# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
E.K.

601 Following

133K Followers

2.2M Likes

BIZ: whatsgoodenglish@gmail.com Venmo: @JustEK Cash App: $whatsgoodenglish

linktr.ee/WhatsGoodEnglish

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
E.K. (@whatsgoodenglish) TikTok | Watch E.K.'s Newest TikTok Videos

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
E.K. (@whatsgoodenglish) on TikTok | 2.2M Likes. 133K Fans. BIZ: whatsgoodenglish@gmail.com Venmo: @JustEK Cash App: $whatsgoodenglish

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
ronnie braithwaite
documentary filmmaker

ART

BIO & CONTACT

More

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ronnie Braithwaite (he/they) is a Black American documentary filmmaker born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Change begins here.

We help you dismantle perpetuating systems of inequity.

How Do You Envision Equity?

We are experiencing something very different than we've seen before.

A national spotlight shines brightly on deeply ingrained inequities, police brutality and systemic racism.

Step up and do the right thing to envision equity, put it into action and create lasting change.

Is Your Organization…

Courageous and daring to act on your core values and beliefs?

More committed to the work than you are about seeming perfect?

Comfortable being uncomfortable and willing to let discomfort move your team into action?

If So, Let’s Work Together.

Envisioning Equity can help you re-envision your organization as one that’s committed to racial equity, diversity and inclusion.

Our Services

Assessments

Assessments are powerful leadership tools to uncover, recognize and change inequities that are internal to your organization.

Consulting

There’s no one-size-fits-all. We work with you to fully customize our work in response to the needs, dynamics, hopes and fears of your organization.

Equity Action Plan

Our strategic and comprehensive Equity Action Plan puts a theory of change into action to achieve a shared vision for equity across your organization.

Training & Facilitation

Our training and facilitation rely on a proven framework, experiential learning and relationship building to create brave space that allows you to be a force for change.

Our Partners in Envisioning Equity

Testimonials

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Our strategic and comprehensive Equity Action Plan puts a theory of change into action to achieve a shared vision for equity across your organization.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
👑 Kween werK 👑

9978 Following

210.4K Followers

3.9M Likes

Activist | Environmentalist | Artist Patreon, Cashapp, Venmo @kweenwerk

tap.bio/@kweenwerk

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
👑 Kween werK 👑 (@kweenwerk) TikTok | Watch 👑 Kween werK 👑's Newest TikTok Videos

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
👑 Kween werK 👑 (@kweenwerk) on TikTok | 3.9M Likes. 210.4K Fans. Activist | Environmentalist | Artist Patreon, Cashapp, Venmo @kweenwerk

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Light Thief Productions - YouTube

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
production film television theatre "live event"

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Independent Philadelphia based Production company providing digital event, news, and live event services

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Brian 'Dyalekt' Kushner moved from St. Croix to New York to study acting and law. He also liked to rap. After witnessing civil rights injustices at the law firm he worked for, he dropped both the job and the law classes, pursuing the arts instead. Performances at the Nuyorican led him to Hip Hop Theater, writing plays that have been performed on stages across the world. He didn't sleep on the rapping either, releasing music and touring internationally. His first album/one man play Square Peg Syndrome helped him get named to the Public Theater's Emerging Writer's Group. He has been a mainstay in NYC's theater and Hip Hop scenes, rocking everywhere from the Bowery Ballroom to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

When Dyalekt was invited to present at a workshop for New York SCORES, a soccer and poetry program in Harlem and the Bronx, his perspective on performance changed. Students are much better audience members than bar patrons, and Dyalekt found he had a natural affinity for facilitation. Hip Hopping with students like he did with MCs in a cypher led to better engagement, grades, and overall attitude toward school than the usual class.

After researching Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences, Dyalekt designed curricula lining up the elements of Hip Hop with each learning style. Through Hip Hop, or rather, by Hip Hopping, students could assess their learning tendencies and use them to their benefit. Furthermore, the community aspects of Hip Hop show students how to be responsible citizens, peer mentors, and advocates for justice. Dyalekt brought this curriculum, along with his album/play back home to St. Croix, rocking with 17 orgs and over 400 students. They produced 2 books of poetry, an album, and a documentary. He also now teaches teachers how to MC in a classroom.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Brian 'Dyalekt' Kushner moved from St. Croix to New York to study acting and law. He also liked to rap. After witnessing civil rights injustices at the law firm he worked for, he dropped both the job and the law classes, pursuing the arts instead.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Bernardo

Mazón Daher (he/him)

Bernardo Mazón Daher is a border-brat bred from Chula Vista, California. He is a few years out from San Diego State University with degrees in Literature and Theatre. While in school, Bernardo became a professional actor, director, writer, educator, and producer cutting his teeth with local companies. Since then, his journeys in theatremaking have taken him around the country to work both with organizations of high prestige alongside grassroots, community-based projects. In addition to being an artist, Bernardo is an organizer chasing for the convergence of activism and art towards social progress. He has served as a steering committee member of the Latinx Theatre Commons, forged grants and awards opportunities for dramaturgs across Latin America, and co-founded this nonprofit back home for Latinx artists and audiences. Bernardo is an all around storyteller driven to create spaces where different peoples can intersect to listen, learn, labor, love, and play together.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Bernardo Mazón Daher is a border-brat bred from Chula Vista, California. He is a few years out from San Diego State University with degrees in Literature and Theatre. While in school, Bernardo became a professional actor, director, writer, educator, and producer cutting his teeth with local companies.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
View this post on Instagram

A post shared by MAMÁ “INEZ” MURALISTA (@mamamuralista)

# data[].attributes.headline
CarlosAlexis Cruz (el/ellos-he/his) :   https://nouveausud.org/

# data[].attributes.subject
CarlosAlexis Cruz (el/ellos-he/his) :   https://nouveausud.org/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Nouveau Sud Circus Project (@nouveausudclt)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Don't miss this experience!

You should attend this leadership academy if:

1

You know that we can't wait for change

2

You want to ensure your equity initiative succeeds in the face of great odds (Look at where we at now. We can't afford to continue like we have)

3

You understand that justice needs good leaders, like you!

ONLY 25 SEATS AVAILABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She lives in Rochester, NY with her two cats: Luna & Callie

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Don't miss this experience! You should attend this leadership academy if: 1 You know that we can't wait for change 2 You want to ensure your equity initiative succeeds in the face of great odds (Look at where we at now. We can't afford to continue like we have) 3 You understand that justice needs good leaders, like you!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
CALLING UP COMMUNITY!! This is Maiamama and I'll be streaming Wednesday afternoons at 3pm PST. I'll be playing my favorite games and talking about justice. If you want to be part of the conversation then join me live!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Bay Area, Psychedelic, frEQ folk, Ancient Futurist, Black+, late 30 year old HipHop - Mindfulness - (d)JEDI Heads, exploring the Universe - trying to crack the code to... DECOLONIZATION!?!?
An interdisciplinary, multimedia, live and asynchronous, online, training for Reclaiming and Restor(y)ing (y)our Life!!!
(We have paused the live training aspects for the time being) Meet upcoming featured Dream Guides in HHUDA meeting variety show #4: The Well Being Moon
We ask the question: What is Decolonization?

We help artists, educators, change-makers and visionaries wrestle with the bodies of colonization. We honor this struggle in community, and within, as we disentangle from this ongoing threat. Through this transformative process we remember our sovereign and collective power in order to thrive in dignity, creative liberation and joy.

This is an interdisciplinary, multimedia, live and asynchronous, online, year long training. Join us and 40+ Dream Guides come true, on an immersive, year long, transformative journey through Decolonization 4 Dreamers, with a growing CLaN of HoodHippie$ getting free through creativity.

HoodHippie Universe Guest Appearances:

subscribe to HoodHippie UniverseYoutube

Follow the HoodHippie Universe IG

**
Join the Mailing List:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Bay Area, Psychedelic, frEQ folk, Ancient Futurist, Black+, late 30 year old HipHop - Mindfulness - (d)JEDI Heads, exploring the Universe -- trying to crack the code to... DECOLONIZATION!?!? Decolonization for Dreamers!!! An interdisciplinary, multimedia, live and asynchronous, online, training for Reclaiming and Restor(y)ing (y)our Life!!!

# data[].attributes.headline
Luticha Andre Doucette EntrepreneurAward Winning #DisabilityJustice  #Advocate #Author #FencerI  #coach leaders and advocates using disability justice principles

# data[].attributes.subject
Luticha Andre Doucette EntrepreneurAward Winning #DisabilityJustice  #Advocate #Author #FencerI  #coach leaders and advocates using disability justice principles

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Luticha Andre Doucette (@freedomofmovement35)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Your current browser isn't compatible with SoundCloud.
Please download one of our supported browsers. Need help?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

COME ON IN

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Creating safer spaces, cultivating care practices + seeding dreams.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Creating safer spaces, cultivating care practices + seeding dreams.

# data[].attributes.headline
Esther Triggs-Camacho (S/H)#whatarewegoingtodo with all this hate? Sing. Dance. Breathe. ACT. 🔥🔥🔥#advocatelikeamotherforall  linktr.ee/EstherTriggs

# data[].attributes.subject
Esther Triggs-Camacho (S/H)#whatarewegoingtodo with all this hate? Sing. Dance. Breathe. ACT. 🔥🔥🔥#advocatelikeamotherforall  linktr.ee/EstherTriggs

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Esther Triggs-Camacho (S/H) (@etc_triggs)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
​We aren't just looking for people who experience discrimination,
we need allies as well, especially white ones!
Ratings from allies are imperative to establishing baselines,
and will help us determine if a business was just having an off-day, providing poor customer service to everyone,
or if there really is a ​pattern of bias and discrimination.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
​We aren't just looking for people who experience discrimination, we need allies as well, especially white ones! Ratings from allies are imperative to establishing baselines, and will help us determine if a business was just having an off-day, providing poor customer service to everyone, or if there really is a ​pattern of bias and discrimination.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Journey Theatre Project (JTP) works with non-profits, corporate entities, educational, religious and community organizations to build equitable and inclusive work and educational environments.

JTP is dedicated to fighting white supremacy and the violence it has always and continues to have on black and brown bodies.

As a women led organization, we challenge traditional power structures, and disrupt unconscious bias.

Land Acknowledgment

We would like to take a moment to acknowledge the land we are living on - land that was stolen from Indigenous people by settler-colonialists and later the American government and its people. Indigenous people are still here, taking care of their communities and fighting to keep them safe. The Journey Theatre Project is Brooklyn, NY based, land of the Canarsie band of the Lenape people. Learn more below about the land you are on below.

Work with Us

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Journey Theatre Project’s signature workshop series, Race And You, leads organizations and communities toward becoming anti-racist. What sets our workshops apart, is the use of applied theatre strategies including critical dialogue, creative reflection and embodying action. Each workshop offers multiple opportunities for participants to engage with their own experience and grow through conversation with others.

Monologues from the War: New Plays From Ukraine

A staged reading featuring four Ukrainian playwrights to benefit those displaced by the war on Ukraine.

Directed by Dmitry Troyanovsky

Produced by Journey Theater Project

Saturday April 23 4PM

Greenwich House Music School, NYC

Tickets: $15-$100

100% Proceeds go to Refugees of the War on Ukraine

Community

We work with communities to create original theatre about the issues and stories they care about most. Tools: Playbuilding, improvisation, writing and devising theatre in a group

We create outlets for connection and reflection and cultivate support networks.Activities: Reflection and embodiment events, reading groups, support and celebration

The Gift

Read about our latest intergeneration project and performance!

Testimonials

FRIENDS AND CLIENTS

We respect your privacy.

Thank you!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
people and Talent enablement

We help you identify business strategies and tailor solutions to achieve business results, enable an effective culture, and support an engaged workforce. We advise you through all aspects of business and people planning, from the start (business and HR strategy), to the middle (employment management and development), to the end (workforce and succession planning).

human capital evaluation and procurement

Our goal is to bridge the gap between the public-sector and private-sector by bringing industry best practices to help agencies deliver desired results. We are more than partners and advisers; we are strategic solution-architects on any human capital topic, regardless of industry and market.

We collaborate with organizations that face unique people and talent challenges, leading with humanity by delivering dynamic, inspiring, and human-centric solutions to harness the power of their people.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We collaborate with organizations that face unique people and talent challenges, leading with humanity by delivering dynamic, inspiring, and human-centric solutions to harness the power of their people.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
​Insight Prison Project was founded in 1997 with one class for 14 male prisoners at San Quentin State Prison. Today, IPP offers unique and effective programs for thousands of men, women, and...

# data[].attributes.headline
Umar Soaries link tree to tiktok, twitter, etc 

# data[].attributes.subject
Umar Soaries link tree to tiktok, twitter, etc 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Description Black Revolutionary Optimist's view on Pop culture, politics, news.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Description Black Revolutionary Optimist's view on Pop culture, politics, news.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Specialties: Anti-Racism, Community Organizing, Meeting Facilitation, Fundraising, Event Coordination, Anti-Oppression Training & Coaching, Program Evaluation, Qualitative Research, Program Management, Capacity Building, Case Management, Client Advocacy, STD and HIV Education, Employment Counseling, LGBTQ Advocacy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Diane Burkholder - Long Beach, California, United States | Professional Profile | LinkedIn

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Specialties: Anti-Racism, Community Organizing, Meeting Facilitation, Fundraising, Event Coordination, Anti-Oppression Training & Coaching, Program Evaluation, Qualitative Research, Program Management, Capacity Building, Case Management, Client Advocacy, STD and HIV Education, Employment Counseling, LGBTQ Advocacy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Contributor

Award-winning writer and entrepreneur interested in biotechnology, neuroscience, and ice cream

Niyathi Chakrapani is an award-winning writer and entrepreneur. She studies neuroscience and engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, advocates for mental health resources, and co-founded a biotechnology company. Find her writing poetry, designing nanotechnology or telling bad puns anywhere around campus, or maybe check out her book, Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Stars, on Amazon. And while you're at it, save a piece of your chocolate bar for her. She'll remember it forever. https://www.linkedin.com/in/niyathichakrapani

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Contributor Award-winning writer and entrepreneur interested in biotechnology, neuroscience, and ice cream Niyathi Chakrapani is an award-winning writer and entrepreneur. She studies neuroscience and engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, advocates for mental health resources, and co-founded a biotechnology company.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Hi! I'm Julie Nowak (she/they) - a disabled educator and activist who writes and talks about the intersection of nature connection, disability justice, body liberation, and food justice. I'm also creating a podcast!

You can read more about me and my project 'The Seasonal Body' on my website ( SeasonalBody.org), or follow me on social media: @SeasonalBody on Facebook & Twitter; @TheSeasonalBody on Instagram.

My podcast (tentatively called "Homeward Nature" - release date tbd) will be a free resource focused on increasing access to nature connection through short, guided, experiential activities in audio form (plus transcripts).

This project is my act of love for those who are homebound and disabled like me, and for those who can't access outdoor green spaces for various reasons (e.g. due to ableism, location, safety, racism, lack of time, etc). But the podcast is also for anyone, so I hope you will listen!

This Patreon page is a place where you can optionally donate to support me as a chronically-ill and low-income creator (as my low/fluctuating capacity means I cannot work at a "regular" job, or handle consistent freelance work). Thankfully the podcast is something I can work on slowly at my own pace, taking extended breaks when needed.

You can choose to donate any monthly amount (as low as $1) - it's up to you!

There are no specific benefits or services you get from joining here - it's mainly a way for me to organize donations on an ongoing basis. I may occasionally post updates here, or share links to my work, which will be made available to non-donors as well. So you aren't missing out on any content if you aren't able to donate!

These donations will also help cover the initial and ongoing costs associated with producing a podcast and running a website.

If you prefer to give a one-time donation, or you want to offer your time instead of money (to help ease my workload with the podcast behind the scenes), you can donate or contact me through my website:
SeasonalBody.org/donate

I'm also sometimes available to offer public speaking, consulting, and educational resources (depending on my health capacity) - which you can learn about here:
SeasonalBody.org/services/

Regardless of whether or not you donate, I hope you will join me in working towards a world that makes nature connection more accessible and embraces disability justice!

[profile image description: headshot photo of Julie Nowak, a white person with short brown hair, wearing a black top, in front of an outdoor background of trees and clouds]

[cover image description: photo of a carrot growing in muddy soil, with the green and orange top sticking out. Photo credit: "I spy a carrot!" by Gemma Garner - CC License]

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Julie Nowak: 'The Seasonal Body' & upcoming podcast is creating resources about nature & disability (donate $1/month or more) | Patreon

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Hi! I'm Julie Nowak (she/they) - a disabled educator and activist who writes and talks about the intersection of nature connection, disability justice, body liberation, and food justice. I'm also creating a podcast! You can read more about me and my project 'The Seasonal Body' on my website ( SeasonalBody.org), or follow me on social media: @SeasonalBody on Facebook & Twitter; @TheSeasonalBody on Instagram.

# data[].attributes.headline
Audrey Ramirez-Loudenback: ASL/English Interpreter; NIC; MA in Interpreting Studies

# data[].attributes.subject
Audrey Ramirez-Loudenback: ASL/English Interpreter; NIC; MA in Interpreting Studies

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Audrey Ramirez-Loudenback lives in Salem, Oregon with her husband and two children. She completed her BA in ASL/English Interpreting from Western Oregon University in 2009 and her MA in Interpreting Studies from WOU in December 2015.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Audrey Ramirez-Loudenback lives in Salem, Oregon with her husband and two children. She completed her BA in ASL/English Interpreting from Western Oregon University in 2009 and her MA in Interpreting Studies from WOU in December 2015.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Photo description: a carrot growing in muddy soil, with the green and orange top sticking out. Photo credit: “I spy a carrot!” by Gemma Garner – CC License

The Seasonal Body is a project focused on the intersection of nature connection, disability, food justice and body liberation.

This website is a hub for our work and writing, and also provides information about our available educational services. If you are interested in consulting, workshops, public speaking, or educational resources, click here for more details.

Continue reading about The Seasonal Body and its founder Julie Nowak.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
exploring the intersection of nature connection, disability justice, body liberation & food justice

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Movement Generation facilitates workshops and strategy sessions to develop a shared analysis of the ecological crisis and its impacts on working class communities and communities of color.

We work with partnering grassroots organizations and alliances to provide customized, interactive workshops to engage staff and members as they integrate an ecological lens into their work. Here are a few examples:

MG facilitated a series of EcoSchools for the Right to the City Alliance member organizations and allies in 5 regions. The series featured both an analytical/training component and small group breakout sessions to strategize around the particular impacts of the crisis in their region.

Working with our partner PODER in San Francisco, MG developed a workshop to develop community members' analysis around the value of fostering a grassroots economy. In the workshop, participants shared the ways people must "get by" or "get ahead" in the current global economy and then brainstormed the value of "getting together."

MG has facilitated numerous bilingual popular education trainings for local union leadership, staff, and rank-and-file members - from hotel worker members of UNITE HERE 2850 to recycling sorter members of . In the trainings, we root the current ecological crisis in the same economy that drives worker exploitation, attacks on the public sector, and forced migration/displacement of communities. We tailor the trainings to the specific industries that workers are in and the campaign goals of the union.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Movement Generation | Workshops & Strategy Sessions

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Movement Generation facilitates workshops and strategy sessions to develop a shared analysis of the ecological crisis and its impacts on working class communities and communities of color. We work with partnering grassroots organizations and alliances to provide customized, interactive workshops to engage staff and members as they integrate an ecological lens into their work.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
quest letters

Periodic reflections and news updates from a books, performance, and woods loving youth, who came of age in the San Francisco Bay Area, and now engages internationally in Montreal with comrades, arts, ecology, disability, gender, and work for liberation.

By seeley quest · Launched 2 years ago

Login About Archive

Top posts About Archive Authors Login

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Periodic reflections and news updates from a books, performance, and woods loving youth, who came of age in the San Francisco Bay Area, and now engages internationally in Montreal with comrades, arts, ecology, disability, gender, and work for liberation. Click to read quest letters, by seeley quest,…

# data[].attributes.headline
AJ Sisneros they/them. I teach kids to physics, I’m learning to be creative, and I strive to be a kinder person. http://bit.ly/publicspreadsac

# data[].attributes.subject
AJ Sisneros they/them. I teach kids to physics, I’m learning to be creative, and I strive to be a kinder person. http://bit.ly/publicspreadsac

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Log in to follow creators, like videos, and view comments.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
AJ Sisneros (@renaissance.mouse) TikTok | Watch AJ Sisneros's Newest TikTok Videos

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
AJ Sisneros (@renaissance.mouse) on TikTok | 23.4K Likes. 1.2K Fans. I teach kids to physics I love to learn new things I make stuff 34

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
What's Good English - YouTube

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
108 mixed-media images with a QPOC, permacultured, global-eco-social-justice focus make up this dynamic deck, collaboratively created over the course of four years by the CLN co-founders, Amani Will, james-amutabi, and Seneca Beth. The CLN Deck includes an Elemental Arcana, a Journey Arcana, a Fools Arcana (13 Fools), a Multiverse Arcana (13 Universes), plus six essence cards. Each deck includes 108 cards (3.5″ x 5″ inches), a 113 page Guide Book, and is hand wrapped in fabric.

Join the Network and follow us on Instagram to get updates on other offerings!

Our Two Year, 26 Moon, CLN Tarot Reading with the Fool's Tarot:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
GET IT HERE RESERVE YOUR DECK in the next printing Get a Deck Reading by Screenshot Get a Restor(y)ing the Multiverse Reading with Amani Will Consult the Guide Book Journey with The Fools through The Multiverse 108 mixed-media images with a QPOC, permacultured, global-eco-social-justice focus make up this dynamic deck, collaboratively created over the course...

# data[].attributes.headline
Ronnie Braithwaite Artist  | Writer | Activist | Filmmaker @wokethefilm @bipolartfilm @hetheyfilm 🎬

# data[].attributes.subject
Ronnie Braithwaite Artist  | Writer | Activist | Filmmaker @wokethefilm @bipolartfilm @hetheyfilm 🎬

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
ronnie braithwaite
documentary filmmaker

ART

BIO & CONTACT

More

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ronnie Braithwaite (he/they) is a Black American documentary filmmaker born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
201 Followers, 235 Following, 93 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Brian Bell (@afrofi)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
750 million+ members | Manage your professional identity. Build and engage with your professional network. Access knowledge, insights and opportunities.

# data[].attributes.headline
@BlackIllusiveMan Black nerd, educator, mental health worker/advocate, leftist.

# data[].attributes.subject
@BlackIllusiveMan Black nerd, educator, mental health worker/advocate, leftist.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Black nerd, educator, mental health worker/advocate, leftist.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Black nerd, educator, mental health worker/advocate, leftist.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Log in to follow creators, like videos, and view comments.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Mama Muralista (@mama.muralista) TikTok | Watch Mama Muralista's Newest TikTok Videos

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Mama Muralista (@mama.muralista) on TikTok | 58.7K Likes. 9.5K Fans. Indigenous Artist Educator Mamá Mapuche Jew Chilena EEUU

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Already on LinkedIn? Sign in

Looking to create a page for a business? Get help

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
500 million+ members | Manage your professional identity. Build and engage with your professional network. Access knowledge, insights and opportunities.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
June 15th, 2022 / Author: T.Reid

Show the transcript

TR:
Welcome back to the second 2022 season of Reid My Mind Radio.
My name is Thomas Reid and I'm the host and producer of this podcast which features compelling people impacted by all degrees of blindness and disability.

This season we continue with one of my favorite subjects, Audio Description or AD.

For those new to AD, you may understand it to be that additional audio track on your SAP channel or your favorite streaming app. Perhaps you experience AD live in a theater. That could be a movie or a live play as well. Either way, that additional audio is providing information about that content that is otherwise only communicated visually.

This includes museums, national parks, art galleries; there's so many opportunities to add audio description to all sorts of art that enables access for those of us who are Blind or have low vision.

That's why I say, "Give Me AD on everything."

But we know, AD is about much more than entertainment!

Audio description is like a swiss army knife. At first glance you think it's a tool with one function. But pull at its edges a bit; all of a sudden out pops another tool, another use, another benefit.

We know all sorts of reasons non-Blind people use and appreciate AD. However, the take away from curb cut affects or the idea that access for one group ultimately benefits others, isn't to forget where it originated, but rather to remember that creating inclusive environments should be the goal in all we do.

Today is less about AD from the access perspective. It's there, no doubt, but we're gonna pull at the edges a bit. We're exploring how AD itself is not only artistic, but how it can be that inspiration, a catalyst for a new work of art.

Rather than talking about making AD, we're talking about AD in the making!

Because, in this series, we're going beyond the mainstream AD conversation.
We're Flipping the Script on Audio Description!

Let's get it!

- Reid My Mind Radio Theme Music

Arseli:

My name is Arseli Dokumaci. My pronouns are she/her/hers. And I'm a female presenting person in her early 40s.
I have short black hair, black rounded glasses. I'm sitting in my office.

I was born and raised in Turkey and immigrated to Canada a few years ago.
I live in the unceded territory of Kenya and the Haida nation here, who are the custodians of lands and waters that give us life and I'm grateful to the Kenyan, bahagia nation, also known as Montreal.

I'm an assistant professor in Communication Studies Department in Concordia University. I am also Canada researcher in critical disability studies and media technologies. That's a long title. I'm also the director of access in the making lab at Concordia.

TR:

Before we can get to Audio Description in the Making, we have to first begin with Access in the Making or AIM.

Arseli:
Access in the making lab is an anti ableist, anti colonialist lab, mainly run by students, community members who are disabled artists and activists. We are a group of around like 15 people right now.

Shout out to Prakash, Roy, Jesse, Diego, Raffaele, Nikolas, Amy, Sabina, Yolanda, Dres, and Salima. These are the wonderful people that are making up the Access in the Making Lab.

We are basically interested in developing creative and critical approaches to access. How can we think of access not as a checklist, but as a starting point for doing research differently for being in the work differently, and as more as a creative and critical intervention in the given order of things. To kind of shake up people a bit.

TR:

Hey, I want to shake people up. Just a bit!

Back to the lab.

Arseli:

Which is considering access as this kind of process without an endpoint as something that is continually being made and made, remade which is also open to failures and mistakes, and learning from goals and being accountable.

TR:

When we apply this idea to audio description, you can see why it's the opposite of what takes place in the mainstream world where the final product is so heavily affected by constraints like time, guidelines and budgets. The AIM Lab is an environment that encourages experimentation.

Arseli:
The people of the AIM lab are doing amazing work. We kind of push this together collectively.

I have been working on creative approaches. I experimented with some formats like freeze framing.

I use this crip time method of like freezing the frames and inserting the audio description as something that is intervening in the video itself as a kind of almost a statement saying let the audio discussion take the time it takes.

It was always in the back of my head, like, how can we kind of further this creative approach to audio description. I'm obviously not the first person to do that, there are people doing amazing work on creative approaches to audio description.

TR:

Some of them have been featured right here on the podcast.

Arseli:

We were developing various posters, and we were also thinking about our visual identity as a lab and so on.

