Tuesday Topics

Everybody knows there is an unprecedented quantity of access technology out there. At CSUN three major new note takers were announced! They are at the forefront of what is new and innovative but most of them cost an arm and a leg and another arm! We thought it might be fun to explore the currently available tech that you can buy for under a thousand dollars! There are note takers, players, keyboards, software and more! We will tell you what we think of these products and we will talk about what they do and what makes them good or bad! You may be surprised by just how many items are out there and how many things they can do!

It may seem to some that the topic we have chosen this week is simplistic and doesn't involve a lot of discussion. We are hoping that the topic of literacy will provide two hours of spirited discussion. Is a blind person who only reads by listening fully literate or not? Is a person who listens actually reading? What role does braille play in determining whether an individual is literate? What about large print? If a person can only read at one hundred words a minute using either large print or braille is he or she literate? Do we as people who are blind need to espouse a whole new definition of literacy to cover our situation? In some states high school students are not allowed to take the reading comprehension tests they must pass to graduate using JAWS or any screen reader. Even if they are totally blind and diabetic which makes braille not an option, such students will, according to the educators, are not readers. In their view reading comprehension is a measure of how students process information received from a printed or braille page! As people get older and lose vision should we be encouraging them to learn braille? Folks love screen magnification from most are not prepared to give braille much of a chance! Should we create a different notion of braille literacy for older folks that might mean they only learn enough braille to label, play games and use elevators? Are we making it too easy for folks of all ages to regard screen readers as sufficient to call them literate? Is the extra effort and expense needed to become proficient at large print or braille worth encouraging? Many agencies have settled for teaching computer access without caring very much whether speech or braille or large pint is used! Many of their officers tell students at school or college or at agencies that they don't need braille or large print! "It are lots of issues and lots of questions! There are also lots of feelings too! Is somebody who reads ten books a week from BARD illiterate? Do good large print users and competent braille readers look down their noses at folks who only use JAWS? Find out more at https://acb-tuesday-topics.pinecast.co

All of our topics stem from the time of year. First we will talk about daylight savings time. Is it a good idea? What does research say? Is it different for people who are totally blind because our rhythms are not affected by light? Nevertheless is it a good thing or not? The day of our program is March 17 which happens to be St. Patrick's day. Have you had interesting experiences on that day? Did or does your family have traditions that happen on that date? What are we celebrating and why does it matter? Spring has come! Does that affect what you do and how you do it? Do you do Spring cleaning? Are there other things you associate with Spring? Find out more at https://acb-tuesday-topics.pinecast.co

ACB has deadlines! These are coming up pretty soon! They relate to things that will happen at the ACB convention. It is a tradition of this program that, at this time each year, we invite folks to tell us about what is on offer. We know we will hear from the Durward K. McDaniel First Timers Committee who will tell us about a chance for several people to come to our convention free. They will actually also tell us about a leadership effort, past winners and plans the DKM has for the convention. In the past several of ACB'S current leaders at the state and national level have received either the DKM First Timers Award or have been Chase fellows! Some of the recent winners will join us to share what impact these awards have had on their lives. It is our hope that we will hear about other opportunities for awards but that is not firmed up as I send this to press. Join us to learn about the work of a committee that honors the memory of Durward K. McDaniel one of the founding fathers of ACB whose memory is used to help foster leadership in today's ACB. Find out more at https://acb-tuesday-topics.pinecast.co

Two weeks ago we spent time looking at new technology that is making sporting events more accessible. How are things now? Are they better than in the past or worse? Do most blind people listen to sports on the radio or use television? How do you think radio sports have cha'nged over the past few decades and why? Sports have been a huge part of the lives of many people who are blind! Tell us how you feel that sports have contributed to who you are! Find out more at https://acb-tuesday-topics.pinecast.co

we will explore romance on Tuesday Topics. We have talked about dating before but this time we thought it would be interesting to go a little further. How do most relationships between people who are blind get started? Is it on line? Is it because of meetings locally? How did you celebrate Valentine's day? What are some of the most romantic things you have done or have had the opportunity to receive? What advantages or disadvantages do people who are blind or have some vision face in a relationship? We would like to hear about advantages! Find out more at https://acb-tuesday-topics.pinecast.co

