Outlook on Radio Western

To quote our sister sibling on this week’s episode of Outlook, to describe her brother, she says:

“He’s the self starter of self starters.”

We like to ask this question, to describe the other sibling, on each April’s Sibling Month shows. We would say that about them both, as we wrap up our month of celebrating sibling pairs who are both blind, as we two sibling hosts are as well.

Maggie and Erik are friends of ours we’ve known for almost twenty-five years, from summer camp to guide dog school in the 90s.

On this episode we talk about our memories of a camp for blind children in northern Ontario, about growing up in a big family with much younger and sighted siblings, and about the stresses put on the two of them, both blind in the family, bouncing around from public school to a school for the blind. We talk bullying, missing home and family, and about how to find happiness and fulfillment in a world where blindness and the blind, both treated with kid gloves most of the time, makes it difficult to find a way in the world.

From fear of dogs to fatherhood, check out this final sibling series episode of April for all this and more and we’ll return with Outlook, again, in May.

Last but not least, consider checking out the first “virtual” convention of the Canadian Federation of the Blind happening from Friday, April 30 to Sunday, May 2. You can read through the full agenda and find more info at:

https://www.cfb.ca/save-the-date-2021-cfb-national-convention-choices-and-goals-april-30th-may-2nd-2021

Attending a residential school for the blind and deaf-blind, seeing hide nor hair of your family over nights, until the weekends came.

Check out our third week of sibling stories, tales from pairs of siblings, both blind with our discussion with Rob (second Outlook appearance) and his sister Jackie.

We discuss their age gap and what that meant for their sibling bonding, about their experiences attending W. Ross McDonald School in Brantford, here in Ontario. We talk Rob’s musical instruments and playing through the floor of the same apartment building they both live in to entertain his big sister.

We talk Dharma & Greg, Hamfest and amateur radio, and the many transitions in life and what it means to have a sibling who gets it.

What is too young to send your child to boarding school anyway? Music and TV were important, have been important outlets for these guests we’re speaking to this week.

Follow Rob’s dream for an inclusive musical hub with his website:

https://www.themelodychamber.com

And his Facebook music page can be found here:

https://www.facebook.com/robctg

No one messes with my sibling but me!

This week, on Outlook, it’s the second week of April and our Siblings Series shows featuring sibling pairs who are both blind and the above line sums up the lovely sibling bond vibe that our latest guests illustrate with ease.

Jessica and Zoe are Mexican-American, blind siblings, from Texas. Jessica loves tea and Zoe plays a flute on air during our interview.

Also, Zoe shares with us her story of coming out as trans gender and Jessica’s thoughts on what it was like to watch her sibling finding a way through it all.

Fighting one day and “thick as thieves” the next. That is what it’s like to have a sibling and us four siblings have a lot in common, starting with our eye condition. We discover this connection and more in this week’s episode.

It takes two: best sister in the world or a kick in the head in the womb.

This April, on Outlook, we’re doing a series on sibling pairs who are blind such as us two hosts indeed are. April 10th is National Sibling’s Day and our first pair in the series are twins Jessica and Jocelyn Gladysz of British Columbia.

We asked each sister to describe the other and the answers were both sweet and fun, along with their lively descriptions of growing up in a small, remote B.C. town and trips into Vancouver to ride the Sky Train, the creative projects they came up with on cassette as kids, and their mission, as adults, to help other people feel less alone and to realize one’s capabilities and potential.

Growing up, they’d describe themselves as “misfits,” but they know they’ve been lucky to have each other to lean on. They now live on Bowen Island and they speak to us this week about the ways they express themselves with song and the plans, in the works, to provide the kinds of supportive camp experiences that shaped and continue to shape who they are and the work they do.

To register/donate to their virtual talent show, go here:

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/pacific-training-centre-for-the-blind-society/events/a-salute-to-summer/

And for more info on Camp Bowen and The Pacific Training Centre for the Blind, check them out at the following links:

https://campbowen.ca

https://bowenislandcentre.ca

https://ptcb.ca

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.