We realized that, even when you're developing a visual identity for something like developing a logo, that logo is visual, and there is no description. And we were stuck with this question of Oh, we did the logo, but where's the description. This need for audio description kept coming up that we need to do something about it, like we don't have the, the answers, but the need, literally the need to and to learn more about it to experiment with it. So that's where the idea of doing this workshop came about.

TR in Conversation with Arseli:
What made you reach out to Cheryl, how did that come about?

Arseli:
That's also another story of relationship building, which goes back to 2018 actually. When we organized a symposium in Montreal called Vibe a symposium for Deaf and Disability Arts. And Cheryl was also a participant in that symposium, that's where we got to meet.

TR:

That's my friend and colleague, the Access Artist, Cheryl Green.

Cheryl
I am a captioner and audio describer. I also do some video and audio production.

I am a white Ashkenazi Jewish woman with a poof of curly dark brown hair and big black plastic glasses and olive complexion.

It's still a little chilly in Portland, Oregon, where I live. I am sporting my Reid My Mind Radio hoodie, just the most comfortable hoodie that I own. Wear it all the time, except for laundry day.
I'm very excited to be back on your show Thomas.

TR:

That's right, Cheryl is official. I'm sure you heard her name here before. In fact, there are other guests on this podcast that I only became aware of through Cheryl. Oh Man, I just introduced you to my connect.

Arseli:

Cheryl came to one of my courses and gave this beautiful lecture on audio description.

We also had you Thomas for that class as a listening material one of our podcasts so I had already this connection in mind and then we were really like, looking forward to doing something together.

So I reached out to Cheryl, we met, we discussed what we can do. Raffaele, our lab member, was also helping me to organization. And Cheryl had the idea of inviting you. And we were like, super excited about it. That's how all this started.

Cheryl:
I told her that the best way for me to lead a workshop on audio description would be with a blind or low vision co teacher, it wouldn't make sense for me to do it solo. And she needed zero convincing. She was completely on board with that, because she's Arseli and she's rad.

TR in Conversation with Cheryl:
What is it about including a blind consumer, a blind person, specifically in the process that's important to you?

Cheryl:

I have taught workshops, by myself as a sighted producer of audio description and image descriptions. I have done that in the past, I've changed my ways now. Because it's not fair.

And it's not good enough for me to say, I am the ultimate authority. No sighted audio describers the ultimate authority. No one consumers the ultimate authority.

It's a subjective artistic field anyway.

So it benefits the students to have more than one teacher first off.

Second of all, the subtleties and the nuances that a blind or low vision person brings to the discussion. It's stuff that I'll never think about on my own. No matter how hard I think about the wording, I'm still looking at the picture, I still see it. And I'm always writing from the perspective of what did I just see?

TR:

I so appreciate that honesty. It's counter to what we're taught in society and in business where' it's all about branding yourself as an expert. Yet, so often, lived experience is overlooked and under appreciated and x amount of hours in a room discussing the topic is considered more valuable.

Cheryl:

I think there's a lot in the world of accessibility that's modeled after the world of health care and rehab. Where ostensibly non disabled people are the authorities and the experts. And they give this thing to the user, the person who needs something. I've had clients literally refer to audio description as Services for the Blind and like, No, tI'm adding an artistic translation to your film. Is your film services for the sighted? No, then audio description's, not "services for the blind."

Co-teaching with a blind person helps remind the students in the audience that this is about collaboration, and artistry, and community building, and that the wants and needs and desires and perspectives of the ultimate consumers are super valid. And really what we should be focused on, who cares if I like the script. If the people using audio description don't like the script.

So I told her that I would reach out to Oh, God, what is his name? I can't remember this guy's Thomas something. Yeah, I told her. Let me just check with this Thomas guy, might be decent at something like this.

TR:

Ok, yes, I have some opinions on Audio Description as many of us do. I like discussing the subject as it's a gateway to larger conversations. But this specific idea that Cheryl approached me with felt like a way to test this idea that we've been promoting for a while; AD can improve your art.

Cheryl:

What if people took their artwork, wrote an audio description, threw away the artwork and made something brand new, based on the audio description instead of the audio description being based on the artwork.

She loved the idea right away. We called you and you said yes, and the end. And then we did the workshop, the end.

TR in Conversation with Cheryl:
Good night, everybody.

TR:

Mm mm, we're taking our time with this one. In fact, the process is where you find a lot of the art and beauty. That's why the lab is just the right environment for such a workshop. Here's Arseli.

Arseli:
I didn't come with a lot of expectations, I honestly wanted the process itself to take us to somewhere and see where we were going together. I totally trusted in the abilities of all the members and their commitment to access, and especially you and Cheryl's work. So I knew that things will organically develop.

TR:

When I hear this, I can't help but remember how I once approached just about all aspects of my life. It was a very corporate, productivity centered way of thinking. If you weren't presenting a project plan with gantt charts, you were artsy fartsy to me.

I still have some of that way of thinking ingrained in me, but I also know and believe in organic creation and letting time do its thing.

Arseli:
I was just waiting to see the magic happen.

We had so much fun. It already created this atmosphere of being comfortable and being gentle with yourself. I feel that there's this anxiety around doing access work or audio description work. If it's an unknown territory for newcomers, they're like, "What if I say something wrong when I'm working on tonight."

All that anxiety was lifted away.

That was a great starting point. To start from that comfort zone, so to say, and knowing that you will make mistakes, and that's okay. The question is not to make mistakes, the question is, okay, I'm gonna make mistakes, I might say something not okay. But I'm going to like, learn from it and take accountability and grow along the way. I think that was the whole atmosphere that I really appreciated and took away from the workshop.

TR:

And Cheryl's expectation...

Cheryl:
Yeah, I really wanted people to take away from the workshop that that people with poofy hair can partner really well with bald people. It's okay, we're in an era now where we can just like

TR in Conversation with Cheryl: 10:41
Oh, this is News. Wait, audio description. I'm bald?

##TR:

Cheryl and I can get a bit silly. But yet serious.

Cheryl:
The real takeaways.

It's valuing the teaching and perspective of disabled people.

the amazing, endless artistic possibility of audio description. I love anything that gets away from the compliance conversation. People are always asking me to do workshops or trainings or be on panels and talk about well, "what are the specs? And how do you do this? We want to be more compliant, we want to be more accessible." Why? Why they never told me why. Why are you doing this? And if you don't know why you're doing it, then you're going to live in that compliance based because we're supposed to because we don't want to get sued or it's the hot thing to do right now to be accessible.

TR:

There's that maximize productivity thing again. Tell me how to quickly implement this thing so I can get the biggest bang for my buck. All along, missing the opportunity, the experience, the beauty.

Cheryl:

It's this negotiation, it's this process. It's a collaboration, it's community. How can we talk about audio description in a way where we just don't have to bother with compliance? We're going to make stuff in this workshop, maybe it would be compliant, maybe it wouldn't be. But let's have fun and not be scared of audio description. Not feel like it's a burden, or we have to do this. But how do we make it work?

I wanted people to get that playground vibe around audio description. I also wanted people to have fun with bringing any parts of themselves to the work. So this is not going to be an objective thing. You're going to build the world that you want to build in your audio description. And it's going to be yours, whatever you bring to it.

TR:

That approach allowed us to let attendees sometimes slightly modify the assignment. Some chose not to create new independent works of art but rather develop additional components supporting the original described piece.

Arseli who also attended and participated in the workshop came prepared to describe the Access in the Making logo and left with multiple components including audio...

Arseli:

and a textual component. And I had an idea of like a food component but that will happen if we ever meet in person. Don't we all love food?

TR:

Heck yeah!

Arseli:
I worked on the logo of the aim Lab, which was created by our wonderful designer researcher Roi Saade.

We have been as the aim lab working with Roi for about a year to develop that logo. It was an ongoing conversation where Roi really pushed us to think about what is the access In the making lab? What would the characters of the aim lab be if it were a person? And how do you describe your approach and all these exercises with us to kind of better understand what we how we foresee this collective. And it was a long that idealogical process that Roi came up with this beautiful design of the aim lab.

TR:

The logo itself starts with the letters of the lab's mame, AIM; Access in the Making.

It includes dashes between the first letter of each name representing the missing letters.

Arseli:

Which is maybe very simple. But when you think about it, we were literally thinking of access as something that we work towards, that we are committed to. We are in no way considering ourselves as the experts of access or that we will tell what access is or should be. But we are literally interested in experimenting, we are aspiring towards access and working towards access without big promises. And we are always thinking about what if we do this? What if we do that? What if we speculate and think about these new openings of access. So that kind of Roi designed around those dashes and letters reflected this approach. I wanted that story to be told.

TR:

There's also the audio component representing the logo.

- Audio of AIM Logo

TR:

These dragging beeps sort of illustrate a dash or hyphen.

Arseli:

I looked for a way of translating what the image tells into a sonic version. It works in that sense. And it might not work in other senses. But of course it might sound entirely differently to another audio describer. And that's the whole pitch of it. Not being objective, as you said, but giving room for all the subjectivity we could give and opening up new versions of that. That was a sonic version.

And I'm not an expert in audio editing. It was just the trial, I didn't mind risk taking and trying it out.

TR:

Then there's the second component, because really why should anyone be restricted to just one way of absorbing conceptual ideas.

How about poetry?

Arseli:

The poem, I guess it felt A bit more intimate. In the sense that I wanted to reflect on that journey we had as a lab together, how we reached that logo and what it meant for us as the aim lab as our values, our principles, what we are committed to this idea of leaving nobody behind, which is coming from Disability Justice committees, and I kind of really valued that. As the AIM we value that.

Where are the missing letters, right? Have they gone? And how can we hold space for the missing letters for the things that we don't know, for the access needs that we will perhaps never know. So not hope not having assumptions, but keeping space holding space for the unknown.

TR:

Once again, I'm going to point out that I know this concept may make some uncomfortable. Especially if you only think of description as a word for word explanation of what something looks like. But audio description, image descriptions can go beyond that.

Arseli:

The audio description of that logo does not supplement the logo, it literally works with the logo together. And it brings everybody into that story of that logo making that we had with Roi, it tells that story.

So I find it beautiful. And also a way of like opening up new roles, telling the stories that are not otherwise told. And providing those openings to people like, Okay, here's what we did. And audio description is enabling that story sharing and storytelling.

TR:

Enabling story telling and sharing that once again, goes beyond entertainment.

[smooth lounge music soothing your soul]
THOMAS: Hi. I'm Cheryl Green.
CHERYL: And I'm Thomas Reid. Uh, that do.... You don't look like Cheryl Green.
THOMAS: What do you mean?
CHERYL: Well, I mean Cheryl, she's got hair on her head, kind of curly, medium length brown hair and black-framed glasses and olive skin.
THOMAS: Okay. Now that you say that, you don't sound like Thomas Reid. I think he's a brown-skinned Black man with a shaven head and wears shades and has a full beard and might be wearing like a Wu-Tang Clan t-shirt or something like that.
CHERYL: But we are both disabled podcasters.
THOMAS: Do you think we should say podcasters with disabilities?
CHERYL: Oh, you know what? Let's do a podcast about that.
THOMAS: Hmm. Good idea.
CHERYL: Actually, Thomas and I are working on a project that's all about disabled podcasts. It's called. Oh, wait, we don't actually have the name yet, right? What should we call it?
THOMAS: We should call it Project Project?
CHERYL: Yeah, I love it. Project Project. Or like, I don't know, POD Access.
THOMAS: Okay. We'll go with POD Access... for now. With funding from the Disability Visibility Project, we're creating a space for disabled podcasters or content creators to connect with each other and maybe be discovered by audiences who are interested in your content or share skills and resources.
CHERYL: So, we want to hear from you, current or former, Deaf or disabled podcasters, deaf or disabled people interested in starting a podcast, or consumers of content about disability or deafness.
THOMAS: We created a survey that should only take about 20 minutes to complete, and we'd really love your feedback.
CHERYL: You can find the survey at https://bit.ly/PODAccess. On that survey you can sign up to receive more information about Project Project as it develops.
THOMAS: Again, fill out the survey at https://bit.ly/PODAccess.
CHERYL: Good. Nice job, Cheryl.
THOMAS: Oh, you too, Thomas.
[smooth lounge music fades into the future]

TR in Conversation with Cheryl:
Were there any highlights from your perspective of the workshop?

Cheryl:
It was one of those things that was like non stop, highlight. Shout out to Arseli and your students and your staff.
One highlight is that the stuff that they made which you can find on audio description.access in the making.ca.

Every single piece is radically different from every other piece. They're just so unique and distinctive and original. And that's a real highlight for me. There were a lot of great questions. There was so much engagement.

TR:

It wouldn't be right to ask Cheryl to pick a favorite project to discuss. I realized that after I asked Cheryl to pick a favorite project to discuss.

I did however reach out to one of the workshop attendees and creators.

Salima:
My name is Salima Panjwani. I'm a multi sensory artist based in Montreal in Canada. I would describe myself as a brown skinned woman with big curly hair, who laughs a lot and loves to have coffee around me at all times.

TR in Conversation with Salima:
Talk to me a little bit about any existing knowledge or experience with audio description. So prior to attending the workshop.

Salima:

I actually learned about Cheryl at the vibration symposium and Montreal in 2018. And I fell in love with her approach. I fell so madly in love with audio description, when I saw her speak. She shared some of her work. And I just thought it was so beautiful how she didn't think about audio description after the fact. Like she really included it from the beginning of the process. I was really inspired by that.

So when I created a piece called the cost of entry as a heartbeat, in 2020, in Budapest, I decided to create documentation that included audio description planned and from the beginning. I included it in the performance film of the piece. And it's been getting a lot of really good feedback. I love the process, Thomas like it was so much fun.

I love using language and that way of finding ways to describe things that aren't just visual, but like really, the energy or the feeling.

TR:

Workshop attendees were asked to group into teams of two, possibly three and choose something to describe. That could be a picture, an object perhaps something not even visual like a song.

The team would then create a new piece of art totally based on that description. That could be anything, a poem, a two minute play, a dance. You can actually check out some of the creations at AudioDescription.AccessInTheMaking.ca.

Salima's project began with a description of the fermentation process.

Salima:
The name of the project for the audio description workshop was iridescent constellations. And it was with Diego Pacheco Bravo.

Salima:

We didn't know each other at all. So it was quite a funny process for me. Because we just kind of met and started talking about honey and fermentation. And I thought we were going to, like scientifically describe the process of fermentation.

What is fermentation? Like what does it look like? What's going on?

I just thought that would be interesting in itself to really slow down that process.

I was very surprised when Diego came back with the full story.

I didn't want to change anything, because I'm honoring his creative process and his writing process.

But what I did add were the audio descriptions.

TR:

The initial description of the fermentation process for creating mead, which is an ancient alcoholic beverage like wine, inspired a story.

Salima:

About two beekeepers in their 20s who kind of have some tension building as they're caring for the bees and enjoying Mead together and it gets a bit sexy.

I actually love that because sometimes I feel like disabled folks aren't considered as like sexual beings. And, and that whole, like erotic fiction audio described piece that we made, I think, speaks to that in a way where we're not forgetting that like disabled folks also want to listen to sexy things.

TR:

Uh oh! We're getting grown and sexy once again on the podcast! If you missed that episode from 2021 Flipping the Script series you should really check it out.

Salima:

I am really pleased with how it turned out. And even though I didn't write the story, I wrote the audio descriptions that go with it. And so it's my voice and Diego's voice playing off each other using words like smacking and bubbling and the descriptors that add to the tension building up and releasing, and that's complemented with a soundscape that I developed. That includes a lot of bubbles, and rustling of leaves and some voices and some moaning and a lot of different sounds that bring the peace to life.

TR:
In no way is this episode an advertisement for the workshop. If anything, it is a PSA for considering new approaches to how we think about audio description and access in general.

Salima:

I feel like when we think about accessibility, there's so much fear of screwing up. Both you and Cheryl really created this environment where, like, I personally didn't feel scared of screwing up at all, I just felt free to experiment and explore. I don't think I would have necessarily felt as as open to create like an audio described erotic audio fiction piece with said stranger that had never met before.

I feel like it's so important that people realize it's okay to make a mistake, and then go back and repair, create the opportunities for repair.

Workshops like this, and the, and the pieces that are created through it kind of model what's possible. And the more models we have, it opens up opportunities to kind of show like some different ways of looking at things.

Arseli:
Why not think of audio description or any other form or medium of access, as something that could be created, opening up new paths, not something restricting us or frightening us, but something that actually opens up our minds to things that we would otherwise not notice?

To me, that's the difference between the two different approaches to audio description and access in general.

TR:

You know, this isn't just for those new to Audio Description.

Cheryl:
I was losing my motivation, I wasn't sure where to go with the artistry thing. And this workshop, getting so much enthusiastic buy in for bringing your full identities, bringing your full creativity, letting your heart break open, just soaring and playing.
It was the kind of validation and confirmation I needed for the creative side to audio description.

Arseli:

If you think about this creative aspect, and doing audio description in a creative way, and not pretending to be objective, or unbiased, which is awful, like admit it right? Nothing can be objective, we know that. So let's just stop pretending about this all presumed objectivity, and actually being reflexive, consciously reflecting on the fact that it is you actually describing the work, not rejecting that subjectivity, that standpoint. But accepting and recognizing and actually cherishing that, and being accountable for who you are. And what you're describing.

That's really, that's was one of the key takeaways that I got from our workshop together and learning from you and Cheryl is acknowledging your positionality as the describer.

I will make certain choices along the way because of my social positioning, my upbringing, my assumptions and privileges.

I will tell you certain things and I will not tell you certain other things. Being transparent about you as the describer.

TR:

There are people who are comfortable with the established or mainstream compliant approach to Audio description. Some perhaps even have a stake in solely promoting that perspective. I didn't however realize there are some out here just straight hatin'...

Cheryl:
One thing that I've heard said is, if someone came across one of these very creative, very artistic, nonlinear things, and they thought that's what audio description is, they might be turned off from audio description, and not realize that you can go out there and find this professionally made stuff that's much more informative, and much more standardized.

Nobody's in here saying, this is the only way to do it. And frankly, if people enjoy the creative audio description, then why would we withhold it from them. And I think that audio description is really good when it matches the tone of the piece.

TR:

As an example, Cheryl and I talked about a Netflix special called "The Twist."

Cheryl:

Catherine Cohen's stand up comedy routine.

It was just outrageous. Her outfit was so audacious and so phenomenal. It was like high society, Dallas meets New York, Jewish American princess meets, like 60s, go go boots. I mean, it was just outrageous. And you didn't get to hear about any of it.

And the describer was like,

[softly]

"And here I am describing the visuals."

Which did not match with Katherine's like super over the top, loud, boisterous musical theater presentation.

I really feel like hers would have benefited from the creative style. Now it's Netflix, maybe they can't do that. It's why I like to work independently. Not that Netflix has asked me to work for them, but it's not like I've said no to them.

TR:

I always want to make sure y'all know, this isn't shots against the AD writer, narrator or even Netflix. This is about constructive criticism, recognizing opportunities for growth and generating conversation within the community.

Cheryl:
The name of that comedy show was The Twist dot dot dot
If you don't get a description of what she looks like, what on earth does that title even mean? Did you have a sense of what she looks like?

TR in Conversation with Cheryl:
No, not from that. No.

I didn't watch the whole thing I turned it off.

TR:

I'm just saying.

Cheryl.
The audio description script identified her as wearing a pink dress. She was most assuredly wearing a romper. A very low cut romper.

TR in Conversation with Cheryl:
Actually after that description, she said she was wearing the romper. It was confusing. It was like, Well, why did you describe a pink dress? Did she just switch?

Cheryl:
You want to talk about following the rules. You got an inaccuracy in your second sentence. She's not wearing a dress. She's wearing a romper. They could have used that point to mention that it's extremely low cut that the shorts part of the romper is they're like really short shorts. She's got knee high boots on. This is the most ludicrous outfit, it is so outrageous.

To wear a low cut romper as a person who's not real thin, is a fabulous political statement that you don't get.

TR:

The political statements continued.

Cheryl:

I had to look her up because like Catherine Cohen, what Jew names their kid Catherine, what is this about? So one of her parents is Jewish, when I figured that one out and the other is Catholic. Okay. Catherine Cohen, she has kind of the stereotypical Jewish knows that, by the way, is gorgeous.
In general, in the United States, not the nose, you see on models, fashion magazines. I know people with that nose who have really spent their childhoods being made fun of and feeling really self conscious about the nose. When you add those pieces together, she's not a real thin model. She's got this Jewish nose. Now all the sudden, the title of the show means something different. The twist is gorgeous.

To me it's also a political statement as a Jew, especially in this time when those guys with their tiki torches think we're, you know, gonna run them out of town.

I'll be honest, I don't know how you would effectively in one sentence, get that whole description that I just gave. But if we don't have any understanding of the size of her body, in this low cut tiny romper, and then the Jewishness of her face. It's such a disservice to this entire show that she wrote and choreographed.

TR in Conversation with Cheryl:

I wish I could remember his name.

It was a guy who worked for WGBH. And he was the only guy that I ever heard really get excited about a building blowing up in an action movie. IThe first time I heard that guy I was like, Oh, I love this. He's like "an explosion!"
I'm okay with that because it matched. My problem would be if if he was doing that all the time. on things that didn't even call for it, "oh, what a beautiful puppy!"

Cheryl:
Why is that a problem. I feel like audio description is a translation of the film. It's not a thorough, complete translation of everything, because then the one hour movie with less 18 hours, and who wants to listen to 18 hours of description of every single thing that's, like, that's not what it's about. But you want to do a faithful translation, and you want the audience using audio description, to come away with the story and the vibe that the people not using audio description got.

TR in Conversation with Cheryl:
If anybody's listening from Netflix, from HBO, from anywhere. Create a little space like a sandbox. Let's have an audio description sandbox.

TR:

A place to experiment?
Oh, wait, a lab.

Cheryl:

I mean it's not that different from kinetic light, and their Audimance app where many tracks that are provided and you choose which audio description you want, what kind of description of this dance performance Do you want to listen to?

I love this idea of like beta testing it.

TR:

Let me be clear, something like this requires funding. I'm not expecting anyone to donate their time. Audio description is not a charity.

Recognizing the artistic possibility in AD, the curb cut effect or the additional benefits it has outside of the intended users, what we're talking about here is investing in an exploration. More than likely, resulting in a new way of thinking about Audio description.

Cheryl:
We can stop having two camps of creative versus compliant. And you could just have one camp that is creative and compliant.

TR in Conversation with Cheryl:

I think a lot of times when we talk about AD as art, even consumers, I think probably are a little bit leery about that.
I don't want to watch an action movie and have spoken word as the audio description.

[Cheryl laughs]

I don't want that. I wonder if people think that that's what is meant by audio description and art?

Cheryl:
Smoke, ash falling falling falling into my eyes. Oh, it burns.

TR in Conversation with Cheryl:
That was really good.

TR:

So where do we go from here?

Cheryl:

My fear is that if I or we tried to do the same workshop, because it was so amazing the first time, it would just be like a total failure the second time, or you'd get that group who doesn't get it, and you'd spend the whole time answering compliance questions.

There's a part of me that doesn't ever want to teach the workshop the same way again, because it was just this perfect little thing.

Why not do something totally different every time? Or has some differences every time? I don't know, if I wrote a book on audio description. I wouldn't keep putting out the same edition for 20 years.

I would change it to not only keep with the times, what's happening, what's trendy, what's current, what are people asking for. But also, you want to meet the people who are in your workshop. So if they're not ready for the creative stuff, because they literally don't even know what audio description is? Well, let's start with something basic, but it will still be creative. So I would love to co teach more of these classes.

TR in Conversation with Cheryl:
Who do you think this workshop is right for? So is it for folks who want to get into audio description? Or is it for some other group. Artists?

Cheryl:
I think it can be adapted for any group, what I would really love to see people who are already trained in audio description, maybe even already working in that field, who feel like they got kind of a more standardized education in audio description. You're an objective neutral observer. Folks who were trained in this would be nice to shake it up a little bit and broaden the way they look at it.

TR:

Cheryl sees the benefits for those not interested in directly creating AD.

Cheryl:

I've had the opportunity to speak in a filmmaking class recently.
One hour basic, little bits of information about captioning and audio description, not necessarily even how to do it, but what to consider in terms of high quality, accessibility, culturally responsive, culturally sensitive accessibility.

Just so that they know there's resources out there, there's people who can do this.

I wanted them to have that sense of relationship and conversation about accessibility.

So a workshop like this can also open that up, maybe you won't do more audio description.
But I bet you will remember this workshop when you make your film or podcast or whatever, and be more mindful about, can you be creative and accessible in the piece, even more than you are going to be?

TR:

We're talking about AD not only as a creative tool for artists such as filmmakers, musicians and designers, but what about its role in education.

Arseli:
Not many courses, not that I know, at least in my university are like thinking of audio description as an important project, pedagogical tool or an intervention in the courses being taught, and we have departments such as film studies or communication studies. I think that's the kind of important intervention that such fields could have from the Disability Justice committees, disability activism, the kind of work that you, Cheryl, and wonderful other receptive disabled artists and activists are doing, how to think of the curriculum differently, how to think of the pedagogy is differently.

Anti ableist approaches, creating work that is more accessible in the future.

TR:

As a teacher, Arseli recognizes value in audio description.

Arseli:
You made me think about the work of Georgina Klieg, a disability scholar. She does this like audio description as creative pedagogical practice in her courses. And she wrote an article about that, which I also like using my courses, asking students to do audio describe things and how that actually itself becomes a process of learning for them.

But it is actually transforming the person doing the audio description in the process, as well as the viewer. The person describing it starts to see things themselves in certain ways perhaps they didn't see before.

[fun funky music plays]

TR:
Audio description or any access in general is an experience.
It's about the creation and the result. That strictly compliance approach treats AD like a chore and the end result often reflects that energy.

If we could only tap into the energy that Salima describes after attending an event where all, well most, access needs were considered and met.

Salima:

It felt like there was like sparkles in the air. And I'm not too sure if there were actually sparkles in the air. Just kind of felt like it. That's how I feel about the disability arts world here.
I think I want to focus on being able to create that feeling of or that question of like, "Are there sparkles in the air or does it just feel like it because everyone's cared for?"

TR in conversation with Salima:

I like that. I like that a lot.

TR:

Those sparkles, are the visual representation of where that access originated.
Shout out to Alice Wong, Mia Mingus and Sandy Ho. They have the term or the hashtag to be exact; #AccessIsLove.
Where accessibility is understood as an act of love.

You can't mandate love!

I want to send much love out to all my wonderful guest:
My friend and colleague the Amazing Access Artist Cheryl Green.

On Twitter and Facebook I'm at @whoamItostopit

WhoAmIToStopIt is actually the name of a documentary film that I made. It became my big film and I've only made a few very small films since then.
So I kindI moved all of my stuff onto the whoamitostopit website instead of maintaining two websites one for this film and one for my business.

TR:
Director of the Access in the Making Lab at Concordia University in Canada, Professor Arseli Dokumaci.

Arseli:
you can go to our website which is AccessInTheMaking all together as one word .ca
All the information is there and our lab members are there and our emails are there so just come on with that and reach out to us. Our doors are open to anyone.

TR:
Multi Sensory Artist, also up in Canada, Salima Panjwani.

TR:
Thats right you're all official members of the Reid My Mind Radio family!