I think particularly people who are born blind often assume they know a lot more about how sports work than they actually do! I know that I take formations in football for granted and don't have a good understanding of how players are placed in cricket even though these are sports I follow. It will be interesting to see how two folks who have been blind all their lives (I think) experience new technologies that make football and basketball more accessible. I don't have a clear idea of what I am missing from tv! I know there are stats that appear! I know that there are replays and diagrams! I am aware that those who can see have much more information about what is going on than I do! Should broadcasters do more for people who are blind? I worked with the then Florida Marlins to create better access! They promised to make devices available that would provide audio description to those who attended the game but never followed through. What would we want audio description to include? Should we expect more from radio? I think that a lot more information used to be included in radio broadcasts! Was that because there did not used to be tv versions of every game? Should we expect more? Should we write a resolution that should be sent to sports leagues asking for particular things? What ought they to be? Find out more at https://acb-tuesday-topics.pinecast.co

Tuesday Topics will take a big risk! Lots of our shows depend on hearing from guests. We sometimes invite several guests to join us! This time we are making a different sort of invitation! We are inviting affiliates to tell us what they do to build membership! Virtually everybody knows about BITS and its hugely successful effort to increase its membership. We heard last night that it's important for ACB to get new members! We heard that, in spite of what we might have heard, at large memberships only constitute about 1 percent of our group! What are affiliates doing to encourage new members? What more could they do? Can they learn from BITS? Are there state affiliates that are doing cool things? What about local chapters? If this program is going to be successful we need to hear from affiliates who are doing cool things! If your affiliate isn't making special efforts, perhaps you need to listen to our program to discover some approaches that other states and groups are trying! Do you take special steps to assure that those who joined last year come back? Have you ever reached out to those who don't return to ask them why? These are just a few of the many questions we want to explore on our program that explores the other side of membership! We heard what ACB is doing! Now let's hear what our affiliates do! Find out more at https://acb-tuesday-topics.pinecast.co

This is the time of year when our affiliates are getting ready to send in membership lists so we thought it might be a good thing to talk about the good, the bad and the ugly about how we are doing at the local, state and national level at encouraging new members. It's generally accepted that our membership numbers are falling. Why is that? Are there particular reasons it is happening to ACB? A few groups are growing! Who are they and why is it happening? What does falling membership mean? How is it affecting ACB'S ability to do what it's supposed to do! There are lots of other questions we will explore surrounding recruitment and retention and how we can do better! Find out more at https://acb-tuesday-topics.pinecast.co

It is still January so many people will still have a pretty good memory of what happened last year! We thought it would be fun to ask you to think back to last year and tell us about some cool things you found last year. We would like to hear about the best book you read! We want to know about the best movie you saw! (It doesn't have to be a new one!) We want to know about what you think the best song or album from last year was! Finally, we would love to know what the coolest thing you did last year might be! You are our audience and you are what makes Tuesday Topics vibrant and compelling! Help us again by sharing the books, movies, songs and events that made 2025 outstanding for you! Find out more at https://acb-tuesday-topics.pinecast.co

Tuesday Topics will encourage folks to consider an issue that could potentially create some interesting disagreements. As we take to the internet and a range of devices too numerous to mention, we will explore together a question that everybody has thought about but many have avoided discussing! Many people attempt to persuade us that there is only one sort of person with visual impairments. That person is "blind". In reality, according to some statistics I have seen, only ten percent of those with vision loss are totally blind. That leaves 90 percent of those with some loss of sight who have some usable vision. How do the two groups interact? Is either group privileged? Do people with some vision get treated fairly? Do people with no vision get treated fairly? Obviously I am talking about how folks are regarded by others with vision loss! All of us know that people with vision loss are treated unfairly by those without it! What does the attitude of partials look like? Do they perceive themselves as superior? Do totals feel that they are the only ones who are truly "blind"? Is there friction between the two groups? Are "partials" caught in the middle so that they are disparaged by those who can see and those who can't? These are just some of the questions we will encourage folks to explore next week on Tuesday Topics! Find out more at https://acb-tuesday-topics.pinecast.co

