The Blind Side

Jonathan Mosen begins by announcing the return of the accessible phones for the blind email group, where comparisons of phone types and operating systems are welcome. Subscribe to the Blind Phones list here.In a call to action, Jonathan expands on his blog post, Cupertino, we have a design problem. If you’ve found since upgrading to iOS 11 that you’re deleting emails by accident, it’s not a bug, it’s a new idea from Apple. Jonathan describes why we should care, and encourages you to contact [email protected] with a respectful request that this change be reversed.Before having computers to occupy ourselves with, many blind people were fascinated by the telephone, and the phone network. The process of delving into the secrets of the phone network was known as p [...]

For some people who’ve never been given travel instruction by a blind person, the idea seems proposterous and downright dangerous. How can a blind orientation and mobility specialist keep their students safe and monitor their technique? And yet, there are many capable, successful, and totally safe blind people teaching other blind people how to get around.Deja Powell is a blind cane travel instructor based in Utah. She talks with Jonathan Mosen about her journey to acceptance of her blindness and provides detailed answers to Jonathan’s frank questions about how she does what she does.Deja also discusses her PHD thesis, and last but by no means least, her love of fashion.Jonathan concludes the podcast with a follow-up on our New Zealand general election series. The election took place on 23 September. What happened to the people he spoke with, and can we officially call The Blind Side Podcast a political jinx?

Thanks to the wonders of time zones, New Zealanders get new Apple tech before the rest of the world. Today, a new iPhone 8 Plus and Apple Watch Series 3 landed at Mosen Towers. Jonathan and Bonnie Mosen demonstrate setting up the iPhone 8 plus with the help of the new phone migration feature built into iOS 11. They take a listen to the improved speakers, describe the feel of the new phone, and look at how responsive it is thanks to the new A11 Bionic chip.Jonathan then sets up his new Apple Watch series 3. It took more than one attempt to do so, and when it was over, he found the speed impressive, but the Siri support disappointing in the context of VoiceOver, the screen reader built into all Apple products for the blind.

Just ahead of the official release of iOS 11, the new software to power iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, Jonathan Mosen was invited to deliver a Tek Talk presentation to Accessible World.For many years, Tek Talk presentations have been held every Monday at 8 PM US Eastern time. Guest speakers have showcased a wide range of technology for the blind and visually impaired.Jonathan speaks about iOS 11 in the context of VoiceOver, the screen reader built into iOS. He discusses Siri’s new voice and capabilities, new VoiceOver options giving greater control over verbosity, the accessibility to blind people of closed captions, how the new screen recording feature can help app developers fix accessibility issues with their apps, significantly revamped Braille support and more.Jonathan’s book, “iOS 11 Without the Eye”, contains over [...]

At its first ever event at the Steve Jobs Theatre, Apple unveiled an Apple Watch with LTE connectivity, a 4K Apple TV, and three new iPhones. One of those iPhones is a radical departure in some key respects from anything we’ve seen before.Jonathan and Heidi Mosen, David Woodbridge and Allison Hartley got together the moment the curtain came down in Cupertino to offer their instant reactions to the event, and provide analysis from a blindness perspective.We can also report that “iOS 11 Without the Eye” will be released by Mosen Consulting this weekend, just ahead of iOS 11’s debut on 19 September.

We conclude our series on New Zealand’s general election by hearing from the current Minister for Disability Issues, National’s Nicky Wagner.Minister Wagner discusses what she considers to be National’s most significant achievements for disabled people over the last nine years, and argues that re-electing National to lead the government will represent continued progress for disabled people.We discuss education, employment, access to technology, whether there is a need for accessibility legislation and more.

We’re preparing to go into top gear on The Blind Side, with comprehensive coverage of Apple’s new hardware. Mosen Consulting is also ready to go with “iOS 11 Without the Eye”, our most comprehensive iOS book to date. Learn more in the podcast.Blind people using telephone dictation voting can cast their ballot any time from now. Our comprehensive coverage on New Zealand’s disability issues continues ahead of the election. This time, Jonathan Mosen speaks with Marama Fox, co-leader of The maori Party. Marama talks about the affinity that exists between Maori and disabled people, as well as cultural issues affecting Maori with disabilities specifically.

