Outlook on Radio Western

Spring is on its way and an April eclipse is coming. Greater inclusion being the order of the day on Outlook this week.

In honour of March’s International Women’s Day, co-host/sister Kerry is back in studio to share more stories from the rest of her time in Ireland this last visit to celebrate her 40th, with brother/co-host Brian with a Monday Mixed Bag alongside a shout-out to some of our regular listeners and some other women to mention. Stay tuned for another mixed bag Monday next time, part two of our IWD 2024 series, hopefully with a more inclusive eclipse on the horizon.

Find the VocalEye event with Leona Godin “Sighted People Suck!” that we discussed on this show here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVcjeD3bQJs

Co-host Kerry met Anne through a public speaking workshop and then at a telling our mother’s story workshop. This week on Outlook we speak with Mok about her purpose and her view on life as an Asian woman who is blind and living with Chronic Daily Headache.

Growing up on the Canadian West Coast, she struggled to fit in and in school. Since then, she’s been working and raising a family, while living with the chronic illness and disability, and has found her voice in her purpose and in her view, which is what this show is all about.

Learn more about Anne Mok and find a link to her excellent TEDX TALK on her official website:

https://purposeinview.com

Check out her Instagram for examples of some excellent image descriptions:

https://www.instagram.com/purposeinview/

And check out the VocalEye event “My Mother’s Story” featuring Anne Mok, co-host Kerry, and loyal listener Nancy Gill:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m8qdoM0CM4

Co-host Kerry met Jen Violi at a writing workshop in Mexico back in 2017 and has gone on to take many of Jen‘s classes ever since. With the option of online, they can live across the continent from each other and still get so much from getting to know each other better through writing.

Jen Violi is an author, mentor, elemental writing facilitator, and editor.

This week on Outlook we talk about her experience with loss, grief, and chronic illness because everyone has one or knows someone and has been through such things. We also discuss the elemental writing classes Violi teaches over Zoom that Kerry has been apart of over the past few years.

If you’d like to sign up for her Elemental Writing mailing list, click the following link:

http://eepurl.com/iv4ZA6

And for more, check out her website:

https://www.jenvioli.com

It’s never easy to lose someone we love. This week we’re celebrating best friend and drummer Andrew McIntyre.

On this first Mixed Bag Outlook episode of February, Kerry’s back in Ireland and Barry joins the co-hosts from Ireland too.

We’re together, the three of us, for another one where we’re reflecting on what Andrew meant to us, along with discussing some of the accessibility obstacles Kerry and Barry have encountered together while Kerry’s visiting Ireland this time. Barry’s also starting to learn braille and Braille Lego is assisting in the learning process, visiting Braille Town for a multi-sensory experience.

We on Outlook will never forget. Gone too soon but forever in our hearts. We’re dedicating this one to our dear friend Andrew:

https://www.tributearchive.com/obituaries/30531234/andrew-james-mcintyre

Listen to some of Andrew's drumming on the Riker EP from 2020:

https://rikermusic.bandcamp.com/album/descending

Benchmarks along the way on the journey to the end of sight with author of “The Country of the Blind: A Memoir At the End of Sight” Andrew Leland.

Andrew joins us on Outlook this week to discuss feeling like a tourist in this particular country and a little about the H. G. Wells short story his title is based on, on eye contact as a visual communicator, and he even has some dating advice to pass along to one of us as we discuss his “Male Gaze” chapter.

Leland’s journalistic approach to this work of nonfiction, along with the right mixture of his personal story as he goes from sighted to blind make this memoir crackle with life. And Andrew’s laidback vibe makes his foray into, what’s for him and most people the unknowns of stepping into this particular country, well it makes his perspective one we wanted to share.

We highly recommend you read his memoir available as an eBook, audiobook, or Hardcover. To learn more about Leland and to purchase his memoir, check out his official website:

https://www.andrewleland.org

“This is the first time in history we’ve had authentic representation,” says “All the Light We Cannot See” lead actress Aria Mia Loberti, standing with her guide dog at The Golden Globes. “It was my honour to represent my community and my culture; it’s never been done before.”

We kick off this week’s episode of Outlook sharing this clip, mid way through Braille Literacy Month (2024) teasing about an interview we recently prerecorded which follows this week’s Outlook On Radio Western, the last live in studio with us both until next month. It’s another Mixed Bag show, our second MBM (on Martin Luther King Jr. Day) on this Monday, the third Monday of January.

We preview some of the topics we'll touch on with “The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight” author Andrew Leland, including some of what he’s written about learning braille later in life. We then go on to tie this topic, this month where braille is featured, in and along with Andrew’s inclusion of the discussion on the sort of economical and familial situation people with disabilities will be born into, economical marginalization and the struggles of the unhoused population which often incapsulates elements of disability in the mix.

