Podcasts By Donna Jodhan

Podcasts By Donna Jodhan feature a variety of audio podcasts that focus on the future of children, particularly those with disabilities. As a blind advocate and entrepreneur, Donna shares her insights, life experiences, and advocacy efforts, aiming to inspire and inform her listeners. Her podcasts cover issues such as accessibility, inclusivity, and breaking down barriers in technology and everyday life, encouraging collective efforts to create a better and more equitable future for all children.

Dining With Donna Podcast: Interview with Renée Rentmeester, Creator and Executive Producer, The Cooking Without Looking TV Show 01/08/2026

Dining With Donna Podcast: Interview with Renée Rentmeester, Creator and Executive Producer, The Cooking Without Looking TV Show 🎙️ Dining With Donna Podcast: Interview with Renée Rentmeester, Creator and Executive Producer, The Cooking Without Looking TV Show | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA On this Episode of Dining with Donna, Donna Jodhan sits down with , the creator and executive producer of The Cooking Without Looking TV Show, for a lively conversation about food, accessibility, and changing how the world understands blindness. Renée shares her path from an early start in television to a long media career and entrepreneurial work, then explains what moved her to create a show that highlights blind and visually impaired cooks as capable, creative, and completely “everyday,” without pity or stereotypes. Together, Donna and Renée talk about building a welcoming space where guests can be honest about vision loss while keeping the tone upbeat, practical, and empowering. The episode also delivers plenty of real-world kitchen takeaways for blind and visually impaired listeners. Renée and Donna explore sensory cooking, relying on smell, texture, thickness, and feel, along with tools, hacks, and strategies that boost confidence and safety in the kitchen. Renée explains why Cooking Without Looking embraces authenticity (including the occasional on-air mistake), how the show's virtual era expanded its reach, and what she hopes comes next as the program continues to grow across platforms. TRANSCRIPT Podcast Commentator: Greetings. Donna J. Jodhan invites you to draw culinary inspiration from her podcast, Dining with Donna. Here, Donna serves up approachable step by step recipes, kitchen hacks, and meal themes. From quick weeknight dinners to comfort food classics and healthy meal prep with tips for cooking without relying on sight using sound, touch, aroma and smart tools. You'll build confidence, cook safely, and enjoy every bite. You can expect budget friendly ideas, seasonal specials, and the occasional guest chef. If this makes you hungry, grab your apron, subscribe and let's get cooking! One delicious, accessible meal at a time. Now let's dive in to today's episode. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode. I am Donna Jodhan, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, touch, and a stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments, as in November 2010, I won the Landmark Charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites accessible to every Canadian, not just to sighted ones. And in June of 2019, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act with more than two dozen disability groups to turn equal access into federal law, and most recently, on June the 3rd, 2022, I was greatly humbled by Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers. When I'm not in a courtroom or a committee room or a pottery studio, you'll find me coaching kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies to make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles one goal to turn accessibility from an afterthought into everyday practice. I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench where policy meets lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today's conversation, let me shine a spotlight on today's guest, a changemaker whose work is every bit as remarkable as the world that we are trying to treat. Renee Rentmeester, I'd like to welcome you to my Remarkable World commentary, and I'm very honored and privileged to have you be part of it. Renee Rentmeester: Well, thank you, Donna, I'm honored and privileged to be with you today. Thank you so much for having me. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I can't wait to get started because I'd like to know a lot more about you. So, Renee, for listeners meeting you for the first time, how would you describe your personal journey from your early years in television and journalism to becoming the creator and executive producer of the Cooking Without Looking TV show. Renee Rentmeester: Well, okay, I guess we should sit back and relax here for a moment. Go for it. No, no, I'm just joking. It's it's a long story. It started when I was like, 17, and I wanted to be in TV and be a reporter and all that sort of stuff, and I did that. I got out of high school early and I would go half days and I'd work in a TV station in town, professional TV station. And, you know, I think no matter where we come from, we all know that once you have your foot in the door, no matter what you're doing that's a plus, because if they know you, they're probably willing to hire you along the way? Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right. Renee Rentmeester: So. So that did happen. I had some interesting stories along the way. I I was working as, like, an intern there, an unpaid intern, and then I got to be a receptionist, which I was paid. And then I got to be an assistant in the newsroom. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh. Renee Rentmeester: So then I I ended up being a reporter at a TV radio station. I'm. I'm from. I was born and raised in green Bay, Wisconsin, so I I got to be a reporter and a an editor over in Eau Claire, Wisconsin during college professional station. And then after that, I worked in Miami for 13 years for CBS. I did everything, you know, I was everything from the janitor to the general manager, and I, I was press and public relations manager. I was an advertising and PR copywriter. I was news assignment editor associate news producer, pretty much everything, you know. And then I decided to I decided to leave after 13 years, because I just thought I could do more on my own. You know, sometimes there's only so far you can go when you're working for someone else. So I started my own advertising and media relations company. And then I thought, well, I was always sitting on boards of non-profits because, you know, they get they get free advertising if you're sitting on their board. Right? Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right. Renee Rentmeester: So I I, I wanted to leave, like, a legacy. I wanted to do something different from everyone else. So I thought of blindness, and I just thought, well, you know, I don't know any blind people. That's what I thought to myself. I don't know any blind people. And it seems to me that there's this whole group of people that sort of is shoved off to the side in a manner of speaking. Like, you know, so many people don't know blind people. And I think that our thinking was still like somewhere in the 1940s or 1950s. And so my background in TV, I thought, well, you know, if you show blind people doing everyday things and just being people and not doing anything from any different from anyone else, just in a different manner, you know, this will this will, like help people who are blind gain employment and people will get to know them. And they wouldn't feel awkward around a person who's blind. And so I did. I, I was I ended up developing cooking without looking one piece at a time. I, I met a chef who was blind, and he was a professor of blind professor over at Florida International University, which is a school of hospitality. And so then I I talked to some of my friends. I was on the board of National Academy of Arts and Sciences, and, and one of them was a program director at one of the local TV stations, a PBS station. Renee Rentmeester: And so I I talked to him and he thought it was a great idea, but I had to get some money to, like, raise money to do the pilot. So then I did the pilot and we ended up it was it was a funny story because he he loved loved the show or the idea of the show so much, but he was afraid of what his general manager would say because he said, well, I think he would be worried that people would feel sad seeing blind people. I go, you know me, I go, I don't do anything for sadness. I it's all about having fun, you know you know, we have a funny we have a funny thought, I guess, about people who are blind or anyone with any sort of a disability, even I it hit me, like I said. Well, cooking without looking, I go, does that offend you? Like is that too silly or something. And he said, no I like it. Okay. So he he snuck the show on the air. The general manager of course caught it and he loved it. And he became like our biggest cheerleader. He would help walk people into the studio over the cords and such. So then after a while, after several years there was a recession and we had a hard time getting sponsors and we had to pay for our production. Renee Rentmeester: So what we did was we went to we went to many food festivals in South Florida, and we showed and people were just like, freak out. They get so excited to watch. Like, there were groups and groups of people. You would have thought that this was some kind of a circus or something. And they loved it and they were mesmerized. They were just mesmerized and you know, it was it was just really nice to see. And then we did a lot of those. And I still have one of the hosts, one of the hosts that we've had for like 25 years is still with us. And then we had one for 24 and she just left for personal reasons. But so we have a new person. But she had been with us for a while. Kind of like on the sidelines. And when the pandemic came, she said to me, well, why don't you use zoom? And I go, okay, well, let's do that. So her name is Sylvia Stinson Perez. And the other host is Alan Preston. And so I started using zoom, and, you know, it opened up the whole world literally and figuratively, because we were reaching people from around the world. I could have never done that because it's like, that's not in our budget at all. So that's pretty much how we came this far. And in 2018, I started the podcast as well. Wow. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I don't know what to say. You you're very open about the fact that you are not blind yourself. No I'm not. Yeah. So what first drew you to blindness advocacy. And what convinced you that this was the cause that you wanted to dedicate your platform to? Renee Rentmeester: Well, you know it's just basic humanity for me. You know, I'm a person who believes that I, you know, we talk about inclusion and everything, and sometimes people, you know, that just flies over people's heads. So, yeah, I said that life is a party, and I'm inviting everyone to the party. You know, no one's going to be left out. I, I started off by doing the research for blind children, but then I figured after the research, most, most people are not born blind in the United States or most of the world. So then I thought, well, you know, macular degeneration with the baby boomers and everything, but so that's that's how we did that. That's how I started to focus on just anyone. And, you know, the stereotype is normally that blindness is usually older people. But as I look at all of our shows and podcasts, most of them are very young people. Yes, we've even had children on. And so it's just for me, it's just basic humanity. I can't stand to see a whole group of people being left out. I can't stand one person being left out. I'm like, when I was a little girl on the playground, I if I saw someone just sitting by themselves, I'd always go get them and see if we could play together or sit and talk or something because I just, I don't like. It's so sad to me to see someone just be left out. So that's how I chose it. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Now, when you were researching online communities in the early days, okay, you noticed how often blind people were talking about cooking. What? What did you see in those conversations that told you, quote. This never needs to become a show. Renee Rentmeester: Well you know, everyone was just talking about cooking and their tips and how they would do things, and then they'd ask questions of another blind person. And I thought it was perfect because it's sort of a fun way to tackle a difficult subject. You know, if I were to sit down and just do a community affairs show, like from my old station, you know, that's a little that's a little bit of a snore, you know? Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. Renee Rentmeester: But, you know, this is sort of like when you come to my kitchen and we can sit and talk and we cook and we talk about all sorts of things, and, you know, about life and about the blindness and, and we make it very free for people to talk about their blindness. And so that, you know, we can all understand it. So that's that's how I did that. It was very engaging. And it's also you know, afterwards, you know, sometimes you think of something and then afterwards you keep adding on to it the reason you did it. Well, also, cooking is something we all need to do. I mean, like we need to eat. So definitely if you want to eat, you know, you need to cook. And my father always used to say, well, you know what? If you can read a cookbook or, you know, you can find a recipe, you can cook, you know, it's, you know, we don't have to be like, any competition here. We're not any, any sort of chef on TV. I like the term home chef. I saw that somewhere. I thought, yeah, I like this, but but most of the people and many of the people actually, that we have are actually professional blind chefs or actually professional chefs who happen to be blind. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay, okay. Renee Rentmeester: Yeah, yeah. So that's we just like to, to take out these stereotypes, you know, one at a time and, and just keep them out of there because no one learns and no one learns. If you just keep those stereotypes in it, it blocks the humanity of each of us. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I'm not a professional chef, but I love to cook, I love to eat. And I just think that what you're doing is awesome. Absolutely awesome. Renee Rentmeester: Thank you. Donna. Thank you. And you can you can be on our show. We'd love to have you. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I'd love to be there. So take me back to the first major step finding a blind chef in Miami and filming a pilot for P persons with gist who are blind. What were the first biggest challenges and the biggest surprises when you tried to bring this concept to life on camera? Renee Rentmeester: Okay, well, starting with I was I was going to talk to my friends and colleagues on the National Academy of the blind, and I knew one of the gentlemen had glaucoma. Right. So when I told him about it, he goes, oh, no, that'll never work. I'm like. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: No. Renee Rentmeester: You know what, Donna? If you tell me that something will never work, you better believe I'm going to make it work. So, yeah, I don't get I don't get turned away too often, you know? I just keep working. So then we To find that blind chef was actually sort of serendipitous because I I was living in a building in Miami on the Bay and the Bay in Miami, and one of the young men who also lived there happened to be going to the School of Hospitality. And so we were, you know, we were all getting together one night and I asked him and I said, do you know a blind chef? He goes, yeah. And he named the professor right away. And I said, oh, wow, I'd love to talk with him. So I just, you know, working in news, you get used to like just calling people out of the blue. I know you, you you do that too, I'm sure. And it's like he called out of the blue. You act like you know them forever. And and. Hey, I'd love to talk to you. I've got this idea. And it turned out that he had always liked to do something like that, too. So he he gave me the first donation for the production. Okay, but you know what? We had our first meeting on nine over 11 on 2001. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh my God. Renee Rentmeester: Yeah. And and it was just a weird thing because we all, like, got up and we started watching, watching the planes hit the buildings. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yes, yes. Renee Rentmeester: And to see everyone's reaction was just like, that was wild. I think one man thought he was watching a movie and he started laughing. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And. Renee Rentmeester: And they were just like odd things going on. But after that. So I had the first bunch of money. Then he, he told me about another man who actually, to this day still owns a store with accessible equipment. And so he, he gave me another one and then an ophthalmologist who sort of thinks outside of the box, which is pretty much what I needed at that point. He he has some special he specializes in macular degeneration. And he's created this these glasses that help you look through your macula. You know, sometimes your macula is wrecked, so pieces of it are still good. So he teaches you how to look out of the good part of your macula. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Wow. Renee Rentmeester: So with those three, I found I found a someone to shoot the show, which wasn't extremely hard for me because since I was working in that business in Miami, you know who's good, who's not, you know, and and who would be who would be fair? So we shot it. And then that's when after we shot it. Okay. So it got to the end of the shooting, right? We had a live studio audience. We were in a fancy fancy appliance store, which the appliances were, like thousands of dollars, you know, the fanciest ones. You know, you could barbecue whatever you want, do whatever you want. And he. So what this chef did was he had macular degeneration. So what happened was he went to reach for a white cloth. A white cloth to wipe his hands. Yeah, he actually stuck his hand in a bowl of whipped cream. Right. Oh. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay. Renee Rentmeester: So then. So then you know, everyone laughs and I keep things in. And sometimes there were shows that I, I actually just had one little section like the bloopers because people love that, you know. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. Renee Rentmeester: And and so then as I was walking out of the room, this little old lady, she was like in her 70s and she said, well, actually, I'm not that far away from that. But at the time, she seemed older to me. And she she said, she goes, you know, I started going blind about six months ago. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh, no. Renee Rentmeester: Yeah, and I haven't been in the kitchen since. Because she was afraid. Yeah. And then she said. But, you know, seeing that professional chef make a mistake, she goes, that gave me all the courage to get back in the kitchen again. That's good. And that's when I knew that. Yeah, this this really did have some sort of a purpose, because, you know, it takes the fear away. I think that's the biggest thing people need to get over is the fear of doing it all over again. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: It is. It is now. Your mission is often described as changing the way we see blindness. Okay. What does that mean to you today? And how do you keep that mission front and center in every episode? Tell me. Renee Rentmeester: Oh, that's a good question. Well, it's always a constant thought. Like I mentioned before, it's a constant thought that I, I'm always shying away from the stereotypes. Yes. And and people always when I say what we do, they'll always say, oh, so you teach blind people? Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: No, no. Renee Rentmeester: People teach us. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. Renee Rentmeester: And and I guess changing the way we see blindness is sort of my clever, semi clever little way of showing the world what real blind people's lives are like without all the stereotypes and and all the old thoughts stuck in there. And so people have these thoughts like, oh, you know, blind people are this or blind people are that, or blind people can do this and blind people can't do that. And so I just want to change the way that we, we can... /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/39685760

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #67: Interview with John Melville, VP Content Development and Operations, Accessible Media Inc. 12/11/2025

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #67: Interview with John Melville, VP Content Development and Operations, Accessible Media Inc. 🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #67: Interview with John Melville, VP Content Development and Operations, Accessible Media Inc. | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA In this insightful episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan welcomes longtime colleague and mentor for a candid conversation about how a career in radio, television, and sports broadcasting unexpectedly led him into accessibility leadership. John reflects on his early path, from studies at Carleton and Humber to behind-the-scenes roles in major Canadian media, and explains how “theater of the mind” in radio helped shape his understanding of what inclusive broadcasting really requires. Together, they revisit AMI's evolution from a niche service into a network striving to be “television that includes everyone,” and how Donna's own advocacy and on-air work intersected with that mission. The discussion then digs into the practical “how”: why AMI made open described video the default, the policy and funding context behind it, and how the team later experimented with integrated described video to improve flow and reduce conflicts with dialogue. John also highlights AMI's efforts to push accessibility into fast-moving formats (including described Blue Jays broadcasts), the impact of shows like You Can't Ask That in breaking down stigma, and the growth of tech programming (like Access Tech Live) that spotlights tools, sometimes created “by accident”, that become life-changing for blind and low-vision users. Looking ahead, he outlines AMI's focus on higher-impact productions, wider distribution beyond traditional cable (including YouTube), and building a pipeline where creators with disabilities are increasingly in front of and behind the camera, a future he frames as both necessary and exciting, closing with warm mutual respect between him and Donna. TRANSCRIPT Podcast Commentator: Greetings. Podcast Commentator: 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: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary. I am Donna Jodhan, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, touch and stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments, as in November 2010, I won the Landmark Charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites accessible to every Canadian, not just a sighted ones. And in July of 2019, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act, with more than two dozen disability groups to turn equal access into federal law, and most recently, in June of 2022. I was greatly humbled. Humbled by Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers. When I'm not in a courtroom or in a committee room or in a pottery studio, you'll find me coaching kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping companies to make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles one goal to turn accessibility from an afterthought into everyday practice. I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench Where policy meets, live experience and live experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today's conversation, let me shine a spotlight on today's Guest changemaker, whose work is as every bit as remarkable as the world that we are trying to change and build. John Melville. I am pleased and delighted to welcome you to my Remarkable World Commentary podcast. John Melville: Thank you Donna, it's an honor to be with you today. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: We have known each other for a very long time and you have been my mentor, my friend, my advisor, and you have helped me to engage in many different aspects of accessibility and advocacy on the Accessible Media Inc program. So welcome again to you. John Melville: It's good to be here. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Great. So, John, I'd love to start at the beginning. And looking back on your studies in communications at Carleton and radio broadcasting at Humber, what first drew you into broadcasting? Broadcasting. And did you ever imagine that that path would one day intersect so deeply with accessibility? John Melville: Well, I'll answer the last part first, and then I'll explain how. And I know I did not expect it would intersect with accessibility and disability. I had a bit of a meandering start to my career as as when we're young, you know, we we're not really sure. So I went to Carleton and I started in the journalism program there, and I realized that I didn't. I wasn't really the type of person that wanted to follow politicians around with a notepad, which is kind of back then the way it was done. Right? Although it was very exciting to be in Ottawa because I am a bit of a political animal myself, so I was always really interested in politics. But I moved into Carlton's film program because I've always had a really great admiration for movies and movie directors. And, you know, I thought my career was going to be something related to film. And, you know, I was 19, 20 years old at the time. I graduated from Carlton with a BA. And then I proceeded to sort of take my gap year, which turned into about seven years. In that time, though I was you know, working on my own video production business. This is back in the 80s producing corporate videos. John Melville: We did weddings, we had a disc jockey service. It was quite a quite a entrepreneurial phase for me. But I realised that, you know, having to buy all this equipment and refresh it and everything else was probably not sustainable. And I wasn't that kind of business guy. So I went back to Humber College in Toronto because I had always had a love of radio, particularly music radio. And I spent a year in their certificate program doing radio broadcasting. And this would be 1989, 1990 had some great teachers there. Learned all about the inner workings of radio and formats and production, writing, sales and got myself as an intern at Tele-media broadcasting, which was actually the rights holder for the Toronto Blue Jays radio. But at the time I got in there, I didn't realize that that was going to be anything to do with me because I was interested in music and music radio. I wanted to be a disc jockey, but I learned fairly quickly that the real job security in media is not necessarily in front of the microphone, but behind it. And I set my path into operations, which I really enjoyed all the sort of technical aspects and scheduling and all that kind of stuff. John Melville: And where I was working was actually very sports intensive, so I was able to be around for the launch of the sports radio format in Toronto in, I think, 1991, which was the fan sports radio at the time. Met a lot of the people that are involved with sports broadcasting today that are very familiar household names. They were we were all kind of just young people at that time kind of trying something new And then after about five years of that, I joined the Score television network when they were launching in 1996. Spent four years there, and that's where I got my exposure to television production. And I spent. So I now have a hybrid kind of TV guy, radio guy which is a little bit unique. But I found the application of both to be very very good for me in terms of career fulfillment and also types of jobs that I was able to get. One of the highlights that I had in my career was in 2005, I was became part of the satellite radio launch in Canada with XM radio, which is now Sirius XM radio. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yes. John Melville: And we were the Canadian version of what is mainly a US broadcaster. And they have, you know, 150 channels of music and talk. We were producing 20 channels in Canada and we had to build studios and I was involved in that. I loved it. It was like old days of radio again that I'd learned about when I was at Humber, and I was there till 2011, and when I was actually, it was just before their merger. And my old boss from. Well, he's not an old guy, but he was my previous boss, I should say, who had worked with me at XM radio. Ross Davies former program director of Chum-fm. He had suggested that I might want to reach out because Army was actually looking for a director of production production, and he thought my skills might be worthwhile to them. So I reached out to the recruiter, and one thing led to another, as they say, and I ended up starting my career with Army. And that's what I'm saying. At the beginning, I had no idea at the time that my career would converge around accessibility and disability. But when I joined Army in 2011, everything made sense. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: That's when we met shortly. John Melville: Actually, it was right at the very beginning because I was moving fairly quickly when I walked in the doors of Army they were looking actually, they had hired David Harrington a couple of years before me as their CEO. They had previously been known as tech TV, the Accessible Channel. Right. And David was brought in in 2009 when the Army TV channel was launched to basically, you know, modernize and reinvent this, this network, which was providing great service to people from the blind and partially sighted community through the audio channel Voiceprint. And now they had this new TV channel which was adding audio description to TV shows that they were buying. And essentially putting audio description on them. And the problem was that there weren't a lot of people that were in the organization at that time that knew a lot about how the broadcasting industry works. So David was brought in, and he and I had actually worked together at the school. It was coincidental that we ended up back in the same place. But David was my boss when I joined. He still is today. And it was really an opportunity for us to apply all the learning that we had had in our careers to that point in time to this new, emerging accessible channel and to reinvent Voiceprint, which at the time which became Ami audio into something that would become more relevant to the community that we're destined to serve. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You were part of the team that launched Canada's first all sports talk station at the fan 500, and later helped build the Score television network from the ground up. So from my perspective as a blind sportsman, live coverage is all about sound and description. How did those early sports projects shape the way you think about making fast moving content understandable and and engaging for everyone? John Melville: Well, it's an interesting question. And when I was at Telemedia, they had the radio rights for the Toronto Maple Leafs and for the Toronto Blue Jays. So it was basically Leafs in winter, Blue Jays in summer, and there was a bit of overlap, but we figured that out. And essentially, as you know, baseball goes like every night during the season. And we had games running from beginning of March for spring training right through until. And at that time, the Jays were in the World Series in 91, 90 or 92, 93. So we were we were doing this right up until the end of October. What I had found you know, there and became kind of ingrained into me as a lover of radio was the, the picture that was drawn. And I will say, and it will probably talk a little bit more about him in a, you know, as we go through this, that the Blue Jays radio at that time was it was Tom cheek and Jerry Howarth were the play by play guys. And they also did the color commentary. Right. So so if Tom is calling the ball game or the inning, you know, strikes and balls and, you know, line drives and the whole bit, Jerry is providing all the other description around that. So he is a wonderful day at the ballpark. You know, we've got the flags blowing off in right field and that ball that just flied out guy with a red hat in the seats over there is with his daughter. John Melville: Caught the ball. It was kind of like that. And I know that a lot of people still listen to the baseball broadcast, but I do. Yeah, it really is kind of theater of the mind, right? You don't need to have the TV up in front of it. And it's an interesting little tidbit here is when Joe Carter hit the home run the famous home run, you know, touch em all, Joe. You'll never hit another home run like that. That was actually Tom's call on radio. But he writes to the Jays at that time were when they were in the playoffs were held by the Americans. I think it was CBS at that time. And what they did was they took for Canada. They took the when they clipped the highlight, they took Tom's radio call and put it with the TV clip because it was so much better. Okay. And that to me was something that through both the score and through the Telemedia stage with the Jays and the Leafs, that I really kind of got a handle on where radio, sound meets pictures, television and how the two really need to work together so that everybody can be included in the broadcast. And it's really what we kind of go on to do at Ami is filling in the the visuals with either sound like natural sound, like the sound of the bat hitting the ball. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right. John Melville: Or description. So sports is a very good playing field, if I can use that analogy for the big picture in broadcasting as to making it accessible for everyone. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Wow. You've worked across so many corners of the industry. Telemedia CHUM Satellite Radio at X Canada and now at EMI. So when you look back over that journey, what were a couple of turning point moments that nudge you toward making accessibility a central part of your work, rather than just another box to tick? John Melville: Well, I sort of alluded to it a little bit already, and that is, you know, my unique experience being able to work in television and also in radio. And, you know, the, the, the, the visuals that we have on television. And I mentioned to you earlier that I originally got into film. You know, I was a big fan of, you know, great directors like Kubrick, Lumet, you know and the films from the 70s. I thought cinema was fantastic in that era when I was growing up. And for me, that a couple of turning points was definitely you know, being having the honor and privilege of being able to work as an engineer alongside Jerry Howarth. You know, when I realized that my music career as a disc jockey wasn't really going to happen because I'd landed in a sports network. Right. I would call that a turning point, you know? And had that not happened to me, I would never have got the exposure that I got that would set me up later life. To understand how audio and pictures need to work together to deliver the full package, and not just to people who are blind and partially sighted. The whole point is that it's something that everybody can benefit from. You know, even if you can see what's going on on the field, there's so much more information that you're going to get through the audio presentation as well. You know, it's almost like you have two tracks, you have visuals and you have audio. And what we do with audio, especially in things like baseball, is really make that, you know, something that connects people and gives the full picture. So the pictures become secondary. So that would be the one turning point. The other turning point was I was spent a bit of time at CHUM. John Melville: We tried to launch another sports network with CHUM back in 2001. Some people might remember the Team Sports Radio Network. It didn't last very long and we all got laid off. But that's another story. It happens. And I went to work with John Bitove company who at that time he was owner of Prism brands, which was KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut and my my former boss, who I tended to travel around with a bit from job to job. Paul Williams had brought me along with him to prison, and we were at that time, we were working on things like digital signage, and I was so far away from my first love of media that it was like, oh my goodness, will I ever get back. And fate took a turn there, and it just so happened that John Bitove was also one of the applicants for the XM radio license, which was granted in 2005. And so when he realized that Paul and I were radio guys working in his organization, he was like, okay, well, you need to go over here and work with the radio launch. So that was another turning point. And in spite of the fact that I love to work in visual and television and film I always seem to end up gravitating back to radio. So. And I would say that the years I spent with XM were some of the best career years I had so an unexpected turning point. You know, just sometimes you get into something, you wonder if is this the right thing for me? And it all changed. And through a piece of fate, I was back in radio and launching again something that was still around today and is very special. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Now, before you joined Army Accessible Media Inc Army was often treated as a niche service. But when you first walk through the doors at Army, what did you see that made you think we can build something truly different here. And how did you start turning that vision into a concrete strategy? John Melville: Well, I have to say that it was a shared vision through Army's board of directors at that time who realized that they had something special with the two licenses for television and for for my audio voiceprint. It was also when they brought my my current boss, David Errington, on board. And he was able to take that vision that the board had and essentially consolidate the brand. Right. Because they had TAC TV, they had voiceprint. John Melville: And there was a bit of a, yeah, a marketing push required to basically say, you know, we are the accessible channel and we are accessible in audio and in television and in description. So that was kind of what was put in front of me when I joined the organization, how that was the goal. You know, we we need to consolidate this brand and make it a player in Canadian media, meaning that it's not so niche that nobody's ever going to hear about it. You really have to make a conscious attempt to the old term in boxing. Punch above your weight. Because if we just sit back and continue doing. You know, reading newspapers and magazines or just putting description onto old content. That's a very limited trajectory in terms of, you know, growth and where the where the network is going to go. What I realized when I came into the organization was, you know, the opportunity and I, you know, there was a slogan that TAC TV used to use before it was MTV was television. That includes everyone. And I always liked that because for me, that was kind of. Well, there's the mission statement right there. You mentioned Niche channel, right? Yes. And what what niche kind of says to me is like, it's a specialty. It's like for people that only want this type of content. And you could say that about Army. You could say it's just about description or it's just about reading newspapers. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right. Right. John Melville: Right. But for us, it was like, what we... /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/39397920

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #66: Interview with Carol Trapani, Founder, ConnectAlt 12/08/2025

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #66: Interview with Carol Trapani, Founder, ConnectAlt 🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #66: Interview with Carol Trapani, Founder, ConnectALT | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA In this uplifting episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan sits down with to explore the “why” behind , a community-driven, fully accessible hub designed to help blind and low-vision people quickly find events, programs, and resources in one place. Carol shares how the idea grew out of her family's lived experience as the mother of Lucy (born blind and determined to do everything), and the frustration of having to hunt across countless separate calendars and websites, an insight validated through extensive conversations with the community. She also describes the platform's early momentum, including its launch at the National Federation of the Blind convention in New Orleans, where strong sign-ups and real stories of connection underscored just how needed this kind of central resource is. Donna then digs into what makes ConnectAlt practical and trustworthy: searchable listings by topic/date/location and virtual vs. in-person, streamlining tools like adding events directly to a user's personal calendar, and experiments (still in progress) around AI-driven assistance and voice workflows. Carol also walks through the realities of sustainability, keeping the service free to users while exploring sponsorship models that avoid clutter and distractions, and explains how the team prioritizes quality control by building direct relationships with organizations and updating listings on a reliable cadence. The conversation ends with an open invitation for listeners to sign up, contribute resources, and support the mission, plus a hopeful note about planning a future in-person meetup in Toronto. TRANSCRIPT Podcast Commentator: Greetings. Podcast Commentator: 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 Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary. I'm Donna Johnson, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, touch and stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments, as in November 2010, I won the Landmark Charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites accessible to every Canadian, not just to sighted ones. And in July of 2019, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act with more than two dozen disability groups to return equal access into federal law. And most recently, on June 3rd, 2022, I was greatly humbled. Humbled by Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers. When I'm not in a courtroom or in a committee room or a pottery studio, you'll find me coaching kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles one goal to turn accessibility from afterthought into daily practice. I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench where policy meets live. Sorry, where policy policy meets lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today's conversation, let me shine a spotlight on today's guest, a change maker whose work is every bit as remarkable as the world that we are trying to build. And I am very, very pleased to welcome Carol Trapani. I hope I'm pronouncing your name correctly. Carol Trapani: Yes you are. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay. Welcome, Carol. Carol Trapani: Thank you. Thank you so much, Donna. I'm really happy to be here. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: So, Carol, let's kick things off. And I'd love to start with your first spell. Why? Okay. When did you first razaleigh's. When did you first realize, sorry, that the blind and low vision community needed a single, accessible place to find events, programs, and resources? And what moment turned that realization into ConnectAlt. Carol Trapani: Okay, so I'm the mother of a blind daughter. My daughter Lucy was born blind. She's had several, many corneal transplantation surgeries, and right now has just a little bit of vision in one eye. Not really functional vision, but but she's not all in the dark, just a little bit in her her left eye. And as Lucy is, she wanted, wants to do everything. And so she she said, mom, I want to be an actress and I want to be a writer. And so as a mother, you know, as, as you are aware, like teaching someone who's blind and with all of your amazing degrees that you have. Donna, it's Wow. It's amazing. And kudos. I'm inspired every day when I meet people like you that have walked this earth without vision and have just been so successful, and Lucy was one of those very determined and driven. So I sought out to find blind acting for her. And it took a while to find a person who is also blind that teaches acting for the blind. She and I sought her out through the internet and then through another connection, and I finally reached her. And and so I also as trying to find different other things for Lucy that are more practical for her computer skills or things of that nature. Carol Trapani: I found it was very hard to go to. There's so many available resources and so many wonderful organizations, particularly in the US. There's, I think 2500 in US and Canada that support the blind, but everyone has stuff on their site and a calendar. And so it was very difficult for a sighted person to navigate and to find things for Lucy if she was available that day, where it was, if it was in person, if it was virtual. And so this was a problem that I addressed as a mom. But Lucy's really the brainchild of this. She had in a book she wrote and published, she wanted to create a social network for the blind and low vision in the book. And so she sought after that. She's very social. But at an entrepreneurial program for San Diego State, she submitted the idea. We went through this interviewing process of over 100 people in the space or that are blind with low vision, and really what came out was what the mom was struggling with me, which was really being connected to resources, events and programs. And through our journey of this, we found so many amazing things that are available for people who are blind that you wouldn't think a blind person could surf or rock, climb or ski. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right? Carol Trapani: Right. But anyway, we're learning a lot, and we've I think the turning point for me, Donna of Wow was we did a soft launch of the site, which Lucy and her best friend Ella created at the San Diego State Launch Pad, the Entrepreneur program. It's completely accessible. We've been working with all the organizations for the blind to and getting their input as we put it together, but we launched at the National Federation of the blind conference in New Orleans in July, and that just one on one conversations we had with we signed up over 350 people that there are only a thousand people attended the event. It was everyone. Please encouraged us. Please keep this up. We really need this. It's so great. And one gal came up to us the next day who had was from a small town in Nebraska, and she said, I don't have any resources close to me. But last night I signed up for a yoga class at The Lighthouse, San Francisco on virtual, and I met three people. She was so thrilled. Wow. It was. It really saw the whole thing in motion. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You know, the name Lucy, I think suits your daughter, Lucy. And I hope to God that one day I get to meet this young lady. But how was her name chosen? Carol Trapani: Well you know, nothing's nothing's a coincidence. I believe in this world, but my grandmother was named Lucy. And so I have a son who's Luke. And my son. Lucy's brother is three years older than her, and he sought out to become an ophthalmologist. And he's graduated from medical school, and he's become an eye doctor for his because of his sister. And I wanted to name her Lucy, but my husband, Lucy's dad was like, oh, Luke and Lucy. That's too cutesy. So anyway, when Lucy was born, he looked at her and he said, She's Lucy. And we found out she was blind and Saint Lucy, I don't know if you were aware, but Saint Lucy is the patron saint for vision. And so it was just all really meant to be. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay, now, as a blind host who often has to hunt across dozens of sites for information, I feel the fragmentation every single week in plain language. How does ConnectAlt reduce that friction for someone like me? Searching for opportunities by topic, date, location, or online and in person? Yes. Carol Trapani: So when you go on ConnectAlt you can search by all of those categories. So if you are interested in sports soccer, it would show where we're at. Adding more to the site every day as we're meeting with individuals on zooms that have these organizations that support the blind, and then people are introducing us. It's just been really wonderful. But we've you can you can search by date. So this past Saturday, Lucy and I had a booth at Wayfinders Christmas Carnival, and it was really beautiful. Stevie Wonder's foundation gave away a scholarship to a young girl who's also a go getter like you and Lucy. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh. Carol Trapani: And we At the event, I was able to show everyone out today. Today's the carnival, and there's a soccer soccer program, blind soccer program in Los Angeles. And that night, there was a tech group that was meeting online. So there were a few folks there that had signed up for the tech online thing. There were a couple of techie blind techie people there that had interest in meeting other people. So anyway, it does, it does. That's the goal is really to hopefully have as much as possible where someone can say, oh, I'm free, I'd like to do yoga, or I'd like to try to work on my fitness, or I'd like to work on a my professional resume. And then you can connect with the blind professional organization. Or you can connect with Braille Institute does resumes and they have different topics that they do throughout the year for job finding and job preparation, if you will. So that's really the goal is to make it really easy for, for the parents as well. But as a person with low vision or blind to be able to get on the site and connect with their community. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And I think it would benefit those, especially who live in remote areas. Right? Yes. Yeah. Carol Trapani: Yes. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Clip. Alt is a family powered venture with Lucy and Ella. Okay, yes. From my seat. Lived experience often sharpens products decisions. And how does Lucy's perspective and Ella's media stop's skills shape the platform's voice, feature priorities and community standards? Carol Trapani: So I would say that this is a wonderful question because I think Lucy, Ella and I really do have three different perspectives. So Ella is my godchild, and she and Lucy have known each other since Ella was born. Lucy's a few months older than Ella and Ella's perspective, and I've heard her share this. Is that she doesn't know anyone else who's blind but Lucy, that she has introduced Lucy to so many of her friends and acquaintances, and she gets a perspective of how intimidated maybe someone is that has never met someone who's blind. And and how they act or react in their connecting with Lucy. And then the biggest thing for Ella is the surprise when they hear that Lucy is a published author and she's a scriptwriter, and she created a website and she's traveled around. And so Ella has shared the joy that she gets by being able to introduce other people, sighted individuals on to introduce them to someone like Lucy and introduce them to what? And I believe my perspective of being Lucy's mother as well is I'm always trying to challenge her. I don't want her to be limited by her sight. I don't want her to be limited at all. And so you know, I, I, I tend to, you know, try to stretch your boundaries a bit. Although she's stretching them further than I. But I can tell you to Donna, when I close my eyes and try to, to do something, I go oh. Why was I so, so tough on Lucy about being messy? I think I just missed my mouth, so. Carol Trapani: Oh, lovely. Carol Trapani: So I think our goal as we we've been it's been so wonderful to be able to connect with CEOs of organizations that support the blind. Troy with AIA. Ira has been so generous with his time and his organization and helping us. And so we are able, I think, to in just grassroots and speaking to community members as well as people who support the community, really understand kind of what the priorities should be, and really trying to create a site that takes away a lot of the angst that someone may have, you know, trying to sign up for an event or find an event or find find their their people, if you will, that have, you know, an interest in something that they may have or a goal. And so I think our job really is these one on one zooms we're doing with organizations. And we would encourage anyone who's listening to your program to please email us any thing that they think we should have on our site, or please send the site out to users that they think may benefit. But, you know, I think this is a community platform. So we certainly want to keep enriching the site with great content and then great individuals to engage. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I think this is a marvelous, marvelous initiative. And, you know, like I wish somebody had thought about this long before, but nothing before. It's time, you know. Right, right. I really I really think it is. Carol Trapani: Right. It's it's a bit of a labor of love. I can share that because it is pretty, you know, pretty time intense in getting the content. Yeah. The girls did a really good site, and we're doing a lot of grassroot exposure. So, like, Lucy and I were at the Wayfinder event this weekend, and it's very joyful because we get to talk to to people and parents and because it won the this founder of Be My Eyes said something to me, Donna, that it had not occurred to me, which is silly based on I'm the mother of a blind child. But he said blindness is a family affair, and it certainly is. The whole family gets involved in helping support, you know, if you're if you're fortunate to have family support, not everybody in the world is whether or not. But but to have that family interaction for a blind individual is, is an important thing. And, and so we were able to speak to families at this event this weekend. And anyway, I felt very we felt very fortunate to be invited and, and we did pick up some information of people that were struggling with certain things that were going to try to help solve. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Lovely. You exhibited at the National Federation of the Blind convention in New Orleans. What did you learn at NFB 2025 about needs, about language and trust that change or validated connect alts roadmap? Carol Trapani: Well, I can tell you that at that event, I mean, I, I was just blown away by the individuals that I met, the inspiring stories that we heard we were validated by everyone that came up to our table and signed there, signed up. But I can share a story. There was a gentleman that we were about to shut everything down. We had because I'm from New Orleans, so I live in we live in California, but I have a big my whole family is there. So I had a lot of support there. And we had a snowball machine and we had beignets in the morning. So we were meeting people through food like you do in New Orleans. And we're about to wrap up. It was the last day, and this gentleman wheels up to our table and his name was Shaquille. And he says that I said, your dad must have named you that name. And he said, yes, because Shaquille O'Neal was his, his favorite basketball player or whatever. And he wheeled up to the chair and table and he said, my name is Shaquille. No sight, no legs, no problem. Carol Trapani: No, God put. Carol Trapani: Me here to inspire people. And he was a motivational speaker and he said this, your site is something that is going to allow. He lived in Alaska, so he flew to New Orleans alone, with no legs, in a wheelchair and blind. Wow. And he's a motivational speaker. And he he I mean, I was in tears hearing his story, but he turned that around, and he said, this is something that I need. I'm in Alaska, so if I can sign up for something virtual that I wasn't even aware of and then I can connect with people and even help improve his own craft. Of speaking he he took a bunch of our little NFC tags with him that connect to the site, and he ended the event for us in a big way. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Wow. That must have been really, really moving. I think I would be in tears myself. Carol Trapani: I was Donna. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah, yeah. Now, many platforms say that they are accessible. But the some details matter. Carol Trapani: Yes they do. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Could you walk me through specific choice like skip link, keyboard flow headings and screen reader cues that you have implemented and what you still want to test or audit against wcaG? Carol Trapani: Yes. Carol Trapani: So Ella, Ella and Lucy really worked with the team at San Diego State in the lab to work on the site, creating the site with a lot of help. Lucy had, I would say she's not as tech savvy. Lucy isn't. She's more of a social person, but she had a half a dozen friends who are very tech savvy. In fact, a couple were teachers. When she attended the California School for the blind, there was a few of us. One was a blind person who was the tech, person at the school. And so and then the Braille Institute was very helpful as well in reviewing our site and making recommendations. So Lucy's team they would put the site together, they'd get feedback, they'd go back to the drawing board and they'd continue to try to improve it. The, the one thing that we have tried, and we had to take it off the site because it wasn't working. But it is a goal. And I think we're going to get there is we we worked with the brilliant folks at Infosearch and they and they put together AI on our site, but it wasn't drawing from our site. So if you went if you asked AI on our site for yoga class in your area, for example, it would pull, you know, yoga classes all over the place. It wasn't specific to the stuff that was on the site that was tailored for someone with low vision, So they tried a few attempts and took it down, and they're still kind of working on that. So what we really what we really did change was we were able to, from our site, add to the calendar someone's personal calendar. Carol Trapani: Right. Carol Trapani: The event so that they didn't have to sign up, then go to the calendar. So we're trying to streamline. That was one of the things that we did here. And then the other was that if we could create this where it was a voice AI to say, sign me up for a, you know, a tech class or surfing or whatever in San Diego, wherever the case is for blind surfing. And then can you also put on my calendar to call the Waymo, you know, 30 minutes before and can you so that that it could... /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/39397900

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #65: Interview with Jilla Bond, Life Coach 12/04/2025

