Hello GDUI Universe,
President: Sarah Calhoun
Editor: Andrea Giudice
Co-editor and GDUI Immediate Past President: Penny Reeder
Guide Dog Users, Inc. (GDUI) A special interest affiliate of the American Council of the Blind (ACB) since 1972
Toll-Free: 866.799.8436
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From the editor- Hello fellow GDUISters
Well, fall has settled in, the clocks have scampered back (at least for most of us), and the holidays are skulking just around the next bend in the path!
This issue has lots to keep the cool nights company- election results, the annual GDUI holiday fundraiser, member written articles, interesting/helpful apps, tips for making your Uber app easier to use, informative blogs, yummy recipes, and more!
I hope you enjoy this November issue; take time to listen to the audio version; and… stay posted for a special holiday addition of Paws in December!!
I encourage everyone to remember how easy it is to get involved- share a favorite podcast; blog; webinar; an interesting, silly, absurd, or touching tidbit from your local paper; something you wrote yourself or written by someone else; a helpful app or other resource; even a yummy recipe. Remember, submissions about guide dogs, or blindness/visual impairment are not the only topics of interest to we GDUISters!
Before I sign off, I will share something a dear friend said to me earlier this morning…
“Live each day as if you could be wrong!”
Sending cyber hugs and wags,
Andrea and Super T
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Canine Contemplations
Toto’s Topics-SHOE BAGS! My mom was lamenting just recently that she was so frustrated because many of her shoes and sandals feel the same. (Just between you and me, she also often says she will not buy cloths that are the same, but in different colors, because it can be to complicated to keep everything clear- “Just saying!”) but are different colors. She expressed her worry about leaving the house in miss-matched footwear. I was right under her desk when she found her solution! She was spending time with that box on the desk that talks, the very one I am using right now, and I heard her exclaim joyfully, “f****k YES!” Apparently, there is such a thing as shoe bags, who knew? She ordered these magical things and once they arrived, she gleefully placed various shoes and sandals in these glorious shoe bags. Now Mom is so happy, she is no longer worried, and I am so happy because this was one thing I simply couldn’t help with!
Winnie’s Wisdom– Recently Mom and traveled via airplane. I have heard Mom grumble about the DOT paperwork before but I know she got it all filled out for this trip. We ran in to a snag on the third leg of our trip. The primary airline providing our travel had vended one of the legs of the trip to a partner airline. When we arrived at that partner’s airline’s gate to board the trouble started. Mom was told she couldn’t board with me because the DOT paperwork hadn’t been filed. Mom stated that she, had most definitely filed said paperwork. The airline folks explained that while she may have done so for the primary airline, she had not done so for this specific airline. They further explained that they used a completely different company to process the DOT paperwork. The end result, no DOT service dog paperwork for this flight. Mom was on the verge of panic!!! Thankfully, my Mom is a rockstar!! She had all the necessary documents with her so she was able to fill out the DOT form right there. I want to be clear, it was the exact same form, just processed by a different company! We were able to continue to the fourth, and final, leg of our flight. My advice is if you and your human are traveling via plane, make sure that the primary airline isn’t using any partner airlines. If they are, contact that partner airline directly to be certain that the DOT paperwork is in place. I think it is ridiculous that the primary airline didn’t take care of this as it was them that inserted the partner airline flight in the middle of the trip, however, it would seem my opinion has no sway in this instance.
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For Your Calendar-
(Some of the items listed here are expanded upon later in this issue, a few may be quite truly nipping at your heels, and others may not be happening for a month of Sundays!)
11/1-30/26- Diabetes awareness Month!
11/5/26- Love your Redhead Day! (Yes, that includes Golden Guides, and Super T’s Gramma)
11/20/26, 12:00-4:00PM (ET)- Carroll Center Virtual Technology Fair
11/21/26, 1:00PM (ET)- GDUI Board meeting
11/29/26- Customer Is Always Wrong Day!
12/3/26- Order Deadline for GDUI Sherwood Forest Farms holiday decorations fundraiser
12/3/26- International Day of Persons with Disabilities!
2/1/27- Deadline for submissions for the 2027 GDUI BLESSING!
2/28/27, 5:00PM (ET)- the 2027 GDUI BLESSING!
