Reid My Mind

– “Recording in progress!” Zoom synthesized voice announcement

— Hip Hop Beat begins…

TR:

Greetings beautiful people!
Welcome back to another episode of the podcast bringing you compelling people impacted by all degrees of blindness and disability.

My name is Thomas Reid and I appreciate you hanging out with me.

Today, as part of the Flipping the Script on Audio Description series, I want to pause for a moment…

— Pause in the music

and discuss some things happening today to advance Audio Description in the mainstream.

For this, I reached out to Roy Samuelson.

Roy:

Hey, I think I’m here.

TR:

Come on Roy, you know I have to kick off the theme music first!

Roy:

Oh, so excited.

— Reid My Mind Radio Intro

TR:

If you watch movies with AD or you’re following the Audio Description space, chances are you know Roy. He’s a Voice Talent & Audio Description Narrator and Advocate.

We’re doing a sort of joint podcast effort here.

Roy:

Being a part of Reid My Mind Radio has been an honor from the first time that I learned about you and was a part of your conversation and in following all of the amazing podcast episodes that you released over the many years that you’ve been doing this. This is really great, I’m so glad that we’re doing this.

TR:

In addition to interviews with some of your favorite people in Audio Description, You can check out the full version of our conversation over at The Audio Description Network Alliance or ADNA.org.

Roy:

Putting a showcase on the voice, not only to celebrate those specific voice, talents, efforts, but also to give a language to people to be able to talk about audio description, quality and excellence, and give them something to anchor in on and starting with voice talents seemed like a great place to start strategically and see how that goes.

And as it grew into including writers, which it now does, as well as the engineers in the quality control specialists, it’s the audio description network Alliance. And so it’it’s become a lot more inclusive, specifically about film and TV at this point.

— Music begins – an upbeat, high energy Hip Hop beat
TR:

When it comes to Audio Description and this podcast, I want to showcase some of the interesting people and things taking place. I want to ask questions, but let me be clear,
I don’t propose to have the answers, nah, but I do have a perspective that I’d like to share. That’s as a consumer and advocate.

Advocacy, we know, takes many forms, like legislative work as in the CVAA or 21st Century Telecommunications Accessibility Act.

Roy:

I’m not speaking for anybody else, but I do feel that that mandate is an absolute necessity that having the FCC demand so many hours of broadcast television to include audio description has been so influential in where we are today. And it’s a necessity to continue being there.

TR:

Every time you inform a broadcaster, streaming provider or AD creator about your experience, you’re advocating and it makes a difference.

Remember, there’s never just one way to advocate.

Roy shares some information about some of what’s been taking place in his wheelhouse.

Roy:

SOVAS , is a society of voice arts and sciences. And they have
basically a awards for voice talents. It has nothing to do with audio description historically, but I was nominated for a SOVASS award for narration category. So it wasn’t audio description, narration, but it was an audio description narration that I was nominated for.

And over the past few years, I’ve been working with SOVASS , and specifically, this year 2021, I’ve been talking with the heads of SOVASS and sharing some of my experiences as a sighted person and what that means and to make sure that blind people are judges for audio description, when the audio description awards were a part of their categories for awards.

It’s just been amazing to see that connection, which is completely outside of the blind organizations, is now recognizing voice talents in this work. And I think that in a good way, it’s going to start bringing more quality.

TR in Conversation with Roy:
So let me just say that I’m not a big fan of awards, award shows in general.

Now, I admit it’s a great business. Move to gather the top celebrities and harness all of that attention. And brand yourself as the gatekeeper. That’s a great business move.

When I think of audio description, one of the first things that I usually apply to everything AD is, how does it impact the experience for blind people?

I realized that it could be direct at times, a one for one exchange, this happens, and then this happens. But sometimes that’s not the case. Sometimes it’s not necessarily obvious. So how does this help blind people?

Roy:

I think when it comes to celebrating the work of audio description, particularly in the SOVASS, they have found a way too, to share the performance in a way that celebrates it. And it is creating a competition in the sense of the people that are voting for the audio description, narrators are going to choose the best if there’s going to be a handful of submissions. Or if there’s going to be hundreds of submissions, they’re going to have to narrow it down and to narrow it down, they’re going to have to choose the best. And by celebrating which are the best that that’s going to impact our audiences.

This will lead to more quality, because people are going to want to have good voice talents to be able to be a part of this award ceremony, which will lead to better audio description. It’s almost a cart before the horse sort of situation.

TR in Conversation with Roy:
What I’m hearing, though, is that it’s still so dependent on for example, who’s judging? That’s a really big question in my mind, because I think the only people who should be judging audio description are the consumers really, I mean, are we the judges?

what is being judged, is it just that performance? We know that a big part of audio description also is The writing.

If we’re looking at just voice talent, well, it’s probably just going to be all the stuff that makes a good voice artist.

Roy:

The conversations that I’ve had with the leadership of SOVASS is that you can’t do this award without having blind judges, I’m assuming that the people who were invited who are blind have responded.
It is my understanding that that was specifically a part of this arrangement. That’s something that we made explicitly clear,
it’s like, because this whole Nothing about us, without us this entire audio description was created by blind people, for blind people, blind people need to be judging it that is absolutely essential.

In the same way that the ADNA started with voice talents, just to help people wrap their head around it, my understanding is that there’s going to be opportunities in the future for awards for writing, or for engineering that we can start to separate this.

When it comes to the attention being placed on the narrator. Yeah, there are narration skills that go into it. But I agree with you, it’s the writing that makes a ton of difference. And the example I like to use is let’s say, a Shakespeare play and you go through the first act, and it’s the intermission, and you’re just moved to tears by the performances that had happened in it, there’s something that really connected viscerally with the engagement of the different characters and how they were interacting with each other. And whatever thing that that story was, was telling you could be just moved to tears and almost be stuck. The same thing can happen at the end of the first act where you’re in tears, because you just want to get out of the theater. It’s the worst performance you’ve ever seen. You’re trying to figure out how to get out of seeing the second act, because it sucks so much. In both examples, the writing was equal. But there was something that happened. And it was most likely the performance.

It could have been the audio glitches that may have been happening if it for example, was in a big auditorium that had the microphones cutting out It could have been all sorts of other things that got in the way of the performance, but the writing was the same.

Audio description has so many different roles that the weakest link can make the whole audio description suck. That’s where everything has to be lifted up. And again, it is for the audience’s experience that by celebrating each of these different roles, we can celebrate audio description, excellence and quality.

TR in Conversation with Roy:

I’m also concerned with the idea that when a lot of attention is placed on to who the narrator is, does that end up becoming something where again, we’re focusing on the narrator. And then we start to bring in, like, for example, celebrities to narrate. And I’ve heard that idea, floating around as though it would be of benefit. again, just taking all of that attention away from the consumer. I’m always thinking that the consumer, Blind folks should be centered in audio description. So anything that moves away from that, yeah, my Spidey senses are going up.

Roy:

I have to use my experience as a voice talent that
, celebrities never used to do commercials. Now that’s very common. Celebrities didn’t used to do animated features. And, you know, we look at Toy Story, which is now what 20 years old and there’s still a voice talents that are still voicing of animation that by having a celebrity involved in this work…

— DJ Scratch leads into “So What the Fuss” Stevie Wonder with AD Narration by Busta Rhymes

Roy:

I mean, as early as Busta Rhymes back in, what, 1520 years ago for the Stevie Wonder video with the fuss and that was the that was exquisite. The first time I heard that I’m like, Oh, this is so good. I can’t help but smile and nod my head. It’s so beautiful. It’s like, there was something that Busta Rhymes the celebrity brought to that, that brought that piece alive. Not every celebrity can do this. And if there are celebrities that do it, I would hope that the focus still remains on the audio description. But you’re right, there’s no way to control that. I don’t know how to address that.

But I do see that the possibility of that kind of exposure can only grow the quality of this.

TR in Conversation with Roy:

No shots to Busta.

— Sample: “Aight, here’s how it going down.” Busta Rhymes from So What the Fuss
— Music begins a countdown like intro to a driving slow ominous Hip Hop beat

TR in Conversation with Roy:

I think the celebrity might make a difference in terms of marketing, audio description. And again, that leads me to the place where it kind of who is this for? Hmm, this is for the blind community. This is not for others, to just come in and check out all Busta Rhymes is doing this. Oh, whoever is doing this? This is cool. Let me check this out.

That’s fine if it happens, but that’s not what audio description is for.

Roy:

What is the cost to the wide audience in the context that you’re talking about? Or maybe it’s the blind talent? I’m not sure.

TR in Conversation with Roy:
Well, there’s both right. So there is the blind talent, because we’re already competing with non-celebrity talent. That’s fine. But there’s also like I said, just the quality, I’m not sure if the quality is naturally going to go up , right? Because folks can make that determination. That’s what happens with celebrity you let folks in there just to draw the name.

Roy:
Hmm.

TR in Conversation with Roy:

And it doesn’t make a difference. It may not make a difference. In some cases,

How often do celebrities want to get attached to something that just feels good, and then use it in their promo of themselves? It just gives me a really bad taste. And I don’t want to see audio description suffer because of that.

Audio description needs to stay about blind people now. You can create something else, right? So for example, when we talk about there are ways that other folks are using audio description, whether they be truck drivers, whether they be kids with autism, for example, and there may be some modifications that are needed. Absolutely. There should be that. But I don’t think it needs to come at the expense of blind people. So there’s room for all of this.

Sometimes I feel like there’s these fake choices that we’re given; Do you want more? If you do, then you’ll take this.

Why do we have to have that choice? That’s not the choice.

— Transitional sound

TR:
I’m interrupting for a public service announcement.

First, I need your help.
I want to take Reid My Mind Radio to the next level, that’s making it a sustainable venture.
But I need to know more about you, the listener.
I’d really appreciate if you could take a few moments to fill out
a quick survey. Just go to ReidMyMind.com and hit the link that says survey.
Secondly, a few people have asked how they can get this podcast on their favorite smart speaker.

