Lois Strachan

** My new Kindle book, Paws for Thought (second edition) is now available. Get your copy at https://www.amazon.com/Paws-Thought-second-Seeing-Through-ebook/dp/B0DRTJF95G/ In today’s episode, Lois chats with low vision travel coach Linsay Lusyne about her work helping those from the blind and visually impaired(BVI) community who wish to become more confident travellers. Drawing on her experience as...

** My new Kindle book, Paws for Thought (second edition) is now available. Get your copy at https://www.amazon.com/Paws-Thought-second-Seeing-Through-ebook/dp/B0DRTJF95G/ In today’s episode, Lois chats with Mayet Banos (she/her). Mayet is a business owner and founder of Vision Creative Adventure, an organisation in which she helps people shift their bold ideas into great achievements. Mayet receiv...

** My new book, Paws for Thought (second edition) is now available. Get your copy at https://www.amazon.com/Paws-Thought-second-Seeing-Through-ebook/dp/B0DRTJF95G/ In today’s episode, Lois chats with low vision consultant, Jennifer Webster. Jennifer shares a little of her own story of growing up with low vision. She talks about the challenges of adapting to the education system and the techniques...

** My new book, Paws for Thought (second edition) is now available for pre-order. Get your copy at https://www.amazon.com/Paws-Thought-second-Seeing-Through-ebook/dp/B0DRTJF95G/ In today’s episode, Lois returns to the fun topic of the training of guide dogs, this time focusing on the crucial early months of the dogs’ life before they start formal training. She talks with two puppy raisers, Tania R...

** Interested in being an advance reader of my latest book? Contact me on https://www.loisstrachan.com/contact-lois/ In today’s episode, Lois and Jeremy Opperman have a conversation about books that represent characters with disabilities. This is the first in a series on specific books that represent various disabilities, though this is a general introduction of the concept and what we will be dis...

** Interested in being an advance reader of my latest book? Contact me on https://www.loisstrachan.com/contact-lois/ In today’s episode, Lois speaks with Cheryl Robertson, who is a trainer at the South African Guide-Dogs Association for the Blind. Cheryl outlines the process used to train guide dogs and explains how they are matched with their human partners. She also talks about the process to ap...

In today’s episode, Lois speaks with Adrijana Prokopenko, who lives in North Macedonia and works as a teacher for blind children. Adrijana explains the training she received as an educator and outlines some of the logistical challenges she faces as a woman with a disability in North Macedonia. As a developing country, North Macedonia faces challenges of lack of resources, poor levels of social inc...

**Find more about Lois’s memoir at https://www.loisstrachan.com/books-and-author-support/#acc-content In today’s episode, Lois speaks with Mitch Kidd about their life as a transgender blind individual. Mitch and Lois discuss some of the unique challenges faced by people living with this intersectionality and solutions to enhance inclusion of all individuals Mitch talks openly about their realizati...

**Find more about Lois’s memoir at https://www.loisstrachan.com/books-and-author-support/#acc-content In today’s episode, Lois speaks with Notukela Makohliso, a woman who fulfils many roles. She is a mother, a politician, a social justice activist, a writer, a storyteller, and speaker. She is a woman who draws much inspiration from her faith. Notukela is also the founder of the NFI, the Notukela F...

**Find Lois’s music on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/album/5FoQ00woRkMAtb7j3EZJWa?si=bgviicb8SGu78Srva8JAUg&nd=1 In today’s episode, Lois speaks with visual artist Aerin Dyason, the youngest guest to feature on the show so far. Aerin was diagnosed with retinal dystrophy as a young child. Aerin describes the challenges she faced as a partially sighted learner in mainstream schooling in South...

**Find Lois’s music on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/album/5FoQ00woRkMAtb7j3EZJWa?si=bgviicb8SGu78Srva8JAUg&nd=1 In today’s episode, Lois speaks with content creator, Lethabo Segudla, from the Zollyhood Universe platform. Lethabo, who is visually impaired and has epilepsy, is the social media manager for Zollyhood Universe, a platform that showcases the talents of youth living with blindness...

In today’s episode, Lois speaks with fellow podcaster, Lenard Gros, from the show The Disabled Life. Lenard talks about his life and show, and the accommodations that enable him to produce the podcast and volunteer while living with cerebral palsy and dyslexia. He also discusses a few of the inclusion barriers he has faced as a result of society’s expectations of people living with a disability. R...