Recurring events-
second Thursday (monthly), 7PM (ET)- Get to Know the Many Faces of BARD (virtual)
Third Thursday (monthly), NLS- Smart Speaking to the Smart Speaker (virtual)
Last Tuesday (monthly), NLS- That All May eRead Program (virtual)
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Results of the 2026 GDUI Elections
President- Liz Bottner (guide dog handler) From: Washington DC
First Vice-President- Penny Reeder (guide dog handler) From: Maryland
Second Vice-President- Anthony Corona (guide dog handler) From: Florida
Treasurer: Maria Kristic (guide dog handler) From: New York (incumbent)
Director- Janet Ingber (guide dog handler) From: New York (incumbent)
Director- Vickie Kennedy (guide dog handler) From: Hawaii (incumbent)
Director- Anne Chiappetta (guide dog handler) From: Pennsylvania
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GDUI Sherwood Forest Farms live evergreen holiday decorations fundraiser
It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!
Help Us Spread the Holiday Cheer!
Aloha, GDUI Members!
The holiday season is just around the corner, and we are excited to announce that Guide Dog Users, Inc. (GDUI) is once again partnering with Sherwood Forest Farms for our annual holiday evergreen fundraiser!
This is a wonderful opportunity to decorate your home, send a thoughtful holiday gift to friends and family, and support GDUI at the same time!
This year, we are offering eight beautiful holiday decorations, all available to order online and shipped directly to your door or to loved ones across the continental United States. Best of all, SHIPPING IS FREE! Shipping and handling are already included in the prices listed below. No surprise shipping charges at checkout! NOTE: Applicable sales tax may be added.
Here are your options from Sherwood’s 2026 Holiday Collection-
- 22″ Mixed Evergreen Wreath- $55
A beautiful, fresh evergreen wreath featuring a festive red burlap snowflake bow.
- Western Cedar Garland Set- $66
Two fragrant 10-foot western cedar garlands, perfect for holiday decorating.
- 12″ Evergreen Centerpiece- $55
A festive centerpiece featuring a 10″ LED taper candle.
- 28″ Mixed Evergreen Wreath- $62
A larger, stunning evergreen wreath accented with a red burlap snowflake bow.
- Pine Cone Gift Basket- $48
A charming assortment of pine cones complemented by red and white berries.
- Noble Fir Door Swag- $55
Approximately 30″ x 20″, decorated with snowy pine cones and a burlap snowflake bow.
- Evergreen Gift Set- $98
A wonderful combination of one 22″ evergreen wreath and two 10-foot western cedar garlands.
- Reindeer, Sleigh & Gnome Decoration Set- $40
A delightful holiday decoration set that adds a touch of Christmas cheer to any home.
Important Dates-
Order Deadline- December 3, 2026
Estimated Delivery- Depending when you order, they will be delivered within 10 days after Thanksgiving. The earlier you order, the earlier they will be sent out. So, please do not wait to order!
All items are shipped directly to the address you provide. Multiple shipping addresses are welcome, making it easy to send holiday gifts to friends and family!
Please note: Shipping is available within the continental United States only. Unfortunately, Sherwood cannot ship to Alaska or Hawaii through this fundraiser.
Ordering is quick and easy! Simply browse the holiday collection, select your favorites, enter your shipping information, and securely complete your payment online using a credit or debit card through PayPal.
Ready to Order?
You don’t have to be a GDUI member to participate! Please share our fundraiser with your family, friends, coworkers, and social media connections. Every order helps make this fundraiser a success and supports Guide Dog Users, Inc.
Questions? We’re happy to help!
Vickie Kennedy: vreikok@gmail.com
Sarah Calhoun: sc-tico@att.net
Thank you for your continued generosity and support of GDUI. We appreciate every purchase, every referral, and everyone who helps make this fundraiser successful.
Wishing you and your loved ones a joyful holiday season!
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Calendar Event- Virtual Technology Fair
The Carroll Center for the Blind is excited to announce the 2026 VIRTUAL Technology Fair! We’re doing things a little differently this year. The Technology Fair will be hosted virtually, so you can tune in and join us from anywhere in the world.
Date: Friday, November 20, 2026
Time: 12:00–4:00 p.m. ET
Location: VIRTUAL on Zoom (link provided upon registration)
The Technology Fair will feature several sessions, each diving into a different technology topic and highlighting helpful tools, resources, and innovations for the visually impaired community. Led by expert instructors, each session will offer a chance to explore what’s new, discover technology you may not have tried before, and pick up a few tips and tricks along the way.