In this example, I use Apple podcast as my default player, so the command would be;
“Hey device, play the podcast Reid My Mind Radio by T.Reid on Apple podcast”

Of course, you can still follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Transcripts and more are at ReidMyMind.com
That’s R, to the E I D
— Sample: “D! And that’s me in the place to be” Slick Rick

Like my last name

— Transition sound returns to the episode

TR in Conversation with Roy:

We want to see audio description expand. We both agree that we want to see more, and we want to see better quality. Like we’re in total agreement around that. And I think these questions and all of these things as to how do we get there, you know, are great, that they’re absolutely great. Yes. Because we have the same goal, you know, but I just think that we need to kind of think through these things. And even when we try, whatever we try, always come back to the idea of asking that question. Does this center Blind people? are we adding value for our audience? And if we’re not scrap it,

And, what about the Emmys? (Laughs)

Roy:
What about the EMMY’s Thomas? This is great.

(Thomas and Roy’s laughs fade out)

I’ve been a part of the television Academy for maybe 10 or so years. So relatively new and part of my contribution has been as performers, peer group, executive committee member, it’s basically a fancy term for all the different peer groups that represent different roles of television.

So letting them know about audio description, and how that has such an impact on television and how it can have an even greater impact.

And so those conversations have really evolved from the first time that I was approached by my mentor and saying, hey, you should really reach out here and being able to do it in a way that went from almost a dismissive Well,

you know, there’s really nothing that we can do about this, but Roy has a real passion for it. So, you know, keep in mind that whatever Roy talks about, it’s it, it’s probably not gonna happen, take it away Roy, to most recently. This is such a valuable performance, and it’s a skill and it’s an access that brings so much to so many people beyond blind and sighted people. Let’s hear about audio description. And that was the introduction, it was basically 180 degree turnaround time, simply because the culture has changed, as well as the awareness of what audio description is, and through some real advocacy within the television Academy.

The television Academy now recognizes audio description narrators as qualifying television credits to become full-fledged members to be able to vote for the Primetime Emmy Awards. And I think the implications of that are, are few First of all, again, representation, making sure that people understand about audio description, but also, as many blind people work in audio description as voice talents, this is yet another way for them to be included in this television Academy, whereas normally the opportunities might not be there as much. So that feels really huge.

TR:

Whether we’re talking about the SOVASS, the Emmys, in each case it seems to come back to increasing the awareness of Audio Description.

Roy:

Is there an audio description effect that you and I could both agree on when it comes to making sure the value is what it is. In the approach that I’m exploring, the strategy of awareness is an essential part because right now things have been so hidden, that people aren’t even aware of it. And I think as awareness grows, that that can create that very healthy competition of how great the audio description can be.

TR in Conversation with Roy:
Yeah, so I think you’re right with the awareness. But when I look at awareness, I’m looking at awareness from the perspective of blind people, because I know a lot of blind folks who do not know about audio description. I know a lot of blind folks who think that audio description and television and movies are not for them because that’s the way it’s been all their lives. And then so steadily, and hopefully they’re starting to learn More about that. I think that audio description for students and looking at the results of how their learning and their sort of their involvement in the quote unquote mainstream, and their ability to relate to their peers, and those relationships that that happen.

I want to measure it by the relationships that employers and employees begin to have, because there’s more of that conversation. And then blind people are making more advancements, because we know that when you’re in a corporate environment, for example, you learn about new things, because you’re just friendlier with people, you start to trust someone else, and you just like to be around that person. You feel comfortable with that person. And so much of that happens from conversations about Game of Thrones, right? On Monday morning after Sunday.

I want to see blind people who are working as movie critics. Where it’s not just about the audio description, they’re really analyzing this stuff.

Blind people who are doing the work of audio description, blind people who are commissioning others to do that work.

Again, I’m centering Blind people in this.

I still consider myself relatively new to disability. But as far as I know, I have never heard of wheelchair users promoting wheelchairs in malls, because folks can just go ahead and walk there, you know, you get tired, so why not take a load off, just so we can increase the amount of wheelchairs, we can get better wheelchairs because more are using it.

I don’t think when captioning came out, and all the advocacy that they put into it, I don’t think they were talking about the curb cut effect before it happened. It just happened. I’m learning to trust the process, and we see it all the time, it will happen, right? We already know that. Yes, truck drivers are using it. And folks will find a purpose for it. But let it be that it doesn’t have to take away from our community, and it will happen. But let’s just build it up based on our needs. And then when we find something that will Oh, this would work for someone else. Absolutely cool. Bring it in, go do it. Go create it. Because we need to bring everybody in not just some people, we need to bring everybody in.

The technology that is available, and that is growing means we have more options, not less. So let’s not take away. Don’t try to take away my options. Nah, don’t do that! We just need to be included.

Roy:

And with that inclusion, is there a place at the table for blind people to be able to influence those decision makers.

When it comes to that, the impact of inclusion of society that is there not a case to be made, that the existing leaders when it comes specifically to television are a part of the television Academy that access to those decision makers right now specifically blind people to be included in that seems worthwhile.

Forget the awards.

TR in Conversation with Roy:
Okay, I like your kung fu there. (Laughs… fade out)

Yes, we need influence. And I get that. So if a way to get that influence is to be in the room. And if a way to get in the room is through being a part of an award show.

Roy:
I can hear your voice. I can hear the way you said awards talk about intention. You go on. That was great.

(Thomas & Roy Laugh)

TR in Conversation with Roy:

I mean, that part of it absolutely makes sense.

Advocacy takes place in the room. Advocacy takes place on the streets.

Roy:
Hm.

TR in Conversation with Roy:

So there’s room for all of that. And if we’re working together in the suites and the streets (laughs…) if we’re working together, and we’re coordinated and we’re all sort of, again, centering blind people.

That could be really powerful.

— Music begins, a somber piano ballad

Roy:
Thomas, if we could go back to what you said earlier about generosity in the context that you were speaking of generosity was a negative connotation in my mind, in the sense that it’s almost a condescending talking down. It’s it. generosity, and you’re caught in the context of what we were speaking about. It’s an it’s not good. It just it smells bad. I’m not sure how else to put it. What’s the opposite of that? What’s the opposite of that? Negative generosity, that almost looking down and I’m going to be generous to blind people. What’s the opposite of that? I’ve got my own opinion. I’m just curious.

TR in Conversation with Roy:

Yeah. I mean, the first word that comes to my mind when you were saying that is disrespect.

I think about it in the real world, in real life. Think about it when walking into a store. And, or wherever, and just the difference in treatment, what you know, being in a restaurant, and someone asking the person that a blind person is with if they’re sighted, what does he or she want.

As though I can’t communicate to them.

For me, it always comes back to respect because if someone is not looking at me as an equal, wherever we are, then that problem is not necessarily with me. But I do feel it. Because I’m not getting the service, whatever that may be. I’m not getting that equitable treatment. Right. It’s just not happening because of the way they view me. And it’s that that perspective that they have around blindness around disability. That is what I think the awareness that I hope I do. That if I wanted to reach out to folks to non-disabled people, it’s really in hopes that that is the message that they get that and in fact, I mean, that happens with blind people, too. It’s ableism. It’s ableism. It’s, it’s looking at disability in a certain way, as if it is less than as it’s not normal. And it is normal. It’s absolutely normal. And there’s so much that we’re missing out. Because we don’t respect and appreciate the contributions of disabled folks. And specifically, we’re talking about blind and low vision. And so, you know, if we really want to do something about it, hopefully that’s what we’re doing.

Again, that concern comes to me when we say if others become aware of audio description, for example. It’s not really helpful if they’re just looking at it. Oh, isn’t that nice? That’s great. Oh, that’s great. That’s wonderful that they do that for the blind people. That doesn’t help. It doesn’t help at all.

Roy:

Yeah. Yeah. Neck Hmm, makes it worse. Because that respect is disrespect. I get it. Yeah, that’s really, really clear.

— Music ends to brief silence

— “I Dream of Jeanie” Intro Song

TR in Conversation with Roy:

Laughing…

I’m gonna give you a genie!

Roy:

Oh boy, oh boy!

TR in Conversation with Roy:

with one Audio description wish, something that can change something about AD whatever it is good, bad, whatever? What’s your What are you going to ask of that Genie

— Music begins, an uplifting, happy Hip Hop beat.
Roy:
Parity to sighted audiences that when it comes to audio description, the experience of a blind or low vision person is as equal to a sighted person as possible, that they’re laughing at the same time that they’re able to turn it on as easily, as a sighted person, that they’re able to watch it at the same time that it’s released as a sighted person, that they’re able to go from cinema to streaming in the same way that a sighted person does, that they’re able to get the quality and excellence of the performances of the writing of the mix of the quality control that sighted people get with their track. That parody, in the sense of as equal as possible, is a part of audio description that is done. And by the way, by blind experts being paid for their value and their service. That those two things are, in are, those two things are so linked in my head that you can’t have one without the other. You can’t have the other without the one that there is no way that audio description, quality and excellence to be in parody decided audiences can happen without blind professionals being paid for their value. Those.

TR in Conversation with Roy:

Yeah. And you see, what’s cool about that is that I could wish for what I just said about respect. And I think we end up in the same place, because I think if you got your wish, I feel like my wish was granted.

Roy:

Because I don’t think that could happen without respect.

Well, and again, look how that would filter outside of audio description. Because that’s what audio description does, right? It’s not just about the film in the movie, it always applies to something bigger.

Roy:

Yeah. And that’s the model that’s like this little microcosm of audio description and how that can have a ripple effect.

TR in Conversation with Roy:

Yeah, yeah. And it does. Like, we can look at audio description and touch on. Lots of things. Look at how race, gender, all of this stuff about identity come into play.

Roy:

Is it time to as your podcast limited series is called flip the script? Can I flip the script and ask you the same Genie question

TR in Conversation with Roy:

I would really ask the genie to, to solve this problem, this issue that happens also often. And it’s just like, I just want to be rid of it that when my family and I decide just at the spur of the moment, to sit down and watch a movie, that we don’t have to go through about a half an hour because there’s no audio description. It doesn’t fail, it does not fail. And the, the feeling that I get is the same even though I play it cool. You know, and so I’ll just go ahead and watch it. I do it all the time. And they tell me No. And now the girls are older. And so they’re more bold with the way they tell me No. (Laughs…)

I can’t do anything about it anymore. But it still feels the same. And it’s not just me because they get frustrated.

I want the genie to resolve that for us.

— Audience Applause… “America, here is your winner…

TR:

So when it comes down to it…

I’m not just talking about the Reid family or even the Reid My Mind Radio family

— Crowd applause continues “Good luck both of you” America has voted… crowd applause continues in anticipation.

