Remarkable World Commentary Episode #71: Ask Advocate Donna

🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #71: Ask Advocate Donna | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA
https://donnajodhan.com/rwc-01-02-2026/

In this empowering episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan introduces a new monthly "Ask Advocate Donna" segment, folding in the spirit of her earlier Ask Donna Advocacy in Action podcast, designed to help listeners become stronger, more confident, and more independent advocates. She opens with a quote about speaking so others love to listen, and listening so others love to speak, then kicks off a quick "word game" that challenges listeners to reflect on an advocate's mindset: "act now" vs. "put off," and "accessibility" vs. "expediency."

Donna then brings advocacy to life through three real-world scenarios: bullying driven by jealousy, a teen boy bullied because his voice hasn't deepened, and a blind student, Sheena, initially barred from trying out for a music festival solely due to her vision impairment, until determined advocacy by Sheena, her parents, peers, and supportive staff leads to the decision being reversed. She closes by encouraging listeners to share feedback and stay engaged as she continues offering practical advocacy prompts and examples each month.

TRANSCRIPT

Podcast Commentator: Greetings. Donna J Jodhan, LLB, ACSP and MBA invites you to listen to her biweekly podcast, Remarkable World Commentary. Here, Donna shares some of her innermost thoughts, insights, perspectives, and more with her listeners. Donna focuses on topics that directly affect the future of kids, especially kids with disabilities. Donna is a blind advocate, author, site loss coach, dinner mystery producer, writer, entrepreneur, law graduate, and podcast commentator. She has decades of lived experiences, knowledge, skills, and expertise in access technology and information. As someone who has been internationally recognized for her work and roles, she just wants to make things better than possible.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Hey, I'm Donna Jodhan, and welcome to the second Remarkable World commentary by me for January 2026. I'm starting something new for the new year, and previously I used to host a podcast called Ask Donna Advocacy in Action. Well, I've decided to roll this in to this podcast on a monthly basis. Much shorter, much more succinct. And I'm hoping that based on feedback that I have received over the months, that this commentary will help people to become stronger advocates, more confident advocates, more independent advocates. So let's start with my January podcast, Ask Donna. Okay. See how we do here. I want to start with this quotation. Speak in such a way that others love to listen to you. And listen in such a way that others love to speak to you. Very true. Listen in such a way that others love to speak to you. You know, I like this quotation, and it's a quotation that I chose for this particular commentary that I will be doing once a month. It's ask advocate Donna. So let's get down to some business here, And I want to start with my word game for you. Okay, here is the word game. I'm going to give you two sets of words and let's see how you do as opposed to what I think. The first set of terms is act now or put off for a good advocate, an advocate who is confident and independent. Act now is what they often go by.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Act now. Okay. So if they put it off, it means that they're not confident enough or they don't feel comfortable enough going forth with their advocacy efforts. So act now means that they're confident, independent and committed. Put off means that they want to make sure that they have everything or their ducks in a row before moving forward. Act now or put off. Okay. The next set of terms is accessibility or expediency. You have a lot of companies or entities telling you that they are committed to accessibility. But what does that really, really mean? Is it accessibility because they're being forced to do it, or accessibility as a goodwill gesture, or accessibility because they see the benefits and the advantages to it? Or is it expediency whereby they say, you know what we need accessibility. We need to be expedient in what we do, not just to increase our bottom lines or not just to increase our customer base, but we need to do something. Accessibility versus expediency. Which of these two words would you promote to any so-called client or customer seeking your advice? Okay, that is my little word game for this episode and I want to share some stories with you. How advocacy comes out here when you have jealousy is the cause of bullying. What does one really do if one can identify that jealousy is the cause of bullying? Are they just going to say, oh gosh, jealousy is the cause of bullying? Let's let's just see what happens here.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: What should we do? Jealousy is the cause of bullying. I think for me, if I were to find out that jealousy is the cause of bullying, I would try to step in and start deciphering what is the next thing to do. At least I've identified that jealousy is the cause of bullying. All right, so this is what has happened. Jealousy is the cause of bullying. Okay. The second story I have is the young boy's voice. High voice is a problem. Okay, but is it really a problem? We had little Ty whose voice did not crack or did not deepen at the so-called appointed time, and because his voice was high. At age 14 and 15, it became a problem for him because he was being bullied. He was being laughed at. How can advocacy help young Thai to get over this? What advocacy can get be involved here? When you have child and his parents and the teachers working to build awareness of what is going on? This is advocacy in its pure sense. Okay, just like jealousy, the cause of bullying, when you have a youngster being bullied because of, you know, the resources he has or coming from a good home, these being bullied by others who are less fortunate. Advocacy is what is needed here again. Jealousy. The cause of bullying. Advocacy. All right. The young boy's voice not deepening at an appropriate time, and his peers making fun of him is also cause for advocacy.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Let's go to the third story. Here we have a blind student who was denied an opportunity to try out for a music festival. And the only reason why this blind student, whose name was Sheena, denied the opportunity to try out for a music festival. The only reason she was denied was that she was vision impaired. This happened at a very good high profile girls school, and the nuns in charge decided that Sheena would not have that opportunity because she was blind. What do you think Sheena should have done? I think Sheena should have gone to her parents, which she did. Parents went to the teachers with which they did. The teachers at first hesitated, but after much advocating on the part of Sheena and her parents and advocating from peers and even some teachers, it happened that this decision was reversed and Sheena was given the opportunity to try out for a music festival. She did fairly well. She did not win anything, but she went pretty far in the competition. So those are three stories of examples of advocacy. Okay. I'd like to leave you with these thoughts for this month. Ask Donna or ask Advocate Donna. Every month I will bring you word games and I will bring you examples of advocacy. Hope you enjoyed it. Write to me at Donna Jordan at gmail.com. Tell me what you think and we'll go from there. Thank you very much. Bye for now.

Podcast Commentator: Donna wants to hear from you and invites you to write to her at Donna Jordan at gmail.com. Until next time.