Stick around after each presentation for a live Q&A, and get to know some of the top organizations shaping the technology world. With a diverse group of topics to explore, there’s sure to be something that catches your interest.
Stay tuned for more information coming soon!
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One Vote for Me, Many Votes for Mainekind
Nicholas A. Giudice, Ph.D.
Picture of a man sitting in a chair using a laptop to access his accessible absentee ballot. His German Shepard guide dog sits to his left.
By many accounts, Maine leads the country in voting rights: it has allowed some form of voting by absentee ballot for decades, is one of only two states allowing people with felony convictions to vote (including those still in prison), was the first state allowing ranked-choice voting in both state and federal elections, and consistently boasts some of the highest statewide voter turnout in the nation. However, despite this progressive voting record, until recently many Mainers still had difficulty (or were completely unable) to vote independently because the paper-based absentee ballot system was inaccessible to people with visual impairment(s). This lack of voting access is particularly problematic in Maine as we are a rural state with limited public transportation and have an aging population, many of whom experience vision loss and associated driving challenges. In 2020, I joined a cohort of passionate Mainers with visual impairments who were fed up with this situation and our collective efforts ultimately changed the trajectory of Maine’s voting landscape.
I have never been a politically driven person. I have gone to a few rallies and protests over the years but my idea of making a difference in the public square has been more at the level of griping about irksome ordinances or complaining about politicians during a pub crawl than involvement in local government or trying to impact policy or legislative change. Perhaps that is my privilege showing but the reality is that my formal service and civic participation has been limited to symbolic positions. I can’t pass the straight-face test in claiming that being vice president of my 7th grade class, a stint on student council in college, or participation on a range of diversity, equity, and inclusion committees at the university has really led to any appreciable or lasting change. As a scientist, the excuse that I have always ‘sold’ to myself is that I can make a bigger societal contribution by talking about how the results of my research can make a positive difference in people’s lives as opposed to actually trying to directly impact these people through civic or social action.
In late June of 2020, a friend called and asked if I wanted to be a plaintiff in a legal action against the State of Maine regarding accessible voting. I am of the mind that we are a far too litigious society and am not interested in being part of what I see as a sue-first, ask-later climate, so I initially demurred. However, as I looked into the issue, I started feeling frustrated about the situation. Our governor, Janet Mills, provided guidance to Maine citizens in Spring 2020 that to be safe, owing to pandemic health concerns, all registered Mainers were urged to vote from home by absentee ballot in the state primary election (held July 14) and in the national election (held November 3). At this point, COVID-19 cases (and hospitalizations) were spiking, and I had little interest in taking public transit to my local polling place where lots of people aggregated and where I would ultimately end up in a small voting booth with an accessible machine that I would need to explore through physical contact to use. In a previous election, a similar machine didn’t detect my headphones, so was rendered unusable without assistance from a voting official, which negates the whole purpose of independent voting. Even if I assumed correct operation, an unknown number of other people would have inevitably also groped around the machine to use it and who knows the extent or providence of their dirty hands! Each step of this in-person, accessible voting process sounded like the exact parameters we were being told to avoid for pandemic health reasons.
Armed with the realization that I had no interest in engaging in this in-person voting process, I contacted my city clerk to find out about my absentee voting options. They were friendly and helpful but at the end of the day told me that my only viable solution was to be sent a paper-based absentee ballot for me to fill out and send back. When I informed them that I was blind and that I could neither read, nor fill out a paper ballot on my own, they told me that I could certainly have somebody help me mark my selections. Upon ‘reminding’ them that one of the core constitutional rights of our country (and one that I fervently believe in) is the guaranty of the right of casting a secret, independent vote, they suggested that I use the in-person accessible voting machines at my local polling venue. After a bit more back and forth, it became clear that there was no accessible solution for me to independently vote if I wanted to follow the governor’s guidance and prioritize my health by voting absentee.
As a result, I called my friend back to say I wanted to join her in advocating for accessibility voting rights in Maine. Four of us (all having some form of visual impairment) ultimately enlisted the services of Disability Rights Maine to take our case. We also wrote letters to our city clerks and then-Secretary of State Matt Dunlap to clarify the situation. We were told (1) that our idea of using electronic absentee ballots was absolutely not possible and (2) that we should get third-party assistance filling out paper ballots if we wanted to vote absentee. Most frustrating of all, Maine already had electronic absentee voting for our remotely deployed military personnel, meaning that the core system that we were arguing for was already in place.
