Tuesday Topics

Tuesday Topics will continue our discussion of employment. As often happens, we are unable to handle everything we plan for when we get into our Tuesday Topic. on our last program there was lots to learn and lots to think about and lots that's worth hearing. I encourage many of you who did not listen to go get our podcast. Represented on our show was ACB'S Employment Committee and our Government E...

There is some disagreement about the exact percentage of people who are blind who are unemployed and apparently unable to find work. What is clear is that well over half of those supposedly seeking jobs are not finding them. ACB has set up an employment committee to work on these issues and we will be exploring with some of its members what they have been up to since we last talked with them. We h...

Right at the end of our last show a question was raised that I hope will be sufficient to keep us talking for our whole program. The question that was raised was "Have you ever played the blind card"? It will be interesting to see if my notion of what that question means is the same as Brian's who actually asked it. For me, the "blind card" means that you are making it clear th...

on Tuesday January 14 Tuesday Topics will be available in aeall its usual forms and places. By Tuesday the year will be two weeks old and many of us will have made resolutions that we are teetering on the brink of losing control of as other activities fill our days. How can we change that? What is the value of making resolutions? Are there positive benefits, asieade from the obvious ones, that hap...

Tuesday Topics will begin its two hour fairwell to 2024. What were the high points? What are things we will be glad to see the last of, if any? Were there technological developments of consequence in the blindness field? How about ACB? What was 2024 like for our organization? A special interest affiliate became our largest chapter. We held a convention in Jacksonville where those present were abou...

Tuesday Topics is winding down for 2024. We have two more shows to do. We have determined that on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve we will not be on the air. So our next show on December 10 will focus on Christmas and it will depend for its success on those of you who coce and participate. I am going to put lots of questions out there that we might talk about. We will almost certainly not get to a...

Two elements intersect this week. We are four days after Thanksgiving in the United States when our Topics show will air. We are also Four weeks removed from the election that saw Donald Trump elected as President of the United States. It also appears that Republicans will control both the House of Representatives and the Senate of the United States. What will this mean for legislation relating to...

Two weeks ago we, as we often seem to, only completed one of the two elements we had proposed. Interestingly enough, during our last program our guest raised the same issue when talking about a science fiction novella he had written. Essentially what we asked two weeks ago was, "If you could have full vision for just a few minutes only once in your life, what would you want to see?" We w...

It has been a while since we have invited a guest to share his or her life and opinions with us. On this program we are pleased to welcome Anthony (Tony) Candela. He has been a wrestler, a runner, a worker in the field of blindness and a writer. He has three books on bookshare. One is a sort of memoir of his athletic experiences; one is a collection of short essays that are easy to read and have c...

Kim Charlson will join us for a few minutes on our show to remind us about the fourth annual Audio Description Gala! It is an amazing event and we look forward to hearing all about the latest iteration of an important opportunity to celebrate audio description and those who create it. On Election day, November 5, which is also Guy Fawkes day in the UK, Tuesday Topics will take to the air from 7 to...

We are two days before Halloween but we are not going to talk directly about that! However, one of the things associated with Halloween is fear. We would love you to tell us the time in your life that you were the most scared. We suspect that people who are blind or have low vision might find different events frightening than would people with vision. I know that for me the time in my life that I...

Our topic this week, on the surface at least, may seem a little unlikely. At its heart, our question is "Are we better off because of COVID?" I am not speaking about the country as a whole. I am talking about people who are blind. Many of us had to learn skills we might not have learned were it not for COVID! We learned to use zoom! We learned to shop on line! We acquired a range of know...

The last month has been full of natural disasters. Hurricanes Helene and Milton have caused devastation in several states and tornadoes have contributed their destructive impact. Tuesday Topics wants to hear from people who have interacted with emergency management folks! How were you treated? What about preparations for events? Did you find adequate ways to keep in touch with what was happening?...

Are the messages being sent great? If not, what should they say? Should they focus on pride, discrimination, employment, equity, inclusion or something else? It's your job to think about what the "big question" ought to be and then share your conclusions with us! What is the message that we would like society to share about people who are blind. in October of each year proclamations prol...

Our show last Tuesday featured a number of people who shared their experiences going to school. While most had some pleasant memories of their education, many also had pain they chose to share with us. Learning didn't come without hurt and hardship. Some felt schools for the blind did not live up to expectations. Others felt mainstreaming didn't protect kids who are blind from harm or care much ho...

There has been a lot of academic debate among experts as to whether folks who are blind do better if they have atffended schools for the blind or been mainstreamed. Experts may fight but I would be interested to know from those who actually experienced being educated as a person with vision loss what you think is best. Some say that kids who are mainstreamed are more academically prepared but far...

One of the hosts of Tuesday Topics is famous for his culinary prowess. Brian Charlson recently presented to the Greater Louisville Council on the subject of barbecue. There are shows on ACB Community that feature cooking. One is hosted by Florida's own Sheila Young. In the past Cooking with the Hazelnuts was a regular program on ACB Radio and a gentleman who often hosts Tuesday Topics for Clubhous...

We encourage folks to suggest ideas for Tuesday Topics and have, in the past, used some of those that we have received. This week we are once again availing ourselves of a suggestion made by two ladies who both happen to have similar names. Both Debbie (Hazelton) and debbee (Armstrong) have suggested we take up a topic that we think is very important. Both of them will be a part of our panel eithe...

It is Tuesday Topics' plan to see if members of the employment committee want to join us! In fact I can now confirm that at least one member of that committee will be with us! There was a lot of debate in early resolutions committee meetings this year about a proposal put together by the Employment Committee. A resolution was passed and Tuesday Topics will be asking the committee what it says and...

Tuesday Topics will focus on how AI is being used by people who are blind! This was planned for last Tuesday but the ACB Board of Directors preempted our discussion! We will be expanding our second topic from last week! I wonder how many of us are using artificial intelligence to describe pictures and other things. I saw a long article almost a year ago about a blind person who was using A i to de...

We are getting closer to elections and I am curious about where we get information about politics, current events and breaking news! Are there podcasts that people enjoy? Do folks use the usual news outlets? Are people tuning into news from other countries? Is there a reason why people do that? Do you read newspapers? How much of a role does National Public Radio play in your information gathering...

Whether we like it or not, all of us have to buy things. We get groceries, food deliveries, stuff from Amazon and lots of other online places. We watch and buy from TV channels. Many of us actually venture out into the community to stores where we buy things! How do all these methods work for us? Has online shopping gotten easier or harder? Has covid changed the way we shop forever or are we going...

Tuesday Topics will explore voting. This time we are not looking at ACB elections but are instead interested in looking at registration and actual casting of ballots for primaries and the general election coming up all too soon. There appears to be a good deal of disagreement concerning which presidential candidate will be best for our country. I hope there is no disagreement about how important i...

There were still a few hands on Tuesday and I received a couple of messages indicating that folks had more to say about the convention. So we will do one more program about the ACB meeting. We will focus on what we might want to change. How did folks feel about elections? What other changes would we like to see! We will be in Dallas next year! Are there elements you would like to see included ther...

Talk with us about the convention that has just ended on Tuesday Topics tonight!