Outlook on Radio Western

If you could have dinner with just one person who’s not alive today, a famous person from history, who would you choose?

It’s October which means Blindness Awareness Month, October 14th being World Sight Day, and October 15th which is known as White Cane Day, we at Outlook speak with M. Leona Godin, friend of the show.

We’ve been talking a lot about her recently released cultural exploration of blindness and sight - "There Plant Eyes: A Personal and Cultural History of Blindness" since it came out, with Pantheon Books, back in June. And before, since her first appearance on the show in June of 2020.

Again, it being October and with Halloween right around the corner, what is it with the graphic language around the eyes (gouging in works of literature such as in Shakespeare’s King Lear or Oedipus Rex by Sophocles? Godin took a phrase from Shakespeare for a chapter in her book entitled: "Out, Vile Jelly!" It seems to fit the theme and this time of year well, as we discuss the vulnerability of one’s eyes and the forms that takes.

We talk book title changes like hers which occurred in the year since she was last on with us, and why there’s not more of a call for blind pride, but not like how there’s terms such as blind rage, blind drunk, and how love is blind. Instead, why is there a hesitancy for creating a blindness pride movement, as in the other pride movements happening in other marginalized communities?

We ponder out loud an imaginary dinner party with us three in attendance, along with historical figures mightily included in "There Plant Eyes", such as Louis Braille and Helen Keller - 2021 we’re referring to as the year of "There Plant Eyes" on Outlook On Radio Western and this one was a fun, light chat between friends with a little vile jelly thrown in for good measure.

Here’s where to go to find out more information about There Plant Eyes: A Personal and Cultural History of Blindness and the link to hear Leona’s first appearance on Outlook from last year:

http://thereplanteyes.com/about-the-book-and-the-author/

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/outlook-on-radio-western/id1527876739?i=1000488226682

Our last live in studio Outlook was March 9, 2020, which was our 64th show. Brian loves numbers and it’s quite the coincidence we recorded exactly another 64 shows from home. But now we return, LIVE, with episode 129.

Back in studio, with a little VoiceOver to kick off the show, back at Western radio.

Still taking precautions against Covid (masks/vaccines/distancing)- on this week we talk September 30th and National Day For Truth and Reconciliation (land acknowledgements and Orange Shirt Day), catch up on what’s all changed (for us and more broadly) since the start of this pandemic, and how radio/podcasts are perfect for us blind people and sighted alike to be on an even playing field where nothing visual matters—for once.

What things are worth doing and having (nails done/traveling/owning print books) for a person who can’t see those things? Glitter point!

From early family Canadian Thanksgiving celebrations that include Uno, wasps, and nail polish to sighted baseball lovers being told to “look at that” from a sports announcer doing the usual on screen game calling over the radio. When you can convince the rest of the world that accessible baseball can be accessible for more people, they tend to pay attention.

Sixty-four shows done during Covid-19, on our own (mostly all interviews), at home and online, which puts us at episode 129 and it feels good being back, even if it’s once a month where we’re live on the mics.

For information on Orange Shirt Day (EVERY CHILD MATTERS):

https://www.orangeshirtday.org

Here we are, having fallen into fall and by sharing a co-host’s love of The Fall (both the season and the band), but we two blind siblings are feeling the advocacy fatigue or, in other words, some weeks it just feels like we’re done AF.

No, seriously, the advocacy fatigue, it’s real, but we push through with a new show this week, now known as Monday Mixed Bag on Outlook.

This week, returning to just us co-hosts, talking everything from cooking and some of the barriers that can arise when cooking without sight (shoutout to the friend who introduced Brian to vegan stew), celebrating three years of this show with a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts (thank you Regoro64), and a look back on where Canada stands post election (along with tales from the voting booth).

So check us out with our third year anniversary, fall/autumn episode, final one of September and into a new season.