In mid-July 2020 we lodged our complaint in the United States District Court for Maine. In Merrill v. Dunlap, Lynn Merrill, Pauline Lamontagne, Cheryl Peabody, and myself argued (as the plaintiffs in civil action no. 1:20-cv-00248) for the right to vote privately and independently by electronic absentee ballot in the November 3, 2020, election and in future elections in the State of Maine. The lawsuit, led by Kristen Aiello and Disability Rights Maine, was based on the premise that we should not have to risk our health, privacy, or independence to vote in the same way that is available to other Mainers and that was the explicit guidance of our governor as the preferred and advised method of doing so. Being part of this process helped me to realize that this action was not just a fight for my right to vote, it impacted many other people with print-limiting disabilities that make using a paper-based form impractical or impossible. Maine has the oldest median population in the nation and 80-year-old eyes are not the same as 20-year-old eyes, whether you have a visual disability or not. There are tens of thousands of people in the state with some form of print disability, which includes those with vision impairment, physical and motor limitations, learning disabilities, or various cognitive impairments that prevent a person from independently accessing or filling out a paper ballot. Most of these people want to vote and could also benefit from the accessible absentee ballot system that we were advocating for. This system would provide access to an online portal for any print-limited registered voter in Maine, allowing them to electronically request, read/fill out, and return an absentee ballot. Once implemented, a much larger group of people than just visually impaired individuals would now be able to privately and independently vote from home using their existing assistive technologies, such as digital magnifiers and screen readers (the text-to-speech software that blind folks use to access digital print content).
What became obvious from the first hearing in federal court is that the State was not going to fight us on the matter and did actually want to provide a mechanism for accessible absentee voting through the use of electronic ballots, similar to what was already available to state residents deployed in the military. For the process to work however, there would need to be updates made to the electronic PDF ballot, which was not then accessible, meaning that it would not read correctly with a screen reader. At this point, the Secretary of State’s Office touted this tentative agreement as a win for Maine’s citizens and something that was absolutely a worthy cause. While this was a 180-degree reversal of their previous stance, and it is frustrating that it took a lawsuit to make it happen, the net result is what counts.
In the following six weeks, we (the plaintiffs and a group of volunteer blind beta testers throughout the state) worked closely with the State’s vendor who was handling the electronic election content to help them make the ballots work with speech. Given that we are one of two states in the union with ranked-choice voting and there are lots of individual municipalities, this process was not as straightforward as one might think. However, on Oct 2, 2020, Maine became one of only a few states that had developed a fully accessible electronic absentee ballot voting mechanism that is available to all people with a print disability that limits their use of a traditional paper ballot.
An unexpected but positive result of our lawsuit was that the State now needed a new mechanism to monitor the status of electronic absentee ballots being submitted. This led to development and deployment of a new state-wide absentee ballot tracking service for the 2020 Election (and beyond) that ultimately benefitted all Maine voters. With this system, anybody who requests an absentee ballot, paper or electronic, can use the online portal to track its status throughout the entire process from request to knowing whether it was accepted or rejected. This tracking system represents an important step in improving election transparency, which I hope will increase public perception (and confidence) in the integrity of the absentee voting process.
The electronic tracking system has now been used by thousands of Maine voters who had no idea of our fight for accessible electronic absentee ballots but who benefitted from our actions. I understand that this is what happens when people get involved in causes that can make large-scale social and political change, but it was my first experience in this arena. And, while I still find the need for litigation frustrating when implementing a simple solution that was (1) already essentially in place, (2) took so few resources to make accessible as an accommodation, and (3) makes such a huge difference in advancing a core constitutional right of our country, I am proud of my role in this success.
Almost immediately after independently voting absentee for the first time in October 2020, I started receiving emails from other people around the state, many of whom were complete strangers, thanking me for my efforts as part of this case and in allowing them to exercise their constitutional right to vote independently and privately by electronic absentee ballot. This was a very different type of impact from what I am accustomed to doing through my scientific research and in many ways, the result was far more satisfying as it so directly impacted a broad swath of people on an issue of critical importance. While I don’t think this experience is apt to result in me chaining myself to trees in Deering Oaks Park or gluing myself to the doors of Portland’s city hall to support the causes I believe in, it certainly has made me realize the value of taking action, being involved, and using legal and political resources to effect change and greater good.
