AT Banter Podcast

This week we’re sitting down with a discussion about the importance of inclusivity with President and CEO of the Vancouver International Airport, Tamara Vrooman. Tamara has been a long-time advocate for inclusive hiring practices for years and sits on the board of the Rick Hansen Foundation as well and is an active member of the President’s Group, a network of 25 BC business leaders working for mo...

Indoor navigation and fully accessible public spaces has long been a dream, and this week we’re talking to a couple guys that might be looking at making that dream come true. Jose Gaztambide and Mike May from GoodMaps join Rob, Ryan and Steve this week to talk about their app and the state of the art positioning technology used in order to quickly and accurately map spaces and turn that data in an...

We have been talking about Digital Accessibility so much over the past few months, we decided it was high time to have a whole show dedicated to it! The boys welcome Kathy Wahlbin from the Paciello Group into the Anti-Zoom Gloom Room to discuss not only its importance but just what the term “accessible” means from a technical standpoint and how digital services are evaluated. Oh, and Ryan goes off...

Something a little different this week! We wanted to do something special to celebrate International Podcast Day, so Steve came up with the idea of a News Show that breaks from the usual format of Assistive Technology. These days it's hard to not get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of bad news that fills our days, so we're fighting back with a little something we call The Good News Show -- nothing...

Another big show this week as Rob, Ryan, and Steve welcome Alexander Hauerslev Jensen and Will Butler from the ever popular app Be My Eyes, which connects blind and low-vision individuals with sighted volunteers and companies from all over the world through a live video call. Show Notes Be My Eyes https://www.bemyeyes.com/ AT Banter is brought to you by Canadian Assistive Technology, providing sal...

Steve is finally back from who knows where (we have trouble getting a straight answer out of him) just in time to welcome Cagri Zaman from Migrate, makers of Supersense AI, to the show. We talk all about their scanning app for the visually impaired, Supersense, as well as the augmented reality and artificial intelligence technology that power it.  Come for the geeky acronyms but stay for the drawi...

What happens when you fill the Anti-Gloom Zoom Room full of four podcasters with a passion for accessibility and assistive technology? Find out this week as Rob and Ryan welcome Steven Scott from Double Tab TV and his co-host from the Double Tap Canada Podcast, Shaun Preece. The boys discuss a few new bits of technology including the Vivzone Bone Conduction Face Mask and Bose Rondo Frames and even...

Get those 20 sided die ready to roll (and if you understand that reference, you get a +3 to your nerd cred), this week Rob and Ryan and getting geeky with guest Jim O’Donnell, creator of the website Knights of the Braille. Knights of the Braille is a community of role players who also include players who are blind or partially sighted who have also taken it on themselves to help provide accessible...

It’s a big show this week as Rob, Ryan, and Steve welcome Shelly Brisbin to the Anti-Gloom Zoom Room. Shelly is an author, podcaster, producer, and blogger who has been writing about accessibility and Assistive Technology since the early  2000s and her book, iOS Access for All, is one of the most comprehensive resources around outlining iOS accessibility features. We chat with her from everything...

Its’ a veritable geek fest this week in the Anti-Zoom Gloom Room as Rob and Ryan are joined by special guest host Mike Feir as they welcome Thaddeus from Ebon Sky Studios, an indie game developer that is actively working on creating audio games for the blind. Show Notes Ebon Sky Studios https://ebonskystudios.com/ Ebon Sky Studios on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ebonskystudios/ Michael Feir’s...

This week we talk to Envision’s Chief Engineer Karthik Kannan about their soon-to-ship Smart Glasses and vision aid, the Envision Glasses. We discuss what these AI-powered glasses can do, the development challenges and speculate about what lies ahead for the mainstream Smart Glasses market. Show Notes Envision Glasses https://www.letsenvision.com/glasses Envision App https://www.letsenvision.com/...

This week the show takes on some much needed youthful energy as the boys welcome Emilee and Hannah Schevers to the Anti-Gloom Zoom Room to talk about Tru Faces , a community for individuals with disabilities that they’ve built across several social media platforms. The girls share their upbringing and how it help shaped their positive attitudes as well as their mission behind Tru Faces and what th...

This week the boys welcome Josh Summers and Melina Nathanail from National Captioning Canada into the Anti-Gloom Zoom Room to discuss .. you guessed it, captioning! Captioning has been around for so long that it’s hard not to take it for granted, so we dive into some of the history behind it and look at the process of how much of the captioning of content we see is produced. Show Notes National Ca...