On this, our 50th episode, we say thanks for your listenership. It’s been amazing.Our podcasting course begins just days from now, and we’re excited by how many people have already joined our community of intrepid podcast explorers. There’s still room for you though. We tell you about a very special guest joining us for part of our first webinar.Our series on the New Zealand general election continues. This week, we’re looking at how blind people in New Zealand vote. Jonathan Mosen explains New Zealand’s proportional electoral system which gives every New Zealander two votes.Then, we look at the voting process for blind people specifically. New Zealand’s electoral Commission has made voting as simple as a couple of phone calls, and secrecy is built-into the system. We’re joined by the Electoral Commission’s Acting Manager Voting Services, Melissa Thorpe, to explain the phone-based system introduced three years a [...]

Responding to many requests, Mosen Consulting is offering a thorough podcasting course, comprising four webinars, a discussion forum, a resource guide and more. Jonathan discusses what the course covers, and how you can register. Note, since the course starts in September, registrations close soon.We then give you an update on the latest in the popular “iOS Without the Eye” series. It’s our largest eBook yet. We explain how you can get it before iOS 11 comes to your iDevice.And we continue our series on the New Zealand general election, as we speak with Ria Bond from New Zealand First about disability policy and related issues.

Our series on New Zealand’s general election continues.Poto Williams is Labour’s spokesperson for Disability Issues. She joins Jonathan Mosen for a wide-ranging discussion on public policy from a disability perspective, including answering questions sent in by listeners.

This week, we begin a series of interviews with representatives of New Zealand political parties, ahead of the 23 September general election.Jonathan Mosen speaks with Green MP and Disability Issues spokesperson Mojo mathers. Mojo, who is Deaf, is New Zealand’s only member of Parliament with a significant disability.She discusses what it’s like to be the only disabled MP, some issues of significance facing disabled people in New Zealand, and how the Green Party would tackle them.

It’s a problem many blind people are all too familiar with. We’re wide awake in the middle of the night, and have an uncontrollable urge to sleep in the middle of the day. It can make life utterly miserable, in terms of maintaining a schedule in sync with our friends and family, and performing at our best on the job. We now call this phenomenon non-24, and there are things you can do about it.Even if you’re lucky enough not to be affected by non-24, most of us could do with more, and better quality, sleep in this fast-paced connected world of ours.To talk about sleep in general, and the challenges many blind people face with sleep in particular, Jonathan Mosen talks with Professor Steven Lockley, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. He’s a neuro-scientist with an interest in sleep and circadian disorders. He’s spent considerable time examining the issue of blind people and sleep, and how non-24 might be treated. [...]

This week’s podcast focusses on technology that gives blind people easier access to visual information.The hot topic in the blind community on social media since its release a couple of week’s ago is an iOS app from Microsoft called Seeing AI. It’s a Swiss army knife of visual tools, offering some functions available in some other apps, but also breaking new ground in the use of artificial intelligence to give blind people descriptions of people and scenes. An app like this has been the dream of Saqib Shaikh, a blind developer who has worked for Microsoft for over a decade. Thanks to Microsoft’s technology and resources, he’s seeing that dream becoming reality, and is able to share that dream with us in the form of a free app. Jonathan Mosen speaks with Saqib about Seeing AI, then demonstrates the app and how he is already using it daily, including to transform his use of social media.There is a second service that has gone live recently [...]

In the early days of accessibility-related email lists, Kelly Ford was a vocal, articulate advocate who wasn’t hesitant to hold companies to account for accessibility issues. Then he became an insider, still making the world a better place in a quieter, more effective capacity. Having just completed a 16.5 year stint at Microsoft, where he held various roles, Kelly joins Jonathan Mosen to talk advocacy and accessibility, and share a few memories.

