She was born in Sri Lanka and came, with her family, to Toronto, Canada when she was two-years-old.

This week, on Outlook, we speak with the co-host of Kelly and Company, Ramya Amuthan, after having her partner on the show, its namesake, Kelly MacDonald on last year.

We talk the best Sri Lankan food in the GTA or Greater Toronto Area where she grew up, about her mother’s choice for her daughter to not learn braille and instead focus on using the remaining vision she still had, and about what she found out from meeting other blind people on her time visiting an institute for the blind in Sri Lanka.

She’s a self described adventurer and found her love of radio after trying a bunch of other paths in life. She has found a rhythm on her radio show, teaming up with co-host and friend Kelly, on Accessible Media Inc. (AMI-audio), weekdays from two to four PM.

Listen live:

https://www.ami.ca/listenlive

Or as a podcast:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/kelly-and-company/id1235188417

Blaine Deutscher’s motto for living his life: "I don’t want blindness to be the reason I don’t do something”. This matches up with the philosophy of the Canadian Federation of the Blind and National Federation of the Blind: “living the life you want”.

This week on Outlook, we speak with Blaine from Alberta about how he discovered CFB/NFB and related philosophy, the level of assistance he received as a student who was blind, and route learning (which many Canadians learned orientation and mobility were taught) vs structure discovery method of independent travel for the blind.

From navigating transportation with a guide dog to chopping down a tree to taking his son’s temperature, a parent simply taking care of their sick child, he wants to do it all and not have his blindness rule his every move and there are ways, other blind people who are leading others along the path (blind leading the blind) but it’s true. How else do we learn how it might have been for another blind person, for the tips and tricks a new parent who is blind can learn from other parents who are blind too, to use the example Blaine gives in this episode.

And finally, us two, not athletic in the least, got to learn how in the world blind hockey is played. (More to come on the subject in future shows.) Let this Canadian, who loves the sport like millions of other Canadians, explain it all and even provide an audio demonstration of what the adaptive puck sounds like.

After hitting our 100th episode a few weeks into 2021, we’ve put together a demonstration of Outlook and what we are all about.

From the serious to the silly.

So celebrate with us as we share one clip from each episode, one clip from each of our first one hundred shows.

Spring is on its way and we’re back with a taste of our famous Kijewski calmness. Read on and listen to learn more...

After the first few months of 2021 and all the excellent guests we’ve had on, Outlook is back with just the two of us once again for what we like to refer to it as a mixed bag episode - new month, mixed bag March and here we go. On this week’s show we share our newest equipment for making this show sound pristine, discuss Covid and vaccines for a best way out of the pandemic for us all (including we who’ve lived with chronic illnesses), and share brief examples from three different programs that include audio descriptive tracks (movie, nature doc, and primetime drama).

We also get to share a listener review of our recent sighted siblings episode and we always appreciate ratings and reviews on places like Apple Podcasts. Or, you can always email feedback to us at: [email protected]

Q: What’s it like to have siblings who are blind?

A (from one of ours): I don’t know. What’s it like Not to have siblings who are blind?

Around this time every February, we celebrate Family Day and this year, on Outlook, we’re celebrating with our two, older siblings.

We, as co-hosts, do this show from the perspective of growing up with blindness that has a baring on how we see the world. Our older brother and sister, Paul and Kim, have a unique perspective, growing up as the two first born, sighted siblings, and we are lucky to have them and wanted to show how we’re mostly like any other family.

We speak bulldogs and bunnies, audio and audio description, from the serious stuff to The Simpsons with a little window onto our sibling relationships on Outlook, Family Day 2021.

Legally blind. Low vision. Blind. What exactly does it mean to be legally blind anyway?

Today on Outlook we speak with Toronto based journalist and AMI audio reporter Meagan Gillmore about being born with retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), attending a private Christian school in a city that’s known for its school for the blind and not knowing where you fit in, and how applying for employment is made more difficult because most listings state that a driver’s license is necessary to get the job. From being born in London to moving to Brantford for school. From Hamilton to Whitehorse and from St. John to Ontario’s capitol city, having lived in three Canadian provinces in the last thirty years, she’s now a freelance journalist covering political issues and public policy matters. Meagan wants to be a journalist who has a disability but to be able to explain to the public about others with disabilities and how those stories are universally applicable.

We even talk about growing up, in the same generation of the 80s and 90s, and how our parents first met when we were preschool age and services for families with visually impaired children were missing, our parents having to make their own support group (Child Light) to help fill in the gap and navigate those early years. We talk finding acceptance using a white cane, bullying, and her love of writer Jean Little, authentic disability representation in all areas of media. Also, we talk Sesame Street, Polly Pocket toys, and This Is Us.