- Airhorn

TR:

Now don't get confused by this idea of AD in the lab .
There are some who are thinking they're experimenting with AD. I'm looking at you Amazon!
You are, but I don't feel the love.

Let me see if I can frame this in a way that you'll understand...

- Shift to a synthetic voice saying the following:

You're starting from a place of how can we save money, how can we reduce human involvement but still be compliant
And I'm not fooled by the okey doke.
That's where you say it will lead to more AD... don'tcha want that?

TR:

I want my AD like I want my food. Made with love!
The whole experience just feels better.

By the way, I appreciate synthetic speech, it's what gives me access to my computer and phone.

I just don't want it on a movie because Jeff Bezos wants to go to space.

Synthetic Speech:

Damn, T! There goes that Amazon sponsorship!

TR:

The AD lab that I'm thinking about is an environment where we can start with love, respect and creativity.

Am I taking this lab idea too far? I'm thinking of how I can apply it to my life in general.
A place for considering new concepts, ideas, free from judgement? A safe space to just try something new...?

For those of you who are new to blindness or any disability, I'm envisioning a safe space for us to confront new thoughts around things like ableism, our human experience
I remember how my early thoughts after disability were mostly about getting back to "normal".
Wanting my prior life, as if that's the only way to live. As if the only way to experience the world is visually.

Am I going to far with this lab thing? I'd love to hear what you all think. I'm at ReidMyMindRadio@gmail.com.

- Audio: Reid My Mind Radio Outro
Peace!

Hide the transcript

June 1st, 2022 / Author: T.Reid

Show the transcript

TR:

Music begins, a pulsating ominous synth that opens up to a dramatic mid-tempo beat.

TR:

What's up Reid My Mind Radio?

We're in between seasons but I wanted to share some thoughts with the family.

Truth is, I wish I didn't feel obligated to share these thoughts on this particular subject.
I'm hoping one day it won't be necessary.

People cared!

I think.

I'm just ready to move past it.
Meaning, I would love to see those who say they understand and support the need for Audio description to be more culturally aware and competent, put it into practice.

but, it's like...
Audio sample: "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in." From The Godfather.

- Reid My Mind Radio Intro Music

Sounds of a thunder and rain storm.

TR:

I don't believe in conspiracy theories.

- Thunder clap

At least that's how I felt before the phone call.

Then, I realized after answering the phone that I heard it wrong.
The caller id really said Ann Sur Fonne. I think it's French.

Wherever she's from, she called to tell me a bit about the AD Illuminati.

- Thunder clap!

Well, sort of...

This mysterious phone call came on the same day my daughter Riana and I finally had the chance to sit together and watch Judas and the Black Messiah.

It's a film that explores the FBI's murder of Fred Hampton. The 21 year old Chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party who was in the midst of uniting black and other organizations focusing on advancing rights and opportunities for Black, brown and other marginalized people.

The movie was first released in February 21 both in theaters and on HBOMax. I'm not certain about the theater release, but I do know that HBO Max did not yet provide audio description. My daughter refused to watch the film until it had AD and she could watch with her Dad. That's me y'all!

It wasn't until sometime during the summer of 2021 that the film received an audio description track on HBO.

Almost a year since its release, January 1, 2022, Riana and I sat down to watch the film.

As far as the movie goes, the two stars, Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield, playing Chairman Fred Hampton and the sell out under cover Bill O'Neil respectively, were both amazing.

It's never easy to just watch a movie like this as if it were just a story. It's not. It's a reminder of a not so distant history a sobering acknowledgment that those in power won't hesitate to kill when their way of life is threatened.

History shows, that's often, when Black people are seeking their freedom, standing up for their rights and when there's a hint of creating a unified front that challenges the establishment.

In 2018, I published an episode that focused on my response to the audio description in Marvel's Black panther. If you never heard that, I'll provide a link and hope you'll take a listen. In summary, I discuss my reaction to the selected narrator. The episode actually goes into much more, but that's often what's recalled. I refer to the narrator as the voice of the colonizer - a British white man.

Unlike Marvel's Black Panther, Judas and the Black Messiah doesn't originate or belong to the MCU or the Marvel Comic Universe. This story is real. It belongs to us, this is the Black People's Black Panthers.

I found it pretty ironic that , once again a film featuring a Black Panther is described by a British sounding white man.

- A mix of movie scenes with a dramatic "No" Including "Back to the Future" and "Independence Day".

I always feel obligated to say, I have nothing against this person as an individual, he's probably a nice guy.

Truth is, I really don't have to. This isn't about one person. It's about an entire community of people being overlooked.

Anyone choosing to focus on individuals should really ask themselves if they're really trying to deflect and avoid the real conversation.

- Cell Phone ringing

Not long after my daughter and I finished our post film review and conversation, my cell phone rang.

Yeah, that's really the ring tone I use. I guess I'm nostalgic for telephones with actual bells on them.

Voice Over saying Ann Sur Fonne!

So I just had to pick it up.

TR in Conversation Flashback::
Hello? (Says hesitantly)

Ann:
What did you think of the AD?

TR in Conversation Flashback:
Excuse me?

Ann:
What did you think of the AD?

TR in Conversation Flashback:
Who's this?

Ann:
I'm sorry Thomas, this is Ann Sur Fonne, you don't know me... (Continues talking but fades down to an unintelligible murmur, with narration taking over)

TR:

She went on to explain she's been listening, watching and reading the things that I and others have been talking about audio description and the need for more inclusion and proper representation of voices in all films especially those that are culturally specific.

She wouldn't say exactly what power she had but she said she's on the inside and wants to see change.

Ann:
Have you heard of the AD Illuminati?

TR in Conversation Flashback:
I have but always just thought that was a joke. I thought it referred to [beep]

Ann:
Thomas, whatever you do you can't say those names out loud or use on your podcast. Your life is in danger if you do.

TR in Conversation Flashback:
What the heck! It's audio description.

Ann:
Thomas, you said it before and made a damn t-shirt, it's about more than entertainment.

TR:
Ann talked a bit more. Each time I tried to get more information or even some hint of why using Black voices in films about Black people is an issue, she'd just talk about how much she likes the podcast.

Ann:
I really like your podcast.

TR in Conversation Flashback:
Oh, thank you! Continues talking but fades out and narration over takes it.

TR:

I really need to work on not being easily distracted.

I did get to ask her if there's any specific connection to Black Panther? I mean

I can't tell you is all she'd say. Continue to be aware, pay attention and look beyond what you see. I reminded her I'm Blind. We laughed.

Ann:
But seriously, continue to be observant. There are things happening and people claiming they care and want to see change. But as you know now, the AD Illuminati is real and right now, their goals don't align with yours.

TR in Conversation Flashback:
What exactly are their goals?

Ann:
Nice try Tomas, but I'm already risking my life calling you. I'll be in touch when I can. Whenever you hear your phone say Ann Sur Fonne make sure you answer. No matter the time of day or night.
Goodbye.

TR:

And that was it, she was gone.

I didn't mention this to anyone for a day or so because I was just shook.
I finally decided to tell my wife. She just stared at me. I took my phone out to show her my call history.

There was no record of the call.

"I didn't dream it! I didn't dream it!" I muttered to myself as I walked off to be alone.

Classic Radio Announcer:
"We interrupt this program for a special news announcement"

Hi, I'm Cheryl Green
And I'm Thomas Reid

Cheryl: That... wait, you don't look like Cheryl Green.

Thomas: What do you mean?

Cheryl: Well, I mean Cheryl she's got hair on her head, kinda curly medium length brown hair and she's got black framed glasses and olive skin.

Thomas: Ok, now that you say that, you don't sound like Thomas Reid. I think he's a brown skin Black man with a shaven head and where's shades and has a full beard and might be wearing like a Wu Tang Clan t-shirt or something like that.

Cheryl: But, we're both disabled podcasters.

Thomas: Do you think we should say podcasters with disabilities?
Cheryl: - Oh oh, you know, let's do a podcast about that.
Thomas: Mm! Good idea!

Cheryl: Actually, Thomas and I are working on a project that's all about disabled podcasts...
It's called... Oh wait, well, we don't actually have a name just yet so we're calling it... oh wait, we don't actually have the name yet. What should we call it?

Thomas: We should call it, project, project!

Cheryl: Yeh, I love it! Project, Project or like I don't know, PODAccess.

Cheryl: So we want to hear from you...
Current or former Deaf or Disabled podcasters, Deaf or Disabled people interested in starting a podcast or consumers of content about disability or Deafness.

Thomas: We've created a survey, that should only take about 20 minutes to complete and we'd really love your feedback.

Cheryl: You can find the survey at https://bit.ly/PODAccess
On that survey you can sign up to receive more information about
Project Project as it develops.

Thomas: Again, fill out the survey at http://bit.ly/PODAccess

Cheryl: Ah, nice job Cheryl!
Thomas: Ah, , you too Thomas! (Laughs)

Classic Radio Announcer: Now back to our show.

TR:
I needed something light to take my mind off this for a while.

I decided to watch the final season of Insecure also on HBO Max.

- Music begins, an anxious melody that continues of a mid-tempo Hip Hop beat. Hip hop

HBO did not provide description for their shows until 2021.

prior to this final season, Blind folks interested in watching Insecure with audio description would need to find an alternative way of accessing the series. Allegedly available somewhere.

If you're not familiar with issa rae's Insecure, according to her the show "examines "the complexities of 'Blackness' and the reality that you can't escape being Black."

While the show is a "black show" it's characters and subject is universal and relatable.

Sort of like what people with disabilities like to think about disabled content. But you know many non-disabled hear that word and are like oh, that's not for me!

Similarly, white disabled can hear black and disabled and say, oh boy that's not for me.

Anyway! Humanity, right?

Insecure is a well done series. Young black people just living their lives searching and figuring out who they are and where they want to go. From Black law firms to the streets , all sorts of Black.

Well, guess what wasn't Black?
That's right! The audio description narrator.

And here's where it gets tricky for me personally. I like and know the narrator. She's been on the podcast y'all. That makes her Reid My Mind Radio Family!

Let's be clear, I'm not trying to put people on blast or shame someone for their decisions. To return to the Godfather for a second...
"It's not personal Sonny, It's strictly business."

That being the case, I won't drop manes, but feel free to look it up. In fact, go ahead and watch the show, it's entertaining and I support Black content creators.

I really wanted to call Ann Sur Fonne. I wanted to ask her what could be done about this. Does this at all relate to the AD Illuminati?

No need. I'm sure she'd be vague or even worse tell me how much she likes the podcast to distract me.

I really do need to stop falling for that one.

She did encourage me to continue to speak on it and suggested I do the same for others.

So that's what I'm doing.

Is there really an AD Illuminati?

Is all of this part of some conspiracy?

I believe that those in charge are doing what they know. I recognize that it's not malicious or done with bad intentions. Folks have jobs to do and deadlines to meet and all sorts of limited resources.

This has been the way it's been done for years. It goes back to the early decision makers in audio description. They did great things, but they also bear responsibility for where we are today. They chose to not see color. They chose not to seek out culturally appropriate voices. They taught and some still teach the newbies. Has the curriculum been updated or is it the same ol' thing. You know, that good Ol' AD!?

I know for many, this isn't a big deal, in comparison to other issues of injustice or representation. But I disagree! I think it's just another one. One that will never grab the attention of the mainstream.
It's black and disabled.

Ouch!

Yes, hard to hear? Well, it's not easy to say.

Music begins, an optimistic, bouncy Hip Hop groove.

I offered some possible solutions in the Black Panther episode from 2018.

One worth repeating is seeing the selection of narrator as a casting choice and therefore a responsibility of the director and production team.

If content creators were more aware and involved in the audio description process, I don't believe we'd have as many of these issues.

I don't think Issa Rae is aware of the voice providing audio description narration for her show.

, when asked on the red carpet of an award show who she was rooting for, famously and unapologetically proclaimed;

Issa Rae: "Everybody Black. I am. Betting on Black tonight!"

Here's another consideration for addressing this issue. Individual responsibility.

It's not just the narrator, audio description is a team sport. No matter where you fall within the audio description life cycle, you play a role.

As I am aware of the process today, broadcasters who commission the AD track have the majority of the power. They are the true shot callers. They dictate what they want the script to look like and the type of voice they want to hear.

I've seen people find qualified voice talent ... open your networks, they're out here.

AD professionals, you have a choice.
If you're aware of the inequity and say you want to see the change, well, recognize your power.

Narrators!

I find it really hard to believe that you don't recognize when you're not right for the project. Rather than finding a way to personally justify that with yourself, why not use your influence to suggest that someone else is hired for the position? Perhaps it's someone you know and recommend, but in general, speaking up about the subject, being an ally, well that's powerful.

- "You will not replace us" Chants of Alt Right Mob.
TR:

Is this call for equitable representation threatening?

When it comes to the voice of the narrator on films that are culturally specific, we're talking about a small piece of the pie. The total number of films and television shows that are focused on BIPOC stories is still a fraction of the total films made today.

White narrators get plenty of work. I don't see any reason for them to feel threatened by these comments.

This issue is just one part of a much bigger problem.
It goes beyond films like Black Panther or In the Heights. Shows like Insecure. It goes beyond the voice. It's about the visibility of Black and other people of color

That's seeing and acknowledging color on screen and stage. It's recognizing that Blind and Low Vision includes people of color.

Writers!

If you're assigned to a project, recognize your limitations and ask for help, seek the proper input or suggest that you're not right for the job.

We don't need color blind writers.

No silly, I'm not talking about those who can't see red green or blue, but rather black and brown.

It's one thing to see Black and brown people when we're in the majority. At that point, I guess you can't help it, right?

What about the other films that have a so called diverse cast and include BIPOC characters. The lack of audio description erases them from the Blind consumers screen; rendering people of color invisible.

For Black people and others of color, striving to be seen, heard and in general represented takes place in all aspects of life. What we experience in audio description isn't unique, it's a part of that systemic problem that persists throughout society. We can't wait for it to be resolved outside of audio description and then trickle down. Why not do what we can to address these underlying issues that we've all inherited. At the very least acknowledge their existence and commit to doing better.

That's what this episode is all about today. Doing better...

Music begins, a dramatic piano riff leads into a strong steady beat.

I reached out to some people who I know feel strongly about this issue. Audio description providers who already commit to this idea fully. The Social Audio Description Team who I featured here on the podcast last year.

Together, we're drafting a pledge that we will invite everyone to sign. That is, everyone who believes in making audio description a representative, equitable and fair space. Those who want to truly see the world in all of its beautiful identities, shapes, sizes, abilities, ....

Do I think a pledge will resolve this? Not necessarily. Right now, I'm interested in eliminating the excuses. We're in 2022, if you're not interested in the proper representation of people of color then be firm in your stance and say that.

Don't tell the community you're for something while your actions say otherwise.

If you're in support, raise your volume. I'm talking to consumers as well as AD professionals.

TR:

I'm hoping to have this pledge published shortly and plan to report back to you. I'll definitely link to the pledge from ReidMyMind .com and share on my social media pages; Facebook and Instagram @ReidMyMindRadio and
Twitter that's @tsreid.

Join me in pledging to make audio description or our little microcosm of the world into an example of what we want this place to be. We can't wait for the rest of them.

The Flipping the Script on Audio Description season kicks-off Tuesday, June 14, 2022.

- Reid My Mind Radio outro
Peace!

Hide the transcript

April 27th, 2022 / Author: T.Reid

We reached the final episode of the season where we salute and recognize individuals who are pursuing their interests and goals not in spite of their disability but rather with it. The difference may seem minor to some, but if you're someone who wants to see disability normalized in society then you probably recognize this vast gap.

Question, a young Producer & Rapper from Atlanta, Blind from birth is one such example. He's been into music ever since he can remember. Like the early Hip Hop producers he admires, Question started making music with the tools he had available to him.

Show the transcript

We're back on the scene, crispy and clean and if you're Hip Hop and from my generation especially, then you know what I mean!

My name is Thomas Reid and I'm the host and producer of this here podcast.

-"Reid My Mind Radio" echoes

I'm feeling good. Feeling accomplished as we wrap up this season: Doing Your Thing With Disability.

If you've been rockin' with Reid My Mind Radio, you're very familiar with our commitment to those adjusting to blindness.

We often talk about the power of people in that adjustment.
The value of their stories and experiences which include the direct lessons as well as how it expands our own beliefs of what is possible.

Today, I hope you all will recognize the additional value and power in individuals who have a shared identity, experience, goals, working together in support of one another.
Not letting you rest on your strengths alone, but encouraging you to go beyond with all that you have.

Today, I'm in my Hip Hop mode so we're gonna call it what it is, your crew, your squad!

Family, let's get 'em!

Audio: Reid My Mind Theme Music

Question:
Yo, this is Question man! Artist and producer coming out of East Point, primarily a hip hop, r&b EDM.

I am a biracial kid with dreadlocks wearing a long sleeve blue shirt and some sweatpants right now. Chillin in my home studio just vibing out.

Question:
I've been blind all my life. I was born with optic nerve hypoplasia. I don't have any vision in my right eye. And I have like, a little bit of vision in my left eye so I read Braille. And I use a lot of accessible and adaptive technology.

TR in Conversation with Question:
Did you go to mainstream school?

Question:
I did both. I went to mainstream school really up until eighth grade. And then I went to Georgia Academy for the Blind until I graduated.
I feel like if you go to a blind school, your whole life or a school for the blind, you're gonna be a little bit sheltered to certain cultural aspects.

TR:
The concern that I'm sure many people have in enrolling a Blind child in a mainstream school is what Question found helpful.

Question:
It's a little bit easier to kind of duck off, find your own crowd. It'd be a whole lot going on, you know, games and homecoming, and like different organizations, different things where you'd be staying after school clubs and all type of that. They had that on a minimal scale at a Blind school because they want everybody to be included.
But it's just different so you know you do be a little bit sheltered if you don't make a point to step outside of that school for the blind.

TR:
Inclusion is great, but we also need a chance to find out who we are as an individual. Becoming our true selves. Music was a part of that discovery for Question. In fact, it's his interest in different genres that inspired his name.

-Sample: So you're a philosopher?

TR in conversation with Question:
Question. What's the name about?

Question:
I study a lot of different things. I just really look at myself as a student and as a fan of a lot of different genres.
Hip Hop people like Logic, people like The Roots, De La, Tribe, even Kanye, to a degree have just like a certain aura to the music and to what's going on. So that's definitely one of the aesthetics that I have as a part of my material.

TR in Conversation with Question:
I think I read you kind of referred to yourself as a hippie.

Question:
Yeah, for sure

TR:
Less 1960 or early 70's hippie, and more like a Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul style!

TR in Conversation with Question:
Tell me a little bit about your introduction to music and then specifically rap. I don't know if rap was first.

TR in Conversation with Question:
Helter Skelter? Okay. That's a name I don't hear being dropped that often.

Question:
She definitely deep into it. She my manager.
Because of that she's now grown in her understanding of the industry. Five years ago, it was nothing but just like being a fan, being just appreciative of everything. But now, because of just the way things move, it's become like a professional thing.
TR:
It began however with a natural interest and love for the music.
At three years old he was copying melodies and beats heard on the radio using toy keyboards. Always asking those he was with to turn on the radio, play a CD, he wanted music.
He learned drums and percussions, taught himself keyboard.
After hearing a song by Ludacris and Trina that featured a violin, he wanted to join the orchestra but was dissuaded from pursuing the instrument.

Question:
"Nah you can't do it because the string part is too hard for people to read. And if you try to read the Braille, like, you can't read it and play it at the same time."

And then they was like, "you could do the drums."

And it was like, I already do the drums. Like, I had been playing drums from young to I have like, Jim Bayes and congas. I got a drum set in my house.
I was kind of like, nah, I wanted to do strings. I wanted to do violin. So they didn't let me do it. It's kind of weird.

TR:
Fortunately, that didn't stop Question from pursuing music. He continued to be inspired from those things within his reach.

Question:
I used to remember, like, listening to CDs in a stereo of Rick Ross, Wayne, Jay Z, whatever. And then I could like, burn my beats to a CD and just go play it in that same stereo. And it's like, I'm on a CD. It didn't really matter how good it was because it was me. And I had done this and I had brought something that was in my head into a form that everybody else could interact with, whether they liked it or they don't. It's like, now it's here. And it wasn't before. And that's like a crazy thing. To me to this day.

TR:

Whether you're a kid or not, sometimes, the things we think about or aspire to seem mysterious or out of reach. Remove the veil, and we begin to realize that it is attainable.
That can definitely provide the fuel needed to work on the craft.

-Soft Rock&Roll starts to play

TR in Conversation with Question:
Talk to me about some of that work. You're spending a lot of time in your room, you got some equipment you're producing, talk to me about some of your early stuff, and how you've seen that change over the years.

Question:
I was in about middle school when I started really producing and getting into recording myself and exploring effects and making beats and all that type of thing.
That's when I really got my first computer and really just got competent using a screen reader just navigating the internet and doing things independently.

TR:
You see how this young brother just dropped that on y'all?

That's the work I refer to. I don't care what work, art or hobby you're trying to do, if you're someone who is Blind or Low Vision and you haven't adapted to your technology, you're limiting yourself.

Question:
I made my first beats on a sound recorder program. In Windows, I just took my iPod and hooked it up to my computer and then I play songs that had some drums at the beginning and I take like the hi hat from one of them to clap from another one, take the kick, and then like make a pattern.
I take Beethoven sample out in a folder on our own XP computer and just make a beat, paste the sample in a different way. Take little parts of it, chop it over the drums, and then I record over it. But I was just making little freestyles and the quality was crazy bad because it was just sound recorder.

TR:
Hearing that difference didn't discourage him. Rather, it drove him to improve his sound.

TR in Conversation with Question:
What were you using in the beginning? I know that's not in sound recorder.

-both laugh

Question:
I went from Sound Recorder up to Sony Sound Forge eight.

Question:
If you want to do something bad enough, you're gonna find a way to do it. It's not the clippers, It's the barber.
You can always find a way to make it happen.

TR:
When you're passionate about something, you don't think about time.

TR:
Upping his game to Reaper, a multi track digital audio workstation, improves the time it takes to produce, increases his access to plugins and effects, but his studio is far from optimal.

Question:
I'm gonna be so real bro. We're not selling beats like that yet. All of that is coming, you know what I'm saying. I'm gonna get to that. But right now, we just doing what we got to do.

TR in Conversation with Question:
Yo, I love that you said that. Because, you know there's a lot of people who are like, "when I get", fill in the blank, "when I get my technology," "when I get that piece of software," you know, some people would have been like, "oh, I can't mess with this whole Sound Recorder" but nah you starting and you work on what you have. What's that all about?

Question:
I do believe in saying when, but only in certain circumstances, like I believe in when over if, you know what I'm saying. It definitely is when instead of if. You're going to get there, but you have to work to make yourself get there.

I believe in a lot of manifestation and I believe a lot in practicing what you need to do to get to where you're trying to go. So you have to kind of learn what you want, you have to figure out where it is that you want to end up what you're trying to head for. And then just make sure that you take the steps that you can take and reason every day to put your life on that path and move in that direction.

When I was young, I didn't even really know that. But I just wanted it so bad. Like I just knew, because it was something that I was good at. It was something that I naturally was winning in. And so I just knew I wanted to push further. Because like, why would I give up on that? It made me feel good.

TR:
Question's art includes beat making, production, and rapping. He began freestyling at 5 years old.
For the uninformed, freestyling is the rapper form of improvisation. Making up rhymes off the top of your dome. (Your head).

-Question's rhymes play on the background

Question:
I see a whole lot of divisiveness amongst us, but I have to address obvious problems and address inequality.

I identify as a black man. There's still a lot of work that we have to do on a lot of fronts. But right now, there's a lot of people paying attention. So I do appreciate that.

TR in Conversation with Question:
Do you talk about anything like that in your music?

- Question's music fades back in then fades back to the background

TR in Conversation with Question:
Performances? Do you perform on stage?

Question:
I love performing. I recently just got to perform with a live band up in New York. The homies June and the Pushas. We did like and hour set freestyling and with some original jams in mind, and it was just sick to see a band like reinterpret my jams and like real professional musicians, drummer going dumb, you know the guitar, it's like shredding.
Crazy on the joint. It's like an out of body experience. I'm just able to go nuts.

TR:
That opportunity to make music and then share that creation with an appreciative audience, giving you immediate feedback, must be exhilarating. But like anything in life, there's real pros and cons.

As a producer, you do a lot of cataloging, you get things in order. If you have your beats organized in a certain folder by like what tempo they at, you know, how fast they are, what key they are, what VOD they are, what artists they're for, you can literally like, send your catalogue to certain labels and to certain artists while you sleep and make money residually.

TR:
Of course , there's all sorts of pros and cons no matter the career. Question offers some words that apply to us all.

Question:
You have to be very grounded in a sense that you got to take time for yourself, and remember who you are, you got to remember what you love, who has helped you.
For me, it's a lot about just spending time in nostalgia. If you know your history, then you remember like, why you're doing it.

TR:
Question understands the value of having a team. That includes his mom, also known as manager during business hours.

TR:
The concept of having a team goes beyond managing his own career. For Question, it's about...

TR in conversation with Question:
Blind and Famous! What's that all about?

Question:
Yo gang gang! Man, that's the movement. That's the mob, that's the team. That's my family.

Honestly, I always knew that that was something I had to do something I wanted to do something that for me, was important to what was going on. The greats that I study, everybody, they reach back, and they help out and they show love.
BIG, he got Junior mafia, if you look at Pac, he got the outlaws. TI, he got Grand Hustle. If you look at Ye, he got Good Music.

All of these people, they start with family, people that they came up with recording with and then obviously it branches out and are able to find talent from around the world and to curate people that they haven't known, which is the same way that it started with Blind and Famous.

-rhythmic pop music begins

TR:
Are you socially ReidSponsible

-sample: "I don't even know what that means." "No one knows what it means!"

It's true, no one knows what it means. Not even me. I just think it sounds cool.

That's right, it's time to announce the winner of the March Twitter Giveaway.

-mouths drumroll

@SandraManwille, you, are socially ReidSponsible and will be receiving your very own Reid My Mind Radio coffee/tea, man or any beverage you want to put in it, mug!

Thanks to all those who participated. And a big shoutout and thanks to Annie who by the way is ok!

Now back to the episode...

-Music ends with a bouncing base...

TR:
There's a point in any conversation when you realize what is really meaningful to a person. You can hear the excitement in their voice, you can feel their energy shift. Raising the topic of Blind and Famous with Question, it was definitely time for him to turn up!

Question:
Me and my boy, DaMasta and my boy Migo Traffic.

We all went to school down here at GaB in Georgia. And we used to just freestyle.
We will be just like in a dorms, recording on laptops. Literally on laptop mic. You can hear a fan in the background. But all the kids, they'll be playing the music around school and we'll perform and people knew us and we knew we was going up from that minute.

It wasn't even Blind and Famous back then.

TR:
They each continued working on their art. Even after graduation they remained close.

One day, Question and DaMasta were serving as engineers on a song for Migo Traffic, who used the phrase Blind and famous.

Question:
And I said, bro, we need to take that, like that's the title. That's it. And we just turned it into a movement, started putting out mixtapes. We had a lot of blind supporters and fans and they started letting people know what it was and it was like, Yo, what's this movement? What's going on?