On Friday, submissions close on a standard that has been drafted by the Canadian General Standards Board CGSB. It stipulates with exceptional detail what constitutes a service dog team, including the behaviour and abilities of both members of the team, the human and the dog.Critics of the proposed standard accuse the CGSB of a paternalistic, big brother-style encroachment into the lives of disabled people, and many guide dog handlers are concerned that the proposal seems to take no account of effective industry regulation that has served guide dog handlers and the public well.Some US guide dog schools are suggesting they may need to decline to provide service to Canadians if this standard is adopted.It’s unclear what the consequences will be for people travelling to Canada with guide dogs that are accepted everywhere else but which will not meet this standard if it is adopted.And if you’re outside Canada and wondering why you should conc [...]

A group of blind people in the United States are frustrated by their inability to book travel independently using the Greyhound website and apps. When they’ve sought help from the call center, they were charged a convenience fee. They’ve filed a lawsuit which is supported by the National Federation of the Blind. Jonathan Mosen speaks with Chris Danielsen from NFB about this specific suit, and looks at case law on web and app accessibility.“Go Where You Wanna Go” is Judy Dixon’s latest book published by National Braille Press. It looks at GPS apps for iOS. Judy joins Jonathan to talk about the book, and the many choices we now have to help us get around.

From time to time on The Blind Side, we like to look at self-care issues from a blindness perspective. This time, we look at perhaps one of the most misunderstood methods for achieving positive change in your life, hypnosis. Many people think of hypnotists as slightly creepy people who dangle a watch in front of your face and make you do weird things. Is that true, and is it even possible for a blind person to be hypnotised?Jonathan Mosen speaks with hypnotherapist Andrew Johnson. Andrew offers an extensive collection of apps for iOS and Android. Just what can hypnosis do for you, and how does it work?At the end of the podcast, Andrew will conduct a hypnotherapy session. For this part of the podcast, which begins at around 55 minutes in, we highly recommend that you listen to it when you are somewhere you’re not going to be disturbed, and you’re not performing any other task.

Bonnie Mosen has a popular book in the Mosen Consulting Store, “It’s Off to Work We Go”, offering tips and tricks for blind job seekers. People who purchase that book have had access to a job club. Bonnie talks about the challenges of being a blind job seeker, and we announce that the next meeting of the job club is open to all.There’s a new audiobook in The Mosen Consulting Store on Zoom Cloud Meetings, called “Meet Me In the Cloud”. We give you a free sample of the book that demonstrates how easy it is to attend meetings using this highly accessible product.

Jonathan Mosen speaks with Kliphton Miller about Frontier Airlines, who turned what should have been a pleasant flight with his 18-month-old granddaughter into a day of discrimination and frustration.Paul Mugambi is a Kenyan advocate and musician. Currently studying on a scholarship in Australia, Paul talks with Jonathan about some of the advocacy triumphs and challenges blind people in Kenya are facing. We conclude the podcast with a great song from Paul.

Right after Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference keynote, Jonathan Mosen is joined by Jeff Bishop, Heidi Mosen and David Woodbridge to bring you analysis and further information from the slides that wasn’t discussed by the presenters.

Imagine a device which instantly converts print to Braille, just by lying the device on top of a printed page. That’s what a team of talented MIT students have been working on, with Project Tactile. Jonathan Mosen speaks with two of the students, Charlene Xia and Tania Yu. He also speaks with Paul Parravano, Co-director of Government and Community Relations at MIT. Paul is blind, and has been providing advice to the Project Tactile team. Paul also talks about some of the work he is doing at MIT.

