Being able to advocate about your needs can be challenging for anybody, but especially draining for those in the blind or partially sighted community. This week Shawn is joined by co-hosts Nika, Kolby, and Clement to discuss some of their own experiences self-advocating, some of the challenges faced, as well as the importance of knowing when and how to speak up about your needs.

June is Deafblind Awareness Month and to kick it off, Shawn and co-host Kolby welcome Dr. Linda Mamer to talk about deafblindness. Dr. Mamer is a Deafblind Consultant for the Provincial Outreach Program for Deafblindness and she gives us an overview of the many aspects and gradients of deafblindness as well as helping understand the different deafblind communication and teaching methods. We also learn all about ‘yarn bombing’ and how this tactile art is being used to help raise awareness for deafblindness all over the world during the month of June. 

This week Shawn and co-host Ishita welcome back Jugaad, one of our youth from last week’s Culture and Disability episode, to discuss his passion for his favorite sport, Cricket!  While Cricket may not have much of a presence here in Canada, it’s huge in other countries around the world and if you were ever curious about how it’s played, it’s cultural impact in India, and even how it is adapted for players who are blind or partially sighted, you don’t want to miss this episode! 

May 21 is World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, and in the spirit of embracing and sharing about different cultures, Shawn welcomes Nika, Jinnie, Jugaad, Clement, and Ishita as co-hosts to discuss their own lived experiences navigating disability from within other cultures.  

This past week saw us celebrate Mother’s Day, so we wanted to do something special to honor Moms in this episode of the podcast. As a Mom herself, Shawn takes the week off as host, turns the show over to Ishita and Jill, and takes a seat in the guest chair. Shawn and special guest Lovette describe their experiences of becoming Moms through the lens of being blind, some of the hurdles they faced, adaptations they needed to make, and the joys that motherhood brings. 

Mental Health Awareness Week is May 3 - 9, 2021 and this year it’s more important than ever to take some time and reflect on the importance of mental health. Over 40% of Canadians have reported that their mental health has deteriorated since the pandemic began, and the feelings of uncertainty, stress, and anxiety felt can be overwhelming. This week Shawn welcomes Nika back to the podcast to talk about the importance of promoting mental health and overcoming the stigma that some people still feel about discussing it openly, sharing personal stories about various struggles as well as offering some strategies on coping and maintaining good mental health.

On a Sunday afternoon in October of 2015, Blind Beginnings youth, volunteers, and parents gathered together in the Metrotown Mall in Burnaby, British Columbia. What came next was the result of over a year of careful planning and a LOT of practice. This week, in honor of International Dance Day on April 29th, Shawn, Randi, Nika, and Jinnie revisit the Blind Beginnings Flash Mob and take us through how the idea came to be, what kind of planning was involved to pull it off, and the lasting impact it had on its participants. 

April 18 - 24 is National Volunteer Week and we are helping celebrate by talking all about the many benefits that Volunteering can have (well, aside from the awesomeness of helping an organization accomplish its given mission) -- from building new skills to paving the way for the possibility of future job opportunities. Shawn is joined by Clement and Ishita, both of whom have had Volunteer positions that have resulted in paid opportunities, to discuss what the volunteering experience was like, how it built confidence, and why it can be such an important and empowering experience for youth.

This week on the show, we’re navigating the very complex topic of Orientation and Mobility. Anyone who has ever had to go through this type of training knows that Orientation, or being able to conceptualize the space around you without being able to see it, is key. Yet for some people, it is much more challenging than for others. Shawn and co-host Jinnie welcome Patricia, who struggles with orientation, and Kim, who is a Orientation and Mobility Specialist to explore and discuss why this is. From mental mapping and spatial awareness to Orientation concepts and how they develop, this episode is a fascinating look into how different people are able to process and navigate information in very different ways.

This week on the podcast we’ve snared some great guests and there may be repercussions! If you guessed that our topic is drumming based on those incredibly bad puns, you’d be absolutely correct! This week Shawn and co-host Seerat are joined by Gary and Alethea, both experienced drummers who are blind or partially sighted and they discuss what made them pick up drumsticks in the first place, some of the challenges they face, and what they love about being percussionists. Take it from us, you just can’t beat this episode!

This week Shawn is joined by co-host Nika, who has had a passion for dance since an early age, and she shares her journey of trying to find a Dance Studio that was right for her. The two are joined by Sue, Nika’s ballet instructor, and Haley, a fellow dance student who acted as a sighted volunteer to talk about their respective experiences, how lessons were able to be adapted, and the powerful impact it had in all their lives.

The show is going downhill fast this week - but in a good way! Shawn and her co-host Dani welcome Canadian Paralympic Alpine skier Mac Marcoux to the show. With Dani also being a skier, she and Mac share their experiences in skiing and training with visual impairments and some of the adaptations they use and challenges they face.

Jinnie joins Shawn as co-host this week and both are absolutely thrilled to welcome author Amanda Leduc to the podcast, where she talks about her latest book, “The Centaur’s Wife”, a dystopian novel which deals with the theme of disability. They discuss how disability is represented in fiction and fairy tales, person-first language, Amanda’s own experiences as an author with a disability, and much more!

This week is another special episode of the show as we feature a recording from a recent session of one of Blind Beginnings’ popular programs, Exploring Work Wednesday. Shawn sits down and talks with Tamara, who explains her job as TransLink Coordinator and Access Transit Planner and describes her employment journey with Translink, but also discusses her other, very important job as well: mother to an almost 2-year old!

This week Shawn and co-host Ishita welcome Jennie Bovard to the show. Jennie has a new podcast on AMI called “Low Vision Moments” which is part comedy and part advocacy and she gives us a taste of some of the topics that she discusses on the show as well as talking how it came about, the importance of educating people about what it’s like to be blind or partially sighted, and much more!

This week Shawn welcomes a small group of parents, all of  whom have children who are blind or partially sighted, to the podcast. Candice, Jaeger and Maria all have participated in Parent Support Groups offered by Blind Beginnings, and in this episode they open up about their respective experiences - from their initial reactions to learning their child’s vision diagnosis, to the importance of building support networks and meeting other parents in similar situations.

Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching and to commemorate everybody’s favorite “day of love”, we thought we would talk about a subject that almost everyone is passionate about: dating! Love it or hate it, dating is something that everybody has done at some point, but when you are blind or partially sighted, it presents its own unique set of challenges and situations. Join us for this very special episode as Shawn and her co-hosts Keisha and Kaya discuss their own dating experiences and talk about what it’s like in the dating realm being blind or partially sighted when your potential partner is not. 

White Cane Week is February 7 - February 14, and in honor of this we welcome Bill Conway, BC-Yukon Director of the Canadian Council of the Blind, who explains the origins and purpose of White Cane Week, the CCB, and covers some of the different events that are happening for this year’s celebration. 

We are so excited this week to welcome the very talented musician and producer, Joey Stuckey, all the way from Macon, Georgia! Joey joins Shawn and co-hosts Nika and Ishita to tell his story of how he lost his sight and what it was like to build a career in music performance and production. We talk about accessibility in music, how COVID has affected his touring and his production methods, and much much more -- including how he filmed an action packed music video for his song, “Blind Man Drivin’”!