Question:
Coming out of Atlanta, the hippie, kid, man, artist and producer, curator of Blind and Famous, but one equal participant of this collective. I'm gonna pass it to my brother, my slime, DaMasta.

-rap song from B&F plays in the background

Da Masta:
I'm originally from Washington County, a little country town in Georgia. I'm the second curator of B&F.

Question:
And he is an artist. He's hella melodic. He really on his own wave. He's unique, I always credit him with saying that he has his own sound that's not like anybody else I really know.

Da Masta:
I'm also an upcoming producer as well.

TR:
Next up!

-rap song begins and fades to the background

Question:
You can go stream all his projects right now on Spotify. He's going nuts.

- "Play the Hero Remix" MattMac Featuring Question & Label "Blind & Famous Volume 5

Label:
Label, born and raised in Jersey, I am a radio show host, podcaster. I also sing, rap. And I'm getting back into the producing side of things.

Question:
J Mouse, out of Arizona but he travels internationally. With a couple bands actually.

J Mouse:
Been a part of this collective for like two years. I do a lot of stuff in the music industry.

Question
He is a producer, primarily R&B, drill, hip hop, trap. He's a musician.

J Mouse:
I play guitar, piano, bass, I'm a drummer, harmonica. I used to play saxophone too. I'm an engineer so I master, I do a lot of mixing. Pretty much everything, mostly within the music industry.

Question:
J mouse is like a genius, he crazy.

TR:
Let's jump across the pond to the latest member of the crew.

P Dex:
I'm P Dex in the lab, aka the laziest producer in the world, all the way in the UK from Liverpool. Learning to do engineering and all that stuff. Mainly just doing a lot of producing.

Question:
The drill genre has been taken a lot of places by storm over the past few years. UK drill, New York drill, Australian drill. And the UK, really is who kind of innovated and advanced it.
And Dex brings us a lot of knowledge and know how, and just like, really being in that scene and connect. Shows us what's really going on.

- Gold Fingers Sample

Question:
No cap.

GoldFingas:
Something like that.
Me and him used to mess around in Sound Board and he showed me a few things. Ever since then I knew that this kid was gonna do something.

TR in Conversation with BNF:
And this is the whole squad, right? Is anybody missing?

Question:
Yeah, Migo traffic is missing.

Question:
We use something like this, like a conferencing app, but the one we use is called TeamTalk. It's real common in the blind community. We basically just go in there, and we'll send the audio from our computer through so that if we make a beat, if we playing beats, everybody that's using that program can hear what we're doing.
So we'll just bounce ideas back and forth.
We got a group text too! It's real family oriented.
We talk a lot, through the day, people just put beats in there, put songs in there.
And then it's like, okay, I want to get a feature on this, I want to collab on this.
TR:
The magic of collaborating is that each person brings their own creativity and idea to the track.
Label explains more about the process.

GoldFingas:
Because we know each other so well, we know what type of tracks each other likes. As far as like if he you know, if I wanted Question to feature on something, I know, what type of stuff you know that he's into.
And then we also kind of branch out like, we'll try something, he'll try something different. The creative process is organized, but it's all over the place at the same time. So many moving parts going at once, but it's organized chaos. I love it, though.

-laughs

Question:
We all have like hella projects going at one time. We'll have like a few different ideas. We start making songs. And then like, we might have, Matt got a project that's 'bout to come out under his management. So it's like, alright, everybody, let's sit down, let's write for Matt. Let's produce for Matt, let's make sure Matt got everything that he need. Let's make sure that he feels good about where he's at.
Because the thing that we always want to do is make sure that each person is getting their fair shake and getting, you know, the love from everybody as far as like, collaboration, promotion, appreciation, it's that real reciprocal type of thing.

TR in Conversation with BNF:
That's fire, man.

- Continues talking underneath Voice Over...

TR:
I had to ask the squad to take me through an example of the process using an actual production.

Question:
Matt, what about Run It?

-drill/rap song begins

MattMac:
That beat was produced by P Dex and the J Mouse over here.

P Dex:
Originally, me and Johnny were having a session. We were just chillin. And then I had an idea, which is the main melody that runs through the whole track. And then I said, "this is a real nice drill beat." So I started it off and then I sent it to Johnny.

J Mouse:
When I heard PDex's idea, I sat down, started coming up with some ideas and just kind of happened. This particular beat I do like so much and it just came out so smoothly.

P Dex:
And then he did his magic on it and as we were doing it, Matt Mac came and he heard it. And we were like "you should do something with it." But he was, you know, hesitant because he's never done anything in that genre.

Question:
He passed it to me.

P Dex:
Yup

Matt Mac:
Question.

Label:
Now the song is playing on Canada radio. I mean it just blows my mind how one simple thing where an artist in this collective was hesitant to do it, ends up being a song on terrestrial radio.

Matt Mac:
It's also been played on Sirius XM too, which is fire.

P Dex:
It's funny because it originally started all the way over here in Liverpool. Then went to Johnny in Phoenix, and then went to Question in Atlanta, and then went to Matt Mac in Canada.

Label:
40 thousand views on YouTube.

Question:
You can go listen to it on Spotify too. It's doing the same type of crazy joint on Spotify too!

Matt Mac:
That particular song was a whole team effort. This is so fire, being able to work with these guys.

TR in Conversation with Question:
When it comes to the collective thing, B&F...

Question:
Gang.

TR in Conversation with Question:
Talk to me about some of the pros and cons of working with a collective.

TR:
There's the added bonus of learning from one another. That could be new genres, styles, process and more. DaMasta mentioned he decided to begin doing more production.

DaMasta:
Man it is phenomenal. I feel like I've been listening to these guys a lot. It helps like with different sound selection and stuff. I get influenced in the producing side and also the audio engineering.

Question:
He picks it up quick. People go through this trash phase, like I talked about a lot, when you first start out making beats or doing anything, you're trash. But he kind of was able to get the ear for the sound selection a lot faster than a lot of people.

GoldFingas:
It set him up for success.

Question:
Personally knowing Q the longest, I've always wanted to see him make beats because he always had dope suggestions. When I was making beats, he'd be like ay put this in there, add this. And it's like, bro, like.

GoldFingas:
He be doing the most. He over here back seat driving.

TR in Conversation with BNF:
Take the wheel, take the wheel.

DaMasta:
It's truly a blessing, man. I really enjoy it. It helps with a lot like stress or anything. Like I could just make a beat or make a song, and I just feel better.

TR:
Team, family with any sort of group, you're going to have disagreements.
While, there's no hierarchical structure to B & F, I asked GoldFingas as the the person with the most life experience in the squad, if he had a specific approach to problem solving.

GoldFingas:
You really got to exercise a lot of diplomacy. Instead of putting somebody down for what they can't do, take what they can do and try to strengthen that.

TR:
Bars!

Question:
The cons, really like, it can be hard to organize sometimes. Being virtual, we don't really have the time to get in the studio and just like chill or have a meal or just chop it up the way that I like to build with a lot of artists.

TR:
Today there are so many more options for working with audio. both on the Mac and PC side. In fact, you even have some pretty good options on your iPhone or Ipad.
My personal choice continues to be Reaper on the PC.

Label:
It's Label. I also want to give credit to a lot of people in the blind community from all over the world, who take time out to create accessible scripts, and add ons for screen readers that do specific things, and read screens that we otherwise wouldn't have been able to read.
To be able to make these little scripts and add ons for us to use stuff like Reaper and get the full functionality. As if we were in a real studio working off of desks with Pro Tools, I mean, it's just beautiful and amazing.

GoldFingas:
ProTools is also accessible.

TR:

And yes of course, today Pro Tools is accessible on the Mac, so that's an option for many.

Even just within the past five years or so, more companies specializing in music hardware and software like virtual instruments and plugins are getting on board with accessibility. Here's GF.

Question:
Very slowly, the standard is becoming accessibility out of the box. Seamless accessibility. VoiceOver on the iPhone is a great example.
I think in another decade, people are going to be taking disability culture that much more seriously.

-TR voice fades into Question saying the organization's name.

It's a lot of professionals down with us. People that are already down with the Grammys and with the Recording Academy.
Accomplished musicians they got music out. It's nothing to sneeze at. Make sure y'all pay attention to RAMPD and follow us @RAMPDUP_
Show love. We showing love back.

TR:
That love extends out in the form of advice to even younger artists developing their craft right now, in middle and high school.

TR in Conversation with Question:
That's dope..
You might have some aspiring rappers/musicians who are blind listening, like, damn, yo, I want to be down! How do you curate people into B & F?

TR:

The squad has been putting out EP's every December and is currently up to BNF 5.

Question:
On our YouTube channel, Blind and Famous.

You can check the whole playlist, listen to the jams.

TR:
In addition to working on more music collectively as well as on their own, they're hopeful for the day they can get out on the road for live performances.

Question:
We are a collective, We aren't really a music group or a band.
We got a lot of jams together. But like, there's room for everybody to shine individually. But that collective and that that full body is still very important. I would love to do you know, a whole showcase or a tour or something, you know, where everybody has a set and where we can feature each other and kind of everybody gets to direct what's going on within their own space.

TR:
For those in my generation, the collective concept probably brings to mind Native Tongue. You know, Tribe Called Quest, De La, the JB's. For younger listeners perhaps Internet Money.

MattMac:

They have like, a whole bunch of like producers on their team and they have like whole bunch of like artists on their team. And that's like what we are. And I could definitely, like see a lot of similarities to us because Internet Money, like works with each other a lot. And they go back and forth with like loops, and beat collabs. And like with us, they're an internet collective meaning. They were doing all that online.

TR in rap mode:
Yeah, gotta do it.

DaMasta:
I got you bro.

Y'all can find me on YouTube @Damasta1901 That's D A M A S T A 1901
Twitter is @Q_DaMasta1000 And Instagram is @QDaMasta all together.

TR in rap mode:
First Nation born, my man is reppin that
Up next?

MattMac:
My name is MattMac

You can find me on youtube Matt Mac M A T T M A C. You can follow me on Instagram at MattMac online

TR in rap mode:

Producer and a rapper with much more to share
Ayo Label where you at?

Label:
@RomeroOnAir

TR in Conversation with BNF: 58:05
Where are you on the air bro?

Label:

I do two morning shows. I do a morning show for a online classic hit station. It's actually a big powerhouse for the live 365 platform. It's called eagle online radio and then I also do a top 40 Morning Show for a station out in Gainesville Florida. 105.7 Play FM.

So follow me @RomeroOnAir on all social media platforms Twitter, Tik Tok, Instagram @RomeroOnAIr. r o m e r o on air.

TR in rap mode:

GF from V A, with the gangsta lean
- Sample: "Gold Finger"
Nahmean!

TR in rap mode:
Here's how you spell it, no need to guess.

GoldFingas:
G O L D...

TR in rap mode:

F I N G A S

GoldFingas:

On Instagram it's the same thing @GoldFIngas1976

TR in Rap Mode:
Now, one had to leave , before we were done
J Mouse, my man's always on the run
he's a touring musician travels near and far
On twitter, @JCSteelGuitar
Across the pond, where the connection failed
He's in Liverpool so he got to prevail
They call elevators, lifts. The vacs a jab
What's your name, bruv?

P Dex:
Im PDex in the Lab

I'm on Twitter, Instagram @QuestionATL

TR:
Question, Damasta, Migo Traffic, Matt Mac, Label, GoldFingas, J Mouse, and PDex in the Lab AKA
Blind and Famous.
You are all official, members of the Reid My Mind Radio family!
- Airhorn
What a perfect way to close out this season, Doing Your Thing With Disability!
Like adjusting to blindness, disability in general, it's not something we actually do on our own.
When you have a squad, a team a family that you can call on to lift you up when necessary.
Doesn't that sound like a better experience?
I'm inspired by these young cats doing their thing. It doesn't appear to be dictated by anyone but them, together. I can't wait to hear more from all of them as they continue on their journey.
So look, this is family now y'all, join me in sending positive energy their way.
As mentioned, this is the last episode of the Doing Your Thing with Disability season.
We will be back in June with the next season.
In the meantime, if you're not subscribed, you should really ask yourself what you're doing with your life.
All you have to do is hit the button that says subscribe or follow in your favorite podcast app.
Tell a friend and tell them to tell another friend to do the same!
We have transcripts and more on ReidMyMind.com.

Question:
Gang, Gang!

Hide the transcript

April 13th, 2022 / Author: T.Reid

From all sorts of sports and activities to video games; people with disabilities find ways to not only play, but excel. In this latest episode [Accessibility Consultant Brandon Cole](http://BrandonCole dotnet/) joins me to talk about the various barriers, adaptations and finally, accessibility, being built into video games.

Show the transcript

- Sound of Pong

TR:
No! There's nothing wrong with the audio.
You're listening to the OG of video games, Pong *Pong noise* from Atari.

Growing up, whenever my mom would announce that she had to go to Sears or another department store with an electronics section, I'd get excited and ask to go with her.

When we'd get there, I'd make a B-line right to the electronics department and hope no one else was already planted in front of the television playing Pong.

- Space Invaders sounds

That later turned into going to a local Five & Dime store called "Lamstons," which had two or three arcade games in the corner of the store. Space Invaders... that was my ish!

I thought nothing could ever beat getting Space Invaders at home when we finally got our Atari system.

-introduction from Duke Nukem

Years later as an adult, I played games on my computer, Duke Nukem. At least, until that awful day.

Following one of my marathon sessions, I stood up after playing for maybe about two hours and nearly collapsed. The room was spinning and I was nauseous.

I figured I overdid it. I stopped playing for a few days and the same thing happened the next time, only sooner. I tried changing the perspective from a first person view to something else. It just wasn't fun!

A few years later, I thought I'd try again, this time with a Playstation. Grand Theft Auto, Madden. It was good for a while, but ultimately, I didn't have a choice, I just wasn't able to play. Gaming was literally making me sick.

I believe the reason was monocular vision and the lack of depth perception.

Ironically, today, after becoming Blind, I have more opportunity to actually play video games.

- "Let them play!" (The phrase continues as more join in) Sample from The Bad News Bears

For years now, the call for developers to make their games accessible to disabled gamers has grown louder.

There's been lots of things happening!

Welcome to Reid My Mind Radio y'all! I'm Thomas Reid. As we continue with our theme, Doing Your Thing With Disability, we're talking about gaming, because we play too!

-"Time to kick ass and chew bubble gum. And I'm all out of gum!" Duke Nukem

- Reid My Mind Radio Theme Music

Brandon:
Video games are life! I'm a pretty hardcore gamer these days.

The idea to me, that my past self had was, "how can you play video games, you're blind?" is really kind of based on the same philosophy that some sighted people who don't understand blind gamers have.

"How can blind people play games?" I didn't understand it. Because I didn't realize that audio was such a big part of games, such an important part of games that you could use that, to learn patterns and to learn what things meant and to figure out how to play a game.

TR:

This is Brandon Cole, an award winning Accessibility Consultant

Brandon:

He/him. I have black hair. I am six feet tall, exactly. Just an awesome looking dude.

TR:

Well, we have something in common.

Brandon:
I was born with a type of cancer called Retinoblastoma. Totally blind. From the age of two months.

TR:

His introduction to video games began with his older brother.

Brandon:

He was like, hey, Brandon.

-Mario Bros coin collecting and upgrading sounds

You want to go play some Mario Brothers on our Super Nintendo. And at the time, little six year old me was like, what, how? That's a video game, which means I can't play it because I can't see the video.

That was past me. I used to not think the way I do now.

We begin to play and before you know it, I'm breaking bricks, and collecting coins and extra lives and saving princesses and defeating bosses. And it's amazing and I'm feeling this great sense of accomplishment!

And the game ends. Yes. Somehow I beat the entire game in one shot!

TR:

Then?

Brandon:

My loving brother handed me the unplugged second player controller while he played the entire game, the entire game.

I mean, what do you even say to that?

TR in Conversation with Brandon:
That's an older brother.

TR:

Of course, he felt crushed. He thought he was somehow in the gameplay, just like his older brother.

But all wasn't lost. The experience made him realize something.

Brandon:

I did learn that I could follow sound effect patterns.

I decided that I would one day, beat a game without his help.

From then on, I just started trying games and seeing what I could learn about games and seeing what I could do. Eventually I did it! And the first game I beat without my brother's help, was the original Killer Instinct for the Super Nintendo.

And I never looked back since.

TR in conversation with Brandon:

There you go. Older siblings.

Brandon:

Take that!

Brandon:

Once I started gaming, I never stopped, I just kept trying different games.

I tried a lot of games that I couldn't play. Sometimes I just flopped completely, depending on how complex the game was. But like, there were plenty of games where I would start to play the game and I would start to figure out some of the things that might help me get through some part of the game.

TR:

Take the game Metal Gear Solid for the PlayStation One as an example.

-- Metal Gear Solid music plays

Brandon:

That game is a stealth game, where you're not supposed to be seen, you're supposed to hide all the time. So it's not easy if you're blind, because you can't see the guards , but you can hear them and they have very audible footsteps. You can hide from the guards based on where your location is versus where their location is.

TR:

Brandon's step Dad couldn't get past a certain level during the game.

Brandon:

It's a room that is filled with infrared lasers. And if you break any of these laser beams that are going all across the room, up and down, at different intervals, the doors slam shut. The room is flooded with gas and you die and there's nothing you can do about it.

TR:

So step Dad let Brandon figure it out.

Brandon:

I spent maybe two hours working that room, failing over and over and over again. But little by little, figuring out the amount of steps to take before I had to stop to wait for the beam to move again. Then when I had to crawl when I had to walk to get past the lower beams or higher beams. I trialed and errored my way through that entire room and made it to the other side eventually without breaking any of the laser beams.

Technically, it wasn't an accessible game. It's just that I managed to figure out a way through that part.

TR:

Failing over and over again, but continuing to work at it. Crawling, walking to get past laser beams. Trial and error to make it to the other side?

Qualities many disabled people seem to have in abundance.

This isn't just about gaming, we're talking about the real skills behind leveling up in life.

But honestly, we shouldn't have to do all that. We just want to play too, right?

Let's take a look at the inaccessibility faced by disabled gamers and some of the creative adaptations they find in order to be in the game. Let's start with blind and low vision gamers.

Orlando:

My name is Orlando Johnson, I am an African American male approximately 46 years of age, bald, I have a beard.

TR in Conversation with Orlando:

Shout out to the black bald beard gang. Let's go.

Orlando:

Let's get it!

TR:

Again, I have something in common with my guest.

Orlando:

And also love spending time with my family and my grandchildren. Every time I get to spend time with them is a joyous moment for me.

TR:

Ok, for the record, having something in common with the host isn't part of the criteria I employ when selecting guests.

In this case, I was really just looking for the perspective of someone who once enjoyed the games visually.

-Music Begins, an 8 bit game melody that morphs into a Hip Hop beat.

Orlando:

Let me take you back to Christmas back in the 80s. I got my first Atari 800 video game console.
That first year my brother and I that Christmas morning, we played Donkey Kong all morning. Space Invaders. That started the love of the games right there.

TR in Conversation with Orlando:
In terms of the Atari, let me just test your knowledge for a second, brother. How do you repair a cartridge? How do you fix a cartridge?

Orlando:

First thing you do is take it out and blow on it.

TR in Conversation with Orlando:

There you go! He knows what he's talking about!

Orlando:

A matter of fact, I have an interesting little anecdote about cartridges. And it's about a gentleman named Jerry Lawson - an African American engineer who helped design and engineer those video game cartridges.

TR in Conversation with Orlando:

Talk about it!

Orlando:

I would like to expose more people to that knowledge of this gentleman. I'll send the link to who this gentleman was and what he accomplished in the video game industry.

TR:

Check out this episode's blog post for that link over on ReidMyMind.com.

Orlando:

I've just continued to evolve with the gaming industry. Back in 2001, I purchased a full size Mortal Kombat 2 arcade machine and I kept that thing for over 10 years. And played it all the time. I loved it.

TR in Conversation with Orlando:

That is so cool!

TR:

I think it's fair to say he really enjoyed and invested in his gaming.

Orlando:

April of 2015, I experienced a lot of migraines and didn't know what was causing them. After my wife and I got back from our honeymoon, we just got married the year before. I wound up going to the hospital two weeks after the honeymoon. My brain swelled up and it crushed my optic nerves. And that was it for me for sight.

TR in Conversation with Orlando:

What did that mean to you, when you could no longer play that Mortal Kombat?

Orlando:
You want to be a part of the community of your friends, everybody else is doing things. And when you're not a part of that community, you feel isolated. And that isolation can drive you crazy. That's one of the things that I needed to change. I'm like, I got to explore different ways for me to play games. It's not just that I can't play games, I have to find a way that I can get back into playing games.

TR:

And that's exactly what this former Las Vegas bouncer has been doing.

Orlando:

Technology was always my jam.

After I was done with bouncing, I went over and started working in the telecommunications industry, and I worked for Sprint for about eight years.

Then the smartphones took over. I went to work for Apple for a little bit. Six months into the job at Apple, I went blind.

TR in Conversation with Orlando:

Did you know about voiceover at the time?

Orlando:
No, I didn't. Not when I lost my sight. A week or two in the hospital, I had a second generation iPad. My wife, she did a little research and said "hey, you should check out this thing called VoiceOver.

And that was the first time I heard of it or heard anything about it. And I figured since I knew how to use an iPad as a sighted person, Voiceover thing shouldn't be that difficult. Well, when you're first starting out, it is difficult.

TR:

Orlando not only learned the technology, but later shared that knowledge as an Access Technology instructor. His advice for anyone getting back into gaming after any degree of blindness? Learn your technology!

Orlando:

I had to master that first before I can start playing a video game. On a computer, if you don't know how to insert a drive and copy a file from somewhere or unzip something, you're not going to play the game that you want to play.

TR:

No matter the platform you choose to play on, computer, console like an XBox or PlayStation, smart phone, inaccessibility is there.

Brandon:

There's things like navigating the games menus. And it's a challenge we overcame in the past by just memorizing the menus.

TR:

But even first reading the menu requires some work.

Orlando:

In my journey in playing games, one of the workarounds I found is, anybody thats aware of, apps that help blind people see things like Seeing AI or Super Sense.

One of the things that I used to do was load up that app on my tablet. And I would stand my tablet in front of the monitor. And I would listen to the OCR coming out of the app, so I can make the choices on the screen for the game that I'm trying to play.

Brandon:

I use NVDA. Since I stream games, I have a capture card. Even if the game was a console game, I can still send the game's video feed to my PC, because I have a capture card anyway.
I will then scan that image with NVDA as OCR and read the text from there.

I even play entire games that way, there's a visual novel called The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles. It has a little bit of voice acting, but not much voice acting. It's almost all text. But it's literally OCR that allows us to play it, because we can read the text with it, and it reads out pretty well.

TR:

Gamers with low vision used magnifiers to enlarge on screen text. Today there are more games including zoom mode, text enlargement, contrast modes and multiple color blind modes tested by people with varying color blindness. More games are being shipped with menu narration making that process accessible to those who are Blind or have low vision.

Brandon:

The biggest challenge I'd say these days, though, is navigation of the game itself. The game world itself.

The thing about video games is they've been a growing industry for years and years and years. When I say growing, I mean, everything about games has grown, the production value has grown, and the size of the game worlds have grown significantly.

Games these days have huge open worlds filled with buildings and giant areas you can explore and find new quests and new things. Thats a big challenge these days.

Games aren't simple anymore. Games used to be easy to work around in a lot of cases back in the day, because there wasn't much to them. Nowadays, it's a much bigger task to try to find workarounds like that.

TR in Conversation with Brandon:

What about folks who are deaf or hard of hearing?

Brandon:

The actual spoken dialogue is a huge part of games these days. Because story and narrative have become so much more important these days than they used to be in video games. Games are telling very, very deep stories now.

TR:

Complex narratives and the sound design that is useful to Blind players, can help Deaf and Hard of Hearing players by incorporating both subtitles and captions.

Brandon:

Subtitles would be like, character dialogue, speaker names followed by what they said. Whereas captions would be everything else.

More and more games are starting to support this nowadays. You will have a caption that appears. Like, "wooden floorboard creeks." And it will have an arrow that points to the location of that sound. Where that sound took place in relation to you, the character.

That arrow pointing down? You're like, oh, god, there's something behind me.

You have to do it right. You have to fill the appropriate screen space with it, because you don't want to block anything else on screen while you're captioning things.

TR in Conversation with Brandon:

What about language? I'm assuming most of these games are in English,?

Brandon:

Sure, a lot of these games are in English, but many of them have alternate language choices as well.

A little bit of a shout out.

So the Last of Us Two, and you'll hear me do this a lot because I really loved the work that we did on that game. The Last of Us Two is available in 14 different languages.

So when we worked on that game, we decided that any language the game was available in for people to play in general, then the text to speech narration that the game has should also be available in that language. So I'm happy to announce Last of Us Two is available for the Blind in 14 different languages, because narration is supported on every language that the game is supported on.

Boom!

-Jazzy hip hop music begins to play

TR in Conversation with Brandon:

What about mobility? What about folks with mobility related disabilities?

Brandon:
As games have become more complex, so have their controls.

You have controllers these days that have 12, 13 buttons on them. Those who have mobility issues can't always press every single one of those buttons when there's something they need to do with those buttons.

Eron:
My name is Eron Zeno. He/him. I'm a light skinned black man. A bit on the larger side, a bit hefty.

-laughs

I rock a Mohawk 24/7.

I am missing my right arm completely. And the left is more of a nub. I have the upper part of my left arm, I'm missing my forearm, and my wrist and elbow are connected. I only have one finger. A fun fact, through X rays and examinations, it has been deemed by my physicians my middle finger actually.

TR in conversation with Eron:

-Laughing

Nice!

TR:

Eron is also a wheelchair user.

TR in Conversation with Eron:

Why don't you tell me a little bit about when you first sort of got into gaming?

Eron:
I was born in August. When I was brought home, it was very close to Christmas. We were all sitting around and opening presents and everything. And one of my brothers got a Super Nintendo. And I was actually in his lap and he was trying to put the controller under my feet to get me to play. I was too young to realize what was going on. But that was my first introduction. Through some happenstance, I actually wound up inheriting that Super Nintendo and that was my first console.

TR:

Coincidence? Or is there something to be said about gaming and the opportunities it presents to bond with family?

I'm sure there are other benefits.

For Eron, as a child doctors suggested removing the nub on his left side in order to fit him with a prosthetic arm. Yet one doctor specifically had alternative views.

Eron:

He suggested a lot of children actually grow up using both the nub and their feet to a better availability than having no arms at all. So he suggested instead of trying to coax a surgery around that, it would be better to one, get me used to my finger, and then also promote the usage of my feet. And I mean really promote.

So anything you would give your child normally like a rattle or toy or anything like that. He said, give it to his feet. Make his feet known as his compatibility to the world.

One of the things that was suggested by the doctor was video games, they built hand eye coordination very quickly.

TR:

If game controllers were made specifically for hands, there has to be lots of challenges adapting them for use with feet.

Eron:
When I first started with the SNEZ controller, there's a D pad and two buttons, that's easy. It's straightforward.