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #65: Interview with Jilla Bond, Life Coach 🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #65: Interview with Jilla Bond, Life Coach | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA In this richly reflective episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan welcomes her longtime friend, mentor, and travel companion, Jilla Bond, for a conversation about a life lived as a “mosaic” of careers and caring. Jilla describes leaving school with little confidence and no clear path, then gradually building a portfolio of roles across politics, business, and design, from opening Margaret Thatcher's mail to directing a major international design conference in Montreal that transformed her understanding of design as something that can radically improve people's lives, like a child's wheelchair built to feel like a sports car. She explains how these experiences, along with later work in high-end Italian lighting and growing a company with very low staff turnover, shaped her people-first philosophy and her approach as a life coach: listening deeply, asking careful questions, and helping others find their own answers rather than imposing solutions. Together, Donna and Jilla also unpack the heart of their friendship and shared travels, from law school graduation in London where Jilla guided Donna across the stage and Princess Anne personally congratulated her, to an emotional pilgrimage to the Normandy beaches and Canadian cemetery, to trips across Europe and Lourdes. Jilla talks about learning to “paint color into Donna's canvas” by narrating faces, spaces, menus, landscapes, and small details that many sighted people take for granted, as well as the humility and practical problem-solving involved in being a sighted guide: planning for assistance, asking strangers for help when needed, keeping social interactions to small groups, and building in quiet breaks so both travelers can recharge. She also shares her idea of “speaking dementia”, finding simple, respectful, and often musical ways to connect with people whose reality is shifting, and makes a broader plea to treat both young people and elders with genuine respect, doing with rather than to. The episode closes with Jilla's gentle challenge to listeners: if you're traveling with a blind or sight-impaired friend, don't be afraid, imagine what you would want in their place, stay curious, communicate openly, and you'll likely find the journey richer for both of you. TRANSCRIPT Podcast Commentator: Greetings. Podcast Commentator: 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: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary. I'm Donna Jane Johnson, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, touch and stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments. In November of 2010, I won the Landmark Charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites accessible to every Canadian, not just to sighted ones. And in July of 2019, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act with more than 20 or 2 dozen disability groups to turn equal access into federal law. And most recently, on June the 3rd, 2022, I was greatly humbled by Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers. When I'm not in a courtroom or a committee room or a pottery studio, you will find me coaching kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies to make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles one goal to turn accessibility from an afterthought into everyday practice. I invite you to think of this show as one shared workbench for policy meets, lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today's conversation, let me shine a spotlight on today's guest, a change maker whose work is as every bit as remarkable as the world that we are trying to build. Jilla Bond, my good friend, my mentor, my advisor. Welcome to my Remarkable World Commentary. Jilla Bond: Thank you. I'm very pleased to be able to be here with you. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Great. So let's get started. You've described your working life as a mosaic of different careers and roles. But if a listener were to ask you who is Isabella Bond professionally and personally. How would you introduce yourself and that mosaic journey in your own words? Jilla Bond: Well, my life started very well, but my education was not such a big success. So in the era that I grew up in, a long time ago education for girls was pretty limited. Unless you were very, very bright. And you could go on to get a degree. And I did not fall into that category. So I left school young with very little confidence. And that really influenced very strongly my early life. My parents were older and my they were not in a position to pay any further fees for me. And so I went to a what would be now known as a business administration course. And I did that. And that led me to go to work in different offices. And my career, the reason I call it a mosaic is because the jobs that I have done have been very varied, because basically I went to work. I obviously applied for jobs and was interviewed and so on. But I didn't necessarily go into one sector and try to stay there. So if something sounded interesting and sounded different, then I would apply. So it meant that I worked in the periphery of politics. I opened all Margaret Thatcher's mail when she was first elected as leader of the opposition. And. That ranged from working in advertising companies and a variety of different roles. So it led to the role that took me into working with the Transatlantic Alliance and the British North American Committee. And I learned there how to organize conferences and events, and that became very valuable in a later, at a later date. But I also met people from academia, from senior business people from the trades unions movements. And I've always been fascinated by people. So that really was a big springboard for me. That happened coincidentally through me just taking random jobs so that I could pay my way. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Wow. One of the big creative landmarks in your story is your work on that international design conference in Montreal. Can you take us inside that project? What the design was, what you actually did to bring it to life and what those years taught you about the power of design? Jilla Bond: I will view design was something that I tumbled into by coincidence. I knew some people who were putting on an exhibition of Canadian art and design, and to get government funding they needed to do, they needed to have a conference, and they were looking for someone who had had experience in organizing conferences at a reasonably high level. And as I just explained, that was one of the jobs that I'd had previously. So I took on the role as conference director, but I knew nothing about the world of design at that time, and someone introduced me to a very prominent designer in Montreal and I said, well, if you were doing this, who would you invite? And they gave me a list of people I think they intended me to choose from that list. But in reality, I contacted all of them and nobody said no. So when they arrived at the conference, they were all wondering because they all thought they were coming as the keynote speaker and why all the competition was there too. But what was fascinating was there were people from design, the world of design, of wallpapers, of interiors, of. Go karts for children, bicycles, Children. And there was one particular person who fascinated me because he was designing a wheelchair for children and he had gone into. Jilla Bond: An home where he could meet the children who needed wheelchairs. And he sat down with them and said, what would you like? And they all said they would like something that was like a Porsche or a fancy car. So when he came to design his chair, he made it into something much superior to any other wheelchairs that had ever been made, and much more exciting, so that the children could race around a playground within the wheelchair so they could play with their friends. And what I learned from being in the world of design was not only at a personal level, a very pleasant discovery that I was quite capable of organizing such a keynote event, but that design is fundamental to making people's lives better. I think many people view design as something visual, something that may enhance surroundings. You look at, as I said, wallpapers or beautiful statues and things. And I would suspect I'm not alone in thinking, having thought that design was primarily to do with just making beautiful objects. But this really taught me that excellent design, and particularly engineering design, learned to use new materials in new ways. And I started to find that absolutely fascinating. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Alongside all of this, you trained and practiced as a life coach? How did your experiences in design, policy, health and caring feed into the way you coach people? And what kinds of crosswords or transitions do people tend to bring to you? Jilla Bond: Well, by the time I trained as a life coach many years had gone by of experience in different fields, doing different things, including via design, but many other things as well. And what I learned from all of it and my my approach to life coaching, which I use very regularly but not on a formal basis anymore, is very much to listen very carefully to the people around me or to the person whom I'm trying to of to whom I'm trying to offer assistance and understand what their real desires are and where they want to go with their life, and then to with a little bit of careful questioning, try to guide them in a way and build up their confidence so that they themselves come to the right conclusions. Because I don't think there's anything to be gained by imposing ideas onto people. You need to encourage them to think through what their real aims are and maybe get into a discussion. What is it that you really want in this particular change of field, or whatever it may be that you're doing? And this lesson about the fundamentals of design and finding the right materials to make the best solutions for design, and being innovative and thinking of new ideas certainly fed into my work as a life coach and certainly into my working career. Jilla Bond: Because the life coaching really came out of building companies at a later date. I joined the Via Design Italian lighting company, and when I first joined them, they were just turning over, I don't know, £300,000. And then we built it into a company at the very sharp end of design that was turning over 4.5 million. So but to do that, one of the things I'm most proud of is we had very little turnover of staff. And I think the reason we had very little turnover of staff is because we were very careful to be very respectful and to treat people and to listen to them if they had complaints or had things that they wanted changed, and to really talk through whether we could make it happen and if we couldn't make it happen, explain to them very clearly why, in a very rational and reasonable way. And I think that is the way to help people move forward with their lives, is to help them see it more clearly and help them find the purpose that is going to take them forward. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: That's very true. I mean, you know, it's very Yeah. Very true. Jilla Bond: You need to always put people at the center. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yes. Jilla Bond: You must work with what people are telling you and then try to work out from that. If you make that the fulcrum of the discussion and then work out from that and explore different possibilities. And some they may reject and some they may like. Right. Fundamentally let them make their own decisions, because if you're imposing things, it will never work. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: That's true. That's true. You've often said that your deepest Passions include young adults and older people, fairness and freedom, and of course, people and good organization. When you look across your life, how have those passions guided your choices even when you were changing sectors or taking risks? Jilla Bond: I think whenever I've moved into a company, I think it's fair to say I'm I'm not a shrinking violet. Should we put it that way? So when when I've moved into a company, I've always needed to find some people with whom I could collaborate strongly. And you find people who are really well organized, but you also understand that it comes back to. The question of really being in tune with the people around you. And the reason I am fascinated by young people is because I had a very difficult, well, not very difficult in comparison with some, but in my world, not an easy adolescence and early adulthood. And I think it was because I lived in an era where people were trying to impose upon me ways of doing things without looking at me as a person and seeing my personality and realizing that trying to put me in boxes was never going to work. I was going to wrestle my way out. So I like to get into discussions with young people I like because of the lack of confidence that I had. I like to do anything I can to build their confidence, to help them, to feel that they can definitely make a good life, even if they've had a difficult beginning. Jilla Bond: And I think at the other end of the spectrum, I think older people can very quickly be discarded. I think they can. People are often, sadly not slow to put people into homes. And I had a slightly feisty discussion with a person at a function one day and they were saying, oh well, her parents were going to do this and were going to do that. And I just very quietly said, is that what they want? Because I think people are who've lived long lives and often had very interesting lives. They may not have had remarkable lives in the bigger sense of the world, but they will all have, through the course of their lives, done interesting things, and they shouldn't be dismissed. They should very definitely be treated with the respect that everyone is due, not just older people or younger people, but everybody. And so I feel very strongly that older people should be listened to and communicated with in a way that works for them with respect and understanding, and they usually have very interesting stories to tell. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I can certainly confirm this with my own mom. I mean, like, you know, she has so many stories to tell. And then she often says to her caregivers, you know, if you get to my age, you'll be darn lucky. So let me pass on my knowledge to you. My advice to you like, don't think that you know it all. And I don't know anything because I'm old. Jilla Bond: You know you have it in a nutshell. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. So. Jilla Bond: And people, I'm sure the caregivers and I know some of them have been absolutely wonderful, and some of them could probably learn from the ones that are absolutely wonderful. But I. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Agree. Jilla Bond: They have a tendency to do too, rather than do with. And I guess in life, If you do with people and not do to them, you will get much, much better results and you will have a much richer feedback and interaction. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I agree, I do agree. After many years of Christmas cards and long distance connection, we have had that big reconnection in 2009. In 2019, when you drove me from London up to Windermere and on to Liverpool. From your side of things, what stands out about that trip, both as a driver and as a sighted guide for a blind friend? Jilla Bond: I think well, one of the key lessons for me was the first night that we stayed in the little hotel where you were going to the chess tournament, And I came to meet you to go down to breakfast. And I walked into your room. And of course, obviously there was no light on. And I went to turn the light on. And it was a very strong lesson for me in the world that you live in. And it stayed with me throughout all our many trips that we've done since that, and that something I take totally for granted is something you don't, but you take your life for granted without that. And I think it was a great eye opener. And I don't mean that as a pun, but it was for me. It was an eye opener to to realize loud and clear some of the key differences. And I think I've said to you several times, every time you've come on a trip, something new has struck me of The challenges that you face on a daily basis that I don't because I can see and that's ranging from how you pack a bag, how you always turn out for the day, and color coordinated clothes. I and they're clean and they don't have any marks on them. Jilla Bond: And I'm always very impressed with the smaller details of things that we would take totally for granted that obviously for you, you've had to find a way to negotiate those situations. And in our most recent trip, I remember feeling embarrassed because I'd forgotten to put the card in the key slot to put the lights on, and when I needed to use the bathroom, I had to go and put the card in the slot because I couldn't see in the bathroom without the light on. And I think those kinds of experiences bring home the world that you're living in. I also learnt to look very carefully at the things I find interesting and that I liked, and to start to talk to you about them. And when we went to meet your family in Liverpool, I took a propitious moment to tell you how tall they were and which ones laughed the most and what they looked like, and to try to add some color to the picture that you were experiencing. So I think it was learning to try to live my life in, not live my life, trying to support our trip, to make it interesting for you to try to add some of the color of the things I could see that you couldn't. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I don't think I'll ever forget when we went to Liverpool and the family came and they all stood in a circle around me and I thought, oh dear God, what do these people look like? And you were quick to the, you know, quick on the ball with it. And he told me, you described it to me, described them to me, and it helped. It really did help, you know. Jilla Bond: Well, I think yes. You can't. I mean, you get a huge amount from hearing someone's voice. Yeah. But and you are very quick and, you know, people's voices and you're very good at remembering. I think your memory is absolutely phenomenal. But I think it's only fair to be able to say this one's tall, that one's thin, and this one's not with not being rude in any way about them, but just to give a paint a paint a bit more color into the picture so that you can experience more the way we would. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right. Not long after my law school graduation in London, you drove me to Normandy so that I could honor the soldiers who fought and died there. What was that journey like for you, navigating Berlin's cemeteries, beaches and history with me alongside you, using a white cane? Jilla Bond: Well, again, I learned... /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/39309975

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #64: Interview with Alexander Barrasso, Policy Advisor 12/02/2025

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #64: Interview with Alexander Barrasso, Policy Advisor Remarkable World Commentary Episode #64: Interview with Alexander Barrasso, Policy Advisor In this far-reaching episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan welcomes retired U.S. diplomat and six-time U.S. blind chess champion for a conversation that spans childhood, global diplomacy, disability rights, and the power of persistence. Alex traces his journey from growing up blind in a tight-knit Italian immigrant family in multicultural New York, complete with daring solo bike rides, to the moment a State Department recruiter convinced him that a life in the Foreign Service was possible. He recounts postings in countries including Colombia, Singapore, Thailand, the Czech Republic, Brunei, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, sharing stories of advocating for guide dog access in Singapore, connecting with schools for the blind abroad, helping secure a $13.1 billion defense sale that supported tens of thousands of U.S. jobs, and negotiating the release of a detained family in a foreign language on short notice. Along the way, he and Donna compare notes on inaccessible exams, the emotional toll of being told “no,” and the stubborn optimism it takes to keep pushing. The discussion also dives into the less visible side of Alex's career: attitudinal and institutional barriers within his own government, being quietly passed over for assignments, and being barred from high-profile events like aircraft carrier visits simply because of blindness. He explains how he led by listening first and speaking last, inviting honest questions about disability, and using tools like JAWS, Braille displays, embossers, and full-time human assistance to do his job at the highest levels. As chair of the State Department's Disability Action Group, he helped advance accessible housing initiatives and championed the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower program, training hundreds of staff to better support colleagues with non-apparent disabilities. Alex also shares how chess, learned at age 11 thanks to one inclusive coach, has shaped his decision-making, resilience, and sense of community, from embassy pizza-and-chess nights to mentoring blind students through the U.S. Blind Chess Association. He closes with a powerful message: don't be afraid to pursue ambitious goals, actively seek and lean on allies, take care of your physical and mental health, and be clear and assertive about the accommodations you need so that, like him and Donna, you can prove that a blind life in high-stakes leadership is not easy, but absolutely doable. TRANSCRIPT Podcast Commentator: Greetings. Podcast Commentator: 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: Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary. I am Donna Jodhan, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, touch and stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments, as in November 2010, I won the Landmark Charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites accessible to every Canadian, not just the sighted ones. And in July of 2019, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act with more than two dozen disability groups to turn equal access into federal law and most recently, on June 3rd, 2022. I was greatly humbled by Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers. When I'm not in a courtroom or in a committee room or in a pottery studio, you will find me coaching kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies to make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles one goal to turn accessibility from an afterthought into everyday Big brothers, I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench where policy meets lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today's conversation, let me shine a spotlight on today's guest, a change maker whose work is as every bit as remarkable as the world that we are trying to build. Alex Barrasso, I'd like to welcome you to my Remarkable World Commentary podcast. So, Alex, I always like to start with roots. Can you take my listeners back to your childhood in New York, growing up as the blind son of an Italian immigrant and share how that early family and cultural environment shaped the way that you see the world today. Alex Barrasso: Sure. Thank you, Donna, for giving me the opportunity to be on your podcast and for the excellent question. So my parents were immigrants from Italy, as you said, and I was born blind. And a couple of years after I was born, we moved from a small apartment into a house surrounded by neighbors. It was an incredibly multicultural street. The the neighbors to our left were from Yugoslavia. The neighbors to our right were from Ireland. The ones across the street were from Norway. It was And they were not all of them had had necessarily been the immigrants, but but their extended family was with them and it was it was just an amazing multicultural environment to grow up in. And I think that has contributed to just my, my openness as a person to people of different cultures, different backgrounds, different faiths. And in terms of my family life my mother in particular really infused me with an incredibly positive attitude. She used to tell me that I'm only limited by what my mind can, can dream of and do. And maybe that's not 100% true, but it certainly made me a very positive person. And a person who tried to live life that way. I remember when I was 6 or 7, my friends were getting bicycles for their birthday and I said, well, I want a bicycle. Of course, I didn't think about how I was going to ride this thing. I was going to learn to ride it. I just I wanted a bicycle, and I know I learned later on that my parents kind of had a conversation, well, do we get him a bicycle or not? And they eventually did. And my father would run with me and teach me how to use the training wheels. And then I graduated to two wheels, but my parents probably didn't know as much is that I would take my bike out and ride down the sidewalk by myself. Alex Barrasso: And I mean, it's probably it's a miracle that nothing really bad happened to me. Except for the one time when I was with a friend and actually tried to keep up with him And fell down, chipped the tooth, bruised all four joints and, you know, whatever. But anyway, that hopefully gives your listeners a snapshot of kind of what, what it was like to grow up for me. And I know that that last incident I just mentioned resulted in my parents not talking to each other for a week, but you know, that's that's that's kind of a little bit about what it was like. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I think I will tell you more offline about similarity to my dad, who taught me how to ride a bike. And I had very little vision as a child. So you have been blind since birth. Okay. Yet you chose a career that many people assume demands perfect eyesight. What drew you to the Foreign Service in the first place. And what do you remember about the moment that you decided, quote, I am going to be a diplomat. Alex Barrasso: Sure. So I was a senior in high school and I thought I wanted to study law after university. And at the time, we I was in a program called Washington Seminar on Government in Action, and we split up into groups. We researched a variety of issues and then wrote to officials in Washington involved in working those issues and asked for meetings when we traveled there. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right. Alex Barrasso: And one of our stops was at the State Department, and we we were supposed to see someone from African Affairs and what was then Soviet affairs. But before they did that, they put a recruiter in front of us. And I just listened to him and I was just captivated. I said, wait a minute, I can learn languages, travel the world, meet people, experience cultures, represent the United States, and this can be my job. I said, where do I sign up? And from that moment, I knew that I was not going to go to law school. This is what I was going to do. And everything I did from that moment on, at least academically, was was geared towards getting myself ready for the Foreign Service exam. And I had to take it multiple times, which is not uncommon. Okay. Eventually got what is called the Thomas Pickering Fellowship, which through which the State Department covered my last year of grad school, and through which I signed up to spend at least five years in the department. I believe it was five. Maybe it was three that a minimum I had to do. I wasn't worried about the minimum because I knew I was going to do it right. And and that also gave me an internship right after grad school. And I guess I finished grad school in May of 1999, started my internship in June, came back to DC in August, and in September, I was starting entry level training with the State Department. And I didn't know it at the time, but would end up moving to Columbia for my first assignment. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Holy jeez, I'm just blown away. I think there's something else we do have in common. When we speak offline, I want it to be a foreign diplomat as well. I never got there, so. Wow. So over your 26 year career, you have served in places as varied as Colombia, Singapore, Thailand the Czech Republic, Brunei, Saudi Arabia and finally Dubai with the Iran Regional presence office. When you look back across all of these postings, what are 1 or 2 moments that best capture capture for what it meant for you to represent the United States as a blind diplomat? Alex Barrasso: So Several highlights. Specific to blindness, I think I really enjoyed, for instance, connecting with schools for the blind and blind students in Thailand and in in the Czech Republic in particular in Singapore. I remember when when we got there, my wife and I and our, my guide dog guide dogs were not allowed in. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right. Alex Barrasso: On transit or in public spaces. And I was very outspoken not just privately, but publicly about that. Lots of people told me it's it's not going to happen. Singapore is not ready for it. And it certainly didn't happen while I was there. But right five years after I left, I got an email from one of my former colleagues who said they changed the law. Guide dogs are allowed here. And she said to me, your impetus got people thinking. And we did it from within. We didn't. You know, we need outside pressure or want outside pressure, but we did it from within and it's real. And and you know, I certainly didn't go about it diplomatically. But but the result is there. And I talked to students in the Czech Republic about my career, my experiences, my accommodations, got them thinking about possibilities for them. And then in terms of just sort of broad career accomplishments I'll mention two. Don't. Yes. That don't have anything to do with blindness, really. But one was leading an interagency effort to finalize a $13.1 billion defense sale and, at least according to Commerce Department statistics, that supported 65,000 U.S. jobs. And then another was negotiating the release of a couple and their three minor kids, and I won't mention the country from from military custody where they had been held for a couple of days and having to do that in a foreign language, assembling a team on, on very, very short notice to go and try to make those arrangements. And we succeeded and getting that family out of custody and back into to their life. So those are just a couple of general career highlights that stand out for me. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Wow. I am simply blown away here. So I know from my own life that disability often means constantly negotiating attitudes as much as physical barriers. Can you talk about some of the attitudes or institutional barriers that you encountered in inside the diplomatic world, and how you learned to navigate or push through them? Alex Barrasso: Sure. So unfortunately, I think that the greatest attitudinal barriers I faced were from my own colleagues in the US government. That's a sad statement, but I think it's true. Certainly I have my allies. And I think we'll talk about them later, but there were also I think the, the default, really, when it comes to getting assignments in our system is that my blindness is is, well, well known to to State Department officials. Yeah. And there are other blind officers in the institution as well. There have been others before us. And I think the bottom line is when we're competing for assignments, we are often passed over in that process because hiring managers will say, well, why should I hire somebody that I have to ensure has reasonable accommodations when I can hire someone who is equally capable, or maybe not, or maybe more capable and doesn't require those accommodations. So why should I hire the officer with a blindness or another disability? I certainly was was denied certain opportunities. Not just in assignments, but I couldn't go to certain events. Like, for instance there were a couple of fly outs to aircraft carriers, including one when I was head of mission in Brunei. Alex Barrasso: And the Defense Department would not let me go. Out there had the same thing happened in Saudi Arabia. So, so these are just things that happen, and you have to deal with them and push through. I mean, in Brunei, for me, the most important aspect of that was that that the bruneians get to go. So I could have presumably just cancelled the whole thing because I couldn't go, but that that wasn't that wasn't the right thing to do in my estimation. It was important for the bruneians to go and and then we ended up working with them to purchase some some Sikorsky helicopters. And that was not a deal on the same magnitude as the missile defense deal. But it also, it supported over a thousand US jobs. And I'm sure that the the experience on the aircraft carrier had a role to play in that. But you have to just push through these things you know, disappointments and rejections are a part of life, and perhaps more so for those of us with disabilities. And we just but we just have to learn to move on and and move forward. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You eventually rose rose to senior leadership roles, including Deputy chief of mission in and oh, I don't know how to pronounce this UN chargé d'affaires in Brunei. How did you approach leadership as a blind officer, and what did you do deliberately to show colleagues and host country officials that disability and authority not only can but do belong together? Alex Barrasso: Sure. So like all leaders, I have made my mistakes. I certainly I recognize that I think most importantly in terms of leadership is is being inclusive, listening to everybody around you because everybody has a different set of not just cultural and ethnic backgrounds and linguistic backgrounds, but everybody has a variety of career experiences. And I remember specifically in, in Saudi Arabia managing that program on critical infrastructure protection and public security. I remember going into meetings thinking, okay, I know how we're going to resolve this problem. I know what the solution is. I know how we're going to move this program forward. And I would listen to everybody around me and I would be the last to speak. And on on several occasions, my team convinced me to adopt a different course of action than the one I had in mind. And I would eventually tell them. I would tell them. Okay. This is. This is what I had planned. But no, you've convinced me otherwise. So here's what we're going to do it your way. And in all of those cases, listening to them was the right thing to do. So I think listening first, speaking later, being inclusive asking people who don't necessarily volunteer, volunteer their views to, to provide them. Right. Those those are some real keys, I think, to just general interpersonal leadership. In terms of my blindness, I have told all of my employees I'm an open book. You've probably never worked with a blind person before. Ask me whatever you want. No question is dumb. I'm not going to chastise anybody for a question they ask. My mother told me that someone asked me in school, how do you eat? Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yes, I've had that one. Alex Barrasso: With a fork. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. Very good. Yeah. Alex Barrasso: You know and I think that that creates just that openness creates trust. It even led one of my subordinates to come to me and say, you know what? My brother just had a he and his wife just had a baby. Born with your same condition. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh, okay. Alex Barrasso: How how do they get started? What do they do? And I directed her to you know, to resources like the lighthouse, the commissions for the blind. But most importantly, I think I said. I said to her, I said, this is going to be okay. Life isn't over. You know, look at me. I'm here. You just have to instill positivity and give give him the tools that he needs to succeed. There's early child development programs. Et cetera. Et cetera. So hopefully that gets at what you were looking for in the question. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Wow. You know, I had someone ask me the same thing. How do you eat? But I, I was more I probably was shyer than you are. I didn't say I eat with a fork. I just sat there and said, well, I eat the same way that you do, you know? But yeah. Alex Barrasso: That's a perfectly fine answer. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah, well, I like yours. Now, as a blind host myself, I am particularly interested in the nuts and bolts. What kinds of accommodations or technologies have been most essential for you to do your job as a document and as a program director, where do you still find gaps that needed advocacy? Your creative problem solving? Alex Barrasso: Sure. So there are just several pieces to the accommodations package. Starting starting really at the house just making sure that the appliances are marked and that I can use them, whether it's the microwave or the dishwasher or the dryer, the washer in fact in in Dubai, I even asked my reader assistant to mark the exercise bikes at the gym because self-care is is so important, and and so is exercise, And that was that was really important is really important to me as a person. And so I wanted to make sure that, that I could go to the gym whenever the gym was open, it was right next to my house. I had no excuses and, and and just get on the bike and and do some cardio. So I had her mark, the the bikes, the start button and whatnot. And then in the office. So what I had was jaws. I'm sure most of your listeners are familiar, but for those who are not, you know, a screen reading software for the computer, I had that on all of our computer systems. I had a Braille printer. I also had a note taker. I've gone through several different ones. My my favorite was was the Vario. Varrio, but I. The last one I had was a focus 14. As I said, a Braille embosser and I had a full time reader. Assistant. Also I think in you know, in the State Department in... /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/39309780

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #69: Looking Back and Looking Forward 12/02/2025

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #69: Looking Back and Looking Forward 🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #69: Looking Back and Looking Forward | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA In this reflective episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan takes a “look back and look ahead,” revisiting the personal and professional highs and lows of 2025 while calling out ongoing systemic barriers facing people with disabilities. She flags, in particular, the absence of a dedicated Canadian minister for disability issues and criticizes government “workarounds” that lean on surveys and unpaid participation, expecting people with disabilities to donate their lived experience, knowledge, and expertise rather than be properly compensated. Donna then turns to what she wants 2026 to bring: stronger accessibility and usability, especially in an app-driven world, along with deeper public understanding of what accessibility really means. She also shares a proud year-end roundup of the many interviews she's conducted and her goal to promote the podcast more widely, before spotlighting her “Transitioning to a New World” initiative to support kids and young adults preparing to leave high school, including weekend camps focused on confidence, independence, trust, and respect, closing with warm wishes for the end of 2025 and a better 2026. TRANSCRIPT Podcast Commentator: Greetings. Podcast Commentator: 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: Hello there. I'm Donna Jodhan, your host for the Remarkable World Commentary. It's my second podcast for December, and today I'm in a mood to look back and look ahead. My dad always used to say that it is better to just look ahead, but sometimes I cannot help but look back. And what has happened for this year? So many things have happened for me personally and professionally. And as I sit here reflecting and, you know, just thinking about things, we still don't have a minister designated for issues on disability here in Canada. Not sure why. I guess Prime Minister Carney has a lot on his mind with the tariff wars continuing with the United States, with all kinds of things hemming him in re the economy, the climate, the tariffs, everything else. So it's no wonder that somehow he has forgotten to designate a dedicated minister for disability issues. But you know what? Government departments are still using workarounds or I call it workarounds. All right. To take advantage of lived experiences of persons with lived experiences, knowledges, knowledge and skills and expertise to get the information that they seek and you know it's not right. And what I mean by this is that they're not paying for lived experiences. They're not paying for expertise. They're not paying for knowledge or skills. They're using workarounds. Workarounds like surveys work around like asking for people to participate in research projects. And they're not unabashedly unashamed to do this. They're not wanting or they're not in a mood, or they're not in any way ready or willing to pay. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Persons with disabilities for their lived experiences, their knowledge, their expertise and their skills. And sometimes, or more often than not, they have the nerve to say, well, you know, it's your obligation to do this because you're helping your community. And I say to this. When I say to my fellow community members, don't pay any attention to this so-called excuse or reason. Stick up for your rights and make sure that you are paid for your expertise, your knowledge, your skills, and your life experience. Okay. Another thing I find is that apps need to be made more accessible and usable. We've come a very, very long way. But in the world of apps where everybody and everyone, companies, entities, everybody is using apps, apps, apps, apps to process things, to gather information, everything like that. It still needs to be made more accessible and usable, and it is my hope for 2026 that we can continue to work with developers and designers to make this possible. Okay, so looking forward to 2026. I hope and pray for greater accessibility and usability, more understanding, more awareness of the true meaning of accessibility and usability. And despite the fact there has been a great, great damage done to disability equity and inclusive inclusiveness, do we still can hope that accessibility and usability remains at the forefront? I want to promote my podcasts more widely. I've had a great year thus far. I've done several interviews with oh my gosh, a plethora of different interviewees, ranging from the CNIB to Air Canada to Inner Search to Doctor Allen Chase of the Eye Retreat organization. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Elections Canada Louise Gillis of ex president of the ECB. Rob Lattanzio of arch doctor Leo Bissonnette, my dear friend Larry Lewis, my other dear friend, and so many more. David Baker, the Charter Challenge champion lawyer Diane Bergeron, Alan Moore, so many to name Ian White, Robin East, my dear friend Abby Baker, okay. And many more to come. Abby belongs to the chess British Chess Association, our blind Chess Association. And then I have Alex Barrasso of the United States Blind Chess Association. I've interviewed all of these wonderful, wonderful people and more. Oh, and there's Kathy Saliba of the Greater Toronto Airport Authority and Cathy Nyfors of the Vancouver Airport Authority, Sonia Ganga Papalia of the Canadian Transportation Agency. Thank you, everyone, and thank you to my dear friend Erin, for walking the walk with me and helping me to make these interviews possible. So I'd like to promote my podcast more widely, and the same for my transitioning to a New World initiative, where I am going to be working with kids and young adults, kids preparing to leave high school. I want to help them transition to a new world. I want to produce weekend camps where I get them to start believing in themselves, to build their confidence, their independence, and show them how to obtain trust and respect. These are my wishes and hopes for 2026, and I wish all of my listeners a happy end of year 2025 and a wonderful 2026. See you in 2026. Bye for now. Podcast Commentator: Donna wants to hear from you and invites you to write to her at DonnaJodhan@gmail.com. Until next time. /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/39397950

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #68: Remembering John Panarese | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA 12/01/2025

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #68: Remembering John Panarese | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA 🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #68: Remembering John Panarese | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA In this heartfelt episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan pauses to honour the memory of her dear friend, mentor, and “Coach,” , reflecting on the fact that a year has passed since his death. She recalls how, in mid-2024, they began shaping a coaching initiative focused on helping others learn their iDevices, with John creating a strong template and a vision for bringing instructors and students together, even as he quietly battled cancer and insisted he would beat it. Donna then shares the heartbreak of John's message withdrawing from the project after being told he had little time left, and how he made her promise to carry the work forward. She updates listeners on continuing the initiative in his name through the Vision Tech Academy, working with Craig Cohen (John's former Apple associate) and Ben Levy, and thanking Aaron Di Blasi and Leo Bissonette for their support. The episode closes with Donna's gratitude for John's warmth and generosity, and a vow from the bottom of her heart that the project will never die, as she says goodbye “until we meet again.” TRANSCRIPT Podcast Commentator: Greetings. Podcast Commentator: 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: Hello, everybody. And I'm Donna J. Jodhan, your host for the December 2025 Remarkable World commentary, where I have the opportunity to really sit here and tell you what's on my mind. And for this episode of Remarkable World Commentary, I'd like to take a few minutes to remember my dear friend, my mentor, my associate, my coach. I used to call him Coach John Panarese. I can't believe that it is a year ago since our John passed on and he went so quickly and he went in style. But this is what I would say. I remember so well last year when John and I had gotten together to start a project which we would designate as transitioning to a new world where we would be engaged in coaching others as to how to use their I devices. And John developed a marvelous template for me to follow. I think it was in June or July. John came up with this idea. June of 20, 24, or maybe July. It wasn't necessarily just transitioning to a new world. It was all about bringing instructors and students together, and we came up with ideas as to how to do it. John was so full of life, but I knew then that John was seriously ill, battling cancer. John never complained, but he kept telling me that he would beat it. And you know what? I believed it, I believed that John would beat it. But a few months later, when he wrote to me saying, Donna, I have to withdraw from our project because the doctor has not given me much time to live. It struck me like an arrow to my heart. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I couldn't believe it. Reading this, I tried to call and I tried to talk with him, but John was too far gone by then. John was on his way to heaven. John was leaving us, and I knew then that I had to pick up the mantle that John had. You know, I'm not sure what word to use, but John had specified for me, and he made me promise him that I would continue with this project. And although that it is a bit slow. We're getting there. I have contacted Craig Cohen, John's former associate with Apple, and Craig has also brought in Ben Levy and we will continue this project in John's name. The Vision Tech Academy, and I want to thank my friend Aaron Di Blasi for having helped to develop this wonderful, wonderful website and my other associate, Leo Bissonette, for agreeing to work with us on it. John was a giant and so much more. A year has gone by and what have I done to honor your memory? As I said, I have set up the Vision Tech Academy in your name. I'm working now with Craig Cohen and Ben Levy to honor your wishes, but you will always be missed. My dear John, my coach, my mentor. Your unique voice, filled with warm and warmth and overflowing with generosity. Thank you, John, for all you've done for me. And I promise you from the bottom of my heart, I will make sure that this project never dies. Take care, John, and save a place for me at your table. Until we meet again. Podcast Commentator: Donna wants to hear from you and invites you to write to her at Donna gmail.com. Until next time. /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/39397940

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #63: Interview with Christopher Sutton, Accessibility Commissioner, Canadian Human Rights Commission 11/26/2025

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #63: Interview with Christopher Sutton, Accessibility Commissioner, Canadian Human Rights Commission 🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #63: Interview with Christopher Sutton, Accessibility Commissioner, Canadian Human Rights Commission | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA In this inspiring episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan sits down with Accessibility Commissioner to explore how his lived experience of deafness, foster care, isolation, and later receiving a cochlear implant has shaped his leadership and passion for system-wide change. He reflects on being told “no” throughout his childhood and how supportive parents, mentors, and his own determination pushed him to become a TV anchor, an entrepreneur, and a policy leader who now works to ensure that “other little Christophers and Donnas” grow up with fewer barriers and more role models. Drawing on his education at Gallaudet and the Ivey Business School, he explains how combining governance training, public policy expertise, and lived experience enables him to bridge communities, convene tough conversations, and embed human-centred accessibility into real-world decision-making. Donna and Christopher also delve into his time leading Wavefront Centre through the early days of the pandemic, keeping essential interpreting, audiology, and deafblind services running while pushing governments and broadcasters to make public health information accessible with sign language, captions, and clear communication. He describes the Wavefront headquarters' Rick Hansen Foundation gold-certified design, where acoustics, lighting, wayfinding, hearing loops, and “deaf-friendly” open sightlines were co-created with people who have lived experience, an example he believes large federal entities can and must emulate. From unpacking the proactive, enforcement-focused mandate of the Accessibility Commissioner within the Canadian Human Rights Commission to his work on British Columbia's accessible service delivery standard and his advice to younger generations on self-advocacy, confidence, and getting involved, the conversation underscores that accessibility is not a “nice to have” but a shared responsibility and a fundamental condition for a barrier-free future. TRANSCRIPT Podcast Commentator: Greetings. Podcast Commentator: 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 Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary. I am Donna J. Jodhan, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, touch and stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments. In November of 2010, I won the Landmark charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites accessible to every Canadian, not just to sighted ones. And in July of 2019, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act with more than two dozen disability groups to turn equal access into federal law. And most recently, on June the 3rd, 2022, I was greatly humbled by Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers. When I'm not in a courtroom or a committee room or a pottery studio, you'll find me coaching kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies to make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles one goal to turn accessibility from an afterthought into everyday practice. I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench where policy meets lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today's conversation, let me shine a spotlight on today's guest, a changemaker whose work is every bit as remarkable as the world that we are trying to build. Christopher Sutton, I'd like to welcome you to my Remarkable World Commentary. Welcome. Christopher Sutton: Thank you. Donna, it's such a pleasure to be here. And thank you for your your invitation today. And really, it was such a pleasure to hear about your background and your experience because you have done such remarkable things for Canadians across the country. And I want to thank you for that. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Thank you very much. Now we met. When did we meet? We met in 2024, I believe, at the Air Canada Advisory Committee meeting in Toronto. I believe we did. Christopher Sutton: Donna, I think we were late before that. I think we met each other at circles in in Gatineau, Quebec, working on Elections Canada stuff. But we have reconnected. Yeah. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah, I do apologize. We did meet through Elections Canada. That's right, I apologize. I'm sorry. Christopher Sutton: So no need to apologize. Donna, you meet with so many people each day. But I remember working together with you at Elections Canada and some really great stuff. And just hearing about the insights and the and the perspective that you brought to the table and, and the community that you brought to the table. So really been able to follow and work with you over the years and know that we're making a difference in our respective places in the world. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah, I do remember and I enjoyed working with you then, and I was kind of sorry to see you leave the Air Canada Committee, but you got bigger things to do now. And we're looking forward to having you you know, continue to make a difference. So let's get started. And to begin, which experiences from growing up with hearing loss and receiving a cochlear implant in 2008, most shaped your leadership style and how do they guide your decision as accessibility commissioner today? Christopher Sutton: Well, thank you for that question, Donna. And I, I think there are many things that I could talk about here as an individual. I grew up in a very small and isolated community, and when people meet me, they're often surprised learning about my story. Like all of our stories, we're we have very unique journeys. And those journeys helped shape us to who we are today. I was a born and put in foster care. I was in foster care for many years before I was adopted. I don't have much memory of that point, and I don't actually have a lot of memory until I was a little bit older of a child. But I will talk about how, as a child, remembering there was no one else like me, that I was alone. I didn't see other people with hearing aids or or that had support. I grew up in a very, very small, isolated community, but at the same time, I remember that being in an isolated community, I was afforded a lot of privilege as well. I had a great support. My, my my parents, especially my mother, really, really encouraged me to be the full individual that I was meant to be. When people talked about, oh, that's a barrier, Christopher can't do that because Christopher's deaf or or or people struggle to understand who I was. My parents always instilled that you will do whatever you want to do and even higher. So when I was young, I wanted to be an anchor on TV, and I remember marching up to the to the, to the community channel newsroom, and they had a call up for anchors and people to volunteer on the community channel, and I love. Christopher Sutton: I'm fascinated by current events. I love news, I love media, and really having the opportunity to be a part of that was so exciting. But I remember my mom telling me that her friend who ran the community channel called her and said, Christopher can't do this. He stopped. He was able to read the news. He won't be able to hear an interview story. He won't be able to do all this stuff. Maybe we can have him, like, work in the background and help with editing and stuff like that. And my mom said, but you know, Christopher, you know that he wants to be in front of the camera. He's going to be in front of the camera. And soon enough, Donna, I was in front of the camera, not one night a week, but three nights a week. But you know something, Donna? That wasn't the only circumstance where I had to break down barriers to show that people with a disability can do whatever they do. In my circumstance, the only thing I couldn't do was here was often being told I had labels, and because of those labels, I had to fit it to a category. I was deaf, so I wasn't going to be able to read. Christopher Sutton: I wasn't going to graduate from high school or even junior high school. The occupations that were set out for me were these occupations and I was fired. I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I wanted to own a hotel to I wanted to be a chef. I wanted to all these other things. And people kept saying, no, no, no, no. But each time a no came, I crossed that bridge and sometimes crossed it a little bit further. And I have to say, the nose and the you can't, you can't give me the strength and the courage and and all those people that supported me to really get to where I am today. So I have to say, what really inspires me is Wanting to be able to make sure that the other little Christopher's, the other little Donna's, the other little Michael's and Jane's and Paul's don't grow up with the same barriers, don't grow up not having having role models and and people they can look up to, and people that have paved the way so that they can have a better, better life. I really want to people and people with disabilities, especially to feel connected, to see themselves as part of the change. And I really, really, really want to make sure people are not isolated and alone. And that really has been a driving force, force behind the work that I do and my passions that that get me up each day. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I think this is great. You know, I, I couldn't agree more. I really couldn't. So you earned a BA from. And I hope I'm having this pronounced correctly. Gallaudet. That. Christopher Sutton: Gallaudet. Gallaudet depends from. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay. And an MBA from Ivy along with governance training. How did that mix of education prepare you for policy oversight and enforcement at the Canadian Human Rights Commission? Christopher Sutton: Yeah, that's a really another great question, Donna. And I think as I just shared with you, I've always been very headstrong and I had real ambition and goals. And as I said, I'm very lucky that my parents raised me to believe that barriers could be overcome and that anything is possible if I work hard and I apply myself and I and I am a believer and firm believer. Continuous ongoing education I currently just finished up some some training on mediation and other things because I believe that we can never stop learning, and learning is as a responsibility we have to ourselves. So whether it was my dream of being a news anchor or or just being a journalist, making a difference in people's lives was something that I really wanted to do and something that drives me each day. I've been very fortunate. I know as a person with a disability, and to be able to have the career that I have today. I know that so many of my friends and colleagues have not had the same benefits. They've not been able to get the same educational experience or, or, or educational opportunities. And I've been very privileged and I and I think those, those role models, I think those those sponsors and so many people that put faith in me and encourage me because that encouragement is what led me to be here. But right now, in this role, one of the things I'd like most is to be a bridge for people, bringing people together to figure out how we can achieve a more accessible Canada together. Christopher Sutton: Donna, you know, from our work together, I love to have dialogues. I love to bring organizations together, bring people together. I like to look at the big picture. I like to say, okay, this is the barriers we're facing today, but how can we break down those barriers? How can we tap into the different challenges, different expertise and experience of individuals? I'm very passionate about public policy. Very passionate about system designs and organization and management. But I'm also very passionate about the lived experiences and and the different barriers that we face each day and how we can come together to really put a human element and a human centric side of it to really make people's lives better. So I'd like to say, like, I went to Ivy Business School, one of the best business schools in the world. I've done some fantastic governance programs and, you know. Very, very few people at my time in those programs identified with any of the diversity that I talk about in myself, like coming from a small, isolated community working in a not for profit sector being an individual with, with a disability. And in these organizations and these programs, I went these are full of executives from the large banking sectors, from from media, from, from many different organizations. Christopher Sutton: And often I was the first person they met in a leadership role that understood the language they spoke, but also had a disability. So I often was able to talk about how diversity, inclusion and accessibility should be and must be understood in the broader business and policy context. And I think my, my colleagues in those programs really appreciate that. They really appreciated that. They got to know an individual. They got to know firsthand about the barriers that I experience and how we how we work together to overcome some of those barriers. And I made some awesome friendships, and I and I know that I've really been able to help influence how people see people with disabilities. But also at the same time, I've also led organizations and businesses myself, and I understand firsthand the realities and pressures that come with running a business, managing people, and implementing compliance. And that experience really has helped me translate policy goals into practical, workable approaches. And the realities that that organizations must deal with when we're looking at the Accessible Canada Act or other regulations out there. So I think I've been very fortunate to be able to have this academic training, this global exposure and real world leadership experience has given me a unique perspective. How I can help move this file at the Human Rights Commission and my work as a commissioner at the Commission. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I think this is terrific, really. Now, you took the helm at Wavefront Center on April 1st, 2020, right as the pandemic began. What did that chapter teach you about resilience, accessible communication and service continuity that you are applying at the core? Christopher Sutton: So, Donna, it feels like hundreds to hundreds of years ago. But you remember just six years ago, five, six years ago, we were hearing about this coronavirus. We were hearing about about this disease or illness that was going around and people were getting sick. And it's hard to believe it's only been five years, and we've gone through a profound, profound amount of global changes since. But a lot of people don't realize on the day the global shutdowns happened, I actually was moving from Ottawa to Vancouver to start a new role. I actually was supposed to start the role a little bit later, but because of the shutdowns, the board of directors said, we really need someone to come in with the leadership, with the ability to handle these complex situations, to help guide us and our business through this time. So I just moved across the country, joined a completely new organization, knowing no one in this city and suddenly finding myself navigating a landscape where conditions change daily and sometimes by the hour. Leading to that amount of uncertainty taught me what real resilience looks like. Staying focused on people making decisions quickly yet compassionately, and creating stability in an environment where, frankly, there was no stability. Waypoint center was named an essential service by the Government of British Columbia. It provided essential services like sign language interpreting, audiology, employment services, deafblind intervener services. There are so many programs and services, and one of the other things that provided was connectivity. It brought connectivity to a community that was already isolated, that already faced so many barriers and really had to bring the human element to the front and center. Christopher Sutton: Not only were we dealing with uncertainties in the world. The team that I had to leave were coming in and supporting people that depended on us for communication access, health services and community connection. And I had to lead through constant change while ensuring the staff supported safe and valued, but also ensuring that the services to clients relied on each and every day. As a situation, change was there for them that when they needed an interpreter, there was an interpreter at that medical appointment, when they needed to excuse me, when they needed an audiologist to fix their hearing aid, or for some people, because they needed to attend a funeral of a loved one that passed away from from Covid 19, we were there for them. But also at the same time, accessible communication became a defining lesson in those early days. Public health information was not accessible. It was not accessible in sign language. Captioning was very poor and and so many communities missed out on life altering and life saving information that was being provided. We had to change that. And I and I was so fortunate. I reached out to contacts, whether they were in the Prime Minister's office or broadcasters, and really brought forward educating governments, media and other organizations about the importance of accessible communication. And that really has changed. What we see now is more global, widespread acceptance of ASL interpretation or lsq interpretation and other accessibility features that we see. Screen Reader: Notification from. Christopher Sutton: During during emergencies and other times. But if you go to other places in the world, you actually see these for cooking shows and whatnot. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. Yeah. Christopher Sutton: But we also had to build new partnerships. So we had to look at the programs and services that we traditionally delivered, and we had to offer new ones. The community and the world we lived in was changing, and it was so important that we designed our program so that our community was connected, so that businesses were able to provide accessible information so that government had a service provider to turn to. So it really why it was. A very difficult point for us. It also allowed the organization to become much more stronger and sustainable and create a national name for itself. So I take all these lessons each and every day in my work at the HRC. They shape how I approach policy oversight, accessibility with a deep understanding of what communities need in real time, how essential clear communication is, and how important it is to lead with both humility and decisiveness. Suppress. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I can hear it in your voice. The passion. You know we need. We need this type of passion, this type of leadership. If we and I say we, I mean, our communities are, you know, expected to move forward because these are difficult times and the landscape... /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/39309745