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Announcement from World Chess Hall of Fame
If you were in St. Louis this summer at the World Chess Hall of Fame, heard a presentation from members of the U.S. Blind Chess Association, and gave them your email address, you are requested to contact the group via email, usblindchess@outlook.com. The notebook in which the emails were written was misplaced.
Sharon Lovering, Editor
American Council of the Blind
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A Musical for Our Time
By Warren Shaw, Aug 19, 2026
[Able News newsletter-News By and For the Disability Community, https://ablenews.com/a-musical-about-that-time-for-our-time/]
In early August I flew out to Denver, Colorado, to see the world premiere of a play—504: The Musical, produced and performed by the Phamaly Theatre Company, an all-disability company that has been creating high-caliber disability-centered theater since 1989.
I’d heard the highest praise for Phamaly from actor Jenna Bainbridge, an alum who is currently playing Nessarose in the musical Wicked on Broadway. I knew that Phamaly was a large enough organization to have a staff publicist, with funding sufficient to book the run of the show right in the heart of downtown Denver. But something shifted after I checked into my hotel and went to the corner diner (Sam’s No. 3) for a bite to eat. There in the menu was an insert about 504 and Phamaly, with a selection of food items named for tunes from the show!
I have to confess that the menu insert made me positively giddy. I am old enough to remember the 1977 504 Regs sit-ins. My pioneering disability-activist parents were friends with several of its principals, particularly Eunice Fiorito, who was a guest at my bar mitzvah in 1971. As a writer, I’m used to thinking of disability history as a subject that lives largely inside my head. But now, having just landed in Denver to attend a premiere celebrating those long-ago events, I found commercial recognition of that very same history! What would my parents and their tiny band of colleagues have made of that?
The play is a fictionalized telling of 1977’s famed 25-day occupation by disability protesters of the federal office building in San Francisco, California. Beginning on April 5 of that year, disabled activists led protests and sit-ins at federal offices around the country, to push the government to enact regulations enforcing the potentially transformative Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Most of those actions only lasted a few days, but in San Francisco the protesters logged the longest-ever peaceful occupation against the federal government. The protesters did not quit until their demands had been met and the 504 regulations were signed. Section 504 and the 1977 regulations became fundamental parts of American life and paved the way for the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
Led by Judy Heumann and Kitty Cone, the 504 Regs sit-in in San Francisco remains one of the signal events in disability history. Forty-nine years later, it has received a musical all its own.
504: The Musical tells the tale of a group of strangers-turned mass protesters-turned political power players. The bones of the real events are captured, including the government’s ham-handed suppression efforts—cutting off telephone, electricity and deliveries of food and medicine—and the responses: deaf protesters communicating with the outside world by signing through the windows, and deliveries of supplies by the Black Panthers.
It is definitely a fictionalized telling. The leader of the protest, June, is cobbled together from Judy Heumann and Kitty Cone. Even her name is a portmanteau of JUdy and coNE. The characters represent all parts of the disability community: wheelchair users, a crutch walker, a blind person, a deaf person, a developmentally disabled person, a deinstitutionalized person, allies and relatives, and so forth. Several different racial and ethnic minorities are included as well, but playwright Abbie Goldberg has developed the characters and their relationships well past merely serving as archetypes. The story evolves over the long, uncertain and dreary 25-day occupation, during which these strangers develop into a community and a self-conscious political force. And in the end, they travel to Washington to see the regs get signed into law. The play ends on a note of intense celebration, with snips of archival audio from Kitty Cone.
Phamaly’s cast turns in uniformly convincing and gripping performances, displaying a remarkable ability, as the director Ben Raanan put it, to “be effortlessly vulnerable, to pour their hearts out onstage.” Most of the cast members get a feature, and every single one of them blows it out of the water. In considerable measure that is thanks to the score, composed by Mason McDowell, which reaches effectively into the struggles the characters have experienced in the nondisabled world, and is very capably delivered by a four-piece band.