TR:

I don’t know what’s going to happen y’all, but it just has to be us!

– Reid My Mind Radio Outro

Peace!
— Applause fades out.

Hide the transcript

TR:
Welcome back!

My name is Thomas Reid. If this is your first time here, I’m the host and producer of Reid My Mind Radio, a podcast bringing you stories of compelling people impacted by all degrees of blindness and disability.

The objective is to reach those who are adjusting to vision loss or disability. I’m hopeful that the experiences of those who have travelled similar journeys will provide real information and encouragement to those new to vision loss.

For so many, acquiring vision loss or another disability can occur in the middle of a career. For others it could take place in that early phase.

There are definitely challenges and considerations that are unique to those with vision loss, but much of the process of finding employment is applicable to us all.

Today on the podcast, I’m bringing you an expert to talk a bit about the process of finding employment. So if you’ve been out of the job hunting game and suddenly find yourself back on the field, you’re going to want to hear from the coach!

Let’s play ball!

Audio: Reid My Mind Radio Intro

NK:

I teach people to be the CEO of their own life and career. No matter what life throws at us.

TR:

This is Nancy Karas. She’s an HR Leader and Executive Coach experienced
in building healthy companies.

I kind of like the sports metaphor I used in the intro so let’s call her Coach Nancy!

NK:

In addition, I focus on helping people to find their own version of happiness and success.

TR:

Coach Nancy understands this personally. Spending over 25 years in HR leadership roles throughout corporate America until the relationship became adversarial.

NK:

I had to fight management to get people what they deserve.

After 9/11 I felt really discouraged. I was in the middle of New York City, had been living there for 20 years and I just decided that I really wanted to help people unencumbered. So I stepped out of corporate and I started coaching.

TR:

That included working with corporate clients, private clients and group coaching to help people find their happiness. And if you think that’s something people inherently know, think again.

NK:

There’s a very big difference between what we do well and what we love to do. Sometimes we’re confused and we think that because we do it well, because we get good pay for it, because people recognize us for it that we love it. But sometimes our currencies change as a human being and maybe money and praise and title aren’t the most important thing anymore. I help people to really figure out what is the right thing for them next. What is their next step in life. I base it around what fits you.

TR:

Next step, in life, after for example a life change. That could be the loss of a career, loved one, maybe even acquiring a disability, the specifics don’t necessarily matter. Often we’re trying to answer the same question.

NK:

What’s the best thing for me right now? What will make me happy? What will make me feel successful in whatever way I’m searching for success; money, fulfillment, to make a difference in this world, or whatever it might be. That’s what I help people to figure out.

TR:

A life change can make this question feel more urgent. Even more difficult to answer.

NK:

We feel like the power is taken away from us by other people and we give away our power.

I help people to realize they’re already wearing the ruby slippers and that you have the power within you to do whatever you want.

So I teach people how to take back their power, raise the bar for themselves and really do what’s best for them.

TR:

Whatever the decision is, Coach Nancy is all about helping people achieve their goals.

With an understanding that whatever the personal challenge is, we all have our unique strengths and weaknesses.

NK:

I help people to showcase their strengths and find a way to harbor their weaknesses so they’re seen as a positive.

I give people that confidence and that boost they need to go out there and get what they deserve.

TR:

Before we head out onto the field, we need to know how best to play the game.

NK:

traditionally the way we were taught is a very me centric approach. I’m looking for a job where I can grow. Where I can have this and that.

In today’s market you have to approach your search in a I’m here to assist you. Whomever your target is that you’re looking to work for.

TR:

the means of doing this?

NK:

Through the resume, conversations, meetings, interpersonal skills, self-esteem, emotional intelligence. All the different pieces.

## Resume Style

TR:

Let’s take a look at some of the tools we have to help craft our play book.

First mentioned was the resume. That first representation not only of a person’s work experience but the individual them self.

NK:
[
Some people’s resumes I see are four and five pages long. Nobody’s going to read that anymore. Think about technology, everything is moving so rapidly. People don’t concentrate for very long on anything that’s on their computer screen. they listen to it for a second and then they’re distracted, it’s like hey squirrel! They’re gone.
]
We have to abbreviate what we give to people now. If it’s not relevant and applicable to the particular job you’re searching for and it’s going to cloud their ability to see how you’re a fit. We really have to look at resumes now and be more functional than chronological.

TR:

For many, vision loss or an acquired disability results in the loss of a job, or reduced responsibilities.

Rather than highlighting jobs you may choose to highlight skills and experience.

NK:

In a more functional modern resume you bring whatever is relevant. it’s like a tapestry if we’re pulling the gold threads out of our tapestry because we only want the very best of the best. If we’re looking for the gold company that we want to work for we’re only going to pull our gold threads. Maybe the silver threads show that we started silver and moved up to gold. That’s great, but if we have blue, yellow pink, whatever color threads, they have nothing to do with the gold company. So we’re not going to throw them all our threads and they’re like what the heck!

It’s a new way of presenting ourselves.

TR:

But how would you account for jobs that you may have had to take that don’t necessarily highlight your real skill set or are applicable to your desired career path?

NK:

I was freelancing. I was consulting and here are the companies I worked for and you just bullet or include a couple of those companies.

TR:

Coach Nancy strongly recommends your resume doesn’t exceed two pages.

Go ahead and Google sample functional resumes.

there’s even a hybrid version that combines aspects of the traditional chronological resume with the functional.

No matter what format you choose, consider how you approach the next step.

NK:

The traditional way of job search was to look at the job postings or ads and then we would send a letter and a resume and you’d sit and wait and hope that you’d hear back. But technology has advanced our abilities to connect. We have an opportunity now to shortcut our job search.

These days you can really bridge yourself to that other party by doing a lot of homework. try to understand a little about them and the direction they’re headed.

You’ve leveled the playing field because you walk in that room and now you can talk about how you can help them. how your skills are a fit for them.

## Researching Companies

TR:

technology has made researching companies a lot easier and way more convenient. you’re already familiar with some of the tools, but are you using them effectively?

NK:

I love Google. If I want to know what does someone at Bloomberg make if they work in the Finance department at a VP level, that’s exactly what I’m going to type in.

We look at the first or second thing that pops up when we google and then go “eh didn’t find anything!” I click on everything on that page. Sometimes I go to the second google page because I’m looking for information about the company that’s going to give me a hint about their culture, about their work, about their progress.

TR:

Surprisingly, to me at least, ascertaining information about a corporate culture online is possible.

NK:

I first Google what is the culture at Bloomberg. See what comes up. I would also go to Glass Door.com.

Glass Door.com is a website . You have to be willing to anonymously take one of your former jobs and list that you were a programmer or that you were an HR Executive and you give feedback on that former company. It was good it was fair and then you could give specific comments and feedback. Once you do that you have access to Glass Door. And when you’re in Glass Door you can look up any company. There’s tons of information about salary ranges. What people are making in New York for that job, Philly, Georgia. It will also give you some feedback. people are saying it’s a great company but the leadership is never in the office and we can never get answers. If I see one person say it I think well!

TR:

You’re really looking for trends. But you can take all information into consideration during interviews.

NK:

Let’s say people are saying that the company promises bonuses and never gives them. I would make sure when I interview to ask, I’m curious about your bonus structure. Do you give bonuses? Oh, yes we do! Has there ever been a year where you weren’t able to give the bonus you promised? And then you watch them go uh, uh, or they say no we never had that. So you get to talk it out and see for yourself.

TR:

The idea here is to equip yourself with as much information as possible to make sure the company is a fit for you.

Another important part of the playbook; networking.

NK:

Networking is taking place virtually and in person. In person you should look for events where they’re specifically having an event or where it’s industry specific or job specific to you. For example, if I’m HR I want to go to HR conferences. If I can’t afford those big conferences independently of the company paying for it then you go to a one day event or you go to an evening lecture for an hour in HR where you know it’s going to draw the HR community.

##TR:

Whatever the venue, Coach Nancy says it’s not about making sure everyone has your business card.

NK:

What I teach my clients to do is rather than focus on handing out your info, collect info. Now You’re in charge of your next step. Now it’s up to you to figure out where it’s going to go. I wait two or three days after that meeting and then I send them a note on Linked In.

TR:

That’s Linked In.com, the virtual way to network.

NK:

You want to put a professional profile up on Linked In. Let’s say you have a little profile with nothing there and no photo people know that you’re not current.

[TR in conversation with NK:]

I know you’re talking to me Nancy … (laughs) Go ahead!

NK:

I’m talking to you Thomas.

TR:

I know she’s right. And even though I’m not looking for a job, Linked In still makes a lot of sense for someone like me.

NK:

Especially for your marketing and stuff for your show.

I’ve heard CEO’s say that Linked In is their Rolodex. To me it’s a treasure chest. I can find all kinds of people. I help in so many different industries. Linked In has so many capabilities also as a tool. To search, connect with people, post jobs, to apply to jobs.

TR:

That’s the beauty of online networking. The ability to find the connections while you’re in your pajamas!

NK:

It’s called direct contact.

TR:

. In theory this approach can make the job search process more accessible. It definitely puts you in control.

Here’s how it works.

NK:

Go onto Linked In. find the person who would be the hiring manager or if you’re senior enough in your career and your job function would be very senior in the company , I would write directly to the CEO.

TR:

It’s possible that the majority of those listening are on the CEO level, but No matter what level you occupy in the corporate structure, the process is the same. Sending a note directly to the person through Linked In.

NK:

you want to show them that you see why they’re special and you’ve got the goods to support the direction they’re going. So I say I recognize you and what makes you special. It’s so exciting to me or thrilling or I’m so passionate about the work you do. I believe I could be an immediate and significant contributor to your project, to your team, to your company or to your mission. Here’s specifically what I bring to the table. Bullet, bullet, bullet, bullet. Then would love to set up a meeting or take you out for a cup of coffee or set up a call. Whatever you feel comfortable with.

TR:

Coach Nancy shared an example of someone who wanted to leave their job. The right question dictated the next steps.

NK:

Why not get you your dream job? Tell me what it is. She wanted to work for Google. So we looked to see do we know anybody at Google. How did we do that? We went on Linked In, we looked in the search bar, typed in Google and then we filtered on people. All the people that work for google come up in that search and it’ll tell you if you’re a first, second or third connection.

TR:

What if you don’t have a dream job? Maybe the idea of a traditional job is more of a nightmare. For whatever reason!