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #62: Interview with Karoline Bourdeau and Chris Jonas, Blind Sailing 11/20/2025

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #62: Interview with Karoline Bourdeau and Chris Jonas, Blind Sailing 🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #62: Interview with Karoline Bourdeau and Chris Jonas, Blind Sailing | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA In this inspiring episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan welcomes blind sailors and leaders and Chris Jonas from to demystify what “blind sailing” really looks and feels like. Together they trace Karoline's journey from clinging nervously to the corner of a boat to becoming an avid racer, and Chris's perspective as both a competitive helm and long-time volunteer. They vividly describe the sensory world of sailing without sight, tracking the wind by how it hits your face and ears, listening for the changing sound of water on the hull, feeling heel through the tiller, and using the luffing of sails as an audio cue that something needs to be trimmed or adjusted. Along the way they dismantle the idea that sailing is only for the young or athletic, stressing that there's no real age limit so long as a person has enough strength and agility for the conditions at hand. Donna then leads a deep dive into how Blind Sailing Canada keeps its seven-day-a-week season running safely and inclusively, from a custom scheduling app and vetted sighted volunteers, to mandatory PFDs, pre-departure safety checklists, and carefully guided first sails that prioritize comfort and confidence. Karoline and Chris explain the contrast between their two boats, the responsive Capri 22 “C-Breeze” with a tiller beloved by racers, and the roomier 27-foot cruiser “Catch the Wind,” and how each teaches different skills and experiences. They talk about teaching new sailors to board safely, offering as much or as little hands-on involvement as someone wants on day one, and why they actually use very little adaptive tech on board, preferring to sail “by feel” with clear verbal communication rather than constant electronic chatter. The conversation ends with an open invitation: anyone curious can join as a member, volunteer, or donor through blindsailing.ca, attend pub nights and dock parties, help with boat maintenance, and, most importantly, come out for that first sail and discover that there is truly nothing to be afraid of on the water. TRANSCRIPT Podcast Commentator: Greetings. Podcast Commentator: 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: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary. I'm Donna Jodhan, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, touch and stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments, as in November of 2010, I won the Landmark charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites accessible to every Canadian, not just to sighted ones. And in July of 2019. I call it the Accessible Canada Act, with more than two dozen disability groups to turn equal access into federal law. And most recently, on June the 3rd, 2022, I was greatly humbled by Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers. When I'm not in a courtroom or in a committee room or in a pottery studio, you'll find me coaching kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies to make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles one goal to turn accessibility from an afterthought into everyday practice. I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench where policy meets, lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today's conversation, let me shine a spotlight on today's guest changemaker, whose work is every bit as remarkable as the world that we are trying to build. Today, I am pleased to welcome Karoline Bourdeau and Chris Jonas. So, Karoline, welcome to our podcast. Karoline Bourdeau: Thank you. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: All right, so I'd like to start things off by having you share the moment that you first realized that blind sailing Could be more than an experience that it could become your sport and your community. Karoline Bourdeau: Thank you. I'll start. By the first time I went sailing and I sat in the corner of the boat thinking, I don't like this. I don't want to do this. I don't trust this boat. Oh, no. This is not good. Oh, dear. And then about two years later I had been sailing for a while at that point, and people started saying, you want to race, you should come racing. And I was like, I am not the person you want racing because I don't know what I'm doing. And so three years ago now I joined a race. Thinking, okay, I'll try it just because I will try anything once. Almost. And there was something about the concentration, the shared goal, and actually making the quick decisions as you're at the helm of a boat. That just worked for me. And even though, you know, the first few minutes of a race, I'm all nerves. And I often wonder, why do they let me on these boats? It's an amazing experience, and I do love it. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I could hear in your voice how much you like it, right? Karoline Bourdeau: Yes. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And I think it's it's great that, you know, blind sailing is there for us. As a blind host, I often navigate by sound, touch and clear language. Okay. For those listeners who have never sailed, can you walk us through the sensory feel of a good upwind grove? What you're listening for, what you're feeling through the helm and sheets and how you know you're trimmed, right? Karoline Bourdeau: Wow. Okay. So the sensory experience on a boat is like no other. There are so many things that you are feeling and listening for on a boat. So the direction of the wind. Where is it? On my face? Where is it coming from? Is it on my ears? How strong is it? Is the boat heeled over like is it? You know, how sideways is it? Chris and I are the same, and we like it really well heeled over. And you hear this if you're hearing your sails, that's called luffing. And that is probably meaning that you are not in the in the correct trim. And thankfully we have lovely sighted crew who can correct that for us. Or we can sometimes ask other blind sailors to change something in, in the lines, or sometimes it's just a simple adjustment that we make at the helm. On the boat with the tiller, you can feel the boat pull sometimes and and sometimes you can adjust you feel that on the wheel as well. But I find that the tiller is way more sensitive and way more responsive than a wheel for me. I don't know if that answers your question. Chris Jonas: So I'll just add add to that, if I may. So the things that Caroline mentioned are, are all accurate. It's also the, the, the sound of the water as it laps against the hull of the boat. If you if you feel that changing, then you know, something has changed and you need to get back into the groove. And usually you can also tell along with all the other things Caroline mentioned, you can tell by how the water feels against the hull of the boat. And when when Caroline was mentioning the sails luffing that generally means that you're sailing a little too close to the wind. So the best thing to do in that circumstance is to bear off the wind a little bit, and that usually resolves it. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Boy, this sounds really technical to me here. Well. Chris Jonas: Well, well, some of us, some of us as as you may know, are are quite avid racers as well as recreational sailors. So when you get into racing, you, you kind of get a lot more knowledgeable about how to adjust things and what's happening out there. It's it's a great way to learn more very quickly because you're in a very competitive environment usually, and you need to make decisions quickly. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yes. Is there an age limit for racing? Like too old, too young, too old? Chris Jonas: That's an it's an interesting question. The short answer is no. There are racers that start like, basically soon after they start walking. I mean, their parents get them into sailing very, very young. And and a lot of those, those parents are racers themselves, so they, you know, they bring their, their, their kids along sometimes in terms of too old as long as, as long as you still have the strength. It's mostly a question of strength and agility on board, because sometimes you can get into a very rough situations. And if you still have the strength and the agility, like I, I've, I've raced with someone in his 80s and he was an excellent racer, you know so there's, there's no real upper limit. It just it's, it's very individual as to how that particular person is feeling and is able to adapt to the weather conditions and the and the racing conditions. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: So there may be still hope for me then. Chris Jonas: Absolutely. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. Karoline Bourdeau: Hey, if I got there, you can. Oh. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Lordy, no blind sailing. Canada runs a full Fall in season schedule, often seven days a week from mid-May to mid-October. How do you coordinate boats, weather calls, transportation volunteers, and staff safety so consistently? Chris Jonas: Well, that's a loaded question. Do you want to do you want to start answering that, Caroline? Karoline Bourdeau: Yeah. And then you can fill in on this. So we we actually have a scheduling website that we call the sailing app, and members, crew and skippers are all signed up for that as soon as they become members or are or have joined us as volunteers. And basically, it's a lot of it is, you know, a group of people says, I want to sail on Saturday. So they create a sail and now other everyone can join it because they can see it. And we have capacity on the different, the two different boats. So once a sail is full then it kind of disappears from the available sails. And sometimes we end up with the situation where both boats are out at the same time. And that's wonderful. We love to see that. And we actually do sometimes have a summer student through Canada summer jobs who helps with the coordinating of the different sails. The safety is like, our biggest concern, and our skippers and volunteers and our members actually are really quite careful and very good at learning what needs to be done and how to stay safe. Because safety, learning and fun are our three principles. And we really do enjoy an amazing community that is very aware and very inclusive and the transportation issue a lot of our members use wheel-trans some people carpool. Just depends on the situation, but I'll tell you, they get there. Chris Jonas: We also we also have pretty pretty good TTC access through various streetcars that will go very close, at least two different streetcar lines, one, one starting at Spadina station, one starting at Union Station. So it's actually quite easy to get there if you're comfortable using TTC. I'll, I'll, I'll add to the the safety question in that we have a very, very extensive volunteer vetting program. So any new volunteer interested in in joining our program must first go out on what we call a vetting sail with an experienced skipper who will assess their their boat knowledge, their sailing ability, just to make sure that they are comfortable both sailing the vessel in a very safe manner and also is comfortable dealing with blind or vision impaired members on board because that's the environment that they will they will be in when they actually go out on a real sail after they've passed the vetting section. So it's very important that they both know, know their way about a boat, know enough about sailing to be able to handle the boats in all weather conditions safely, and also feel very comfortable communicating with a demographic that they may not previously have had much exposure to, namely the blind community. So we look at every aspect of it, and we've had an incredibly successful history in terms of not have I don't think we've ever had any really major accident. We've had little, you know, little scrapes and minor accidents here and there that oftentimes is more the result of the weather than anything else. But we've done a remarkably good job of keeping all of our members and volunteers safe and also kept our boats away from any truly major damage. So you know, it's a great program in that regard. As Caroline said, safety is the number one concern. It always has been. And and Bsac or blind sailing has always done, I think, a really, really good job with with that particular aspect of it. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Where are you guys located? Like where is your base? Chris Jonas: So it's Marina Key West, which is in Toronto Harbor between Bathurst and Spadina. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay. Chris Jonas: Most people probably get off either, depending on well, most people take wheel-trans, which comes right into the parking lot, so very close to the Marina office. And then we'll usually have a volunteer meet them at the office and walk them to the boats. If they're coming by TTC, then you know, if they're on the Spadina line, they'll get off at the Queen's Key stop, which is Queens Quay and Spadina, and it's an easy walk over from there. Or if they're on the other line on the Queens Quay line that comes from Union, they'll get off at Dan Leckie, which is even a little bit closer to the Marina office. So it's quite accessible in that regard. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay. Your training pathway is aligned with mainstream standards and adapted for blind and low vision sailors. What does the first lesson look like? What are the first three skills that you teach, and how do you move someone from their first day sail to confidently helming? Chris Jonas: It's just it's just mostly practice, practice, practice, practice. The more exposure you get to it, the more skills you learn, the more comfortable you feel aboard a sailboat, the more your muscle memory kicks in. It's just it's just all. It's just really comes down to time in the boat. And the more you do it, the better you get at it. Just like a lot of a lot of things. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right? Yeah. Karoline Bourdeau: Some of us have done some you know, sale Canada training where, you know, we've spent time with an instructor on a boat. But it's not a requirement for our members. You know, most of us just get the experience by being on the boat. And I would say the first lesson just to go back to that is how to get on the boat safely and how to get off the boat safely. Because that's a huge, I think, point of concern for most of us as new sailors. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: So for someone like myself who would probably need a refresher course, tell me what? Tell me what the first day would look like for me. Karoline Bourdeau: So you would be met at the Marina office? And then somebody would walk with you to the dock. You would be guided on to the boat, basically by someone showing you where the stanchion is. Put your hand on the boat and showing you where to step. And basically explaining where are things located on the boat and, you know, telling you where you should be. And then it goes from there. And the first sail is usually like, we try and make it a calm sail where it's not too windy, not a lot of heel on the boat so you can get to experience whatever you want to do. If you want to try and and see what lines feel like or how it feels to pull a line. Or if you want to get on the helm, you can try that as well. We'll make sure that we're in an open space where you can do that. And yeah, and a lot of people love it. They want to come back as soon as you put them on the helm. I think most of them say that. That's it. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yes, I did try it years ago, like I mentioned to you before with Susan and Francis. Maybe next year. I'm not going to promise, but you know. Yeah. No. Karoline Bourdeau: No. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. Safety is foundational, right? What are your pre-departure routines? Okay. Okay. Rolls call and response commands. And how do you brief a brand new sailor so that they are safe and fully participating from the first time? So someone like myself. Karoline Bourdeau: Chris, do you want to take that on? Chris Jonas: So. So the first part of that question we do have a checklist, a digital checklist that that every skipper must fill out before leaving the dock. And it is they are required to go through the boat and and check off all of the required safety equipment that must be there. You know, things like a sound device in case you get close to another boat and you have no other way of letting them know that, that you're on a collision course, and maybe something's broken on our boat and we can't get out of their way or they don't see us. You need a sound device, a device to let them know things like a buoyant, heaving line in case someone falls overboard and you need something that floats, that you can toss out to them, because they may not know where it is, but you can toss it out and say, okay, it's it's two feet to your left. Just move to your left a couple of feet and grab it, and then we can pull them back into the boat. You know, things like a flashlight, fire extinguisher. There's a whole list of, of of safety equipment that must be on board. You know, flares in case you need to send a visual signal so other boats may see where you are if you're not near to anyone, that sort of thing. There's a whole list. And we skippers must go through that list. Check off each item in turn and make sure that they're there before and you know, and submit that. And then they must have that done before they're allowed to to leave the dock. So and it's the same on the way back when they're back in, we must make sure that all of that same equipment is still there and present and in the right place on the, on the boat, so that the next skipper can find it easily. So there's that. Caroline, do you want to. Yeah. Answer the next part of it. Karoline Bourdeau: Sure. So it's a requirement for blind sailing that before the boat leaves the dock that everyone is wearing a a PhD, and you can you can bring your own or you can use one of ours. Our boats have them on board in the different sizes. So basically we make sure the, the new person is fitted properly so that, that it's not too loose, it's not going to come off them or not too tight. So they're uncomfortable. And then like I said before, we try and walk them through the boat to show them where things are, talk to them about what's going to happen, try to describe to them you know what, What is happening? Like we're untying the boat right now. You know, we're going to pull out that sort of thing, and then we'll just keep them posted as to what is happening and when it's time that we can put up the sails, we we will ask them if they want to be involved in doing that, helping either tail or or pull lines, depending on, on how you know they're feeling and their strength or what they think they can do. Some people want to do absolutely nothing the first time. They just want to kind of observe and take it all in. So we're very flexible as to like what... /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/39305045

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #61: Interview with Ed Henkler, Founder, The Blind Guide 11/17/2025

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #61: Interview with Ed Henkler, Founder, The Blind Guide 🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #61: Interview with Ed Henkler, Founder, The Blind Guide | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA In this uplifting episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan welcomes , founder of , to trace his move from the Navy and a long corporate chapter to a purpose-driven life shaped by his mother's vision loss and years of service with an association for the blind. He explains how an unexpected early retirement nudged him toward assistive-tech innovation and advising startups, then unpacks the origin of The Blind Guide, including the ethic of offering an arm rather than grabbing one. Ed shares his “choose to thrive” philosophy, outlining six progressive levels that start with basic daily living skills and build toward personally defined peaks, illustrated by sensory-rich experiences, new hobbies, and elite pursuits that show what thriving can look like in practice. For listeners seeking practical takeaways, Ed maps a clear playbook. acknowledge grief and then choose to thrive, plug into in-person O&M and tech assessments through local associations, shift from “caretaker” to “caregiver,” and use creative bartering to trade tasks so independence grows alongside support. Speaking to employers, he reframes disability hiring as a measurable business win, citing stronger retention, safety, productivity, and morale when teams include people with disabilities, and he urges leaders to tell business-forward stories rather than pity narratives. The conversation closes with an invitation to live broadly at any age or ability, to pursue independence with smart support, and to value the problem-solving ingenuity that people with vision loss bring to work and community. TRANSCRIPT Podcast Commentator: Greetings. Podcast Commentator: 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: Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary. I'm Donna Jodhan, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, touch and a stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments. In November of 2010, I won the Landmark Charter Challenge case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites accessible to every Canadian, not just to sighted ones. And in July of 2019, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act with more than two dozen disability groups to turn equal access into federal law and most recently on June the 3rd, 2022. I was greatly humbled by Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers. When I'm not in a courtroom or a committee room or a pottery studio, you'll find me coaching kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies to make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles. One goal to turn accessibility from an afterthought into everyday practice. I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench where policy meets lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today's conversation, let me shine a quick spotlight on today's guest, a change maker whose work is as every bit as remarkable as the world that we are trying to build. Ed Henkler, welcome to my podcast. Ed Henkler: Thank you so much, Donna. It's a pleasure to be here, and I commend you on all the things that you've done and continue to do. It's such important work and it's good to have somebody that refuses to accept the answer. No. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And I am so happy that you are on our side of the fence. So, editor, I'd love to start with your inflection point after the US Navy and two decades of work. Right. What led you to retire early and to reimagine your career around accessibility? Ed Henkler: Donna, I'd love to tell you that it was an active decision by me, but I think the truth is it's probably I've been more passive in my career. So I'll back up just for a second. As you said, I spent ten years in the nuclear power Navy. I'm proud of it, but my family didn't have any particular veteran history. So while I'm proud of it, I can't necessarily say I was passionate about it. Right. And then when I joined Merck, I really had no connection to biopharma. But it was a good school or a good good company, and it paid well. And I had skills that were well suited to the environment. So I spent 31 years of my life, as I tell people, doing things of which I was proud but probably never passionate. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay. Ed Henkler: And then, age 52, I was early retired, so it was not necessarily my choice. I could have stepped down, but but it was an early retirement. So that that's good financially that you're retired rather than laid off. But it really it wasn't an active decision on my part. In fact, I admire people that proactively make decisions such as the one that I would say I was more led into. But the other part of what went on while I was at Merck, my mom lost her sight to age related macular degeneration. So I'm cited, as you know. But my mom lost her vision in her late 60s, and it was also in the 1990s. I can tell you at the time, I don't believe I had ever been around somebody who was blind. I doubt that's completely true, but it's fair to say I was unaware if I was around them and I really knew nothing about it. She was down in Florida, we were in Pennsylvania, and we moved her from Florida up to Pennsylvania. As I'm sure many of your listeners know, there are a lot of treatments available nowadays for AMD that won't necessarily cure it, but will defer vision loss. When my mom had the vision loss, there was nothing out there. It was just a matter of what I remember as laser cauterization to to take care of the leaking blood vessels, but nothing that was going to cure it or or maintain her sight. We moved her up. We found an association for the blind, which I considered just good fortune because without the type of internet we have nowadays, we really just stumbled across the resource, right? And they were marvelous. Ed Henkler: They taught her the skills. They taught her. They visited her apartment. They did vision rehab, all that. And she learned to thrive with vision loss. She became a speaker for the association. She used to take Philly Rapid Transit all over to get to places including the flower show, which is one of the most densely populated events you probably find anywhere. And she actually traveled outside the country for the first time in her life, and it was after she lost sight. So I watched her and I said, obviously, you can thrive with vision loss. It's something that I think most people fear it. In fact, I've asked the question, would you rather lose a limb or lose your sight? And it's rare that somebody says sight over limb. And then when I actually say she'll never see your grandchild again, or you never see your spouse. And then they say, oh, well, maybe the limb. So the point is, losing limbs are horrific experience. And yet people would rather have that than the vision loss. And I think it's I think it's because they don't understand. They don't understand what's possible. It's just kind of a mystical area to all of them. And I think that causes a lot of the problems that we'll probably talk about on the podcast. But anyway, I watched her thrive. I was like, okay, so I see what happens there. So I joined the, the the board of the Association for the Blind as board president for a stint. I spent 13 years with them doing whatever I could to help people. And that was also the period during which I eventually had that early retirement. Ed Henkler: I tried to go back into biopharma without any success. I would blame that mostly on me and on lack of networking skills, but the bottom line was I wasn't able to go back in. And then somewhere along the way, in the space of a few weeks, I had multiple people say, you're always interesting to talk to, but when you talk about blindness, you just come alive. So after hearing that three times in a short period of time, I went home to my wife and I said, I think the universe is yelling at me. I just need to listen. I switched my pitch and I said, I want to help people thrive with vision loss always coming at it from the perspective of a caregiver and a sighted person. I won't pretend to have walked the same walk as somebody who's blind, but at least I've been around it and I've watched it. And that changed my life. I, I joined a startup out of the University of Pennsylvania. We spent five years trying to develop something that maybe is just starting to be available now, which is Beacon Indoor Navigation. Still an imperfect solution, but we spent five years. We didn't, unfortunately, succeed, maybe a little bit too early on the technology curve, but then I got involved in helping other Companies developing assistive technology for the blind. And I can say, while the compensation is not nearly what I had before, for the first time in my life, I'm truly passionate about and I love what I do. And I love the ability to impact people's lives directly, which was never a part of my earlier careers. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And I can hear it in your voice, I really can. Yeah. What's the origin story behind the blind guy? What? You know what? What? What's it with the name? And what problem were you determined to solve when you launched it? Ed Henkler: It started really with just needing an LLC. I, I had never worked alone. I had always been part of a large institution. And so it became apparent I needed an LLC for my consulting for anything else that I did. And we looked a lot at names, the idea. And I said, as I mentioned to you before, I view my role in part as focused on caregivers, but also helping people who are blind thrive. And I know we come back to that also in a little bit, but the idea of being a guide to somebody who's blind just seemed to make sense to me. And then we actually chose the logo to emphasize something that I know you've talked about before, and that is the the guide needs to provide an arm for the person who's blind to hold, as opposed to grabbing their arm. My mom had a lot of discussions with me on that. She used to get so frustrated, and I would always take that viewpoint that I know it's frustrating. Realize the person is really just trying to help you. They just don't understand the right way to do it. And I understand from your perspective. You're just tired of it happening and it's frightening and it's scary and it makes you feel you're going to trip, right. Ed Henkler: But just try to remember they're doing it. They're doing it for the right reasons. They're doing the wrong thing, but they're doing it for the right reasons. So it comes back to that idea of guiding people, helping them on their journey, and the idea that I don't think it's enough to survive with blindness. I think it's possible. I think a lot of people do survive with blindness. They they learn the basic skills. They may seldom leave their apartment, but they can. But they're not doing what they did before. They're they're surviving. And I think it's an unnecessary restriction. I think it's absolutely possible to thrive. Thrive has many different interpretations. You could be a Paralympian. You could just be somebody that likes to cook for their friends, who happens to be blind. But it's thriving in your own way, and it's not being satisfied to do the minimum in life, but rather to do everything you did before. And maybe due to some new things, I met one woman who learned to surf after after losing her sight. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh my. Ed Henkler: Gosh. And a lot of other stories like that. So I just think so much is possible and we self-limit what is possible. And our caregivers often self not self-limit but limit us because they're afraid. People would say to me, I mentioned my mom going to the flower show and people say, why aren't you worried? What if she got hit by a car? And my answer would always be, and I'm going to put a caveat on it. But I would always say I would rather she was hit by a car, going to do something she really wanted to do than sitting safely in her apartment not doing anything. And my caveat is clearly whoever hit her, no matter how much we absolve them of the guilt, their life has changed also. And I don't. So I don't say that in a trivial way. I understand that, but the concept is more let the person free. And if it leads to a bad outcome, so be it. At least they're loving life and thriving while they're alive, rather than this perceived safety of not going anywhere. And I get you asked the mission. So the mission really is all about that thriving not being satisfied to to to be able to get to the train station or the bus station, maybe get to the food store, but rather going out singing in a chorus, playing golf learning to surf, whatever it may be, whatever your personal area of enjoyment is. But I want to see everybody, if possible, do that because I know that they can, and it's so much richer a life. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: What a wonderful philosophy. You often say, and I quote, choose to thrive. Okay. And talk about quote level. Via. Via. Via. Va are thriving. Okay. How do you distinguish thriving from coping for someone? Adjusting to vision loss. And what does thriving look like day to day? Ed Henkler: So I, I created a chart that's available on my website that has six different levels. And the first level, it's my thriving levels. But the first level is is very basic. It's ADLs, the activities for daily living, it's learning O&M and navigation skills. It's really very, very basic, probably with a caregiver at your side, but just learning how to manage a world without sight or, or at least without the sight that you originally had. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right. Ed Henkler: So that's level one that's surviving, but I still put it on my thriving level. Level two. Now you're starting to do a little bit more than you did before. Or maybe you have friends, maybe somebody, a caregiver to you and have them over for dinner. You fix maybe a little bit more of a fancy meal for them just to do something different. Perhaps you're going out to events, you're going to see a play. And I always I use the verb see loosely, but I know many people who are blind use it very freely. And there's a lot that you can enjoy. In fact, I'm going to give you another example with my mom. When my mom was alive, she said, I really want to go see the the Phillies game, the the Philadelphia baseball team. Okay. And I, I would like to say that I said this nicely, but I bet you I didn't. I said, well, you can't see. What. Why do you want to go to the game. Yeah, I just I don't know, I just really want to go. And I said it seems kind of silly to me. You really can't see. Yeah. But we went back and forth and I finally said, all right, well, we'll go down to the game. So I grabbed a friend just so we could help maneuver in logistics and everything. And we're walking into the ballpark, and I thought, I know exactly why she wants to go. It's the smells. It's the sound, the crowd. It's so many other sensory impacts that have nothing to do with vision. And I just it was a learning moment for me because I was viewing her request from that, the standpoint of somebody who sighted and she just wanted to go do something and be be in the middle of that. Ed Henkler: And with today's TV technology, most people that see any sporting event live would tell you that you can't see it nearly as well as you could on your TV at home. But there's something magic about being in that stadium amongst so many people, cheering for something common. It's a very enervating experience, so it doesn't have to be about sports. But the point is that's probably in that level two, maybe level two three. Range level three. And I say you can personalize these because for somebody these levels are going to look very different. I know a number of Paralympians. They're they're level six is setting world records. And you don't have to do that to thrive at a level six. So it's very individual at that point, which is why I give the person an opportunity to say, what does it look like for you? I've told you my basic levels, but what does it look like for you? You hit level three. I'm going to say, now you're living the same life you did. And I was always struck when I first went to the Association for the blind with my mom, somebody spoke up and said, you know what, I hate this. He said, yeah, you guys are trying. It's really nice. And here I am hanging out with a bunch of blind people I don't know. He said, I want to go with my friends and go do what I did before I lost my sight. Ed Henkler: And that struck me so powerfully. It's like I felt we were doing my mom a great favor to take her down there and let her meet other people who are blind. Learn how they were dealing with it, which I think is important. But that wasn't the end. She wanted to do things with us and do things with her friends, just as she had before she lost her sight. Something that's absolutely achievable. But maybe we forget about it. And I don't know if it's the right time to backtrack on this, but there is an interesting movie that was put together, I guess, a decade or so ago, the Obamas actually got involved in funding it. It was called Crip Camp, and it's a camp for people with disability. It's not just about blindness, but disabilities broadly. One of the things that I was struck by as I was watching it is these kids with disabilities are sneaking out at night to go have a beer or maybe two to go find somebody of the opposite gender and, and go beyond having a beer. So in other words, they were doing what kids do in camp. And I thought, you know, back to that being as one of my friends calls me a temporary, temporarily, temporarily able bodied person, a tab. You tend to forget that somebody with disabilities might actually want to do the same things I want to do. You tend to think, well, you know, I we make sure they can get to the store. Ed Henkler: We make sure they have food. We help them learn to cook their food to be safe. Well, that's back to surviving. That's not thriving. That's not the lifestyle anybody dreams of. So it's this idea, let's get it back to where you're doing exactly what you did before you did. You lost your sight. Now maybe you do it differently. Maybe you look for things that are more audio focused than visual focused, all sorts of things like that. But but you're still basically you're with the same friends, doing the same activities you had before. Level four is maybe that woman that learned to surf. Now, she didn't know how to snow ski, but she learned how to water ski. So that was definitely a step up from where she had been. But now you're learning new skills. You're not just doing what you did before, you're doing what any we'll call that normal person does, which is learn new things, see something new you want to do, learn how to do it. So level four is when you're doing that, level five and six are for anybody that really wants to push way beyond that. But... /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/39131155

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #58: Interview with Dan Thompson, Founder, Fresh Start of Jacksonville, Illinois 11/04/2025

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #58: Interview with Dan Thompson, Founder, Fresh Start of Jacksonville, Illinois 🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #58: Interview with Dan Thompson, Founder, Fresh Start of Jacksonville, Illinois | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA In this deeply moving episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan welcomes longtime friend Dan Thompson, educator, technologist, and community builder, for a candid conversation about hardship, faith, and grit. Dan traces a childhood marked by isolation and abuse, the moment he left home after graduation and survived briefly on the streets, and the steady rebuilding that followed through marriage, service, and a stubborn refusal to accept limits. He recalls fundraising feats and his stint as Illinois's first blind disability adjudicator, where he had to fight for basic accommodations, early lessons in self-advocacy that would shape his life's work. The heart of the episode is Dan's decades at the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired: teaching assistive technology, defining “success” as confidence and practical independence, and tailoring instruction to each student's interests, from podcasting and radio spots to taking apart and rebuilding computers. He shares tactile, hands-on learning (accessible games, field trips, even classroom animals), and explains how his ASPIRE project grew into Fresh Start of Jacksonville, refurbishing computers, coaching on iPhones, and offering one-on-one training so people can thrive at home, school, and work. Dan closes with plainspoken counsel, embrace workarounds, use simple tools like hotkeys and shared links, be patient, help others, and an invitation to his daily “Yes You Can” devotionals, perfectly echoing the episode's throughline of resilience and pay-it-forward hope. 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: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary. I am Donna Jodhan, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, touch and stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments, as in November 2010, I won the Landmark Charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites accessible to every Canadian, not just to sighted ones. In July of 2019, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act with more than two dozen disability groups to turn equal access into federal law and most recently, on June 3rd, 2022. I was greatly humbled by Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers. When I'm not in a courtroom or a committee room or in a pottery studio, you will find me coaching kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles one goal to turn accessibility from an afterthought into everyday practice. I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench where policy meets lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today's conversation, let me shine a spotlight on today's Guest changemaker, whose work is every bit as remarkable as the world that we are trying to build. I am pleased to welcome my dear friend Dan Thompson to my remarkable world commentary. Welcome to you, Dan. Dan Thompson: Well, thank you very much for the honor. I'm looking forward to it. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And we've known each other for so many years, and we started out many years ago when you came into my life, you were my technology expert on a daily basis. And then now, for the past many years, you are my daily devotion specialist. And I welcome you to my show. Dan Thompson: Thank you. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: So, Dan, let's get started. All right. Dan Thompson: All right. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Then. You've spoken about facing serious adversity. Adversity at a young age. How did those early experiences shape the educator, technologist and community builder that you have become? Dan Thompson: Well, it gave me great determination to try to become more than my immediate family thought I could and achieve things they thought were not possible. It helped me endure a lot of negativity as I grew up and wanted to do things, and many people said, you can't do that, can't do that. But it made me grow in willpower and determination. Because I was constantly reminded I was retarded and I would end up on public aid and kept in the basement most of my young youth life. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh, dear. Dan Thompson: I had some rather severe punishments that would be. Make your skin cringe. Cringe if I told you I didn't behave quite right. And some of the punishments were quite extreme. So I made it my goal when I got out of school. Never to make anyone else go through that kind of thing and not feel sorry for myself. Even though when I was a youth I thought I got mad because everybody else can go outside and you know, when they're home. But I went home for summer, Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving and summers were hell. Sorry for the word, but they I wasn't allowed to have any friends, and it was very isolated. So when I finally became high school, graduated, I actually left home. I walked across the stage with nothing, and my parents very very prejudiced. And I had too many friends that were of not the right color that they thought I should be with. So you can't live with us with these feelings, with these opinions. Be gone. So I had was going to do. When I graduated, I just walked off the stage and lived in the streets for a few weeks. I did things you wouldn't want to do. I ate out of garbage dumps behind gas stations. But and I basked in the basked in the gas station, I think. But I finally got hold of a friend that let me move in with him for a couple months. Dan Thompson: And then I went to Chicago. To the Illinois. What did they call it back then? It was where you got college prep. But they called it i3 wood. Now. That's right. But it had another name back then. And so I got ready to go to college and but still, when I got out of there I was right back in where I started because I didn't have a job, had no money. So I would go to public and they got $200 a month. The rent was 160. So there were some times when I went without food for a couple of weeks. So I went through the hard, hard knocks. But my faith helped me get through a lot of it. And a lot of the people in the apartment building where I was helped me out quite a bit. And then finally I got got married on March 10th, 1972. And this for years now, and one of my saving graces and helped me get out of stuff. And so I, I started out working at workshops, work and even back then when I would, I would work 12 hours a day also selling newspapers sometimes. And when I would walk home, which Yes, that's a good deal. I'm going to take a bus to that. Homeless people approached me and ask me for money. And even though I didn't have much, I could not say no to them. Dan Thompson: So I always knew. I remembered when I was there. I was lucky that was. I don't know how far you want me to go with this, but then I, I finished working in the vending stand program and in Illinois, and there is where I started on a flagpole for for 17 days and 14 hours, I completed let's see, 460 mile walks. And I did a lot of fundraising for different organizations. And then I got finally when I wanted to go to college before the rehabilitation person that had me said I wasn't good enough for college, even though I was a top in my class. But he didn't like me. So then a friend of mine who graduated, who got who was in the same school as me, she got that job and sent me to school, and I graduated on the Dean's list and got put on my diploma. And so I that at that point it was, you know, teaching at a couple different schools and finally ended up at Illinois School for the Visually Impaired. And there I walked across the state of Illinois for the disaster relief fund in New York with A911 and that we raised about 15,000, I think. So and then I had the I think you mentioned somewhere in your questions about fresh start and that kind of thing. Do you want me to wait till you ask me about that? Yeah. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Let's just wait. Let's just take each question. Dan Thompson: I'll try to watch my mouth. Yeah. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay, so let me ask you the next question. Then. You spent decades teaching assistive technology at the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired. From your vantage point, what did success look like for your students and how did you design instruction to get them there? Dan Thompson: Well, my idea was success is to be independent and be willing to try new things and then use that knowledge in their everyday life to be more independent. Now, some people, some of my students would be what you call a slow learner, and people give up on them. But I did not. I found something that they could do that I would usually ask them what their interests are and what they like to do, and I would try to find something that would help stimulate that. Here's a few examples. One guy wanted to be an FBI agent. He still, even now I got in trouble for my principal for telling them they can't do that. You can't say you can't do that. That is. That's ridiculous. Because if you're blind total, you're not going to be an FBI agent and go best people in such. So we worked on keyboarding and stuff where he could be at the desk in a place like that or completing reports for other people and doing that kind of thing. And so he finally did get that kind of a thing. And another person. Was really low, partial, and he wanted to fly airplanes, and he wanted to work on an airplane in an airport. Once again, I told him he can't do that, but the principal said. He can't do it. So really, how are we going to fly an airplane? Well, you say maybe one day he can. I say, forget that. But we got it to where he could be in an airport. And what he really wanted to do was look out the window at the airplanes. Dan Thompson: And so he was a janitor. So he felt happy about that? He felt like he was flying the plane, but he wasn't. So on the brighter end of the scale I would convince the kids how important the computer was an assistive technology was for their success. And somebody tells them they can't do something. Say yes, I can. Give me a chance because I had it happen to my own self. When I went, when I first started applying for jobs, before I had a college education, the minute you walk in, you're blind. You're out. They only give you a chance. And I would try to convince them to let me show you. I can run that machine, or I can do that task. No, that's too dangerous to have you around. So I would try to build a confidence. A confidence in the kids that believe in their self. And don't let people tell you you're not able to do that. But gently convince them, like, do a test, I think. How would you do that? And then use the knowledge you have with computers like making. I tell them how to make podcasts. And I got one guy who really wanted to be on the radio, but he didn't really have the voice for it to be on continuously. So we talked to the local radio station and made commercial podcasts, and several of them got published up there, and I also told them how to take apart their own computer and put it back together again so they wouldn't pay high expenses for repair people to come in with simple things like putting a new hard drive in or putting a new memory in. Dan Thompson: It's a little bit different nowadays, but we got we got 150 computers from Dell to play with. Belongs to us. And so we gave about 125 of those away eventually through my project called all. Bye bye. Bye. How would we do that? Achieving success by providing individuals with recycled equipment that later on to start, because I couldn't get a lawyer that would help me be a non-for-profit. They wanted to charge a 10 to 15, $20,000. Finally, a friend of mine only charged me 1000. And so I got a fresh start started in 2017. So we can do fundraising, but we still do the same thing. We fix computers for people free, and then anybody who wants to learn how to do it themselves, we're still going to show them how to connect everything up. And and I do the same thing with their iPhones. How to do simple stuff. And then you don't have to pay all the costs become expensive to come over there, and they feel a whole lot more confident About themselves and that they can. I can't tell you how many times a sighted person has wondered, like, what are you doing inside that computer and doing that? Take that stuff apart. And it works when you get it back together? Well, I taught most of that, I taught myself. So I don't know if that covered all your wonders there, but if you want more, I'll tell you more. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Well, when you led the opening doors sessions to families, which stools, stools or strategies can consistently made the biggest difference? Dan Thompson: And why did you want to make a correction? I didn't actually lead open doors. I was one of the teachers in Open Doors. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right. Dan Thompson: Led that thing. But and we dealt with well, let's say birth to six. But I never saw any of those little ones. Mine was usually 4 to 6. And I would find out what games they liked because they were really into games and toys. And so I would find games that they could play on the computer that had speech. And we would play math games and little history games. And then I also told them at that young age how to take the keyboard off the computer and put it back on again, how the monitor up and, you know, take it off how to hook speakers up. I never had them open up the computer because I would get a little bit too much for them. So we would do, you know, word games and stuff and have a contest. And some of the parents, after they got home, said their children just loved those games. And you want to know where we got them. And so we did provide some laptops. Talked to people that we got free, and I still do that and I can't remember. There was a guy I worked with in Nf-b, Robert or Bobby. I can't remember his last name. We had a deal going where he would send me names of who needed the computer, and so I send it to him and he would give it to them. But it got to where too many of them were out of state, and I didn't know people, so I didn't like that. I just quit doing that program. And I like to keep my activities in Illinois and not all over the US, because there's a lot of people in Illinois that need the need, the need, the different stuff. And so if you get what their interest is and start focusing on it and make it fun and they don't realize they're learning. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And. Dan Thompson: They get in class, first grade or kindergarten. And they can do math, basic math pretty good. And because they play with these games with their moms and dads and we did some other little building projects with Legos and blocks and stuff. And so basically I tried to bring it all down to their level, and I would make sure I found out what are their hobbies or what really makes them interested in stuff. And we would also go out and feed the birds and measure how much they ate every day. And that and in the classroom I had two chinchillas two hedgehogs, two guinea pigs, a rabbit and a squirrel and two parakeets. And then once a year we had 50 chickens. Sometimes patients would have it in their hand. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh. Dan Thompson: Yeah, and you could hear that chickens pecking through the shell if you put it up by your ear. That was a lot of fun. And they got to where they weren't afraid to touch the animal to pick them up. And that was sort of cool, too. 123. I had a hedgehog once and it was cold, and I took her out to clean the cage, and I laid her up in a windowsill and I forgot her overnight, so she froze solid. Sounds not funny, but I looked on Google and it said if you put it on a heat lamp, she comes out of it. And she did. Just as happy as nothing happened. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Wow. Dan Thompson: Yes, the bunny rabbit was trained to come in and out of his cage when he needed to take care of stuff. We didn't let her wander around because we had that. Because a mother got Another got killed. And so we had squirrel. And then one time we had two opossums in the classroom because a mom got killed with seven. So we got them in bottles with them. And then we found out that you had to enlist your teacher. You can't have them. And after two years old, because they have dormant rabies in it. So when they were a year and a half and put them in the woods and gave them a £50 bag of dog food and like, they wouldn't let go of my fingers because I was their mom or dad or whatever. But the kids thought was cool to put them out there. We had about five kids in class then. We always would take a field trip once a week. So that's sort of what I did there. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Now, you served as the first blind disability adjudicator for the state of Illinois. What did that role teach you about systems, fairness, and the realities people encounter when they seek support? Dan Thompson: Well when I got there, they thought they had everything set up for me, but they didn't. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh. Dan Thompson: Advocate for myself. Really a lot. And so one of the big things was you were supposed to finish or complete 25 folders or people documents a week, and you had to have a reader. I did, because I'm blind. And so first, they weren't providing the readers any parking space. So it cost them $100 a month to be there. So of course they didn't really want to be there. And I had to go to the top of that security Given the administration manager and say, hey, you're going to have me there. You're going to be you got to provide equal ability for these people to help me. So they did that. But then they wanted her or it was him sometimes to do all the typing up the notes on the computer instead of giving me at that time it was window wise. And then they finally got to be jaws. So that took another fight, and it took a lot of courage to go against the administration or the system, as we call it. Because they come up with all kinds of reasons why you you got this. You got a girl, a person that can help it all up. Just let her do that. Well, what am I doing just sitting on my fat butt, flopping the folder over to her, and I'm doing nothing. So I, I've hired to do a job. So let me do my job. And so we got past that. Well, then the there's a person that took care of all the files for floor, and they would bring you files in that you were supposed to deal with that day. Dan Thompson: But everything that files in our right is just slap them on top of the filing cabinet and not tell me they were there. So get them down. And I have my reader tell me who their names were, and I write the names, the sticky stuff, and put the name on the on the file folder. Oh, you thought I committed a mortal sin because my supervisor came in and said, you you marred up the file... /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/38945460