One person can make a big difference, with the law on their side and a bit of tenacity. Phillip Chalker tells Jonathan Mosen about his successful campaign to have Virgin Australia install accessible in-flight entertainment systems on their aircraft.Unexpectedly, UK voters are going back to the polls again, for a snap general election. Dave Williams joins Jonathan Mosen to talk about the possible ramifications of brexit on the blind community. We look at some of the issues dominating the campaign, and learn about the hoops disabled people are being required to go through just to keep the benefits they have already.Note that this interview with Dave was recorded before the barbaric and horrific events in Manchester. We send our deepest sympathies to everyone affected.

We all know how important it is to exercise regularly to stay healthy and alert. Audio workouts and accessible gadgets are making it easier than ever for blind people to stay active. But where to start? Respected technology author Anna Dresner has written a new book for National Braille Press to get you started, entitled “Ten Thousand Steps, Cane Not Included”. Jonathan Mosen speaks to Anna about her writing in general, and this book in particular.You can purchase a copy of the book by visiting http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/10KSTEPS.htmlWhether you’re blind or sighted, applying for a passport is a laborious process, requiring you to provide photos and numerous details. In Canada, if you want the Passport Office to assist you because you don’t have, or choose not to rely on, sighted friends or family, you’re out of luck. Canadian Press journalist Michelle McQuigge tells Jonathan about the controversy, and talks about it in the wider context o [...]

Gaining access to reading material is about more than having good books to enjoy, which is of course a worthy end in itself. It’s even about more than having access to material that can advance your education and training. Being able to read a book at the same time as your sighted colleagues are talking about it around the water cooler facilitates full inclusion.Many of us can still remember that due to resource and technological limitations, it could often take many months for a best seller to be made accessible. Now, there are many accessible ways for us to read a book, often in a timely manner, and one of those is Bookshare, which is specifically for print disabled people.More than 425,000 people in 70 countries have access to Bookshare’s collection of 546,950 titles. More than 820 U.S. and international publishers contribute to its social mission by donating their digital files, making it possible for Bookshare to serve users around the world and ensurin [...]

Many Sony Bravia televisions are now powered by Android TV. They sport two screen readers, offer access to apps from the Google Play Store, and can even work as a Chromecast device.Jonathan Mosen brings you a comprehensive demonstration of one of the offerings in the Sony Bravia range, the 49-inch version of the Sony X8000D.He looks at a range of apps, browses the accessible TV guide, talks about recording TV onto a USB hard drive and more. The accessibility of this TV, while not perfect, is impressive.He also offers some advice to owners of Sonos soundbar products for choosing a TV that will get the best audio possible from them.

This week’s episode of The Blind Side could be the most important thing you’ve heard all year, as Jonathan Mosen speaks with author, blogger and podcaster, Jimmy Moore.Weighing over 400 pounds and having failed at a low fat diet, Jimmy turned his life around when he adopted a high fat, low carb lifestyle. It’s the same lifestyle that’s caused Jonathan to need a completely new wardrobe.Increasing, compelling evidence suggests that going low carb will reduce significantly your risk of heart disease, diabetes, and other diseases that have become commonplace since the low fat craze took hold some decades ago.To learn why eating fat doesn’t make you fat, and how science got the all-important topic of what we should be putting into our body so wrong, join Jonathan and Jimmy as they share their personal experiences, and the increasing body of evidence in favour of a low carb lifestyle.To find out more about Jimmy Moore’s w [...]

Determined to make his country a better place, David Blunkett became a local politician at the age of just 22, the youngest city councillor at the time. He ultimately became Council leader.Elected as a Labour member of Parliament in 1987, he served in Tony Blair’s cabinet in a number of capacities, including the senior position of Home Secretary, becoming the first blind person to be a part of the UK Cabinet.He was, at one point, considered a potential Prime Minister.Now Lord Blunkett, he joins Jonathan Mosen, a political junky who has followed his career closely, to talk about life in the bear pit of politics when you’re blind.

Jonathan Mosen and Jeff Bishop talk about some of the new features in the Windows 10 Creators Update, which Microsoft will begin pushing via Windows Update on 11 April.There are many new features and enhancements of general interest, and also considerable improvements to built-in accessibility.Learn about the new features, and how best to ensure you have a smooth upgrade to this latest version of Windows.