NK:

We’re not happy at work. We’re not enjoying our work. We don’t want to commute anymore. We’re physically, emotionally or mentally challenged and cannot make that trip or do that grind everyday whatever it might be. And if that’s the case this is the perfect decade for that right now because more and more companies are allowing people to work from home or to work from a We Work or some other center where people can just go locally if they want to be in a shared setting. there are so many nontraditional jobs.

TR:

here’s a method for thinking and mapping out opportunities.

NK:

What I like to suggest is that people think of a food chain.

TR:

The idea here is to identify the industry connections based on the things that are of interest to you. Therefore, the beginning point is based on a certain set of questions.

NK:

Where am I right now? Where is my interest? Where is my challenge? What is my life about right now?

I’ll give you an example. You lost your sight and you found your way to developing your podcast, your show and all the stuff you do to support people who are going through the same challenges.

TR:

So in this example, this identifies the starting point of the chain. Now I need to figure out all of the opportunities or players in the industry.

NK:

You look at corporate opportunities, nontraditional associations or foundations. And you look all around and say who is in this field that I might work for that’s not the straight and direct line of what I thought I might do. It’s thinking outside of the box. And when you do sometimes you find jobs that you never even knew existed.

TR:

Maybe the jobs are based on the traditional employer employee relationship. perhaps they’re more like opportunities for freelancing or consulting that work for your lifestyle. Either way, attitude makes a difference!

NK:

I suggest first of all that people think and act all the time as if they were a consultant. Because consultants never have all the answers. That’s not our job. Our job is you tell me your problem, I’ll figure it out. I will get you the answers.

TR:

I think it’s fair to say that work is different now. The days of working for a company for 30 years are gone.

NK:

So people are forced to become more resilient, more flexible, more autonomous in their careers. You’re really your own boss, your own CEO and you’re going from company to company and you’re consulting whether you go in as a full time in house person or you actually consult for them.
But this way And the concept of finding a job one time

TR:

It may all sound tiring and hard to manage. But Coach Nancy has a method for managing it all. Just think of the ducks. You know the ones at a carnival or fair.

NK:

That booth where there’s a bunch of yellow ducks and everybody’s squirting the gun to squirt your duck and push it up to the top of the hill. The person who gets their duck up to the top first is the winner. In this game, in my head what we do is we line up the ducks.

TR:

Where each duck is a stand in for one of our tasks or responsibilities on that good old’ to do list.

That could look something like;

Edit the next podcast episode, [Audio: Quack!]
Research future guests and show ideas, [Audio: Quack!]
Finish that spreadsheet, [Audio: Quack!]
Clean the garage, [Audio: Quack!]

Now, back to the carnival and all the ducks.

NK:

Now the goal is not to race one duck to the top, we tend to do that in life sometimes. We pick one thing and we only focus on that. But then what happens is we’re at the top with one accomplishment and nothing else is moved forward.

TR:

Even worse, what about the days when you just don’t feel like pushing that stupid duck. [Audio: Quack!]
Sorry, it’s just sometimes you’re not feeling in the mood for spreadsheets, so You decide to read an article and next thing you know it’s the end of the day and you have nothing accomplished.

NK:
[
Pick another duck!

Maybe it’s the garage you’ve been meaning to clean out and it’s a beautiful afternoon. So instead of sitting inside and feeling depressed by pushing a different duck forward an easier duck that day, we still end the day feeling accomplished. Now the garage is half cleaned out! We start to create our own momentum. Momentum creates more momentum.

TR:

Who doesn’t like feeling accomplished at the end of the day?

I’m a fan of the duck approach, but you can use whatever works for you.

NK:

You have to keep in those parameters that it’s always something productive.

[TR in conversation with NK:]

Laughs… Sitting back and getting a six pack or something like that doesn’t count right?
Laughs to fade out

NK:

Uh no! No!

I think if you’re lost or stuck you really want to reach out to someone who’s walked your path before. Whether it’s professionally, personally. Just like people in AA have a mentor it’s really good for human beings to have somebody they could go talk to or get advice from. So whether it’s a therapist or coach or a support group, I think in order to move forward in life you do have to ask for help because that’s how we learn and grow.

[TR in conversation with MA:]
I might add one other thing to that is a podcast. And I’m not just promoting mine here (laughs) but in terms of you know having someone who’s walked that path, when you’re fearful about asking for help the thing that makes a podcast so cool is that you can get that information and nobody has to know that you’re getting it.

NK:

I love it! Very good advice.

And there’s so much good stuff out there. Not as good as yours…

[TR in conversation with MA:]
Thank you Nancy! Laughs…

NK:

your welcome !

There are so many resources on the internet. We really have to be our own advocate and we have to do our homework and really search.

TR:

We should be very used to that message. Being our own advocate.

I really do hope that this podcast is serving as a resource for those adjusting to vision loss.

So often it seems that the world has lowered the bar for those with disabilities. Whether it’s being falsely praised just for showing up or if it’s assuming you wouldn’t be able to do… [fill in the blank according to your own experience]

Shout out to Coach Nancy, her message is about empowering individuals not only when it comes to finding a job, but really, living your life.

[TR in conversation with NK:]

That makes you officially part of the Reid My Mind Radio Family!

NK:

Oh I love it! Thank you! Ohh!You just made my day. I love it!

[TR in conversation with NK:]

Laughs…

TR:

Can you guess how to contact Nancy?

NK:

Linked In. Nancy Karas (Then spelled out)
Instagram @Transition.Coach
I’m on Facebook, Transition Coaching and Career Management with Nancy Karas or you can just connect with me Nancy Karas. My website is www.Transition.Coach. No .com just .coach. My phone number is (661) 309-7055 and the email is HabitatForHR@gmail.com.

# Close

Big shout out to Coach Nancy! And check this out here, I am very happy to report that as of this episode, one of my [Quack, Quack!]ing ducks has finally reached the top. At least for now. I cleaned up my Linked In profile a bit. I added a pic, updated some other info and made it look current. In fact, I’d invite you all to connect with me on Linked In if you’re there. How’s that Coach!

You can also find me, well Reid My Mind Radio on Apple, Spotify, Google or where ever you get podcasts.

You can always send me feedback or recommend a guest or topic all you have to do is hollaback!

We have the comments section on the blog, ReidMyMind.com.
The email; ReidMyMindRadio@gmail.com
The Reid My Mind Radio Feedback Line where you can leave a voice mail: 1 570-798-7343

I would really love voice messages that I can share on the podcast. If you don’t want to call, you can grab your smart phone and record a voice memo and email the finished recording to ReidMyMindRadio@gmail.com.

I’d love to hear and share the voices of those who are listening. If you want to send a message but don’t want it shared just say so and it’s all good.

I appreciate you listening and if you liked what you heard please rate and even review the show via Apple Podcast. And please, tell a friend to listen. Spread the love, man!

You can always visit www.ReidMyMind.com, that’s R to the E I D like my last name!

Audio: Reid My Mind Radio Outro

[Audio, Quack, Quack!]

Peace!

Audio: Quack!

Hide the transcript

TR:

Welcome back to another episode of Reid My Mind Radio.
I’m Thomas Reid, host & producer of the podcast bringing you
compelling people impacted by all degrees of vision loss. That means from Low Vision to totally Blind.

As we’re in the midst of NDEAM or
National Disability Employment Awareness Month,
I’m happy to bring you an episode with this in mind.

Audio: Reid My Mind radio Intro Theme Music

My name is Megan Aragon. I am the Director of Knowledge Advancement Programs with American Foundation for the Blind.

TR:

Before Megan began directing and advancing all of that knowledge
she had to find her own way.

At 17, while studying hard in college, Megan began experiencing eye fatigue. She initially blamed it on all of the studying but soon began seeing what she describes as lights.

MA:

Eventually those lights started to fill in to a blind spot. I’d be driving and pedestrians and street signs would just sort of pop into my peripheral vision and I didn’t realize what was going on it was just like they were appearing out of nowhere.

TR:

A few months later Megan was diagnosed with Stargardt’s Macular Dystrophy.

Even though she had a diagnosis, Megan admits she didn’t deal with the changes.

MA:

At some point you can’t just say I’m not going to deal with it. You have to deal with it.

I think it was probably over the course of four or five months I went from perfect vision to Low Vision.

[TR in conversation with MA:]
So you weren’t using any aids, large print magnifiers…

MA:
No, and I had no clue of what was out there in terms of tools resources, options nothing because I was being so stubborn and really acting in denial. I didn’t even do any research. I was just like nope I’m going to do it the way I used to do it and how I’ve always done it and then eventually I couldn’t.

TR:

Megan was creative in hiding her blindness.

MA:

Before I started college had worked as a waitress. So I knew that job and I knew how it might be done without vision.

TR:

Waitressing with low vision meant maximizing her memory of;
first, the menu, including ingredients for each dish

Then there’s taking each person’s order at the table.

Plus she memorized each screen on the computer order input system.

That was all after getting passed the in store application process.

MA:

I end up sneaking a magnifier in and was like reading a question and hiding the magnifier and filling in the answer and pulling out the magnifier out and was hiding my vision loss but was able to pass a personality/math test.

[TR in conversation with MA:]

I’m sure you probably thought about it, but what do you think was the reason that you were trying to hide it or trying to pass?

MA:

I hadn’t come to terms with it so I had no idea how to tell anybody about it without seeming super awkward and feeling weird. I just wanted to have a normal life. I could potentially lose my job. It would risk what I had built.

I think it could have been a really great opportunity for me to learn and for everyone else to learn, but I still just didn’t have those tools in my toolbox.

[TR in conversation with MA:]

Well eventually you did.

MA:

It was a long time after the waiting tables thing.

TR:

It was after graduating college with a degree in Sociology.

She had a plan to get some work experience and then return to school for a Master’s degree.

But she had to have a conversation with herself in order to get to the root of what was holding her back.

MA:

You need to understand your vision loss. You need to communicate about it and you need to know what tools you need in order to be successful.

TR:

What she didn’t know at the time was she needed an example.
Fortunately, her Dad knew someone who suggested their local Lighthouse for the Blind.

MA:

I look them up, it’s like a manufacturing facility. And I said, I don’t want to work at a manufacturing plant, that’s not the type of work I want to do. I don’t know where to turn to . I ended up sending my resume over and interviewing with their Vice-President of Operations. He has a visual impairment. I think we spent two or three hours during that interview .

