Blind Abilities Podcast

Show Summary: The Free WayAround App and Tags allow one to record descriptions, notes, game instructions easily by using your smart phone and the Near Field Communication (NFC) to read and label the Way Tags. With the ability to record 2,000 characters in the descriptions, the possibilities are limitless. Labeling files, containers, appliance logs, audio equipment and the list is only limited by your imagination. Jessica Hipp joined Jeff Thompson in the Blind Abilities Studio to talk about the WayAround product line and the Free WayAround App available for Apple iOS and Android. When Jeff read about her father, Darwin Belt, he contacted Jessica and wanted to share her father’s story and talk about the WayAround Tags and WayAround App. Join Jessica and Jeff for this informative discussion about smart tags, creation out of necessity and how you can quickly begin to start your WayAround Tagging. You can find out more about WayAround on the web. Be sure to check out the User Guidefor any questions that you may ha

State Services for the Blind hosted a Career Expo for high school and college students who are blind, low vision, or DeafBlind. The event took place on Saturday, April 27. Throughout the Expo students had the opportunity to: Connect with adults with a vision loss from a variety of professions and careers. Hear from college representatives about what college is like. Learn why diversity matters from an employer’s point of view. Share and learn about assistive technology Sign up for individual informational and/or mock interviews. In this interview, Jeff Thompson caught up with Sam Jasmine: Sam Jasmine Engineer, KFAI Radio Sam majored in music and switched to broadcasting.  She went to Brown Institute for her training. When she finished, she received an opportunity to volunteer as an engineer at KFAI radio.  A show about disability topics had been started, and the engineer was leaving. She’s been engineering “Disability and Progress” for many years, and has taken over the entire show for the last 14.   If you

Show Summary:  We catch up with Lex Gillette, a four-time Paralympian with numerous awards. Lex is competing and training 5 days a week and has his vision set on Tokyo Japan in 2020. Joining us in the studio is Mitch Smedley, an inspiring young athlete who is headed out to Colorado Springs for the Emerging Stars Camp. Lex, the Journeyman, gives advice and encouragement to Mitch, the Apprentice.  Lex talks about having a vision and how the vision can make everything else fall into place. You would think that 3 gold medals, 3 silver and 2 bronze would top Lex’s accomplishments; however, wait till you hear about his Ikea project with Airahttps://aira.io/. You can find out more about Lex Gillette on the web at lexgillette.comand check out our previous podcast with Lex Gillette – World Champion Lex Gillette: No Need for Sight When You Have a Vision. You can find out more info about the USABA Emerging Stars ID Camp on the web.     If you would like to know more about Transition Services from State Services contact

Show Summary: State Services for the Blind hosted a Career Expo for high school and college students who are blind, low vision, or DeafBlind. The event took place on Saturday, April 27.   Throughout the Expo students had the opportunity to: Connect with adults with a vision loss from a variety of professions and careers. Hear from college representatives about what college is like. Learn why diversity matters from an employer’s point of view. Share and learn about assistive technology Sign up for individual informational and/or mock interviews.   In this interview, Jeff Thompson caught up with Rev. Lisa Larges:   Rev. Lisa Larges Associate Pastor, Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church   In addition to full-time work, Lisa serves part-time as the Associate Pastor for Congregational Care at a small church in Minneapolis. She has a Master’s of Divinity from San Francisco Theological Seminary. Previously, she worked for a church-related nonprofit, and had the opportunity to preach and teach at more than 350 churches

Show Summary:   Blind Abilities Teen correspondent Simon Bonenfant sat down with Daria Zawadzki during his recent visit to New York City. Daria works for the Lighthouse Guildand facilitates Tele-Support Groups for Blind and Visually Impaired teens and parents of teens as well. And you can find out more about the Tele-Support on the web.   Daria talks about her` experiences as a Blind student, mother and her acceptance of her blindness and most of all, her passion facilitating the Tele-support group for teens who happened to be blind.   Daria Zawadzki attended New World High School of the Arts in Miami, FL, as a piano major, and then went on to receive her BA from Harvard University, graduating cum laude with a degree in Psychology in 1996.  She completed her MSW from Columbia University School of Social Work in 1998, and is a licensed clinical social worker. In addition, Daria graduated from Fordham University School of Law in 2001, and is licensed to practice law in the state of NY.  She was an elementary s