Also, check out upcoming guest on Outlook, M. Leona Godin’s recent appearance on the CBC’s Writers and Company show and podcast with host Eleanor Wachtel. Catch it here:

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/writersandcompany/m-leona-godin-on-the-metaphor-and-reality-of-blindness-in-literature-and-in-life-1.6188458

As mentioned on this episode, check out the ACB Sunday Edition podcast where Wayne shares his story in greater detail:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sunday-edition-for-august-8-2021-a-survivors-story/id1531822445?i=1000531400268

Oh boy! Here we go!

On September 7th, 2021 something called the Pan-Canadian Disability Coalition put on a federal leaders debate (on and for disability and Canadians living with one like blindness). This hadn’t existed before and though twenty-two percent of Canadians with a disability, we rarely hear our specific issues mentioned by politicians, on or off the campaign trail.

It’s one week to the next federal election here in Canada and today on Outlook we’re speaking with new friend Owen Parkin, a Lakehead University student living in Thunder Bay, who was born with Norrie Disease and went to W. Ross Macdonald School in Brantford, now studying political science, with hopes of going to law school and running for office one day.

With this first-time guest’s first time on the show, we appreciate the energy of the younger generations like Owen’s, as we as Canadians, of all ages, try to figure out how to bridge gaps, what’s best, and that’s not easy, to sift through party platforms and find the things that most matter to each of us. To push back against the understandable cynicism of a bunch of campaign promises and slow government progress, along with external events in the broader world. From international to here at home, Owen wasn’t even born when 9/11 happened, but we start the show talking about that sad anniversary, the mess the west has left in Afghanistan, and the frantic energy of back-to-school and an election.

Owen shares with us what it meant to vote for the first time, walks us through some of the things each party has in their platform (Liberals/Conservative/NDP/Greens/PPC), the difference between the options of universal basic income/guaranteed livable income/and a proposed Canada Disability Benefit, and the roles and responsibilities of making voting accessible for all Canadians (UNCRPD, Article 29), specifically voters who are blind.

Who’s responsible for holding Elections Canada’s feet to the fire on making voting something we can all do without barriers or interference? Is the CNIB really doing enough for us in this area, if they are supposed to be who speaks for and takes care of us blind Canadians? When really, at least according to the three of us on this episode, we don’t feel represented by them in 2021 and would rather speak for ourselves.

Along with Owen, we discuss what the parties are willing to do for Canadians with disabilities, but it’s more than that because our issues are your issues, as anyone can find themselves living with a disability at any point. Also, those of us with disabilities don’t only care about the things directly relating to disability, but also things like climate change and affordable housing for everyone, things that if Canada does well, should lift us all up.

It’s all connected, everything is political, which isn’t easy for many of us to admit, but Owen is going to school for this stuff, loves a good back-and-forth debate and election seasons in general, and is here to walk and talk us novices through platforms, as we recorded this just hours before last week’s English leaders debate.

So check us out to hear from the enthusiastic former W Ross student Brian met when speaking to a class about audio engineering. And, for all Canadians, remember to vote on September 20th, 2021, to make your voice heard, with the understanding of the power and the freedom that comes along with the right to vote.

So much to say on the book “There Plant Eyes: A Personal and Cultural History of Blindness” by M. Leona Godin and published by Pantheon Books. There’s so much to say that we could have had a seven hour discussion on all the themes and stories about blindness throughout history and in our culture today.

On this special, slightly extended three-segmented episode of Outlook, we were three this week with our friend Barry Toner, Zooming in with us all the way from Ireland and returning for a forth appearance with us on the podcast. We three blind friends had a ball on this one talking Braille and braille (the man/inventor himself and the system of reading he created), about how we’ll never be taken seriously as romantic partners because blind people are thought all to need looking after, and one of us even reveals a new appreciation of the woman Helen Keller was, thanks to Godin’s insightful chapter on the woman’s legacy and the woman she was and wasn’t permitted to be in her day.

From talk of magic mushrooms and the author’s punk style with performing and other art forms to some more academic chapters with literature and science and philosophy - a little something for everyone. And let us, in this episode, tell you a bit about what we thought of the book and its themes, to hopefully entice as many readers to pick up the book as possible.