Usually on Tuesday Topics we attach our predictions to other elements like "how to keep your resolutions" or something similar! This time we are flat out prognosticating! We are gazing blindly into the future with the hope that something from the chaos of what is to be will trickle back to us! I would argue that these times are as hard as any time ever during which to look ahead! The art of extrapolation says that we ought to be able to take what has just happened and assume that these events will help us unerringly identify those actions that the events that have happened portend. Lately, friends, it does not appear to work like that! I will be fascinated to see what the team comes up with and what you believe will be the big events of 2026. From 7 to 9 PM Eastern time January 6 2026 Tuesday Topics will once more take to the internet. It is time for all of us to look ahead to 2026 and predict what we believe is in store for people who are blind, our country, the world and whatever other things we are minded to predict. With the new year less than a week old we will gaze into our crystal balls and dare to extrapolate from the present what we believe the next twelve months will hold. What will new technology look like? What will preoccupy ACB? Last year went in directions none of us managed to anticipate! Will wars end? Where will our economy go? How will artificial intelligence evolve? Dare we look ahead to the mid-term elections? Maybe not! What do you, our Tuesday Topics audience, see in the future? Join our effort to penetrate the unknown with bold predictions where no internet podcast or live program dares to go! Find out more at https://acb-tuesday-topics.pinecast.co

Those of you who have been long time listeners to our show can probably guess what our topic is. At the end of each year we like to review the events that those of us on the team and you think are the most significant things that have happened during this year. We are pretty loose about what can be included but want to talk about blindness things, technology, movies, books and whatever else seems to come up. There are some things we know we should be thankful for and we like to look at some of those. There are probably some trends that are not so great and we will probably talk about some of those. The bottom line, dear topickers, is that we want to end up with a sense of 2025 that we can take forward with us to 2026. Find out more at https://acb-tuesday-topics.pinecast.co

There appears to be a whole range of ways that the brain reacts to picturing something with one's eyes closed. I listened to a recent program where a condition was described that intrigued me. The term I heard was "afantesia" but that appears not to be the correct name of the condition. Essentially people who have this condition see nothing in their brains when they close their eyes and try to picture even something as concrete as an apple. At the other end of the spectrum there are people who have, again not the correct word apparently, "hyperfantesia". These individuals can be reading a fantasy novel with dragons or unicorns and, when they close their eyes, they can see images of these elements as clearly as though they were a part of the story. It appears that ten percent of folks are at one end and ten percent at the other end and the rest of us somewhere in the middle. Clearly people who were born blind will probably be at the not-see end but what about people who have lost their vision later in life? What do they see with their eyes closed? Are those folks on all ranges of the spectrum from nothing to everything? People who are born blind dream! How do they dream? Is there a difference between the way people who have seen dream? Do they dream with the sight they used to have? Does their ability to "see" lessen with time? Essentially, we want to explore perception awake and asleep. The questions I have suggested are just the tip of the iceberg. I will tell all of you about my dreams if you join us! So will others! I can tell you now that I see nothing with my eyes closed! Oddly en, I don't smell anything or hear anything either which, one would think, ought to be a possibility. Find out more at https://acb-tuesday-topics.pinecast.co

Last year we featured a play with blind actors from our ACB Sacramento chapter. We hope to have them on in the future to share their latest project! On our show this time we feature a group based in Pennsylvania interested in "improv". Sue Lichtenfels from Out of Sight Improv will join us for the next Tuesday Topics. Through virtual experiences, Out of Sight Improv enables blind and sighted actors to soar high through their mind's eye. After learning a little about Sue and this project, we'll hear the trailer for their most recent improv audio play. Then she will share some helpful improv techniques before we dive in to perform short scenes ourselves. Members of the audience will also get to play so don't miss this chance to become a star! Here's Sue's contact info if you wish to learn more or become involved: Out of Sight Improv OutofSightImprov@gmail.com \ Find out more at https://acb-tuesday-topics.pinecast.co