How much of a difference does blindness make to being a parent? What techniques are necessary to supervise a child if you can’t see? And for those who become blind when they’re already a parent, how does blindness change things?We’ll discuss these and many other related issues with our panel of blind parents, each of whom brings a different set of experiences on the discussion. Jonathan Mosen, a father of four himself, is joined by Maggie Rush, James Manders, and Ericka Mosley.Ericka is a co-founder of Blind Parent Alliance, a support group of over a thousand blind parents worldwide who keep in touch via Facebook. Perform a Facebook search for Blind Parent Alliance if you’d like to connect.We also learn about an email list which has been run for many years which serves as another supportive place for blind parents.

Unlike their sighted counterparts, blind youth aren’t bombarded by sexual imagery, and they can’t see the pictures in sex education textbooks. Two-dimensional drawings simply don’t work, and the process of experimentation can be disastrous. So how do we inform and educate blind youth about sex in a safe, meaningful way?Professor Gaylen Kapperman is world renowned for his work on ensuring that blind people aren’t left out of the STEM subjects. But for decades, he’s also been an advocate for ensuring that blind youth can learn about sex education in an accessible way. Now, he’s promoting the use of newer technologies, such as 3D printed models of sex organs.Professor Kapperman speaks with Jonathan Mosen about this critical and often overlooked accessibility issue.

Last week’s podcast in which Sue Martin recounted her American Airlines horror story has been the topic of much conversation.This week, we’ve put together a selection of airline experiences and reaction that has poured in via email, audio message and Mushroom FM’s call-in show, A Cuppa at the Mosens.Don’t forget, you can support The Blind Side podcast by checking out and subscribing to HMA VPN. http://mosen.org/hma

We talk disability discrimination and ignorance at the hands of airlines on this episode.Jonathan recounts a less than optimal experience he and Bonnie recently had with a New Zealand airline, Jetstar.He then speaks with Sue Martin, who was the victim of repeated violations of US federal law, humiliation and intimidation by American Airlines.Penny Reeder, President of Guide Dog Users Incorporated, joins Jonathan to discuss Sue’s experience and the state of airline travel for blind people in general.Know your rights. If you’re in the United States, or you ever travel there, read this summary from the US Department of Transportation of the Air Carrier Access Act. https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/passengers-disabilitiesSupport the Blind Side by checking out HMA VPN. http://mosen.org/hma

Please support The Blind Side by checking out HMA VPN. http://www.mosen.org/hmaYou’re sound asleep, when you’re awakened by the ground shaking violently. Objects are falling off shelves, and your dog is terrified, as are you. Are you ready for a natural disaster, and what are the things blind people need to be prepared for in such an eventuality?Jonathan Mosen speaks with Dr Gretchen Good of Massey University, who is part of a team that has completed research on the impact of the Christchurch earthquakes on some of the blind people who live through them. We discuss specific things you should be doing to prepare for a natural disaster.We often hear stories of academic institutions making it difficult for blind people to pursue their studies, so it’s great to share a good news story. Kayla Weathers has graduated from Dalton State College in Georgia with a BA in English Literature. The College went that extra mile, and created a beautiful Braille diploma [...]

Please support The Blind Side by checking out the services from the great team at HMA VPN, to secure your Internet and tear down the walls of geoblocking. http://www.mosen.org/HMAOn the podcast this week, many in the blind community were dismayed to learn of the imminent demise of the Roger Walkie-Talkie app for iOS and Android. With it’s superb audio quality, unlimited message length and simple group features, it’s brought blind people together and fostered new friendships.Now that it’s going, its users are looking for alternatives, and this episode discusses a bunch. Jonathan Mosen is joined by Rachel Feinberg and Anthony Horvath, both assistive technology specialists. We’ll look at a range of voice messaging apps and how none of them quite does what Roger did. We’ll help you work out which option may be best for you.Who couldn’t use a little extra cash? If you’re a BlindSquare user and have a story to tell about ho [...]