My second console was another hand me down, I had an N64 drom my uncle.

Now, that controller has the worst background.

-Laughs

Just the convoluted layout that makes no sense. And for a person with hands complaining, giving it to a person with no hands, only maybe 30% of the controller was usable for me.

I made my way around that. And years went by, I got into the GameCube, and the PlayStation 2. And I actually stopped using consoles around the Xbox.

TR:

Eron realized there were lots of games he just couldn't play. Some involved using a controller with a trigger.

Eron:

I managed. I liked video games, but I was just kind of disappointed at how far it was moving from my capabilities.

That's actually when I started getting into PC gaming.

TR:

At first, he found games that didn't require complicated controllers.

Eron:

My first introduction to PC gaming was actually RuneScape. There's not a lot of controllers required. It's right click and left click. That's it.

Years later, I actually found out that you could download programs to your computer that allow you to rebind keyboard controllers, mice even.

My first introduction to that was actually a program called X pattern. I actually found that at the end of its life cycle. And that allows you to implement key bindings on a controller. And most people they're like, "Well, why aren't you just using the controller on a computer?"

Well, most developers don't allow for rebinding the controls. And the controller is actually really easy interface for me to use on my feet. The keyboard you can imagine, a little painful.

TR in Conversation with Eron:

So what is your setup?

Eron:

I change out a lot due to certain games or setups or things I need, but by default, I have a controller front and center on the floor right in front my office chair. I do sit at a desk.

My keyboard is plugged into my computer but led down below the desk on the floor, next to the controller. I use my right foot to type and only my right foot. It's a pain to use both feet.
You gotta balance on your butt and hover.

I use both feet for my controller, but what if I need to type.

On my desk, I do have a mouse that I use with my aforementioned nub. I can't use the mouse buttons, but what I do is I have a setup where it's a bunch of zip ties and cat collars essentially. And I MacGyvered a harness that I can attach to my hand and move the mouse around.

My mouse actually failed on me a few days ago. There's something with these new braided cable wires and they give out way too easily. But I'm using an art tablet right now as a mouse. Same setup, a bunch of cat collars and zip ties.

-Both Thomas and Eron laugh

I make it work, though.

TR:

Like MacGyver, finding off the shelf supplies and just rigging things together. It just works for him.

Eron:

You've seen tablet holders? It's like an arm you can adjust in your car or on your bed rest or whatever. You can have it hold your tablet up to your chest. I have one of those kind of coiled up into a stand that I hold a cutting board on. And it's at an angle just so I can reach it.

Because I don't have full arm length. I can't even reach my desk from sitting up straight. So I have this like brought right up to my chest. I have that for mouse movement and stuff.

TR:

Although Eron moved away from consoles when it seemed it surpassed his capabilities. today he finds himself playing again.

Eron:

One thing I found out is that you can buy adapters that can enable you to use other controllers on the console, as well as mice and keyboards.

I bought a switch a while back. I love the thing.

I've been using an adapter to play shooters and Legend of Zelda and all that stuff. And it's really nice to be able to use a mouse to aim instead of fiddling with the joysticks.

There's still no controller bindings. I'm talking about third party controllers. If you buy a pro controller meant for the Switch, you can actually rebind the bindings on a Nintendo Switch controller.

I have one. But for sizing reasons, I can't use the whole thing with my feet.

Brandon:

The accessibility conversation has been happening, and things like button remapping now exist.
Some games even go so far as to have a one touch option. It's more difficult than you might think. But it is fantastic when it happens.

We have accessories now like the Xbox adaptive controller, which allows mobility, disabled folks to basically attach whatever switches they want to use, or their controller, they can attach it to that controller, and configure buttons however they like, based on whatever switches they have.

Eron:

It's this giant disc jockey looking table. It's got like two giant soft pads on it that look like records.
But they're actually just giant buttons. They figured you have a large surface to hit, you don't have to be necessarily that accurate with your buttons.

If you plug in a controller, it actually only lets you use half the controller. They expect you to be so disabled, you cant use a full controller. Which made no sense, it's like if this is for adaptability, everybody's got a different thing they can do. Why not enable it so that you can split up something or you can use the whole something? Instead of assuming everybody is bound to "oh, I can only use this specific apparatus."

TR in Conversation with Eron:

Are you in touch with any other gaming companies? Do you ever reach out?

Eron:

The few times that I have, I've gotten kind of copy pasted responses. So I don't really bother. I find my own solutions at this point.

TR:

Some other challenges include what's known as quick time events. These require holding down or rapid tapping of buttons.

Game developers are slowly becoming more inclusive when thinking about game play.

Implementing skip puzzle options, for example, in order to help those with cognitive disabilities who may need a bit of assistance advancing to the next level of game play. Time pressure for some can be really difficult as well.

Brandon:

They'll be in a situation where they have three seconds to make an important game decision that will affect the game story.

When you're in the middle of a game story, and you become attached to the characters and you really care about what happens to them and then you have to make this life or death decision. "Okay, this person lives and this person dies."

If you've grown to care about them, that's intense pressure to put on someone.

Some games these days have the ability to either extend timers like that or remove them entirely. That's great. That's a really, really good move.

TR:

Okay, Not a gamer? Perhaps you felt the pressure when using an automated phone system and trying to quickly enter your date of birth before the time expires. How many times have you just wanted to throw your phone? Come on, I know it's not just me.

TR in Conversation with Brandon:

Are there any considerations for folks with monocular vision today?

Brandon:

I don't know anything specifically for monocular vision.

There is the ability these days to remove screen shake from games, so a lot of games have special effects. You do this really big hit and the screen shakes to make you feel like it was a big hit. You can turn that off nowadays.

Games use an effect called motion blur. So if things are moving very quickly, they will kind of blur as if they're moving fast to kind of give you that illusion of speed. Some people can't handle the motion blur either. And so these days, you can either dull that or turn it off.

Some people get headaches afterwhile if they see those effects or some people get sick to their stomach, or they see too much screen shake.

TR:

Headaches, nausea, not the result you want when trying to relieve a bit of stress or having a good time while playing video games. But that's not life threatening.

Brandon:
These days, there is actually a required warning in video games when something in a game could spark a seizure.

This recently came into controversy because of a game called Cyberpunk 2077, which didn't very clearly outline this, and did have a sequence that actually did cause people to have seizures. Their outline was buried in their license agreement, you know, the thing that no one ever reads?

That's where they put their warning, instead of putting it in the front and center of the game when you first load it up which is usually what is required.

When you load up a game, if there is something that could cause a seizure, there should be a warning right away. And most games that have these things will do that.

Although I will say in the case of cyberpunk, because of all the backlash, they actually patched the sequence itself. The video in question where that lighting sequence was shown that caused those seizures actually changed it to be a different pattern of light that didn't cause seizures.

TR:

Would you be surprised if I told you there's a segment of the population that is just straight hatin' on adaptations.

Brandon:

Some people complain about accessibility features, saying that they make games too easy and blah, blah, blah, blah, and they're cheating and whatever.

It's not that people like to use them as cheat codes, although some do that too, I'm sure. But people tend to complain about them, because they feel that it's dulling the game itself.
My response to that is, it's better to allow people to actually play the game and experience it than to worry so much about how hard the game is.

TR in Conversation with Brandon:

It's not really impacting them, though, right? They don't have to use it.

Brandon:

Right, right. That's what I don't understand.

Especially with single player games. If a game isn't multiplayer, then what does it matter to you what other people do to complete the game? It doesn't matter.

TR:

That goes beyond gaming, doesn't it? Some people don't want to consider that they themselves may have an advantage or a privilege. Working senses, dexterity, financial means to afford the equipment, games, time to play. These overly competitive types of dudes have no desire to be in the same class as a disabled player.

But who has time for them?

Fortunately, companies like Microsoft recognize that we game too! They're making sure that we're included from the start or out the box.

Orlando:

With the XBox Series S it's one of the newer generation consoles that were hard to find for a while, but I managed to get myself one. The setup of that, I watched videos of Brandon Cole and other people on YouTube, they were discussing, the unboxing experience. When they said it has Braille on the thing, so you know where to plug things in at. I was impressed just with that level of accessibility.

I set it up all by myself. And it was so easy to set up because everything talked to me. There's a QR code on the screen and you just aim your phone at the QR code to set up your account login. And it was just super simple.

TR:

And he tried a lot of platforms.

Orlando:

I've done everything from retro gaming on a Raspberry Pi. Gaming on my MacBook, gaming on a PlayStation four, Xbox console, Apple TV, I've tried to do all of it.

I've got it set up to the point right now where I don't have it hooked up to a computer or a monitor. I played my Xbox console through the Xbox app. I've paired a controller to my phone or tablet. And then I log into the app and I remotely access my console through the app.

TR in Conversation with Orlando:

Why?

Orlando:

Well one, I can go anywhere around the house. I can go to the backyard and play videogames if I wanted to.

It opens up that freedom of just movement. I don't need to be bound to a television now. I've learned to embrace the audio side of things where you can just go sit down at dinner and you have your controller and some headphones, you're still playing your game and everybody else is doing their thing.

TR in Conversation with Orlando:

Now that's not appropriate during family time. Come on!

TR:

It is cool though!

Notice what actually is happening here. He not only accepted the tools he has to game with, but he continues to seek out ways to really make it work for him.

It sounds like maybe a metaphor about adjusting to disability?

Hmm? I mean, we're talking about more than fun and games here!

As if video games could provide some other benefits.

Brandon:

There's an app, called Microsoft landscape. It actually takes your Google Maps idea and projects that in 3D audio around you. You can have a real life beacon that you set that plays in 3D audio, while you wear headphones. And you literally follow that beacon, like the same way you would in a video game that will take you to your actual destination.

TR:

There's games to help make exercise fun.

Rather than forcing yourself to get on your treadmill, why not gamify that experience by playing a game that transports you to the Zombie Apocalypse.

-Sounds of shooting and dialouge from Zombies Run plays in the background.

Brandon:
There's a game called Zombies Run. Its a game that has a story.

It's literally a game about you running. Your character is called a runner. And runners are the ones that are dispatched out to get supplies for the base.

You're running. The better you do at the running. You won't get eaten by zombies for one thing, but the other thing is...

TR:

You're working out. Getting that heart pumping for real and increasing those endorphins!

Brandon:

The same effect getting an achievement on Xbox or a trophy on Playstation has on people just getting a little reward spike.

TR:

The gaming industry has changed a lot since Pong, huh!

As accessibility continues to become part of the game, it's important to recognize future technologies. Virtual Reality for example.

Eron:

It's not really off the ground yet. There's some things that are cool, some things that are like, eh that's not really working right now.

If anybody's familiar with the Half Life series. We got the first one, the second one was great. And then the third one comes out. And it's a VR game.

What's the problem with that? Well, the first and second ones were first person shooters, you got a mouse, you got a keyboard, or you're on a controller, you can manage that. You can rebind controls to make it suit your needs.

A VR setup, besides the headset in the immersion and all that. You have two controllers.
There's no way to interface the controllers. You have to use the two motion controls. And those are purely for hands. There is no foot or nub or stumped interface. It's just you got hands or you don't.

TR:

That all too familiar feeling that accompanies any sort of technology. Access gained rarely feels permanent.

Eron:

A lot of my friends actually jumped into VR, and they're like, "oh, man, you gotta check out like, VR chat, new half life, this MMO or that?" And I'm like, how?

"Bro you could put the headset on and let your wife play?"

wha... What?!

TR in converswation with Brandon:

Why do they always go there?

TR:

Newsflash y'all, family members are not personal assistants.

As if they're just sitting around waiting to play a game for you, describe the latest picture that the sender could have easily described.

Eron raised some other good points about the financial cost to access for those with mobility disabilities. Adapters have a real cost to them that not everyone can afford. Would you want to pay more for an accessible game?

But there are other reasons to be excited.

TR in Conversation with Brandon:

What about the process of creating? Do you know about the accessibility of that? Do we have some blind folks who are actually developing games?

Brandon:

We do have blind game developers out there. Primarily those developers are working on audio games.

I will say that there are some advances coming to blind game development in the form of at least one engine that is made for the blind to develop games, although this engine is geared towards role playing games specifically. But there is an engine called Sable that's coming out. Hopefully, in the next couple of years.

And that engine is literally designed so that blind people can create their own custom made RPGs, role playing games.

TR:

That's what I'm talking about! Not only do we game too, but we make as well.

Ok, Reid My Mind Radio family, I know some of y'all are TVI's or teachers of the visually impaired. Please, make sure you put this information into the brains of your students. I want to play a game in the not so distant future, that is truly FUBU - for us by us!

TR in Conversation with Brandon:

What about, in-game audio description? Is that something we can look forward to?

Brandon:

I think it's fair to say that the future is bright for video games and audio description. I think people will be surprised at the level of quality you're going to get when that happens.

TR in Conversation with Brandon:

The developer has to be involved in that.

Brandon:

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah heavily.

TR in Conversation with Brandon:

The audio quality right there has just been raised, you know, exponentially because they're gonna care.

Brandon:

Oh yeah, they are, for sure are.

TR in Conversation with Brandon:

Yeah, so that's fantastic.

Brandon:

The future is very bright. I cant say much more, I wish I could. But oh man, are things coming up that are going to blow peoples' minds.

TR:

In the meantime, you can check out Brandon doing the narration for several video game trailers.

Brandon:

For a game called Rainbow Six extraction, I did the Audio Description narration for most of those.

TR:

I'm really thinking about getting back into gaming. I've played some audio games on my IPhone. I'm wondering if it's time to try some titles on the PC or maybe even get an XBox.

I guess I'm just trying to figure out if it's really going to feel as entertaining as it once was?

Orlando:

I would say that it depends on the person and the level of enjoyment that they're looking for. Yes, there will be those frustrations.

If somebody's brand new to something, they don't know, there's always a learning curve. If you're somebody that likes to learn new things, accept the challenge of trying to play a video game, because that's going to be the ultimate learning curve right there.

You have to learn, where does the character need to go, because if I think I'm moving forward, it might be going on a spiral staircase, or something like that. Whereas I'm thinking north, south, east, west, on my controller, I can get around, but visually, the interpretation may be something different.

The frustration part is part of the learning, I feel.

You got to learn where to balance those things out to balance out the frustration levels, where it's not as frustrating for you.

TR in Conversation with Orlando:

It doesn't sound like we're just talking about gaming any more, man.

Orlando:

I don't want to be left out of things, I want to be involved. For me, the way I apply it is, if I want to eat something, and I know what I want to eat, and I've got the ingredients, I can put it together.

But do I need to get other assistants to put it together? No.

Or do I need to deal with the frustration of maybe burning myself or hurting myself while I'm trying to do it?

In the end, the result should be better than the experience. You got to go through it to get to it.

It's something I applied to everything that I do in my life.

TR:

Being included means welcoming people with disabilities into all aspects of the industry. From development, gameplay, marketing and more. And being recognized for our contributions.

Brandon:

The Last of Us Two is officially the world record holding, most awarded video game of all time, in terms of general awards. Some of the awards that it won are accessibility related which I, happen to be, a ginormous part of.

When the PlayStation five came out. In 2020. I was given, by Sony, a special award PlayStation five, with an inscription on a perspex case that they have sent.

Perspex, it's kind of like a combination of like plastic and glass.

The inscription was essentially thanking me for teaching PlayStation that play is not just about what we see, it's more about what we hear, about what we feel.

I consider that one of my greatest accomplishments. And I consider that of an award of its own from PlayStation itself to make something that's just for me.

And by the way that message was in Braille on the perspex case.

TR:

That's, Brandon Cole AKA

Brandon:

SuperBlindMan on Twitch , YouTube and Twitter and even PlayStation Network.

If you want to add me as a Hearthstone friend, you can do that too. When I was making that account, I didn't realize there was a character limit.

So on Battlenet I'm SuperBlindMa.

TR in Conversation with Brandon:

SuperBlindMa?! M A?

-Laughs....

Brandon:

Yes, yes. M A.

Brandon:

SuperBlindMa#1859 is my Battlenet tech tag.

TR in Conversation with Brandon:

And they could battle you to a game or something. Right?

Brandon:

They sure can.

TR in Conversation with Brandon:

If they want to lose!

Brandon:
You can find the blog at Brandon Cole.net. If you want the blind perspective on accessible gaming, that's where you find it.

The podcast is at breakdownwalls.net/podcast If you want an easly link to that.

Break Down Walls is a movement that I started with my fiance. The idea is to break down the barriers between sighted and non sighted and disabled and non disabled gamers and human beings. Basically just make us all one.

TR:

Orlando!

Orlando:

Peachy Zatoichi on Twitter, my email address is PeachyZatoichi@gmail.com.
That is spelled; P E A C H Y Z, as in zebra, A T, as in Tom, O I C H I @gmail.com

Tr in conversation with Orlando:

And that was a Japanese Blind swordsman, right?

Orlando:

That's exactly right!

TR:

And of course Eron.

Eron:

My twitch is X A N O D I A @ twitch.tv

It's mostly just me gaming, talking to people. That's about it. But yeah, it does turn into a rant occasionally.

-Laughs

TR:

Now, in order to be a player, you have to be in the game. These gentlemen are true players and they're all official...

-Airhorn

...members of the Reid My Mind Radio family!

Eron:

Dude I've got to say, I checked out an episode the other day, loving it.

TR:

It's not just about the opportunity to play that I'm happy to see. It's about the change in mindset that's taking place.

Game developers are slowly creating inclusive spaces where everyone is welcomed. The truly successful ones are seeking input from the community to figure how we can play with our disability.

Accepting people where they are, allowing them to work with what they have and enabling anyone to be in the game. Because yeah,We Play Too!

If you want to be sure you can play all new episodes of Reid My Mind Radio, all you have to do is subscribe wherever you get podcasts.

We have transcripts and more over on ReidMyMind.com

You don't need a cheat code to level up, just remember, it's R to the E I D
- ("D! And that's me in the place to be" Slick Rick)

Hide the transcript

March 23rd, 2022 / Author: T.Reid

Shop now!

Show the transcript

TR:
Greetings Family! Welcome back to the second episode of the first season of 2022, Doing Your Thing with Disability.

- Music begins - A drum solo that loops, stops DJ scratch into a cymbal crash.

My name is Thomas Reid, host and producer of Reid My Mind Radio, the podcast bringing you compelling people impacted by all degrees of blindness and disability.

I'll take it from there!
- Reid My Mind Theme Music

Adriana:
Hi, I'm Adriana Mallozzi, founder and CEO of Puffin Innovations, we are creating hands free access to consumer electronics for individuals with limited mobility in their upper extremities. My pronouns are she and her. I am a Caucasian woman with a round face, ear length dark hair, and wearing a black T shirt with the words not impossible written across the chest in white and I am in a power wheelchair

TR in Conversation with Adriana :
Why did you wear that shirt today?

Adriana:
It really represents I think my attitude with regards to what I want to do in life.

I've never been the type of person to take no for an answer. I'm realistic. I'm not a surgeon because I can't use my hands.

It just really resonates with me and my attitude. And what it means to be a proud, disabled person showing that nothing can really stop you from doing whatever it is you want to do.

TR in Conversation with Adriana :
Can you just summarize your experience with disability?

Adriana:
Sure. During the birthing process, I stopped breathing. So the lack of oxygen caused brain damage, hence, I have cerebral palsy. I'm a spastic quad and I use a power wheelchair.

CP varies so much. It manifests in so many different ways that you would never know from one person to another, that they have the same diagnosis.

TR:

The diagnosis is what it is, but the person is who they were in their past, who they are in the moment and who they become in the future.
In each of those periods of time, there are things that impact a persons way of thinking.
Two things stand out about Adriana's past that influence her belief of what is possible.

Adriana:

I am a child of immigrants. So I grew up going to Italy, to visit family, I still have first cousins there. Growing up, we would go spend the summers to see my grandparents. So travel was a big part of my life.

TR:

Adriana's mom worked as a real estate agent and travel agent.

Adriana:

Just because it gave her the flexibility, she needed having a young family, especially for me as a child with a disability. She'd always be running around, having to take me to PT or OT or whatever.

She would win a trip for to, and then she would add my sister and I and we get to travel.

We went on cruises, and we got to go to Bermuda.

- Sound of an airplane taking off.
- Music begins - melodic horns slowly blow as a woman vocalist sings "higher" leading into a kick dram and a mid-tempo hip hop beat.

So I think it was just very inherent, it was in our blood. Traveling is just something that we love. My sister has made it into a job where she gets to travel around the world and experience a different culture

TR:

That's her little sister, Mikaela. Professional dancer and four time EMMY Award winning host of her own travel show, Bare feet with Mickela Mallozzi.

I guess traveling without shoes is dangerous. (I don't think that's what's she's doing.)

Traveling as a power wheel chair user comes with some specific challenges.

Adriana:

When I travel, especially overseas, I don't bring my power chair, just because it's not as accessible in other countries. And it's just easier to have a manual chair, when most of the countries are not wheelchair accessible, especially my own family's home, my grandparents, its hundreds of years old, it belonged to my great, great grandparents and you know, it's just not accessible. So I would travel with my manual chair, and when I'm in my chair, I literally can't do anything myself.

TR:

Contrast this with her first experience taking her power chair overseas.

Adriana:

Also, the first time I flew overseas without a family member, I brought my PCA and I had to figure out all the logistics on my own.

That was the first time that I had ever done that in my life and it was amazing.

They really put a lot of thought into design with accessibility in mind.

You know how here, the elevator buttons are all literally at the door. If you use a wheelchair, you really can't reach those buttons by the door because your foot rests are in the way and you can't get close enough. Well, in Germany, all the buttons are on the side, on the wall. So you can easily reach them.
They also have not only a button to call the elevator at the door itself, but they also have free standing posts. So you can angle your chair in any direction and hit it however you can hit it. They did the same thing with automatic door openers, as well. And so I was so independent in there that I literally dreamt about being back there when I got back home.

TR:

Aware of the problems that power chair travelers experience, Adriana had a plan.

Adriana:

We bring a big roll of that wrap. How they wrap pallets? you know that plastic.

As soon as I get out of my chair, we put anything that are external to the seat of my chair, we put it in the seat of my chair, and then literally wrap my chair.

And so that has worked.

TR:

On the way to Germany at least.

On the return trip, as soon as they finished wrapping the chair,
Adriana and her PCA were told to unwrap because the chair needed to be tested.

It was taken but no one would speak with Adriana or her PCA.
Nervous about missing their flight and subsequent connection, they finally learned of the problem.

Adriana:

They're like, Yeah, your chair tested positive for explosive.

We had to wait for the police to come. And then they were like, You need to take the battery. I was like, you can't take the battery out, you don't take the battery out.

They literally tried to tear out the battery. Like Luckily, they couldn't figure out how to open anything. But they had snapped pieces. So there were broken pieces in the seat of my chair because it was like they were clawing to get to the internal electronics of my chair. I think it would have been worse if it wasn't wrapped.

TR:

The dream of independence for people with disabilities often includes some nightmares.

Adriana:

They put my chair on the lift from the gait of the plane to load it down below.

and a person who was loading bags, he was literally throwing in like chucking things on top of my chair. And I was having a heart attack. I could see it through the window and I'm like, oh my god. We definitely took pictures and videos and my chair was a little broke like it wasn't working properly and you know these chairs are 500 pounds so it's not like it's easy to push it.

TR:
joy and pain of traveling as a disabled person!

- Music Ends

The second influential component effecting Adriana's belief of what is possible? Early exposure to technology.

Technology>
Adriana:

I began, PT and OT, or physical therapy and occupational therapy for those that don't know what PT and OT stands for. at a really young age, I was diagnosed shortly after I turned a year old around 12 months or so. And soon after, we were sent to Easter Seals.

It was my OT who introduced me to a piece of technology that allowed me to use the computer, for the first time to do anything for the first time independently.

This was back in about83 or 84. I was about maybe seven, eight years old.

All I did was type, I type my name, and maybe some numbers. But just being able to do that, and be able to do something by myself for the very first time ever in my life.
It really hit me at that moment. I was like, wow, technology is going to be the key to my independence. Technology will be the way I will be able to do everything I ever wanted to be able to do.

TR:

And then there's the DIY, Do it yourself attitude.
Adriana:

my father was in construction, he was a carpenter. I would always see him build. I think I got that problem solving. sort of mentality. Most people with disabilities, we have to adapt on the fly all the time. We have to figure out ways of doing things that the average person does not. And we always have to be at least two to three steps ahead. There has to be a Plan B, C, D, in case, X Y and Z goes wrong.

TR:

And when they go wrong, understanding the need to advocate for yourself.

Adriana:

My parents really had to struggle financially to get me what I needed, like the basic things that insurance considered luxuries like a bathing chair.

I can't sit up by myself. So until I got that chair, I had to lay at the bottom of the tub. And I would be really creative and like, Yeah, I'm cool. toys like, I left pillows or floaties, or whatever, just to make me comfortable. So I wasn't banging against the sides of the tub or hurting myself on the tub?

Of course, insurance? To be able to bathe safely and comfortably was a luxury.

My power chair I got when I was about eight years old. Me being able to be independent and move on my own was a luxury, according to the insurance company. So luckily, I think part of it was covered.

They just had to find ways to provide to get what I needed. And I'm really grateful that I had parents that did that.

TR in Conversation with Adriana :
Is that still, the situation with insurance with they treat those things like, luxury?

Adriana:
there are places still in the United States where people have to still fight for it. And yes, they still consider a luxury. But I'm lucky to be in the state of Massachusetts, and have the benefits and have not had to struggle as much as an adult in a different state to get the equipment that I need, but there are people in this country that that still have to fight, but still get subpar equipment, simply because insurance won't cover the actual equipment that would be more suitable for that person.

I just don't understand how people can be okay with that. I don't understand how people that work in the insurance companies can have policies that allow that to happen. These are human beings and to treat human beings in that way, I just don't understand.

- Music begins, a funky electronic dance track with lots of digital processing sounds and a funky groove.

TR:

The more you know how much it benefit's a person, the more difficult it is to accept that it happens.

Adriana:

when I was older, let's say my mid 20s was the first time that I had technology that I was able to turn on the lights to change channel on the TV, to open my door to my apartment. That was huge.

For the average person, it just sounds so basic. And these things excited me and I was so lucky. And I was in my mid-20s. And that was the first time I was able to do any of that by myself.

TR:

Adriana:
I joined clubhouse December of 2020, when everyone was locked down.

Initially, I was just checking out all the tech rooms and getting a feel for what was on there.
TR:

December 2020 was still considered early in Club House time.
There were a fair number of people using the app even though officially it was in Beta.
There was a lot of everything, good conversations to scammers, and definitely inaccessibility.

While in a room with some discussion taking place about disability Adriana didn't like what she was hearing.

Adriana:

Special needs, and differently abled and Handi capable and all those god awful euphemisms instead of the actual word disability. And we're like, Okay, this has to stop. Let's do a room about disability and about language. And that's how it started.

TR:

That room led to the creation of a club.

Adriana:
I was trying to come up with something clever, for a club name.

I read, 15% of the world's population has a disability. And I was like, Oh, my God, we're going to call it the 15. Then it sounds really exclusive. And cool, it's Wow. And people will be like, Oh, what is this 15%, right, like, I want to be part of the 15.

