Tuesday Topics

I hope that everyone was able to attend the Gala on Tuesday. Now Topics is back and we are once again seeking your help to explore how blind people and folks with partial vision do with holidays. When you go home, how are you treated? How do siblings feel about having a blind relative? Is it easy to help when you go home? How are things when you host Thanksgiving or Christmas events? What can we d...

One of the most important issues facing members of the American Council of the Blind is employment. The ACB has an "Employment Committee" which is concerned with working to consider and develop policies and programs that will increase the likelihood of assuring that people who are blind or have low vision can finds jobs and careers. We will have members of the Employment Committee as our...

Last year the American Council of the Blind with the leadership of its Audio Description Project (ADP) held the first annual Audio Description Gala. Now we are approaching the date of the second annual Gala. It's bigger and better this year! What is it? Who's involved? How can you participate? Join us on November 15 at 7 PM Eastern time on ACB Media One to find out the answers to all these questio...

What is the impact of advertising on people who are blind? How has the inclusion of a few blind people in ads changed things? How do people with some vision fare in ads. During this hour we will explore just how much we are viewed as consumers or objects of political correctness. During the second hour we will consider mentoring. One of the more exciting new projects unveiled during our convention...

How do folks who are blind or have low vision remember Halloween? Did we trick or treat as kids? Did we take our kids trick or treating? Do we decorate our house and give out candy? Do we prefer Halloween parties held at schools or clubs? In general, we would like a snapshot of how Halloween happens for our folks! Tell us about your memories of Halloweens past and what you like or do not like abou...

We will discuss together where we stand with regard to how we feel about how those who are blind or low vision are portrayed in the movies and on television. We will also consider who and how the media cover the activities that we take part in. What do you think of the "super blind"? Are they "inspiring" or do they mislead the public? What do such stories do to the expectations...

We will explore together where we stand with regard to accessible voting as we approach the mid-term elections. Are there new things to celebrate? Are there basic issues that still need to be worked on? How valuable is accessible email voting without return? How can we work to make return happen and what advantages do the military offer us? Voting machines operate. How is early voting operating in...

Sometimes it's fun to take risks! Tuesday Topics has quite a few regular participants. While we have asked people for suggestions, my email has been notably devoid of messages about this! However, I think it might be fun to devote some of Tuesday Topics to an opportunity for folks to raise issues they think we should discuss! I am therefore urging folks to consider a topic they believe warrants so...

We will once more tackle two topics which are connected. We will begin by looking at "blind jokes" or humor concerning people who are blind. We will, unfortunately, have to include some examples to make our points clear. Is it okay for blind people to tell "blind jokes"? What is objectionable about them, if anything? How should we handle being told such jokes by others? Should...

We are once again going to tackle two topics! We thought it might be interesting to talk about an issue that is not blindness-related. It may be a little scary for us to discuss this topic but we want to know if we are creating holidays or, I suppose, special days that focus too much on specific issues of particular groups. So, juneteenth, Martin Luther King Day, Jewish holidays, Christmas, Easter...

In Florida, as a part of the the Florida Council of the Blind, we have a special interest affiliate called the Council for the Concerns of the Totally Blind. In Florida and, of course, throughout the country there are chapters of and a national organization championing the issues of people with low vision. This organization is, of course, Council of Citizens with Low Vision (CCLVI). Do we need an...

Last week, as usual, we bit off more than we could chew. Essentially, we did not have the opportunity to discuss Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Section 8 housing and homelessness. These are all components that impact people who are blind or have low vision. We hope that some of you who have dealt with subsidized housing will call in and tell us about your experiences. Many of us qualify for...

People with disabilities are among the population with the least disposable income. hat means, among other things, that many people who are blind or have low vision have very limited choices where housing is concerned. Despite this, like many of our non-disabled peers, we want to own our own homes. What are the barriers that particularly apply. As a person who has just sold and bought a house, I a...

Right at the end of Tuesday Topics there was a brief discussion of audio description. It has been a while since Tuesday Topics has spent some time talking about this most powerful equalizer for people who are blind. During our discussion there were a couple of questions that came up. First, do descriptions actually describe what is most important? Second, how different would different audio descri...

For a third week in a row, Tuesday Topics found itself completing only part of what was planned. We heard lots of fascinating stories of how people became blind and how folks felt about whether they would want to see again! So, what about next week? We will look at research as we were supposed to this week. In particular, we want to know what kind of research should we support? There are efforts t...

Last week Tuesday Topics was supposed to look at two issues. As has often happened in the past with this presentation, we never got to our second issue. Instead we ranged from a discussion of the impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act and its consequences to even broader questions like "how do you %decide what changes you really want to make in the law and how much detail is needed? Th...

I received a couple of chides from faithful listeners who expressed dismay and chagrin that we did not cover the ADA on its anniversary. Had I thought of it, it might have happened. The 26th for me is my son's birthday and since he is not a girl I could not name him "Ada". I don't think it matters that our discussion is a week later than the anniversary. The law and its value, unlike the...

Paul Edwards and Brian Charlson will begin a discussion that we fervently hope our listeners will help us continue. It is on a subject that may make some of you uncomfortable. ACB is an organization of people who are blind but it is also an organization of just plain people. Some of these folks are conservative and some are liberal. Some come from the South of this country while some are from the...

It has been too long since our last Tuesday Topics program appeared for your delectation. However, we are back. My producers Rick Morin and Larry Gassmann are ready to go and my new co-host and i can hardly wait to once more foster good conversation and the exchange of ideas. I am overjoyed to let everyone know that, from now on, Brian Charlson is my co-host for TT. We were partners in the past an...

This is, of course, not the only time the committee will meet. Open meetings will happen on Tuesdays and Thursdays and those resolutions up for discussion will be described. On this show we will deal with a situation on the Resolutions Committee that I have never seen before. By the way, I am saying "we" because I am a member of the committee. What I have not seen before are two resoluti...

I am honored to have as my guest Michael Faire who has just released the second edition of his huge, free book that begins to be about the iphone but turns out to be about so many other things. We will talk about why he wrote the book in the first place. We will explore what is new about the second edition and, of course, we will talk about accessible games. Michael edited the magazine of accessib...

Tech Tips on Tuesday Topics. For the last few Tuesday Topics we have dealt with some fairly heavy topics. I thought it might be fun to share new things on this next show. How I spend my days as someone who is retired involves the use of a variety of technologies. I spend a good deal of time with baseball, lots of time with music, some time with podcasts, some time watching TV Find out more at http...

For the last six decades there has been debate about whether there is such a thing as "disability culture". There has also, by extension, been a serious question as to whether such a thing as blindness culture exists. Most people would accept that there is "deaf culture". Many would accept that there is such a thing as "black culture", "women's culture" and...

# How ought one to choose a person with whom you wish to have a long-term relationship? We have lots of instances of partnerships between people who are blind and people who are fully sighted. We also have partnerships between two folks who are blind. Is there a difference? Does a relationship between two people who are blind work better? Does a relationship between blind and sighted people work b...

Tuesday Topics will continue a tradition we began last year. We explored last year just how ACB was going to vote during a totally digital convention. This year we are dealing with a different animal in that our convention in Omaha Nebraska will be a "hybrid convention". In other words, we have to meet the needs of those folks who are at home and do not choose to attend our ACB meetings...