Show Summary: Blind Abilities Teen Correspondent, Simon Bonenfant  presents this unique interview from only a perspective he can offer, one of close friendship. Marta Hanyzkiewicz shares her story of untold challenges which spans two continents. Blind Abilities Logo From her difficult childhood growing up in Poland, to her academic achievements which include winning a scholarship awarded by The International Baccalaureate Educational Foundation, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.  This brought Marta to the US for her first visit to study at a University in Iowa. Following her return to Poland, she suffered even more challenges but persevered to once again return to the states, where she found the NFB, met Simon and is currently studying in New York City. Sit back and enjoy this short podcast and listen to Marta’s inspiring story of trials and triumphs, and her wonderful sharing  attitude  towards all with whom she comes into contact. *** If you would like to know more about Transition Services from State

Show Summary Well, we let the dust settle a bit on the Apple Orchard Fest and we picked a bushel of Apple bits together and got to the core of our Catalina dream as well as our hopeful lucky iOS 13 gems and darlings. Serina, Brian and Jeff climb up to the Apple tree fort and share their bite size slices from the WWDC event last week. Marlon is here with us as well, making his knocks and slams when he can. We hope you enjoy our perspective as we enjoy sharing what we got. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and subscribe to That Blind Tech Show on iTunes or your favorite pod-catcher.    That Blind Tech Show is part of the Blind Abilities Network and this show will be moving to is own feed Http://www.ThatBlindTechShow.Libsyn.com/RSSin the coming weeks. You can check it out there right now! Contact Thank you for listening. Send us Feedback via email Follow us on Twitter @BlindTechShow That Blind Tech Show is produced in part with Blind Abilities Network You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities On the

Full Transcript Below Show Summary: Blind Abilities Teen Correspondent Simon Bonenfant introduces us to Anthony Ferraro. Anthony shares his inspiring story of dealing with his blindness and a variety of life's challenges, yet finding his own special means of rising above them all. Join Simon and Anthony as they chronicle Anthony’s early education, following in the footsteps of his father and brother and discovering that wrestling offered him the precise outlet he needed to overcome his anger, the challenges of his disability, and his unique relationship with his family. Anthony rose to become a champion in high school wrestling, is now competing at a world-class level in international Judo competitions and is speaking to youth and parent groups about his journey. Anthony is also  a musician, performing publicly with his guitar and vocals, and of course, we include excerpts of Anthony’s music and speeches in this podcast. Also listen as Anthony describes his nonprofit organization whose goal is to influence tr

Show Summary: State Services for the Blind hosted a Career Expo for high school and college students who are blind, low vision, or DeafBlind. The event took place on Saturday, April 27. Throughout the Expo students had the opportunity to: Connect with adults with a vision loss from a variety of professions and careers. Hear from college representatives about what college is like. Learn why diversity matters from an employer’s point of view. Share and learn about assistive technology Sign up for individual informational and/or mock interviews. In this interview, Jeff Thompson caught up with Dr. Mona Minkara:   Dr. Mona Minkara Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Minnesota Mona Minkara double majored in Chemistry & Middle Eastern Studies at Wellesley College. After graduating, she moved to the University of Florida for her Ph.D in Theoretical Computational Chemistry. Professor J. Ilja Siepmann invited her to join his group at the University of Minnesota to research novel studies of surfactants using M

Show Summary: State Services for the Blind hosted a Career Expo for high school and college students who are blind, low vision, or DeafBlind . The event took place on Saturday, April 27. Throughout the Expo students had the opportunity to: Connect with adults with a vision loss from a variety of professions and careers. Hear from college representatives about what college is like. Learn why diversity matters from an employer’s point of view. Share and learn about assistive technology Sign up for individual informational and/or mock interviews. In this interview, Jeff Thompson caught up with Jennifer Dunnam: Jennifer Dunnam Manager of Braille Programs, National Federation of the Blind Jennifer Dunnam coordinates the national program leading to certification by the Library of Congress for braille transcribers and proofreaders. She is the chair of the Braille Authority of North America and serves as the treasurer of the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota. She enjoys traveling, politics and history,