In today’s episode of the Job Talk series, Lois talks with Elizabeth Sammons about simultaneous interpreting as a possible career choice for persons with disabilities with a passion for languages. Elizabeth discusses possible training and techniques to practice the skill of simultaneous interpreting, and discusses her own experience interpreting both formally and informally. As a speaker of multip...

In today’s episode, Lois speaks with Confidence Coach, Chris Mitchell. Chris talks about what it was like growing up with an incomplete spinal cord injury, a visual impairment and ADHD. He also discusses his work, the certification he achieved to become a coach, and how he uses his coaching to help others in the disability community, who often struggle with self-doubt and lack of confidence. Chris...

**Content Warning: this episode contains references to sexual abuse and domestic violence. If these topics may trigger you, please skip the episode. In today’s episode, Lois speaks with Juri Love, a multi-talented woman, about what it is like living with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a result of childhood trauma. A survivor of sexual abuse, domestic violence and homelessness, Juri’s sto...

**Set up a free 30 minute coaching discovery call with Lois on https://www.loisstrachan.com/contact-lois/ In today’s episode, Lois speaks with Abida Mahomed about her work as a database administrator (DBA) using the Oracle platform. This is the latest episode of the Job Talk series, focusing on people with disabilities working in mainstream employment. Despite studying for a career in social work,...

**Set up a free 30 minute coaching discovery call with Lois on https://www.loisstrachan.com/contact-lois/ In today’s episode, Lois speaks with Aaron Richmond, host and creator of the Aaron’s Opinion Podcast. His show discusses critical issues in the blindness community and other issues from across the universe and galaxy. It can be heard wherever you download a podcast. To join the Aaron’s Opinion...

In today’s episode, Lois speaks with Ghofran Alyass about her life and how she navigated the educational system as a person with a disability living in Canada. Ghofran was born in Iraq at a time of war, when obtaining medical supplies and accurate medical advice was a challenge. Her parents managed to care for a child with spinal bifida for ten years, until she was able to travel to the USA for li...

In today’s episode Lois speaks with the team responsible for devising and implementing a groundbreaking project to train certify and employ drone pilots with disabilities in South Africa. The team comprised Dean Conde, Elmarie Cronje, Kim James, and Venetia van Wyk, as well as the drone pilot participants Ferdi van Eerden and Sandile Mkhize. During the conversation we looked at how the project was...

In today’s episode, Lois speaks with Mitch Creedy, a digital accessibility consultant from Canada. Mitch talks about their background in digital accessibility, and the training they received through the Blind Institute of Technology, also called the BIT Academy. They also refer to the WCAG, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, as a tool that can be used by web developers wishing to make their...

In today’s episode, Lois speaks with Nick Smit, who works as an educator in Johannesburg. With Nick having a strong background in disability awareness and accessibility through his work with the organisation, Smergos, they discuss the accessibility of the teaching profession, both of his teacher training and in his work experience. They chat about how Nick, who did not consider maths to be a stron...

In today’s episode, Lois speaks with Vhutshilo Masibigiri, founder of Diversity SA, a South African company working in the diversity, equity and inclusion space. During the conversation, Lois and Vee discuss the reason that disability seldom enters the DEI conversation in South Africa, the work Vee is doing to raise awareness about disability and empower people living with disabilities. As an HR a...

In today’s episode, Lois speaks with Shakila Maharaj, managing director at ShazaCin Accessible Media, about making the visual world accessible through the use of audio description. We chat what audio description is and who, beyond the blindness community, is using audio description, as well as digging into some of the more technical aspects including the use of AI in audio description, the various...

In today’s episode of Job Talk, Lois speaks with rare warrior, Kerry Walsh, about the upcoming launch of her new book “Finding My Feet: A Rare Warrior’s Journey Through SMA and the Unknown”. During the interview, we chat about the book – why Kerry wrote it, some of the central themes and touch on her lived experience with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Kerry also shares the details of the book lau...

In today’s episode of Job Talk, Lois speaks with Tyron Harding about his career as a data analyst. Tyron outlines the skills he believes make a good analyst, the training he undertook, and the type of work he does within the scope of his job. During the conversation, Lois and Tyron discuss his previous careers, both before and following the home invasion-related incident that resulted in his becom...