DoubleVision Podcast (by DoubleVision Blog)

In this episode, Jenelle and Joy talk with their longtime friend Terri Rupp about identity, disability, motherhood, leadership, and ultra running. Terri shares how she moved from holding many leadership roles to finding balance through running, while also navigating blindness, hearing loss, and the everyday realities of raising teens in Las Vegas. They also explore what it means to be visible without becoming an “inspiration” object, and how mentorship, community, and self-acceptance shape Terri’s life both on and off the racecourse.Key topicsTerri introduces herself through her many identities: mom of two teens, wife of a firefighter, immigrant, blind athlete, ultrarunner, and someone newly adapting to hearing loss.She reflects on saying yes to too many leadership roles in the National Federation of the Blind and why she used those titles to fill a gap when she didn’t feel like she had a career.Running becomes her source of peace, structure, and joy, especially because it gives her time away from constant calls, emails, texts, and meetings.Terri explains how she got into running as an adult, starting with a 5K, then a marathon goal, and eventually moving into 100-mile and timed ultra races.She breaks down what ultra running actually looks like for her: planning food, using walk-run strategies, and fueling every 45 minutes.Terri describes how she runs with sighted guides using a nylon tether, plus verbal cues like left, right, and “my way” or “your way.”She shares how her guide dog Trinket is specially trained for running and can handle weekday runs up to about 6 miles.The conversation explores the mental side of endurance, including sleeping during fixed-time races, hitting the wall, and learning when to push through versus when to stop.Terri opens up about the emotional strain of balancing disability, parenting, volunteering, and caregiving, especially as her children become more independent.The hosts and Terri discuss the gap between how a blind person wants to show up and what the environment allows, especially in social situations where seeing and greeting people is harder.Terri reflects on identifying as blind, even with usable vision, and how blindness skills training and the blindness philosophy helped her accept that “blind is blind.”She talks about supporting her daughter, who also has a degenerative eye condition, by exposing her to positive blind role models and programs without pushing too hard.Terri names mentors and “expanders” in both blindness and running, including Joanne Wilson and Pam Allen, and explains how other runners have helped stretch her sense of possibility.The episode closes with Terri discussing a rare OPN1 gene variant that affects her hearing, balance, and nerves, and how she’s adapting through health, nutrition, and movement.

Joy and Jenelle talk with 15-year-old musician and advocate Lyla Eileen, whose five-song EP ups & downs is out today. Her songs come from lived experience, and the conversation covers her early start in music, growing up blind, and the challenges of school and social life, including what it was like having a paraeducator follow her around in middle school. She shares how songwriting became both self-expression and healing.Along the way, they listen to clips from her new music and hear the stories behind the songs. Lyla talks about her influences, including Fousheé, Claire Rosinkranz, and Olivia Rodrigo, and about a new opportunity to consult on audio description at the Seattle Opera House.Listen to ups & downs: Spotify | Apple Music Listen to our interview with the Jeremy Lewis, the founder of EQ Records, who is helping bring Lyla and other's magic to the world!Catch her live: Lyla performs October 10, at the We Are Not Forgotten Showcase in Tacoma, and Joy and Jenelle are thrilled to be there. If you’re in the Washington State region, come say hi!We Are Not Forgotten ShowcasePresented by the Alliance for Accessibility and sponsored by the City of Tacoma. Music, poetry, comedy, dance, community, and family, with various artists with disabilities performing and displaying their talents.Date: Saturday, October 10, 2026Location: Star Center, 3873 S 66th St, Tacoma, WA 98409Admission: Free, with a voluntary $10 donation suggestedAccessibility: ASL interpreters and sighted guides will be availableAdditional accommodations: Contact Tony at 206-434-6793 or [email protected] the event: @alliancefor.accessibility on InstagramFollow Lyla Eileen on Instagram

This week, Joy and Jenelle sit down with Jeremy Lewis — financial advisor, entrepreneur, father, and founder of the nonprofit EQ Records. Jeremy lost most of his vision at 17 due to Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON). Over the next 25 years he built a financial practice, Fortitude Financial, the registered investment advisory firm he leads today. Along the way, his love of music and his own experience with disability led him to found EQ Records, a nonprofit recording studio now home to six studios and live-performance spaces in Spokane, WA, dedicated to helping blind, visually impaired, and under-resourced youth thrive through music.Event Info📍 EQ Records Block Party — September 26th, 4–9 PM, Spokane, WALive performances, DJ set, food trucks, vendors — free entry, donations welcome. Proceeds support Union Gospel Mission and local wildfire relief.  https://allevents.in/spokane/eq-records-annual-block-party/200030552302624#google_vignette

Joy and Jenelle explore how comparison shapes identity, self-worth, and belonging, especially through the lens of growing up as twins and living with vision loss. They move from childhood memories and a Health Chicago billboard campaign into a broader conversation about how comparison can wound, motivate, or reveal what we value in this episode, Joy and Jenelle talk openly about the ways comparison shows up in families, disability communities, work, creativity, and everyday life. They also reflect on how curiosity, timing, and values can turn comparison into something more useful than self-criticism.Key TopicsJoy and Jenelle revisit their brief childhood modeling career for Health Chicago, including the “they like the same boys, they like the same clothes, they like the same food, but they need different doctors” ad.Why twins are so often compared, and how people tend to force them into binaries like “the funny one,” “the smart one,” or “the pretty one.”The familiar phrase “comparison is the thief of joy,” and whether comparison is always harmful or can sometimes be neutral or even helpful.How comparison can point toward values, like humor, writing, creativity, stability, or stamina, instead of just triggering shame.Why scarcity thinking often appears in disability communities, especially when people see others succeeding and assume there is not enough possibility to go around.The “flower” metaphor: tulips, hibiscus, and sunflowers each bloom in their own way and timing, which mirrors how people develop differently.The pressure toward exceptionalism in disability culture, including the feeling that blind people have to be “more than” everyone else just to be valued.How comparison can become a tool for growth when it is paired with pausing, naming the real desire underneath, and asking what is actually being admired.Practical examples from home decorating and creative work, where admiration turned into comparison until values were clarified.Joy’s meeting with Marianne Williamson, who said that no person is more or less important than another, a moment Joy connects to belonging and self-worth.

Joy and Jenelle explore disability joy... the practice of noticing and naming joyful moments that emerge specifically from the disability experience. Sparked by their earlier conversation with Lachi, they dig into a working definition (identity, community, self-acceptance, and self-advocacy) and share personal stories: a sourdough baking day turned into an unexpected bonding moment, a talking birthday card that restored a lost ritual, a bedazzled cane and a walk with a daughter, and finding the words to redirect a well-meaning stranger's help. They also talk about the difference between joy as a fleeting state and joy as a trait you can build over time, and why naming pain matters just as much as naming joy.Connect With Us:Leave a voice message: 949-414-8336Email: [email protected] Episode: Ep. 18: Celebrating Disability Pride Month with Lachi