Show Summary: In this Job Insightsepisode, we are talking to Ryan Bresnahan, Customer Experience Operations analyst. Ryan is sighted and works for Aira Tech Corporation, a company that connects people who are blind or low vision to a trained professional agent who is dedicated to further enhancing their everyday experience. Ryan joined Aira nearly 4 years ago and was introduced to the Blindness Community, in which he did not know much about. Through examining his own preconceived ideas of people with disabilities, Ryan has grown a new understanding of how society can sweep aside people who are not the ‘standard’ and how his Aira experience is enhancing his perceptions and opening his eyes to the possibilities that he and his Aira team can bring about in changing attitudes and perceptions. Ryan sits at the crossroads of Aira Agents, Aira Explorers and the team of developers and evaluates the efficiencies and practices to ensure that they are delivering the best service to the consumers. Ryan talks about his j

Show Summary: State Services for the Blind hosted a Career Expo for high school and college students who are blind, low vision, or DeafBlind. The event took place on Saturday, April 27. Throughout the Expo students had the opportunity to: Connect with adults with a vision loss from a variety of professions and careers. Hear from college representatives about what college is like. Learn why diversity matters from an employer’s point of view. Share and learn about assistive technology Sign up for individual informational and/or mock interviews. In this interview, Jeff Thompson caught up with Rachel Hastings:   Rachel Hastings  Music therapist, Sholom Home Rachel says, “I love music, and I love people”. The Sholom Home, where Rachel works full time, is a Jewish senior living community that houses all levels of care. Rachel attended Augsburg College where she attained her Bachelor’s of Science degree in Music Therapy in 2015. In 2016, she completed her clinical internship at Good Samaritan Society in Robbinsda

Show Summary: State Services for the Blind hosted a Career Expo for high school and college students who are blind, low vision, or DeafBlind. The event took place on Saturday, April 27. Throughout the Expo students had the opportunity to: Connect with adults with a vision loss from a variety of professions and careers. Hear from college representatives about what college is like. Learn why diversity matters from an employer’s point of view. Share and learn about assistive technology Sign up for individual informational and/or mock interviews. In this interview, Jeff Thompson caught up with Alyssa Gourley:   Alyssa Gourley Accessibility Tester, Siteimprove  Alyssa has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Forensics from Metropolitan State University. She’s had varied internships, mainly involving project coordination and research. In her job, she tests websites to discover accessibility barriers, and she helps customers work through them.  If you would like to know more about Transition Services from State Servic

Show Summary: Blind Abilities presents A Memorial for Mike Kelly, A Celebration of Friendship, a Celebration of Love, and a Celebration  of Life.  This podcast follows a previous interview with Mike Kelly published on www.BlindAbilities.com on January 3, 2019, in which Pete Lane delves into Mike’s life of blindness, constant challenges and his impressive musical talent and career.  By all means, check out that podcast! You can find it here: http://blindabilities.com/?p=4309 This follow-up podcast  is a special presentation of the wonderful legacy and memory of Mike Kelly, who passed away on March 26, 2019 after a three-year battle with cancer. Not only does he leave behind a widow, Brooklyn and a step-daughter, Holly Watson, but many, many loving friends, several of whom contribute to this podcast.  Those individuals are: Brooklyn Rodden-Kelly, Michael Gregory, Jimmy Morris, Jim Malone, Pat Olguen and Jenann Cesna. Mike also leaves behind a long career, a profound memory and legacy of music, from his years p

Show Summary: Joel Zimba, Blindness Products Specialist for Humanware, joined Jeff Thompson in the Blind Abilities Studio to talk about the new Braille Trail Reader LE. This new Braille Display was developed in partnership with the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) for and fits right into the APH  line of Quota  Fund available products. The Braille Trail is built off the Brailliant BI 14 Braille Display which is available from Humanwareand while the two devices are very much similar, the Braille Trail has a few specific student/teacher software features added to this bite size braille display. Joel and Jeff also talk about the podcast possibilities built into the Victor Stream devices and how easy it is to follow your favorite podcasts. For more information about the Braille Trail Reader LE, check out the www.APH.org web site and to find out more about the Brailliant BI 14 Braille Display, go to Humanware.com. You can also reach Humanware by phone at 800-722-3393.  You can contact Joel Zimba by ema