This guy has a vision impairment adjust like I do and he has his act together. He has a big job, he’s got it going on and he has vision loss just like I do, huh! Maybe I could have it going on. So finally the lights came on.

[TR in conversation with MA:]
So the lights came on at the Lighthouse!

TR& MA laugh…

MA:

I remember I got the call that they were going to give me a job and I was in the kitchen and got off the phone and started dancing around like oh my gosh it’s possible , like I could totally do this!

In my mind I hadn’t proved it to myself yet that I could be a good employee. That I had value to bring to the table. You know that (exhales) that I could do something more than waiting tables.

TR:

No shots at all to those waitressing,
Megan just needed to know she could be successful at something else.

That seems pretty obvious to those who see the ingenuity and persistence that went into first landing the waitress job, but Megan had to realize her own value.

Once denying her vision loss, now the Director of Knowledge Advancement Programs at American Foundation for the Blind.

MA:

Knowledge Advancement programs are focused on employment and developing ways to change the system that individuals go through that effects employments. Hiring practices of employers. general inclusion practices of employers. Policies and practices that affect employment of the blind and visually impaired individual. Helping to develop blind and visually impaired individuals so they’re ready to step into roles of leadership and employment.

TR:

Part of that last initiative is the Blind Leaders Development Program

MA:

This will be our kick-off year. Essentially, the Blind Leaders development program will take a group of 12 to 16 Blind and Visually Impaired individuals through a leadership development program for 12 months. The curriculum we’re using for this program is called the Leadership Challenge.

TR:

Based on 30 years of research, the heart of this curriculum is
the idea that leaders aren’t born. leadership can be taught.

MA:

There are 30 specific behaviors that are observable if someone demonstrates those behaviors then they’re more likely to be willingly followed by others. The theory is there are things you can do to be a better leader.

It’s a kick start. It’s meant to amplify someone’s career trajectory. We’re hoping to develop leadership capacity within individuals and see them achieve upward mobility.

[TR in conversation with MA:]

Give me an example of someone who would be right for this program. Jane Doe works, you fill in the blank, she does bla bla bla!

MA:

Sure, so Jane Doe could be working at a nonprofit agency, in the for profit sector, government sector. Is interested in developing her ability to be a better leader, engaging with her organization.

[TR in conversation with MA:]

What type of work would Jane Doe be doing. Does it matter? Could she be an Admin? Does she have to be already on the management track?

MA:

Yeah, she could be doing anything. Doesn’t have to be on the management track, but interested in doing something like that. Interested in achieving hire level of career and leadership responsibility.

TR:

Sounds like you or someone you know?

Here’s a bit more of what AFB is seeking from a candidate.

MA:

Someone that is going to take the learning the knowledge and the concepts that we discuss during the program and take that home and apply them and really engage.

TR:

Apply them at work and in community organizations by serving on committees, boards.

MA:

Someone that is willing to consider a variety of opinions and perspectives and is able to integrate those into new ways of thinking. Creative open mind set.

We also want to see someone that has the potential to be a productive participant. They are willing to make the commitments that are required to really get a lot out of this program.

TR:

Here’s how it will work.

All interested candidates will have to complete an application available online at AFB.org.

The yearlong program will kick-off with a two day leadership workshop just prior to the AFB Leadership Conference in March 2020.

MA:

Where they’ll dive really deeply into the leadership challenge text, the results of their leadership practices inventory which is a survey that measures the frequency of those 30 behaviors I mentioned before.

How often does a participant for example, follow through on commitments they make.
TR:

Such behaviors are said to be an indication of leadership ability.

In addition to setting their own goals for the program,
participants will rate their own abilities and the results will be compared
to answers provided by their peers and managers.

MA:

It’s both eye opening and affirming.

The rest of the year will be done virtually. Every other month there will be a webinar where we talk about soft skill development, interpersonal skills and those key skills that are so important for leadership development.

Communication, networking, things that a lot of times require the ability to read nonverbal cues. So how do you do that as a Blind individual. Techniques you can use to make sure you’re as effective or better as your sighted peers.

We’re also incorporating a professional coaching element to the program and a mentoring element to the program.

There will be 12 to 16 Blind and Visually Impaired established leaders that will participate in the program as well and help to mentor those participants.

TR:

On the off months where there is no webinar scheduled,
participants will meet individually with their coach and mentor.

Mentors will also need to complete an application.

Those selected will be paired with a mentee prior to them meeting
for the first time during the leadership workshop preceding the AFB Leadership Conference in March of 2020.

MA:

Pair based on interest, and goals, experiences. So that what the participant is hoping to achieve down the line will match with what’s going on with the mentors so that there’s alignment.

TR:

Megan’s own story of coming to terms with her vision loss exemplifies
the importance of mentors.

MA:

mentoring is such a powerful thing. It gives you a different perspective, a different way to look at your situation and say okay, I can approach this in another way. It also gives you hope, like I’m struggling with whatever my issue is right now but look at this other person whose either gone through something similar or has been there and done that.

TR:

Megan clearly understands the benefits and continues to have mentors in her life.

MA:

Two of which are not visually impaired individuals but all three are women. That’s been the main connecting piece there for me. Women that are successful and really wonderful role models.

[TR in conversation with MA:]
In a way you brought up diversity so I’m going to ask you in terms of the BLDP is there a plan in place? Is there consideration to make sure that the choices made are a diverse group?

MA:

Yeah absolutely! We’re collecting information from our applicants about their diversity and will take that into account as we select participants to make sure we have as diverse a group as possible. As representative a group as possible. And in the application all of this is explained. How we’ll keep all of the applicant’s information private and make sure that the selection process is as unbiased as possible. That is absolutely a commitment that AFB has made. The more perspectives we can bring to the table the better everyone will be. Especially if we’re very intentional about how we leverage that diversity and how we leverage the different perspectives. And this is one reason why that’s a criteria that we’re looking for – open mindness, the willingness to learn, the willingness to consider other perspectives because of how powerful that can be in the learning process.

TR:

Now, I know what you’re thinking.
As I mentioned in the beginning of this episode,
it’s National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

What about those struggling to gain employment?

Well, AFB is in the early phase of creating
pathways to competitive integrated employment.

MA:

The first phase is research and studies. The second phase will be testing our theories about how we can create those pathways and the kinds of jobs that we’re talking about. What we’re committing to is developing knowledge based work for Blind and Visually Impaired individuals. So this is probably using a computer. Probably requires a Bachelor’s Degree or some sort of specialized training and knowledge and would be work that requires creative thinking and problem solving. That’s where we’re hoping we can really move the needle as far as folks that don’t have a job who are interested in working in the knowledge based field.

TR:

I know there are real candidates right here in the Reid My Mind Radio Family both for Mentors and Mentees.

The application process closes on November 1, 2019.

Applicants will be notified of the results in mid-November.

Please let me encourage you to head on over to AFB.org and
look for that button that says Join the program or become a Mentor.

If you have additional questions about the program you can email Megan

MA:

M as in Megan.
Aragon (Spelled out)at AFB.org
MAragon@AFB.org

TR:

A big shout out to Megan Aragon.

There are a lot of people right now going through their own version of her story.

Trying to run away from the loss and convince themselves nothing has changed.

Hopefully those going through this can see Megan’s courage not only in
adjusting her perspective of vision loss but also in the way she shared it today.

She’s come a long way from hiding her magnifier.

And now that she’s no longer memorizing menus and order entry screens
but rather using access technology, she’s free to
keep on directing all of that knowledge over at AFB.

And hopefully come back on the podcast to discuss the inaugural year of the program.

I know this is the end of October and
National Disability Employment Awareness Month, but
we’re going to keep the conversation going into November.

There are many specific factors for those with disabilities to consider when seeking employment.

We have past episodes that deal with this subject specifically.

But so much of the employment process is universal.

Next time, I’m speaking with a Career Coach to hear more about how
that process has changed.

it’s no longer a passive process –
there’s methods that can really put the job seeker in control.

There’s only one way to make sure you don’t miss that…

Subscribe or follow the podcast where ever you listen;

Apple, Spotify, Google or your favorite podcast app.

I appreciate you listening and if you liked what you heard please rate and even review the show via Apple Podcast. And please, tell a friend to listen. Spread the love, man!

You can always visit www.ReidMyMind.com, that’s R to the E I D like my last name!

Audio: Reid My Mind Radio Outro

Peace!

Hide the transcript

Audio: Radio turning through different FM stations.

TR:
Rise and shine beautiful people.

Audio: Lovely Day, Bill Withers

You’re listening to WRMM better known as Reid My Mind Radio. I’m your host T.Reid.

If you just stumbled across this station while turning the dial on your virtual radio, welcome!
This is the place where you’ll find stories and profiles of compelling people impacted by blindness and disability. When I’m in the mood or have something of interest to share about my own experience I’ll serve that up to you with a bit of my sofrito if you will. My combination of spices!

Today’s episode is long overdue and that’s my bad.

But, as it turns out, it’s just the right Day to tell you a story!

Let’s go!

Audio: Reid My Mind Radio Theme Music

Day:

“I’m a big advocate for doing whatever interests you because to be honest if you have a disability , disability is going to come into it whether you want it to or not.”

TR:

That’s Day Al Mohamed. She encompasses all of those things and more. An Advocate, someone pursuing her interests and a person with a disability.

Specifically on that last point, she’s a visually impaired guide dog user.

We’ll discuss her advocacy work of course, but there’s just something I find so cool about people pursuing their passion. for Day, that’s writing.

And just as she said, disability comes up!

Some of you may be familiar with Day from her time at the American Council of the Blind. But here’s something you may not know.

Day:

I think most people don’t realize even with a last name like Al-Mohamed they assume I’m American. I don’t have an accent when I speak English or anything like that. However, I was born and raised overseas in the Middle East in Bahrain. A small island just off the coast of Saudi Arabia. It’s like 15 miles across, it’s that small. I didn’t come to the US until I was 17.
[

It’s one of those things that people are like wow you’re actually a foreigner. Then I have to reveal the small cheat that my mother is American so … And then they go wow that must have been really rough for her because she’s an American and she went to this whole conservative like Middle Eastern country. And I’m like my mom was from Missouri so she went from conservative Mid West to conservative Mid-East. It was not that big of a change.

