SIGHTED PEOPLE SUCK

Well, let us explain further.

This week on Outlook we discuss our friend Dr. M. Leona Godin’s new live performance piece “Sighted People Suck” along with discussing what that statement is really all about for us and other blind people in a mostly sighted world.

Also, we discuss Brian’s experience speaking to a group of greeters from across the globe. So what does it mean to be vulnerable, a familiar thing for blind people, just as it is to stand up on a stage, like Leona, and stand behind the somewhat sarcastic statement from the start of all this?

For more info on “Sighted People Suck” including the Be My AI Image Description/Conversation mentioned on this episode, check out this post on Godin’s official website:

https://drmlgodin.com/2023/10/sighted-people-suck-november-8-solo-show-image-backstory-be-my-ai-description/

And consider reaching out to London Greeters if you visit the UK:

https://londongreeters.org

Shortwave 1310…

This week on Outlook we’re reviewing the November Netflix release of “All the Light we Cannot See,” adapted from the 2014 novel by Anthony Doerr.

We share the audio described trailer and about what it means to have representation in storytelling and in media with ATLWCS having a lead actress who is blind, playing the blind character in this series, along with the important part an accessibility consultant played on the set.

What would we do if we found ourselves in a position like Marie-Laure, the main character in “All the Light We Cannot See”? We ask ourselves, put ourselves in that position of being caught up in a war we did not choose and much more in this one.

So be sure to check out the series for yourself streaming now on Netflix!

You can find the audio described trailer here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7E0PStA8YE

For further reading, check out the following articles referenced on this episode:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/18/arts/television/all-the-light-we-cannot-see-adaptation.html

https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/all-the-light-we-cannot-see-aria-mia-lorbeti-audio-introduction

Bit of a rocky start to this Mixed Bag episode, down one mic to start the hour, but Brian is taking us on an audio tour of Ireland.

This week on Outlook we go from a Belfast pub, to on board on Dublin tour buses, following a traditional Irish trail with co-host Brian. Also, we discuss our recent time visiting an old friend in St. Catharine’s and we read more AI generated image descriptions from our new favourite tool on the Be My Eyes app.

And don’t forget Aille Design’s big “Fashion For All” Jeopardy moment, which we share, along with hearing about Brian’s upcoming association with the World Greeters Association on this pre-Halloween episode.

As three pals do, giving each other a hard time but having fun in studio with good friend/boyfriend Barry Toner visiting from Ireland.

While he’s appeared on our show many times before, Barry is back on Outlook for the first time live in studio to have some fun with us as he tells us what he’s been doing and how he’s been getting along during his stay back here in Canada. Brian is also taking us through his visit to London, England, including sharing some of his adventures through audio and soundscape and filling us in on the cliff hanger he ended off with last time with a story of his adventures an an unexpected encounter riding the Tube transit system.

This, along with a Thanksgiving story of the blind boyfriend busy being the photographer for his girlfriend, co-host Kerry, at a recent family gathering with the help of AI photo descriptions. So thanks to Barry for joining us and being a good sport with us on this edition of Outlook.

Have the conversation.

Following September 30th, National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, and ahead of Thanksgiving it’s another Mixed Bag with a mixture of topics we discuss on Outlook this week as co-host Brian makes his return to the show live and in person.

This week we discuss co-host Kerry’s command of things in studio while her co-host was away in the UK and catch up on all Brian did on his trip, including using the new Be My AI app to get visual detail on the world around us. Brian tests out the app, right there, live in the radio studio to demonstrate what it can offer those of us who cannot see.

Kerry is glad brother Brian is back and he’s brought back with him long-time friend and now Kerry’s boyfriend Barry, for the month. Barry’s been on Outlook several times before, who came up with the name for the podcast originally, and who will be appearing live on an upcoming October episode. So tune in for that on the next one and also to find out the details of Brian’s cliff hanger from at the end of this week’s show.

Her one woman show is premiering, in London, England this October and we’re pleased to have returning guest Jasmine Thien back to discuss it, along with recent insights on adjusting with a second prosthetic eye after having the first one removed in response to childhood cancer.