And so around here locally, it’s the first cold weather alert of the season and we’re recognizing the privileges we have and this platform we have on Radio Western. We’re talking about advocacy for increases to social assistance in London, Ontario and across the country, along with the winter weather Canada often deals with this time of year, finishing off the show with talk of upcoming travel for us both.

B R A I L L E

There are a few topics co-host Kerry finds are so important, she will bring them up over and over (no matter the day or month), as often as she can. Braille is one of those.

This week on Outlook though we start by paying our respects to the loved ones, and Western University students, lost on Flight PS752 which took place in January, 2020, in recognition of the families still searching for justice.

We discuss co-host Brian’s accessibility trouble choosing a seat when ordering a concert ticket online, nephew Max getting a soundboard like his Uncle Brian for Christmas, and we’re talking Braille Lego - all while returning to a bunch about braille and its mythology and history to celebrate January 4th being World Braille Day.

We hint at an upcoming guest and their new memoir with the author’s descriptions of learning braille in middle age. as we are back, live in studio for the first time in 2024 and ready to celebrate the legacy Braille left. Happy Braille Literacy Month and check out Braille Literacy Canada for more on braille in Canada:

https://www.brailleliteracycanada.ca/en

And treat the lego lover in your life to some LEGO® Braille Bricks:

https://www.lego.com/en-ca/braille-bricks

Woody, warm, and smoky - this could very well describe our now yearly Ketchup On Pancakes (our pre-?Outlook podcast project) which we now produce around this time of year for our “By The fireside) annual series.

This year it was back to our roots with “family, creativity, and humour” in a sad way as we dedicate our 2023 look-back to our Uncle Mike who we unexpectedly lost in April. Uncle Mike embodied all three of these things all rolled into one man and we discuss his death (a low) along with some of the highs of the year that just was including longtime goals achieved and the question of travel (after our “By The Fireside 2022” episode predictions on whether we’d travel again post pandemic or not.

All this, along with a special find, a related clip with some facts about firewood and Canadian fireplaces to also go along with our themes around this time of year.

As featured on this episode, find “The Jo Firecast: A Yule Log Jamz Watch-Along with Jo Firestone” here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4gHfw_Ag2A

Travel back to 2018 and revisit episode 11 “The Earth Tongue Wiggled (feat. Liam & Crystal of Wildlife Gardening)”:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ketchup-on-pancakes-e11-the-earth-tongue-wiggled-feat/id1527876739?i=1000633132769

“Tis the season to be jolly/tis the season to be brother”

Outlets and outlooks. We’re ringing in the new year (goodbye 2023 and hello 2024), here on Outlook, from down in sister and co-host Kerry’s basement.

We’re discussing trends that made an impression in 2023, for blind people, including things like Be My AI in the “Be My Eyes” app, the celebrating of our 200th show and 5th year in 2023, and sharing on the losses experienced in the disability activist community over the last twelve months.

Co-host Brian is back with some stats on our year and we examine the Seven Principles of Kwanzaa and its themes we on this podcast also try to highlight.

So Happy Kwanzaa as we continue to broaden all our outlooks in the months ahead.

Be sure to check out co-host Kerry's recent appearance on the CBC podcast Now or Never sharing her love for the winter solstice:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/how-to-brighten-up-the-longest-night-of-the-year/id1169422760?i=1000639359566

Sheila’s three questions in problem solving and in life:

Where am I? Where am I going? And how am I going to get there?

Sheila Dinnin is an Orientation & Mobility specialist (O&M) with Vision Loss Rehabilitation Canada. How did she learn about the job she now has and what did it take to get into this type of work in the first place?

This week on Outlook we’re speaking with brother/co-host Brian’s long-time instructor Sheila about just exactly what O&M is for those who do not know and the kinds of canes there are, her thoughts on levels of acceptance about needing one as a tool, and about all the different hats Dinnin wears in her job.

She works to offer low vision and blind people whatever resources, services, or techniques they might need to orient themselves and to be as mobile as possible and she is one of only three live, in-studio guests with us this year.

Image description taken after show: Three people standing side by side, smiling towards the camera. They are indoors, with a wall behind them featuring various posters and signs.

From left to right:

- - Kerry, a woman with shoulder-length brown hair, a dark cap, a black hoodie, and blue jeans is holding a white cane in her left hand.

- Brian, the man in the middle has short brown hair, is wearing a dark green jacket over a grey shirt and light grey pants, and is holding a white cane in his right hand

- Sheila, the woman on the right has long brown hair, is wearing a maroon jacket over a light blue top and black pants.

They are standing in front of a door with a sign that reads "JUST COME ON IN." Above them, there are signs that include the words "MEDIA HUB" and "RADIO WESTERN. The words "RADIO WESTERN" are part of a larger sign that says "RADIO WESTERN @ THE SPOKE LIVE ON AIR," which is partially visible in the background.