Blind Abilities

In this 2nd episode of Wellness Wednesday, Beth Gustin, LPC and Robin Ennis, LCSW, CPC, talk about General  Anxiety Disorder (GAD), what it may be and some practical coping strategies one can try. Following our last episode on Social Anxiety, Beth and Robin define and explain the difference between Social and General Anxiety and offer some strategies for coping with General Anxiety Disorder.   Ful...

Jenine Stanley joins Pete and Jeff in the Blind Abilities Studio to break the news that the Aira Explorer App is now on the BlindShell Classic 2 accessible Cell Phone. Listen in as Jenine demonstrates the BlindShell navigation, the voice and of course Aira Explorer being right in the menu. With all tactile buttons, the BlindShell Classic 2 is becoming the tactile button accessible cell phone we th...

Thanks to Greg for sending me a message when he heard the App Store demo I did on the Tech Abilities show where I navigated the cumbersome App Store table. With this tip of using Command plus 1 through 8, one can jump from section to section. So thanks Greg! If you have any feedback or suggestions, give us a call at 612-554-2530, we would love to hear from you. You can email us at info@BlindAbilit...

In this Tech Abilities episode Serina, Callie and Jeff welcome Seyoon Choi to the show. He is working on his major and undergrad simultaneously While playing Blind Hockey and working at the local fruit store. From Kardashian Beats Fit Pros, to NVDA at Texas State, Demos on the Audio Graphs in the iPhone and the Mac App Store navigation. That's just for beginners! We also dive into Fully Autonomous...

The Sassy Bloggers, @BlindBroad and @BayAreaBlindMom, joined Jeff Thompson in the Blind Abilities Studio for an awesome half hour of laughs, divulgence, awareness and what they do living the life they want. Lisamaria Martinez is a Confidence Coach with a focus on women in the workplace, moms and even those with cats. She has worked in the non-profits surrounding the Blindness World and decided to...

In this episode of Wellness Wednesday, Beth Gustin, LPC and Robin Ennis, LCSW, CPC, talk about Social Anxiety, what it may be and some practical coping tips one can try.   Show Hosts:             Robin Ennis on the web at www.robinennislcsw.com             Beth Gustin, LPC, NCC, EMDRIA Approved Consultant, CAGCS, PLGS             Www.transitioningthroughchange.com   You can message Beth and Robin...

In this brief episode from Blind Abilities, Jeff Thompson takes a look at the Sony WH- 1000XM4 Noise Canceling, Dual Pairing, Alexa ready Headphones he bought during the Amazon Prime Day sale.  Right now you can get them refurbished for massive discounts as well. Jeff gives an overview of the Blind Abilities Podcast and where they are and what you can find in the Blind Abilities 880 plus episodes....

Blind Abilities expands its  iPhone101 Series  with a  follow up episode on a topic which they previously touched upon, but this time they do a "deeper dive". In November of 2021, Pete Lane described the iOS Control Center, and in that review, touched on the iOS screen recording feature. This time, Pete has circled back to cover  this feature, but in far greater detail. In this episode: Pete takes...

Aaron Spelker is a Mobile Game enthusiast  and writer. Aaron joins Jeff Thompson in the Blind Abilities Studio to share the resources he has created and the articles he has published as well as a novel. Aaron lost his sight suddenly and picked up the pieces by learning JAWS and has not looked back. His passion for gaming led him down a dead end street so he decided to build his own platform across...

In this Job Insights episode, Serina Gilbert and jeff Thompson welcome Sarlie Drakos to the Job Insights Team. We are excited to have Sarlie on our team and excited to bring back the Job Insights show after a 2 year hiatus during the pandemic. In this episode of Job Insights we will talk about how accepting ones Blindness, job readiness and confidence can play an important role in one's job and ca...

Thinkerbell Labs CPO, Shivam Agarwal, joins Simon Bonenfant in the Exhibit Hall to talk about Polly , the new Braille device that makes learning Braille fun!  Polly is an electronic Wi-Fi enabled device that will assist users in learning and reinforcing braille concepts. With many components for both input and output, Polly can provide practice and gamify the braille learning process for students....

our guests in this episode Come to us from BlindShell USA and are here to talk about the latest update to the BlindShell Accessible Cell Phone Classic 2. Bari Azman, President and CEO, and Diane Ducharme, Senior Program Director join Jeff and Pete to explore the latest iteration of this smart phone, the original of which intrigued many blind and visually impaired individuals due to its practical s...