TR:

There were some really great conversations throughout the rooms, from those hosted by the club to those from other members.

We as a club along with some cool allies (shout out to Glenn with two n's) played a big role in advocating for improved access to that app,
making certain to voice concerns from the perspective of all users with disabilities.
Literally, all we wanted was to be included in the conversation.

Music ends.
TR:

Hey y'all, I'm cutting into the flow of the episode.
It's time to announce the winner of the
February Socially ReidSponsible Instagram Giveaway.

Last time,
I told y'all about Annie.
A friend of the family who wanted to come on board and
help manage the Reid My Mind Radio Facebook and Instagram pages.
Last time Annie was under the weather...
while I knew the sun would come out...
I was hoping to get her on the podcast and ask...
Annie are you ok? Are you ok. Are you ok Annie!

Ok, I'll stop before Annie decides to get her gun...

The winner of the February Reid My Mind Radio Instagram giveaway is...

Congratulations @Malic_acid,
Enjoy your very own Reid My Mind Radio
coffee or tea mug.

Now back to the episode...

Music ends with a bouncing base...

TR in Conversation with Adriana :

What was your first experience with having to advocate for yourself?

Adriana:
I liked pushing boundaries. But I was also very shy. Growing up, my teachers didn't even know I could speak because I was so shy.

I started opening up more when I was in middle school and high school.

It was freshman English, and I had to write a paper. I decided to write about how, as someone with a disability, who took all honors classes, I had a one to one aid to help me turn pages or write notes for me who didn't understand English.

TR:

Adriana literally would have to spell out things she wanted the assistant to write.
Meanwhile, the teacher is moving on with the rest of the class.
Could you imagine how frustrating that would be for a 14 year old?

She decided to write about it.

Adriana:

I knew once the essay was handed in, and I would go down the halls, I knew all the teachers knew, I knew the administrators. did and they were all talking about and I think that was my first like, official. My self-advocating for myself.

TR in Conversation with Adriana :
What lessons did you take away from that?

Adriana:
It felt good, actually, to cause a ruckus.

It was really obvious that they underestimated me. Even though I was in honors courses. I think it was really clear that because I was shy, because I never really spoke loudly or did anything like that all of a sudden, I wrote this paper. They had an insight to what was really going on inside my mind and how I was really feeling about the situation.

TR:

After being assigned a new aide, she knew her words could make a difference.

In her senior year in high school, Adriana wanted to work on the year book.
She knew she could, everything was computerized at this point.
But she was told she couldn't.

Adriana:

Because it's on the third floor and the elevator doesn't go there. After four years of being in high school, I had no idea that there was even another floor that I had no access to.

Someone that I knew that was on the school paper, decided to interview me about it. A year or so later, they fix that.

TR:
Years later, Adriana found herself working as the editor of a newsletter at the Massachusetts rehabilitation commission.

Adriana:
it was called the consumers voice. Up until when I took it over, it was mostly just a regurgitation of what was on the DOJ website and not really the voice of the people.

I said, we're changing that.

Music begins -
They allowed me to assemble a group of individuals who were involved or who were consumers of Voc Rehab. And people were also allowed to submit their own stories if they wanted to share an experience, both negative or positive.

Adriana:

I said, Excuse me, but this is called the consumers voice. It is a factual story. No one is being called out by name in this story.

We went back and forth a little bit, and it got published.

TR in Conversation with Adriana :
Why was the idea of having the voice of the consumer being heard? Why was that so important to you?

Adriana:
It would be an injustice, if it was called the consumers voice and not having no voice of those people in that publication. It was wrong. It was so wrong on so many levels when you didn't actually broadcast those voices and those stories and so it was really important to me to be true to what the name stood for.

TR:

In her job at a Day Rehab Center in charge of coordinating wheel chair evaluations, She found herself often advocating on behalf of others.
Sometimes that just means informing people of the process and their rights.

Adriana:
So most people don't know this. But when you're wheelchair shopping, it is your right, to test drive multiple chairs, it's just like buying a car.
You spend most of your time in this thing. And it needs to be right for you.

TR:

Advocating on behalf of another person can be tricky.
Especially when you sometimes share medical professionals.
Like the time an OT didn't provide a consumer with the chance to test multiple chairs.

Adriana:

So I knew this person, both professionally as well as someone who had helped me in the past to get equipment. And so I called her and said, hey, you know, I really think that he should buy this other kind of chair. I think he would benefit from it.

And she says,

- Music ends.

Well, you know, I didn't think He needed to try anything, because he has a cognitive disability. And I was thinking at that moment, God, you are so lucky that his mother did not just hear you say that. And you're also so lucky that I could not reach through this phone and rattle you.

TR:

I'm a big fan of this part of Adriana's personality!
But fortunately for all involved, she has a really good head on her shoulders.

Adriana:

We spoke for a while and convinced her that we should have another wheel chair eval. We did it at the clinic not on site.

TR:

Mind you, this wasn't in an official capacity. She took off to attend the eval in order to make sure this person received the appropriate service.

Adriana:

Prior to using this chair, he would crash into things all the time.

In this chair, he drove like a pro. It was also a standing chair. So he was able to stand and read, his mom was in tears. And it was just the most amazing and I was so happy that he was able to get what he actually needed and what best suited him. And then the OT came over after and apologized to me afterwards.

- A bit of silence...

"I've always been that type of person where I want to try to figure out how to make things better. How to make things easier for other people, not just myself." - Adriana

TR in Conversation with Adriana :
Let's go to another form of your advocacy. It's what I think is sort of your natural interest in technology, combined with your empathy for others. I see all of that combined to make the beginning of Puffin innovations.

Adriana:

I've always been the type of person to have ideas and want to improve upon existing tech. And right after I graduated college I was sending out two different kinds of resumes. One was the typical resume that you would send to a company. And then I had a resume called assistive tech resume. And I would list all the things that I was experienced in using and New England. And I would apply to all these companies that I had used their equipment and I looked up to and it was a dream of mine, to work for a company.

TR:

Adriana:

MIT was looking for people living with disabilities, who had an idea, a solution to a problem that they themselves are experiencing. I was like, oh my god, this is like a dream come true. I get to go to a hackathon. At that point, I had never been.

I was just on cloud nine because I was like, oh my god, I have this opportunity to go to MIT, hang out with all these geeky people and geek out together and just be around all day. So I submitted my solution, it didn't have a name, but it was the Puffin.

TR:

She along with about 15 other applicants were selected to participate in the hackathon.

Prior to the event, a dinner was held to give the co designers, that is the MIT coders and those with the ideas a chance to meet and connect with one another.

Adriana:

It's kind of like speed dating.

The students will go around and meet each of the designers, and find more out about what it is that you want to do. This group of students came to me and they never left.

Literally, they had laptops, we were looking at parts, like we were already figuring out what we needed to make this happen.

TR:

Each team had an opportunity to request parts and technology prior to the hackathon.

Adriana:

Luckily, there was this person who he is now a puffin advisor, he had this big chest of parts. And if it weren't for him, we wouldn't have been able to build it at all. because we didn't get any of the parts that we had ordered.

The students were amazing, because they really listened to what I had to say. I think that's what made our team so successful. We were willing, and able to take each other things, and put that together, and put it in a way that works. We never dismissed anyone's idea or anything.

We ended up making a working version, I think that's why we won first place.

We got so much press. We were even in the New York Times, which was amazing.

TR:

Already motivated to get this product out to others who wanted more independence,
Adriana began receiving emails from people around the world asking that very question.
She was thinking about patents and funding while the student's went on to complete their course work.

Adriana:

A good friend of mine who happened to be writing her thesis. She was getting an MBA back in 2016. And she was writing a thesis on hackathons.

She said, you had a successful hackathon, so I want to interview you.
When we were done, she was like, Well, what's stopping you from doing that from making it into a real thing.

That was really her and I taking the time to just look up applications, learn what was out there and then apply to all these funding opportunities.

TR:

The idea that began after receiving an email in 2015 started to look more like it was turning into a real business.

Adriana:

It just all fell into place in 2017. And we got a $200,000 grant from the VA. It was April Fool's Day. I kept looking at the email. I'm just like, This is real, right?
It was just surreal, like the most surreal experience, because we've never done anything like this before.

It really worked out because then we got into mass challenge. And that really propelled us forward because we didn't have space, we didn't have anywhere to go to work on this.

TR:
The Mass Challenge is a business accelerator program in Massachusetts.
In addition to funding and networking opportunities, they provide access to production space and other resources including equipment and people.

Adriana:

The people that would walk in and out of there were just people in the high tech industry that you would never otherwise ever meet in your life. And it was just an amazing experience. We also, as a result, something that happens here in Boston called inbound, that HubSpot runs. And we happen to have been part of that challenge. We got free tickets to HubSpot, HubSpot, or to endow and that year Michelle Obama was the keynote speaker. We got to go and it was just the most amazing thing ever.

TR:

Just when things are going really well, (Pandemic! )Covid 19.
Unlike other tech companies that were able to thrive during the pandemic, Puffin is a little different.

Adriana:
It's a physical product.

* testing this here *
Our device is actually a mouth operated wireless input device. It's just a fancy way of saying it acts as a mouse. So for people like myself, who can't use their hands, they could pair our device with any Bluetooth enabled devices, so like your computer, or your cell phone, or your tablet, and then have full access to that device.

I know several people who don't even have mobile devices, especially back when I started. That's because they physically can't interact with the touchscreen. That is why this was so important.

We also have an app that goes with the product, but it interacts with the device.

It's really a hard thing to get parts that are not from overseas. And that's where a lot of our components are coming from. We were down for a good supply chain. But now we're ramping back up again.

TR:

Helping to build up some of that momentum is winning the ServiceNow digital workforce challenge along with acceptance into the Verizon for good Accelerator program.
Adriana:

Which is super exciting, because you get to work with these tech experts, from Verizon.

A big part of our device is the portability, the connectivity of it, wireless. And so having this opportunity to work with a communication giant, like Verizon, and leader in wireless technology, which then we will be able to incorporate in our device is going to be pretty amazing and really bring it to the next level.

TR:

Adriana says Similar products on the market haven't seem much in the way of innovation because there's little competition.

Adriana:

they have no reason to actually change it. So we're changing it!

TR:

By incorporating artificial intelligence or machine learning.

Adriana:

I wanted this device to recognize, hey, this person is having a little more difficulty in doing this or that, or is struggling with moving in certain ways. So let me adjust the sensitivity, or let me adjust the pressure that is needed to go in this direction, but not in this direction.

TR:

By the end of the program with Verizon,
Adriana would like Puffin to have a product ready for sale in a beta phase in order to generate user feedback.

Doing her thing with disability, is what separates Puffin from other solutions.
Adriana not only understands the value for herself, but seems just as excited for what that access brings to others.

Adriana:

I don't know what I do Without accessing my cell phone. I can control everything with my phone, now. I can control the TV, I can control the lights with my phone, I can do my banking, I can do my shopping, I can read a book, right? I can, whatever, make phone calls, etc. You can literally do everything with a mobile device. So for people with disabilities, if you have access to your mobile device, you literally have access to the world. And that's what's really important to us. It's giving people that opportunity to have access to things that they otherwise would not have access to.

TR in Conversation with Adriana:
Ok, How do I say this? Because of all the things that you do, your willingness to share, and help others the way you do your thing with disability. You Adriana Mallozzi are an official member of the Reid my Mind Radio family welcome to the family, Adriana.

Adriana:
Thank you! I'm honored to be a member.
TR in Conversation with Adriana:

So how can people learn more about the Puffin, about you? All of that.

Adriana:
So you can find more about Puffin at Puffininno.com So that's Puffin like the bird and inno.com. Or @Puffininno on all social media platform. That is our handle. If you are on Club House come and join the 15% Club.

For me it's just AdrianaMallozzi is my handle on on all social media platforms.

TR:
I started to give credit to the lack of access within the early version of the Club House app for my chance to meet and get to know Adriana.

It's like giving credit to inaccessibility, poor treatment and service for the strong advocacy,
problem solving or management skills you'll find among people with disabilities.

No! I'm not crediting the negative.

The energy we each give off works to bring people in and out of our lives.

Maybe you listening here today needed to hear the words on Adriana's shirt; "Not Impossible". That's really an energy that I personally want for anyone listening, the energy I want for myself.

Yes, we can dream big.
I just want to hear more from those achieving without having to compromise any part of themselves.

I'm here for conversation with people like Adriana who want to talk about pursuing goals, making dope enabling technology.

I'm here when you want to talk about Doing Your Thing With Disability!

- Sample ("D!") And that's me in the place too be! Slick Rick

Adriana:

Like his last name!

Audio: Reid My Mind Outro
Peace!

Hide the transcript

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Reid My Mind | A podcast from a Black man adjusting to being blind.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
June 15th, 2022 / Author: T.Reid Show the transcript TR: Welcome back to the second 2022 season of Reid My Mind Radio. My name is Thomas Reid and I'm the host and producer of this podcast which features compelling people impacted by all degrees of blindness and disability.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Technologist, storyteller (screenplay, fiction, poetry, music, media content), neuroscience grad, former nanobio-chemo, former investment banking finance.

# data[].attributes.headline
Come here to see original video games from Maiamama

# data[].attributes.subject
Come here to see original video games from Maiamama

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Can You Survive a Racism: A social justice interactive experience

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Latina Speaker/Consultant

I help companies and nonprofits build bridges with donors and audiences.

Yo Quiero Dinero Event for June 3 2022

Sign up for my newsletter

Schedule your free consultation

My main website

Midwest Mujeres Empowerment Group

Recent Interview with Hispanic Star on my Midwest Latina backgroun

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Latina Influencer work

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I help companies and nonprofits build bridges with donors and audiences.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A desire path is made by crossing it over and over again.

The Curiosity Paradox started the Desire Path Project in conversation with multiple Disabled and non-Disabled leaders in Portland, Oregon who we consider to be access artists.

These leaders practice access in creative and relational ways that are more loving, more nuanced, and less fear-based than dominant forms of accessibility. We have taken quotes from these conversations, and shaped them into Flower Arrangements and Flower Cuttings from our Conversation Contributors.

Access Art describes the ways marginalized people and communities creatively grow resources, design accessibility, celebrate joy and resistance, out-maneuver supremacy culture, and dream worlds beyond the impossible.

This definition is offered to help those of us who make access in creative ways recognize how our practices overlap and differ from each other. It is influenced by artists, activists, and political movements, including the Disability Justice Movement, Open Access, #AccessIsLove, Pleasure Activism, and more.

For The Curiosity Paradox, dreaming Access Art has happened in the midst of panic attacks, injuries, and days in bed. It has also happened in resistance to invalidations, degradation, and micro-aggressions. Through the labor of putting this together, we feel a joy and giddiness. We are enlivened by this work. And we invite you to see how your own desire path intersects with ours.

The frictions and discomfort that occur as we cross time and space are sites of poetry, beauty, and possibility for change. This is a path where our bodies ' needs and wants are welcome. A path where we shape and are shaped by our responsibilities to each other and the worlds we move through.

We invite you to consider your access needs in this space. And more specifically, is there anything we can do to make this site more accessible to you? How might we support each other to create worlds that overflow with Justice, equity, joyful coexistence, and liberation?

What do we need to face questions with no single answer?

Who was displaced for this project to exist? What was here before? Where are those people now? Which laws were used to claim ownership of this space? Whose labor developed the economy of this place? How does this project pay reparation and return land? How do the funders of this project pay reparation and return land?

SquareSpace, which hosts this website, is headquartered on the traditional lands of the Lanape people, colonially known as the island of Manhattan in New York, NY. We do not know the locations of the server warehouses where this site is held.

Since our activities are shared digitally, please consider the legacy of colonization embedded within technological structures, including the equipment and high speed internet which is not available in many indigenous and marginalized communities.

The Curiosity Paradox benefits as uninvited settlers on the stolen and unceded territory of the Multnomah and Clackamas bands of Chinook and Tualatin-Kalapuya people as well as other bands, unnamed. Colonially referred to as Portland, OR. SquareSpace also has an office in a recently-renovated old bank in SW Portland. This land was notably developed by exploited Chinese immigrants. And this country's economy was built by millions of stolen Africans during the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

We recognize the living leadership of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. We honor the lives of all who endured, and continue to endure in the face of settler-colonialism and white supremacy, and enable us to create a more livable planet. We support movements for reparation and land back.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A desire path is made by crossing it over and over again. The Curiosity Paradox started the Desire Path Project in conversation with multiple Disabled and non-Disabled leaders in Portland, Oregon who we consider to be access artists. These leaders practice access in creative and relational ways that are more loving, more nuanced, and less fear-based than dominant forms of accessibility.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
OceanHero - The search that saves the oceans

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By searching with OceanHero, you can help save the oceans from plastic pollution.

# data[].attributes.headline
"Get ready for alphabet soup! I am a queer first-generation Venezuelan-American autistic environmental biochemist turned data analyst making art for fun.​" 

# data[].attributes.subject
"Get ready for alphabet soup! I am a queer first-generation Venezuelan-American autistic environmental biochemist turned data analyst making art for fun.​" 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
subscribe to TED Radio Hour podcast

subscribe to TED Radio Hour podcast

How can we create public places that feel welcoming and safe for everyone? This hour, TED speakers examine our physical and digital spaces-how they run, who they serve, and how to make them better.

Guests include community organizer Shari Davis, researcher Eli Pariser, Wikipedia Library founder Jake Orlowitz, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, and artist Matthew Mazzotta.
This episode of TED Radio Hour was produced by Katie Monteleone, Rachel Faulkner, James Delahoussaye, and Harrison Vijay Tsui. It was edited by Sanaz Meshkinpour. Our production staff at also includes Diba Mohtasham, Matthew Cloutier, Fiona Geiran, and Sylvie Douglis. Jeff Rogers is our executive producer. Our audio engineer is Brian Jarboe.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
How can we create public places that feel welcoming and safe for everyone? This hour, TED speakers examine our physical and digital spaces-how they run, who they serve, and how to make them better. Guests include community organizer Shari Davis, researcher Eli Pariser, Wikipedia Library founder Jake Orlowitz, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, and artist Matthew Mazzotta.

# data[].attributes.headline
D.R.E.A.M. (Debt Rules Everything Around Me)

# data[].attributes.subject
D.R.E.A.M. (Debt Rules Everything Around Me)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
by Dyalekt & Dedrick Asante-Muhammad

1.

D.R.E.A.M. (Debt Rules Everything Around Me) (free) 03:06

lyrics

download

Ok so here’s the basics/Debt is an obligation A deferred payment Your cash is low so we made an arrangement Stores used to give credit/bars would run up a tab But only if they trust you and know you’ll pay it back But its more than that/ Debt is the American dream It’s the house car and fancy degree that you need But nowadays employers don’t care about a diploma They just want to know you got experience in being yoked up You know what? Debt can be a burden Especially when black woman are paid like 3/5s of a person 61cents on the dollar to pay for college? Debt is holding Black Americans hostage The way of life is gamefied/ If you’re not winning you’re miserable If you keep it in cash they call you credit invisible Ellison we owed our ancestors a moral debt 20 percent of Black net worth is worthless ain’t nothing going on but the rent and a six pack And and 760 next to 6’2” on a dating app Still waiting on reparations but I don’t expect them to pay it back There’s a reason getting out of debt gets you in the black My momma said Don’t spent what you don’t have Make sure you don’t owe nothin to no man Gotta make it home with no roadmap You ain’t on the map til you can own that — Credit was started with bs & rumors Boomers build up the zoomers they make em authorized users We’re socialized to ostracize those maneuvers Cuz it’s tough to fight for the future and keep an eye on abusers That’s poor tax and more facts The war on black banks From freedman’s to Dodd frank More than half tanked We give thanks and praise The the shanks from snakes Go fund me and Reddit When people need to be saved Look who gets to choose who’s too big to fail They best friends with the ones who chose who goes to jail We conversing through commissary they’re reading our mail It would be hyperbole to call it beyond the pale Credit scores wasn’t even a thing til 89 Before that they relied on prejudice & spies A buncha companies who competed until they didn’t American dreamed up a caste system for richness None of us know the formula or how they calculate it But we give the sweat from our brow for this evaluation It’s a score cuz it’s a game if you’re in debt you’re getting played but you’re already getting played so get in the game

2.

D.R.E.A.M. Instru (free) 03:06

lyrics

download

Debt Rules everything Around Me DREAM about the money Gotta lotta bills yall

about

Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, Chief of Membership, Policy and Equity at NCRC.org shared some stats, reports, and articles about debt with Dyalekt, MC and director of pedagogy at Pockets Change. Dyalekt turned this info into a song with the help of brokeMC on the beat. We wrote a bazillion versions of this song, with bars about debt that range from foundational understanding, hidden tricks, misinfo, the (often racist) history and tips for how to overcome. There's too much. We chose a solid starting point and need your help. The websites below can set you up, and the instrumental track should give you the room to knock em down. What did you wish you learned about debt? What does your community need to know about debt? What does the world need to know?

NCRC.org
RaceAndWealth.com
inequality.org
ips-dc.org
ProsperityNow.com

credits

released September 2, 2021

Written by Dyalekt
Produced by brokeMC
Mixed & Mastered by Willie Green of Greenhouse Studios

license

all rights reserved

tags

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
D.R.E.A.M. (Debt Rules Everything Around Me) Palms Up Preview, by Dyalekt & Dedrick Asante-Muhammad

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Do You See Me Movement was created in 2015 to highlight and empower BIPOC communities with art and mural activism. Your support in this shop will fund art and mural workshops worldwide. We are on instagram @DoYouSeeMeMovement Thank you for your business, We See You.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Do You See Me Movement was created in 2015 to highlight and empower BIPOC communities with art and mural activism. Your support in this shop will fund art and mural workshops worldwide. We are on instagram @DoYouSeeMeMovement Thank you for your business, We See You.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
About the Museum

Dyalekt spent 2016 reading online article comments and began screenshotting and archiving words that were repeatedly used (and misused) to shut down conversation. He narrowed down to 11 words based on the ways in which they died, eliminating multiple examples of the same death. Inspired by George C. Wolfe’s “The Colored Museum”, these words hang on display in each space and create the one-man show and album, The Museum of Dead Words.

Since 2017, the Museum has popped up in Delaware, North Carolina, London, Santa Barbara, and New York City. This year’s cancelled shows in San Francisco, Colorado, and Alabama have brought us back to where it all began – Online.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We are on indefinite hiatus. The pandemic is not over. We are not done producing. Visit our Discord and FB Group to keep up with the on going projects and community. Congrats on over 100 hours of great art and ideas being shared.

Producing in Pandemic, begun in March of 2020 is a peer exchange gathering and non-prescriptive incubation space.

We are a collaborative, anti-capitalist, non-hierarchical group intentionally prioritizing voices of folks on the margins. Our team of organizers center racial and disabled justice and "decolonization".

Our hundreds of participants from North and South America and the UK share what we do well, what we are learning, and what we are struggling with in digital producing and safely shared physical space.

We are developing resources and relationships, while amplifying best new practices in this age of global pandemic.

We would love for you to join us!

​

​

Feel free to contact us to attend a session, get in touch for media requests, access needs, or to be connected with a digital producer.

​

​

JOIN our facebook page, Transmedia Performance, or send an email to producinginpandemic@gmail.com. Attend a meeting to recieve the discord link.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Producing in Pandemic Community Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We are on indefinite hiatus. The pandemic is not over. We are not done producing. Visit our Discord and FB Group to keep up with the on going projects and community. Congrats on over 100 hours of great art and ideas being shared.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Hip Hop FinFest Volume 1: Save Your Assets!

# data[].attributes.headline
Pockets Change Building financial resilience through Hip Hop pedagogy.  Financial education is more than numbers, it’s a tool for self-care and social justice. 

# data[].attributes.subject
Pockets Change Building financial resilience through Hip Hop pedagogy.  Financial education is more than numbers, it’s a tool for self-care and social justice. 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
CHANGING THE WAY FINANCE IS TAUGHT

Our mission is to build intergenerational financial resilience with students, families, and educators. We believe financial education is about much more than numbers, it’s a means for self-care and social justice. It all happens through Hip Hop pedagogy, which focuses on understanding self-identity in relation to the whole.

Together we are working to address systemic issues of educational equity and the racial wealth divide.

Tools to Make Change

Featured by TeachForAmerica

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Our mission is to build intergenerational financial resilience with students, families, and educators. We believe financial education is about much more than numbers, it's a means for self-care and social justice. It all happens through Hip Hop pedagogy, which focuses on understanding self-identity in relation to the whole.

# data[].attributes.headline
Awesome to have Housing Justice experience in here!  The pandemic, increasingly devastating wildfires, and an economic crisis that disproportionately impacted our lowest-paid workers. These crises exacerbated widespread issues already plaguing the housing markets. Addressing housing and homelessness has never been more essential than it is right now. Historical disparities reproduced in today’s housing system operate in tandem with the  immense racial wealth gap, with Black and Latinx residents half as likely to own homes and twice as likely to live in poverty. In short, fighting for housing stability and affordability requires putting equity front and center. Housing Justice is a social justice issue. 

# data[].attributes.subject
Awesome to have Housing Justice experience in here!  The pandemic, increasingly devastating wildfires, and an economic crisis that disproportionately impacted our lowest-paid workers. These crises exacerbated widespread issues already plaguing the housing markets. Addressing housing and homelessness has never been more essential than it is right now. Historical disparities reproduced in today’s housing system operate in tandem with the  immense racial wealth gap, with Black and Latinx residents half as likely to own homes and twice as likely to live in poverty. In short, fighting for housing stability and affordability requires putting equity front and center. Housing Justice is a social justice issue. 

# data[].attributes.headline
"If you have come to help me you are wasting your time,but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine then let's work together."--Aboriginal Activist Sisters

# data[].attributes.subject
"If you have come to help me you are wasting your time,but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine then let's work together."--Aboriginal Activist Sisters

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Welcome to Disability Justice Dreaming!

Upcoming Events

CripCreate

A weekly online co-working space by and for all Deaf and Disabled people

This is a Disability Justice-centered co-working space for all Disabled (sick, Disabled, Mad/mentally ill, Deaf, Hard of Hearing, low vision/blind, neurodiverse, or otherwise chronically ill) people.

It takes place weekly on Wednesdays 1:00-3:00 PM PDT (GMT-7).

Crip Create begins and ends with a check-in, then participants are welcome to use the time how they wish. You may go into a breakout room to work silently or have a conversation. You can be playful, build community, or engage with new collaborations and relationships. We are an open source project with a rotating, ad hoc team of facilitators.

Created by Deanna Parvin Yadollahi and The Curiosity Paradox, CripCreate is now being supported by Disability Justice Dreaming in collaboration with Calling Up Justice.

Disabled and Deaf people from anywhere in the world are welcome.

Auto-captions will be enabled. For other access needs or to request Zoom information, please contact info@disabilityjusticedreaming.org.

Graciously Sponsored by Regional Arts & Culture Council

Dreaming Sessions

A monthly affinity space by and for Deaf and Disabled Queer and Trans people (LGBTQ2SIA+), sex workers, and Black, Indigenous, and Multiracial folks and People of Color (BIPOC), as well as those who fit under these umbrella categories.