As a work of theater art, 504: The Musical is a great success. The staging, lighting, sound design and accessibility features are smoothly polished. The production is set in an intimately scaled pentagonal theater space that works perfectly for this play. It felt as if I was sitting with the activists, as if I were a part of the action.
By the end of the evening my hands and voice were sore from applauding and cheering. So, I’m afraid I can’t say much more from a theater-critic perspective. But in tracing the evolution of the protesters into a collective force, 504: The Musical offers lessons for us now, in the present.
The protesters of 1977 were subject to the far-off decisions of a not very engaged, sympathetic or even comprehending government. In our own time, we are similarly subject—to a government that has turned actively hostile. The hard-won regs the protesters fought for are under attack, most particularly by a lawsuit brought by Texas and other states. Many of the other victories painfully notched by the disability rights movement are receiving treatment from Washington that is best described as death by a thousand cuts.
In this context, 504: The Musical is THE play for our time. Not just history set to music, it is a tale of collective power that coalesced and changed the world. It should become the rallying point for our community, as we fight back against assaults happening right now, almost half a century later. 504 should be produced and re-produced all across the country.
You, yes you, should go see it. We should learn the play’s tunes and sing them together. At a 50th anniversary rally, next April.
504: The Musical, presented by the Phamaly Theater Company. Book and lyrics by Abbie Goldberg, music by Mason McDowell. Runtime approximately two hours ten minutes (with intermission).
[For more of Warren Shaw’s work in disability history, please go to – www.DisabilityHistoryNYC.com]
[Able News at The Viscardi Center is a news outlet and monthly digital publication that serves as a vital resource on disability and amplifies the perspectives of the diverse, vibrant disability community.
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Dan Kysor has been busy! He offers both A musical adventure in blindness and low vision as well as a new, expanded Guide unlocking active living and independence for the visually impaired community
Dan Kysor Releases the Second Edition of “Recreating Yourself: Accessible Activities for Blind and Visually Impaired Children and Adults”
SACRAMENTO, CA — Dan Kysor, longtime disability rights advocate and author, announces the publication of the second edition of his comprehensive resource, Recreating Yourself: Accessible Activities for Blind and Visually Impaired Children and Adults. Fully revised and expanded, this updated edition serves as an essential manual for individuals, families, educators, and rehabilitation specialists seeking to break barriers in recreation, athletics, and everyday pastimes.
Recreation is fundamental to health, social connection, and personal independence. In Recreating Yourself, Kysor presents an exhaustive examination of how adaptive methods bring sports and hobbies within reach:
- Adapted Athletics: Explores how mainstream sports—including baseball, basketball, and skiing—are successfully adapted using auditory cues, tactile boundary markers, specialized equipment, and sighted-guide techniques.
- Creative and Technical Hobbies: Delivers actionable, step-by-step guidance for pursuits ranging from hands-on crafts like knitting to technical interests such as amateur radio.
- Modern DIY Innovations: Details emerging assistive solutions, including haptic navigation tools, audio beacons, and accessible consumer technology.
- Resource Directory: Catalogs trusted equipment manufacturers, national and local support organizations, and inclusive community programs across the country.
“Participation in sports, fitness, and creative hobbies should never be limited by a visual impairment,” says Kysor. “With the right adaptations, resources, and techniques, anyone can build an active, fulfilling lifestyle on their own terms.”
About the Author
Dan Kysor brings decades of frontline advocacy and leadership to his work. He began his career as a disability rights reporter for Pacifica Radio in Berkeley and Metromedia Radio in New York, reporting on the historic San Francisco demonstrations that helped spark the modern disability rights movement. He later served as Public Relations Director at the Center for Independent Living in Berkeley alongside legendary advocate Judy Heumann.
A pioneer in digital accessibility, Kysor established the Global Blind Exchange (GBX), an influential online resource launched prior to the widespread adoption of the World Wide Web. As Director of Governmental Affairs for the California Council of the Blind, he played a central role in advancing landmark legislation, including tactile signage mandates for state buildings, stricter enforcement of guide dog interference laws, and the establishment of a specialized state division for the blind.
Now retired in Sacramento, California, Kysor lives with his roommate Ann Sylvia and his Seeing Eye dog Holly, a female chocolate Labrador. Recreating Yourself is his third published title, joining his memoir, Blind Like Me, and A Diabetic’s Guide to Shopping Common Grocery Stores.