Find Meagan over on Twitter: @MeaganGillmore and check out some of the stories she’s done for several Canadian publications and newspapers.

What’s a fire tornado? How do the northern lights appear in the night sky? What does Joe Biden’s wearing of aviator sunglasses represent culturally? Who is The Falling Man? What exactly is a meme anyway? And what do Mike Pence and Grandpa Simpson have to do with one another?

To our blind listeners, for answers to these questions and more, check out Outlook this week where we speak with Christine Malec and JJ Hunt, a blind/sighted team, out of Toronto, who are behind Talk Description to Me, where: “the visuals of cultural events and the world around us get hashed out in description rich conversations”. From one podcast team to another, this episode contains silly moments like our thoughts on how fun goalball actually is to discussion on moving images such as the 9/11 Memorial.

JJ has a background in theatre and draws on that in his work describing images and the sighted world that we, as blind people, can often miss. Christine is a musician and audio description consultant and together these two are making quite a splash in the ever expanding world of audio description.

And for our sighted listeners, could you describe, in detail, the horror and the heroic actions on a day like 9/11 to someone who was unable to see it with their own eyes? Audio description is an art form and a necessary one, like all art is, but it matters to many of us who want to feel included and to have access to what is seen in popular culture and in news and current events around the world. Some blind people have something of a visual memory and others have never seen, but inclusion is thankfully becoming an universal standard.

Find and follow them on social media, by listening to Talk Description To Me on podcast streaming services everywhere (you might even find something that interests you about the world we see and the parts that can pass us by), and find out more by going to their website:

https://talkdescriptiontome.buzzsprout.com

And you can find Christine’s Patreon page here:

https://www.patreon.com/ChristineMalec

We’re celebrating our 100th episode of Outlook, on this final Monday in January, with guest and friend Sky Mundell and his keyboard.

As a child, our guest begged his dad for a piano and his dad said he’d buy him one if he learned a particular Beethoven song. There’s a timeless quality Sky has. He shares with us his adoption story, mainstream and segregation in education, and he explains his love of music and technology (mostly self taught), capping off our celebratory show with three classic keyboard tunes.

So don’t miss this 100th show, with Sky Mundell, winner of Vancouver Island's Got Talent 2011.

Check out Sky performing live for Vancouver Island's Got Talent here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bapemFdu4cA

And his music Facebook page can be found here:

https://www.facebook.com/skysmusicpage/

Check out the latest episode of Outlook where we speak with Natalie Martiniello and Jen Goulden from Braille Literacy Canada (BLC) as they celebrate thirty years.

They discuss the early influence of braille literacy in their lives, how Braille Authority of North America (BANA) made Canada realize we needed something of our own, and what our guests believe is the future of braille in the literacy of Canadians who are blind and visually impaired.

In January, the month of Louis Braille’s birth, Natalie and Jen share their bilingual perspective, while explaining the unique connection to Mr. Braille that French-Canada holds close to its heart.

What is Braille Literacy Canada and how is BLC at the forefront of the education into the value of braille in this country?

To learn more, check out the official website at:

http://www.brailleliteracycanada.ca

Mixed Bag Monday, though I know when it’s a podcast, days of the week aren’t a part of it anymore.

It’s our second episode of 2021 and the first with us two co-hosts back at it, as Outlook discusses what’s in the news, in the world of social media, and what’s happening on this show in the weeks to come. It’s another Mixed Bag Monday show.

Today, on Outlook, we discuss the recent celebrations for World Braille Day and Louis Braille’s birthday, our music making to cheer us up in the midst of this pandemic, and also the latest rumours going around on TikTok with young people needing not only mored education on someone from the past like Helen Keller, but how it’s more important than ever that we showcase the best of the ordinary lives of those of us living with disabilities. We are out here and we are making things happen and disability makes us stronger.

https://worldblindunion.org/blog/news/wbu-statement-for-world-braille-day-4-january-2021/?fbclid=IwAR15EcpVqFITrPPTvmTs9z7H7pmiQMjrQmvA1FV5qtHwUFsaZxuTUA7Myjg

https://medium.com/@isabellalahoue/the-generation-that-doesnt-believe-helen-keller-existed-e14d5945013c

https://rikermusic.bandcamp.com

http://soundcloud.com/skipatrolmusic/ski-patrol-lighting-up-a-dark-season