We talk everything from the chapter “Braille and His Invention” to “Helen Keller in Vaudeville and In Love” and yet what of all us blind people in the middle ground of it all? See us and understand that we are here and the majority of our minority group, while it’s those few famous blind people everyone hears about which makes it harder to live blind in the world. We fight stigma every day more than the blindness itself.

How two of us on this week’s Outlook On Radio Western know and love braille and the third didn’t learn. The Braille chapter shows this divide in the blindness community, but reasons aren’t so simple and often coming from other external sources. There’s more than one way to read, Braille requiring practice like reading print.

Co-host Kerry starts it all off by asking Brian and Berry to use one word to describe what it is that they each see, blackness being so far from the world most of us blind people exist in. Outlooks and perspectives, lived experience is what we champion here on Outlook with every episode we record. And there’s even a Pulp reference thrown in this one somewhere so listen closely, if you just happen to be a fan of their music.

So join us for this pulpy episode, if you dare. So much to comment on, on blindness and this versatile handbook for students and professors, one we three all agree should be required reading on college/university course reading lists, for any and all blindness rehabilitation workers and anyone who’s a part of the healthcare system. Oh, and don’t forget the politicians.

The three of us read it to be ready to record this one and now we recommend you read it too. You should read it if you’re blind and if you’re not. And check out this There Plant Eyes discussion episode for more of the fun we three had at our book club meeting over Zoom.

Purchase the hardcover, audio, or e-book here:

https://bookshop.org/books/there-plant-eyes-a-personal-and-cultural-history-of-blindness-9781643589664/9781524748715

And if you haven’t had a chance yet, read this incredible interview co-host Kerry put together with Leona for literary magazine The Rumpus:

https://therumpus.net/2021/08/the-rumpus-interview-with-m-leona-godin/

Oh that Friday feeling.

On last week’s Mixed Bag Monday, Part One, we made pleas and climbed sand piles.

This week, in Part Two, we on Outlook discuss what we learn from attending an annual general meeting (or AGM) for Radio Western/reach out to new student listeners, sharing on The Rumpus and the process, and revelations around Strange Gods and sensitivity reading,

It’s the wild west of sensitivity reading and, yet, of social media, but social media does serve some good when perspectives are shared with one another.

And many many things come back to politics. With the next federal Canadian election on the horizon, on this episode we finish off with a story of the perilous floating bus stop/bike lanes/city design that’s recklessly spreading (all the way from the city of Victoria on the west coast to London, Ontario) and the power of social media to explain where the problem lies. It feels as though politicians ignore people with disabilities and we need to make them aware that we are here.

Strange days and strange Gods. From Monday to Friday and back again.

A huge congratulations to co-host Kerry for the work she did conducting an interview with M. Leona Godin on the book "There Plant Eyes: A Personal and Cultural History of Blindness". Check out “Fighting the Weightiness of Metaphors” on the online literary journal The Rumpus at the link below:

https://therumpus.net/2021/08/the-rumpus-interview-with-m-leona-godin/

And you can find the novel “Strange Gods” by Alison Kimble which Kerry recently did a sensitivity reading job for here:

https://www.amazon.ca/Strange-Gods-Alison-Kimble/dp/1953491146

We begin this one with what we’re reading and how. Oh, and with a plea and a trip to see a giant sand pile.

On Outlook this week, another Mixed Bag Monday discussing a musical gig, guitar by co-host here with band Trusty Fox. Brian reads and plays the same way. Other co-host Kerry is excited that fall is coming, but it’s always apple season for Brian, technology wise.

We mention a few shows we’ve been on which have recently come out, such as the American Foundation for the Blind’s Inform & Connect podcast, a Kerry Connection, and bonus episode of the #onpoli Podcast from TV Ontario. We share the going back with a recent day trip, summer family stories from the old days at Sand Hill Park on Lake Erie, one of Ontario’s natural wonders. And finally, a plea on vaccines and to all that’s going on, from Covid to politics.

We at Outlook On Radio Western stand with the women of Afghanistan and of all those living with disabilities in any corner of the world who feel oppressed or at risk.