Christy Pruitt-Haynes joins Jeff Thompson in the Blind Abilities Studio to announce her new book, "I Have to Pay for This $H!T?" Pre-orders are open and the book is officially being released on August 2nd, 2022. This is Christy's first family focused book and after meeting her, I am looking forward to reading this book about the excitement and emotions of becoming an Empty Nester as her daughter l...

Serina, Callie and Jeff cool down in the Blind Abilities Studio and dive into Clusiv, PC/Mac, Google Workspace, Fruit Freshness and expiration dates. Twitter's Alt Text reminder launched and a lot more Tech Tidbits and news from around the scorching planet Earth. Hopefully, you are staying cool and enjoying this latest episode of Tech Abilities. Here is a list of some of the topics and links menti...

The Team from Magnifying America which makes the Patriot brand of AT products joined Simon Bonenfant outside the Exhibit Hall at the NFB2022 Convention.  John Palmer, President and Founder of Patriot Vision Industries, along with  his team give us an overview of the new OCR Scanner, the LyriQ Assistive Reader. This is a camera operated flat folding device that is portable, fast and accurate. Withi...

Lukas Simianer joins Simon Bonenfant in the Blind Abilities Studio to introduce us to Clusiv, an all-new platform for learning the skills needed for new employment. Learn about the extensive courses that were built to  enhance your opportunities for employment and help build your skill set for a lifetime of rewards.  We have not experienced Clusiv or it's program but listening to Lukas makes us wo...

Announcing the 2022 in-person Atlantic Seminar! Reflect, Reequip, Reimagine: Raising the Bar for Blind Students! The  National Association of Blind Students  (NABS) and the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland invite you to the 2022 Atlantic regional seminar, a fun-filled weekend brimming with opportunities for professional growth, confidence building, and mentorship from Friday, August 12...

Sarlie Drakos is a Disability Employment Coach helping people around the world reach their employment goals. Not just finding them any job, but teaching them how they can pursue their dream job.   Sarlie has experienced losing a job through sight loss, and the limited expectations people around her put onto her resulted in her becoming a passionate advocate for people with disabilities and fightin...

Serina, Callie and jeff dig into some news and tech tidbits that have been getting a lot of attention. Callie delves into the Guide Dog dream and is mobility going to be the ice breaker? How about Blind Pride, hmmm, to each at their own time probably, We got a lot of topics through out this episode and some really good tips on copying text and arranging your rotor actions for efficiency. Here are...

Our guest today on Blind Abilities is Ricky McKinnie. Ricky is a longtime member of the iconic gospel singing group, The Blind Boys of Alabama. Winners of five Grammy awards and the coveted Lifetime Achievement Award. They have also been inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, and performed at the White House for three different presidents   The Blind Boys of Alabama have the rare distinction...

Aira Director of Communications, Jenine Stanley, joined Jeff Thompson in the Blind Abilities Studio and hits us up with some news breaking announcements. Aira Everywhere starts out with Aira for the Desktop. Now Aira will be available on the Mac, PC and on the iPad as a web based app where you can be hands free and use Team Viewer, Google Remote and much more. This will be open to a limited Public...

Serina, Callie and Jeff, dive deep into the pool of news stemming from Uber, Lyft, Microsoft, and you can check out the links and topics below. The TA Team take a journey into their Vocational Rehab experience and explain how VR impacted their destiny and how it is differed a bit for each of us. When an iPhone drops into an outhouse or even a toilet, there seems to be an urgency beyond our reach....

Jeff Thompson is joined  in the studio by Brandon Biggs, inclusive designer and Engineer with The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute (SKI), the foremost organization for vision research in the U. s. and Christopher Toth, an Applications Engineer. Audiom is the solution for "glancability" of a map to give an idea of location of objects, places and relationships to each other as a map does for...

Do you get that feeling of urgency to upgrade to a new iPhone every time a new one comes along? I have and I am finally coming to terms with waiting and making the best out of what I already have, own and utilize perfectly well. I have upgraded on the Apple Upgrade Plan, did the 2 year upgrade cycle, and today I am going to keep my iPhone 12 Pro Max another year and I will tell you why and how I a...

Tech Abilities: Pump It Up! iOS16 Beta Surprises or I Thought We Had That? Amazoning, Intersection Crossing, Pop Culture, Tech Tidbits and News with a Blindness Perspective   Serina, Callie and Jeff kind of sorta in a way talk about that WWDC event from Apple, but same as it ever was, same as it ever was, these Talking Heads jump the tracks and yes, they do find there way back through the weeds an...