[TR in conversation with Day:]
Laughs… So did you go back to Missouri when you came back to the states?

Day:
I actually went to college there at the University of Missouri and stayed on there for law school as well. I think that’s kind of where I got my start with legislative issues and policy issues were actually there in the state.

TR:

Day was presented with An opportunity.

Following a discussion about sponsoring a bill around disability employment, a Missouri State Legislator decided:

Day:

“I should put my money where my mouth is, I should get a disabled intern. You know that’s what I should do just get a disabled intern.”

And so he just put out this call for a random disabled intern and I kind of randomly got it. When I showed up at his office he was like can you answer the phone can you talk to people. So he had no idea about the capacity of people with disabilities at all.

I think that’s kind of always stuck with me and I look for other people who kind of have that same walk the walk.

TR:

That sort of attitude can really pay off; for all involved.

Day:

And by the time I’m done he’s like “Hey I need you to write this up as an amendment for the floor Go, go, go

TR:

Ever since then, Day’s been moving.

Day:

you know when you get a job it kind of starts you down a path.
I ended up actually doing an internship at the US Senate in Ron Wyden’s office and so I ended up doing more policy work there.

Next I did law school and then I actually did some stuff with the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court
before there ever was an ICC over at the Haig in Europe. They were trying to design an build it over at the UN up in New York and so I got a chance to spend a good part of summer there working with folks who were on the commission and it was amazing .

TR:

Then Day learned that the American Council of the Blind was looking for a Director of Advocacy and Legislative Affairs. This gabe her the chance to go to D.C and work on national policy.

Throughout her career, she’s worked on a wide range of topics.

Day:

social welfare, employment, technology, education.

I actually worked on Missouri’s conceal carry.

I kind of ended up falling into doing more disability but in general I’m a big advocate for doing whatever interests you because to be honest if you have a disability , disability is going to come into it whether you want it to or not.

I was with the American Psychological Association and for them I did do disability policy but I also did racial and ethnic minorities indigenous populations, some of there international development work. It was a nice mix in broad areas and I wanted to help them get started on creating an immigration portfolio because we were seeing a lot more activities in that rhelm and I think we had something to say.

[TR in conversation with Day:]
Do you have a special area that is very close to your heart?

Day:

It’s hard to say because I tend to fall in love with all sorts of different things. Which I guess in many ways means I’m a Lobbyist at heart. That word gets such a bad rap but honestly all it is is an advocate who gets paid.

You learn how Congress works and then you find people who are the experts or you find people with stories to tell and then basically you are connecting those pieces

TR:

Yes, the pieces are connecting! This advocate, is a storyteller.

[TR in conversation with Day:]

You can definiely talk that policy butI do want to get into the creative side.

I was looking on your website, DayAlMohamed.com, and you have a page that has different versions of your bio. What I thought was interesting was the policy stuff doesn’t come until the very end. The last two versions, the long version, but the other versions are really focused in on the creative endeavors, your writing. Am I reading into that too much? Is that your focus, do you really like to focus in that area?

Day:

I think part of it is (ahem!) I need to redo my website. Laughs!

[TR in conversation with Day:]
Laughs!

Day:

For anybody looking at DayAlMohamed.com I’m trying to get it to split. One is Day in Washinton which is where I cover all of my policy work and that’s where you’ll find some policy analysis and disability related stuff.
One of the things I’ve been doing , it’s almost 10 years now is writing fiction and in the last couple of years I’ve been doing more and more writing . I write fantasy and science fiction so we have books, short stories, a couple of comic book scripts, although it’s not fantasy and science fiction I recently put out a 30 minute film and I have 4 or 5 other short films as well. And so there’s been a lot more of the creative stuff.

It started out as something to do when I first came to Washington DC. My wife actually stayed back in Missouri to finish her degree and so if you’re away from your spouse for along period of time it gets kind of boring but it also gets kind of lonely so I signed up for a writing group. and started meeting with them.

I cannot laud enough the benefit of joining a group. You have other people who are striving for the same thing you’re doing. You have people who can kind of act as a sounding board for ideas, folks to critique. Having that kind of ability to have people to do that it only makes your writing better. I would say no good writing ever came out of a cave.

[TR in conversation with Day:]
So let me anticipate a question that someone would have when they hear that. Someone new adjusting to blindness would say well what about the fact that I’m blind and I’m assuming that wasn’t a blind writing group

Day:

It was not.

[TR in conversation with Day:]

How did that play. And you know, obviously this is something you’ve been doing for a long time but did that play into it in anyway?

Day:

Not as much as I thought it would. Really,..

[TR in conversation with Day:]
How did you think it would . And I’m sorry to cut you off but I want to get that…

Day:

No, no I think it’s a good one.

I think I worried that I wouldn’t be seen as a serious writer, which never happened. Or that they would question my capacity which also never happend. The group always made a point of meeting somehwere that was metro accessible. And we’re in the DC area so they were like well yeh not everybody drives and although at that time everybody else did drive they continued to make a point to only choose metro accessible areas. Even though I know that for a couple of metings it got very tough trying to find a location.

TR:

The benefits go beyond access.

Day:

There was one member who was a copy editing guru and oh my god the number of times she yelled at me about misplaced commas which you know with a screen reader is not necessarily the easiest thing to find when you put them in wrong and to go back and read to figure out where you got it. She was nice about it but she certainly still expected me to make sure I followed through on that .

That I had a strong story arc, character development. All the same kind of things. So realistically it end up with there not being any real difference blind or sighted.

[TR in conversation with Day:]
Nice, nice!

TR:

It was a nice experience for Day.

Unfortunately, she did mention how some people with disabilities reported negative experiences in other writing groups. That however, shouldn’t deter you.

Day:

I would encourage anybody, if you want to write go find a group and do it. Make a point of talking to other people about their ideas or ask them about their ideas. You can also find out about how other people have built things.

Find a group that meets regularly and a lot of things are like anything else they tel you. What you put into it is what you get out of it.

TR:

Ocasionally you may find the support going beyond notes on character development or punctuation. Llike the time day was feeling less than confident about her work.

Day:

“Oh my God I’m the biggest hack on the planet. I never want to write another word again.”
And she’s like we’re going to go out and drink some wine.

[TR in conversation with Day:]
That’s cool. That’s a nice supportive group.

I think for folks who are adjusting and new to it, it’s refreshing in a sense to know that it’s ok to have that doubt in the beginning. So you still were concerned about it but you went through with it. That’s a really important thing I think for people to grasp.

Day:

I think even if it’s a recent loss and it’s kind of tough and you’re struggling it’s a good excuse to get out . It’s a good excuse to start thinking of things you can do. What does it requirewell one is reading books so you can get an idea of what is out there and the second is trying to put your own thoughts down and whether that is personal journaling that you share with no one. Essays about your own transition or putting together fiction it’s all that same process.

I find it therapeutic but at the same time I look at it more professionally.

The more you do it the more you start finding other people like you.

TR:

Specifically other people like author of The Duff, Kody Keplinger, who’s book was made into a movie. She by the way is Blind.

Day:

Recently I had an essay that was published with one of the big Science Fiction magazines and the editor is Deaf Blind. I was like hey there’s more of us out there than you know once you start looking

TR:

Yet, it’s still a pretty big challenge to find us in the pages of books, screen plays and scripts.

Day:

I think one of the reasons I like science fiction is because it tends to be more future looking. A lot of it is very political. Things people don’t want to deal with today they’ll look at in Science Fiction.

One of the biggest problems with science fiction in general though is it
does not usually portray disability. If it does it portrays it very poorly. So basically, we don’t exist in the future. I have a huge pet peeve with that.

TR:

What would you expect then from a self described Lobbyist at heart – who uses stories to help advocate for those things that she’s passionate about.

Day:

So part of me is like I want to write it. You know we’re there. Not everything gets cured. That’s not how it works, that’s not how people work.

[TR in conversation with Day:]

Talk to me about any Sci-Fi films or books that reflect a positive image of disability. Are there any?

Day:

Ooh

There’s one book it’s actually book 2 in a series.

I think the first book is called The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. The second book is called The Broken Kingdom. It’s by N.K. Jemisin. The protagonist is actually blind.

It’s a fantasy setting. Most of the time when you think fantasy people think like Game of Thrones. They think swords and wizards, it’s very Eurocentric

what Jemesen did is she does this in a lot of her things
she actually builds fantasy that is not. Culturally a lot of it is more African than anything else. And I love that. I love it. I’m seeing parts of the world reflected and cultures you don’t normally see reflected, that you don’t normally think of as fantasy.

I think this last year Jemesen won the Hugo Award think about it as Science Fiction’s Oscars. She won it for the third year in a row. Nobody has ever won it three times.

TR:

Day’s love of writing goes beyond genre and form.

Day:

When I started writing I actually didn’t want to write novels I wanted to do film scripts. It requires a team so I wasn’t sure I could do that as a Blind person so I kind of slid in to doing the novels and the other writing.

I had built up enough cache that I felt secure in my writing and so I actually went to a couple of local film groups. DC Film Makers and I also visited Womens Film and Video. They meet every month and they do … we’re gonna doa movie. Who wants to do different roles. It was a chance to try and experiment a little bit.

I originally came out going I’m just going to be the writer. Guess what I can do writing, no big deal. So I started meeting some other folks doing that.

[TR in conversation with Day:]
Ok, so now, when you started that you said something so I think it revealed a little bit more…

(laughs)

Day:

Laughs…

]

[TR in conversation with Day:]
I’m peeling back some stuff here.

Day:

Here wwe go!

[TR in conversation with Day:]

You said that originally the intention there was to go for film.

Day:

Yes.

[TR in conversation with Day:]

Ok, so when you were younger was that the thing you kind of wanted to do?

Day:

As a kid, nah, I think it was still novels that were my thing. But when I first started writing in DC and I found that writing group the first stuff I submitted to them were scripts.

[TR in conversation with Day:]

Ok, I gotcha!

So when did the interest in film come into play?

Day:

I don’t know! I may have to think about that because I don’t know!

[TR in conversation with Day:]

And probably the reason that I’m asking, well number one, I’m interested.

I’m in this process now of kind of going back into events from my past sort of thing right, and then seeing where these interestsstarted and its just been interesting to me. So i ask everybody right now (laughing) I’m like do you know where your thing started from. (Fading out)

(Fading in) It’s a really cool thing because it’s like oh wait, I’m supposed to be doing this because I’ve always been interested in it. And that’s what that process kind of unveiled for me. I think it’s probably the same for a lot of people. I’m just letting you know, there’s something there. Which is great. Which means you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing.

