time out in nature when you have a disability and on speaking up about hiking with others not being wrong (with some of the judgments within the disability community), and the relief of travel to Victoria being made easier by the knowledge of what having ADHD means for them. For Mitch (over stimulation as their brain would go off-line), knowledge is certainly power/empowering.

So going from South Africa to Vancouver Island, we’re reflecting with return guest Mitch on the passage of time and on living our truths. It’s an honest discussion on intersecting identities as we work to make this show a place where such open conversations are made more commonplace. We at Outlook congratulate Mitch on their recent official name change.

And, when it comes to identity and gender and politics, Mitch says: “It’s my life you’re talking about.” They tell us, “It’s been a mixed bag really,” as Mitch shares about misgendering, making taking hormones accessible, and on those who just won’t try vs people who do.

Live and let live we say, the mixed bag of intersectionality being what Outlook’s all about, with returning friend of the show, Mitch, and first-time guest Mario too.

Find Mitch's previous appearance on the show here:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/outlook-2022-11-14-blindness-and-gender-intersecting/id1527876739?i=1000586296318