Reflections

For some of us, chatting about the weather or weekend plans comes easily, and for others it’s a source of stress and self-doubt. Why does something as ordinary as small talk spark such big feelings?

Nisreen Abdel-Majid gets to the bottom of small talk psychology.

Arslan Abakarov is a software developer at AMI who grew up in Russia where small talk is never the norm. Elysia Yardley lets us in on her perspectives on communication and connection, as someone who works in Human Resources at AMI, along with her tips navigating chit-chat at work. Dillon Lewchuk, Clinical Counsellor, Art Therapist, and Educator helps us get to the core of small talk, by unpacking the deeper emotional layers behind everyday interactions.

From cultural differences to social anxiety, let's figure out the complexities under surface conversations.

About AMI

AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.

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Joeita Gupta was feeling lonely and embarked on a quest to find out how she can make friends and maintain these relationships at this stage of her life. To find some answers, Joeita is hosting a roundtable conversation with members of the Toronto Visionaries chapter of the Canadian Council for the Blind (CCB) and an expert in this field. Together with these voices, Joeita will discover new ways to make friends, important lessons in vulnerability, and she’ll gather some opinions on whether making friends outside of the blind and low vision community can be more challenging. 

Joeita is joined by Victoria Francis, Communications Coordinate for the CCB Toronto Visionaries, and Toronto Visionaries President Reg Sullivan with his wife Cathy. Joeita asks them how this chapter of the CCB addresses isolation and loneliness in the blind and low vision community. 

Plus, Joeita turns to an expert in Dr. Marisa G. Franco. Dr, Franco is a professor, speaker, New York Times bestselling author, and an expert in attachment styles and making friends. Learn about how valuable vulnerability is in new platonic relationships, and about different attachment styles with Joeita and Dr. Franco.

About AMI

AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.

Find more great AMI Original Content on AMI+

Connect with Accessible Media Inc. online:

• X /Twitter @AccessibleMedia
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• Email [email protected]

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Each year on November 11th, Canada marks Remembrance Day. In this episode of Reflections, join Grant Hardy to learn about why Remembrance Day continues to be a crucial reminder to Canadians and how the next generations are continuing to teach the importance of Remembrance Day. 

Mike Ross reads the poem In Flanders Fields and shares how his grandfather passed the torch of Remembrance to him at a young age. 

Retired Master Corporal Wade Wick served two tours in Afghanistan shortly after 9/11, and he’ll tell us about how important the visual symbolism of wearing a poppy is. Plus, he shares why he wanted to serve his country. 

Nujma Bond is the Manager of Communications and National Spokesperson for The Royal Canadian Legion. Nujma explains how the funds raised from The Poppy Campaign support veterans. And she shares how Canadians can support and donate to the Legion’s efforts. 

Em Williams, Supervisor of Media Accessibility at AMI provides some audio description of The Remember Flanders memorial in Ottawa. 

Let’s listen to these stories of sacrifice, remembrance, and honour this Remembrance Day to remind ourselves of the reason we mark this important day in Canadian history.

About AMI

AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.

Find more great AMI Original Content on AMI+

Connect with Accessible Media Inc. online:

• X /Twitter @AccessibleMedia
• Instagram @AccessibleMediaInc / @AMI-audio
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• Email [email protected]

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How do we create opportunities for people with disabilities in STEM? This was a question that Grant Hardy couldn’t get off his mind. So, he’s inviting you to join him in conversation with scientists and program managers to find out how people with disabilities can feel welcome in the STEM fields.

Dr. Kyle Keane is a Senior Lecturer in Assistive Technologies at the University of Bristol, who is partially sighted. Dr. Keane explains why he decided to pursue STEM, some of the attitudinal and tangible barriers he faced getting in, and how he created a place for himself in the field. 

Professor Mona Minkara is a Bioengineering Professor at Northeastern University. We learn more about Professor Minkara’s research, her journey through STEM, and how she’s carving a path for future scientists with disabilities. 

The UBC Geering Up Program runs summer camps and day camps that immerse children in the world of STEM, and they make sure their programs are accessible. Kaylin McLeod, Assistant Manager of the Camps, Clubs and Events Program shares how Geering Up ensures that children with and without disabilities can experience their STEM camps, and how UBC aims to provide children the opportunity to explore the spectrum of STEM.

About AMI

AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.

Find more great AMI Original Content on AMI+

Connect with Accessible Media Inc. online:

• X /Twitter @AccessibleMedia
• Instagram @AccessibleMediaInc / @AMI-audio
• Facebook at @AccessibleMediaInc
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• Email [email protected]

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Have you ever left anything on the subway? At a coffee shop? On a bus? Have you frantically retraced your steps trying to find it? Almost everyone has a story of a lost item, and Joeita Gupta is on the case to find out what happens to these precious belongings.  

Join Joeita for a conversation with Amy Hanser, an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Columbia, about why we’re so attached to physical items and how utilizing lost and found services can actually have a positive effect on our economy and environment by giving lost items a second life.  

If you’ve ever lost something on the TTC, let Joeita introduce you to Ashley Cooke, Supervisor of the TTC’s Lost and Found Department. Ashley shares how the TTC handles forgotten objects, and their close relationship with Police Auctions Canada.  

Joeita shares a conversation with Mike Hyde, the owner of Police Auctions Canada to find out how the funds from these auctions go back into the community and can benefit lower income earners.  

So, maybe that hat you left on the TTC was given a new life. Or the random jacket on the bus seat across from you kept someone else warm that winter. Maybe the stress or sadness we feel for our lost items can be kept at bay, knowing that there’s teams of people, like Mike and Ashley, who are working to give them a new home.   

About AMI

AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.

Find more great AMI Original Content on AMI+

Connect with Accessible Media Inc. online:

• X /Twitter @AccessibleMedia
• Instagram @AccessibleMediaInc / @AMI-audio
• Facebook at @AccessibleMediaInc
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• Email [email protected]

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Canada’s first National Women’s Blind Soccer Team headed to Kochi, India for the 2025 IBSA Women's Blind Football World Championships, marking a memorable and surreal moment for the sport on this side of the world, and for everyone who helped build it from the ground up. We hear the sounds and stories captured over 13 days of travel, competition, and team-building. Going from grassroots to inernational competition took this group undeniable strength and sacrifice on and off the field, and we find out how it all came together for Team Canada.

About AMI

AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.

Find more great AMI Original Content on AMI+

Connect with Accessible Media Inc. online:

• X /Twitter @AccessibleMedia
• Instagram @AccessibleMediaInc / @AMI-audio
• Facebook at @AccessibleMediaInc
• TikTok @AccessibleMediaInc
• Email [email protected]

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Makeup is often seen as a language of self-expression but what happens when that world isn’t built for you? For World Sight Day, the Shine Foundation teamed up with Indigenous-owned Cheekbone Beauty to create Scarlette’s Palette, the first-ever tactile makeup palette designed for blind and low-vision users.

Nisreen Abdel-Majid learns how a 14-year-old girl’s dream became a movement for inclusive design. In this roundtable conversation with Shine Foundation CEO Tiffany Houston, Cheekbone Beauty founder Jenn Harper, and Scarlette herself, we ask, what can accessible beauty feel like, and how can we get there one product at a time?

About AMI

AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.

Find more great AMI Original Content on AMI+

Connect with Accessible Media Inc. online:

• X /Twitter @AccessibleMedia
• Instagram @AccessibleMediaInc / @AMI-audio
• Facebook at @AccessibleMediaInc
• TikTok @AccessibleMediaInc
• Email [email protected]

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