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #57: Interview with Ian White, President, CCB Toronto Visionaries 11/03/2025

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #57: Interview with Ian White, President, CCB Toronto Visionaries 🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #57: Interview with Ian White, President, CCB Toronto Visionaries, | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA In this insightful episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan welcomes community builder Ian White to trace his path from congenital glaucoma and a thriving career in corporate interior design to sudden vision loss in his early 40s, and the reinvention that followed through community, advocacy, and leadership. White explains how a small peer circle became the CCB Toronto Visionaries, now ~170 strong, built to break isolation through relaxed social spaces and rich information-sharing, and he paints an “audio picture” of their White Cane Week Experience Expo, a three-part trade show, forum, and community dinner designed to help people “discover what's possible.” The conversation turns practical and policy-minded: Ian spotlights the grassroots Get Together with Technology (GTT) meetups, where novices and power users troubleshoot together; shares survey findings that 76% of respondents name the smartphone as their most essential assistive tool and describes how smart glasses paired to phones are becoming hands-free game-changers; and unpacks Deloitte's headline figure that vision loss costs Canada ~$33B annually, with ~$15B in health care and >$17B in lost well-being/productivity, underscoring prevention, early diagnosis, and the need to tackle social costs head-on. He closes with ongoing advocacy to modernize Ontario's Assistive Devices Program (including cane funding) and federal work around Bill C-284, Canada's national eye-care strategy. 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: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary. I'm Donna Jodhan, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, touch and stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments. In November of 2010, I won the Landmark Charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its website accessible to every Canadian, not just to sighted ones. And in July of 2019, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act with more than two dozen disability groups to turn equal access into federal law. And most recently, on June 3rd, 2022, I was greatly humbled by Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers. When I'm not in a courtroom or a committee room or a pottery studio, you will find me coaching kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies to make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles one goal to turn accessibility from an afterthought into everyday practice. I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench where policy meets lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today's conversation, let me shine a spotlight on today's guest, a change maker whose work is every bit as remarkable as the world that we are trying to build. Ian White, welcome to my remarkable World commentary, and it is such a privilege and a pleasure to have you with us. Ian White: Thank you so much for inviting me. This is such an honor. Great to be here. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I am just so tickled that you're here because, you know, we've known each other for quite a few years, and we've you. Ian White: Yeah. Oh, yeah. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah, we've cooperated on a lot of different things. You let me be Mrs. Claus at the Christmas dinners. Ian White: A highlight, I must say. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: It was. It was great. It was. Ian White: Great fun. It was a lot of fun. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And then we did the boat cruises and we did other things. So, you know, you have done so much for us, our community, and you have done a lot for the visionaries as well. So welcome aboard. Ian White: Thanks so much. As I said, it's such a great honor to be here. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Thank you. So, Ian, to set the stage for our listeners, would you share your journey with Vision Loss and how you pivoted it from a career in interior design to building one of the most active vision loss communities in Canada? Ian White: Okay brief, brief bio on me. So basically, I was born with congenital glaucoma. Oh. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Like me? Ian White: Yeah, yeah. And there are a bunch of us out there. So as an infant, I had increased intraocular pressure, and it was the diagnosis basically was that I would be blind by the time I was one year old. And so my parents acted very quickly and got me into some experimental surgery that actually decreased the pressures, stabilized them, and basically saved my vision. So although I grew up quite myopic, I had usable vision and basically grew up sighted, so went through the regular school system, went through the regular post-secondary education system. Got onto a career path. I remember as a kid sitting in my ophthalmologist's office and my parents asked the question which is like, are there are there things that we should guide him away from? There are the things that we should steer him away from because of his vision. And I, I don't know how I remember this as a as a kid. I must have been 5 or 6 years old. And I remember my ophthalmologist saying, let him tell you what he can do. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yes. Ian White: That was brilliant advice. And that's exactly what my parents did for me. They allowed me to set the stage and make choices. One of the things that was part of my early life was a passion for things. Visual. Oddly enough I was deeply interested in art and architecture and reading and traveling and a whole bunch of other things that were utterly dependent on vision, including my choice of career. I ended up going into interior design into the corporate sector. So I was I was a designer who was working on large corporate office space, doing multi-floor projects in major buildings all over the country, working for major institutions, banks, financial institutions, insurance companies, all that kind of thing. Up until I was about 40 late 30s, early 40s. And at that point I started developing cataracts. So we did a very straightforward cataract surgery. It was successful, but because of the damage that had been done to my eyes very early on in my trajectory the systems in my eye were not as strong as they should have been to withstand surgery. And so there were a series of, of sort of knock on effects from that. And which ultimately resulted in a whole raft of other problems that essentially rendered me with only light perception in one eye. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh, gosh. Ian White: Okay, so at the age of 40 or so I went from a senior project manager with one of Canada's top corporate design firms husband, father, architecture enthusiast to being a blind guy. And I honestly don't know. I had no idea what to do with that. Oh, gosh, I didn't I didn't know any blind people. I had no idea what was possible for me. I had imbibed over my sighted trajectory all of the biases and stereotypes that are common in our socialization that people with disabilities are broken, that they're incapable, that they can't, can't, can't. And that was how I was viewing myself through that transition period. And it was really only through getting connected with blindness related organizations and ultimately with the blind community, that I realized that the possibilities are endless. The only thing wrong with me is that I don't see the way most people do. Everything. Everything else is just fine. Thank you. So so I ended up doing some experimental adventures in post-secondary education again. I actually completed a second degree and got involved as a volunteer with organizations like the Cnib. Was a peer mentor coming out of their New Beginnings program, which spawned a peer support group that came off the back end of one of those groups. And that was just an opportunity to connect with other blind people on a regular basis, talk about what mattered to them. Ian White: Explore possibilities with them and really push myself to learn about. What was out there and how to get connected with it. That spun in 2013 into Forming a chapter under the Canadian Council of the blind, which is a national registered charity with about. I think they have about 75 or 80 chapters across the country. And these chapters are all locally organized and volunteer driven. So it was an opportunity for us to sort of get more formally organized and, and really open up to the blind community here in Toronto, where I live. We grew that chapter from an initial membership of about 20 people. We now have about 170 regular members and went from doing a single two hour meeting once a month to I think there are about a dozen and a half Regular activities that we do through the month. And then on top of that, we do a number of special events. We do boat cruises, we do the White Cane, we Experience Expo, which we'll talk about a little later. We do you know, going out to restaurants and cultural institutions and exploring those and it's become quite a thing, which has been a. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Lot of fun. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It has. Ian White: So that's, that's kind of the, the trajectory. And it's put me into a place where I can, you know, I've sort of gone from my past life as a corporate interior designer through a very dark period where I had no idea what to make of myself and had to reinvent my identity, to now seeing myself as more of a community leader and an advocate. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And a lot more than that, if I should say, I am absolutely impressed by your story. Ian White: Thank you. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. So you helped to grow a peer support circle into the CCB? Toronto visionaries. What problem were you trying to solve at the beginning? And how has the chapter's mission of breaking isolation evolved over the years? Ian White: So one of the things that I recognized very early on in my career as a blind person is that in Toronto, particularly, we are we are blessed with an amazing array of possibilities, whether it's recreational groups, service providers you know, places where you can get test and train on assistive tech. There's a great, you know public transit system here so you can get around there are all kinds of of activities that are available to the blind community. But what I realized really early on was that the information was all sort of siloed. It was, you know, these people would go tandem cycling, but these people didn't know that there was also a bowling group, or there was also a downhill skiing group. Do you know what I mean? Like that? Yes. And the skiing group didn't know about the tandem cyclers. So one of the things that that through this sort of discovering what was available and what was possible I came to realize that that there was a whole bunch of information out there and nobody knew how to get at it. Right. So, so the idea initially was really just to share information with the group that we had. It started out as a very small group, as I said. But what was interesting about it was the curiosity, especially for people who are relatively new to vision loss and really didn't know what was possible, right? Right. They would eagerly seek out this information. And if we could bring it together in a, in a sort of a relaxed social setting and just, you know, throw it out there and say, hey, look, this is a thing that blind people do and this is how you do it. And we get the, you know, the people who were organizing that activity in to talk about it and how much fun it is and where you go to get it and how much it costs, and yada, yada, yada. Ian White: And we found that people really responded to that. And I think the other thing that that was really vital was that we weren't a service provider, we weren't a training service. We weren't a. We were just an opportunity for people to get together and be social with each other, you know, and to have fun. Because a lot of the the programs that were on deck at the time that we were getting started were We're very much, you know objective delivery, kind of measured programs. They were you know, of a set length you'd go for 6 or 8 weeks, you'd have certain objectives in terms of what you were supposed to learn. You had to demonstrate that you learned them, and then they'd cut you loose. Then what do you do? So what we realized pretty early on was that in order to create spaces for people to come together and absorb all this information that we were sharing, the easiest way to do that was just exactly that. It was to create little social spaces, right? Perhaps with an excuse whether it's a, you know, a formal meeting or whether it's at a pub or whether it's going out to on a tour of a, you know, a venue or something. But what happens when you bring blind people together? And I'm sure this is true of most disability groups. What ends up happening is that the blindness piece just sort of disappears and people engage with each other just as people. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right. Ian White: Right. And you can suddenly talk about, you know, the things that you're struggling with or the frustrations you're having because you're talking to people who get it. You know, you're talking to others who have already been down that road, have probably already solved the problem that you're struggling with, and can give you some really great advice on how to take next steps. And that happens just casually in a social environment. And so that's what we tried to create was a series of opportunities for people to come together and just share information with each other, share questions, share frustrations, share their concerns, talk about what works, what doesn't. And and we found that was a really powerful formula. So I think in terms of what we were able to create, it sort of comes in two two flavors. One was you just create space for those social opportunities to happen so people can get together and have some fun with other people who they don't have to explain themselves to. You know, you don't have to apologize for being blind. Everybody in the room is blind. If somebody knocks over a drink, everybody goes, yeah, okay, where are the paper towels? You know, it's not a big deal, right? Right. And and the other piece of it was the information sharing piece. So one of the things that I found particularly fascinating about being one of the instigators of this whole affair was just being able to exercise my curiosity about what was possible. You know, what's out there? What what are people willing to do to to meet us halfway and, you know, afford us the kind of opportunity that is meaningful for for people who aren't really sure what's possible, what's available and what's accessible. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right? Ian White: Yeah. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Congratulations on the June Callwood Award for your outstanding achievement award. And the visionary and the visionaries ten year milestone. Now, what do those recognitions say about the model you've built, and what were the turning points that made it work? Ian White: I think really it was really just about creating space for people and, and engaging them as people instead of engaging them as blind people. Being, being do you know what I mean, though? Like being curious about them as people. What are your interests? What do you like to do? What are you what would you rather be doing? You know, what kind of restaurants do you like? What kind of activities do you do you love to get involved with? What do you do for work? You know and, and just having the opportunity to engage with a whole range of people because, as you know, like eye disease and blindness don't really care where you're from or what you do for a living. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: No, they don't discriminate. Ian White: They really don't. And so you get this really fascinating mix of people in a room who are coming from all kinds of different backgrounds, all kinds of different socioeconomic strata all kinds of education levels. And it's fascinating to just dive in and go, okay, so this is me. Who are you? Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Absolutely. Yeah. Ian White: It's a lot of fun. And, and I think the opportunity for us to learn from each other because, as I said, you know, one of the things that was huge for me was getting connected with people who had been blind for a while, had already been down that road, you know, and knew what I was struggling with and could help me guide me on my next steps along my journey. But really, I think the fundamental thing was the recognition for social engagement. You know, it was the it was the opportunity for people to get together. No pressure. You know, you're not you're not under the gun. You're not being measured. You're just coming together to have some fun with other people who get it. And to just explore a wide variety of options and access a whole raft of, of information about what's possible. The chapter itself grew pretty organically, actually. Because we started very small and with very few resources. It took a while to sort of build capacity, but you know, as ideas came up, we would explore them. We would see what we could do. I became really shameless about asking for stuff. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I know that, yeah. Ian White: Whether, you know, whether it was a free room rental or, you know, could could we organize something with a caterer where we're just paying them for their food costs, and maybe they're donating their time, like all these kinds of things that would really reduce the cost of of getting us off the ground. And we were very fortunate because we encountered a number of very generous donors who came forward with some financial resources. And and so the the more resources we had, the more people got involved. The more volunteers we engaged, the more financial backing we had, the the greater the reach we could have. And so that allowed us to really branch out and explore a whole bunch of stuff that that initially would have been beyond our means. But but yeah, I always operated on the basic theory of, you know, if you don't ask, you won't get. So you must ask. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Ask and you shall receive. Yeah. Ian White: Yeah. Exactly. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: So for listeners who've never attended and I'm one of those paint an audio picture of the White Cane Week. It's a it's an experience. It's an expo. Okay. Ian White: Yeah. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: What happens there? What makes it unique? And what kind of real world outcomes have you seen? Ian White: So this this whole idea was generated out of this notion of wanting to share as much information as possible about what was available in the Toronto area for for people in the blind community. And so the the idea was basically like a trade show. But it comes in sort of three parts, and each part sort of feeds into three... /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/38945365

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #59: Appropriate Insurance Policies 11/01/2025

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #59: Appropriate Insurance Policies Remarkable World Commentary Episode #59: Appropriate Insurance Policies | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA In this timely episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan reflects on her show's evolving format, then zeroes in on a pressing question. do today's mainstream insurance products truly protect people with disabilities. She surveys the crowded landscape of policies, from home and condo coverage to life and fire insurance, and argues that too many offerings still lack the relevance and muscle needed to address disability-related realities. She calls for agents and companies to deepen their awareness, to design coverage that actually matches lived needs, and to meet customers where they are. Donna situates the issue within a rapidly aging population as more people join the disability community. She urges listeners to push insurers and brokers for better protection and wonders whether targeted legislation might be required to accelerate change. She closes by inviting feedback and stories from the audience so the conversation can continue beyond the episode. TRANSCRIPT Podcast Commentator: Greetings. Podcast Commentator: 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. Hello. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: My name is Donna and welcome to my Remarkable World commentary. And I guess I've been forced to change the title just a wee bit. From bi weekly world commentary to world commentary. Remarkable world commentary, I should say. And it's all because that, you know, since I think since June, we have been doing podcast interviews for some very, very exciting, interesting and high profile people in the landscape of advocacy. So for this episode, my November episode, I am would like to touch on appropriate insurance policies. You know, everybody is trying to insure everybody else that is insurance agents, insurance companies, financial companies, you name it, they're out there trying to insure the population in all kinds of different policies, ranging from house policies, condo policies, fire insurance policies, loss of life policies, life policies, you name it. It's all there. But I'm always wondering if these types of policies are as many types of policies are Equipped? Or do they have the coverage to cover the needs of persons with disabilities? I'm not sure that I have the answer, but I can say that based on my limited exposure to insurances, I would like to see more umph and more, you know, relevance put into these policies so that the requirements of persons with special needs or persons with disabilities are taken into consideration. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: So maybe for a home policy or a condo policy or a life insurance policy, this could be considered moving forward. And you know, how aware are insurance agents with regard to the requirements and needs of persons with disabilities. I think we need to start pushing them a bit more, and they need to become more aware and more in tune with the requirements of persons with special needs when it comes to insurance policies. And the same for insurance companies. They need to become more aware. We need to be pushing them as persons with a disability, and we need to find ways to better protect persons with disabilities when it comes to insurance policies, because, you know, we're dealing with rapidly aging population, more and more people are becoming persons with disabilities. So I think it would not hurt to really start pushing this idea to both insurance agents and to insurance companies. I wonder if some type of legislation would be needed to make this happen more quickly. I'm not sure. So I'm going to leave it to you, my listeners, to let me know what you think you know. Write to me at Donna at them. I'm Donna, wishing you a great day and looking forward to seeing you again very soon. Take care now. Podcast Commentator: Donna wants to hear from you and invites you to write to her at Donna at gmail.com. Until next time. /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/39003255

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #60: Awareness Training for Real Estate Agents 11/01/2025

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #60: Awareness Training for Real Estate Agents 🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #60: Awareness Training for Real Estate Agents | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA In this practical episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan looks at why real estate agents need better awareness training to serve clients with disabilities. She connects the dots between a rapidly aging population, the supply of truly accessible homes, and the responsibility of developers and agents to know where accessible properties are and what features they must include. Donna spells out concrete checks. location convenience, step-free entry, kitchens with reachable counters and storage, bathrooms and hallways wide enough for wheelchairs, and space that works with mobility aids. She urges agents to understand accessible equipment and appliances, from doorbells to washer and dryer setups, and to talk candidly about cost and practical workarounds. The aim is collaboration among developers, agents, and the disability community so buyers can actually find homes that fit their needs. She closes by inviting listeners to share experiences and questions by email so the conversation can drive real change. TRANSCRIPT Podcast Commentator: Greetings. Podcast Commentator: 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: Hello, I'm Donna J. Jodhan and I have another remarkable World Commentary podcast to share with you for today. It's my second remarkable world commentary podcast for November. And you know, I'm really enjoying doing this, sharing my ideas with you. And I want to thank you for sending me your feedback, because it helps me to really sit down and think of what I would like to share with you each time I have my podcast. So for today, I want to talk about awareness training for real estate agents. I think with a rapidly aging population and more and more persons wanting to have homes that suit their needs and requirements. I think that real estate agents really need now to help us make all of this happen. Okay, so. Our real estate agents really aware of the types of homes that persons with special needs or persons with disabilities are seeking. Do they really understand the type of home that, you know, this growing group of clients are really seeking? But then again, it all depends on having accessible homes for real estate agents to show to clients with disabilities. So you've got to start from the top and think of how accessible are homes for persons with disabilities. And if there are enough or more and more of these, then real estate agents need to be more aware that they do exist. So you start with the developer. The developer needs to keep this very important fact in their mind. And then you go to the real estate agent who needs to become more aware of homes that are accessible for persons with disabilities. Okay. Where are these homes located? Are they located in convenient areas for persons who, you know, persons with disabilities? All right. And think about the physical Facilities. Do these homes contain the physical facilities that are needed for persons who are persons with disabilities? Okay. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And when I say physical facilities, what I mean is like you shouldn't an agent shouldn't really try to sell a home to a person with a disability. If that home contains lots of stairs and the person with the disability or the client with the disability is someone either in a wheelchair or who uses a mobility aid, or someone who is blind slash vision impaired. Okay. So these are things to take into account. And are the facilities suitable, like the kitchen for example countertops and being able to reach cupboards and shelves easily. Right. And the bathrooms are the big enough for wheelchairs to go into, or persons who use wheelchairs or persons with mobility aids. Are they big enough? Is this space big enough in the home to accommodate mobility aids and wheelchairs? Okay, then the real estate agent needs to think about types of equipment that are needed for persons who, you know, persons with disabilities. Types of equipment, you know, adequate dishwashers, toaster ovens, microwaves, washers, dryers, you know, these accessible appliances and appropriate doorbells and things like that. Okay. And then you've got to look at cost effectiveness, making sure that your client, if they are a person with a disability, can afford to have all these things or find workarounds. We want to work together agents, developers and persons with disabilities to ensure that accessible homes are made more aware and that real estate agents are made more aware of the needs of persons with disabilities. So that's my thought for today. I thank you for listening and I wish you a good day. Send your email to me at Donna Jodhan at gmail.com and I look forward to another episode with you very soon. Take care and bye for now. Podcast Commentator: Donna wants to hear from you and invites you to write to her at Donna Jodhan at gmail.com. Until next time. /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/39004765

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #56: Interview with Diane Bergeron, Vice President, Engagement and International Affairs, CNIB 10/28/2025

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #56: Interview with Diane Bergeron, Vice President, Engagement and International Affairs, CNIB 🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #56: Interview with Diane Bergeron, Vice President, Engagement and International Affairs, CNIB | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA In this insightful episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan sits down with global advocate to trace a life shaped by retinitis pigmentosa, guide dogs, and a tireless commitment to system change. Diane explains how losing vision by her mid thirties taught her that no one accommodation fits everyone, and how working with guide dogs sharpened a leadership style that sets the destination while inviting the team to chart the route. She connects early municipal work in Edmonton to provincial advising and national advocacy, then to a global dashboard through the World Blind Union, where she confronted stark regional contrasts in funding, women's equity, and youth leadership. Listeners also meet Lucy, the sock-stealing guide dog who turned packing into a comic ritual, and the story becomes a doorway into Diane's larger message about preparation, resilience, and grace under pressure. Now leading international partnerships, Diane outlines three priorities: sharing effective programs across borders, aligning standards, and building capacity in the Global South. She and Donna press hard on accessible voting, arguing that Canada must move past paper and pilot secure, verifiable options that deliver privacy and independence for all voters. Diane demystifies guide dog programs for businesses and transit providers, from genetics and training to the ethics of access, reminding leaders that refusing the dog is refusing the person. She closes with counsel for future advocates: know your audience, change attitudes first, and be ready to use every tool available, from quiet collaboration to legislation, until equal access is real. 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 Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary. I'm Donna Jodhan, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, touch and stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments. In November of 2010, I won the landmark charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites accessible to every Canadian, not just to sighted ones. And in July of 2019, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act with more than two dozen disability groups to churn equal access into federal law and most recently on June 3rd, 2022. I was extremely humbled by Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers. When I'm not in a courtroom or a committee room or a pottery studio, you'll find me coaching kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies to make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles one goal to turn accessibility from an afterthought into everyday A practice. I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench where policy meets lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today's conversation, let me shine a spotlight on today's guest, a change maker whose work is every bit as remarkable as the world that we are trying to build. Diane Bergeron or Diane Bergeron, AKA Di. Welcome to my My Remarkable World commentary podcast. Diane Bergeron: Hello, Donna. Thanks for having me on. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Di I'll never forget the first day when we met in Ottawa when John Rafferty, the past CEO, invited us to be at a I think it was a meet the parliamentarians thing in Ottawa. We're meeting behind the speaker's chair, and there you are with your very pretty dog. And I'm trying to remember her name. Diane Bergeron: But that that was Lucy. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Was that Lucy? Diane Bergeron: That was Lucy. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh, I love Lucy. But that was the first day we met. And ever since then we have developed a good, solid friendship. You have been a great supporter to me, especially so when I was president of the Alliance for the Quality of Blind Canadians. We have maintained our friendship. We have served on several committees, advisory committees such as Elections Canada, and we did a panel together at the. Diane Bergeron: We did. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yes we did. So let's get started. Diane Bergeron: That's good. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: So, Siam for listeners meeting you for the first time. How did your early journey with a genetic eye condition ultimately becoming blind by your mid-thirties, and that decades as a guide dog handler shape your leadership style and the values that you carry into advocacy today? Diane Bergeron: You know, Donna, I have to say, you have always asked the hard questions. You know that, right? Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh, darn, I try. Diane Bergeron: You know, so having RP retinitis pigmentosa, you know, it slowly deteriorated. I was diagnosed when I was five and of course, was sort of became totally blind in my mid 30s, as you said, I've been having the gradual deterioration. One of the things that that really stuck to me in my life experiences is that people see the world differently every day. And whether they see the world with their eyes or they experience the world with something else, the way that they experience their environment is different on a regular basis. And sight loss for one person, or blindness for one person, is not the same as blindness for another person. And we can't make the assumption that just because we've accommodated one person with with a visual impairment, it doesn't mean that we're accommodating everybody. So that was one of the things that always struck me as I gradually lost my sight, was that people would say, oh, well, I have, you know, when I, when I was reading large print, they say, oh, but we've got it here in Braille. And I'm like, perfect. I don't read Braille. It's like people think as soon as you're diagnosed with being, you know, on the path to being blind, that you suddenly know how to read this, these bumps and that it makes perfect sense, you know? Yes. And and so that was one of the things. And that's something I've always taken back to my advocacy work is that one, one solution does not fit all. And in fact, one solution doesn't even fit one person in different scenarios. So that's one of the things the guide dog aspect is interesting for me, because I learned a couple of things with guide dogs from an advocacy perspective. You know, I learned that you have to you have to have a thick skin and always be prepared. Diane Bergeron: Excuse me, I always have to be prepared, especially if you're looking for some form of transportation going into certain places that that are, you know, often refuse access to guide dogs or any kind of service animal. I, I, You know, you've got to be ready to have a backup plan. You have to be ready to have all your information. You got to know what you're talking about. You have to be able to spew legislation which the average person doesn't have to do. Right. Most people don't go, you know, call a taxi. And when the taxi pulls up, you know, right away they get in and they go. They don't have to think about, okay, what city I'm in, what is this bylaw and is there, you know, what is the rules and the legislation in this province or you know, it's it's mind boggling. How much prepared you have to be just to go out and, and, you know, do these small things. I remember taking a vacation to the UK with my daughter when she was 13. And first we had a problem dealing with getting the dog accepted into the plane and blah, blah, blah. And then I finally took care of that. That took a few months. I finally took care of that. Then I sent an email to the tour bus company and said I was blind and I had a guide dog and they came back with, oh, you know, we can't accommodate that on our buses right now, blah, blah, blah. And my daughter read the email at 13 and she goes, mom, we're not even in the country yet and you're already causing problems. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh, dear. Diane Bergeron: And I'm like, I just want to go on vacation. This is not rocket science. I just want to go on vacation with my daughter. It was a mother daughter trip. And, you know, it just became an ordeal. So that was one of the things. But when it comes to leadership, the interesting thing I find with Guide Dogs is something that I learned is that a guide dog is guiding or potentially leading, but although they're in front and they're saying, go this way, you know, they're they're taking you where you need to go. It's actually the handler that is giving the direction to the dog. And so that has really taught me a lot about leadership in that somebody else might be walking forward, but there's often somebody behind that person giving them the direction that they need to go. And a leader can be the person that is behind the guide. It is also taught me to say to people, just because just because you're guiding doesn't mean you get to decide where we go, right? Like this is a joint thing, right. We work this out together and that's that's what I've taken into my leadership style. If you talk to any of the people that work with me, I tend to sit down. I go, this is the end destination, people. How are we going to get there? And everybody gets a say as to how to get there or this is, this is what we need to fix in the world. How how are where are we going to go to, you know, to get this fixed. And there could be a myriad of different possibilities, and together we work on what the end destination is going to look like. So I would say that's from from my guide dog perspective. That's what I learned the most. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Wow. Now you've held roles with the city of Edmonton, Alberta Premier's Councils Council on the Status of Persons with disabilities and then National Leadership at Cnib. What through line connects those chapters? And what did each one teach you about moving systems, not just hearts. Diane Bergeron: So I started at my first municipal government was the City of Edmonton, as you said. I was just coming out of university. I had had worked in rehabilitation, what is now known as disability and Community Studies or Community services with group home situations in the past. Then I had my my sweet girl. And had my daughter and then had to, you know, get back to work. Re-educated by the time I was going back to work. I was a single mom. By then, my husband and I had split up. The group home type work is really shift work, which is not easy at any time. But having, you know, having to deal with childcare, with shift work on top of transportation issues because of, you know, buses not going out at certain times of the night and so on. I felt that I needed to go back to school, so I did I went back and I got management studies and so on, and I ended up getting a job working for the city of Edmonton. And and I actually got that job by accident. If that sounds kind of weird to say that now, but when I got that job I had been doing a little bit of research on on something completely different and came across this job advertisement for the City of Edmonton Advisory Board on Services for persons with disabilities. And I thought, oh, look, I have a disability. Maybe I should apply. And it was about advising City Council on on a from a, from a disability perspective on city bylaws, regulations, standards programs, policies, that type of thing. Diane Bergeron: And and it was there was a board, an advisory board made up, made up of people with various disabilities. And this job was to go in and and work with that board to provide City of Edmonton advice on, on what they were doing around disability and so on. And I thought, that sounds very interesting. That sounds like it's, you know, right up my alley. And and so I applied on the job. Seriously, not even thinking I'd get the job. I wasn't even finished school yet. I still had a few months left, and then imagine my shock when they called and offered me the full time job and I'm like, but I'm not done school. I still have two months to go. And God bless the city. They they adopted my schedule so I could still go to school and finish up, and I and I got the job. And what it really fascinated me was learning the jurisdictional differences between municipal provincial, federal, international, regional, like, there's all these different kind of jurisdictions, and each different jurisdiction has different boundaries around it. And you know, sort of the, the how hard it was to get legislation through, regardless of what level government you're at. And but a regulation can get put through faster if you have the legislation to pin it on. And so there was you know, I learned all that stuff in that first few years with the city of Edmonton. Diane Bergeron: It was a fantastic experience. Variance, but my jurisdiction was the City of Edmonton. And, you know, I really a lot of the stuff that I saw as being key areas of concern for people with disabilities was at a, at a different not I'm not going to say a higher level. I mean, we might want to call it a higher level of government, but a different level and different jurisdictions, you know, education, health care, that kind of stuff that had to be dealt with at the municipal or at the provincial level. So that's when the job came up at the Premier's Council. And I thought, well, that's perfect. It takes the experience and knowledge that I have from the city, but it gives me that different jurisdiction to work on these things that I, I would really like to work on. So I did that for a number of years. And and then it got to the point where I was realizing that sometimes when you work in government, you're you don't have the freedom to make a lot of the decisions that you want to make, because those decisions have to be made by either the higher bureaucracy or by the political realm. And you can't you're not an advocate at that point. You're an advisor, and you are giving that advice to those individuals, and they can take it or leave it. Diane Bergeron: And if they choose to leave it, then you're not. That's the decision. And now you you implement their decision. And I was getting frustrated with implementing what I felt was not the right decision. And Cnib John Rafferty, as you mentioned before, called me up and said you know, we had met for coffee at one point and he said, I got a job you might be interested in. And suddenly I went, oh, I get to go and be at my the job they were offering me was national director of government relations and advocacy. And I'm like, oh, now I get to go not just deal with different levels of government, including, you know, the municipal, the provincial, the federal. There was some international. But I get to do it from the other side of the table. So now I get to show up at the table and I don't have to care about what the you know, what all of these other people think. I can show up and advocate and really, you know, speak my voice. And and when the answer comes back, no, I can go back and say, that's the wrong answer. Let's try again. Yeah. Which I couldn't do in government. So there was definitely that, that, that through piece of it was learning from the inside and then coming outside and going back and saying, now I know how everything works. Let me tell you what you're doing wrong. Diane Bergeron: And I'm very good at telling people what they're doing wrong. My husband will tell you that for a fact. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You never told me that, though. Diane Bergeron: No, I haven't had to do that yet. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Not yet. Oh, boy. So today you serve as Caleb's head of international partnerships. From my seat, as a fellow advocate, I'm curious, what does international partnerships actually look like day to day, and how do you decide which collaborations will deliver the greatest impact for blind communities? Diane Bergeron: So the the department, international partnerships department, you know, I've been I've been connected to international since I started with Cnib through the World Blind Union and through some other international collaborations. But We decided it was always off the side of my desk. It was always kind of a piece of the other work that I was doing. And then in December Angela Bonfante had become the president CEO of Cnib, and she asked me to step away. At that time, I was running the guide dog program, and she asked me to step away from guide dogs and create this new international partnerships department and the whole purpose of the department, she said, I want you to develop a strategy and the whole thing. So we kind of came down to when we were looking at what needs to be done from an international perspective. We came down to three key areas. One is what is being done around the world, in other organizations or in other countries that we can bring back to Canada and help benefit Canadians who are blind or partially sighted or deafblind. So that could be a program that somebody is doing in another country, at country, at another blindness organization that we. Why? Why should we reinvent the wheel if they're doing a great job at it? Let's talk to them and see if we can use their you know, their, their template and bring that forward and then tweak it for the Canadian you know, the Canadian context. And the other piece of that is what do we have in, in Canada that other countries don't have in, you know, so if you think about employment, for example, you know, we have our Come to Work program. Diane Bergeron: There's organizations in other countries that are looking at their own employment programs. And so they're like, well, that sounds like that's doing quite well. And we just yeah, here's here's the the structure, the strategy, here's how to set it up. And, and you know, there's not this proprietary perspective. We're just sharing information and literally handing over the keys to our program. And then other organizations take that and, and create you know, create their own added to that piece. And this is all the first one, which is all like working on this, how to build these programs is sometimes we'll work with more than, you know, one or 2 or 3 organizations where we come together and say, what's really needed is this, but it doesn't exist. So let's the two or 3 or 4 of our organizations sit down and figure out together, based on all the history and information that we have as a collective, how to create that one program or one thing to, to make lives better in all of our countries. So that's sort of that partnership piece there. The second big component is standards international standards and national standards. So many times Canada creates their own standards. And then sometimes they get shared internationally, sometimes they don't. So part of my job was to look at what are we doing. Well. And when it comes to standards and and Canada, the other part is, is sometimes there's international standards that are out there that Canada is not adopting. Diane Bergeron: So making... /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/38840310

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #53: Interview with David Baker, Associate Counsel, Labour & Employment Law and Human Rights Law Groups, Ross & McBride LLP 10/21/2025

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #53: Interview with David Baker, Associate Counsel, Labour & Employment Law and Human Rights Law Groups, Ross & McBride LLP 🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #53: Interview with David Baker, Associate Counsel, Labour & Employment Law and Human Rights Law Groups, Ross & McBride LLP | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA In this wide-ranging episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan welcomes “Charter-Challenge Champion” for a candid tour of modern equality law's past, present, and future. Baker recalls the phone call that launched Donna's landmark case and traces his own origin story, from launching Canada's first legal aid clinic inside a psychiatric hospital as a law student, to early public-interest work with Ralph Nader, to the coalition-building that helped entrench disability in Ontario's Human Rights Code and the Canadian Charter. He explains how his graduate work informed early Section 15 strategy, demystifies the shift from formal to substantive equality with a simple “stairs vs. access” example, and describes today's CRPD-inspired “inclusive model of equality,” noting he has just filed a first Canadian case grounded in it. The conversation then moves from principles to precedent: Baker outlines the duty to accommodate (and where it fails), revisits Eldridge's requirement for sign-language interpretation in healthcare and how that standard spread through the courts, and returns to the Jodhan ruling, where WCAG 2.0 framed “equal access,” the appeal removed judicial oversight, and, in his telling, federal compliance lapsed. He describes new litigation aimed at bringing all federal ICT, not just websites, up to the European 301 549 accessibility standard after a bill to adopt it died, even floating contempt proceedings, and closes by flagging AI as a fast-moving front for disability discrimination and sketching an emerging, international legal strategy to meet it. 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: Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary. I'm Donna J. Jodhan, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, touch and stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments. In November of 2010, I won the The Landmark Charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its website accessible to every Canadian, not just to blind Canadians. And in July of 2019, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act with more than two dozen disability groups to turn equal access into federal law. And most recently, on June 3rd, 2022, I was greatly humbled by Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers. When I'm not in a courtroom or a committee room or pottery studio, you will find me coaching kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies to make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles one goal to turn accessibility from an afterthought into everyday practice. I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench where policy meets lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today's conversation, let me shine a spotlight on today's guest, a changemaker whose work is every bit as remarkable as the world that we are trying to build. David Baker, Charter Challenge Champion this is how I like to think of you. Welcome to my podcast. David Baker: Thank you for that kind introduction. Donna J, Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You're very welcome. And David, I have to tell you, I will never, ever forget the day when Charlene Ayotte encouraged me to call you. And I never expected you to say right off the bat, Donna, you have a case. So welcome again. Him. David Baker: So I haven't forgotten the day that you called. It isn't every day that a client calls with a case fully developed, as you did. So I think people should understand that quite often in charter cases, the lawyer engages in a lot of shaping of the issue. But you came with an idea, and it was a good one for everybody. Donna J, Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Hey, David. David Baker: For everybody, I believe. Yes. Donna J, Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: So, David, you've been called a builder of modern equality law. Could you walk me through your origin story from creating a legal aid clinic inside a psychiatric Hospital as a law student to working with Ralph Nader to founding arch. David Baker: Well let's see law school was kind of boring. So I continued on with my studies in English, and I audited a course my first year of law school in English and was put in a seminar with the professor and one other student who turned into my wife. So it pays not to pay too much attention to law school. And the other thing I did to entertain myself during law school was I did a lot of litigation. Not all of it was disability related, but My first summer. So the let's see got through first year. Oh, I should say your first day of law school. The dean comes in and he says, look to your left, look to your right. By the end of the year, one or other of the people next to you will be gone. As in, they were flunking out at that time, about one third of admissions. So that was a nice welcome. Anyway, I didn't manage to flunk out, even though I didn't pay too much attention to law school. And at the end of first year, in those days, there were things called lip grants, which means the Government of Canada gave money to worthy organizations doing worthy things to pay minimum wage. And The Student Legal Aid Society was hiring Students to take on cases, and I was the only first year student they hired. And therefore all the other students got first choice of where they went and what they did. And I was stuck with starting the legal aid clinic at the Queen Street Mental Health Centre. Oh, no. As my summer job, which was fine because I had a motorcycle and I could ride down there and ride back. David Baker: No problem. Wow. And they had a swimming pool, so I was able to go swimming when I wasn't lawyering. And Anyway it was the first legal clinic in a psychiatric hospital in Canada. There was one previous one in Washington, D.C., and I think the place was is Bellevue in New York City. What's the hospital in the big psychiatric hospital in Washington? I forgot the name of it. Anyway, there was one started there, and we were the second. And then there was one. Started out in B.C., not not too long after. And the fun thing about being in on the ground floor of something is that suddenly you're an international expert, even even though you don't know anything, because what little you know is more than anybody else knows, because you're kind of making it up as you go along. And so I had an entertaining summer of speaking at international conferences and talking to psychiatrists who had no clue what the law was. And as I say, I didn't know much more than they did, but I guess I knew enough more that they kept coming back to here. So it was very interesting. We had a, a number of successful cases where people were discharged from the hospital, and, and And this was all kind of new. And out of that, I will say came a number of things, including the Justice Rosalie Abella Report on Access to Legal Services for persons with disabilities, which resulted in legal aid being made available to psychiatric patients. So the Student Legal Aid Clinic was displaced by real lawyers providing services. Not too long after we started the student clinic there. And that continues to this day. David Baker: There is not legal aid for much in Ontario. Basically family law, criminal law a bit of immigration primarily refugee law and and then mental health law. So that was an interesting spin off from a student riding his motorcycle down to the psychiatric hospital to have a swim and do review board hearings. Wow. Oh. Ralph Nader. So after I graduated let's see. And did my articles there were no real public interest law opportunities around in Canada. So I went down and worked with Ralph Nader at the Tax Reform Research group. I was offered a job by the General Accounting Office on taxation of life insurance reserves, which is very esoteric, but to me, interesting area and hired by the preeminent tax policy guy in the United States who was heading the project and Ronald Reagan canceled it. So I'm a Canadian still, thankfully. And while I was down working for Nader, I was also working with something called the Mental Health Law Project, which is now the Bazelon Center, which does a lot of the very large systemic cases about closing institutions and transferring that money into other community services, which we still haven't managed to achieve in terms of litigation. Here, there's a case called Olmstead for which they are responsible. And my efforts to duplicate it here got short circuited into settlements that turned out to be worthless because the government that signed the deal lost an election and was replaced by another government that came in and undid the whole the whole thing. And I'm too old and too tired to go and litigate it all again. And what else did you want to know about Nader? Law school. Donna J, Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I wanted to ask this question of you. David Baker: Yeah. Donna J, Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: In arch's early years, you helped secure handicap as a protected ground in Ontario's Human Rights Code and press for Disability Inclusion in the Canadian Charter. What strategies and coalition moves made those breakthroughs possible? David Baker: Well let's see. Well, first of all, when I was down in the States working with Nader and the Mental Health Law Project, there was something in the process of being invented. It was called the Rehabilitation Act then, but it's come to be known as the Americans with Disabilities Act. So the Americans got there before us turning disability into a human rights issue. And the real crusaders for those rights were veterans of the war in Vietnam who returned with disabilities. They were not happy about the war, and they were even less happy about facing discrimination as people with disabilities they chained themselves to the white House fence and didn't leave until they got themselves a law which is not well known or understood here, but and their experience and I had started at that point just at that point, and both the provincial government and the Ontario government sent me down to study what was going on. And I came back and provided reports that there should be something like human rights and inclusion in the human rights code. The charter, of course, came a bit later. And so the, the government actually paid me to go down and think about it. So there were some progressive people, I would say they weren't politicians. They were actually bureaucrats who were interested in human rights. In those days, the government was supportive of human rights. Now, I would say the reverse is true generally speaking. But in those days, there was great interest in human rights, and and human rights were quite popular. We didn't have Donald Trump talking about Dei and all the stuff that's going on now with Pierre Poilievre parroting him and so on. It was it was a different time and there was quite a bit of interest in talking about human rights. And, you know, rather than a handout or a hand up, it was more about equality and what does equality mean? And that became a big part of what I did for the rest of my career. Donna J, Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Now, your graduate work in equality became, in many ways, a blueprint for section 15 litigation and fed into the landmark Andrews case. How did that scholarship shape your courtroom strategy then, and how does it still guide you today? David Baker: Well My thesis. Well, there are a bunch of stories. None of them are important. But I will just say that no one ever paid attention to my thesis that was published in the Supreme Court Law Review, of which I am aware it never got quoted by the Supreme Court of Canada, to my knowledge. However, I did use it as the basis for arguments in a number of equality cases. The strategy developed by arch and I should say when I say arch, I mean the leadership of 73 disability organizations working collectively to prioritize cases and develop strategies for cases. So arch meaning the disabled community decided to intervene in other important equality cases involving adverse impact discrimination. Discrimination that appears neutral on the face but has a disadvantaging effect on people, including people with disabilities. The initial cases had to do with a CNR employee who was sick and wanted to wear a turban instead of a hard hat, and cases involving Jewish folks who felt they should be able to shop on Sundays and not lose jobs because they Couldn't work on their Sabbath, which was different from the Christian Sabbath. So those were the initial cases that took me to the Supreme Court of Canada. David Baker: And in those cases, I used examples from my Supreme Court of Supreme Court Law Review article and disability examples. And the court was very interested in the disability examples. The chief justice at that time was a man named Brian Dixon. Chief Justice Dixon was a war veteran who was disabled in the war, lost a leg, and he. Was an early and perhaps the most important ever champion of disability rights in this country. And and deserves to be remembered as such. But he he just wanted to talk about disability, and they gave me extra time to talk, and I talked about disability, and everybody got all excited because it helped the sick and the sick case, and it helped the people who wanted to have Sunday openings for shops and didn't want to be forced to work on their particular Sabbath and, so they liked it because the disability aspects appeal to the court. And the court framed a decision that was good for them, the litigants in the cases, but also good for disability cases which came to follow. Donna J, Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Now listeners hear the terms formal equality and substantive equality a lot. How do you explain the difference in plain language. And why does that distinction distinction matter in real people's lives. David Baker: Well perhaps just take an easy example. If there was a staircase up to the front door of a building that someone needed to get into, and that person was in a wheelchair. Formal equality says, well, you face exactly the same stares that everybody else faces. Person in a wheelchair. So you have not been discriminated against. You've been treated similarly to the person who can walk up those stairs. Substantive equality looks at the adverse impact of someone in a wheelchair being confronted by a flight of stairs and says that has an adverse impact on a person with disability, and it deepens their disadvantage as a person with a disability. And therefore, that's discrimination. Maybe I can just jump ahead to say that there is an international convention called the convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities that is now taking up a lot of my time, and it has the inclusive Model of equality, which incorporates the substantive model and introduces a social justice and inclusive approach to what our equality issues. It gets right down into how programs operate to include or exclude and so on. So I'm, I'm these are early days and I've just filed the first Canadian case on reliance on the CRPD inclusive model of equality. So we'll find out what it all means in a in a while. Donna J, Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh my goodness. Now, David, the duty to accommodate runs through many of your cases. What does a genuine good faith accommodation process look like for employers, schools and public services. And where do they most often go wrong? David Baker: Well I would say initially they went wrong just about every possible way because they didn't see stairs up to the front of a building has been discrimination. In other words, they didn't think in terms of adverse impact. And there have been some initiatives that have. Changed thinking about that. I mean, there was the Employment Equity Act that came and went in Ontario and basically has been effectively dismantled federally as well, but it existed for a period of time. There's the Aoda that said we'd be barrier free by now. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way, but it taught people they were supposed to be thinking substantively about adverse impact. And then there's the Accessible Canada Act. And I would say with the exception of electronic communications or ICT where there have been effective regulations provincially under the Aoda and there has been your case federally with respect to ICT accessibility which we can come to I think there are some unfortunate loose ends remaining following your case that we may have time for the, the, you know, the bottom line is that it it meant that in large employers, particularly large corporations we're told they were supposed to think substantively, even if they weren't acting substantively to remove barriers. And accommodation can be thought of quite simply as removal of the barriers to access or inclusion. And the limit on the duty to accommodate in human rights terms is undue hardship. And so your your question about what are the limits on accommodation or what are the problems that arise? I guess the problems that arise have to do with whether or not making accommodation would cause undue hardship to the person or organization required to accommodate. Donna J, Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Now, I am very aware that you have a very important dinner date. But I wanted to ask you this question. Before I ask you my final question. Eldritch established that governments must sometimes take positive steps, like funding. Sign language. Okay. Interpretation. Interpretation to ensure equality. What did that case change across healthcare and beyond? David Baker: Well, I mean Eldridge is an extremely important case for a number of reasons we don't have time to go into. I mean, the immediate and practical result of Eldridge was that doctors in private practice and hospitals had to at their own expense fund sign interpretation, if that's what was necessary for there to be what is called effective communication with a person who is deaf. And this was certainly news. I think sign interpretation was considered one of the real tough nuts when it came to accommodation. And Supreme Court just said, do it, get on with it. And as a result of that case, an awful lot of other barriers came down. But just staying with the issue of sign interpretation, we then took that case and went after the Tax Court of Canada which refused to provide sign interpreters for lawyers, articling students or witnesses in cases. And that case was won, was successful. And then we went after all the other courts in the country, and all of them quickly crumbled and agreed to provide signed interpretations. So throughout the judicial system. Sign interpretation became the norm. They're still working on language interpretation in a number of areas, which I think is inexcusable. But the bottom line was Eldridge spoke loudly and clearly that there was a need for effective communication to be provided by... /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/38776555

