Tuesday Topics

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!

More than half of the people who are blind in this country are over the age of 55. For many seniors with vision loss, the only funding that is available for service delivery comes from a source which has not seen an increase in funding for two decades and is estimated to meet only 3 percent of the resource needs. Services to seniors without vision loss are provided under the Older Americans Act. T...

We spend lots of time talking about people who are blind and include everyone who has a vision problem. We don't usually distinguish between people who have no vision and people who have some. This week we want to invite folks with low vision or better than low vision to join us and tell us what it’s like when you can’t completely see but you aren’t completely blind either. Find out more at https:...

This week we are going to explore a word we hear a lot but what does it actually mean. That word is advocacy! How does it apply to people who are blind? What are issues we should be advocating for these days? Are there issues we should not be advocating for these days? How should we approach advocacy for an issue? We will identify one in the first hour and spend part of the second hour deciding ho...

This time we are going to spend some time exploring relationships. There is a good deal of controversy as to whether relationships work best if both parties are blind or if one of the two folks involved can see! What do you think! Where do people who have partial vision fit in? Is a relationship between a blind person and a person with partial vision the best of all? It's not good enough for you t...

In many respects, we are the most fortunate generation ever. We have access to more information than we can possibly use and we are at the beginning of a revolution that will make the data we can acquire now seem infinitely tiny and paltry. Before you turn away in disgust, this is not another exploration of AI though we are more than a year since we last spent time on it and lots has changed. It i...

It is common for Tuesday Topics to start something we don't finish and our last program was no exception. We were able to define many issues, provide some hypotheses for why they happen and confirm that some things need to be done. However, we did not get to the place where we could finalize actions that can be taken or decide for, sure if actions should be taken. So our program next week will exp...

Last week we asked you to come up with topics we could consider for future programs. I have to say that the participation of our regular listeners was just a mite limited. Let me thank those who were there and who participated in our show. Brian Charlson actually came up with the idea for our next Topic and I think it is an interesting one. Initially, the topic emerged because Brian was concerned...

You are crucial for Tuesday Topics tonight! Usually by Wednesday mornings our podcast is available from your usual sources. So far this year our crew has tackled serious subjects like history, employment, awards and leadership building. We all decided two things after the show this week. First we decided that we would take a break from earthshaking matters of moment and focus instead on you! What...

We will be exploring two topics that are related. We will finally complete our history of the relationship between ACB and NFB and then we will begin to explore what the philosophy of ACB is and how we can make it better known. A former President of ACB and a former Federationist, Mitch Pomerantz, will join us as a panelist. How have the changes we have observed in the Presidents of the NFB impact...

Earlier this year Tuesday Topics did a program on the history of blind advocacy. As is very common on our show, we did not finish. We got past the formation of the American Council of the Blind but that still leave us with over half a century to cover. Sheltered workshops, NAC, the ADA, the independent living movement, affiliate rights and responsibilities, the growth of special interest affiliate...

Remember to join Tuesday Topics as we explore how ACB encourages new leaders! More than that there is a mentoring program which is now in its second year of operation. I was a part of the first year and I look forward to guests who will tell us how year two is going. Tuesday Topics hopes that former fellows, first timers and some of the cohort of the first year of the mentoring program will come a...

This may be one of the most significant Tuesday Topics in our history. We will once more welcome guests from our ACB Employment Committee and will extend invitations to two other people who may or may not join us. I will tell you as this message proceeds who they are. Two components of our program will involve looking at data that the Employment Committee has put together from a recent survey. Sec...