This week on Outlook, Jasmine is here to share about her upbringing and family history and her lifelong journey with retinal blastoma and the cultural ideas on disability which led her to creating “I Dream In Colour,” a show on Thien’s grandparents who left China years ago, her parent’s ways of handling a threat of vision loss in their child, along with how Jasmine has grown up and come to acceptance and pride in herself.

She describes navigating her new main residence of London, England in preparation for the performance happening on October 15th, the things she tries to instil in the young people she runs educational workshops with, and we even talk disability and sexuality and some of the misconceptions people have about the lack of the latter when it comes to people with the former.

Actor, performer, and educator Jasmine Thien is back with us with her big news and if you happen to be in the UK on 15 October, you should definitely go to this show. You can grab tickets here:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/i-dream-in-colour-by-jasmin-thien-tickets-660403463537

Chippy or chipper and what, exactly, is a Belfast bap? Fries, chips, crisps - from England to the north of Ireland to Canada, differences are everywhere when travel calls.

This week on Outlook, sister/co-host Kerry is alone in the radio studio once again (only a handful of times has she been in there on her own), without brother/co-host and board operator who’s still away in the UK. Kerry is speaking with him and friend and Irish friend who’s hosting him, Barry.

We discuss cultural variations, the food and drink tour they went on, and a particular accessibility barrier when Barry tried to show Brian the sites of Belfast.

(More with Barry, travel soundscapes, and Brian’s adventures on October shows.)

In September of 2018, Outlook was born and first aired and here we are, five years on, with more than 200 shows full of discussions from a wide variety of perspectives.

This week we spend time and have fun reminiscing on these last five years, with us two siblings as the core of what Outlook has grown into, while, all the while, enhancing things by speaking with an array of fascinating guests with all sorts of lived experience with disability and blindness. Along with allies and friends who’ve supported us along the way, we reflect back and look ahead with two of our favourite past guests: local London, Ontario friend Katie Morgan (sighted ally) and Joanne Beckford, living one Canadian province over and newer to the blindness community — both joining us on this one for a bit of camaraderie and kinship.

We both can’t think of a better way to ring in five years doing this show and so glad these two could be with us to mark this milestone.

Listen to Joanne’s prior appearance on the show here:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/outlook-2021-08-16-new-chapter-open-book-with-joanne/id1527876739?i=1000532188125

Find Katie guesting on our 4th year anniversary show:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/outlook-2022-09-12-celebrating-4-years-on-air-with/id1527876739?i=1000579476340

And travel back in time to where things all began with the first episode of Outlook from September of 2018:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/outlook-2018-09-10-debut/id1527876739?i=1000488226695

This week on Outlook we speak with Kelly Evans, an audio description script writer, but this time the script has been reversed.

Last time, on her first appearance as our guest, we asked her about how she got into the field, learning about the impact she hopes to have in the world of audio description, to make the visuals of media more accessible to blind viewers.

This time, Kelly interviews Kerry (big AD user) and sibling co-host Brian about what makes decent audio description and on some of their best and worst experiences with it, whether guidelines on the art and technique of audio description are in everyone’s best interest, with the ultimate aim of improving audio description from start to finish.

To learn more about Kelly, check out her appearance on the show from 2022 where she was the interviewee:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/outlook-2022-11-28-the-art-of-audio-description/id1527876739?i=1000588173721

Once co-host Kerry, as a baby, climbed all over his shiny oxygen tank. They first met in the mid 80s, he born premature, and have known each other all their lives, including all sorts of camp experiences throughout the 90s. Steven Potter is back, his third time with us on the show, and he brings his ear for audio and impeccable memory to this lighthearted summer subject.

It’s a summertime children’s pastime, camp of all kinds, both day and overnight and this week on Outlook we’re talking camp, camp, and more camp.

We share about our early childhood adventures going to the day camp for blind kids in our area and then the overnight camp, the CNIB Lake Joe Centre, we all three went to together, including old cassette audio tape sound clips from those days. Also, we end off with talk of one for patients with kidney disease and their families.

So join in with us as we, three old chums, reminisce on summer camp in these final summer days.

Find Steve's first appearance on the show from 2018 here:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/outlook-2018-11-26-discussion-with-steve-potter/id1527876739?i=1000488226639

And the second time he joined us back in 2019:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/outlook-2019-12-30-2019-wrap-up/id1527876739?i=1000488226652