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #52: Interview with Cathy Nyfors, Manager, Passenger Programs, Vancouver Airport Authority 10/16/2025

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #52: Interview with Cathy Nyfors, Manager, Passenger Programs, Vancouver Airport Authority 🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #52: Interview with Cathy Nyfors, Manager, Passenger Programs, Vancouver Airport Authority | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA In this inspiring episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan sits down with of the Vancouver Airport Authority to explore how YVR's non-share-capital governance keeps the community, and accessibility, at the center of every decision. Nyfors walks through the airport's co-created "Beyond Accessibility" roadmap and the philosophy of designing with lived experience: adult-size change benches and a new assisted changing place with an overhead lift; quiet/low-stim spaces; expanded tactile/Braille wayfinding; animal-relief areas; and even a yoga room. She explains how YVR's real-time "digital twin" helps teams make data-driven improvements, right down to tracking loaner wheelchairs so they're easy to find, while long-running partnerships like rehearsal tours with the Canucks Autism Network, a discreet sunflower identifier for non-visible disabilities, and the inclusive Paper Planes café (which trains neurodivergent adults) embody a human-centered approach. Nyfors also spotlights measurable progress: YVR's 2025 Skytrax win for Best Airport in North America, a Rick Hansen Foundation Gold accessibility rating, and relentless feedback loops, from customer surveys every few days to journey-mapping, that drive continuous improvement. For aging travelers and anyone who needs a hand, YVR has added curbside greeters, trialed self-driving robotic pods to bridge long walking distances, rolled out big high-contrast digital wayfinding, enabled boarding announcements in sign language, and launched one-to-one "Travel Rehearsals" so first-time or anxious flyers can practice their exact route before the big day. Nyfors closes with a simple north star for airports everywhere: listen to customers, collaborate with community, and turn insight into action. TRANSCRIPT Podcast Commentator: Greetings. Podcast Commentator: 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, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary. I'm Donna Jodhan, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, touch and stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments, as in November 2010, I won the Landmark Charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites accessible to every Canadian, not just to sighted ones. And in July of 2019, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act, with more than two dozen disability groups to turn equal access into federal law and most recently on June the 3rd, 2022. I was greatly humbled by Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers. When I'm not in a courtroom or a committee room or pottery studio, you will find me coaching kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies to make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles one goal to turn accessibility from an afterthought into everyday practice. I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench where policy meets lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today's conversation, let me shine a quick spotlight on today's guest changemaker, whose work is as every bit as remarkable as the world that we are trying to build. Kathy Flores, I'd like to welcome you to my podcast, Remarkable World Commentary, and it was a pleasure to have met you. I think it was at the end of April when I attended the Air Canada Advisory Group meeting. Welcome to my podcast. Cathy Nyfors: Thank you so much Donna, and thank you for your very kind words. This is an incredible opportunity, and I'm truly honored to be a guest on the Remarkable World Commentary. I am also pleased to join remotely from the traditional and unceded territory of the Musqueam people here at YVR. Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Great. Okay, so let's get started. Cathy, could you explain how the Vancouver Airport Authority's unique governance model shapes day to day decisions about the passenger experience at YVR? Cathy Nyfors: Thanks so much, Donna, for that. Great question. Well, the Vancouver Airport Authority, Vancouver International Airport is Canada's second busiest airport. We are a non share capital organization that operates YVR in truly the service of our community and the economy that supports it. Now, I know that's a little bit of a. Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Mouthful. Cathy Nyfors: That I've just shared there, but I think what I really want to emphasize is that this unique governance model that YVR has really places our community at the center of our operation. The structure truly allows YVR to Are to prioritize accessibility, inclusion, and the guest experience. We use this to evaluate all of our decisions through five strategic lenses, and one of those being customer. That customer lens includes accessibility as a key component, ensuring that everyone at our airport has a seamless and inclusive experience. We've also developed a multi year accessibility plan or roadmap we've called Beyond Accessibility, which was truly co-created, working closely with our customers, our community, our employees and our guests that we serve. And I think what's really unique about this model is it supports that culture of continuous improvement, where feedback from our from our customers and our community and our employees directly influence those decisions and our operational enhancements at the airport here. Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: I was truly impressed by your airport. I mean, I've been to Vancouver a few times. Way back in 20, I think it was 2010 and then a few times after that. But boy oh boy, what a refreshing experience. And I just like to acknowledge two of your your coworkers here. Lori is one of them. And I forget the young man's name. I was very, very impressed with the service that they offered me. I forget his name, I do apologize. Cathy Nyfors: Oh, please. No. No apologies necessary. Thank you so much. That means so much to to to me and the entire team here. To here. That that the service that they're providing is is making a difference and being acknowledged. Thank you. I will definitely pass that along. But this really appreciated and kind thank you for sharing that, Donna. It truly means a lot to us. Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: You're very welcome. Now from your vantage point on the terminal floor, what does quote accessibility quotation mark mean in practical terms. And how did that philosophy guide the design of Vivres? New international departures area. Cathy Nyfors: Thanks so much, Donna. That's a great question. And I know there was a lot of a lot of great work that went into designing our new wing and our international departures area, and I think I'll just really kind of go back to, you know, folk with starting with our purpose. Really, truly. What I shared earlier is just the heart of what we do is serving our community. And I think a big part of that has always been you know, really listening and learning from our customers. The work we truly do is, is, is truly rooted in listening to to all of the users of the airport. And it's from that listening where we love gathering those insights of where are there some ways we can improve? What are some things that our customers are really liking about our terminal design? How can we learn about barriers and identify service enhancements so we can really, really bring and bring to life that designing with meaningful inclusion at our core. So our terminal expansion of our international departures area is a really exciting opportunity to to really embody and bring in that customer feedback because we are designing, you know, whole new space. So I think, you know it was such a great opportunity to, to really look at all of our customer feedback and see how we can really make our experience even better with this new, with this new space and design. I wanted to start just with a bit of a story of of where this thing really is such a key part of what we do. So one of our pieces of feedback that we had received was that there was a lack of adult change benches or assisted change rooms, and that was a barrier for some of our guests. Cathy Nyfors: And in some cases, this meant that that some of our guests were needing to use the floor for changing purposes. So as a result, what we started first with was, okay, this is this is not acceptable. We want to make a change here. So how do we add manual adult change matches to all of our existing washrooms. So we did that. Wherever space allowed we added a fold down manual change bench into our private single stall washrooms. Then we also updated our our design criteria for the airport and for any new private single stall washrooms where it would include an adult size change bench. And then with with this new opportunity of designing this new pier, we also created the design for a new assisted change room or what's often called a changing place washroom. And that includes that height adjustable change bench an overhead hoist system along with other accessibility features. Part of the new international wing also included. You know, we we did and we did create some additional private single stall washrooms, just giving more flexibility next to our public bank. We also had quiet spaces for for neurodivergent, neurodiverse travelers. We have wayfinding and and signage, including adding tactile braille signage, changing stations and and seating for comfort and accessibility. And, of course, animal relief areas. We even added a yoga space for customers to stretch, relax and exercise while they're at YVR because, you know, sometimes you have a little ways to wait before your flight. Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Yes, I remember seeing that yoga room when I was in Vancouver at the end of April. I think you gave us a tour of that room as well. I was really impressed. Yeah. Cathy Nyfors: Thank you so much. Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. All right. The airport leverages a digital twin analytical platform. How might a real time virtual model of the terminal Unlock new accessibility or efficiency efficiency enhancements for passengers with disabilities. Cathy Nyfors: Thank you so much. It's a great question. I think it's the digital twin is has so many exciting options available through it. And the digital twin itself is that virtual representation of our airport facility and the Musqueam lands on which we reside. This was developed by our incredible innovation team at YVR. Really, you know, using the digital twin we've been using it extensively since January 2023. It's really helped our teams to make better faster, data driven decisions that support that operational excellence, the customer experience sustainability and revenue growth. I think some of the exciting things about the digital twin is it really gives our team, you know, that one source of truth real time monitoring of our systems, you know, bringing in all the different data sources such as air traffic, passenger movements, baggage handling and hundreds of the airport systems that our teams use every single day to make sure that it's as smooth and seamless experience for customers. It really has empowered our team and stakeholders to effectively operate the airport and manage manage assets. But I always believe in sharing, you know, a story of how to your question of, you know, how can this unlock new accessibility or efficiency enhancements. So I want to share one example of how my team is using the digital twin to improve the experience and accessibility at YVR. I always like to start with customer feedback as that often where we're, where we're, we're we're starting is identifying areas where we can improve our services. Cathy Nyfors: And one area of feedback that we had received through our community consultation, was making it easier for guests to locate a wheelchair for their own use. So following this feedback, we expanded our inventory and introduced wheelchairs readily at our key entrance points and and key points where customers were looking to to borrow wheelchair. And while this improved our service for our guests, making them more readily available, we heard that our team that was required to collect them on it throughout the day and then return them to their home bases, was having a challenge to locate locate them and return them again to those entry entrance spots? So this is just where truly where technology can come into place was we added equipment trackers onto our wheelchairs, and then the visualization of their location on our one source of truth through the digital twin. So this really helped with the efficient collection, but it also gave us some information for capacity planning to make sure that we could have the right numbers of, of wheelchairs, in essence, in the right place for our customers, but also to make sure that the collection was efficient for our teams as well at the same time. Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: I think this is great. I mean, you know, like you have guests who often get tired or, you know, like waiting around or standing around and you know, why not, you know, find a wheelchair and take advantage of it. Hey. Cathy Nyfors: Yeah. No, thank you so much. I think we wanted, you know, we wanted to have complimentary services. We know we've got, you know, our airlines are here and provide an excellent service to our guests. We have our curbside service ourselves as well. Yeah, but we had heard from guests that, you know, if they just want to borrow one to help a family member or their travel companion, we wanted to make those more readily available. Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: I think it's great. I really do. Cathy Nyfors: Thank you so much. Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. So you helped launch autism airport accessibility tours with the Canucks. Is it autism network? What key lessons emerged from those rehearsal journeys and how have they changed drivers? Why standard procedures? Cathy Nyfors: Another great question, Donna. Thank you so much. You know, this this initiative you know, started well over, well over ten years ago. So we partnered with Canucks Autism Network. We've been partnering with them since 2014. When we first designed the program, the tour program to offer neurodiverse individuals and families the opportunity to come out and rehearse the preflight process really aiming to reduce those barriers of travel and help to prepare families and individuals with what to expect and, you know, creating that more predictable environment. And I, I just need to take that moment to thank all of our government agencies and airline partners for the support in making those tours possible. Each year. We love participating in them, and it's a great opportunity for the community to come together. But to your question, apologies on on the the lessons emerged. I've got just a few examples that I, that I'd really like to share. The first one is you know, why the Canucks Autism network joined together to also create some resource kits? So these featured sort of a step by step storybook, an interactive checklist travel tips and more. And these were just created as a, as additional options for guests because, again, not everyone may have that opportunity to come out to to the annual tour, but we wanted to create different options for them. You know, based on based on feedback as well from the tour. And then at the same time, we also developed training tips for teams and partners in partnership with Autism Network. Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Okay. Cathy Nyfors: The second one that I wanted to share is we also offer a sunflower program. So where a guest could choose to wear a sunflower lanyard or maybe have a sticker on their boarding pass as a, as a discreet way to let staff know they have an invisible disability. We actually did a soft launch. We we were working on our launch plans for the sunflower program. But we we chose to do a soft launch of of before we launched to the whole community here during one of our accessibility tours. And it just really gave us that opportunity to get feedback and help build awareness from staff prior to the launch. And then the third one that I, I'm hoping I could share as well is just around, you know, empowering beyond the traveler experience. I don't know if we had a chance if you had a chance to see this Donna, while you were here, the Paper Planes cafe. But we're also thinking about things, you know, beyond traveling and wider supports, you know, creating those employment and learning opportunities. And so, in partnership with the Pacific Autism Family Network, right, to create a new retail concept called the Paper Planes Cafe. And it's more than just a coffee shop. It's a place where adults with diverse abilities can gain real world paid training and employment opportunities. And I'm really, just really proud of of this incredible inclusion that this cafe is creating. And just to share just a little bit of stats is they have been able to support 22 neurodivergent trainees who've completed over 40 500 hours of hands on training at the cafe. Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Wow. Okay. I don't think I got an opportunity to see that cafe. I got to get out there and see it. Cathy Nyfors: I hope next time you're here. Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. Yeah, I hope so, too. Gosh. Now, why? Vr has won the Skytrax and the Asai CI Customer Experience Award year after year. What metrics or feedback loops help your team stay ahead of changing traveler expectations? Cathy Nyfors: You know, we're really proud to have been voted best Airport in North America in the 2025 Skytrax World Airport Awards, which marks the 14th time in 16 years that Riviera has received this distinction. Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Whoa. Wow. Okay. Sorry. Cathy Nyfors: No, that's. Cathy Nyfors: Thank you. This this honor, truly comes solely from passenger ratings and is really special to our team. Because of, really our focus on putting the guests at the center of what we do. And it's a focus of, you know, not only myself, but our entire organization. You asked a little bit about metrics and feedback loops of how we're how we're staying ahead and really listening closely to our customers. And we have a number of different variety of ways that we're doing this. We've got, you know, our online accessibility surveys. We're doing community partner consultations employee feedback as well, passenger journey mapping sessions. We look at guest experience data, direct feedback from from our customers. We also evaluate programs, specific data. You know, again learning how how how are we doing on different services, whether it be our sunflower program or others? And also our customer surveys are really key. We regularly listen to customers and speak to them in the airport to learn, you know, how how how can we find out what things are working? Well, where do we need to improve? And we've also increased that to about every 4 to 5 days so that... /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/38637895

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #51: Interview with Alan Ma, Founder, Toronto Blind Tennis 10/14/2025

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #51: Interview with Alan Ma, Founder, Toronto Blind Tennis 🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #51: Interview with Alan Ma, Founder, Toronto Blind Tennis, | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA In this inspiring episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan sits down with community sport builder , widely credited with introducing blind and low-vision tennis to Canada, to trace how a brief BBC clip sparked a national movement. Alan recounts two years of knock-backs before a local church opened its doors, the values-first volunteer culture that kept the program resilient, and the eventual creation of Change Through Sport to house Toronto Blind Tennis alongside Rexdale Volleyball. He and Donna explore the nuts and bolts of sustainability, from $11 audio balls sourced from Japan to partnerships with the TDSB that secure accessible gym space, always with the goal of turning sport into a welcoming, barrier-busting community hub. They go courtside on the craft of inclusion: orienting players with tactile and audio cues, teaching the signature "scooping" motion, flexing equipment and roles to fit each athlete, and using B-classifications (e.g., extra bounces for B1) as a runway rather than a gate. Alan shares how sister efforts took root in places like Montreal and Coquitlam, the new OTF-backed resource kit to help mainstream clubs add blind tennis, and practical advice for facility managers, start with a conversation, then make space. The episode closes with program updates (twice-monthly Friday sessions returning indoors in Scarborough) and Donna's promise to get back on court, proof that persistence and community can turn one idea into lasting change. TRANSCRIPT Podcast Commentator: Greetings. Podcast Commentator: Donna J Jodhan, LLB, ACSP and MBA invite 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: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary. I am Donna Jodhan, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, touch and stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments, as in November 2010, I won the Landmark Charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites accessible to every Canadian, not just to sighted ones. In July of 2019, I call it the Accessible Canada Act. With more than two dozen disability groups to turn equal access into federal law and most recently on June the 3rd, 2022. I was greatly humbled by Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers. When I'm not in a courtroom or in a committee room or pottery studio, you'll find me coaching blind kids with vision, kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping to helping companies to make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles one goal to turn accessibility from an afterthought into everyday practice. Guess I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench where policy meets lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today's conversation, let me shine a quick spotlight on today's guest, a change maker whose work is every bit as remarkable as the world that we are trying to build. Alan Ma, welcome to my podcast. It's a pleasure to have you. Alan Ma: Yeah. Thank you. Donna. Yeah. I'm not so sure I'm going to be able to live up to the title you just gave me, but I appreciate it. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh, I've known you since 2012, and I was always impressed by what you started up, so let's hear all about it. And, Alan, many listeners may not know your origin story. You are right. Widely credited with introducing blind and vision impaired tennis to Canada in 2011. What first sparked that idea for you and what did those earliest months actually look like? Alan Ma: Yeah. Thanks, Donna. It is. You know what? Thinking all the way back, I still remember I was just coming back from working overseas and returned to Canada, and I was watching a BBC. Documentary. And it showed me and it was a very quick segment within the, the larger one hour program that there were folks in England playing blind tennis. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay. Alan Ma: And I credit I believe back then it was Metro. Metro sport. And I reached out to them afterwards because I was just astounded. I didn't know such a adaptive sport was being played and myself being a tennis lover. I'm not I'm not great in tennis, but I can get by coach a bit here and there in different communities. So I thought, oh, you know what? Let me just reach out to them and then do some research around Canada to find out if others are already offering this this sport, adaptive sport. And I'll go volunteer. And so I reached out, you know, simultaneously to UK sports just saying, like, oh, this is amazing, blah, blah, blah, trying to get an understanding of like, how far the reach where the sport come from and at the same time doing my homework in the GTA, Greater Toronto Area just reaching out to different blind sporting organizations, mainly to start and just asking, oh, do you run this program? I'd love to, you know, come and volunteer. Wow. Lo and behold, nobody ran it. And I kept digging and kept digging. And then I asked around Cnib, Canadian Blind Sports, Ontario Blind Sports Association. Alan Ma: Nobody was offering this. So that's sort of the Eureka kind of moment for me is to sort of think about, you know, what? This doesn't currently exist in Canada. How can one, you know, get it started, offer it so that others may benefit the sport that I love. Right? I mean, I came into the sport really late in my 20s, so it's not like I grew up playing tennis. You know? I wasn't part of any particular tennis club. You know, growing up watching parents play and then getting to know the community that way. I was I was I was like you know sort of upstart in the tennis world, right? I sort of worked in you know, I coach because I was great with kids. So I, you know, during my university days I would coach a lot in different communities and that, you know, that love for coaching being able to offer a sport to others and being able to offer support, I enjoyed. Right. That was the sort of main kind of factors that got me started in just asking questions and eventually piloting it. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Great. I first joined the blind tennis group in 2012, and I was active through the end of 2016. From my vantage point, you and your team built something very special. How did Toronto blind tennis move from a small experiment into a sustained community program? Alan Ma: The sustainability, I think it depends on one's perspective, right. Of, you know, I think everything comes in seasons. And I think starting out going back a little bit earlier to the origin story you know, I waited for about a year and a half to two years of just getting rejected by many, many different organizations because I didn't want to just be on my own. Right? I wanted to work with another organization, partner up. But everyone said no, right. And I can understand, you know, the I don't have family members with the visually impaired world, so nobody knew who I was. Right. So who is this person coming in to say, like, we're going to offer a new sport to Canadians, right? Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. Alan Ma: Yeah, I can understand and know. And people didn't want to take on the liability of that. Right. Starting a new program without even knowing who this coach is. And also I can understand because having worked in the not for profit charitable sector for almost two decades now, it's accessibility. Funding is hard to come by, especially when it's in sports. Right. So a lot of these established organizations, they are already probably pretty tight, right, in terms of their funding and to be able to take on additional risk. So the sustainability part, I think is always going to be in question for us. We were just very blessed with having a very good pool of volunteers who you know, came through for different seasons. And then once you know, certain percentage of those volunteers wanted to move on to other things, we were able to have others join for a couple years. Because ultimately it it really doesn't cost that much. Right? To run the blind tennis. Right? Nowadays it costs more because of just since the pandemic facility costs is just much higher. The balls that we buy from Japan. They're $11 per ball before shipment and everything, so it's quite expensive, but they can last a bit longer than, you know what the regular balls we use on the site of tennis courts. Right. Alan Ma: But sustainability, it was really just, you know, having the right group of volunteers who weren't careless with their own ego, I would say. Right. Because, yeah, we get a lot of folks that want to develop the best player. Right. They live sort of vicariously through their players. Right. But I think we were able to screen out folks that probably weren't really in line with our sort of community aspect of what we were trying to do. Right. And then in the beginning, it was really just my own local church that said, you know what, Alan? Present the sport to us, the elders. We'll see if it makes sense that we can offer this as a sort of loving initiative to the neighbors, right? Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yes. Alan Ma: And so my local church was the first group that we were able to partner with, and it was ran out of the, the, our warehouse kind of gym right where we played. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I remember that. Yes. Alan Ma: Yeah. We've been there for many years. Right. It's only because of the pandemic and things have to shift. And we sort of grew and as we were coming out of the pandemic, we were able we were fortunate to work with the TDSB to get one of the local gyms in Scarborough and they were able to offer it in the beginning free of charge to our program. But nowadays they, they charge a small fee for us. But still, it is manageable. Right. And I think these kind of factors have to sort of all align in order something that, you know, we're not striving to make profit, right? So. Right. It's not like we're charging the same marketable rate that other folks would spend on indoor tennis programs during the winter or the summer. Right. In order to keep their programs and services alive. So for us, it's a lot of grant writing finding the facilities that are low cost accessible for our community and then just finding a great pool of volunteers in Jerome since I moved to Montreal. Jerome, one of our original volunteers, have taken the mantle, and he's one of the co-founders. When we incorporated as a not for profit organization that tennis is housed under. Right. So I think we're just really blessed to have great people come along the way. Right? And who knows what the sustainability, you know, in terms of does it go on forever, right? I don't know, but for the for the season we're in, we're still here. We still have committed volunteers and coaches who are really enjoying being part of the community, and the players themselves are enjoying it. So yeah, we'll keep on going until we see maybe the end of the tunnel may come some day. Some day, but not for now. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right? Right now. Change through sport is the umbrella you co-founded, and it now houses the Toronto Blind Tennis and Rexdale Volleyball. In practical terms, what problem were you trying to solve with CTS and how does that structure help you remove barriers for participants? Alan Ma: Yeah, like the organization really came about when my friend and I who's the founder of the Rexdale volleyball program in the west side of Toronto He was running. He was coaching there. He was a teacher of the TDSB, and he was running a volleyball program that was for young people in his the Rexdale community where he was teaching. And we both were utilizing sports to build community to open up new opportunities to our participants. And when the pandemic came and we we chatted about this before the pandemic, because by the time we got into, like the shutdowns, we both have been running our, you know, volunteer initiatives for close to ten years or more than ten years. And we said, hey, should we combine forces together? Should we take it more seriously and build more infrastructure? So that goes to your question about sustainability, right? Can we go for it a little bit longer and then have something that we can pass on to other people if they want to take up the mantle, if our time is going to, you know, come to an end someday. So the registering as a not for profit it gave us at least that sort of initial, you know, in the world, in the eyes of the world. Right? Eyes of the world. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yes. Alan Ma: These these kind of, you know, structures and registrations, things on paper. Right? It's like, oh, now you're legitimate. But, you know, for ten years before we've been doing this work and, you know, volunteering our time and committing ourselves to supporting one another. But that became our sort of, like, gateway to a different season for what we've been doing. Right. So that now when we do apply for grants, it's not just a volunteer group. Right? It is a registered organization. We have financial records. We have this history of work which includes our volunteer days. Right. When the two initiatives were just my friend, my friend and I leading it and now we've gone into, you know, building new partnerships due to being incorporated with different organizations in Montreal and also Barrie, Ontario. Now just recently this year. So we our focus is still pretty much the same as what we did with the Toronto Blind Tennis and Rexdale volleyball is to utilize sports to support what we would characterize as more vulnerable communities or historically marginalized communities so that they have access to sport. And through sport. We get to talk about, you know, social development, economic development and a bunch of other fun stuff that we can sort of leverage sport for. So the first point is still get on court, let's play together, let's build community. Yeah, that's the initial sort of premise. And then afterwards, then we can do other things. Alan Ma: And even two years ago. Right. We were let's see one of our Rexdale youth and one of our youth. We piloted a new project management kind of initiative. Right. So where we allow them to have a small budget and we taught them a few things about project management, and we let them, you know, devise and organize and design a fun community event. Right. And the youth from the Blind Side she was excuse me fully blind. And she worked with her sighted brother. And together they put on an event of multi sport for our community. Right. They had a budget. They used the budget to, you know, organize what they want to buy for equipment prizes and so on and so forth. Right. And the same thing for our Rexdale youth ran something for the Rexdale community. So these are sort of like the other steps that probably people don't really know as much from what we do with CTS because they engage with us. Right. Primarily through sports and playing the sport. But behind the scenes, we do a lot of other types of development, and we want to continue to sort of flesh that side out as well, so that others get more of a stronger sense of how sports can be leveraged for their own personal development and, you know, striving for their aspirations in life. Right. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: So tennis is not the only thing that that you know is here. Right. Alan Ma: Yeah. We got volleyball from the volleyball side blind tennis. And then we, we help support, you know some other provinces to start their blind tennis initiatives. In Montreal Barrie. We do skating multi sports. Yeah. So we, we're not just stuck on one sport. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Any skating. Alan Ma: We're not snobs, Donna. We're not snobs. We we. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh, you're not snobs. I know that I've always known that. Any skating in Toronto? Alan Ma: Yes, we we piloted it with another organization on the west end of Toronto, where we brought a lot of their more black and racialized youth in the winter that, you know, sometimes they're a little bit more hesitant in the winter sports. Right? So we try to help them or support them in understanding, hey, if you're not in that space, you have no voice there, right? So if you want to have a voice in, you know, Canadian winter sports, or at least you don't want to keep telling yourself, oh, winter sports, skiing. Skating is not for me. It's not part of my. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah, yeah. Alan Ma: You sort of self talk yourself out of them, right? So yeah, we ran a pilot together when we first incorporated actually, and we took them skating and then we took them into a ski trip, so. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh, okay. Alan Ma: So that was a fun thing. So we used that sort of approach and model, and we developed our current partnerships that I have in Montreal as well, and the ones in Barrie too. So that initial was a skating program in Toronto was almost like a proof of concept for us, right, of utilizing the sport. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Great. Now you've trained a large volunteer cohort and welcome dozens of participants over the years. What does good volunteer preparation look like for blind tennis, and how do you keep volunteers engaged and growing season after season? Alan Ma: Yeah, so I want to make sure just for the listeners. Right. Yeah. It's not it's not like, you know, our volunteers never quit, right? They move on. Right. So it's just like, just like any program, any different volunteer services. Right? Of course. But we've just been really keen on number one for volunteers who don't come. Screen Reader: From out of left brain. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right. Alan Ma: That don't come from a tennis background or rackets. Yeah. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. Alan Ma: We try to make sure their point of entry is lower too. Right. So a lot of initial. You don't need to be a certain level to play tennis. What we look for is a caring person. That's number one. Tennis part. We can help you get better. And and playing tennis so that you can feel more adequate as you train with our participants. Right. So that's number one. So we try to take away that initial sort of cloud over somebody. Right. And number two, we were very fortunate in the very beginning when we ran our pilot in Toronto to have other organizations come in to teach our volunteers how to engage with folks who have vision loss. So we did a big workshop, and we ran it for the first couple of years, every season just to remind, you know, the core group, some basic things, right? Like, for example, I think these things will always stick with me, right? How to walk with somebody? Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right, right. Alan Ma: Right elbow. How to use nonverbal cues with your arm. Your speed so that they get a sense of what's coming up and when to speak. Like, oh, we're going through a single door right now. And then, you know, you tuck in your elbow and then so they know to go,... /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/38637810

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #50: Interview with Dr. Leo Bissonnette 10/07/2025

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #50: Interview with Dr. Leo Bissonnette 🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #50: Interview with Dr. Leo Bissonnette | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA In this wide-ranging episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan welcomes longtime friend and mentor for a sweeping conversation about braille, family advocacy, and the craft of inclusion. Bissonnette traces how learning braille in Grade 3 and his mother's quiet, relentless problem-solving, securing a Perkins, scouring "Recordings for the Blind" catalogs, recruiting relatives to tape textbooks, even arranging weekly typing lessons, built the confidence and tools that carried him from student to sociology lecturer. He recalls early teaching years powered by human readers and five-by-eight braille index cards, the shift to digital files that let him grade independently, and the enduring value of a "toolbox" that mixes low-tech standbys with iPhones and modern braille displays. The conversation widens to institutional change: Bissonnette recounts growing Concordia's Access Centre from ad-hoc fixes to a coordinated, university-backed service, partnering with faculty to move from individual accommodations toward universal design, and scaling thousands of exam accommodations through dedicated staffing, budgets, and process discipline. He shares lessons from accessible shuttles and elevator modernizations, the influence of his Ph.D. research on accessible online course design, a three-part playbook for building a modern disability-services office (space, specialized people, and seamless supports), and why emerging multi-line braille tech (like the Monarch) signals a renaissance for tactile literacy. The episode closes with mutual appreciation, a reminder that advocacy never stops, and an invitation to keep building that shared "workbench" where policy meets lived experience. TRANSCRIPT Podcast Commentator: Greetings. Podcast Commentator: 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: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary. I am Donna Jodhan, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, touch and stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments. In November of 2010, I won the Landmark Charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites accessible to every Canadian, not just to sighted ones. And in July of 2019, 19. I call that the Accessible Canada Act, with more than two dozen disability groups to turn equal access into federal law, and most recently, on June the 3rd, 2022, I was humbled by Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers. When I'm not in a courtroom or in a committee room or pottery studio, you will find me coaching kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies to make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles one goal to turn accessibility from afterthought into everyday practice. I invite you to think of this show has our shared workbench where policy meets lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today's conversation, let me shine a spotlight on today's guest, a change maker whose work is every bit as remarkable as the world that we are trying to build. Leo Bissonnette, welcome to the Remarkable World Commentary podcast. Leo Bissonnette: It's a pleasure to be with you today. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And I have to tell our listeners that ours is a friendship that goes back so many years. I remember the very first day that we met you and your mom. What a lovely lady she was. And we have maintained our contact, our our friendship over the years, despite you being in Montreal, my favorite city and me being here in Toronto. So welcome. And are you ready? Leo Bissonnette: I am ready to go. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay. All right. So Leo, I'd like to start at the beginning. And how did growing up in Montreal and learning Braille early shape your confidence and your approach to school and independence? Leo Bissonnette: You know, I think it was a blessing in many ways that early in the game it became clear that my vision was not going to be great. And I think given the advocacy work that my mother did. And we'll be talking about that a little bit in various ways, she said, okay, if his vision is going to be the issue, let's talk about where Braille could fit into his life in terms of reading and writing. And as I went into grade three, specifically having worked in print in the previous start of my education, that was a transition year where I learned Braille and how to read it and how to write it. And that made a real big difference, because that lifelong skill has stood me in good stead in education, in work, in leisure and so forth. Because over the years, I started with a Perkins Brailler and a slate and stylus pocket guide, and ended up and still have on my desk of a Braille display. That's quite powerful for reading documents. So Braille has made a big difference in the quality of work and education that I had. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I have to agree with you. Leo Bissonnette: And it certainly give you the it gives you the confidence. I mean, you know, I could, you know, when I think of it, you know, at some point walking into a lecture room with five by eight index cards to lecture, you know, I, you know, certainly it gave me the confidence to stand up in a lecture hall and teach sociology. You know, it was special. And, you know, whether it made a difference to those in the classroom as students watching, at least I felt that as a faculty member, I was able to do what any other professor would do. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Now, your mother's advocacy, insisting on Braille, securing a Perkins brailler and hunting down audio books seems very pivotal. What did those early support teach you about what families and schools could do? Right. Leo Bissonnette: Well, I think, you know, initially, because she just did it so seamlessly and quietly. It was years later that, you know, I we began to unpack some of this in discussions and I said, well, first of all, what really got you going? I said, like, you know, you know, we talked about this at a time when we were starting to get online resources and you could do online searches for this and that. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right? Leo Bissonnette: You know, even to get for example, I don't know how to this day, she really found the recordings for the Blind Incorporated catalog, which was in two volumes at the time. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right. Leo Bissonnette: She got a lead on it from somebody, a friend in the States, and she got the volumes, and I took those to the Department of Sociology, for example, and the Prof. The chairman of the department was blown away, and he went through it and found books that would get me started in the first sociology courses I took. I mean, when you think of that, you know, and you compare it to what we can now do today. Wow. You know, that was something then the idea that in Canada, of course, we we didn't have total access, like recordings for the blind and incorporated did not do necessarily Canadian textbooks. Okay. How do you fill that gap? Well my mother recruited people in the family to record. My uncle used to go on business trips and even in the, in the early days with the reel to reel, small portable tape recorder and recorded chapters of books. And of course, then, of course, we moved into the more traditional cassette tape recorders. But when you think of that, you know, going back to the early 70s, late 60s, early 70s, incredible stuff. And again, she did it in a very seamless way. But it was later on we talked about it and I said, well, what was the motivation behind why you were so determined to what she said? First of all, I thought education was going to be the key for you to open up doors. It was going to be the key to get you potentially a job. It was, you know, that kind of thing. So it was she was really motivated to make that happen. And God love her, she did. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Boy oh boy, what a lady. Leo Bissonnette: Well, you know, it's funny. When I eventually did land the job I did, which was running at an office for students with disability. Yeah. She said to me, she said, well, she said, you don't need a written job description. Just think about what I did for you. And we talked about it. That's sort of what opened the discussion to sort of, you know, say, well, how did you do it and what were the insights you got? So, you know, it's a fascinating time and a fascinating legacy that she left. And it did stood me in good stead because, well, she told the story about when she wanted me to go to Loyola High School, a private Jesuit high school. Right. And she went in and, you know, they said to her, well, you know, realize here, if a student fails first year high school, they cannot return. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh, gosh. Yeah. Leo Bissonnette: So and so, my mother said to the principal at the time, she said, well, he'll be graduating. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh, no. Good for her. Leo Bissonnette: Well, four years later, I did graduate with everybody else. In fact, we were a class of 180 as we started in 180 was finished. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right? Leo Bissonnette: My mother went up to him, the, you know, they're having coffee and and refreshments. And she said, Leo still here? Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Good for her. Leo Bissonnette: And I think, you know. And he laughed and he said, okay, he got it, you know. But I think that that said something powerful and, you know, it wasn't an easy run. I mean, the other skill, the other thing that she insisted that I get was typing. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right? Right. Leo Bissonnette: And she found through again, a friend who knew the principal of Graham's business college at the time, Ted Page. She talked to him, and as a result, he volunteered every Thursday afternoon at the Philippine Latin. Well, it was called the Montreal Association School for the blind at the time. She convinced him to come in on a volunteer basis to teach a number of us typing. Wow, that skill got, I'd say, about a good 5 or 6 of us, you know, ready to to take on life with that skill. Leo Bissonnette: So, you know, I think that that's sort of the legacy summarized in that fashion. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Wow. Now you've lived both as a student and as a professor and as a professor with vision loss. When you first taught sociology at Concordia. What practical systems did you bill readers scanning early word processors to grade and give feedback independently? Leo Bissonnette: Well, the interesting thing, and again, my mother and later on, my wife would read to me the the exams and the handwritten exams. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh. Leo Bissonnette: You know, when you think of it at that point, you know, and oh, the multiple choice. As time evolved, there was a scoring system that you could submit answers and students answer sheets would be collated and you get grades. But still the written questions on these exams my mother, my wife were great in reading to me. Now, it got really interesting when the computers came out and the students could give me disks. So I would set it up in such a way that a lot of the assignments were take home assignments so that they could, you know, do some research. And actually, in the process of having them do it that way, I was able to teach them a lot about good writing styles how to handle footnotes and so forth. So it was a win win, I think, for a lot of things. But certainly I was able to independently grade those papers that students would Students give me disk copies of, you know. So that's how that evolved. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I guess we've come such a long way from them. Leo Bissonnette: Yeah. And, you know, it's funny because I've gone back in time and lectured and, you know, people say, well, now you can just put an earphone in your ear and so forth. Well, I guess maybe I'm still old school. Those five by eight index cards that I started with are still good today, right? You know, I was at a meeting last night on a committee that I'm on, and I had my five by eight index cards with the agenda. I still think that's, you know, well, it's maybe neat, nifty to use all this technology with an earphone hanging out of your ear and an iPhone talking. I still think I'm old school and say, okay, this other stuff has a place, but there's some good old traditional ways that still stand the test of time. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: So Braille lives on. And I agree with you. I think, you know, like those five by eight index cards. I believe in them. I do, you know. Leo Bissonnette: Yeah, I agree, I agree. You know, and let's be clear that things have evolved. The braille displays do very well in connection connected to iPhones and to Macs and to windows computers. They have a place and and I think it says something to about Braille because I think, well, we'll probably talk more about it, but while it may be nice to say that, oh, our computers talk to us, but I think Braille still gives us that total description of what you know, how is how is the name spelt how is a term spelled? How is a sentence punctuated? I think this the everybody says, let's go audio. But I think there's a whole dimension that's lost if you don't have that, you know, access. Yes. How do you spell the name? Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right, right. Leo Bissonnette: You know, it may sound this way, when you actually look at the spelling. And that's what I think makes a difference. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I mean, even taking your last name Leo Bissonnette. Oh yeah. How do we uneven my last name Jodhan. How do you spell it. Leo Bissonnette: I've had mine spelled in various ways. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Me too. Leo Bissonnette: And you know. And why have that detract from good work that you're doing. Leo Bissonnette: I think that's what it comes down to style to become much more conscious. Okay. What does it mean if you're writing an academic paper or even just an essay or anything. Right. Underline a heading. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. Leo Bissonnette: You know, I think these are things that you don't want to get lost. And I worry at times that with this real, everybody says we must go auditory. It's a help. And it has a place, but let's not let's talk about that toolbox that has the things you need in it Anyway, there you go. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I agree. Now, looking back at your 35 year career at Concordia University, what was the mission that you had set for the Access Center for students with Disabilities Act's aid, and how did that mission evolve over time? Leo Bissonnette: Well, it's interesting that when I go back to the the year that I started back in, you know, mid 80s and, you know, the early 80s, rather it Anne Kirby, who was indeed very much the founder of the center where she was given the job along with other duties. Oh, yeah. You can take care of the first few students. Well, quickly she began to recruit a lot of students who had initially mobility impairments, so making the campus more accessible. But then then you had a number of visually impaired students. Come. And then you were starting to see a group of students who were learning disabled. So and the numbers were beginning to grow sufficiently where you could justify the existence of an office. So she hired me to take over the running of that office to re set in place programs that would accommodate the students with the range of disabilities that they presented, along with breaking into the whole discussion with faculty. How do you teach students with the respect of disabilities? And that that became a real challenge because, you know, it's a delicate balance when you're working with faculty because, you know, you're trying to balance to say, okay, you guys on the faculty side are the subject matter experts. You know, I'm not going to tell you how to what's involved in teaching biology and so forth. You'll tell me more. What's involved in that? My job is to understand what you're trying to teach and give you techniques to accommodate that student. Leo Bissonnette: So what we want to develop is a working partnership to make that happen for the student. And that's really where things begin. You know, that was the job that I had to take on, which was a good job to breaking down those barriers to get faculty and students and our office talking together. And what you didn't want to end up with were situations where you were saying, okay, the next step is the human rights lawyers. Get all the lawyers involved. Let's work this out. And in fact, actually over the years, I ended up developing some interesting partnerships with some professors to, you know, they were they really came on side and they, they, you know, they would bring ideas to the table, especially teaching some of the sciences and so forth. So that was sort of the that was the, the, the goal in a nutshell, was to get this to happen for a range of students with disabilities. And, you know, playing it forward. As I moved into retirement, we were then beginning to see students with on the autism spectrum again. How do you accommodate them? Because that was, you know, again, another population bringing their needs to the table, finding out how to deal with that. And of course, the other thing too, as part of it, there wasn't always funding for some of the students and programs. You know, if you were dyslexic, you were not getting money from Quebec. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh, okay. Leo Bissonnette: And it was to get money eventually available to fund tutoring and note taking and this thing and that. So, you know, that was sort of it was to evolve the services to meet a whole range of subpopulations, if you will. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Boy, I guess you had a lot of barriers to break down in those days, didn't you? Leo Bissonnette: Yeah. And the barriers were sometimes attitudinal. Yes. You know, what are you guys doing here? You're taking up resources. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You're taking up space. Leo Bissonnette: You're taking up. Well, I remember the exams office coordinator at the years ago saying, why should I be paying for your exam invigilators and so forth. Why should you? Why should I be paying for extended time? We pay an invigilator for three hours. No more. Why should I be picking up your bill? Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And I guess many days you went home with your heads and your your head in your hands, saying, good lord. Leo Bissonnette: Well, I think what you had to do, I think you really had to develop just. Okay. At the end of the day, you go home and you pick it up next morning and you keep it going because you know that you worry about burnout for yourself and for the people working with you. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yes. Leo Bissonnette: And that's that's the trick to this game.... /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/38637765