Day:

I tend to like a lot of the writing so film, I like the short stories I really like doing the novella length work and I had a good time working on the two comics that I did. It was a lot of fun.

[TR in conversation with Day:]

Visual, it’s comics, but you wrote it.

[
Day:

I wrote it. I was partnered with some really good artists and the nice thing is generally in comics the decisions of what the art images are supposed to be is usually left to the artist.

TR:
Quick recap.

Day decided to pursue her interest; writing. Ultimately she was interested in writing for film, but she was uncertain how she could go about that being Blind.

Then she found her “in”. It’s specific to her, but the idea is universal.

She found a bridge or a means of getting her to her destination. In this case, writing films.

There can be multiple ways to create such a bridge. Sometimes it’s having someone close to you to share in the experience.

Day:

As the fun couple thing, my wife and I usually take turns a couple of times a year. We pick out something we want to do. She picked ballroom dancing one fall so a few years ago I said I want to do a film class and I want you to do it with me because I don’t think I can do it. There’s that as a Blind person I don’t know how it would work. I’m totally secure in writing one and I’ve been meeting with these other film groups so I have an idea how it works but I don’t know if I can actually do it. Getting cameras and all these other thingngs working well , so she said sure.

We signed up for a film classwith Adel Schmidt, who’s with Docs in progress – which is a documentary organization in Silver Springs. I’m just going to call her out by name because she was awesome. She’s like yeh, I’m not sure if you can either but let’s just go with it and see if we can figure it out.

[TR in conversation with Day:]
Nice!

Day:

She says you always start with the story.

It was like a 6 to 8 week class. You should have a one or two minute either short film or clip or trailer.

So you write out the narrative about what you want to say. You need to make sure it has a good narrative arc , it has rising tension and a climax. All the things you want in good writing. Then you record the whole thing.

Audibly reading the script. That helps give you the timing.

Then figuring out what images you want to slotin at what time.

So I know at 1 minute and 10 seconds where I say this I probably want an image of this. And being able to kind of almost wriggle this grid of what the film would look like.

And then you can go to either finding a way to record the film or finding images that already match that.

[TR in conversation with Day:]
So is that storyboarding?

Day:

Right, I guess you could say it kind of was storyboarding out the whole thing.

We figured out that would be a way that I could control what was happening when making the film. It’s not somebody else making it and then me going here are the images that I think and then if we did or didn’t get those what would be the next alternative. Let me see if that works Maybe I need to change the language and then slot in the images. We talked about would there be good transitions and how to do those. I’ll admit the transitions I had to rely on somebody else to figure out whether it looked really great or not. And then adding a layer of sound effects and then a layer of music on top of that. When I got done that’s what the trailer to The Invalid Corps is. And I used that for my Kickstarter video to fund making the 30 minute documentary.

At least now I know I have a way to make videos that this will work where I can say I control it. It’s mine because there was always that little bit of doubt that if I did it with somebody else oh yeh the the person who is sighted really made the film. With this one there was no question who made it.

Audio: Civil War Marching Drums…

TR:

The Civil War, is the setting for The story of the Invalid Corps.

Day:

My wife is the Archivist at the University of Maryland , University College she does all sorts of historical research and she often heard about them because there was this song and it ended up being real popular in the 1880’s but it really made fun of them. I’m like what is this Invalid Corps. So I started playing around on the internet and finding out more and a little bit more and then I’m like wait a minute, there’s a lot more to this.

Audio: The Invalid Corps (Song)

Day:

We hhear about how many amputations there were and how many injuries and how many deaths, but nobody ever stopped to ask what happened to those guys after they were injured or after they lost a limb.

TR:

Low on man power, rather than discharging injured soldiers, an all disabled regiment was created.

They did things like;

guard supply stations, trains and other property
Work in hospitals and prisons

Day:

They created 24 separate regiments.

[TR in conversation with Day:]
Confederate?

Day:

Union.

[TR in conversation with Day:]
Ok, good! Laughs.

Day:

They did a lot more than people give them credit
for.

It’s a pretty awesome story.

Audio: Snare drum: colonial marching…
So the year is 1684. The war has been going on for three years now. General Grant’s making his final push through Petersberg and on to Richmond to take them down at the end.

He pulls every soldier, every able bodied soldier out of the North and basically their all marching on to Richmond.

So he’s putting a lot of pressure on Robert E Lee. They can’t get out they can’t get supplies. In this kind of desperate attempt to break that siege Robert E Lee sends General Jubal Early, this Confederate General, he sends him North…”Cause as much trouble as you can”

Here’s the issue, because Grant had pulled everybody out there wasn’t really anybody to stop Early . So Early heads North through Virginia and rather than crossing at Harpers Fall he goes up and around through Maryland and then he comes down South towards DC — think of a reverse question mark.

Because there’s nobody there to stop him, he makes it all the way to Fort Stevens which is about 4 miles North of the Capital.

There’s nobody there except some clerks, some government officials, and this Invalid Corps.

You got these Invalid soldiers on the wallsof Fort Stevens and in front of the fort basically having to hold out against like 15,000 Confederate soldiers.

Until Grant suddenly realizes “Oh my God we’re about to lose the Capital! puts the entire Civs Corps on boats and sends them up river going as fast as they can to get to Washington before Early does.

These guys hold out for 24 hours until reinforcements arrive.

The thing is Abraham Lincoln was on the Ramparts of the Fort that day and they even took pot shots at him. They ended up shooting a soldier who was a few feet away from him. They could have taken down the Union or at least taken out the Presidency.

[TR in conversation with ES:]
Wow! That’s an awesome story!

Day:

I know!

History that’s kind of gotten lost and there’s some amazing things. One of the soldiers, he was assigned to the Provost Marshall’s Office, so people knew of him as a Provost Marshall soldier but He’d actually had a disability and was with the Invalid Corps and they just decided to put him there. He was one of the guys doing the detective work to figure out who assassinated Lincoln. So he helped with the hunt for John Wilkes Booth. So he’s like I know where he is. He was doing the tracking, but he was called back to Washington so if was a different unit that got the prestige of saying they caught him. Well, basically he died!

The soldiers who were supposed to guard the conspirators, all of them were Invalid Corps.

The only soldiers who were allowed to carry Lincoln’s caufinalso was that unit.

[TR in conversation with Day:]

Wow!

Day:

I know!

This piece of history, basically disability history that nobody has really researched or talked about.

TR:

A significant amount of research time went into creating this documentary. It’s not as though there are books available on the topic.

According to Day, there are a couple of people currently working on writing them now.

In the meantime, the documentary is done and ready for the festival circuit.

Day:

I want to give it a year where I’m sending to festivals and trying to look for places to screen it and after that I’ll look at finding ways that people purchase it.

It has both captioning and audio description.

The film was crowd funded Shout out to all of the amazing people who helped fund that.

As a part of supporting disability creativity sort of thing, I think there are maybe one or 2 exceptions and this is out of a couple of dozen.

Every single person who has worked on that film either has a disability or is a veteran.

It’s not like I asked flat out going do you have a disability because the 2 I don’t know about I didn’t really ask.

I wanted to make that a part of the way the film was made.

TR:

I get the sense that “walking that walk” and pursuing one’s intrests, aren’t just personal practices for Day. It appears to be a message she spreads.

I want a talk about your bucket list.

Number 1 that is so cool and scary at the same time. I said Oh my gosh. I don’t know if I would want to put out my bucket list because it kind of keeps you accountable because people are going to be watching it.

Day:

Right!

[TR in conversation with Day:]
Which is a great idea. And then I saw that you challenge people to put their own bucket list . I started reading that and I was like awh damn!

Day:
It’s accountability but it also gives a picture of who you are to other people and it encourages other people to go yeh, what do I want and where do I want to go.

You’re doing this thinking where you going back and looking where you started. I think a natural out growth of that is a bucket list looking forward.

[TR in conversation with Day:]

I never really considered doing one. I never really did, that’s something I’m going to take away and start thinking about.

Two things from your bucket list I found kind of interesting.

How are you doing with the guitar? You have an electric and an acoustic now?

Day:
Yeah, I do. I still only know like 6 chords.

[TR in conversation with Day:]
That’s not bad

Day:

It’s not bad but I still need to work a little bit more on it.It’s actually one of the very few things I do that I can say is just for me and only me. And one of the only things I find relaxing. I have a hard time whinding down.

[TR in conversation with Day:]

The reason I ask you that is I got me a guitar a couple of years ago also an electric. My daughter has an acoustic and I kind of took that and started playing and now I like the acoustic better. It’s more forgiving than the electric.
Similarly I find it very relaxing. I have to get back into it because I had a little carpel tunnel…

I do want to someday be able to play with some other folks. I think that would be cool.

Day:

Right!

[TR in conversation with Day:]
That might be on my bucket list.

Day:

You know when the best time to have and use a guitar, Christmas. If I could do 5 Christmas songs. they aren’t usually that complicated. Everybody knows a Christmas song. I have a whole year to come up with 5 songs. That means I need to learn one every other month.
I could do that that’s not terrible.

[TR in conversation with Day:]

I’m gonna have to checkup see how you’re doing. Laughs

Day:

Laughs I’m gonna be in so much trouble come Christmas.

[TR in conversation with Day:]

Now you have one on there number 5 and it says something about being a mentor /inspiration. I don’t think I told you that in 2006, that was my first PCB Conference.

Day:

Was it really?

[TR in conversation with Day:]

Pennsylvania Council of the Blind . That was the first time you were there.

Day:

I do not believe that man, when you rolled in with so much swagger. Come one. Seriously.

[TR in conversation with Day:]
Yeah, That’s just that New York thing!

Basically two years after losing my sight.We were a new chapter and I was one of the folks who started the chapter out here in this county. I just learned so much that week. You were a big , big part of that learning. You did a keynote at that banquet and it was all about whose in your audience.

Day:

Yeah!

[TR in conversation with Day:]
I know, I remember this. And so I really took a lot away from that.