Tuesday Topics will once more tackle an issue that we think deserves atffention. We live in polarizing times! Politically our nation is perhaps more divided than it has ever been. Within our very own organization it sometimes seems that civil discourse is replaced by uncivil recourse to inappropriate messaging. Are there ways to defuse this level of irreconcilability? Can we find ways to interact with each other in ways that produce dialogue rather than log jams? We certainly can't change where our country is with a single program but we think we can open'ly explore some communication techniques that might help! We can also engage each other in ways that demonstrate what apposite communicating looks like! Debbie Hazelton, a professor and psychologist, will join us to help explore division and dialogue. Peter Altchul will also be with us! Find out more at https://acb-tuesday-topics.pinecast.co

From 7 to 9 PM on November 11 Tuesday Topics will join in the celebration of Assistive Technology Awareness Month. I am not sure that this is its actual title but there have been a number of posts announcing it exists! What is assistive technology? Is it different from access technology? Where does adaptive technology fit into the picteaure? We will explore definitions but, more importantly, we will discuss the current state of all three elements. It is arguable that there are more tech options available today than there have ever been! It is also accurate to say that, in the current environment, there are questions about where Federal funding may be over the next few years. Do children and seniors have equal access to technology given the limited dollars availble to people not in rehab? What can we do to alter this discrepancy? What does the future look like? How has competition affected technology? What are gaps that need filling? Are there things ACB needs to do in this arena? Assistive technology has revolutionized the capacity of people with disabilities to function independently. We will celebrate and explore both high tech and low tech equipment that has impacted people with disabilities! Find out more at https://acb-tuesday-topics.pinecast.co

From 7 to 9 PM on November 4 Tuesday Topics will consider fund raising as it applies to ACB and other blindness groups. ACB has a range of ways to raise money. Members contribute a lot; sponsors represent a viable option; fees for services is a new potential approach. Every nonprofit in the world is finding it harder and harder to persuade people to give! Where does ACB stand? Is it harder in the current environment to raise money for organizations like ACB? Are some of the methods used by some blindness organizations inappropriate or demeaning? What can we do about those that make us angry? How can ACB compete with other blindness groups? What do folks get when they give? These are just some of the questions we will explore on Tuesday Topics next time! When ACB was formed, a major issue was how fund-raising was being handled. There has always been a need for money to implement the objectives of ACB! All kinds of options have been explored! Affiliates could get things they could sell; special appeals happened; ACB reached outside to find folks who would support what we do; and many other approaches have been tried. Are there specific approaches we would reject? What methods worked best! Do you remember some of the objects ACB used to sell? Should we raise dues to get more funds? Is fund raising harder these days than it 'used to be? How come? What does the future look like? Brian Charlson will lead this week's Tuesday Topics as we explore a subject that is necessary and controversial! Find out more at https://acb-tuesday-topics.pinecast.co

Tuesday Topics will explore halloween experiences. Did you trick or treat as a child who was blind? Did you like it or not? Did you take your children trick or treating? How was that? How do you handle halloween these days? Have you ever either tricked or been tricked at halloween? How aware are you of what is going on in your neighborhood with halloween? These are just some of the questions we will invite you to explore! When people come to your door do you ask them to describe their costumes? Are there ways that your blindness affects how you handle this holiday?

We are now on the two hudred and twenty-ninth show in the current series of Tuesday Topics. That is quite a number and I need to thank everybody involved for enabling us to be around as long as we have. It is difficult to come up with topics that are new and exciting and your help deciding on subjects is certainly appreciated! It is my plan to try to find some guests to help us understand the current state of Medicare and medicaid and to explore some of the options that people have chosen and why. If we are going to succeed with this topic we will need to hear from folks who have explored the options that are out there! I hope to get somebody who has worked on this issue on resolutions and with AAVL. I have done some work on the topic and I know there are lots of questions out there! Is plain Medicare better for some people? If so, why? What do supplements provide and what do they offer? Is medicaid getting harder to get? What is the difference in states which have extended medicaid coverage? Are Federal dollars contracting for medical support? What has the impact of this change been and what should we do about it? What has your experience with both medicare and medicaid been like?