Born in Ukraine when it was still part of the Soviet Union, Victor Tsaran had no idea as a child that he would one day move to the United States, see his life transformed by computers, and work for some of the leading tech companies in Silicon Valley, making the world a more accessible place.Nowadays, Victor is Technical Program Manager, Accessibility Initiatives at Google.Victor tells Jonathan Mosen about his extraordinary life, and they have a candid conversation about the state of Android accessibility.The podcast closes with a song by Victor, who is a talented musician.

In 2013,. Kim Charlson was elected unopposed as the first female President of the American Council of the Blind (ACB), making her the first woman to be elected as President of a blind consumer advocacy organisation in the United States.In this extended interview, Jonathan Mosen talks with Kim about what makes her tick, what she perceives to be the accomplishments of her presidency so far, what she still hopes to achieve, and whether she thinks ACB and NFB will ever reunite.

You’ve saved up and waited patiently for tickets to the popular musical “Hamilton” on Broadway, only to find that there are no audio described performances available. You’re therefore concerned that you’ll not be able to enjoy it as fully as everyone else. What do you do?If you’re Mark Lasser, you encourage those responsible to offer at least some audio described performances. When that fails, you file a lawsuit seeking a change. Mark joins us on The Blind Side to discuss his legal action.With a smartphone in your pocket, you have an abundant bookshelf. With so many apps and services out there, it can be confusing to know which apps to use when, and which services provide the most accessible experience in any given situation. Judy Dixon has written a book called “The Abundant Bookshelf” published by national Braille Press, to make sense of it all.And following our repost of Tara Briggs’s interview with Jon [...]

We begin The Blind Side for 2017 by turning the tables on the show host.Jonathan Mosen provided some advice to Tara Briggs when she was establishing her podcast, Ability Stories. Recently, Tara reached out to Jonathan and asked if she could record an interview with him.While the subject matter is wide-ranging, this interview is notable for covering a subject Jonathan hasn’t been interviewed about before, his atheism. Jonathan deconverted from Christianity almost 30 years ago, and describes himself as a proud atheist, confident and comfortable with the world view he follows.Join Tara as she explores a subject important to Jonathan that no other podcast interview has covered.

It’s the final episode of The Blind Side Podcast for 2016. Thanks for being a listener.We begin with a reminder to join in the fun and vote for your top 10 holiday songs, ahead of Mushroom FM’s holiday countdown and Christmas party on Sunday 18 December. The link to cast your vote is: http://www.MushroomFm.com/countdown2016Have you ever considered starting your own business? Or perhaps you have one already and want to take it to the next level. Our featured guest is Colleen Wunderlich, Director of the Forsythe Center for Employment and Entrepreneurship at the Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually impaired. We learn about her own interesting career, what she’s doing at Hadley to help blind people start and grow businesses, and how you can gain some funding to grow or start a business with the 2017 New Venture Competition.Learn more about this great opportunity, open to US residents, at http://www.hadley.edu/nvcBonnie and Jonatha [...]

Mosen Consulting has published a new book by Jackie Brown. “Braille on Display” is a handy buyer’s guide covering most of the Braille products available today. It’s packed with useful facts as well as the author’s views on the Braille technology she’s reviewed.Jonathan Mosen speaks with Jackie to learn a bit about her and a lot about her great new book.You can purchase it from: http://mosen.org/BrailleOnDisplay

In Britain, legislation has been introduced to Parliament that would require all taxi drivers to have completed disability awareness training. The move comes after what would appear to be rampant discrimination against guide dog handlers there. Bonnie Mosen joins us as we discuss the issue, and we seek your experiences with taxis and ride sharing services. If you’re a guide dog handler, how common an occurrence is it where you are to experience discrimination.Then on a lighter note, Jonathan speaks with Jarek Beksa from Audio Game Hub, a talented team of people from the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand. They’ve designed a series of top-quality audio games for blind people to play on multiple platforms, and a successful Kickstarter campaign will see more games available soon. But it’s not yet too late to make a contribution.Learn more about Audio Game Hub at http://www.AudioGameHub.com.