Availability and Formats
Recreating Yourself: Accessible Activities for Blind and Visually Impaired Children and Adults (2nd Edition) is available in multiple formats:
- Audiobook: Available on Audible and iTunes, narrated by James Hillman.
- Digital: Kindle edition on Amazon and eBook on Apple Books.
- Print: Available in standard and large-print editions on Amazon.
For review copies, interview requests, or further details, please reach out via dankysor@comcast.net
In addition to this book, Dan has just released a new album he produced using suno.
The album, Blynx, is available on cd and mp3 audio.
List of songs-
- Old Mr. Gabels – vocational counselor who can only find three professions for blind people
- Perkin’s Braille Writer – Celebrating that clunky semi-reliable braille writer
- Access to In-access – making websites accessible
- Quiero despertarme en EnchantedHills – Song about a famous summer camp for the blind
- Poop – Picking up after your guide dog
- Confederacy of the Blind – Poking fun at an old blind organization.
- Savvy’s Song – A true story about a guide dog
- That White Line – Dan riding a bike on the freeway
- The Valley of the Blind – Depicts this famous story
- Greenback – Problems with U.S. Currency
- Proud in the Crowd – Feeling of pride being blind or visually impaired
- Ray-Stevie – Tribute to two legends
- Nothing About Us without Us – Original disability rights movement
Blynx is available on all music platforms including amazon music, apple music and many more. If you desire a copy of the cd, Email me at- dankysor@comcast.net
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Free Every Crossing Counts Resources!
Greetings from Pine Tree Guide Dog Users (PTGDU)
We are excited to announce the launch of Every Crossing Counts, PTGDU’s new public safety awareness campaign promoting safer street crossings for people who are blind or have low vision! Visit EveryCrossingCounts.org to explore the campaign and its message:
Stay Alert. Slow Down. Yield.
The website explains how drivers and cyclists can recognize white canes and guide dogs—and, just as importantly, how to respond safely and predictably. It also features real-life accounts showing why this message matters.
We have created a collection of campaign materials and outreach tools that anyone can download and use free of charge, including:
- An 8.5 × 11-inch campaign flyer and an 18 × 24-inch poster
- A tri-fold brochure
- A Driver’s Guide to Safer Street Crossings
- The Every Crossing Counts logo
- A campaign T-shirt design
- Ways to Share the Campaign
- A customizable sample press release
- Campaign talking points
- A children’s bookmark
Now comes the fun part: getting the message into our communities!
We encourage everyone to consider one way—large or small—to share the campaign. You might give a flyer to a local business, library, police department, driving school, or community organization; share the website on social media; display a poster; distribute brochures at an event; give a presentation; or simply tell someone about the campaign.
You do not need to organize a major event to make a difference. Every conversation, every flyer, every social media post—and every crossing—counts!
Please visit EveryCrossingCounts.org, download the materials that work best for you, and help us spread the word!
Thank you for helping us make street crossings safer for blind and low vision pedestrians throughout Maine and beyond!
The PTGDU Publications Team
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Pups and Peeps:
We interrupt your regularly scheduled browsing for a very special message! Coming to you live from the state of endearment, at the intersection of excitement and anticipation are your two rovering reporters Fred Floppears and Colleen Curleytail!
G“Colleen, have you heard the news? GDUI is once again sponsoring “The Blessing,” and it’s going to !be even bigger and better this time.”
“Oh, Freddie! Tell me more!”
“It’s happening on Sunday, February 28, 2027, at 5:00 PM eastern time, and it’s going to be packed with lots of love, laughter and legacies. It will include pups and peeps from the future, to days gone by and everywhere in between. But, you don’t have to take my word for it. Here come to adorable wannabes, that beautiful black Lab, Stella, and that stunning yellow Lab, Yarah (with an H). Ladies, how is it that two gorgeous girls like yourselves can possibly be future guides?””
“Don’t hate us because we’re beautiful! Not only do we have looks to die for, but we’re also extremely intelligent. After all, I spent almost the first two years of my life preparing to wear that hallowed harness.”
“That’s right, Stella! You tell ‘em! We’ve worked forever learning to guide our future people safely through all types of traffic tangles, obstacles and terrain. Someday soon, we will offer a Blind individual independence in travel, safety in all kinds of weather and road conditions and, of course, lots and lots of love!”