Monday, June 6th, 5:00-6:00 PDT

Monday, July 4th, 5:00-6:00 PDT

Sunday, August 7th, 2:00-3:00 PDT

(Note: PDT is GMT-7)

These are intended to be gentle sessions that begin with an access check in and include time to reflect on/respond to various questions that support your own imaginings and keep us grounded in community needs.

Check out our Jamboard to find out how previous dreaming sessions have gone and to learn what questions we will reflect on next.

Auto-captions will be enabled; please message me with further access needs (the sooner the better).

For the zoom information and more, contact info@disabilityjusticedreaming.org

Board of Directors

Monday, June 13, 6-7:30 p.m. PDT (GMT-7)

Monday, July 11th, 6-7:30 p.m. PDT (GMT-7)

Sunday, August 14th, 2:00-3:30 p.m. PDT (GMT-7)

Our working Board is a gentle space that honors the needs of Board Members’ bodyminds while also both governing and managing Disability Justice Dreaming.*

We are currently working on the following:

1. Learning to practice consensus.

2. Developing a theory of change and logic model to shape our strategic plan (this will happen alongside the DJ Dreaming Sessions to facilitate whole-organization participation).

3. Being incorporated as a nonprofit 501(c)3.

Auto-captions will be enabled; please message with further access needs (the sooner the better) and to get zoom info: rebel@disabilityjusticedreaming.org

*To apply, you must be 18 years of age or older and identify as being Deaf or Disabled. See below for more information.

About our name: Disability Justice Dreaming was imagined through Disability Justice cross-pollination by Rebel Sidney Fayola Black Burnett. It is very similar to Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha’s subtitle for “Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice.” Leah and I talked, and they expressed that this name is lovely for our organization. Love, gratitude, and recognition!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Join our Patreon and support this work!

# data[].attributes.headline
The DB Approach. Providing equity-based consulting services for grassroots orgs, artist collectives, NGOs, & higher education since 2015.

# data[].attributes.subject
The DB Approach. Providing equity-based consulting services for grassroots orgs, artist collectives, NGOs, & higher education since 2015.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The DB Approach (@thedbapproach)

# data[].attributes.headline
Financial Advice informed by Social Justice

# data[].attributes.subject
Financial Advice informed by Social Justice

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Brunch & Budget® | Affordable financial planning, coaching, advocacy for freelancers, young professionals, families, couples, women, People of Color

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Apr 27 2022 | 5 Stages To Your Financial Legacy: Financial Legacy | in partnership with Brookdale College

Apr 20 2022 | 5 Stages To Your Financial Legacy: Financial Independence | in partnership with Brookdale College

Apr 13 2022 | 5 Stages To Your Financial Legacy: Financial Sustainability | in partnership with Brookdale College

Apr 6 2022 | 5 Stages To Your Financial Legacy: Financial Stability | in partnership with Brookdale College

Apr 4 2022 | Live Q&A: Freelance Finance | in partnership with Art World Learning

Mar 30 2022 | 5 Stages To Your Financial Legacy: Financial Safety | in partnership with Brookdale College

Mar 23 2022 | Home of Your Own: How to Buy a Home for the First Time | in partnership with General Assembly

Mar 3 2022 | Build Your Own Benefits Package | in partnership with The Field

Feb 24 2022 | The Artist's Financial Plan | in partnership with General Assembly

Feb 17 2022 | Personal Finances & the Racial Wealth Divide | in partnership with General Assembly

Dec 8 2021 | Create Your Financial Legacy Series: Secure Financial Legacy | in partnership with General Assembly

Nov 30 2021| How to start investing, even if you've never done it before | in partnership with Brookdale College

Nov 23 2021 | The Credit Hustle: How to overcome, even when the game is rigged | in partnership with Brookdale College

Nov 16 2021 | Beyond Budgeting | in partnership with Brookdale College

Nov 12 2021 | Build Your Own Benefits Package | in partnership with the Center for Cultural Innovation

Nov 9 2021 | 5 Stages to Your Financial Legacy: Financial Legacy | in partnership with General Assembly

Nov 8 2021 | Home of Your Own: How to Buy a Home For the First Time | in partnership with The Field

Nov 2 2021 | The Artist's Financial Plan: From Artist to Artist Entrepreneur | in partnership with The Field

Oct 16 2021 | Fools Fury BUILD Festival: Navigating the Nonprofit Industrial Complex | in partnership with Fools Fury

Oct 12 2021 | 5 Stages to Your Financial Legacy: Financial Independence | in partnership with General Assembly

Sep 30 2021 | 5 Stages to Your Financial Legacy: Financial Sustainability | in partnership with General Assembly

Aug 19 2021 | How to Buy A Home for the First Time: A Guide for First Time Homeowners | in partnership with The Center for Cultural Innovation

Aug 17 2021 | 5 Stages to Your Financial Legacy: Financial Stability | in partnership with General Assembly

Jul 27 2021 | 5 Stages to Your Financial Legacy: Financial Safety | in partnership with General Assembly

June 22 2021 | Master Your Money: A Deep Dive Into Millennial Home Ownership | in partnership with Business Insider

May 1 2021 | 5 Stages to Your Financial Legacy

Apr 27 2021 | PPP is for Artists & Freelancer Too | in partnership with Art World Conference

Apr 26 2021 | Beyond Budgeting | in partnership with General Assembly

Apr 19 2021 | The Credit Hustle | in partnership with The Center for Cultural Innovation

Mar 25 2021 | Run Your Business Like a Machine | in partnership with Musical Theater Factory

Feb 23 2021 | The One Page Business Plan | in partnership with Musical Theater Factory

Feb 10 2021 | Celebrating Black in Tech | in partnership with General Assembly

Jan 29 2021 | Financial Resilience for Artists & Creatives | in partnership with Musical Theater Factory

Jan 28 2021 | 7 Money Moves to Make 2021 a Financial Success A Workshop About Financial Goal Setting | in partnership with HIREBLACK

Jan 25 2021 | How to Thrive as a POC Small Biz Owner Workshop 3 - The Road to your First Hire | in partnership with General Assembly

Dec 16 2020 | How to Thrive as a POC Small Biz Owner Workshop 2 - Organize Your Business Like a Machine | in partnership with General Assembly

Nov 18 2020 | How to Thrive as a POC Small Biz Owner Workshop 1 - The One Page Business Plan | in partnership with General Assembly

Oct 17 2020 | #HIREBLACK Summit | in partnership with #HIREBLACK

Oct 16-17 2020 | ART World Conference | in partnership with Art World Conference

Sep 30 2020- Oct 2 2020 | 2020 Virtual Prosperity Summit | in partnership with Prosperity Now

Sep 14 2020 | How to go from artist to artist entrepreneur | in partnership with The Bowery Poetry Club

Sep 12-13 2020 | The New Common Sense: Using Art to Bridge the Racial Wealth Divide | in partnership with foolsFury Theater

Aug 19 2020 | Managing Credit & Debt in Uncertain Times | in partnership with General Assembly

Aug 10-14 2020 | Redefine the Hustle | in partnership with The Rock Star Advocate

June 22 2020 | Financial Resilience in times of crisis | in partnership with Ethel's Club

June 17 2020 | A Candid Conversation about PPP Loans | in partnership with fiverr

May 26 2020 | Financial Resilience for Artists and Creatives | in partnership with Bowery Poetry Club

May 23 2020 | Cocktails and Credit | in partnership with Glow Up Gang

May 21 2020 | All your questions answered about applying, getting, and having your PPP loans forgiven | partnership with Fiverr

May 12 2020 | Managing your credit in times of crisis | in partnership with Art World Conference

April 22 2020 | Financial Resilience in times of crisis | in partnership with General Assembly NYC

April 11 2020 | A Virtual Brunch & Budget: Grab your mimosas and join us for Bottomless Budgeting Tips | in partnership with GlowUp Gang

April 6 2020 | Financial Strategies in Times of Crisis | in partnership with AIRmedia

March 21 2020 | Creative Conference: an illshare | How to rest, work, collaborate, and handle your money during COVID

Feb 25 2020 | Celebrating Black History Month: How the racial wealth divide affects your wallet | in partnership with General Assembly NYC

Jan 28 2020 | This Is Your Year: 7 moves to make 2019 a financial success | in partnership with General Assembly NYC

Sep 26 2019 | The credit hustle: How to overcome, even when the game is rigged | in partnership with Art Apple NYC

Sep 15 2019 | Everyday Ppl and Brunch & Budget Present: A Financial Literacy Film Festival | in partnership with Everyday People & Florida Prosperity Partnership

Sep 12 2019 | Beyond Budgeting: How to automate your finances and build real wealth | in partnership with Art Apple NYC

August 30, 2019 | How to start investing even if you've never done it before | in partnership with Art Apple NYC

August 23-24, 2019 | Culture, Art, and Financial Resilience | in partnership with United Way Miami-Dade County

August 15, 2019 | The Artist's Financial Plan: How to get your finances together and still rock the house | in partnership with Art Apple NYC

August 7, 2019 | Speed Networking with Brunch & Budget | in partnership with General Assembly NYC

March 25, 2019 | What does it really mean to invest in yourself? | in partnership with General Assembly NYC

February 27, 2019 | How the racial wealth divide affects your wallet | in partnership with General Assembly NYC

February 10, 2019 | How the racial wealth divide affects your wallet | 4th Annual Financial Literacy & Economic Justice Conference at UC Berkeley

January 16, 2019 | 7 move to make 2019 a financial success | in partnership with General Assembly NYC

December 4, 2018 | How to quit your job and go full time freelance | in partnership with General Assembly NYC

September 19, 2018 | Beyond Budgeting: Building confidence to start investing (in partnership with General Assembly NYC)

August 22, 2018 | Beyond Budgeting: How to put together a financial plan you'll actually use (in partnership with General Assembly NYC)

March 27, 2018 | How to quit your job and go full time freelance (in partnership with General Assembly NYC)

February 27, 2018 | How to start investing, even if you're never done it before (in partnership with General Assembly NYC & Wealthsimple)

February 4, 2018 | UC Berkeley Financial Literacy & Economic Justice Conference (FLEJCON)

February 1, 2018 | This is your year: 7 Financial Moves to make 2018 a financial success (in partnership with General Assembly SF & Haven Life)

January 10, 2018 | THIS IS YOUR YEAR: 7 MOVES THAT WILL MAKE 2018 A FINANCIAL SUCCESS (in partnership with General Assembly NYC & Haven Life)

October 17, 2017 | Beyond Budgeting with Mint: How to automate your finances and build real wealth (in partnership with General Assembly SF and Mint)

October 19, 2017 | How to build and protect your wealth (in partnership with General Assembly NYC & Haven Life)

September 18, 2017 | H ow to start investing, even if you've never done it before (in partnership with General Assembly NYC)

August 20, 2017 | LIVE Brunch & Budget Podcast episode during Summer of Bondfire's audio festival!

August 16, 2017 | Beyond Budgeting: How to Put Together a Financial Plan You'll Actually Use (in partnership with General Assembly NYC)

July 15, 2017 | How to quit your job and go full time freelance (in partnership with General Assembly DC)

June 28, 2017 | Yes, even you can be an investor! How to start investing with any amount of money (in partnership with General Assembly SF)

June 14, 2017 | Beyond Budgeting: How to Put Together a Financial Plan You'll Actually Use (in partnership with General Assembly NYC)

May 24, 2017 | Beyond Budgeting: How to Put Together a Financial Plan You'll Actually Use (in partnership with General Assembly Boston)

April 17, 2017 | How to quit your job and go full time freelance (in partnership with General Assembly LA)

April 15, 2017 | The Artist's Financial Plan: How to get your finances together and still rock the house (in partnership with Nomadic Press)

April 12, 2017 | How to quit your job and go full time freelance (in partnership with Young Professionals of San Francisco)

April 11, 2017 | How to Tackle Your Debt and Still Have a Life (in partnership with General Assembly SF)

April 9, 2017 | UC Berkeley's 2nd Annual FLEJCON (Financial Literacy and Economic Justice Conference)

March 22, 2017 | How to quit your job and go full time freelance (in partnership with General Assembly)

March 11, 2017 | #PodinLiveNYC Podcast Meetup! - Come have a drink with us and ask us all your podcast/Hip-Hop/finance/social justice questions in person! (in partnership with Tea With Queen & J)

February 28, 2017 | Beyond Budgeting: How to Put Together a Financial Plan You'll Actually Use (in partnership with General Assembly NYC)

November 30, 2016 | Beyond Budgeting: How to Put Together a Financial Plan You'll Actually Use (in partnership with General Assembly NYC)

November 15, 2016 | Take the Leap from Full Time Job to Full Time F reelance | (in partnership with General Assembly SF)

October 20, 2016 | How to put together a financial plan you'll actually use | (in partnership with Young Professionals of SF)

October 18, 2016 | How to put together a financial plan you'll actually use | (in partnership with General Assembly SF)

October 1, 2016 | Brunch & Get Sh*t Done, New York!

August 30, 2016 | Goals, Guts, & Glory: How to Put Together a Financial Plan You'll Actually Use (in partnership with General Assembly NYC)

June 22, 2016 | From first date to I Do: How to talk to your honey about money | (in partnership with Levo League)

June 18, 2016 | Brunch & Get Sh*t Done, Bay Area!

June 11, 2016 | Brunch & Get Sh*t Done, LA!

April 27, 2016 | Goals, Guts, & Glory: How to put together a financial plan you'll actually use | (in partnership with Levo League)

November 11, 2015 | How to take the leap from full time job to full time passion | (in partnership with Levo League)

November 3, 2015 | Goals, Guts, & Glory: How to put together a financial plan you'll actually use | (in partnership with Levo League & General Assembly SF)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Brunch & Learn! Upcoming Workshops - Brunch & Budget® | Affordable financial planning, coaching, advocacy for freelancers, young professionals, families, couples, women, People of Color

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Apr 27 2022 | 5 Stages To Your Financial Legacy: Financial Legacy | in partnership with Brookdale College Apr 20 2022 | 5 Stages To Your Financial Legacy: Financial Independence | in partnership with Brookdale College Apr 13 2022 | 5 Stages To Your Financial Legacy: Financial Sustainability | in

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Don't be a jerk, do the work

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
1 min compilation from Kholoud Sawaf

Updates happening daily. Search our resources and take action. Scroll up and take direct action or find ways to join the movement. Scroll down down to see latest action, watch recorded broadcasts, and listen to music playlists.
Wednesday weekly meetings now include Every 28 Hours Play s and more. Join us HERE for replenishment and resistance work!

Last Livestream July 4!

.

This Fourth of July, Eboni Muse, joined us a guest curator and shared live performance and content from and for the We Charge Genocide TV evidence files. Our performance was connected to a live event in the park in Los Angeles. Thanks to those who joined us for this chill afternoon of transmedia provocation and invocation of racial justice!

.

.

.

.

*** WEBSITE OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED Juneteenth! ***

.

We Charge Genocide Music Mix to celebrate Juneteenth

June 1st Pre-Launch Livestream
We produced this broadcast before our official launch to connect folks to the project. The 2 hour broadcast contains moving and beautiful content that informs this project.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Updates happening daily. Search our resources and take action. Scroll up and take direct action or find ways to join the movement. Scroll down down to see latest action, watch recorded broadcasts, and listen to music playlists. Wednesday weekly meetings now include Every 28 Hours Play s and more.

# data[].attributes.headline
alternative language for "decolonized" and anti-colonial and counter colonial came up. 

# data[].attributes.subject
alternative language for "decolonized" and anti-colonial and counter colonial came up. 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
John is joined by friends-of-the-show Tyler Tully and Danielle Hanley to discuss Audra Simpson‘s Mohawk Interruptus: Political Life Across the Borders of Settler States (Duke UP, 2014). The book — simultaneously a work of political theory, ethnography, and settler colonial studies — thinks with the Kahnawà:ke Mohawks to examine the situated production and assertion of Indigenous political subjectivities, membership(s), sovereignties, knowledges, practices, and much more.

We talk through questions of a politics of refusal (and a politics of recognition and governance by settler states), ongoingness of settler colonialism (and how Simpsons confronts it), race and indigeneity (and why BIPOC might not be so great), Indigenous and settler epistemologies, dispossession and heteropatriarchy, the libidinal economy of white saviorism, and much more. Not to mention, there is extensive and extremely deserved dragging of John Locke. Are we in a post-, de-, and/or anti-colonial frame? Tune in to find out.

And, stay tuned for the glorious return of giving advice to listener questions! We tackle a question about organizing notes, texts, sources, etc., which unsurprisingly becomes a sort of meditation on our own academic trajectories, peccadillos, and bugaboos.

Requests for texts for us to discuss? Dreams for us to interpret? Advice questions for us to answer? Email us at alwaysalreadypodcast AT gmail DOT com. Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify. Follow us on Twitter. Like our Facebook page. RSS feed here. Patreon here. Thanks to Bad Infinity for the intro music, “Post Digital,” from their album FutureCommons; always already thanks to B for the outro music. For the mp3 of the episode click here.

Links:

Simpson’s homepage at Columbia

Simpson’s 2016 Theory & Event article, “The State Is a Man: Theresa Spence, Loretta Saunders and the Gendered Costs of Settler Sovereignty”

“Reconciliation and its Discontents: Settler Governance in an Age of Sorrow” lecture by Simpson

Tyler Tully, “Epistemological Sacrifice Zones and the Decolonization of Religion“

# data[].attributes.headline
Brian Bell I write TV Shows, webseries, short films and the like. Afrofuturism is my 🎒

# data[].attributes.subject
Brian Bell I write TV Shows, webseries, short films and the like. Afrofuturism is my 🎒

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Something went wrong, but don’t fret — let’s give it another shot.

# data[].attributes.headline
What if "Imposter Syndrome" is a racist concept? Let's talk. | Ethno-VLOGraphy, Ep. 2 

# data[].attributes.subject
What if "Imposter Syndrome" is a racist concept? Let's talk. | Ethno-VLOGraphy, Ep. 2 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What if "Imposter Syndrome" is a racist concept? Let's talk. | Ethno-VLOGraphy, Ep. 2

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
It is a relationship with Mother Earth that is symbiotic and just, where we have reclaimed stewardship.

It is bringing our People with us as we move towards liberation and embodied sovereignty through an organizing, political and narrative framework.

It is a long legacy of warriors and leaders who sacrificed freedom and life.

It is a catalyst for current generation organizers and centers the voices of those who represent our future.

It is recognizing that our struggle is interconnected with the struggles of all oppressed Peoples.

It is a future where Black reparations and Indigenous LANDBACK co-exist. Where BIPOC collective liberation is at the core.

It is acknowledging that only when Mother Earth is well, can we, her children, be well. It is our belonging to the land - because - we are the land.
We are LANDBACK!

LANDBACK Organizing Principles

1. Don't burn bridges: even when there is conflict between groups or organizers remember that we are fighting for all of our peoples and we will continue to be in community even after this battle

2. Don't defend our ways

3. Organize to win

4. Move from abundance - We come from a space of scarcity. We must work from a place of abundance

5. We bring our people with us

6. Deep relationships by attraction, not promotion

7. Divest/invest

8. We value our warriors

9. Room for grace-be able to be human

10. We cannot let our oppressors inhumanity take away from ours

11. Strategy includes guidance

12. Realness: Sometimes the truth hurts

13. Unapologetic but keep it classy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
It is a relationship with Mother Earth that is symbiotic and just, where we have reclaimed stewardship. It is bringing our People with us as we move towards liberation and embodied sovereignty through an organizing, political and narrative framework. It is a long legacy of warriors and leaders who sacrificed freedom and life.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Mad Pride is a mass movement of the users of mental health services, former users, and the aligned, which advocates that individuals with mental illness should be proud of their 'mad' identity. It was formed in 1993 in response to local community prejudices towards people with a psychiatric history living in boarding homes in the Parkdale area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and an event has been held every year since then in the city except for 1996. A similar movement began around the same time in the United Kingdom. By the late 1990s similar events were being organized under the Mad Pride name around the globe, including Australia, Ireland, Portugal, Brazil, Madagascar, South Africa, France, South Korea and the United States. Events draw thousands of participants, according to MindFreedom International, a United States mental health advocacy organization that promotes and tracks events spawned by the movement.

Mad Pride activists seek to reclaim terms such as " mad", " nutter", and " psycho" from misuse, such as in tabloid newspapers and in order to switch it from a negative view into a positive view. Through a series of mass media campaigns, Mad Pride activists seek to re-educate the general public on such subjects as the causes of mental disabilities, the experiences of those using the mental health system, and the global suicide pandemic.[citation needed ] One of Mad Pride's founding activists in the UK was Pete Shaughnessy, who later died by suicide. Mark Roberts, Robert Dellar (who died in 2016) and Simon Barnet were among the other founders of the movement. Mad Pride: A celebration of mad culture records the early Mad Pride movement. On Our Own: Patient-Controlled Alternatives to the Mental Health System, published in 1978 by Judi Chamberlin, is a foundational text in the Mad Pride movement, although it was published before the movement was launched.

The first known event, specifically organized as a Pride event by people who identified as survivors, consumers or ex-patients of psychiatric practices, was held on 18 September 1993, when it was called "Psychiatric Survivor Pride Day".

Mad studies grew out of mad pride and the psychiatric survivor framework, and focuses on developing scholarly thinking around "mental health" by academics who self-identify as mad. As noted in Mad matters: a critical reader in Canadian mad studies, "Mad Studies can be defined in general terms as a project of inquiry, knowledge production, and political action devoted to the critique and transcendence of psy-centred ways of thinking, behaving, relating, and being". Mad studies posits to offer "a critical discussion of mental health and madness in ways that demonstrate the struggles, oppression, resistance, agency and perspectives of Mad people to challenge dominant understandings of 'mental illness'". "Mad studies is a growing, evolving, multi-voiced and interdisciplinary field of activism, theory, praxis and scholarship."

Mad Pride was launched shortly before a book of the same name, Mad Pride: A celebration of mad culture, published in 2000. On May 11, 2008, Gabrielle Glaser documented Mad Pride in The New York Times. Glaser stated, "Just as gay-rights activists reclaimed the word queer as a badge of honor rather than a slur, these advocates proudly call themselves mad; they say their conditions do not preclude them from productive lives."

Elizabeth Packard (1816-1897) was deemed insane by her husband as she did not agree with his conservative political views. In Illinois at the time, involuntary admission to an asylum did not require a public hearing so long as it was a husband admitting his wife. Due to this, Packard was institutionalized though she saw herself to be sane. In Packard's lifetime, to be labeled as "mad" was a form of social disapproval. However, she felt solidarity among Mad people due to her experience in the institution. Though she did not personally identify as Mad and had to identify as "sane" in order to be an activist, it is here that we see early forms of organizing from ex-patients.

The Mad Pride movement has spawned recurring cultural events in Toronto, London, Dublin and other cities around the world. These events often include music, poetry readings, film screenings, and street theatre, such as "bed push" protests, which aim to raise awareness about the poor levels of choice of treatments and the widespread use of force in psychiatric hospitals. Past events have included British journalist Jonathan Freedland, and popular novelist Clare Allan. Mad Pride cultural events take a variety of forms, such as the South London collective Creative Routes, the Chipmunka Publishing enterprise, and the many works of Dolly Sen.

A Bed Push is a method of activism employed by multiple mental health agencies and advocates as a method of raising awareness about psychiatric care. Activists wheel a gurney through public spaces to provoke discussion about mental health care. MindFreedom has a recipe for a successful Bed Push on their website, urging participants to remain peaceful but also be seen by blowing horns, slightly disrupting traffic and playing music. Often patients in psychiatric care feel silenced and powerless, showing resilience in the face of that and securing visibility is a method of regaining dignity.

Mad Pride Week in Toronto is proclaimed as such by the city itself. The festivities surrounding this week are highlighted by the Mad Pride Bed Push, typically on the 14th of July. The event takes place Toronto's Queen Street West "to raise public awareness about the use of force and lack of choice for people ensnared in the Ontario mental health system". This week is officially run by Toronto Mad Pride which partners a number of mental health agencies in the city. In recent years, some advocates have pushed for Parkdale, Toronto to be renamed MAD! Village, to reclaim pride in its surrounding communities' long history of struggle with mental health and addictions.

A series of bed push events take place around London each year.

Psychiatric Patient-Built Wall Tours

The Psychiatric Patient-Built Wall Tours take place in Toronto, at the CAMH facility on Queen St West. The tours show the patient-built walls from the 19th century that are located at present day CAMH. The purpose of the tours is to give a history on the lives of the patients who built the walls, and bring attention to the harsh realities of psychiatry.

Geoffrey Reaume and Heinz Klein first came up with the idea of walking tours as part of a Mad Pride event in 2000. The first wall tour occurred on what is now known as Mad Pride Day, on July 14, 2000, with an attendance of about fifty people. Reaume solely leads the tours, and they have grown from annual events for Mad Pride, to occurring several times throughout the year in all non-winter months.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Mad Pride is a mass movement of the users of mental health services, former users, and the aligned, which advocates that individuals with mental illness should be proud of their 'mad' identity.

# data[].attributes.headline
Claudia Alick and adrienne mares brown on Pleasure Activism and Disability: 

# data[].attributes.subject
Claudia Alick and adrienne mares brown on Pleasure Activism and Disability: 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Freedom Verses is a strategic planning and consultancy firm co-created by two queer, nonbinary people of color with a long history of organizing and community work. Audrey and Povi-Tamu have joint and individual experience in building collective leadership, program development, grassroots organizing, fundraising, strategic planning, youth work, and board development, along with extensive training and facilitation experience for diverse audiences of all ages.

After collaborating on projects and actions across several organizations and job roles, we realized that we really enjoyed working with each other and strategic planned ourselves into co-creating a business. Freedom Verses grew out of our desire to support and develop organizations and leaders that strengthen our communities - and to create more spaciousness and flexibility in our own lives to do the work that feels most meaningful to us. We are committed to supporting social justice and liberation work, with a focus on those who exist and do work at the intersections of multiple axes of marginalization.

Learn more about the values that guide our work, or let us know you'd like to work with us!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Freedom Verses is a strategic planning and consultancy firm co-created by two queer, nonbinary people of color with a long history of organizing and community work. Audrey and Povi-Tamu have joint and individual experience in building collective leadership, program development, grassroots organizing, fundraising, strategic planning, youth work, and board development, along with extensive training and facilitation experience for diverse audiences of all ages.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Rebel Sidney Black (they/them pronouns) is a light-skinned multiracial, nonbinary, zami (same gender loving), disabled person. They have 15 years of experience doing community organizing, facilitating social justice trainings, contributing to community-based theorizing, and nonprofit leadership.

Rebel is currently a distance learning student to earn an MS in Counseling. They are interested in integrating counseling with social change work and apply a racial justice and anti-oppressions lens to everything they do. Their long-term goal is to create a therapy collective that integrates individual and group therapy with systemic change work to heal the individual, intergenerational, and systemic traumas that our BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and Multiracial folks, and People of Color) communities experience. They are also committed to incorporating traditional, cultural, and spiritual practices into this work.