The Blind Side Podcast Episode 16, Marty Schultz from Blindfold Games by Jonathan Mosen

Just after midnight on Monday 14 November, a massive 7.8 earthquake shook much of New Zealand. No matter how well-adjusted we are as blind people, an unexpected natural disaster like this can be humbling and frightening.This week, we speak with Teri Mcelroy, who has lived through some serious quakes in Christchurch over the last six years, and Mushroom FM fun guy Anthony Horvath, who is based in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, where the quake closed businesses for a couple of days and will cause the demolition of at least two buildings.They’ll talk about what it’s like to be in such a large quake, and offer some advice about some of the things we as blind people need to consider when preparing for a natural disaster that could come when we least expect it.

On last week’s Mosen Explosion, heard on Sundays at 2 PM Eastern time and then repeated on Tuesdays at 5 AM Eastern time on Mushroom FM, we broadcast a tour Bonnie and Jonathan took of the Seeing Eye. The response was so positive to this, with many people asking for it to be available for download, that we’re including it in this week’s podcast.First, Bonnie Mosen gives us some background to The Seeing Eye and how it was founded. Then, Jim Kutsch, President of The Seeing Eye, takes us around some of the great facilities.Learn more about The Seeing Eye at its website, http://www.TheSeeingEye.orgWe conclude with an extended editorial from Jonathan Mosen on the US Presidential election. What might the result mean for the blind community, and is there a pressing need for electoral reform in the US?

The phrase “Nothing About us Without Us” is a catch cry of the disability movement. Yet there’s still a lot of disability training and policy that lacks meaningful direction and input from disabled people themselves.Pam MacNeill has had a long and successful career, recently in fields pertaining to disability policy. She’s just set up her own company, Disability Responsiveness New Zealand.In this candid conversation with Jonathan Mosen, Pam discusses her personal story, and looks at the challenges disabled people face today in a range of areas, including what New Zealanders call the tall poppy syndrome.Visit Disability Responsiveness New Zealand at http://www.drnz.co.nz

The Blind Side Podcast Episode 12, Judy Dixon by Jonathan Mosen

Blind Citizens Australia is the advocacy organization for blind Australians, and Emma Bennison has been its President for a year. During a visit to New Zealand, Emma

Blind Citizens New Zealand isn’t only the oldest advocacy organisation driven by disabled people themselves in New Zealand, it’s also one of the oldest blindness consumer advocacy organisations worldwide.Following their conference last week, Jonathan Mosen speaks with Clive Lansink, National President of Blind Citizens New Zealand. We learn about the history of Blind Citizens New Zealand, and some of the challenges facing the organisation and blind New Zealanders today.

Jonathan begins this week with a recent experience he had in a lawyer’s office that got him thinking about the legal profession and outdated attitudes about blindness.We meet Eric Miller from the Rush Miller Foundation, an organization dedicated to providing tandem bicycles for blind people and a sighted bike mate to use. Learn more about the Foundation at http://www.rushmillerfoundation.org.We then hear from Jeremy Cooperstock from McGill University in Canada about Autour, a navigation app that is trying an innovative approach to providing blind people with information about what’s around them.

Social media has been abuzz with talk of a fund raising campaign for the Foundation Fighting Blindness. Called “How Eye See It”, the campaign invites sighted people to blindfold themselves and perform a range of tasks, then make a donation to the Foundation. But the National Federation of the Blind says rather than show people what it’s really like to be blind, the campaign perpetuates inaccurate and harmful myths about blindness. Jonathan Mosen speaks with Chris Danielsen from NFB. We have extended an invitation to the Foundation Fighting Blindness to appear on the podcast. We did not receive a reply to our invitation by the time of publication, however the invitation remains open.