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #49: Interview with Larry L. Lewis, Jr., Senior Lead Technologist, Booz Allen Hamilton 10/06/2025

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #49: Interview with Larry L. Lewis, Jr., Senior Lead Technologist, Booz Allen Hamilton 🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #49: Interview with Larry L. Lewis, Jr., Senior Lead Technologist, Booz Allen Hamilton | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA In this candid, forward-looking episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan welcomes longtime friend and mentor Larry L. Lewis, Jr., tracing his path from the “Olympic-sized pool” of CSUN 1998 to helping bring the BrailleNote to market at HumanWare, leading sales at Optelec, founding Flying Blind and publishing Top Tech Tidbits, shaping Section 508 mobile testing at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and now guiding a roughly forty-person accessibility team as Senior Lead Technologist at Booz Allen Hamilton. Larry explains how his dual grounding in English and blind rehabilitation forged a communication-first approach, recalls the breakthrough of internet browsing on the BrailleNote that unlocked Bookshare and NLS for readers, and revisits personal moments—from teaching Donna her first iPhone to opening professional doors—that anchor their decades-long mentorship. The conversation ranges from Brazilian jiu-jitsu as “physical chess” that taught patience, restraint, and relationship-building, to the hard realities of marrying cybersecurity and accessibility, where secure, accessible interfaces reduce malware risks and AI tools can fill gaps when screen readers miss critical alerts. Larry offers a provocative near-term vision—screen readers evolving into subscription “bots” rather than installed software—alongside a modern classroom toolkit centered on the camera, Aira/Be My Eyes, mobility apps like Voice Vista, and, soon, smarter glasses. He closes with the philosophy that defines his legacy: empowerment through technology, using the right tools to get the most out of life at work, in travel, and beyond. TRANSCRIPT Podcast Commentator: Greetings. Podcast Comentator: 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: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary. I am Donna Jodhan, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, touch and stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments. In November of 2010, I won the Landmark Charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites accessible to every Canadian, not just to sighted ones. And in July of 2019, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act with more than two dozen disability groups to turn equal access into federal law. And most recently, on June 3rd, 2022, I was greatly humbled by Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers. When I'm not in a courtroom or in a committee room or pottery studio, you will find me coaching kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies to make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles. One goal to turn accessibility from an afterthought into everyday practice. I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench where policy meets lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today's conversation, let me shine a spotlight on today's guest, a change maker whose work is every as bit remarkable as the world that we are trying to build. Larry Lewis, I'd like to welcome you to the Remarkable World Commentary podcast. Larry is a longtime friend, mentor, and advisor, and we have traveled many roads over the years. Larry, I'd love to take listeners back to when we first met at CSUN or CSUN in 1998. What did that conference mean for your career at the time, and how did that networking there set the stage for the path that you have traveled since? Larry L. Lewis, Jr.: Well, thanks, Donna, it's a great question. And firstly, I want to thank you for the opportunity to be on Remarkable World, and I want to say hello to everybody who's listening. When I went to that conference a long time ago, 27 years ago, I was actually shifting out of a job with a nonprofit center who serves persons who are visually impaired. And it was in a in a tech role and assistive technology role, and was shifting into my first taste of of for profit working for humanware. So it was important for me. I was sort of finishing up that job while at the same time joining Humanware sort of sort of together. And it was necessary because up until then, I hadn't had a lot of networking outside of the state of Ohio in the United States. And so it was a bit overwhelming. It's kind of like just learning how to, as we say in the United States, dog paddle, which isn't really swimming. We just kind of paddle around and being thrown into an Olympic sized pool you know, with you know, where you're sharing lanes and you're not trying to run into people but you're just trying to keep your head above water and, and and move forward and kind of take it all in so that I look at it as dog paddling in, in a little, little secluded lake, jumping into an Olympic sized pool if we want to use swimming as an analogy. Larry L. Lewis, Jr.: And so I joined Humanware prior to the Braille note days. It's one of the reasons they brought me on was to bring Braille note to market. And so I was just sort of in fire hydrant mode, taking in everything, just getting acclimated to wow, there's a lot going on outside of the state of Ohio meeting all these different vendors, meeting, meeting professionals like yourself and just getting acclimated to all these people to where I just. I can remember the final evening of the conference, and I think I stupidly decided to take a redeye home to get home. And I just was just exhausted because not and I'm pretty high energy person, but it was just taking in so many different people and so many different vendors and so much technology. And things were quite a bit different back then. I mean, the internet was just sort of beginning to blossom. We were we were in the late nineties.com boom in the US. So there was a lot going on with just all these companies that were developing for the internet and networking and hardware and screen readers were trying to move from DOS to windows still. And, you know, this was like this. The talk about it now, it's like, wow, man, so much has changed. I mean, the equipment that that we had to carry back then I, I jokingly tell people I got into weightlifting because I wanted to sell adaptive technology. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. You know, I should mention to listeners, you know, with you and I having met at CSUN in 1998, was the beginning of a very, very wonderful relationship where you have become not just my friend, but my mentor, my advisor. Hey, you taught me how to use the I devices. Remember those days. Larry L. Lewis, Jr.: I do and that that was probably 2010 ish, 11 ish when we I wanted to take a couple years to see if Apple was serious about sticking with this, because in the 1980s, Apple, with a lot of younger folks don't realize is Apple used to have a real assistive technology push in the 80s with the Braille, with the with the Apple two and the Apple two. E there is an old product called Braille Edit back in the 80s. And then when Microsoft came on, they just ditched accessibility. So for those of us who were burned by Apple once, there's a lot of us who were like they've got this iPhone now, are they going to stick with it? Are they going to make it? And so I think it was about 2010, 2011, after about 3 or 4 years of updates, I was like, yeah, they're they're in it for the long haul. And that's when I became a little bit more involved in the mobile side of the house, both from an At training but then also dealing with, you know, accessible apps and those sorts of things. So yeah, I remember we spent spent a fair amount of time just working through it. And you were you were you were a very good learner. And that when, when you figured that when you figured it out, it stuck with you. And then we just built onto it from there. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: No, I'm very, very appreciative of this. Thank you very much. Yeah. So you hold degrees in both English literature and a blind rehabilitation. How have those disciplines blended to influence the way you write? Technical guides, teach professionals and sell the accessibility story. Larry L. Lewis, Jr.: So I began with English because I wasn't, as I jokingly say, didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up. And so I knew, I knew I could take an English degree. It would be versatile. Kind of almost like a marketing or communications degree. But I've always loved to read. But what I learned, what I learned with English is the importance of both verbal and written communication, as you mentioned. When I finished my master's in English, I was like, you know, I really don't want to spend my life in a classroom just teaching literature, although it would be fun to some degree. And I was at I was at Northern Illinois University for my English graduate work. And this sort of noticed that they had this program designed in their special education curriculum to work with a, with a variety of different types of individuals who are, who are blind. I focus more on adults, although I did my practicum with the Chicago Public School system as part of my degree because I've also liked like working with youth as well. And I wanted to figure out a way to make lives better. And I felt like I could do that more by parlaying what I had. I knew I could take the skills that that came with the English degree, and I could make them work to solve problems. And so and so there are a number of different problems that I saw with, with blind rehabilitation from the ability of one to sell themselves, whether they're, whether they're applying for entry to a university or something or whether they're applying for a job or what have you. And so I also there was this convergence of technology at the time. Larry L. Lewis, Jr.: I mean, I remember in 1991, moving moving from Apple to dos and and some of the the vocal. I mean I was using vocalize before JAWS because I thought vocalize did the the best job in dos that became window-eyes after after vocalize. They were really in my mind the frontrunner with DOS. And I also was introduced to the Braille and speak and my gosh, yeah. So I mean, I had this little device in my hand and again, lifting weights because I carried a Perkins Brailler around same as the same as the tech equipment. So I was like, wow, I don't have to carry this Perkins Brailler. And it's not that I got rid of my Perkins, but being able to take notes versus recording classes and just doing all this hard stuff became so much easier. And so I'm like, there has to be a way to take the ability to communicate with the emergence of assistive technology and then and then somehow parlay that into a career designed to help folks via via from an educational standpoint, be it for from a vocational standpoint, as far as getting work, what does it mean to have an accessible workplace? And so it just all kind of came together I was able to sort of get a lot of my work behaviors sorted out. As somebody who is a pretty free spirit in my 20s was able to get rid of a lot of my bad habits and so forth and begin to become a model employee during that time. When I worked for the, for the Cleveland Sight Center and then when I got the call and had the opportunity to move into a product management position with human, where I felt ready. Larry L. Lewis, Jr.: It was based on my educational background, and I've been in sales since I've been in since since sixth grade. I actually won a school contest selling selling suncatchers for a fundraiser, and that's when I got the sales bug. I was selling these little cell suncatchers. I blew out my competitors in school and won this one. This very clever. We call them in the United States. Ghetto blasters. They're like these stereos. Yes. And. Yeah. And so that's when that's when I'm like I think I could get used to selling anything. And then in school, I sold against the vending machines. I sold soda and snacks out of my room, and I undercut, I undercut, I undercut the vending machines. Everybody was happy. I was making money on the side. And so I've always liked to sell just the thrill of selling, but also the thrill of problem solving. Like you want to. You want to save a quarter on that can of soda. You walk down to Larry's room versus going to the vending machine. So I've always I mean, I've sold everything from talking Bibles to enterprise level accessibility services. If it can be sold, I will, I will, I will get to know my audience and I will find a way to sell it. And I don't think that's a bad thing. It's just something I enjoy. And I think I've done it in a fairly responsible way. I'm not a huckster. I you I usually always say if I, if I'm pushing it, it's because I either use it or I believe in the use of it. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Well, I have to admire, you know, I am not a salesperson. So, you know, like. And I bought a few things from you, I bought what did I buy? The Polaris I bought from you? Larry L. Lewis, Jr.: I bought Polaris, you bought a few Braille displays, I think. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. The talking Bible. So there you go. I know all about you. Larry L. Lewis, Jr.: You you know, all the way back to the talk. I had a company at CSUN 2009, I think it was Aurora ministries or something like that. Yeah. Like, hey, I'm like, well, hey, I read the Bible, I can help you with that. And it's like, so we we sold a lot of talking Bibles right alongside a very expensive braille displays, and had a good time with it. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Great great great great. So beyond the office, you practice Brazilian jiu jitsu, right? How has that martial art discipline informed the resilience and problem solving you bring to accessibility work? Yeah. Larry L. Lewis, Jr.: So I have spent a lot of time in martial arts, and for the past 19 years, it's been strictly Brazilian jiu jitsu when I had a little bit of vision. When I was younger, I trained in karate and more traditional martial arts, taekwondo. Oh my God. I also wrestled in high school, which I consider a martial art, even though it's a lot of folks don't. It's it's it's one of the oldest martial arts wrestling. So I wrestled in high school. I'm a very active person because I'm a very hyper person. And so if I'm not active I have too much time on my hands. It's just good for me to be active. So I've always followed grappling and that sort of thing. And the nice thing about jiu jitsu versus some of the other traditional striking martial arts is there's a path for people who are blind, both with jiu jitsu and judo to, to fully participate and compete and, and just really have a good time with it. And so I to be honest with you, when I got involved with it, I was looking for a change to my, my fitness routine. I was involved in a lot of lifting and cardio and stuff, and I'm like, I want to get more into group activities again instead of just going to the gym and grinding it out by myself. So I got involved with it. Larry L. Lewis, Jr.: And what it has taught me is that the whole premise behind jiu jitsu, the self-defense aspect of jiu jitsu, is for somebody who is Possibly more vulnerable or smaller. It gives them a way to stay safe and to control where a conflict goes. The conflict can end pretty quickly. If the if the person is able to subdue and whatever, you know, it's just over, or it can end pretty brutally if if the person doesn't want to stop, you know, arms can get broken. You know, people can get choked unconscious. There's a there's a it's all depends on what the what the assailant. The assailant wants it to go. So that's the self-defense aspect of jiu jitsu. The sport. The sport aspect is you've got people who are skilled, equally skilled, equally ranked, and they're competing against each other. And that that's fun, too. But jiu jitsu is very much like a chess match where if if somebody is applying, shifting their body one way and you want it to go another way, you have to shift your body a certain way. So it's very it's kind of like physical chess. If you want to think of it that way, the more you get into it. And I have been doing it almost 20 years now. So I find it it's stimulating both mentally and physically. But what also makes it nice is I have learned through jiu jitsu that it's not always okay in life, even when you're upset or whatever. Larry L. Lewis, Jr.: It's not okay to burn a bridge. It's not okay to unload. It's not when you know what you can physically do to another person. The more you learn in jiu jitsu, like maybe somebody just having a bad day. So if I get walking out, walking out. There was a person a few months ago who had had too much to drink and bumped into me, and I just redirected. I just redirected their body and it was cool. They didn't mean to, you know, jiu jitsu. Larry might have handled that a lot differently. You know, I was just leaving a pub and the person just had a lot to drink and bumped into me, and he might have just been having a bad day. He wasn't a jerk about it. The same can happen with relationships at work relationships with family. And so you have to you have to ask yourself what? What could be happening to cause a person to behave a certain way? And does it really pay to do something that you can't undo? In jiu jitsu? Maybe I can subdue somebody without breaking an arm. Maybe breaking an arm is not necessary. Or maybe not. Choking somebody is not necessary. If you can just subdue them and they calm down and they're like, all right, all right. Larry L. Lewis, Jr.: We're like you. You don't have to put the foot on the gas the whole time in any sort of conflict, be it verbal, be it I'm going to get. There's been times when I ran my own company where I got really shafted by other resellers like this, just undercut and not treated very well. And it's like, all right, I could be out to get them and waste all my energy on that. Or I can just stay the course and do what I know is right. Maybe point it out that I know what happened. And, you know, I still have relationships with people like you who've known me a long time and know what I'm about. And and so and so I think, I mean, jiu jitsu is just. It's been such a life. I always tell people my my Christian faith and my jiu jitsu, and then I also practice, practice yoga so that I can keep doing jiu jitsu because I'm getting older. Those three things have really helped shape me my mindset, how I treat others and just how I behave. And it's like, hey, if things get if things get out of hand, they're pretty real. We have a we have a mutual friend who will vouch for me that I can handle it. But we knowing. Knowledge is power and knowing what you can do doesn't mean you have to do it. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I like your analogy to jujitsu being physical chess because I play chess. Larry L. Lewis, Jr.: Yes. So, so if I move is one way and you're trying to move and then the checkmate is if you can make the other individual tap because they're in a position they can't get away... /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/38550805

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #48: Interview with Clare Kumar, Regional Director, Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Canada 10/02/2025

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #48: Interview with Clare Kumar, Regional Director, Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Canada 🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #48: Interview with Clare Kumar, Regional Director, Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Canada | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA In this deeply practical and compassionate episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan sits down with productivity catalyst and inclusivity advocate to explore how rise together when we design "hospitable containers" for work and life. Clare traces her journey through chronic illness and an autism diagnosis to the insight that "productivity is personal," unpacks her Productivity CPR framework, and introduces "neurological safety" as the conditions that let our nervous systems relax so we can contribute at our best. The conversation gets concrete fast: negotiating shared home spaces, using close-miked headsets to curb noise, and taming light with warmer tones and screen dimming, all toward values-aligned, sustainable focus. Donna and Clare also chart the evolution of the from "where productivity meets inclusivity" to "where inclusion meets design," underscoring why agendas, movement options, and participant agency are simple design choices that change how meetings feel. They then spotlight the program, what the bright green lanyard signals, how staff should respond ("How might I support you?"), and the new NFC card that discreetly shares needs without repeated verbal disclosure. Clare shares the origin and relaunch of her Pliio® clothing-filing system, an organizing tool that makes order effortless, and challenges false-consensus thinking behind rigid return-to-office mandates, offering her free Workstyle Profile as a team exercise to move from empathy to practical compassion. The episode closes with an invitation to tune into values, protect well-being, and design environments that invite our "richest contributions", a blueprint for leaders and households alike to build truly happy, inclusive spaces. 👉 Mentioned in this Podcast: , , , . TRANSCRIPT Podcast Commentator: Greetings. Podcast Commentator: 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: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary. I am Donna Jodhan, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, touch and stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments. In November of 2010, I won the Landmark Charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its website accessible to every Canadian, not just the sighted ones. In July of 2019, 19, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act with more than two dozen disability groups to turn equal access into federal law and most recently, on June the 3rd, 2022, I was humbled by Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers. When I'm not in a courtroom or in a committee room or in a pottery studio, you'll find me coaching kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies to make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles one goal to turn accessibility from an afterthought into everyday practice. I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench where policy meets lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today's conversation, let me shine a spotlight on today's guest, a change maker whose work is every bit as remarkable as the world that we are trying to build. Clare Kumar, I'd like to welcome you to our podcast, and thank you for taking the time to be with us today. Clare Kumar: Thank you so much. I'm thrilled to be with you, Donna. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay. So, Clare, are we ready to go down to business here? Clare Kumar: You bet. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: All right. Every time I hear the name Clare, I think. And you may not have been born at that time, but there was a singer, an Irish singer. His name was Gilbert O'Sullivan. Clare Kumar: Oh, yes. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And he had this song called Eau Clare. Clare Kumar: The moment I met you, I swear. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. Every time I hear the name Clare, I think of that song and I think, oh my lord, you know. Yeah. And I like the way the little kid laughed in the in in the song. Clare Kumar: That's right. At the very end. Yeah. Because uncle Ray, she had to, uncle Ray. Yeah. Singing. I was telling the story when she. Yeah. Won't you marry me, uncle Ray? Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. Eau Clare. Yes. Clare Kumar: Yes. Yeah. It's a precious song. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I really I wonder what became of him. Clare Kumar: I don't know. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Might be dead by now. I shouldn't say. Clare Kumar: That. The song lives on, that's for sure. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, Clare, you describe yourself as a quote. Productivity. Productivity catalyst and inclusivity advocate. What pivotal experience first showed you that productivity and inclusion are inseparable? And how does that insight shape the work that you do today? Clare Kumar: Thank you. I yes, I've worked in productivity, moving on from starting work in organization and in people's homes to then realizing the corporate world still needs me, even though I was a little bit traumatized from the corporate world. And I worked for 20 years with people in their homes, in their offices, all the while going on my own personal journey through chronic illness. And most recently being diagnosed autistic about just over a year ago. And what what struck me was a deep understanding of how individuals work and that it wasn't in one way. I have a have a hashtag I use quite often called productivity is personal. And when I started to understand, you know, and really look at the different ways people choose to work and prefer to work and really do their best. Yeah, I zoomed out and I thought, well, you know, as leaders, we can want the best from our teams. But there's a bias called false consensus effect, which leads us to think that the way we think and act ought to be the way other people think and act. And because of that, we make some very wrong assumptions. And so I thought, you know what I want to bridge individual performance and collective performance and understand that it looks very different, and invite leaders to think about the fact that we we also perform under wildly different conditions when we're at our best. And so that's my work today. Now, coming out of all of that insight and my own personal experience of being designed out of the corporate world, essentially, and I'm like, wait a minute, if that's happening to me, it's happening to thousands and thousands of other people. And I think that it's a bit of a crime to to not offer people the conditions in which they can excel. Sheerly from a reason of bias and false assumption. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Very interesting. Yeah. Now many of our listeners juggle Energy Limitus sensory sensitivities or chronic fatigue. Could you explain your quotation mark? Productivity us see a percentage. Clare Kumar: It's CPR. Yeah. Productivity CPR. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. Sorry. Clare Kumar: That's okay. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. Framework capacity and priorities. Recovery and share one practical way someone could put into action or put put it into into action this week. Clare Kumar: Yeah. Oh thank you. So productivity CPR came out of working with individuals who wanted to be more productive at work. And they'd often come to me with a question about a to do list or perfectionism or procrastination. Nation, and I realized that we had to zoom out a little bit, and we had to look at well-being and we had to look at values. And so that's why before before coming to what I call rituals are tried and true practices that we like to engage in, I wanted to to also pardon me, to excuse my tickly throat. We we wanted to zoom out and look at performance, which is the P in CPR, and that's well-being. And that comes from my own health journey as well. And being out even bigger than that is our values and what's important to us, which frame our priorities. And so one practical way, something that someone can do today, I, I think is the zooming out piece because what I, what I say has the biggest return is making sure your energy and attention is aiming in the right direction. And if you are at in work or in a significant relationship, or really struggling against your innate values, that's going to be your biggest productivity thief. We'll have things like moral injury, being asked to work for an organization we don't believe in. We'll have big gaps and that's the biggest piece forward. So some tuning in to say, am I in alignment? Am I aware and am I in alignment with the work I'm being called to do? And if not, that's that would be my biggest invitation. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Wow. Now you spent 15 years inside large tech firms before launching your own your own consultancy and you know stream life. What Lessons from Corporate Life still guides your advice to leaders who really want truly human centered workplaces? Clare Kumar: It's interesting. I think in our experience, we're often given positive role modeling, and then we're also given examples of things we might not want to do. And so I'll offer you up a positive example. And this will go back to my work at a loyalty management firm actually in the mid 90s. And their leader. Pardon me. Their leader was incredibly astute at tuning into individual performance, recognizing what environments invited someone to thrive. And I remember we we had switched offices and all of a sudden I had found we had moved and in a new office. I was given an office where I was in the middle of everything, and this office had some beautifully fun characters who liked to play Nerf gun wars in the afternoon. And and I really struggled to have a client conversation in that environment. I think my president then noticed and I was able to move to a quieter location, which which suited me better. So that's one that's one lesson. One positive lesson. Unfortunately, I have a whole slew of things not to do that I also carry forward, but that that also has a positive role in my work today too. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh good lord. Now, listeners may have noticed sunflower lanyards appearing in airports and arenas arenas as the Canadian regional director for the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower program. What does the lanyard signal and why is it such a powerful tool for cultivating compassion in customer service? And before you answer, I just wanted to to let you know that I only learned about the sunflower. My goodness, might have been the a year ago through Cathy Saliba, who we both know who introduced us. I didn't know anything about the sunflower until I met with her, and then she brought up the sunflower. So I will let you answer my question. Clare Kumar: Thank you. Yes. And thanks. Shout out to Cathy for this introduction. Yeah. I I'm grateful. Grateful for that. Now, the sunflower program, if people are, would like to kind of bring this to their imagination. Now, how you might imagine it is, is an individual who has a hidden disability or non-apparent condition. They might choose to wear a lanyard, and that lanyard will be this gorgeous bright green. And on it you'll find bright yellow sunflowers. And that sunflower is a symbol that that person does live with, a condition that might warrant more the need for more patients, more time, more kindness. And so it's making something invisible, non-visible, visible to people with sight. So I will I will be super clear about that. I I think it's effective for staff to be able to Recognize someone who's choosing. It's totally voluntary. Item to wear when you feel like it will serve you. It's a reminder that. Oh, wait a minute. Let me remember to view this person with compassion and curiosity and meet them with an offer of support. So my personal mission with, along with the the move from individual performance to collective performance is really around inviting a more compassionate culture. And this sunflower is a symbol we've needed to indicate that we need to park that false consensus, that bias that I was talking about. We need to move aside from that which is which is really our brains own productivity tool. Bias is is one of those things our brain uses to make quick sense of the situation. The possibilities. We get it wrong. And the sunflower is a cue to remind you to say double check. Are you making an assumption here, or do you want to lean into back into your curiosity and meet that passenger or resident of a municipality student at a university? All kinds of organizations around the world now use the sunflower, and I'm delighted to be growing the program here in Canada. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: So it's what I would call the soft approach. Clare Kumar: How do you mean? Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Well, I guess the soft approach is like it's a it's a very tactful way of getting people to be aware. Clare Kumar: It's I guess it offers a bit of subtlety. Yeah. It allows a bit of discretion and subtlety and what I, what I like about the organization is they recognize this. And more recently they came out with a new card that individuals can order and customize, that allows an individual instead of having to repeat verbally their needs every time. Imagine you're traveling through an airport and every person you meet, you have to explain what your needs are. Yes, yes, this card will actually it has what's called NFC or near-field communication technology. It will allow you to hold it up to a telephone or a smartphone, yours or someone else's, and bring up temporarily information about what your needs are. So if the person can read that screen, then they will be able to determine what support you need without you having to to verbalize it. So great for people who are nonverbal. Also, it say it adds a little bit more discretion so that you may not want to repeat it in a in a place where you can be heard and also be tired of repeating it. So it also reduces some of the cognitive demand and energy required. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I like that I am legally blind, so that I often rely on staff who may not recognize my disability at first glance. How can organizations train frontline teams to respond appropriately without crying when they see the sunflower? Clare Kumar: Yeah. You know, it's part of the program that any organization that joins as a member at the at the, you know, of a significant size, they undergo sunflower awareness training to understand what's the sunflower, which we described just recently, briefly what's a hidden disability or a hidden condition to give a sense of the the huge scope of different conditions that exist. And then what should I do if I see a sunflower? And prying is definitely not part of it. There is absolutely no need or reason to disclose a diagnosis, a condition. It's really around saying, how might I support you? And for the individual to say I would, I would be helped by. And so it's focusing on barriers and needs rather than condition. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Very interesting. Yeah. Now your Happy Space registered podcast explores where product productivity meets inclusivity. Which recent guest story surprised you most. And why should leaders pay attention to it? Clare Kumar: Thank you so much. The Happy Space podcast has been a bit of an evolution from my first identifying as a highly sensitive person to now being aware of autism for myself. And and I've actually evolved since I, since the information you were so kindly looking at to pull all of these wonderful questions together, I've evolved slightly from productivity meeting inclusivity to it's where inclusion meets design, because I'm most interested now in inviting more hospitable containers, those environments, our space, culture or experience where people can perform at their best. And so when I'm thinking of Guest stories. And what surprised me. There's so many. I mean, what's really interesting is I've been recording the podcast for during the past three years. And number two case, Sergeant of Hoch, which is a global architecture and design firm. I invited her back for I think it's episode 58. Yeah. So so Kay and I have come to know each other a little bit, and she's written a book all about neuro inclusive workplace design. And she's got five children. There's neurodiversity in her family and, you know, talking to Kay about her own, her own experience and then how it's informed her professional work around inclusion and neurodivergence in particular has been really powerful for me from from episode two. Like I said, she was my. I was so excited when she agreed to be on episode two of a fledgling brand new podcast and then rejoin me when her book came out. And what I like to do on the podcast is share. Shine a light on thought leaders in the space. And also, what I'm looking forward to is throwing more light on examples of more hospitable environments, spaces, culture and experiences that are getting it right so more people are being included. I'm on the hunt for those are okay. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah, go for it. Hybrid work is here to stay. Yet many home offices are noisy or pure or poorly lit. What are three sensory friendly adjustments? Any employee can make to create what you call happy space for focus. Clare Kumar: Oh my gosh, I love this question because I saw so many people, even pre-pandemic, working in the basement. Clare Kumar: And for for noise reasons that can be effective because there's a division. But boy, are you starved for light in a lot of basements that I've been in. So I think, you know, when when space is under pressure, we have to then look at our communication and the other users in the space and may need to negotiate sharing that space effectively. I mean, in the pandemic, I saw people, young professionals who who, you know, in sharing a 500 square foot condo and two desks in the living room. And, boy, there needs to be some negotiation and flexibility. And and you know, that was really tough I think I think I would I'm, I'm surprised to see that doors haven't become more popular, given the pressures we were under during the pandemic and shared spaces that that Doris haven't become more more appreciated. But I think it is also our recognition that light is so important. So three sensory friendly adjustments that any employee employee can make. I think one is, one is first really negotiating and really intentionally having a discussion with whether it be roommates or family members about, hey, what's your week looking like? What design opportunities do we have to take care of each other in our need to share this space? I mean, my my love is here right now, actually, because he's recovering from a surgery. And so we're sharing this space, and I need to let him know when I need quiet. And he needs to let me know when the soccer tournaments are on. And he wants to watch something. So we have to have a, you know, a conversation about priorities is... /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/38502965

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #55: Unaffordable Access Technology 10/01/2025

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #55: Unaffordable Access Technology 🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #55: Unaffordable Access Technology | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA In this timely episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan zeroes in on the persistent problem of unaffordable access technology. She explains how high prices keep essential tools out of reach for the very people who need them most, including seniors and those who feel technically shy, which in turn shuts them out of everyday online activities such as banking, travel, and shopping. Donna challenges developers, designers, companies, and manufacturers to change both pricing and attitudes. She questions the idea that the market is too small to serve, points to rapidly growing consumer segments, and reminds listeners that accessible tech benefits millions well beyond the disability community. Her call to action is clear and urgent: make access technology more affordable and more available so no one is left behind. 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: Hello there! My name is Donna and welcome to the second week of my October biweekly remarkable bi weekly commentary. And I want for today to address the topic of unaffordable access technology. So what is unaffordable access technology all about? Okay. This is something that has perpetuated over the years, and it does not seem to be getting any better. It is a chronic challenge slash problem for many of us who cannot afford to have the best and greatest technology under our fingers. And especially when it comes to access technology. It continues to be out of the reach of those who really, really need it. And it affects different groups in different ways in that if we cannot have the best and greatest access technology, it means that we are being left behind when it comes to engaging and communicating online. No matter which industry it is, it could be the banking industry, the travel industry. It could be, you know, doing your shopping, anything like that. That's what it is all about. Okay. So. It's unaffordable to so many. And this obviously leads to falling behind when it comes to groups such as seniors, those who are technically shy, those who simply cannot afford to purchase access technology to help them out. Okay. And. Developers, designers and companies continue to price their products beyond the reach of the pockets of. Those customers I just talked about, it's beyond their reach because they cannot afford it. And especially so for access technology. You know, you have a lot of people who depend on screen readers, for example, who depend on technology that enlarges their screens, who depend on technology for different reasons. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Access technology is unaffordable, and we need to find ways to bring down the prices of these pieces of technology. We need to convince society as a whole that access technology benefits so many people, millions of people worldwide, not just seniors, not just the technology, not just persons with disabilities. It benefits many, many others. And this is what I think we're missing out on. Now. Is it because developers and manufacturers and others believe that it's a very small market? Is this why they do not put much effort into making sure that access technology is made available in an affordable manner to others? What is it? So we need to start working on developers, designers and companies and manufacturers to get them to buy into a truthful fact that access technology is unaffordable because of their present barriers and attitudes. But access technology can be beneficial to many, many people. In addition to seniors, the technically shy persons with disabilities. And let me just say that the markets, the consumer markets for seniors and for persons with disabilities is growing rapidly. So we need to step in and start pushing developers, designers, companies and manufacturers to find ways to make access technology more affordable and more available. Okay. I'm Donna Jodhan, wishing you a great rest of the day, a great rest of the week, and a great rest of the month. Please contact me at Donna Jodhan at gmail.com. And that's about d o n j o d h a n. It's Donna Jodhan at gmail.com. Take care now and we'll see you the next time. Bye for now. Podcast Commentator: Donna wants to hear from you and invites you to write to her at donnajodhan@gmail.com. Until next time. /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/38817610

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #54: The Self Checkout Sword 10/01/2025

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #54: The Self Checkout Sword 🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #54: The Self Checkout Sword | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA In this thoughtful episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan examines what she calls “the self checkout sword”, a double edged shift in retail in which companies cut costs by installing self checkout kiosks while people who rely on cashier roles lose vital income. She asks who benefits and who is left out, and she urges listeners to weigh convenience and savings against the human and social costs. Donna also spotlights the accessibility gap. Seniors often struggle with touchscreens, and many people with disabilities, herself included, find these kiosks unusable. She shares a practical workaround: request a cashier or supervisor and state that the kiosk is not accessible. She calls for a true equal playing field built through accessible design from the start, and she invites feedback and ongoing dialogue. 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. Impossible. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Hello there. I'm Donna, and welcome to my remarkable bi weekly world commentary for October. It's my first bi weekly world commentary for October. And for today I'd like to talk about the self checkout sword. This is a topic that is very near and dear to my heart. And as someone who continues to advocate for there to be a an equal playing field for everyone, I think it is important for me to voice my opinion about the self checkout sword. What do I mean by this? Well, with self checkout kiosks, companies definitely save on costs but at the same time, persons who depend on additional or extra income are deprived, and there are a lot of people who are being deprived of additional or extra income because with the self checkout kiosks, it means that they're less cashiers at the supermarket and at different stores. And so these people who depend on income as cashiers are deprived. So here we have the self checkout sword as I call it. Yeah. Companies are saving on costs because they're cutting down on manpower. But at the same time you have persons who depend on extra or additional income. They are being shut out of work. Okay. In addition to this, we have seniors and persons who depend on staff for assistance, because it is difficult for many seniors to negotiate and navigate those touch screens. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And for persons with disabilities, especially for someone like myself with a vision impairment, we cannot use those touch screens. So then what do we do? I'll tell you what I do. I go and find a cashier, or I go and find a supervisor, and I say to them very professionally, very gently, hey, I cannot use your self-checkout kiosk because it is not accessible and it is not usable. So this is a third reason for the self-checkout sword, as I call it. Okay. I wonder if there has been enough thought put into self-checkout kiosks. Who do these kiosks affect? What are the benefits? Okay, yes, the benefits are to companies, but the disadvantages are to persons who depend on extra or additional income as cashiers. And it is a disadvantage, a huge disadvantage to seniors who cannot use touch screens, and to persons with disabilities who cannot use touch screens. So this is my take on the self checkout sword for this week. I'm Donna Jodhan, wishing you a great day and look forward to seeing you the next time. Bye for now. Podcast Commentator: Donna wants to hear from you and invites you to write to her at Donna Jodhan at gmail.com. Until next time. /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/38817395

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #47: Interview with Denis Boudreau, Founder, Inklusiv Communication 09/29/2025