Rebel has a history of mental health diagnosis of Bipolar, PTSD, and they are a suicide attempt survivor

Fireweed Collective offers mental health education and mutual aid through a Healing Justice lens. We help support the emotional wellness of all people and center the needs of those most marginalized by our society. Our work seeks to disrupt the harm of systems of abuse and oppression, often reproduced by the mental health system. Learn more about us.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Coping with Physical and Psychiatric Disabilities @ Fireweed Collective

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Rebel Sidney Black (they/them pronouns) is a light-skinned multiracial, nonbinary, zami (same gender loving), disabled person. They have 15 years of experience doing community organizing, facilitating social justice trainings, contributing to community-based theorizing, and nonprofit leadership. Rebel is currently a distance learning student to earn an MS in Counseling.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"When I is replaced by we, illness becomes wellness."
- Malcolm X

Welcome

I am an African, European, Turtle Island, Multi-Racial, Cis Gendered, Hetero-leaning Queer Man, raised in a working class family with largely middle class ideology – currently hustling class – with ruling class economic goals and anti-capitalist, collective, tribal visions. Born and raised in Huichin, Occupied Ohlone Territory, AKA Oakland and Berkeley. Progeny of Pagan, Universalist, Abolitionist, Healer, Teacher, Creator, Organizers...  I am Singing Poet BeatMan; Meditator, Educator, shit talking Irreverent Reverend, Fractal Liberationist. Embodied, Mindful, Intergenerationally Therapeutic, Creative Liberation Coach & Councilor for Change Makers in a Changing World.

​

First and foremost, I am a devotee of the sacred, & this makes me a student of nature -- our own, and all things. I have always been naturally empathetic, justice minded, and connected to spirit. As a child I had to learn to read people, energy, and situations well to survive. I developed a meditation practice in high school through hip-hop as a lyricist, emcee, and beat maker. In my early twenties I found Buddhist vipassana insight meditation, traditional plant medicines, and ritual praxes from the “Americas” and the African diaspora. Meditation, art therapy, and transgenerational healing both with professional practitioners and peers, saved my life as a teenager, and gave me power in the world, and peace within.
I have since toured the world with music, social justice education and healing programs, hosted men’s and young men’s groups, coached, counseled, and collaborated for more than two decades -- all combining arts, activism, healing, Ancestral connection, and education. I've had the honor to study with many teachers spanning a wide-range of disciplines and perspectives. This has all led me to offer the INNER EQUITY COACHING COUNCIL as a method and altar to support those who truly want to know themselves and the world whole and thriving.

This practice is that hip-hop homecoming, ani yun wiwa way, african diasporic soul retrieval, druid dosed, buddhist bent, christ consciousnessed, trauma informed, somatic, earth based, therapeutic, we all family dynamic constellations, meditation, mediation, facilitation, co-creation, prayer, play, council.

For earnest beings on the path to balance, wellness, esteem, creative liberation, appropriately resourced abundance, responsible earth stewardship, agency, peace, and inner equity.

You ready?

Embodied, Mindful, Intergenerationally Therapeutic, Creative Liberation Coaching for Change Makers in a Changing World.

We're here to help...

Are you struggling with chronic depression, overwhelm, anger, fear, confusion, people pleasing, and/or, are you an empath, activist, QBIPOC, managing systemic oppression burnout? Do you need help to understand yourself, your struggles, and this wild ass world, to even identify what's going on inside you and what you need? Are you ready to take your life and your work in the world to the next level? Are you ready to feel more in tune, to trust yourself, to lean into your deepest, wisest, most earnest desires -- to have more energy, enthusiasm, and resource -- to rest and find relief, to know peace in seemingly discordant parts of yourself or aspects of your life -- to design a life that is sustainably satisfying, purposeful, and poppin'!??
Our main council & coaching tools include parts work, re-evaluative counseling, D.J.E.D.I development (deep justice, equity, diversity, & inclusion), social emotional learning, meditation guidance, embodiment & somatic healing practices, energy work (reiki and various subtle body healing modalities), tarot readings, creative liberation techniques, various indigenous healing modalities, and ancestral connection.

To get started, schedule a free consultation or book a session using the links below.

​

Inner Equity Coaching

IEC Meditations

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Inner Equity Coaching | The I Am Many Practice

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Embodied Mindfulness & Therapeutic Creative Liberation Coaching for Change Makers in a Changing World; Restor(y)ing the Multiverse Within through Intergenerational, Fractal Liberationist, Deep Justice, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
As an organization founded by two Disabled white people, we want to acknowledge that predominantly white institutions have an implicit bias toward white, work-ready bodies.

At the Curiosity Paradox, we consider the seemingly benign aspects of gathering people together and reframe them as a fertile ground of solidarity, resistance, learning, and creativity.

Systemic oppression is often hiding. Power imbalances are baked into everyday decision processes like meeting agendas, work schedules, and event registrations.

We work with our clients and audiences to slow down, expose power dynamics, and experiment with power redistribution.

Through consulting, creatively led workshops, and interactive artworks that center and model Disability access, we support essential and embodied changes in the ways groups of people make everyday decisions.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Curiosity Paradox is a transmedia performance opportunity born out of the collaboration between Grant (Curiosity) Miller and Jonathan PARADOX Lee.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Woke AF - YouTube

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Progressive pop culture, politics, and news from an urban Black man’s point of view. Revolutionary Optimist. Hardcore blerd. This content is to take back woke, SJW and progressive. Pop Culture, politics, black issues, TV, movies, social commentary, news, reviews and anything I want to talk abou…

# data[].attributes.headline
Sandy Pascual: MBA, NIC, CoreCHI, OCHI, Q-MHI; Nationally Certified American Sign Language Interpreter; (Tri-lingual: English, Spanish, ASL); Qualified Mental Health Interpreter (Q-MHI); Certified Medical Interpreter (CoreCHI); Oregon Certified Healthcare Interpreter (OCHI)

# data[].attributes.subject
Sandy Pascual: MBA, NIC, CoreCHI, OCHI, Q-MHI; Nationally Certified American Sign Language Interpreter; (Tri-lingual: English, Spanish, ASL); Qualified Mental Health Interpreter (Q-MHI); Certified Medical Interpreter (CoreCHI); Oregon Certified Healthcare Interpreter (OCHI)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
[Cover description: an assortment of faded, ombré, mixed colors of what I perceive from left to middle to be blue, purple, pink, and peach. The colors appear to me as though they were blended cotton candy clouds in front of a sunrise. End description.]

This website used to include resources from my in-progress and past activism. For now, it has been slightly modified to better support the needs identified by my communities during these difficult times. This website was attempted to be written in plain language, but was written during my slow and nonlinear process of healing from burn out, so the full complexities may not be held via its communication. Please find resources below that are helping me navigate. Maybe these resources can assist you, too.

For now, let us slow ourselves down, try to help each other (safely and realistically), and remember that we ARE worthy of meeting our basic needs, even if it's in ways now that don't meet our usual standards.

Check out these resources (not in any specific order):

Deanna Parvin Yadollahi's 10 Affirmations of Disability Justice

Some affirmations I have been developing for myself over time:

I am exactly how I am meant to be, perfect and beautiful

I am worthy of accessibility, no matter how difficult others think it is to provide

I am worthy of meaningful connections, no matter what others think of me when I'm fully me

I am worthy of unlearning shame and internalized oppression, no matter what controversies exist in activist communities; all of which can exist beautifully without the need to all be held

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Deanna Parvin Yadollahi's working draft website!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Cover description: an assortment of faded, ombré, mixed colors of what I perceive from left to middle to be blue, purple, pink, and peach. The colors appear to me as though they were blended cotton candy clouds in front of a sunrise. End description.]

# data[].attributes.headline
Tabi as SnailFlea the ConSensual Sex-hex Deamon here:

# data[].attributes.subject
Tabi as SnailFlea the ConSensual Sex-hex Deamon here:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
I center the wisdom, perspectives, leadership, and needs of disabled, LGBTQ2SIA+, Black, Indigenous, and multiracial folks and people of color as pathways toward racial equity and disability justice. I have spent the past 20 years studying, practicing, and reflecting on social justice issues, actively participating in equity and inclusion work in a variety of contexts for the past 15. As a multiracial, disabled, nonbinary person, I identify as an occupant of liminal, between-worlds, and crossroad spaces. This helps me hold dialectical tensions and bridge varying perspectives while building relationship with my collaborators.

I am interested in helping you with:

Belonging, Dignity, and Justice (aka DEI).

Organizational change work, particularly around racial and disability justice.

Disability Justice audits and evaluations.

Supporting organizations in moving away from hierarchical structures.

Co-creating housing justice through a disability justice and racial equity lens.

Updating organizational policies to reflect social justice goals.

Some organizations I have worked with:

Northwest Health Foundation

Living Cully/Verde

Portland Community College

Fireweed Collective

Metro

L’Arche

The Curiosity Paradox

C(3)PO Houseless Villages

Interfaces, Austin TX

Prosper Portland

Some of my current/upcoming projects and experiences:

Facilitating Disability Justice Dreaming Sessions

Fire Through Dry Grass Documentary Strategy Summit

Visualizing Justice, BEING Studio, Ottawa Canada

Worthy Labour/Holding Value, visiting artist

Some of my past projects and experiences:

One of three international panelists for Starling Collective kickoff event

Co-facilitator for Disability/Representation 2021: #AccessIsLove in Action.

Presentations on Pod Mapping for Mutual Aid, Embodying Disability Justice, Consent with Disabled People, Coping with Physical and Psychiatric Disabilities, and more!

Stakeholder for creating values statement for affordable housing development at 74th and Glisan

Awarded Starling Collective grant and Northwest Health Foundation Advancing Disability Justice grant to create the fully accessible As We Are: Disability Justice and Community Care Conference (2020).

Founder (2019) of the Portland Disability Justice Collective, a mutual aid group by and for disabled people in the Portland Metro OR and Vancouver WA area. Contracted Program Manager with The UPRISE Collective to support the PDX DJ Collective (2020).

Received President’s Diversity Award: group award for work on the Students of Color Expectations for PSU’s Graduate School of Social Work (2017).

Invited to participate in Northwest Health Foundation’s Disability Justice Leader’s Collaborative (2017-2018).

Participated in the Healing Roots Community Advisory Committee at Bradley Angle (2015-2016).

Supported cross-class cafe Sisters Of The Road in becoming a collective (2012-2015). Developed and co-facilitated racial justice and anti-oppressions trainings, strategic planning, and structural change within the organization.

Attended mediation training through Resolutions Northwest.

…and more!

I work limited hours per month due to my capacity. However, I know how to make those hours count!

One thing about working toward Disability Justice is that we are in a constant process of learning to respect our bodyminds and our limits while finding ways to be sustainable. I try to model this for you and your colleagues as we work together toward liberation.

Unlike many social justice facilitators and consultants, I am committed to using plain language as much as possible. You may notice this as you read through my writing. Many of my links go to plain language articles rather than academic citations. After all, a person does not have to know what kyriarchy is to have the felt and lived experience of biases and inequalities interlocking to prevent them from living life to their fullest. Explaining words as I use them and avoiding jargon whenever I can makes information more accessible to everyone.

If you’re interested in getting to know more about how I can support you or your organization, please reach out by email at rebelsidneyblack@gmail.com and we can set up a time to do a phone or video call.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I center the wisdom, perspectives, leadership, and needs of disabled, LGBTQ2SIA+, Black, Indigenous, and multiracial folks and people of color as pathways toward racial equity and disability justice. I have spent the past 20 years studying, practicing, and reflecting on social justice issues, actively participating in equity and inclusion work in a variety of contexts for the past 15.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
J E N N Y   K O O N S

ABOUT

IMAGES

CONTACT

More

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Jenny Koons is a New York based theater director. She specializes in bringing unique artists together to create cross-disciplinary work.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
I am crafting a world of love and belonging by standing up for equity, and standing fully in my truth as a builder, active listener, servant of humanity, supporter of youth by modeling accountability, integrity, respect, responsibility, and unconditional love, so that we all might help humanity be its biggest, fullest, and brightest. I am crafting a world of love and belonging by standing up for equity, and standing fully in my truth as a builder, active listener, servant of humanity, supporter of youth by modeling accountability, integrity, respect, responsibility, and unconditional love, so that we all might help humanity be its biggest, fullest, and brightest.

How to: “Crafting Your Equity Lens”

“Crafting Your Equity Lens” is the first step to begin building the world you want to experience.  There are five key components we teach in our workshop to help you craft your Equity Lens:

1. Understand your Ideas / Thoughts of Community

2. Review Your Own Bias and Implicit Bias

3. Introspection

4. Deeper Reflection

5. Creating Accountability

WATCH THE FREE WEBINAR

Matthew Reynolds Consulting LLC offers a range of services designed to enhance community relations, improve intra-organizational communications and awareness, and enrich lives through engagement, education, workshops, and presentations. Previous partnerships include Culturally Responsive Teaching with Professors at Southern Oregon University, Equity Building with Live Arts theater, and Building Equity through Community with Southern Oregon Education Support District.

About Matthew

Inspiring, empathetic, innovative. Matthew’s unique personal history affords a highly nuanced, complex understanding of many of today’s social challenges. A unique perspective in a difficult world.

Read More »

Services

Creating community is not a cosmetic endeavor. Transformation germinates in multiple layers. It takes root in communion and unfolds exponentially through guided conversation.

See All Services »

Contact

Not sure where to begin? Have a specific concern or goal for your organization? Want to dissolve cognitive and operational limitations through honed emotional intelligence?

Get in Touch with Matthew »

Customized Workshops

Let Matthew Reynolds Consulting customize a workshop for your business, board, or community organization. Customized workshops create a more personal and relevant experience for your team.

“Educate your mind, feed your soul.”

A Powerful Experience

“I have witnessed incredible changes throughout our whole community because of the work that [Matthew] puts into the growth of every single person ... [Matthew] is a gift to everyone with whom he works.”

— Janelle Wilson, M.A.

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Matthew Reynolds Consulting LLC offers a range of services designed to enhance community relations, improve intra-organizational communications and awareness, and enrich lives through engagement, education, workshops, and presentations.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Photo description: a carrot growing in muddy soil, with the green and orange top sticking out. Photo credit: “I spy a carrot!” by Gemma Garner – CC License

The Seasonal Body is a project focused on the intersection of nature connection, disability, food justice and body liberation.

This website is a hub for our work and writing, and also provides information about our available educational services. If you are interested in consulting, workshops, public speaking, or educational resources, click here for more details.

Continue reading about The Seasonal Body and its founder Julie Nowak.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
exploring the intersection of nature connection, disability justice, body liberation & food justice

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Photograph courtesy of Paul Wilson @paulrww
The views and opinions expressed by Klamath Land Back Tours, LLC are those of a private company and do not reflect the views or positions of The Klamath Tribes.

On the Klamath Tribes' Homelands, the Indigenous People who are the original stewards of the Land are facing constant settler-colonial violence through the ongoing Indian Wars, which have never ended. They've turned into the Klamath Basin's historic drought and continued Water Wars, which is one of the biggest Water Wars in US history. The War now looks like local Agriculture's water theft, constant violent threats and carried out assaults; the unsustainable and destructive cattle ranching; racialized wealth inequality leading to unstable housing and houselessness; escalating wildfires due to state and federal mismanagement i.e. lumber over-harvesting; and the resulting extinction of the Klamath Tribes' traditional foods - the Cwaam, Koptu, and Yen suckerfish. The suckerfish are fighting to survive in the Klamath Lake that's now dying. Colonial erasure of the Klamath, Modoc and Paiute People, environmental racism, and a broken Treaty are at the forefront.

The Highway 97 corridor cuts through Klamath Territory and gets 1 million + uninvited tourists and settlers every year. Klamath Land Back Tours was established to assert that this Territory is that of the Modoc, the Klamath, and Paiute People. As they struggle with the continued problems brought by colonization, Klamath Land Back Tours disrupts the local travel guide, and how the uninvited guests move through their Homelands. Klamath Land Back Tours offers you a detour into the reality of many Tribal People and provides an opportunity to understand a more complex and inclusive narrative. Klamath Land Back Tours is a redirection away from the idea and fantasy that we are no longer here, and that you are entitled to our Land.

Their most sacred sites are now federal and state parks and private land. With over 1 million uninvited tourists and settlers who access this Territory each year, these large droves are desecrating sacred places while the Indigenous People are being erased. Klamath Land Back Tours honors and claims the Territory with the aim of protecting and helping secure the future of its Indigenous People while reminding you, the uninvited colonizers that this is Klamath Land. It always will be. You are not entitled to the Land. You are not entitled to its resources. Instead, you are participating in its ecological collapse.

Proceeds go to THE AMBO FUND, to the development of Indigenous-led tours, and to Klamath Land Back initiatives. Now is your opportunity to acknowledge whose Land you are on, to stand in solidarity with the Indigenous Community, and to give back. The Modoc, Klamath, and Paiute Tribes are the original and rightful stewards. And they are fighting for their survival.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Photograph courtesy of Paul Wilson @paulrww The views and opinions expressed by Klamath Land Back Tours, LLC are those of a private company and do not reflect the views or positions of The Klamath Tribes. On the Klamath Tribes' Homelands, the Indigenous People who are the original stewards of the Land are facing constant settler-colonial violence through the ongoing Indian Wars, which have never ended.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Donate to the Ambo Fund To donate via credit card: To donate via Paypal or Venmo:

# data[].attributes.headline
Podcast 3-part series about a Coast Miwok family’s eviction from their ancestral home in Northern California: https://emergencemagazine.org/audio-story/coming-home-to-the-cove/

# data[].attributes.subject
Podcast 3-part series about a Coast Miwok family’s eviction from their ancestral home in Northern California: https://emergencemagazine.org/audio-story/coming-home-to-the-cove/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Episode 1

Theresa Harlan shares the story of her Coast Miwok family's eviction from their homestead on a cove in Tomales Bay-an uprooting which ended her family's time there but did not sever their connection to the ancestral lands and waters of Tamal-liwa.
Photo courtesy of Theresa Harlan

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Coming Home to the Cove - Emergence Magazine

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Theresa Harlan shares the story of her Coast Miwok family's eviction from their homestead on a cove in Tomales Bay-an uprooting which ended her family's time there but did not sever their connection to the ancestral lands and waters of Tamal-liwa. Photo courtesy of Theresa Harlan

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Post with 96 views. Acrylic Painting Portfolio

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Rebel Sidney Fayola Black Burnett - "Good Fortune Walks with Honor"

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Rebel Sidney Fayola Black Burnett - Disability Justice collaborator

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Rebel Sidney Black is an Access Artist based out of Portland Oregon. He is also Founder of Disability Justice Dreaming and Leaping Water Consulting

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Story Brennen (@fightthedystopia) TikTok | Watch Story Brennen's Newest TikTok Videos

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Story Brennen (@fightthedystopia) on TikTok | 4.6K Likes. 1.6K Fans. Âû * They/Them * Queer * 34 * Leftist Land Back * Abolish * ac12 Scientist Witch

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Fat Socialist (@jasminesherman80) TikTok | Watch Fat Socialist's Newest TikTok Videos

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Fat Socialist (@jasminesherman80) on TikTok | 870.6K Likes. 77.2K Fans. I am a socialist running for President 🇺🇸 in 2024 $JasmineSherman2024

# data[].attributes.headline
The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book By Gord Hill 

# data[].attributes.subject
The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book By Gord Hill 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The book is worth the price simply for its outstanding introduction by Ward Churchill.

I knew about the Zapatista's armed struggle in the 90s. I did not know about the numerous armed resistances in Canada in the last quarter century or so.

The book is 10 years old, and it does touch upon genocide through spreading disease. The science may have changed on this recently.

I would like to see an equivalent book for other continents.

It can be hard to follow the panels at points, and some abbreviations...more

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The book is worth the price simply for its outstanding introduction by Ward Churchill. I knew about the Zapatista's armed struggle in the 90s. I did not know about the numerous armed resistances in Canada in the last quarter century or so. The book is 10 years old, and it does touch upon genocide through spreading disease.

# data[].attributes.headline
"1492 Land Back Lane" (bordering the town of Caledonia and the Six Nations reserve in Ontario): https://www.facebook.com/1492LandBackLane/ (This land is part of the Haldimand Tract land defence: https://www.protectthetract.com/)

# data[].attributes.subject
"1492 Land Back Lane" (bordering the town of Caledonia and the Six Nations reserve in Ontario): https://www.facebook.com/1492LandBackLane/ (This land is part of the Haldimand Tract land defence: https://www.protectthetract.com/)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Council of Chiefs of the Haudenosaunee, Grand River Territory, wish to affirm and clarify our land rights in the tract conferment by Governor Frederick Haldimand on October 25, 1784. In making this statement, the Council of Chiefs wants to make it clear that we hold certain land ethics and principles that must be respected in any agreements on land use or occupation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Zacqueline Baldwin (@zacqueline_) * Instagram photos and videos

# data[].attributes.body
https://callingupjustice.com/million-mask-march-online/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Our Million Mask March is to protest ending mask mandates. We invite everyone to post a photo or video to our digital March since we can't meet in person safely without mask mandates. Our Digital March is an online protest to the eugenics filled policies of COVID denial. We can't march outside together safely because not enough people are masking. Help us reach 1 million masks. This project was conceived by Tinu, produced by Claudia, and graphic designed by Maia.

We live-streamed the march November 7 2022 on twitch and tiktok.
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1647339300

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Million Mask March ONLINE - Calling Up Justice!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Our Million Mask March is to protest ending mask mandates. We invite everyone to post a photo or video to our digital March since we can't meet in person safely without mask mandates. Our Digital March is an online protest to the eugenics filled policies of COVID denial.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
fatalprose (@fatalprose) TikTok | Watch fatalprose’s Newest TikTok Videos

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
fatalprose (@fatalprose) on TikTok | 1.2M Likes. 104.4K Followers. Deconstructing; Decolonizing; and Divesting from Patriarchy. Start from SCRATCH

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Technologist, storyteller (screenplay, fiction, poetry, music, media content), neuroscience grad, former nanobio-chemo, former investment banking finance.

# data[].attributes.headline
check out "question access" in this exhibition

# data[].attributes.subject
check out "question access" in this exhibition

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Carmen Papalia, Mobilty Device, 2019, performance on the High Line, New York, Photo: Carlos David, Courtesy of the High Line

Image Description: A moment from Carmen Papalia's performance titled Mobility Device, captured at the High Line: an elevated linear park, greenway and rail trail created on a former New York Central Railroad spur on the west side of Manhattan in New York City. Carmen, a non-visual artist, is in the middle of the frame. He is midstep on the concrete path with his head turned to his left, wearing a pink, short-sleeved button-up shirt, black pants, brown sneakers and a purple fedora. A group of musicians follow Carmen closely. They are diverse in race and gender, all wearing clothing in a similar colour palette to Carmen's. The musicians are playing brass instruments including trombones, trumpets and tubas. In the background, a distant cityscape creates a distinct border between the grey sky at dusk and a body of water.

with Rebel Fayola Rose (Founder of Disability Justice Dreaming), Sharona Franklin, Catherine Frazee and Gabrielle Peters (Disability Filibuster Against Bill C-7), Heather Kai Smith, and The Curiosity Paradox

Carmen Papalia is a Vancouver-based, non-visual artist working in the realm of social practice. His artwork is concerned with unsettling traditions of cultural ableism, which he achieves by centring and affirming disability cultures in environments and places where members of the broader disability community are underrepresented. Papalia develops participatory projects that reveal non-visual sensory landscapes, demonstrating the possibilities of creative and justice-oriented accessibility practices.

This exhibition presents a new site-specific project by Papalia that asserts different models for collective care and Disability Justice. The installation features an imaginative accessible structure within the Gallery, which frames a gathering space where other voices and narratives from the contemporary disability movement are introduced. The exhibition also includes a dedicated programming space, which will host a full slate of workshops and talks, a resource library and contributions from a number of guest artists to further develop key ideas and conversations within the exhibition.

NEXT: Provisional Structures: Carmen Papalia with Co-Conspirators is the twentieth instalment in NEXT: A Series of Artist Projects from the Pacific Rim. This series highlights works previously not seen in Vancouver and seeks to engage the diverse practices of Pacific Rim artists.

Organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery and curated by Mandy Ginson, Associate Curator, in collaboration with Stephanie Bokenfohr, Adult Public Programs Coordinator

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
NEXT: Provisional Structures | Carmen Papalia with Co-Conspirators

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
with Rebel Fayola Rose (Founder of Disability Justice Dreaming), Sharona Franklin, Catherine Frazee and Gabrielle Peters (Disability Filibuster Against Bill C-7), Heather Kai Smith, and The Curiosity Paradox Carmen Papalia is a Vancouver-based, non-visual artist working in the realm of social practice.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Hi! I'm Julie Nowak (she/they) - a disabled educator and activist who writes and talks about the intersection of nature connection, disability justice, body liberation, and food justice. I'm also creating a podcast!

You can read more about me and my project 'The Seasonal Body' on my website ( SeasonalBody.org), or follow me on social media: @SeasonalBody on Facebook & Twitter; @TheSeasonalBody on Instagram.

My podcast (tentatively called "Homeward Nature" - release date tbd) will be a free resource focused on increasing access to nature connection through short, guided, experiential activities in audio form (plus transcripts).

This project is my act of love for those who are homebound and disabled like me, and for those who can't access outdoor green spaces for various reasons (e.g. due to ableism, location, safety, racism, lack of time, etc). But the podcast is also for anyone, so I hope you will listen!

This Patreon page is a place where you can optionally donate to support me as a chronically-ill and low-income creator (as my low/fluctuating capacity means I cannot work at a "regular" job, or handle consistent freelance work). Thankfully the podcast is something I can work on slowly at my own pace, taking extended breaks when needed.

You can choose to donate any monthly amount (as low as $1) - it's up to you!

There are no specific benefits or services you get from joining here - it's mainly a way for me to organize donations on an ongoing basis. I may occasionally post updates here, or share links to my work, which will be made available to non-donors as well. So you aren't missing out on any content if you aren't able to donate!

These donations will also help cover the initial and ongoing costs associated with producing a podcast and running a website.

If you prefer to give a one-time donation, or you want to offer your time instead of money (to help ease my workload with the podcast behind the scenes), you can donate or contact me through my website:
SeasonalBody.org/donate

I'm also sometimes available to offer public speaking, consulting, and educational resources (depending on my health capacity) - which you can learn about here:
SeasonalBody.org/services/

Regardless of whether or not you donate, I hope you will join me in working towards a world that makes nature connection more accessible and embraces disability justice!

[profile image description: headshot photo of Julie Nowak, a white person with short brown hair, wearing a black top, in front of an outdoor background of trees and clouds]

[cover image description: photo of a carrot growing in muddy soil, with the green and orange top sticking out. Photo credit: "I spy a carrot!" by Gemma Garner - CC License]

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Julie Nowak: 'The Seasonal Body' & upcoming podcast is creating resources about nature & disability (donate $1/month or more) | Patreon

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Hi! I'm Julie Nowak (she/they) - a disabled educator and activist who writes and talks about the intersection of nature connection, disability justice, body liberation, and food justice. I'm also creating a podcast! You can read more about me and my project 'The Seasonal Body' on my website ( SeasonalBody.org), or follow me on social media: @SeasonalBody on Facebook & Twitter; @TheSeasonalBody on Instagram.