It’s crowded to capacity this week in our Anti-Gloom Zoom Room as the boys welcome Shawn Marsolais, Executive Director of Blind Beginnings back to the show to talk about the organization’s new podcasting project– but this time she isn’t alone! Keisha, Clement, and Nika are all co-hosts of the new Limitless Podcast and together they tell us about why they started the podcast, what makes it importan...

No one knows the importance of Assistive Technology in the workplace better than our guest this week, Nate Toevs from the Neil Squire Society. Nate visits us in the Anti-Gloom Zoom Room to tell us all about the Neil Squire Society and its mission of assisting people with disabilities develop the skills and training needed to enter the workforce.   Show Notes Neil Squire Society https://www.neilsqu...

It's a party! Not only are we celebrating Canada Day this week in the Anti-Gloom Zoom Room, but Ryan, Rob, and Steve also raise a glass and talk to Albert Ruel, Get Together With Technology Coordinator for the Canadian Council of the Blind, who is officially retiring. We talk about his career as an employee of the CNIB and CCB as well as aspects of technology and even how he initially lost his sig...

We celebrate our 200th episode by welcoming back one of our old friends of the show, Diane Johnson Head of the Descriptive Video Works Studio. It’s hard to believe it’s been 4 years since she’s been on, but we manage a refresher course on the importance of Audio Description and get an idea of how much has changed in the industry and who is leading the charge in terms of audio described content. Sh...

The Anti-Gloom Zoom Room is opened up once again this week and Rob, Steve and Ryan welcome in Mike Calvo, long time Assistive Technology veteran and CEO of Pneuma Solutions to talk all about the importance of accessible documents and what Pneuma Solutions is doing to help. Show Notes Pneuma Solutions https://pneumasolutions.com/ Scribe Remediation https://pneumasolutions.com/products/scribe/ AT Ba...

Ryan, Steve and Rob go international this week as they welcome Michelle Woods, Director of Copyright Law Division at the World Intellectual Property Organization into the Anti-Gloom Zoom Room to help break down the Marrakesh Treaty and what it means for the production and distribution of accessible books worldwide.   Show Notes World Intellectual Property Organization https://www.wipo.int/portal/e...

Ryan, Steve and Rob celebrate National Accessibility week in the Anti-Gloom Zoom Room by inviting in Len Baker, president of March of Dimes Canada, one of the oldest and largest charities in Canada that advocates for people with disabilities, to talk about what the organization mission and how it has dealt with the current COVID crisis. Show Notes March of Dimes Canada https:// www.marchofdimes.ca...

This week Rob, Steve, and Ryan welcome Steven Scott, host of the Double Tap Canada Podcast and Double Tap TV, into our little corner of the Internet, the Anti-Gloom Zoom Room. Show Notes Double Tap TV https://www.ami.ca/DoubleTap AT Banter is brought to you by Canadian Assistive Technology, providing sales and training in Assistive Technology and Accessibility with over 30 years of knowledge and e...

Rick, Rob, Steve and Rick once again assemble virtually in the Anti-Gloom Zoom Room to welcome Tyson Rettie, recently diagnosed with Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy, to the show. Tyson gives us an overview of what it’s been like since diagnosis and how his vision loss has impacted his passion, back country skiing.    Show Notes IBM’s new open-source tool helps developers make their apps more a...

Can you believe it’s been 4 years of this?? Rob, Ryan, Steve, and Rick all band together in the Anti-Gloom Zoom Room to celebrate the podcast’s 4th Anniversary and announce some show news as well as some actual news before .. well, we won’t spoil it.   Show Notes Disabled Ontarians are being denied access to assisted devices during the pandemic https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2020/05/...

Rob and Steve welcome their first official guest into the Anti-Gloom Zoom Room this week! Shawn Marsolais, Founder and Executive Director of Blind Beginnings, joins them to discuss how the organization has adjusted its programs in response to the COVID-19 crisis and the implications going forward. Show Notes Blind Beginnings http://www.blindbeginnings.ca “Changing Our World” Blind Beginnings Video...

Quarantine has may be taking its toll on the boys as they gather together in our Anti-Gloom Zoom Room to record a marathon session of bad jokes in order to fight back against all the bad news that many of us are bombarded with on a daily basis. Enjoy this special episode of silliness as we prepare for getting things back to normal for next week’s show! AT Banter is brought to you by Canadian Assis...