Then later on in 2007, was my first time going to the ACB Legislative Seminar and once again there you were. You were talking about Eugenics and disability. And againI’m very new to disability at that point. So you truly opened my mind and inspired me to kind of dig deeper into what disability means and what it doesn’t mean. I think you should reconsider number 5

I think that this interview has been long overdue. You know I get a little nervous too. I look at certain people as inspiration and I usually don’t like to use the word but in this case it does apply.

Day:

Well thank you . That totally makes my night. Actually it totally makes my year. That’s kind of awesome!

[TR in conversation with Day:]
Laughs.

That’s along overdue thing I should have told you.

TR:

I truly mean that. It’s not only long over do that I share that story with her, but to also share Day’s story with the RMM Radio Family.

Thinking about it, this actually is the perfect time. This episode is a great follow up to the last; Disability Representation in Media

Day is telling stories including disability whether in the subject matter like the Invalid Corps, the inclusion of characters and of course making it all accessible.

And she’s continuing to inspire yours truly, this time not as much from a far.

Day:

So I got to ask, what are you thinking about writing?

[TR in conversation with Day]

(Breathes in deeply!) Laughs!

Day:

You hinted at it, you hinted at it! I’m not letting it go.

[TR in conversation with Day:]

Wow! You know what I always wanted to do. And this would be something that’s on my bucket list. That’s why I was interested in the documentary. I love documentaries. Like I love that.

I’m really just trying to figure out what that specific topic is what that story is that I want to tell. I do love stories, period.

Day:

Well awesome. You should totally do it.

TR:

Big shout out to Day Al-Mohamed.

[TR in conversation with Day:]

Day, I truly, truly appreciate this. Thank you so much it was a pleasure speaking with you.

Day:

Well, I am so glad you invited me to be on your show. I kind of love listening to it so I’m like look, look I’m on the podcast!

[TR in conversation with Day:]

Laughs!

TR:

How cool is that?

Does that make you want to pursue that thing you always wanted to do?

You too can find a way to take you from where you are today to where you want to be tomorrow. It may not be a direct connection, but remember, it’s not necessarily about the destination it’s all in the journey.

I hope this podcast can serve as a bridge for those adjusting to blindness and disability. Connecting this group of people with cool blind and disabled people. Exposing them to new ways of thinking about disability.

Since this conversation I’ve already been doing a lot more thinking about creating a documentary. I believe it’s something I could really do!

I’ll have to add that to my bucket list.

You can check out Day’s bucket list with over 150 items. Plus so much more about policy, writing and more.

Day:

My websites:
DayInWashington or DayAlMohamed.com
If you ran a search on Amazon you can find all my books and writings.
I still have a lot of fun on Twitter That’s my name @DayAlMohamed

TR:

Remember, if there’s a guest or a topic that you want to hear from or about let me know. Chances are if you’re interested so are others. Here’s how you can get in touch, but first, stay in the know, don’t miss a show.

Subscribe!
Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, Stitcher, Tune In Radio or wherever you get podcasts.

You can always send me feedback or recommend a guest or topic all you have to do is hollaback!

We have the comments section on the blog, ReidMyMind.com.
The email; ReidMyMindRadio@gmail.com
The Reid My Mind Radio Feedback Line where you can leave a voice mail: 1 570-798-7343

I would really love voice messages that I can share on the podcast. If you don’t want to call, you can grab your smart phone and record a voice memo and email the finished recording to ReidMyMindRadio@gmail.com.

I’d love to hear and share the voices of those who are listening. If you want to send a message but don’t want it shared just say so and it’s all good.

I appreciate you listening and if you liked what you heard please rate and even review the show via Apple Podcast. And please, tell a friend to listen. Spread the love, man!

You can always visit www.ReidMyMind.com, that’s R to the E I D like my last name!

Audio: Reid My Mind Radio Outro

Peace!

Hide the transcript

Audio: New Year’s Countdown… “Happy New Year…

TR:
1,2, 1, 2… Alright, 2019 Reid My Mind Radio is back!

Audio: Reid My Mind Radio Theme Music

TR:

What’s up Reid My Mind Radio family?
Happy 2019!I hope you all had a great holiday season.

If this is your first time checking out the podcast, I’m very happy to have you here.

Since the end of 2014, I’ve been producing episodes featuring interviews with people I believe have an interesting story. I have focused on people with disabilities, most often those who identify as Blind or Low Vision or in some way have been impacted by blindness.
In addition to that I occasionally share stories from my own experience adjusting to blindness.

Audio: from A few of my favorite things episode…]

As I mentioned in the last episode focusing on my favorite things was truly important. I realize there are just some things that require me to be intentional.
I’m not saying I don’t know how to have fun or enjoy myself… actually I can be pretty entertaining at a party. Still, more than often there’s a bunch of serious stuff that’s always in my mind ready to take over and dominate.

I like to think of my mind as a stove top with multiple burners. Sometimes your standard 4 burner stove top (audio: 4 gas stove tops lighting)and at other times one of those fancy 6 to 8 burners.
Of course, those things requiring my immediate attention get place in the front. However, I never turn off the back burners, rather I let them simmer on a low fire cooking as I take care of the other dishes.

As we approached the holidays, I was feeling as though my mind was telling me it was time to turn off the stove all together. I mean who would want to leave the stove on when they’re going away, either physically or figuratively speaking.

Audio: sound of a flame lighting into a large fire…Eddie Murphy “Now that’s a fire!”

So I went away!

Audio: a chill Hip-hop beat grooves underneath…

But turning off the burners isn’t that easy! I guess you can call it an auto pilot that lights up when it wants to. The trick is to just shut it off as quickly as possible. And for me that requires constant work. Yes there were the occasional moments when one of those back burners lit up, but I did remember to turn it off and focus on enjoying time with my family.

In the last episode I eluded to one of the biggest pots cooking away on the back burner; the notice that my job is being eliminated.

Audio: Flintstone, you’re fired! From, The Flintstones

To be clear, my job elimination is exactly that. The company I worked for was purchased. The new company simply is eliminating redundancies. Think of that show called storage wars

Audio: Scenes from the show talking about the price of various items…

pawn shops or antique dealers purchase foreclosed storage rooms. They do so because they know they can sell off individual items the total of which will reap them a good return on their investment.

Well, that’s what happened here. The more they sold off, the less they needed the legacy group.

This leaves me with a serious reality check. Some real considerations;
I’m 50 and companies like young blood
Inaccessibility is a constant threat
most of my technical experience is outdated and
I’ve been comfortably working from home because of some real transportation issues.

Yet with all of that, I believe I’m a real catch for almost any organization. I have a lot to offer, but at this stage in my life I’m feeling like I would have to really find a company that’s worthy. Bold statement? True! But if I don’t believe in my value who will?

I’m doing a lot of thinking about this both as it relates to me and my own career as well as trying to pick out aspects that can be helpful to others.

Like those who are now themselves looking to return to work after an acquired permanent disability.

Maybe others who are coping with job loss and finding that either their specific skills aren’t required or employers prefer a younger staff. the impact here obviously goes beyond blindness or disability.

Maybe this is a full podcast episode, a blog post or just some thoughts I share randomly on Twitter.

If you have a related story to share on returning to work following a disability, are you a midlife career switcher or perhaps you experienced ageism in the work place let me know. email me at ReidMyMindRadio@gmail.com. Maybe we can make a full episode from such a discussion and hopefully give some real advice to others.

Audio: Doe, Rae, Me, Fa , So La, Tea from Sound of Music

On that note, one of the other pots on the burner is this podcast.

I’m always thinking about ways to keep it fresh both for the listener and me as the producer. I know that if I want to improve I have to find new ways to communicate ideas. Some of that will be in the actual words, the production and the approach.

I am particularly interested in more collaboration.

First, I really want to increase interaction with listeners.
We have the comments section on the blog, ReidMyMind.com.
The email; ReidMyMindRadio@gmail.com
The Reid My Mind Radio Feedback Line where you can leave a voice mail: 1 570-798-7343

I would really love voice messages that I can share on the podcast. If you don’t want to call, you can grab your smart phone and record a voice memo and email the finished recording to ReidMyMindRadio@gmail.com.

I’d love to hear and share the voices of those who are listening. If you want to send a message but don’t want it shared just say so and it’s all good.

Then there’s collaboration with other podcasters and audio makers, writers, producers and creatives. I’m not exactly sure what this will turn out to, but I’m feeling like there’s just some real opportunity for some fun, relationship building and mutual growth that comes from working with others. This could be teaming up to work on a project that is published across multiple podcasts, blogs. It could be sharing ideas that are best fitted for different voices. I don’t know the specifics but I know I am open to it. I also strongly believe there are some who themselves may be thinking along these lines so I want to make sure I am clear about my willingness to create with others.

As I continue to expand the scope of this podcast, I’m reminded of why I initially created my blog back in 2006. I just wanted my own little space on the internet where I could share my thoughts and observations as I was beginning my new experience through the world of adjusting to blindness, becoming a person with a disability and all that came along with it. I wanted to meet others with similar experiences.

This podcast continues to be personal. I mean it’s called Reid My Mind Radio after all.

To some extent it’s a reflection of my own adjustment to blindness and even how I think about disability. Both of these being an ongoing process.

One of the things that I found helpful in my early adjustment years was that exchange of information with other Blind and Low Vision people. As I expand and continue to consider the larger disability community as a whole I feel the need to find others in order to exchange ideas and develop my own way of thinking about and living with disability.

I want to challenge myself to do more with this space. I have to admit it, that’s sort of scary to say knowing someone is listening and may call me out on that. But at this stage in my life I’m feeling like it’s scarier not to do it. Plus, I’m from the Bronx baby, we don’t scare that easy!

In 2019 we will continue exploring audio description from different angles. It’s a service and I dare to say art that is for us. The Blind and low vision community. Shouldn’t we have more of a role not only in providing feedback but also as participants in its creation?

There’s some other things that affect the community that deserve more attention. I’m hoping to make them conversations as opposed to me getting on my soapbox.

Speaking of soap boxes; If you enjoyed the 90 plus episodes to date, if you like the sound of where this is headed you need to …

Subscribe!
Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast Sound Cloud, Stitcher, Tune In Radio or wherever you get podcasts.
Visit www.ReidMyMind.com

So there’s no confusion, that’s R to the E I D like my last name!

Now, it’s a new year, new opportunities and there’s only one way to look at that!

Audio: Flintstones “Yabba Dabba Doo!”

Audio: Reid My Mind outro

Peace!

Hide the transcript