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #47: Interview with Denis Boudreau, Founder, Inklusiv Communication 🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #47: Interview with Denis Boudreau, Founder, Inklusiv Communication | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA In this illuminating episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan welcomes longtime mentor and accessibility leader for a wide-ranging conversation about how he “accidentally” found his calling. Denis traces his path from early-2000s web development to discovering W3C accessibility guidelines, then defining “inclusive communication” with a deliberate focus on disability, visible and invisible. He unpacks who gets left out when we design by assumption, explaining why accessibility benefits a far larger slice of the population than many leaders realize, from older adults to neurodivergent colleagues and people with color-vision differences. The discussion shifts from standards to strategy: compliance is only the starting line, Denis argues, and real progress comes when leaders embed accessibility into goals, accountability, and culture. He makes the case for certification to align interpretations, describes a maturity-model approach to capability building, and outlines what an effective engagement looks like, from discovery interviews to coaching across areas like communication, digital accessibility, and workplace practices. Looking ahead, he's cautiously optimistic about AI's role while warning against quick-fix overlays, and he leaves listeners with a pragmatic mantra: progress over perfection, step by step. TRANSCRIPT Podcast Commentator: Greetings. Podcast Commentator: 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: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary. I am Donna J. Jodhan, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, touch and stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments. In November of 2010, I won the Landmark Charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites accessible to every Canadian, not just the sighted ones. And in July of 2019, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act with more than two dozen disability groups to turn equal access into federal law. And most recently, on June 3rd, 2022, I was greatly humbled by Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to improving. Sorry to removing barriers. When I'm not in a courtroom or a committee room or pottery studio, you'll find me coaching kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies to make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles one goal to turn accessibility from afterthought into everyday practice. I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench where policy meets lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today's conversation, let me shine a quick spotlight on today's guest, a change maker whose work is as every bit as remarkable as the world that we are trying to build. Denis Boudreau, I'd like to welcome you to my podcast. You have been my mentor, advisor and friend for the past few years, so welcome to my show. Denis Boudreau: Thank you. I'm happy to be here. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay, so first off, I'd like to ask this question to you. You have been working at the intersection of accessibility and cue and communication for over two decades. And you founded inclusive communication back in 1999. What originally drew you into this field and how has your mission evolved since those early days? Denis Boudreau: So accessibility to me was an absolute accident. Probably one of the most the ones that I'm most grateful for in my entire career. I started off in 1997 as a web developer coding, designing things, building web pages. And in the summer of 2000 project manager at the company that I was working with came up to me and said, hey, we just found we just won this bid for a redesign of a website, and it was for the the McGill University Hospital. Like I the only the French name comes to mind right now, but University hospital in Montreal and they, they have a a wing of the hospital dedicated to eye trauma. And they're asking for a website that blind people can use, figure something out. And, like, nobody knew what to do. And I had a reputation for being the person to go to when when people didn't know what to do, I guess so they said, figured that out. And and back then we were barely using Google. Right. It was still Northern Lights or AltaVista for the most part. So that's what I did. I went online and then looked for websites for blind people and stuff like that, and very quickly discovered the W3C, which I had did not know existed back then. And this this, this group that had created accessibility guidelines, so that drew my attention, started reading that, and it blew my mind, really. Denis Boudreau: And very quickly, I I started communicating when I was finding with my team, and that turned into a bit of a, you know, a bit of a an article. Daily article in our, in our intranet. And at some point, I decided that I would take all of those little posts that I was creating and share them on my own website. And mind you, that was again 2000, so roughly two years before blogs became a thing. And and the whole thing was in French. And to my surprise, I started getting emails from different people in France, in, in Belgium, in, in Canada, like French, French people, French speaking people, some of them in my own city in Montreal. About that work and, and started having those conversations and discovered a world that I had, I had no idea about, really. So, yeah. So absolute accident made a lot of friends through that. That's actually how I a couple years later, it's actually how I first heard about you. You were talking about that lawsuit in In 2010. The company that I was running back then with the three, three partners we actually leaned on that work that you had done back then as a way to try and convince the government that they needed to get their act together. So it's always been part of of what I've been doing for as long as I can remember. Denis Boudreau: So that's how it really started. Like it started with this, this absolute, you know, unexpected turn at some point. And it gave, it gave my work meaning at that point. 2000 I'd been like I said, I'd been doing that for about three years. The novelty of creating a new website for a big company at pretty much worn off by then. And I was a little bored with technology. I was a little older than most people on my team, so I guess a bit more serious. And I was finding that the you know, the web agency world was very superficial and shallow. I was thinking of doing other things like, and some of the things that I was thinking, I was thinking about was like you know, underwater welding, like very, very difficult. And in that world and when accessibility came around, it opened this new path or this it gave purpose. And I just jumped in with both feet into that and never looked back. So that's really how it began. And then and then over the years, accessibility became more and more viable as a, as a practice because, as you well know in early 2000, very few people actually knew or even cared about the topic. The space had not been done and people did not really understand. Denis Boudreau: And Aoda was not even something that people were talking about yet, because that was only 2005. So it took a while before people started to catch up to the idea that that was actually something that needed to be done. So, so over the years, it became a bigger part of what I was doing until it became all I was doing around 2005 or 6 when I started working with the Quebec Quebec government building there for the first iteration of their own government standard. That led me to work with W3C. That led me to work with ISO for a while, and standardization became a big part of what I do as a result of all of that. And over the years, yeah, my business just kept evolving from working primarily with designers and developers to working more and more with their leaders. And now these days, it's definitely more about that. It's it's inclusive leadership and communication so that you can lead a team or you can you can you can present to an audience, for instance, and make sure you're not leaving anybody behind. And that's the core of my business today. But in a nutshell, that's roughly what my trajectory has been. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: So you practically stumbled into this you know. Right. Denis Boudreau: Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Unexpected. But again, the best. The best thing that could have happened to me. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Great. So for listeners who may mean who may be new to the term, how do you define quotation inclusive communication and what problems does inclusive solve for organizations that think of accessibility as only as a technical challenge or a technical checklist? Denis Boudreau: Yeah. So inclusive communication is a rather popular term these days. A lot of things for different people with, with all the diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, dei efforts that have been happening over the years it like the practice grew and grew. So I am very purposefully focused on disability inclusion, neurodiversity visible or invisible disabilities. But that's really my focus. So to me, inclusive communication means the act of of being in touch with your audiences, with whatever they may be in a way that addresses the challenges that are typically faced by people with disabilities. So as an example I wrote a book a couple years ago called Inclusive Speaker. The book was dedicated to communication specialist experts, speakers, keynoters, you know, trainers, HR people, anyone who speaks in front of a group or speaks to a group or manages a group to help them understand all the all the, the, the gaps that they have in their communication. When you know, they assume that people can see, they assume that people can hear, they assume that people can differentiate colors or this and that. And how do you leave people behind all the time? So to me, that is a foundational aspect of what includes inclusive communication is in the context of the workplace. When I work with leaders, it also means helping them understand how they can revisit the way that they use language to bring people together instead of othering some of their team members, for instance. So that's roughly where I that's my that's my, my sandbox, if you will, those different areas. That means helping teams rethink how they write, how they speak, how they design for actual people, and not just personas or, or theoretical, you know, audience members and I help them build inclusive habits across, you know, different content platforms, things like that. A lot of it is about clarity and plain language, but it's always about accessibility at the end of the day. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Now you have said that 2020 to 45% of people can be excluded by the way we design and communicate, communicate online from people with disabilities to older adults and folks in limiting environment environments. Can you unpack that number and talk about the hidden audiences companies are missing? Denis Boudreau: Sure. So so as you probably know Statistics Canada came up with data a couple years ago about how many Canadians were self-identifying as having a disability, one or more disabilities. That number was roughly 27%, 28%. So that's where we start, right? Like more than one out of every five person self-identifies with a disability as having a disability. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right? Denis Boudreau: Not exclude. Include all the people who actually have no idea that they have a disability. Yes. And and will probably never even find out. So it's already one out of five. One out of four even. I you you could easily say most of those are invisible. So that's where we start. And the statistics that are shared by Statistics Canada when you, when you flatten that out to the active population, so 16 to 64, that's roughly 20%. So we're really at one out of five out of. Yeah. So 20% let's say we start with 20%. And then of course, you know, our seniors as of as of my last, the last time I checked was July 1st, 2024. So that data gets updated on July 1st every year. I haven't checked it this year yet, but last year it was roughly 19% of the population that was over the age of 65. So a distinct group, then the active population who lives with a disability, one or more disabilities. So you can easily combine the two and say, hey, those folks are not in the same demographic. And obviously anyone who's over the age of 65 experiences some type of deterioration in their senses compared to when they were younger, so they're not necessarily disabled. Some of them are. Some of them would never consider themselves to be but some of them actually do develop over time. You know, challenges that are, that are significant enough that they actually cause barriers for them. Denis Boudreau: I mean, if I just speak for myself, I'm 54 and for the last nine years or so, I really need glasses. And from when, you know, one year to the next, every other year, I probably have to update my prescription because the glasses aren't that great anymore. And like, I'm slowly losing some of my my my sight, My hearing also is slowly deteriorating. My ability to sustain a cognitive effort for a long, long period of time is definitely also impacted. It used to be that when my kids would go to bed at night, I would push for another 2 or 3 hours of work regularly, still wake up around seven in the morning, and then go and do that again for another day. I can't do that anymore. So and like I said, I'm only 54, right? So my ability to do these things or to perceive the world around me has changed over the years. So obviously as I get older, this is not going to get any better. So there's that. And even if someone doesn't perceive themselves as having a disability, aging definitely affects our ability to see, hear, think, move, all of that. So it's somewhere in there is part of our demographic of people who benefit from accessibility one way or another. On top of that, because aging is a spectrum. And you know, skills and senses are also a spectrum on a spectrum. We have in Canada, about 18% of the population between the age of 50 and 69. Denis Boudreau: So those are mixed with the other two groups. But those are people who may or may not have a disability but are in that age group where definitely aging is starting to have an impact on their ability to do things. So when you play with these numbers and when you account for the fact that when you look at the data from Statistics Canada, for instance, where they say that roughly 5% of Canadians have a visual impairment or disability what they really think of or talk about are people who are blind, people who have low vision, people who need screen magnification, people who might have some kind of an eye disease or deterioration, like, say, macular degeneration or glaucoma or amblyopia or some or this or that, but it does not include the 10% of men and one woman out of every 200 was colorblind, which is also happens to be my case when you when you add color blindness to the realm of of challenges with visual impairments. It definitely is more than 5% when you add to people who actually are deaf or hard of hearing, those who just have a declining hearing, then that's also more than, you know, 5%, 6%, I think is what the data shows. So it's more than that. But more importantly, when you look at issues related to or challenges related to cognitive disabilities and or neurodiversity and, or you know anxiety as an example, it's way more than the ten, 12, 13 ish percent that they're talking about. Denis Boudreau: When you look at dyslexia as an example, most American university estimate that it's roughly 17% of the population. So just that particular Situation in neurodiversity is way more than all of the cognitive group that Statistics Canada actually talks about. That does not include anything about mental health. It doesn't include anything about anxiety. It doesn't include anything about pretty much anything. So saying or thinking that by combining the 20% of people who are the active population, the 20% I was talking about at the beginning, those between the ages of 16 and 64 and people over the age of 65. Two different groups. Again, we're already talking about 39% of people. And then if you add to that, all the different groups that are clearly not factored in, it's even more than that. So it's a very it's a very conservative number to say that if you're if you are trying to communicate and reach out the entire population, like the larger public, you will be talking to people of pretty much every age group, therefore 40% of them are likely to have some kind of a challenge that can be addressed, or at least mitigated in to a certain extent by paying attention to accessibility. And that's why my business exists. That's why people like me and you do what we do. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: It's a picture that many people are unaware of. And this is so good to to, you know, to highlight this Denis Boudreau: Yeah. For sure. I mean, it's again, out of sight, out of mind. When almost every single time when I talk to a client or I talk to someone in a training session and and they're trying to understand how broad this is, they equate you know, disability with someone who is blind, someone who's in a wheelchair someone who's deaf, maybe. But they very rarely consider the myriad of other conditions that also fall under that big umbrella. And and therefore they don't think about it. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Now you helped to co-author Quebec's first mandatory web accessibility standards for government. And you have contributed to W3C education and outreach. What are the top lessons from standards work that help leaders move from compliance on paper to inclusion in practice? Denis Boudreau: I think the biggest lesson that I can teach my clients in that sense, or and that hopefully they understand, is that compliance does not equate inclusion. Compliance is just the starting point. It's the starting line for for for for inclusion. It's the yeah, it's the starting point basically. And Complaints without actual you know, organizational change, culture change just doesn't stick to begin with. The the real world, the real work is really aligning the intent of the organization, the roles, and having accountability also built into it. So that's that's the biggest lesson I think that that people will have, because yes, you like your leaders in your typical organization, will eventually want to invest in inclusion because they see the value. They understand the business case. And, you know, whether we like it or not, most organizations, though, they will tell you that they do this because they're great social, corporate, social citizens. They primarily do it because they see that there's financial incentives to do so. So this is where we start for the most part. The biggest... /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/38436360

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #46: Interview with Sonia Gangopadhyay, Director, Centre of Expertise for Accessible Transportation, Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA 🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #46: Interview with Sonia Gangopadhyay, Director, Centre of Expertise for Accessible Transportation, Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA In this illuminating episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan welcomes , who leads the Canadian Transportation Agency's Center of Expertise for Accessible Transportation, to unpack how the CTA protects the right to accessible travel across federally regulated modes, from airlines and interprovincial buses to terminals and screening/border services. Sonia traces the agency's evolution from early railway oversight to today's regulations and tribunal decisions (including One Person, One Fare and mobility-aid coverage), explaining how rules, guidance, and codes become enforceable obligations. She lifts the curtain on her team's day-to-day, running the accessibility helpline, building training resources, collaborating with ICAO/IATA, and supporting regulatory development, then details "on the ground" compliance: designated enforcement officers, inspections across modes, investigations when violations occur, and administrative monetary penalties up to $250,000, alongside a new program that shadows travelers with disabilities to observe real trips end-to-end. Donna probes enforcement, backlogs, and lived experience. Sonia clarifies that the headline-grabbing complaints backlog concerns general air-passenger issues, while accessibility complaints form a smaller, manageable queue resolved through facilitation, mediation, or, if needed, adjudication. She spotlights requirements for sensory and invisible disabilities (multi-format communication, orientation to cabin controls, and options like moving to the front of security lines), the "nothing about us without us" consultations that drive tangible changes (e.g., a working group on powered wheelchairs), and tech opportunities, from autonomous wayfinding chairs and smart boarding bridges to real-time wheelchair tracking, balanced with low-tech alternatives by design. The conversation closes on a systems view of universal design and a shared commitment to Canada's 2040 barrier-free goal, with an open invitation for practical collaboration across the travel continuum. 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, sight 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 Jodhan: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary. I'm Donna J. Jodhan, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, touch and a stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments, as in November 2010, I won the Landmark Charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites accessible to every Canadian, not just the sighted ones. And in July of 2019, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act with more than two dozen disability groups to turn equal access into federal law. And most recently, on June the 3rd, 2022, I was greatly humbled by Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers. When I'm not in a courtroom or in a committee room or a pottery studio, you'll find me coaching kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies to make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles one goal to turn accessibility from an afterthought into everyday practice. I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench where a policy meets lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today's conversation, let me shine a quick spotlight on today's guest and changemaker, whose work is every bit as remarkable as the world that we are trying to build. Today, I'd like to welcome Sonia Gangopadhyay from the Canadian Transportation Agency. Sonia, welcome to my podcast. Sonia Gangopadhyay: Thank you, Donna, and thank you for inviting me to your podcast, A Remarkable World Commentary. It's a really a pleasure to be here today with you. Donna Jodhan: Thank you very much. So, Sonia, to set the stage for our audience. How would you describe the Canadian transportation agencies mission in your own words? And why should every day travelers, even those who seldom think about regulators, care about its work? Sonia Gangopadhyay: Well, what we do at the Canadian Transport Agency is we protect the fundamental right of people with disability to an accessible transportation system. The transportation service provider in the federal system just for your auditor so they understand who they are. They include, like companies that operate planes, ferries, trains, buses that travel long distance like they need to cross provinces or go to other country to be captured by our regulation and our work. It also includes terminals like airport ferry terminals, train station, bus station and also some of the services provided by Catsa and CBSA, which are the control point and security and border crossing when it comes to providing access to those services to ensure that they're accessible as well. The reason why the work of the agency is important is because it develops and applies where. Well, we're developing and applying rules that establish the right of the user and also the responsibility of the transportation service provider. So this rule can be regulations, guidance, material that support the rule, try to explain them. Because regulation can be dry a little bit sometimes in the sense that it's legislative it's law. May not be easy to read for everybody, so the guidance kind of helped them to understand them. And also we have code of practice, and the agency is also a tribunal. We hear and resolve complaints like a real court. And why does it matter now with two travelers is because it helped to make sure that the national transportation system runs efficiently and smoothly for the benefits of all Canadians. And it protects the human rights of persons with disability to an accessible transportation network. Donna Jodhan: Now, many listeners know the CTA chiefly for its airline passenger rooms, but the agency's roots go all the way back to early railway forts. Could you walk us through that historical journey and highlight the values that remained constants despite more than a century of change? Sonia Gangopadhyay: Yes. Of course. The agency became, as the Board of Railway Commissioners in 1902, 1904, so way before my time. And that I joined the agency. Donna Jodhan: Yeah. Sonia Gangopadhyay: So the authority was over inland waterways and airlines, along with jurisdiction over the railway. And that was given by the Transportation Act in 1938. However, the responsibilities and authorities over the federal transportation, as you mentioned, have evolved over the last centuries. And I can provide a few examples. Example, the agency previously you know, really on dispute resolution and some regulation to advance accessibility. And some of those decisions are very well known such as the one regarding the retrofit of via via via rail cars which was in 2000 three. There was also the decision on one person, one fare. And for your editor, one person, one fare is one a person requires an additional seat to do their disability, either for an attendant because they have also a service dog that is is big and requires more space or you, as I said, to their disability, they will require also more space. And that decision was made in 2008. And there is newer decision as well that have been made that are important, such as the emotional support dog and the coverage of mobility aid, which are more recent. From 1987, there was four regulation since then that have came into force. The first one was the part seven of the Air Transportation Regulation. The second 1 in 94 was the personal training for the assistance of person with disability regulation. And now, more recently, 2020, the Accessible Transportation for persons with Disability Regulations, which often people named the Apdr as an acronym. And the last one was in 2021, the Accessible Transportation Planning and Reporting Regulation. What is constant in the commitment to an accessible transportation system since, you know, almost a century ago, is that we always worked and we continue and we'll keep working to meet, to meet the need of a person with disability by identifying and removing barriers, either through our regulations, our resource that, you know, everybody can find on our website, and also the complaint that we receive and that we can go through mediation or adjudication to to resolve. Donna Jodhan: Quite a lot, isn't it? Sonia Gangopadhyay: It's a lot. Donna Jodhan: Indeed a lot. Now you direct the CTA's Center of Expertise for Accessible Transportation. What does that center actually look like in practice and who's on the team? How do you decide priorities and what does a typical week entail for you. Sonia Gangopadhyay: It's a it's a big question. So I'll go step by step. My team is made up of managers analysts, senior analysts and administrative staff. Overall it's a small team about 1010 people. And the work of the center of expertise is is varies a lot. So it includes and I'll start with the routine work. So we provide information to industry persons with disability. We provide expertise to other agency staff such as the people who are involved in the compliance and enforcement or that will be dealing with the dispute resolution which are the people who receive the complaint. We also manage the accessibility helpline when people are planning a trip, if they require your information about our regulation, about their right, or it could be also the industry that ask question about our regulation and how to implement. They can also contact the health plan. So that's something that we're managing. Or it could be also not also for the planning of the trip. It could be also if the trip has happened and then there has been a bar here. And then they find the person requires some information or is not sure to submit a complaint, and they want to talk with us. They can also reach out to the helpline we manage also the agency accessibility for all training which is a videos training videos. Sonia Gangopadhyay: And this is all found on our website. And industry can use those video as part of their training. The video does not replace the regulation, though. It's it offers a very strong and good base, a good foundation. But with the regulation, they have to go above and beyond in addition to our regular day to day work. The staff has is involved in various committees that are advancing work on accessibility and transportation. For example, we're often involved in committee international committees, such as the ICAO for auditor. The ICAO refer to the International Civil Aviation Organization, which is a specialized agency of the United Nations, and they coordinate like principles and techniques of international air navigation and foster all the planning and development of international air transportation related to safety and other key key objectives. There is also that we're collaborating with, that, which is an international air transportation association. They represent 350 airline, which is over 80% of the global air traffic. We're also managing the Accessibility Advisory Committee, which is composed of more than 20 representative of the industry and also more than 20 representative of organization representing people with disability. We develop regulation, we publish our guidance. We work on so on various projects and working group that address issues such as how to safely secure mobility and transportation, how to improve industry training and other projects. Sonia Gangopadhyay: We also answer questions from the industry on the regulation, as I mentioned, and person with disability regarding their right, The recourse mechanism, in case the experience of our year in the accessible transportation system, for example we receive complaint when a person faces a barrier during their travel if they haven't been able to fix it with the transportation service provider then they will come to us in those situation and they will be able to submit a complaint. If the barrier was found, then the tribunal, which is separate than my my, my team can make a decision and order the removal of the barrier. When it comes to the regulatory development, the agency has the authority to develop the regulations following a very rigorous process by the government. We do consultation, we do the, the, the cost benefit analysis. And we support the development of the regulation. However, it is the governor and Council which we refer as the GIC on the recommendation of the Minister of Transport that make those regulations. And then it becomes public through Canada Gazette. So in other words, and to try to sum up a little bit what my team does, we're supporting the mandate of the agency to ensure that the transportation system in Canada is accessible. Donna Jodhan: Wow. That's a lot for one week, every week and a different types of Sonia Gangopadhyay: It's more than just on the week. I went a little bit above and beyond. Donna Jodhan: Oh my goodness. Now, back in 2019, the CTA rolled out multiple voluntary codes into the legally binding accessible transportation for persons with Disabilities Regulations. Regulations. What were the biggest challenges in turning guidance into enforceable law? And how did you balance the needs of industry with the lived experience of disabled travelers? Sonia Gangopadhyay: Well, the agency did have experience with enforceable accessibility regulation prior to 2019, before the apdr it had and continues to have also other accessibility regulations. We had, as I mentioned earlier, the part seven of the Air Transportation Regulation, which is in relation to the services for traveller with disability in the air sector. And also we have the personal training for persons person with disability regulation, which was and which has been in place since the mid 1990s. So those continue to apply to the small carrier. Many of the service services and training obligations were already required under this regulation, as I mentioned. So the challenge with turning the code and the guidance into regulation relates more to the requirements regarding the physical environment, such as the inside of the aircraft, because, as you know, the aircraft are highly certified. And making physical change is not a simple process or always a feasible process. Even so, this is why many of those requirements that we find in the Apdr are forward facing, meaning that they must be done for new aircraft or when a career is making modification to an existing one. Other challenges related to putting requirements in to regulation that has been imposed on some career by the agency. Orders by the tribunal as a result of complaint addressed by the tribunal. So one example of this, as I mentioned earlier, was the one person, one fare requirement before the regulation. Sonia Gangopadhyay: This obligation only applied to Air Canada and WestJet. This is because in an order, the agency can only impose a requirement on the carrier that is the subject of the complaint. So if there is a complaint, it's the carrier that's named in the complaint that will receive the order from the tribunal. It would not go like to all the carriers. So by putting into the regulation those order, it becomes an claims, an obligation for all career that must follow the regulation so that they all have to follow the same rule, and so that the passenger know what to expect, no matter how they travel, you know, with whom they're traveling with. And regarding your last point about how we balance the need of the industry with the life experience of traveler with disability, well, bridging the operations of the industry with the life experience of traveler is not just a matter of compliance with the consultation requirement that we found in our regulation. Like, it's more than that. It's a blueprint for innovation for inclusion and long term success. The industry is very good in strong, you know, with the operational efficiency. They move people quickly, safely at low cost. They they follow all the safety and security protocol. The industry also focus on the customer satisfaction. Sonia Gangopadhyay: Like they want to serve more people more often, and accessibility opens up new markets and improve service for all users. So when we think about regulatory compliance meeting legal requirements and standards is a non-negotiable. But forward thinking goes beyond the minimum to lead the inclusive design the lived experience of person with disability. If we think about like if they were able to travel in a autonomy with dignity in the real world, usability of their experience and everything they encounter during their travel. So that live experience is important because it helps identifying the pain point that industry overlooks. Their insight will lead to smarter, more adaptable system. It is why consultation and discussion with person with disability are so important. And this is you know, a requirement also in our regulation. So in addition, the life experience can improve staff training in disability etiquette like communication. It is just important as it is like as a, the physical infrastructure, when one access point like one of the access point like to the to the travel journey felt like a broken elevator or a lift. There must be alternative. And the life experience teaches that accessibility, you know, should be a resilient there should be alternative and that co-development and continuous feedback is is an essential key to, you know, to the improvement. Donna Jodhan: I like that. I like those remarks very much. Thank you. Sonia Gangopadhyay: You're welcome. Donna Jodhan: Now a frequent worrier that I, I hear all the time from listeners is quote great. There is a regulation but what will it be. What when will it be enforced. And how does the CTA monitor compliance on the ground? And what happens when a carrier or a terminal operator falls short of accessibility? Sonia Gangopadhyay: Well, the agency has a has a compliance continuum to encourage compliance through a variety of outreach Education and promotional activities. The agency confirms compliance with the regulation by monitoring and verifying those activities. We follow up also on compliance verification and our enforcement action to confirm that the measures taken have had the desired outcome and that the compliance is being maintained. So all our regulations are currently being monitored, our inspectors are verifying compliance. So there is a compliance process already existing in the agency and that our inspector is going through. And actually there we the enforcement officer, we named them designated enforcement officer. And for sure Dios. And they do regular on site inspection for all modes of transportation. And that includes also across airport the airport across Canada. Catsa, which is responsible for the security at the border crossing, and CBSA, which is the Canadian Border Service Agency and their activities as it relates to accessible... /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/38379805

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #45: Interview with Velvet Lacasse, Elementary Education Teacher, Kawartha Pine Ridge District School | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA 09/25/2025

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #45: Interview with Velvet Lacasse, Elementary Education Teacher, Kawartha Pine Ridge District School | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA 🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #45: Interview with Velvet Lacasse, Elementary Education Teacher, Kawartha Pine Ridge District School | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA In this inspiring episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan welcomes social-justice elementary educator for a conversation about how lived experience becomes curriculum. Lacasse traces a path shaped by her grandmother's courage, a deafblind father, and Toronto's queer activist community, roots that inform a pedagogy centered on belonging, "relationships as the curriculum," collaborative learning, and helping children see themselves as change-makers. The two revisit Lacasse's Grade 5 class joining Donna's 2010 Charter challenge, students wrote to the Prime Minister and learned to spot real-world barriers, illustrating how authentic advocacy builds critical thinking and voice. Lacasse shares blueprints educators can use now: The Grove Community School's joyful, arts-based "Gender Splendor" work (stories, picture books, and brave, intersectional allyship) and the "Seeds of Change" inquiry on water justice (personal "Dear Water" letters, collecting water samples, learning from water walkers like Josephine Mandamin and youth activist Autumn Peltier, solidarity at Queen's Park, and discussions of colonization and Grassy Narrows). She reflects on recognition (ETFO Anti-Bias Award, Edward Burtynsky Environmental Education prize), the anonymous student note, "stay slay, Velvet", that fueled resilience, and the move from Toronto to Peterborough, where she remains a visible ally while treating self-care as a radical act. Donna closes with gratitude and an invitation to return, urging listeners to "keep on going, never give up." 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, sight 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: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary. I am Donna Jodhan, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, through touch and stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments. In November of 2010, I won the Landmark Charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites accessible to every Canadian, not just the sighted Ones, and in July of 2019, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act with more than two dozen disability groups to turn equal access into federal law. And most recently, on June the 3rd, 2022, I was humbled by Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers. When I'm not in a courtroom or a committee room or pottery studio, you'll find me coaching kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies to make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles one goal to turn accessibility from afterthought into everyday practice. I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench where policy meets lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today's conversation, let me shine a spotlight on today's guest and changemaker, whose work is every bit as remarkable as the world that we are trying to build. I am delighted today to welcome Velvet Lucas, who I met many years ago when she and her her coworker Shannon Green decided to join our charter challenge. Campaign. Velvet, welcome to our show. Thank you so. Velvet Lacasse: Much, Donna. I am delighted and honored to be here. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Well, it is my pleasure. And I want to start with this. So, velvet, to set the scene for listeners who may be meeting you for the first time, could you describe the personal journey that shaped you into what you call a social justice elementary educator? Velvet Lacasse: Yes. Thank you Donna. So my name is Velvet Lacasse. I think that my journey begins with my grandmother. Her name was Lucienne Lacasse and she grew up in Rimouski, Quebec. And I think that she, for me, will always be a role model of a woman who is brave, who is strong and who is willing to take risks to care for her family. So she left Quebec when she was pregnant with my mother, which took a lot of courage, I think at the time. In the early 50s, she moved to Toronto and gave birth to my mom and became a fierce advocate in my life for feminism and love. And and I'm I'm always grateful to her for teaching me about the power of sharing your own story. My mom was a quite a young mother. She had me when she was 18 years old. And then she gave birth to my younger sister, Jolene. We grew up in downtown Toronto, and my father was deaf, blind. And I think that growing up with a father who had a disability sort of opened up the world to me in terms of seeing the world through the lens of accessibility and inclusion and barriers. And I was always very protective very cautious. I was, because I was the older child, the one who did a lot of the communicating and sort of reading the world for my father. Velvet Lacasse: But he was very independent. He did a lot of his own advocacy for deaf, blind Canadians, and we heard a lot about his frustrations and also some of his triumphs. And then my mom and my dad split up when I was seven, and then my mom came out as a lesbian and surrounded herself with really wonderful kind community. And I think being raised in a culture that was alternative or marginalized also opened my eyes to the experiences of homophobia and discrimination, and there was a lot of silence surrounding the experience of same sex families. It wasn't discussed at schools. And that can that can create a little bit of shame or a lot of shame. And so when I grew up I was determined to break that silence. And I think that when I became an educator, I realized that I had the opportunity to to celebrate diversity and queer joy and and break that silence not only to heal my own younger self and the experiences that I may have felt, but also to affirm the identities of children and families and staff that I was encountering in schools. So I think that becoming a social justice educator sort of came naturally by growing up in relationship and community and family. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I, I am simply impressed. I, I didn't know these things about you and I'm glad to learn it. And I'm I'm really, really impressed. Thank you for sharing. Now, growing up in Toronto's queer activist community and with the deaf blind father clearly influenced your world view, right? How did those early experiences translate into the way that you now design classroom spaces and learning experiences? Velvet Lacasse: It's a wonderful question, Donna. I have been thinking a lot about about this, about how we, you know, about who we become and how we we use our earlier experiences to Yeah. To create, to create change. So I think that for me, I've been thinking a lot about that sense of belonging and how critical it is for young people to feel that they belong, to feel like they are included and to feel like their identities are celebrated with joy and pride and and that those experiences of resistance are used to to educate all of us about the kind of world we want to live in and how we might move forward together in a good way. So I think that my classrooms are designed to nurture and create that sense of belonging. There's a lot of collaborative learning. There's a lot of encouraging young people to be self-reflective, to to share their feelings, to share their ideas, to learn how to communicate and listen actively. And also to support young people to develop skills for advocacy so that they can see themselves as change makers. So I think I try to bring a lot of hope into the classroom. I also want to teach young people to be critical thinkers. But primarily I've come to believe that relationships are the curriculum. And if we can teach young people to be in relationship with each other in ways that are kind and inclusive and respectful, I think that that goes a long way to changing the world. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I agree with you there. And I think that, you know, like you've had so many variables in your life to help you become who you are and I really admire that. So so. Velvet Lacasse: So. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: So. Thank you. Our friendship began in 2010 when your grade five students wrote to the Prime Minister about my web accessibility lawsuit. What prompted you and your colleague Shannon, to involve the class in that national conversation, and what lasting lessons did the students take away? Velvet Lacasse: Well, I met Shannon when we started working at a very special school in Toronto called the Grove Community School, and it was a brand new alternative school that had started the first of its kind in Ontario that centers, that teaches the Ontario curriculum, but centers, equity, social justice, community activism and environmental sustainability. And so we both joined that school when it was quite new because we wanted to be part of creating something that was alternative. And I think we both had a passion for transforming education so that it could be you know, just really reflective of what we believed to be true in terms of what young people and their families need because we know that schools tend to be colonial institutions. There's a lot of systemic discrimination that has taken place. There are issues of access and equity that make it challenging for all students to feel successful. And I think Shannon and I were looking for ways to to break that cycle and to create innovative curriculum that that really centered issues of accessibility and equity. And part of the Ontario curriculum at that time was especially in the primary years. There were there was science curriculum around learning about our five senses. And we were thinking about experiential opportunities where kids could experience what it's like to be without one of their senses. And we did, you know, a blind trust blindfold trust, walk in partners. We we we encourage we challenge the students to use scooter boards and, you know, travel with their family, with their partner from the third floor of the school out to the playground. Velvet Lacasse: And along the way, we wanted them to identify barriers that they encountered. And so having those experiences of being able to you know, to, to to move without without sight to to try to navigate stairs or thresholds between, you know, doors and hallways. When you, when you're, when you're on a scooter was very revealing for them, I think. And so we were sort of at the beginning of exploring senses through the experience of, of not having one of your senses and adapting and, you know, feeling, noticing how things were different and whether, like you said, you see the world through sound and through your optimism and through your hands, like what other senses were becoming more clear. And then I happen to come across an article in the Toronto Star that had your picture and information about the charter challenge, and I cut it out immediately and brought it to Shannon and thought, this is an amazing opportunity to make those real world connections to have students think about technology, which is something that, you know, it's hard for us to understand as older folks. But you know, young people are are exposed to technology at very young ages and might not have thought about issues of access or how other people might be able to interact with technology. Velvet Lacasse: So it was just this perfect opportunity. And so we started to explore your story. And I think Shannon reached out to you directly. And we started communicating. And we were able to bring you into the school, and we were able to be part of supporting supporting the campaign, which really gave students a voice and also a wonderful role model. So you became this friend who we were, you know watching and supporting and cheering on. And we were, you know, so thrilled to to learn that you were successful and to celebrate that with you. And I think that in terms of lasting lessons, I mean being able to visit with you again, I think it was ten years later on the anniversary was amazing. And then we had older students teaching younger students about the experience. But I think that we were able to teach students about the importance of activism and advocacy to help them believe that they could be change makers and really recognize the privilege that we have when we are able to access the world around us. Right. That technology is a privilege and not everyone has equal access. And so the work that you were doing was just was just amazing. And we were so so grateful that we were able to to connect with you and be a part of your journey. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I think for me, I was just blown away by these kids and their innocence and how much they knew and how much intuition they had. And there is one question. I don't remember the little boy's name, but I really had to stop myself from smiling when he said, my mom says that Harper is a fool. What do you think? And I thought, oh no, no, no. Hey, I can't remember his name, but I, I just died. Velvet Lacasse: I love it, I love it. Yeah. I mean, these were very informed Velvet Lacasse: Young people, because their, their parents were very political. And I love it. I mean, I just love that they had that sense. And you're right, that that young people are innocent. And sometimes these complicated issues are really very simple, that everyone should have access to what they need. And, you know, you can, you know, we can you can get young if you can get young children to understand this. Then why can't you know politicians understand this as well? Yeah. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Now you founded the Grove Community Community School, Canada's first public alternative schools. Center on environmental justice and equity. What were the biggest hurdles in bringing that visionary model to life and how did you overcome them. Velvet Lacasse: Well I mean it was such it was a labor of love for sure. I think some of the challenges were high expectations of families who were really hoping for an alternative vision. And then when you're working within a system that lacks imagination and really tries to sometimes feels threatened by innovation or alternative ideas because it threatens you know, notions of yeah, I guess holding on to control you know, in terms of encouraging student voice that can be threatening to that model of education where the teacher has all of the knowledge and the student is just a passive recipient. And we really wanted to be part of, of empowering young people to find their voice and to and to develop pride and to develop skills that will allow them to speak out on issues of injustice. So some of the challenges, I think were systemic you know, an administrator who is kind of old fashioned traditional values high expectations of parents who were really impatient. Okay. I think there was a, you know, everybody wanted something different. And we were trying very hard to create a process for collaboration. I think some of the, some of the most important lessons I learned are it's important to have a shared vision and it needs to include many different voices. So stakeholders that are, you know, the, the children, the parents, the staff, the community members, the admin everyone needs to be able to contribute and feel like their voices are heard. Velvet Lacasse: But that shared vision is so critical to keeping everyone focused. And then you need a process for how how are we going to collaborate? How will we make decisions? What happens when we disagree? How can we ensure that there's a structure in place to support the work that we want to do and, and that evolved over time. But those were some very challenging conversations, but also very courageous conversations. And I learned a lot. I think one of the one of the important things that I have come to recognize about myself is that the teaching of humility and for me, that means being open to open to learning and recognizing that I'm also on a learning journey. And in order for me to be open to learning, I need to listen. And I need to listen deeply. And and I also need to consider different perspectives. And sometimes that means I need to step back and support others. Others to step forward. So I think that that quality of humility those teachings really, I hold on to those today because I think that they do really serve me and guide me in my, in my work. So I also think that one of the one of the things I learned about The Grove is an approach to care that's collective. Velvet Lacasse: And I think that when you think of being part of a community and you really think about caring for everyone in that community and thinking about like we said before, about busting barriers, but also centering accessibility. Like, what does community look like when we put accessibility at the center? How does that shift the way we conduct meetings? How does that, you know, shift the way you know, all of it, how we create opportunities for whole school events or curriculum or I mean, all of it becomes quite interesting around, like, how do we ensure that everyone has a sense of belonging, but that everyone can participate in a way that's meaningful? And I just I think that's what I carry with me moving forward is, you know, thinking about if we were to put accessibility at the center of all of our organizations and institutions and structures it would open everything up. And if we, if we consulted with people about what they needed in order to participate I think we would find our experiences richer because there would be more, more voices helping us to to kind of shape the organization or the community into one that meets the needs of everyone. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Now, one of the Grove's signature traditions was Gender splendor week. Yeah. Complete with a student and her name was Kiki Paul. Run away. For educators listening to who want to foster gender inclusion, what practical first steps would you recommend? Velvet Lacasse: I mean, this is a wonderful question because I am very proud of the curriculum that we created that we called Gender Splendor. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. Velvet Lacasse: It was, you know, it is joyful. It's arts based. It is a celebration of the to LGBTQ community. It really confronts homophobia, transphobia and with, you know, really encourages everyone to think about how we can be intersectional in our approach to being an ally. And it has challenged all of us. Even those those of us who feel, you know, woke or very informed by by the queer community. I think that I've learned a lot. And I'm happy to share that learning with others. One of the things Shannon and I have done is, is shared gender splendor as a workshop with other educators, and we always talk about the importance of stories. And there are so many wonderful picture books out there that educators can use to help them guide the conversation. Because what I've learned is that there are a lot of educators who are afraid of the topic. There's a lot of fear. And then that fear makes people... /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/38379790

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #44: Interview with Kathy Saliba, Manager, Passenger Care, Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA 09/22/2025

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #44: Interview with Kathy Saliba, Manager, Passenger Care, Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA 🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #44: Interview with Kathy Saliba, Manager, Passenger Care, Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA In this wide-ranging episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan sits down with Toronto Pearson's accessibility lead, , to unpack how one airport is turning "independence, dignity, and delight" from slogans into daily practice. Sparked by Donna's 2021 feedback, Saliba traces Pearson's curb-to-cabin choreography, where airlines provide assistance but the airport orchestrates consistency, and highlights the Rick Hansen Foundation Gold certification earned after multi-year retrofits: accessible self-serve kiosks, hundreds of tactile attention indicators, more quiet spaces, and 100+ hearing loops. They spotlight people-first programs that change staff behavior (the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower lanyard, now embraced by Air Canada and WestJet) and traveler-first tools (a pivot from little-used wayfinding beacons to the Aira Explorer service, plus work to personalize Pearson's accessible app and digital maps). Training across contractors, collaborations with CATSA, and a new "travel rehearsal" program round out the playbook for reducing friction at the most stressful points of the journey. The conversation widens to culture, measurement, and scale, Pearson served ~47 million passengers last year, linking accessibility to fewer bottlenecks, higher satisfaction, and real revenue as all passengers spend time (and money) on their own terms. Saliba details how the team pressure-tests ideas with lived experience through an Accessibility Advisory Council (including Autism Ontario and the Alzheimer Society of Ontario), practices rigorous tech triage (safety, reliability, universal design, ease of adoption, pilot before scale), and keeps preparedness in view (strobes, PA alerts, evac chairs, and forthcoming mobile alerts with ASL/LSQ). She underscores "accessibility as a team sport," sharing wins via the Canadian Airports Council working group and learning from global hubs and non-aviation spaces alike, then invites listeners to keep the feedback loop alive so Pearson can keep "putting the joy back into travel." TRANSCRIPT Podcast Commentator: Greetings. Podcast Commentator: 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, sight 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: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary. I'm Donna Jodhan, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, touch and stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments. In November of 2010, I won the Landmark Charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites accessible to every Canadian, not just the sighted ones. In July of 2019, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act with more than two dozen disability groups to turn equity equal access into federal law and most recently, on June 3rd, 2022, I was humbled by Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers. When I'm not in a courtroom or a committee room or pottery studio, you'll find me coaching kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies to make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles. One goal to turn accessibility from afterthought into daily practice or everyday practice. I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench where policy meets lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today's conversation, let me shine a spotlight on today's guest. A change maker whose work is every bit as remarkable as the world that we are trying to build. Kathy Saliba, I'd like to welcome you to our podcast for today. Kathy Saliba: Thank you very much, Donna. Really excited to be here. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I'm excited to have you and, you know, hear more about the work that you have been doing. So, Kathy, when you and I first connected in 2021 about my trip to the Caribbean. What gaps did that conversation highlight for you, and how did it influence the way that passengers care now serves blind travelers? Kathy Saliba: Thanks, Donna. That was it feels like just yesterday that we met. Actually, I've been in this role for a couple of years now, and I do recall some of our earlier conversations and they were pivotal because the way we approach accessibility is that we we need to hear and learn from people who are experiencing the airport journey. So although sometimes not a perfect journey, it is. We need to hear about it so that we can make those improvements. So it really was impactful and enlighten us. You know, I think it highlighted and I'm trying to remember all not all the details, but I think they were twofold. I mean, there were definitely a few gaps that we are already starting to work on through our work with the Rick Hansen Foundation around the physical barriers at the airport. And I'll touch on that in a in a second. But it was it was also around the people aspect and, and and the technology aspect. So when, when even when assistance was booked for a passenger with a disability, there was that gap with information flow. It wasn't always consistent. So it flagged to us two things. You know, staff training is pivotal. And it really is important to focus on frontline staff anticipating needs instead of just, you know, reacting to requests. And also the need for independent tools and, and, you know, not just staff support for travelers who are blind. The way I see accessibility and the way I approach it and our ambition in our small but mighty team is the fact that we want to make sure that passengers experience the airport with independence, dignity and delight. And I think the independence and dignity. There were some gaps when we first talked about it. So it was it was a very helpful conversation. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: For listeners who have never, ever flown through Pearson, can you walk us through the full curbside to cabin assistance journey and explain how your team choreographs each and off behind the scenes? Kathy Saliba: Sure. Toronto Pearson is, you know, the biggest airport in Canada. So we do things a little bit differently. And definitely it is complex. So what happens at Pearson in particular is that the airlines themselves are responsible for assisting passengers with reduced mobility throughout the whole journey. So you know, they can provide a wheelchair and mobility assistance, but not only that, you know, it also it includes passengers who may be deaf, who are blind, who have cognitive impairment, what have you. So how it works when you're departing at Pearson is, you know, you get to the airport and whether that's being dropped off at curbside or, you know, parking in the garage or maybe, you know, taking the the Up express or the TTC or what have you the they the airlines have mobility service providers, and those folks will meet you there wherever you're getting dropped off or, you know, starting your journey. And they will take you to whichever waypoint you need. So with Air Canada it's a little bit different. And not to get into the weeds, they would take you to a special aisle, but if it's any other airline, they would take you to one of our accessible self-serve check in kiosks or maybe to one of the counters help you with the baggage drop off and to the security. Kathy Saliba: And then once you pass security it depends. Every airline does it a little bit differently. Some have areas where they pass you on to someone else, depending how they have it structured. But there are some handovers from one agent to another. And and then they take you to the gate essentially. And then of course boarding the plane. So that's, that's very like high level departures and arrivals is pretty much the same in the sense that the service provider will meet you or the or, or your caregiver or what have you. They'll meet you at the aircraft and they'll take you through customs. You know, help you with the baggage and all the way to the curb. Or maybe the parking garage. And again, yes, there are handovers, especially if there's a connecting flight that they're trying to that is with a different airline, for instance. But but that's essentially the, the journey. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I just want to give a quick shout out to your agents Brent Bird and the gang. I am so, so, so, so pleased with each and every one of them. Whenever they meet me at the curb or they meet me upon arrival. Kudos. Kathy Saliba: Oh, thank you for the shout out. I know that you appreciate that. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yes, yes. Now, Pearson recently earned the Rick Hansen Foundation Foundation Golden certification in both terminals. Which specific design choices or refits proved decisive, and how do passengers directly benefit from them? On a typical travel day? Kathy Saliba: Oh, that. I love that question. So this was the reason I like it is because it was such a long project. It was a multi year. I think it took about five years altogether years of collaboration and a multi-million dollar investment to make these retrofits in terminals one and terminal three. You know, at the end of the day, what the Rick Hansen Gold certification is, it's their highest level that they award and it recognizes in general, not just airports, but any organization that goes really above and beyond creating those inclusive spaces. Right. And this predominantly, I would say it does focus on the built environment, like the physical environments, although I think now they've updated it and it encompasses other elements, but nonetheless there was a lot to fix because, you know, terminals get dated. So, you know, it's it's a weird one because I think there's a bunch of retrofits that were done that I wonder if passengers just walking through it don't even notice. As an example, there were hundreds of tactile attention indicators installed all over the place, and maybe a regular, I don't know, like someone just running a business person running through the airport might not notice them. And others, I hope, do so that, you know, they don't slip and fall before, you know they walk on a staircase as an example. Kathy Saliba: But I think that what I love about it is that it really impacted every passenger. Yes, it started off with passengers with disabilities, but every change was really for any passenger. And that's the beauty of accessibility. If you do it for one passenger, it really works for anyone. So now because of that work, all our self-serve check in kiosks are accessible. There's over 100 hearing loops at all our counters. For people who have the cochlear implants as an example more quiet spaces and what have you. So it just it really it some improvements you can really see and touch and then there's others that you can probably stroll through and not even notice because you just they've become part of the environment and, and it's, it's, it's something I can't imagine us not doing moving forward. Like we can't we couldn't live without it. So it was really impactful. But lots of sweat and tears went into that one because it was such a monstrous big undertaking. It's not easy to, you know, shut down parts of the airport to make changes on the curbside to you know, add paint in various parking garages and add glazing to windows and what have you. And it was all part of this project. It was, it was a big Herculean effort by by many. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Wow. I mean it sounds overwhelming Kathy Saliba: It was, but it was, it was well worth it. Well worth it. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Now you championed the hidden disabilities sunflower lanyard at Pearson. How does this small symbol change staff behavior. And what measurable impact have you seen for travelers with non-visible disabilities? Kathy Saliba: Yes. This has been a program that's been incredible. For listeners. Essentially what this program is, is it was started in the UK many years ago. To and it's basically a lanyard that you wear that's green with sunflowers on it. And what it does is it gives people staff, ideally a discreet visual cue that someone may need extra time, maybe clear communication or just some extra support because they have some kind of non-visible disability. It can be anything from, you know, autism to PTSD to some sort of learning disability or what have you. And I would say we've measured higher satisfaction scores with the sunflower lanyard than many other programs. And the anecdotal stories that we hear are so touching. And it really showcases that thanks to this program, people have had a smoother journey. It really the staff are so behind it and love this program, and it really shifted staff behavior from just, you know, routine interactions that they may have with passengers to definitely being a little a lot more empathetic. I and it's a big part of our education. We do lots of training. Some is more formal, but we also do a lot of activations just in and around the airport, where we meet airport employees and tell them about it. And you'd be surprised how many of these folks are not just, you know, passing by and grabbing, you know, the lanyard or we have these little pins that show their support and sometimes, you know, some nice giveaways. You'd think that people would just run on their way to work and grab the tchotchkes and keep going. People stay at our booth and want to learn about the program, or tell us personal stories of them knowing someone who has some sort of non-visible disability, or they themselves having a non visible disability. Kathy Saliba: So it's one of those things that, you know, if we get in front of the airport employees, they can easily get behind it. I think our challenge is that we have at the airport itself, not the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, who manages Pearson, but Pearson itself has over 50,000 8000 employees. So the challenge is definitely just having that continuous education. There's people that come and go, staff turnover, new people coming in. So it's an ongoing program that we have to keep refreshing people about. But it's one that's very well received. And the great thing about it is that not only has it recently been adopted by Air Canada and WestJet, so that helps promote it even more that, you know, you can grab a lanyard when you're on the plane or what have you, but it's a program that's well recognized around the world so you can be, you know, taking off at Pearson and have your lanyard on and you can be landing in Heathrow. And the folks at Heathrow will also understand what it's about. And you walk out of Heathrow, you know, hop on the tube or go to a theater there. It's so common there that you can have that end to end passenger journey, which is what I think makes it really really special. So yeah, it's a great program and it really has, I think, changed staff behavior for the better. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Good good good good. Now orientation is critical for blind and low vision passengers. How are the CNIB wayfinding beacons, tactile signage and mobile app performing in a practice? And what feedback loops keep them current? Kathy Saliba: I love I love these questions. It sounds really ask me these before. Kathy Saliba: So so I think the feedback loop and hearing from passengers is key. So as an example, let's talk about the beacons first. Yeah, they weren't very popular to be honest, and we weren't really getting too much feedback around them. So we thought to ourselves, well, where how can we help passengers who are blind have that independence. And we do have something called the IRA app, or now it's rebranded as it's called IRA explorer, right? We decided to focus more on that versus the beacons, the IRA explorer app, just really quickly for listeners. It's essentially, you know, you have your phone, you get to the airport anywhere at the airport doesn't have to be at the terminal. It could be at one of the parking garages. You open it up and you're connected automatically with a person or a live agent who uses your camera to look at your surroundings so they kind of can help guide you. And it's great in that you get more specific guidance. And you can also, you know, go to a store and be a little more specific on shopping. Say you're at duty free and looking for, I don't know, a specific wine. They can direct you more more towards that than versus just, you know a beacon that drops you off at duty free and you're kind of left to your own devices trying to figure out, you know, what to shop for as an example. Kathy Saliba: So it's definitely more independent and personalized. And we just had better feedback. So we decided let's focus on that. But that being said, now what can we do to improve you know, the mobile app experience and the tactile signage. And that's a work in progress. So the digital maps that we have are, are good. There's always room for improvement. And we've heard lots of great feedback from CNIB. So we're working with various consultants, third parties to improve that and and see how we can make them more user friendly. And that's a big one. Of course, the mobile app is fully accessible, and we're working on ways to make it more personalized so you can have more experiences that are tailored to you. And that includes ensuring that you know, if you know your flight number, if you know the gate, you can punch in a few things and be notified of gate changes or what have you while experiencing the airport, so you don't have to sit at the gate if you don't want to. You can go and shop, eat, do whatever you want to do and not be constricted to a certain place. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Boy, technology is really racing along and really giving us more opportunities, isn't it? Kathy Saliba: Oh, certainly a lightning speed. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah, too fast for me at times. I have to keep up with this. Kathy Saliba: As do we, as do we. We have to do the same thing. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Multiple contract terms touch a passenger's journey. So you have the wheelchair attendants security airline agents. How do you train and monitor okay these different teams so that the experience feels seamless rather than fragmented. Kathy Saliba: Well and that goes back to as I mentioned there are lots of contractors and we work the airlines are responsible for their passengers. But how do we work closely with them. So that we can really feedback that we can share our ideas and make it all better. So our airline relations team, of course, works really closely with all the airlines and their third party mobility service providers in incorporating all of that. And, you know, the they are responsible for their training, of course. But we also work hand in hand because there's, there's ways to share our learning. There's trainings that we do that might benefit them and vice versa. So it's very collaborative. And, and definitely a work in progress. But it, it's when it's done right, it's very impactful given the scale of how big the airport is, it's profound when we get... /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/38379760