Show Summary: State Services for the Blind hosted a Career Expo for high school and college students who are blind, low vision, or DeafBlind. The event took place on Saturday, April 27. Throughout the Expo students had the opportunity to: Connect with adults with a vision loss from a variety of professions and careers. Hear from college representatives about what college is like. Learn why diversity matters from an employer’s point of view. Share and learn about assistive technology Sign up for individual informational and/or mock interviews. In this interview, Jeff Thompson caught up with Alex Loch:   Alex Loch, DPT  Physical Therapist, Essentia Health Alex Loch, DPT, earned his Doctorate of Physical Therapy at the College of St. Scholastica. He is currently employed as a physical therapist at Essentia Health, in Duluth, MN. Additionally Alex serves as the Company Physical Therapist with the Minnesota Ballet. He is also a professional modern, aerial, and ballroom dance performer and instructor. If you wou

Full Transcript Below Show Summary: Life is funny… sort of.    That’s how Kristin sees it! Kristin Smedley is an award winning non-profit leader, TEDx speaker, and author – but she never planned on any of that. Image of the Thriving Blind Book Cover however her personal path to greatness took an unexpected turn when two of her three children were diagnosed as blind. She had to learn the tools of blindness and build a team of experts that would help her navigate this path that she had not been trained for. Kristin’s two blind sons are now thriving. (taken from www.KritinSmedley.com) Blind Abilities Teen correspondent, Simon Bonenfant, sat down with Kristin to talk about her book Thriving Blind. Kristin shares her experience from raising 2 sons who happen to be Blind, and how she found confidence from  others who were living successful lives without sight. Her journey through education and meeting parents who faced the limited expectations gave Kristin  the incentive to do more.  Learn about the foundation she

Show Summary: State Services for the Blind hosted a Career Expo for high school and college students who are blind, low vision, or DeafBlind. The event took place on Saturday, April 27. Throughout the Expo students had the opportunity to: Connect with adults with a vision loss from a variety of professions and careers. Hear from college representatives about what college is like. Learn why diversity matters from an employer’s point of view. Share and learn about assistive technology Sign up for individual informational and/or mock interviews. In this interview, Jeff Thompson caught up with Beth McGarr:   Beth McGarr Teacher of the Blind and Visually Impaired, Southwest Metro Intermediate District Before working for SW Metro, Beth worked as a ParaEducator with children who are blind and visually impaired for Denver Public schools. She has degrees in Special Education and Vocal Performance. Before becoming a teacher, she worked as a vocalist and voice teacher. In college, she worked as a strolling opera sing

Show Summary: State Services for the Blind hosted a Career Expo for high school and college students who are blind, low vision, or DeafBlind. The event took place on Saturday, April 27. Throughout the Expo students had the opportunity to: Connect with adults with a vision loss from a variety of professions and careers. Hear from college representatives about what college is like. Learn why diversity matters from an employer’s point of view. Share and learn about assistive technology Sign up for individual informational and/or mock interviews. In this interview, Jeff Thompson caught up with Matt Higgins:   Matt Higgins  Assembly Operator, Minnesota Diversified Industries After attending college, Matt began working with Dow Chemical where he was trained as an engineering technician. The skills he attained from Dow combined with comprehensive adjustment to blindness training through BLIND Incorporated have helped Matt continue to be a leader within his home, work, and as a part of a local band. If you would l

Full Transcript Below Show Summary: Beep Baseball is an adapted form of Baseball and is played by Visually Impaired/Blind  players wearing “Sleep Shades” to level the playing field for everyone. The ball is a 16 inch round softball with a beeping sound that allows the defensive team locate the ball. Blind Abilities Logo 6 members field a team with a sighted picture pitching to their own team. The sport of Beep Baseball originated right here in Minnesota and we sat down with Doug Van Duyne, Manager of the Minnesota Millers. Doug tells us about the game, the history and an opportunity coming up in June for teens to learn more about Beep Baseball and get a chance to run, hit and participate in a fun filled day with others sharing their love of the game. The Minnesota Millers are already practicing and preparing for the big Bash in Chicago and their fund raiser is kicking off tomorrow to help support the teams travels and expenses. You can find out more about getting involved  and support the Millers on the web