Check out our interview on the Inform & Connect podcast here:

https://www.afb.org/news-publications/publications/inform-and-connect-podcast/inform-connect-season-two/inform-14

Our segment discussing Canadian library accessibility for TVO’s #onpoli podcast:

https://www.tvo.org/video/bonus-stories-you-might-have-missed?fbclid=IwAR3Mg8v_kmpQPRooi9W_Y4rIUYDnnlbryod_v8cumZ31xfK-LnWPpKSZNyo

Note: We’re featured in the second story of this clip, around 10 minutes in.

And for more information on this year's Paralympic Games (taking place from Tuesday, August 24 to September 5), and to learn about their associated #WeThe15 social media campaign for greater awareness:

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

https://www.wethe15.org

This week’s guest on Outlook describes herself as: “An open book.”

Joanne says: “My setback is my setup.”

Our conversation with Joanne Beckford showcases her openness in talking with us, in sharing her own outlook with us and the audience.

Our main goal with this show, showing the world that blindness isn’t the end of everything that was worth living for in life, or certainly does not need to be. Joanne’s positive attitude has helped her along the way on her glaucoma journey and into a future where adaptation is the key.

We discuss her ten years of symptoms, diagnosis, and multiple treatments which brought her to where she is today, accepting rather than denying the reality of her life.

She tells us about understanding family, partner, and employers who offered support.

She shares with us her reaction when the ophthalmologist informed her she could no longer drive. It’s not what you might think. And when people would stare at her, when she’d take out her white cane and take steps out into the world, she couldn’t help but notice the stares she got. Yes, blindness isn’t all or nothing, but rather it’s a spectrum and we three are all somewhere on that spectrum, all at differing places along that continuum.

This is, in her own words, a “new chapter” in her life and she hopes to take what she’s learned, along with her long held optimism, to mentor other people going through similar journeys. We met while talking on the need for greater diversity and we are here to motivate each other, a mutual admiration society and a support system of friendship across Canada.

As discussed on this episode, networking and support are key for the blind community to thrive in Canada. Here’s a link to the Facebook group we mentioned for blind Canadians to do exactly these things:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/821855574951186

From a recent binaural carwash adventure on their own podcast. To adventures talking space with us and Christine Malec’s dream of one day meeting astronaut Chris Hadfield, from one Chris to the other. You heard it here first, on the latest episode of Outlook.

The two hosts of Talk Description to Me, Christine Malec and JJ Hunt, who we spoke to about their podcast on ours last winter, are involved in a cool new project that we wanted to highlight.

For months, Malec and Hunt have been working with Kim Arcand from the Chandra X-Ray observatory (who has been doing this sort of visual scientific translating since 98), and now these three are creating written descriptions of the data visualizations that are generated from Chandra research into astronomy from deep space.

Malec reached out to us, last spring on Outlook about all of this, wondering whether we’d be interested in interviewing the three of them about the work, including some of the descriptions they’ve generated, and/or a sonification or two.

It’s a type of translation, from data, translated to 3D printed models, into audio sonifications.

From exploding stars to colliding galaxies and galaxy clusters. As a visualization scientist, Arcand is letting NASA know that though blind people may have felt intimidated by the stem fields for much too long now, it’s a new world of expanded forms of audio and image description. It’s time to expand the infinite number of possibilities for making astronomy and all sciences more accessible and inclusive.

All of this work is making astronomy more accessible to people who are blind and low vision. Kim, JJ and Christine are eager to spread the word about these projects, as Christine says, “Mostly cause they’re cool, but partly to show NASA that accessibility work is valued by our community.”

And all the laughs and science puns, like the cherry on top of what’s already a pretty special Outlook episode to begin with.

For more information on this accessible astronomy work from Christine, JJ, and Kim, visit Chandra’s website. Check out Kim Arcand’s own site and be sure to check out her TED Talk too. And, don’t forget to visit the podcast page for Talk Description to Me to hear more from the weekly episodes Malec and Hunt put out each Saturday:

https://chandra.harvard.edu

https://www.kimarcand.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kTMr5LqIBQ

https://talkdescriptiontome.buzzsprout.com