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #43: Interview with Louise Gillis, Past President, Canadian Council of the Blind | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA | September 18, 2025 09/18/2025

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #43: Interview with Louise Gillis, Past President, Canadian Council of the Blind | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA | September 18, 2025 🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #43: Interview with Louise Gillis, Past President, Canadian Council of the Blind | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA | September 18, 2025 In this heartfelt episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan welcomes her mentor, friend, and advisor Louise Gillis for an intimate conversation about resilience, leadership, and the power of community. Louise traces her path from nursing in Cape Breton to national advocacy after sudden vision loss in the late 1990s, describing how volunteering with CNIB and the Canadian Council of the Blind ignited a full-time commitment to barrier-busting. She shares a mentoring philosophy rooted in listening first and matching advocates to the issues they care about, from transportation and health systems to hospital accessibility, and reminds listeners that White Cane Week is a year-round mindset of education and celebration. The discussion spotlights signature wins and hard-won lessons: Louise's petition-led campaign that secured provincial funding for Lucentis and expanded treatment clinics beyond Halifax; practical advice to regulators from her work on the Canadian Transportation Agency's advisory group; and hands-on ferry audits with Marine Atlantic that turned user feedback into better signage and wayfinding. She celebrates accessible currency milestones, underscores gaps in emergency planning revealed by COVID-19 (and tools like ArriveCAN), and champions sport as proof that blindness isn't a barrier, recalling live-streamed vision-impaired curling events and competing for a national title at 76. Louise closes with a call to younger advocates: seek mentors, stay curious, and never isolate, because progress is built together. TRANSCRIPT Podcast Commentator: Greetings. Podcast Commentator: 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, sight 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: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary. I'm Donna Johnson, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, touch and stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments. In November of 2010, I won the Landmark Charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites accessible to every Canadian, not just to sighted ones. In July of 2019, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act with more than two dozen disability groups to turn equal access into federal law and most recently, on June the 3rd, 2022. I was greatly humbled by Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers. When I'm not in a courtroom or committee room or pottery studio, you'll find me coaching kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies to make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles one goal to turn accessibility from afterthought into everyday practice. I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench where policy meets live experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today's conversation, let me shine a spotlight on today's Guest Changemaker, whose work is as every bit as remarkable as the world that we are trying to build. Louise Gillis, my mentor, my friend and my advisor. Welcome to our podcast. Louise Gillis: Thank you very much, Donna. I'm very pleased to be here on this podcast and look forward to our interview. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay. So are we ready? Louise Gillis: We're ready. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay. So, Louise, would you start by sharing a little about your journey Need from nursing in Cape Breton to becoming a national leader in the blindness home community. What was the turning point that made you do this? Well. Louise Gillis: It was a major turning point when the fact that had lost the most of my sight very suddenly while at work in the health care system. So on that day, I had to leave work and never did return. But after a number of months of kind of moping and saying, there's more to life than just watching soaps, which I definitely do not like. So. So I said, I got to get out and find something, so I did. Then after many attempts, finally crossed the threshold of Cnib to see what was available. And I guess there I did learn a lot and learned about accessibility and and people needing assistance to get around and do that, because although I only had sight in one eye, I didn't really have a whole lot of vision will say in the whole blind community. So there's my time to to learn that and find out about people and going out as a a volunteer volunteer coordinator with the Cnib, I got to meet a lot of different people who were blind. And I think that's the when I realized how much there needs to be done to improve the quality of life for people with sight loss. And it's during that time, too, that I was acquainted, got acquainted with the Canadian Council of the blind and began there And once I found that organization and joined with them shortly thereafter, within that same year, I kind of got thrown into it because because they said, you know, the stuff. So let's try and get this thing going. So in our own province, we didn't have a whole lot of work going on because the persons that were there before the my, my mentor at the time and she said, we'll have to find, find out how we can improve this here in the province. Louise Gillis: So that's what we set out to do. And within a very short time, we had the whole province up and running and learning the, the needs for the province with, for people with sight loss, whatever level it was, it didn't matter. And then from there, we both went to the national level directly as delegates for the province. And soon there I was understanding a whole lot more about blindness that I never knew from my working career, because I did deal with people who were blind, but not to the extent of what other barriers they're running against. And now facing those similar barriers myself. I knew it was time to to keep on moving. So within that year that I got or shortly thereafter my next year, I got appointed to the advocacy committee. I said, well, what do I know about that? Not realizing that I was doing that all along. Right. And in fact, doing it all along, basically, since I was a child, because of different disability that I had from the age of two, that being told at that time that I was not able to go to school or continued education, that I wasn't smart enough to go to university or do any of those types of things. So I said, well, I am and I want to do this. I want to be a nurse. So I fought my way through those channels, and and I made it through my diploma program quite well on the top ten on my list in the province. So I was not. Not so dumb after all, I guess. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I know. Louise Gillis: You're not. So. So anyway, that just progressed me into doing more. So I got into full time work with nursing then, and that's when I realized that there's more to advocacy than just what you see for yourself at this moment. And then once I got into the organizations like CCB and Cnib, I realized a lot more about it. And that's when I got into full time as a full time advocate. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Quite a journey. Louise Gillis: It was a journey. And, you know, lots of ups and downs in that time. But you have to overcome them and realize that there is light at the end of the tunnel, one way or another may not be what you are looking for, but it is a different route that you may have to take, and that's the route that you follow. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Now, many listers are who are curious about sudden vision loss and how it reshapes a career and life. What were the biggest personal and professional adjustments that you faced when your site changed in the late 1990s, and how did you navigate them? Louise Gillis: Well, I guess the first one was the the shock of losing most of my site. How am I how am I going to do anything now? Because I had one career left right? And nursing. In nursing, I was not able to continue to do that type of work, so I had to go on a disability. Long term disability. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right. Louise Gillis: And again, at that same time, there really wasn't the the tools for me to keep on working in the profession in a different range of work, which now, in this day and age, there is other things that could have been doing and could have done. Well, I'm sure, but didn't have that opportunity. So that's when I had to change from my personal adjustments, professional adjustments into finding another way to use that, because I had just graduated in May, and this happened to me in September, in May from my Bachelor of Science in nursing, which I took throughout the five previous years on a part time basis while working full time and caring for family as well. And, and did very well in that, as you know, was on the Dean's list for, for doing that. So just to like four months after graduating, losing my sight and not being able to use the degree I had worked in or worked for. So I had to start thinking, how can I use that? So with the advocacy again, that's where it came in. Talking with other people that I met along the way. And you find mentors such as yourself in different ways to to to help you adjust and find out exactly what you are looking for and what you need to do to achieve your goals there. So that's how I came about. Overcoming them mostly is just trying to push forward and saying, shake this off. I got to do something. I'm not sitting home. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Not many people are able to do that. So, I mean, I know that my listeners would be really impressed and motivated to hear you say this. You know. Louise Gillis: It's not an easy thing to do, but you really have to talk to yourself a lot and say, I can do this, and I need to do this for others too, to so that they don't have to follow in my footsteps. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And that's very selfless of you and very motivating, if I may say so. Louise Gillis: Thank you for that. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. You and I first crossed, crossed paths while I was leading the Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians. And you have been a steadfast advisor ever since. What principles guide the way you mentor fellow advocates, and why do you think mentorship matters? Well. Louise Gillis: First off, I like to get to know the person a bit better, especially if I've never really met the person before. Find out what their interests are in like they somebody may be like to just get more sports or somebody might else may like to get more medical approvals and somebody else may like to move, have better transportation. So you find out what their kind of interests are, what their background may be in those places, and start working through with them and see what they really have. And then they realize, like I did that the, the they actually had the effect, the factors needed to become an advocate if they really wanted to pursue that method. So they had to just kind of shake things off and say, okay, I can do this. But then providing them with places that they could get hints of where to work with transportation or where to work with medical systems, whatever that may be. Medications or, or any of the stuff that works with that, even in the hospital to make sure that the hospital is accessible, those types of things. How to You find those maybe governmental or legal or or just general committees to get on the committees and find out what the whole association is like that you're interested in, so that you can then go forward with that. Mentorship really matters because you can struggle along the way. If you don't have somebody to fall back on when you say, well, I have this issue and I'm thinking about doing it this way, is this the best way to go about it, or should I do it some other way? So then you talk about the item with your person and then you just make the decision. Do you feel comfortable doing it this way or how else can you approach this? We got to think of the ways to go about it. So I think it matters a lot to have mentorship. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: It does. It really does. Now you led the push for provincial coverage of Lucentis to treat wet, age related macular degeneration. How did you build the coalition that ultimately convinced government to fund that life changing medication? Louise Gillis: Well, again, that is a tricky method, but I discovered that there was somebody in the opposition of the provincial government who was quite eager to have this drug passed as well. So working with that person, we got together and got a petition, petition set up so that we could get it around, then found other people in the blind community, but also in the sighted community to to help circulate that that petition so that we can get lots of signatures on it. And then after a period of time, whatever. I can't recall exactly how long it took, but just a couple of weeks, I guess. And we continued with that, and I brought the petition to the. This particular politician and she was going to present it in the local. Nova Scotia Parliament, and I was invited to sit in the gallery at that time. During the presentation. And that was going to be it. I had tried many times before to speak with the Minister of Health in that office about it. And I always got the answer. Well, there's no money for that now. There's no money. We can't do this. Yeah. So anyway, when we did this and that minister who was in the in the opposition, that sorry politician who is in the opposition, she built a very strong statement to put with this petition And then everybody in the gallery and in the audience really were clapping that we had made such a major number of commitments by people to have this done, that it went forward and it was approved at that time. But like the petition was accepted, I should say, at that time. And then shortly after that part was finished, somebody came to tap me on the shoulder while I was in the gallery and says, the health minister wants to see you in her office. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh. Oh, no. Louise Gillis: Oh, yeah. Exactly. Oh, no. So I kind of got a little faint for a minute, but anyway I said okay. So off we went to the office to, to see this to speak with the minister, and she was there with her secretary, I guess it would be. And we talked about it and again several times she said, well, we don't have it. I said, I'm not here for me, and I. I said, it's too late for me. I've lost my sight and there's no changing that. You know the damage is done and I know I said I'm here. And I pointed to her and the other lady. I said, I'm here for you. You don't know what tomorrow brings. Because my life was changed in the blink of an eye. And that can happen to you as well. Right? Right. I said I just told her. Then you know that that is it. That's my last statement. And it is. You know, I learned that you're if you have a half hour to try and get out in 20 minutes. So I knew my 20 minutes was about up. So I said, that's my last comment. And we started out. So she's opened the door partway for me, but I had to put my hand up to the door to hold it open. And on that hand was my graduation ring. Whoa. And she was a a lady who had graduated from Saint Novak's, lived in the town and was a member of parliament from that town. And she realized, oh, well, when did you graduate from. She says to me, just as a, you know, common courtesy to recognize the ring. Yes. I said, four months before I lost my sight loss. And I said, that can happen to you anytime. Wow. Out the door I left. And then we were having our national convention in in Sydney here just a couple of months later. That was in the summer. So about two months later, I guess it was. And we were in the middle of the meeting and somebody came to me and said, you have a call from the health minister. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh, no. Louise Gillis: Oh, no. I guess I better go get this. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. Louise Gillis: So anyway, I went off and talked to her, and she said Lucentis has been approved to be given, but it's only going to be given in Halifax. And I said, well, thank you very much for getting it approved. I really appreciate that. But Halifax alone is not good enough. I said, we have people all over the province who have to drive, and it takes a day to get there, you know? A day before to get there for an appointment and then you're there for most of the day, so you can't get home early that day. So it's another overnight. Many people don't have the money to pay for two hotels, plus a driver to take them, or a family member who has to leave work to get there and do this. You have to do better than that. We need clinics in different areas. My suggestion to you, because I'm from Cape Breton, I think the first clinic should be in Cape Breton. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay. Louise Gillis: And she said, well, I'll see what I can do. It won't be for a number of years yet. Oh, well, I'm I'll you'll be hearing from me again if it's not soon. So anyway, that time went on, and within the less than a year, I got another call from her saying that the first clinic had been approved in Glace Bay, which is in Cape Breton, And that's where it was. And then soon after that, there'll be more. And now it can be given in many places across the province. So that's how that that was changed. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Wow. Louise Gillis: Just getting to know people and being I guess not pushy but being firm and not being cross or ignorant or anything like that. But just stay in your mind. But in a, in a strong voice seems to make the difference. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I think what resonates with me from your little commentary here is it could happen to you and many people really do not think of it that way. Louise Gillis: No, they don't know for sure. I certainly never did know. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Well, wow. I'm impressed. Now, as a member of the Canadian Transportation Agencies As Ability Advisory group, you have scrutinized everything from curbside assistance to airline seating. What pieces of advice would you give regulators today to make travel truly barrier free? Louise Gillis: I think the best thing is now that we have you know, really have improved quite a bit with the Accessible Canada Act and the different some provinces coming up with the Nova Scotia and others with their accessible acts. I think with all these things and developing standards and regulations, that travel has to be barrier free and people need to know that and understand it, but it's to get out and ask the people who need the the barrier free travel. What will best help you to get to where you need to go? You know travel... /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/38293265

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #42: Interview with Robert Lattanzio, Executive Director of ARCH Disability Law Centre, Toronto | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA | September 17, 2025 09/17/2025

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #42: Interview with Robert Lattanzio, Executive Director of ARCH Disability Law Centre, Toronto | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA | September 17, 2025 🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #42: Interview with Robert Lattanzio, Executive Director of ARCH Disability Law Centre, Toronto | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA | September 17, 2025 In this engaging episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan sits down with Robert (Rob) Lattanzio, Executive Director of ARCH Disability Law Centre, for a candid conversation about how durable partnerships between community advocates and lawyers are built on trust, shared values, and a relentless commitment to disability rights. Rob traces ARCH's roots as a Legal Aid, funded, test-case poverty law clinic founded in 1979/1980, now in its 45th year, explaining its unique mandate: systemic litigation, law reform and rights education grounded in lived experience, alongside direct legal services and free, confidential advice for Ontarians with disabilities. He and Donna unpack ARCH's holistic approach to choosing test cases, the importance of long-standing community relationships, and how a provincial mandate can yield national impact. The discussion highlights hard-won lessons from their joint victories, such as accessible air travel breakthroughs and why strategically crafted settlements can dismantle systemic barriers as powerfully as courtroom rulings, before turning to movement-level milestones like ARCH's behind-the-scenes legal analysis and coalition-building during the Accessible Canada Act's passage. Rob spotlights the Respecting Rights program, which pairs self-advocates labeled with intellectual disabilities and legal professionals to deliver arts-based rights education, and he urges emerging disability-rights lawyers to "never be outworked": prepare rigorously for both the probable and the improbable. He closes with a message about the strength of collective action, pointing to recent UN CRPD reviews where coordinated advocacy produced strong recommendations, proof that collaboration, continuity, and community voice drive real change. 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, sight 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 Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary. I'm Donna Jodhan, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, touch and stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments. In November of 2010, I won a landmark charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites accessible to every Canadian, not just to cited ones. In July of 2019, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act with more than 2000 disability groups to turn equal access into federal law. And most recently, on June the 3rd, 2022, I was humbled by Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers. When I'm not in a courtroom or a committee room or a pottery studio, you'll find me coaching kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles. One goal to turn accessibility from an afterthought into everyday practice. I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench where policy meets lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today's conversation, let me shine a quick spotlight on today's guest, a change maker whose work is every bit as remarkable as the world we're trying to build. Rob Lattanzio, it is my pleasure and privilege to welcome you to my podcast. Welcome. Robert Lattanzio: Thank you so much, Donna. Thank you for this invitation. It's an absolute pleasure to be on your remarkable podcast. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Great. So, Rob, over the past nine years we have collaborated on some really great landmark cases. How would you describe the working chemistry that has evolved between us? And what, in your view, makes a lawyer advocate partnership thrive? Robert Lattanzio: That's a great question. I really like that, Donna. It's a great way to start this. The first word that comes to my mind is trust. I think there are probably a lot of other words that would really accurately describe what what makes for a really good partnership in this kind of context? I think and I'm thinking, you know, as you began your, your, intro your landmark case at the federal court years ago might have been you know, one of the first times that we, we worked together, we were representing the Alliance for Quality of Blind Canadians and as an intervener. And so I think it just makes me think how important that is, like part of part of the, the sort of trust which is the first word that kind of came to mind. But you know, having, having a shared understanding and having you know, the benefit of that, right in, in, in doing the work that we do when there are these pre-existing relationships, both organizationally and on an individual basis, we you know, those relationships are based on mutual respect, right? The shared commitment to advancing disability rights and full inclusion, And shared values and missions and, and and and these are all really important things that get built up over time. You know, maybe in our case, we can throw in the love for the Habs as well. Right. Which which helps in terms of our go Habs go with, with you know, I mean, I think you know, and, and and certainly you know, these are important things. Robert Lattanzio: I mean, in the work that we do, we, we develop friendships, close friendships, you know, organizationally, we have close you know, close, close ties with other organizations. And I think, you know, our, our friendship stems from the work that we do. But it goes beyond that, right? Like this work, you know, which is why the community development work and capacity building work that we do is so important. And it's so vital to ultimately the, you know, the taking on of systems, right, systems changing work and test case litigation. I think it contributes to important work, like identifying the issues, identifying strategic opportunities for change. Being able to to have a deeper understanding of the issues, you know, having these ongoing relationships. It also means continuity in the work. Right? And in the development of that work and of those advocacy strategies I think it allows, you know, perhaps even more creativity and allows for more risk to be taken as well in developing positions and arguments. So so I think, you know, in the work that we do, I mean, we certainly on behalf of arch, we couldn't do the work we do without without you, Donna, and without other advocates and other organizations that we work with. It's certainly, certainly not possible, nor nor would we ever want to do that in isolation. It's just core to to how we we do our work. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: We sure have a brilliant record to be very proud of, don't we? Robert Lattanzio: Exactly. And I and I think that, you know, that goes to, again, the, the importance of building that sort of mutual respect in, in, in taking on the type of work that we do. Right. Having having the type of work relationship, you know, that allows for that allows, for example, difficult conversations to be had. I mean, this is so generally, you know, we're talking about the sort of advocate lawyer relationship or, you know, organisation to organisation type of relationship. Some of this also applies. Or a lot of this applies in the more traditional Additional solicitor client relationship as well. And it's really difficult to work through complex issues thinking about, for example, at mediation or how to frame a particular argument within, within a complex legal framework or a complex set of facts or whatever, you know, whatever may be presented. Really difficult to work through that in a way that's meaningful for everyone and in the way that you know, represents everyone's voices. If there isn't that level of of trust building. Right, and that that mutual you know, that confidence. Right. And, and the, the mutual respect that happens. So it is it is so critical. You know, it's critical generally in the practice of law. Right. But in the work we do, again, you know, we couldn't do the work. And it goes beyond litigation, just all the work we do, the community building, the capacity building, community development, our projects, law reform. We just couldn't do that without, you know, without really taking the time to to really foster and maintain meaningful relationships in communities. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Now, many listeners may not realize that art is a specialty legal aid clinic focused exclusively on disability rights. How would you explain its unique mandate and place within Canada's access to justice landscape? Robert Lattanzio: Yeah. Thank you for that question, Donna. We are funded primarily by Legal Aid Ontario. We are a test case. Poverty law, community legal clinic. And as you mentioned, we practice exclusively in advancing disability rights within a provincial mandate. We also, beyond our provincial mandate, will take on some work that on a policy level that has national and international implications as well. And some of the cases that we take, all of our cases are you know, from within Ontario. But but they may have national implications, right. And we we do have, you know, we've we've I think we've had a very unique and important place within the disability rights movement in Canada. Arch was incorporated. So a bit of a history lesson if if that's okay. Donna. We were we were incorporated in 1979 in December and opened our doors in January of 1980. So this is our 45th year. And so it's been, you know, it's been a while. I certainly wasn't around in those days here at the office. Anyway, I was around. So the work that we do is, is, is still you know, very, very similar to to the sort of the, the the thinking and, and and the, the those early days in terms of what art can be you know, we we are we, we continue to be a test case clinic. We do systemic work. We do that in different ways. Robert Lattanzio: We do law reform work, policy research. We again work alongside community. We do public legal education and rights education community development and capacity building. And and in addition to the test case work, we also do The sort of direct legal services work as well. We'll do various types of, of legal work. And and we also offer a service to all persons in Ontario with disabilities that allows for people to get free, confidential legal advice for this service in particular, regardless of of financial eligibility for other services, financial eligibility would, would, would apply and on on various areas of law. So we, we get calls from people and are contacted by people with disabilities all over the province a number of different areas of law. And we provide advice and then we may refer if those cases are not cases that we can help with and others, we, we can take on and provide direct legal representation and some of those, you know, would be identified as test cases, and we would proceed in that way. So we you know, I think along the way, I think there were a lot of a lot of firsts, you know, for for arch, I think arch when it opened its doors, really was the, the sort of first of its kind, right. As a, as a disability rights clinic in Canada. Robert Lattanzio: And you know, I think arch has been a leader, you know, since that time in disability rights test case litigation. We've either represented persons with disabilities as a party to the litigation or or groups as interveners. So I think what's really interesting about arch and I, you know, and I think there are a lot of things but as you know, arch was one of the reasons I even went to law school, let alone, you know, wanting to work here. It really was an organization that was born out of the disability rights movement in Canada. It was founded by the coming together of disability advocates and leaders at the time to essentially create a space where advocacy efforts would be grounded in legal discourse and through legal challenges. In many ways is perhaps a product of of the need to legitimize the movement by creating a community legal clinic that can provide legal expertise on issues of of greatest importance to people with disabilities and to seek systemic change through legal challenges and other legal work. You know, to, to build that kind of legal expertise that was really focused on disability, but but was within situated within, you know, disability communities. Right. Which I, which I always thought to be, you know, just just just incredibly like, as, as a, as a legal practitioner, just incredibly fascinating, right. To, to practice in that way. Robert Lattanzio: Which drew me here given my interest in disability rights, but but it's just a remarkable way to practice law because we, we practice law in a very holistic way. Right? We don't when when issues come before us, however, they may come before us. We don't think about it as well. Okay. We will be represented to you know, to represent at this court on, on this issue, we, we first take a step back and kind of work with our communities and figure out what this issue is. And through a holistic approach, you know, we really start thinking about, well, what's what are the the sort of the key issues and what are the strategic priorities and, and how can we be most effective And sometimes litigating isn't the, you know, the only answer, or maybe not the most effective answer. Or maybe there are other things that need to happen before. And so we we we have all that at our disposal as we work through with our communities. We work through these issues. Another thing I would say to keep in mind, you know, as I talked a little bit about the history and, and how arch began you know, through through the leadership of the day within the communities. But we should keep in mind that at that time, disability wasn't even protected in most human rights legislation. It certainly wasn't in Ontario. Robert Lattanzio: Nor was disability included in the equality provision in the early versions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. So, you know, very different landscape, right? Like this. This would have been quite revolutionary at the time. And and so, you know, one of the first significant files that arch took on was to work with disability groups with, with advocates and leaders in the disability communities as legal counsel to, to amend Ontario's human rights code to include disability as a protected ground. So it was you know, these are very yeah, very, very different times you know than than maybe we, we remember. Right. So I think it was it really was the first and only place like it, you know, at the time within disability communities across Canada. And like I said, today, we really continue to work closely with our communities. We continue with our test case litigation practice and all of our policy and law reform, work and rights, education work and so on. As I mentioned earlier And and as I as I mentioned, certainly if there's anyone who wants to contact us for some legal advice and who's in Ontario, please do not hesitate to give us a call. And if it's something that we cannot help you with, we would certainly do our best to refer you to a place that can help you. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay, now, you articled at arch in 2003, and eventually you became the executive director in 2015, I think. Yeah. What lessons do from those early years still shape your leadership style today? Robert Lattanzio: Well I can tell you that there have been many lessons along the way. Yeah, it feels like a long, a long sort of journey. There's there's one that comes to mind in particular and that's I think always influenced my, my approach and my leadership and my mentoring. And I think it's to fully understand and appreciate the importance of what we do. You know why we do it? Why what we do matters to our clients and our communities as as a nonprofit with a with a mandate like ours. There's I find there's a weight and a responsibility that comes with it. And we need to always strive for excellence in everything that we do. Our clients and our communities deserve nothing less. Right. In my experience, it's very seldom that the easiest solution is the most effective and impactful. Right? So we need to really work at it. We need to be creative. We need to be critical of everything. So there's a so if I was to encapsulate that in a word, you know, I think the lesson I really try to impart is there's a high level of rigor that is always required in everything we do. Never let up. And I think I've learned. That a while ago, I guess, but that we are often, or quite frankly, always outresourced by opposing parties and big firms and governments and, and so while we may be outresourced, we should never be outworked. And that's, you know, something I always try to drill in everyone here who works here. I've learned over the years, you know, different ways of, of of continuing to punch over your weight, you know, like above your weight class. And and I think that's what our movement and our communities continue to do so effectively as well. Right. So so I really try to to continue to bring that into everything that we do. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Let's dive into some of our victories, our 2018 Canadian Human Rights Commission commission settlement with the Greater Toronto Airport Authority. And this was was a turning point for accessible air travel. Right. What strategic decisions inside arch made that success possible in your opinion? Robert Lattanzio: Well, I really like this question. I'm going to begin with I thought. Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You would. Yeah. Robert Lattanzio: Well, I. Yeah. I mean, I think there's there's something here that Maybe this will come up later, but I, I, I want to start by talking about how, you know, it's easy for us to, to talk about you know, good decisions and litigation and strategy and so on. But it, it it always, you know, first and foremost comes down to our clients, right, persons with disabilities who come to us, who are in vulnerable situations, who are in crisis, who have a lot of a lot going on. Right. They're, they're they're not in in a position where you know, at times, you know, they feel they don't have choices, Places. But there is there is a level of of courage, right. And a level of, of strength that comes with this. Right. We couldn't do what we do if it not for our clients who come to us and, and, and put themselves through the rigors of what is, you know, litigation and and they do this, you know, not only on behalf of themselves, but do this for others. Right? They do this to help others across the province, across the country. And and you're one of those people. So thank you. I think it just needs to be stated, right, that we would never have, you know, all of these all of these decisions that law students read and, you know, and sometimes it becomes a little bit... /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/38293230

Remarkable World Commentary Episode #41: Interview with Paul Jorgenson, Assistant Director, Stakeholder Mobilization, Elections Canada | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA | September 16, 2025 🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #41: Interview with Paul Jorgenson, Assistant Director, Stakeholder Mobilization, Elections Canada | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA | September 16, 2025 In this episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan welcomes Elections Canada changemaker Paul Jorgenson for a candid look at how accessibility is woven into Canada's federal elections. The two revisit their first collaboration at the 2019 coast-to-coast disability town halls and unpack why Elections Canada grounds its services in lived experience, from Canadians with disabilities to Indigenous communities, youth, newcomers, and electors experiencing homelessness. Jorgenson explains his remit as Assistant Director for Stakeholder Mobilization, a role that is busiest between elections as his team builds partnerships, runs consultations, audits programs, and keeps the agency ready to deliver whenever a vote is called. The conversation turns practical, spotlighting the Inspire Democracy toolkits for registering and voting, working at a federal election, and running as a candidate, available in accessible formats (including ASL/LSQ video) and developed with stakeholder input. Listeners get clear guidance on options that fit different needs: voting at a local Elections Canada office to avoid crowds; using Braille or large-print aids; vote-at-home services for homebound electors; and voting by mail, plus a simple "ask, listen, do" service model and a live-operator hotline to resolve accessibility issues on the spot. Jorgenson also reflects on trust: while Elections Canada remains highly regarded, confidence can dip as disability severity increases; his closing advice is to carry a high expectation of service and make a personal plan to vote. 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, sight 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: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary. I'm Donna Jodhan, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, touch and stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments. In November 2010, I won the Landmark Charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites accessible to every Canadian, not just to sighted ones. In July of 2019, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act with more than two dozen disability groups to turn equal access into federal law and most recently, on June the 3rd, 2022, I was humbled by Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers. When I'm not in a courtroom or in a committee room or pottery studio, you'll find me coaching kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies to make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles one goal to turn accessibility from afterthought into everyday practice. I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench where policy meets lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today's conversation, let me shine a spotlight on today's guest. A change maker whose work is as every bit as remarkable as the world that we're trying to build. Paul Jorgensen of Elections Canada, welcome to our podcast. Paul Jorgenson: Donna, thank you so much for having me. It's a huge pleasure to be here. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Great. So let's start off here by question one. Paul, you and I first crossed paths during election Canada's coast to coast disability town hall in 2019. Could you start by explaining why Elections Canada felt that it was important to hear directly from Canadians with disabilities, and what the agency learned from those conversations? Paul Jorgenson: Yeah, I'd be happy to. It's true, actually. We we crossed paths in 2019. But I've actually been familiar with you for quite a bit longer than that. Your landmark court case really was very impactful to me personally. And I've, I've, I've been an admirer of yours for, you know, the nine years between that court case and when we actually first met there. So even though that was the first time we had crossed paths I was I was very familiar and very familiar with you and your work, and I was so tickled when I learned that I was going to get a chance to work with you in 2019, when we first, when we first met. And so yeah. So to answer the question Elections Canada is a really rare organization in a number of different ways. And I was you know, I have lots of experience working as a, as a consultant, as a web developer. I have experience in the private sector, public sector and nonprofit sector. And to be honest, I have never met an organization anywhere that is as truly committed to having its to hearing from partners and stakeholders and the people we serve as Elections Canada. Paul Jorgenson: And it is really baked into the DNA of this organization to have our services and have our work be based on the lived experience of the people we serve. And that includes Canadians with disabilities. So, you know, my team we work extensively with people with disabilities as well as indigenous people young people and new Canadians electors experiencing homelessness all kinds of other electors who face barriers. And our whole goal is to understand the barriers that they face and understand the barriers that they face and to take action to do whatever we can to tear those barriers down. So it's, a Y. Elections Canada felt it was important is quite simply because the agency has made it a priority to hear directly from Canadians with disabilities. And, and we see this not just at my level, but up to the highest levels of the agency. Our CEO, the chief electoral officer of Canada, gave a technical briefing yesterday where he mentioned the importance of accessible voting. On numerous occasions. So this truly is something that is felt in Elections Canada from top to bottom, left to right. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And I will certainly add that this has been a really, really unique organization for me to work with. I've enjoyed every minute of it, and I want to congratulate you and your team for having continued to do this. Well, good for you. Paul Jorgenson: Thanks, Donna. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You're welcome. So since then, you have moved into the role of Assistant director for stakeholder mobilization. And in plain language, what does that job involve for one week to the next, especially between elections when most people assume that nothing is really happening behind the scenes? Paul Jorgenson: Yeah, it's a great question. I get asked that often. You know, sort of. Oh, you work for Elections Canada? Well, what do you do when there's not an election? Yeah. And with with my work and the and the work that my team does, we're we're sort of a bit of an odd duck as far as the agency is concerned, because in many ways, we're actually busier between elections than we are during elections. That's not to say we're not very busy during an election, but what we've heard from our partners yourself included. But from a lot of our partners, is that the types of audiences that we are looking to reach, you know, people that face barriers, you know, indigenous partners, people with disabilities, you know, all of these partners that the you know, they're all different. They all have unique considerations and different barriers. But one thing that unites them, one sort of thread that connects all of these things together, is that they all have been very clear to us that we need to be engaging them well in advance of the election. You can't just show up when the election starts and say, all right, here you go. Here's your your Braille template or here's your whatever. We they really insist on the importance of doing that engagement long in advance so that people know about their democratic rights and people know about the tools and services available for them. And people know about you know, the different options in terms of voting times and things like that so that they can make a plan to vote, because these electors have just as much a democratic right to vote and to run as a candidate in office. Paul Jorgenson: But, you know, they might need just a bit more time to plan life stuff around it. And so that's why my team's actually engaged throughout the electoral cycle. If it's not in the direct administration of, you know, helping to deliver an election and things like that, then what we're doing is reaching out and building partnerships with key Interveners and key organizations who are willing to work with us to break down these barriers, whether it be through consultations or whether it be through establishing contracts to you know, share information and accessible formats with their audiences and you know, deliver workshops or attend events or do other sort of outreach initiatives. So, you know, one of the things that's great about my job is that it's not the same thing from one week to the next. It's, you know, we're always busy. We're always working hard. But you know, after an election, my job involves a lot of, you know, retrospective. Did we actually meet the objectives that we set out to meet? Is our program actually delivering the results for people with disabilities for you know, indigenous electors for all of our other stakeholder audiences that that we have intended and what can we do better? And then there's, you know, setting up these partnerships and then there's delivering on it. So there's really sort of a, a bit of a cycle. And it's not necessarily the same from week to week, but there is that sort of common Thread that that is sort of a throughput from one election to the next. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: The election is now over since April, and now you're busy again until the next election, which is should be, what, 2029? Paul Jorgenson: Well, I mean, I wish that we knew the date of the next the next election. The, the parliamentary system means that, you know, the government you know, an election could be called at any time if the government loses a confidence vote or asks for the governor general to dissolve parliament. So you know, Elections Canada's mandate is to be ready at any moment to deliver an election. So it's, you know, if if we go the full you know, four years, then yes, it would be around that time. But we have to actually make sure that we're ready well, before then, just in case there's a there's an election earlier. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh, wow. So you and I have been collaborating on voter confidence toolkits aimed at Canadians who are blind, visually impaired, or have other disabilities. Can you walk our audience through what those toolkits include and how they can get them to to how they can get them to into accessible formats? Paul Jorgenson: Yeah, absolutely. I'd be happy to. So the the toolkits are we have three toolkits actually, and each one is intended to break down key barriers to a different type of electoral participation. So at Elections Canada, we define Find electoral participation as not just registering and voting. Obviously, registering and voting is is the biggest one. It's the one people think about. But we also consider running as a candidate in a federal election as a type of a really very meaningful, important type of electoral participation. And so we have a toolkit on running as a candidate, breaking down barriers on how to run as a candidate in a federal election. We've got a toolkit on working at a federal election. Elections Canada is we we recognize and are committed to trying to have our workforce represent the Canadians that we serve. You know, a lot of people don't know that every federal election we become the biggest employer in the country, and we hire more than 200,000. I think, you know, in the last election, we hit 230,000 people hired Retired in order to deliver that election. And we need and want them to reflect the full diversity of the Canadian population. So my team has a toolkit specifically on this recruitment piece to help demystify the process of working at a federal election. And we go to different communities and we we, we promote this and try to encourage our audiences to submit their application, come help their fellow Canadians you know, to vote and help us deliver the election. And then we've got a third toolkit that's on registering and voting you know, sort of the big one, the, the, the obvious one that everybody thinks about there, you know, and each of these are going to be a little bit different because, you know, it's a very, as you can imagine, a very different endeavor to you know, set out to go and you know, run in a federal election versus working in a federal election versus, you know, registering and voting in a federal election. Paul Jorgenson: But you know, these toolkits are all available on our program's website, which is Inspire Democracy. And you can just go to the act section. It's you know, learn, act, connect, and you can just go to act. And the toolkits are right there. It's you'll be pleased to know, Donna, that Donna, that the the website is fully wcaG compliant fully wcaG 2.1 compliant. And it's actually it actually exceeds the standard of your, your federal court case there. So it's we really work with a really fantastic web developer team at Elections Canada. And they're very deeply committed to ensuring that that this is accessible. And we also have made these toolkits accessible in other formats, including for for deaf electors in ASL and Lsq format. The video format as well. So that's another really helpful thing. And it's also available in English and French. Because we've heard from a lot of stakeholders that those formats are helpful for people with learning disabilities or people with you know, traumatic brain injury. It can be helpful to have a video format where you can sort of have the information come in that way, pause, walk away from it, come back. So we offer it in multiple formats and multiple styles. And the toolkits themselves were developed in consultation with our stakeholders, including people representing people with disabilities. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I have to smile to myself because I remember a few months ago, or even last year, you were trying to convince me to run as a candidate, and I kept telling you, no way. Paul Jorgenson: I stand by that. I still think you should. I think you'd be a fantastic candidate, Donna. I think the running is in a federal election toolkit would be a great place to start. I think you'd do absolutely phenomenal work. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh my gosh. Thank you so much. Let's move on. The advisory Group for Disability Issues, where I served reports regularly on gaps we still see. So can you give listeners an example of feedback from that group that has turned into a policy or operational change? Paul Jorgenson: Yeah I can give you a couple if you like actually. Sure. So one really meaningful change that took place in 2018, 2019. So based on feedback that we'd heard from the advisory Group for Disability Issues, or AGD, as we often call it. In short we proposed to Parliament. We asked Parliament to amend the Canada Election Act which they thankfully did. They agreed to our recommendation to add in not one, but two different expense expense claims that are valid for candidates running for office. So we were able, with that legislative change, to offer two different accessibility expenses, one for candidates themselves who have a disability and who will incur some sort of you know, personal expenses related to their disability in the course of running for a campaign that could be anything from you know, the need for a sign language interpreter to you know, if they need to have you know, level access modifications made to you know, an office location to, you know, you name it, right? That was a new disability related expense that we have offered since 2019 to all candidates with disabilities. And that is those expenses incurred are reimbursable up to 90%. And moreover, those expenses are not covered under the the campaign spending threshold because they're related to the candidate's disability themselves. So I think that's really frankly, game changer. And and then that that's not the end of the story that's also partnered with Second Accessibility Expense, which is for any campaign, regardless of whether it's you know, the person, the candidate themselves has a disability or not. If there's a campaign that wants to make their campaign more accessible again, for example, you know, could be installing, you know, some sort of level access you know ramps or whatever for their campaign offices. Paul Jorgenson: Or it could be hiring sign language interpreter to animate events or debates or it could be to undertake an accessibility audit of their websites or, you know, developing communication products and alternate formats. You know, you name it. Those are also reimbursable up to the 90% level for for those things, too. So, you know, I see these as real a real game changers for people with disabilities who want to run for office. And I can give another one that I was that I was personally involved in. So you know, people might have heard of the longest ballot. Oh, yes. Thing that happened now a few different times. And this you know, sort of made news you know, in August with the the by election in Alberta in battle River Crowfoot and then also in the general election in April in the Carleton riding. But it's happened elsewhere in previous electoral districts elsewhere in the country. And it's been going on for, for a number of years. And in December 2022, back in my previous role, when I was heading up the consultation team at Elections Canada I oversaw a consultation with our partners On how we should be adapting the ballot design. What would be the most accessible ballot design options for large ballot situations where we have an unusually large number of candidates? And I'm pleased to say that the feedback that we received from that consultation shaped our our approach to these situations for a number of years and still forms the basis of our policy recommendations on how to handle these situations. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Wow. Oh my gosh. Now, voter registration is often the first contact that a citizen has with Elections Canada, right? Yep. What features are in place to ensure that the online registration process works smoothly for screen reader users and for people who rely on adaptive technology. Paul Jorgenson: Yeah, it's an excellent it's an excellent question. So what I can say is when we were first rolling out well, shortly after, anyway, we were rolling out the, the voter registration we undertook, again, a very in-depth consultation with I think actually, you might have even been in that user group. Donna, you can correct me if I'm wrong in that, but certainly it was. Yeah. There you go. So my memory my... /episode/index/show/08f6fc59-dab6-48db-987a-92b23c346ffb/id/38293145

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