“That’s right, Yarah with an H, and we’re just two of the many future guides out there, wagging and waiting to put our paws to the pavement with our human partners.”
“Aren’t they wonderful, Fred? And here come three furry faithful professionals now! Excuse me, pups, but would you please identify yourselves and tell us a little of what you do?””
“Oh, hi there, Colleen! I’m Beau, a Dogs Inc. graduate, and this handsome hound to my right is Rounder a graduate of Gallant Hearts, and we are escorting the wonderful Yara (without an H), a freedom grad, along with our peeps, of course, to the next Blessing. It’s going to be wonderful! Not only will our future and retired fellow guides be recognized individually, but our Guides In Glory will be honored as well. There will be time to recognize those human souls who have touched our lives in such a positive manner and have passed on to Days Gone By. But, the main attraction will include us current guides in our very own General Blessing.”
“Well said, Beau! Now, tell us, Colleen, how and where everyone can contribute their names of future and retired guides, and those beloved Guides in Glory, along with any special Human to be recognized.”
“Here’s the scoop, Fred. Email your guides names and status, along with any humans whom you would like to have remembered. Our deadline is February 1, 2027. Thanks, folks, for your undivided attention. We are your rovering reporters, Colleen Curleytail and Fred Floppears, saying, so long for now. Keep those heads up, tails wagging and paws to the pavement.”
OK, folks and furries, be sure to send your submissions to:
by February 1, 2027. Include guide’s name and status (i.e. future, retired or Guide in Glory).
***
From the Kennel Kitchen- Yummy!
A Recipe for Safer Street Crossings
[Pine Tree Guide Dog Users (PTGDU), October 2026 Monthly News Update- Special Edition: Every Crossing Counts Campaign]
Prep time: A few seconds
Serves: Everyone at the intersection
Ingredients
- A generous helping of attention
- One complete stop
- A clear crosswalk
- Enough time and space for the pedestrian to cross
- A pinch of patience
Directions
Spot a white cane or guide dog? Turn down your speed and bring your vehicle to a complete stop. Keep the crosswalk clear, then give the pedestrian time to cross. Skip the hand waves and honks; they don’t reliably tell someone who is blind what traffic is doing.
Chef’s tip: The secret ingredient is being predictable.
Stay Alert. Slow Down. Yield.
Cheesy Pull-Apart Garlic Bread
[Insight Scoop Newsletter September 2026, https://centeroftheblind.org/]
Ingredients
1 large round loaf of sourdough or Italian bread
½ cup melted butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp fresh parsley (or 1 tsp dried)
2 cups shredded mozzarella
½ cup grated Parmesan
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
Optional: red pepper flakes
Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment.
Cut the bread into a 1-inch grid, being careful not to cut through the bottom of the bread.
Mix melted butter, garlic, parsley, salt, and pepper.
Drizzle butter mixture into the cuts.
Stuff mozzarella and Parmesan into the bread pockets.
Wrap loosely in foil and bake for 15 minutes.
Uncover and bake another 5-10 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
Serve warm and pull apart to enjoy.
Editor’s note- the next recipe calls for accompaniment by crusty Italian bread, however, I oh so humbly suggest that this Cheesy Pull-Apart Garlic Bread would be just the thing to sop up the last drops of soup!!!!
Grandma Marie’s potato, cheddar broccoli soup
(From the Sunday edition recipe, box, ANTHONY CORONA)
There were two things Grandma Marie understood very well. How to feed a family. And how not to waste food. She had 11 children, after all. That meant Grandma Marie knew how to look into a refrigerator on Thursday, assess what was unlikely to survive until Monday, and somehow turn the whole situation into dinner. As Grandma Marie liked to say, I can always feed a lot of people with a little bit of coin. No one walks away hungry from Grandma Marie’s table.
This version uses broccoli because broccoli is Anthony’s preferred vegetable. And Anthony was, of course, Grandma Marie’s favorite grandson. This is simply historical fact and certainly not family propaganda. But Grandma Marie would want you to understand something before we begin… the broccoli is negotiable. Grandma Marie was all about whatever vegetable was not going to make it to the end of the week- broccoli, steamed carrots, zucchini, Frozen vegetables, leftover vegetables, That lonely carrot sitting in the refrigerator contemplating its mortality, Even a tomato worked its way into the soup once or twice. Grandma Marie did not believe vegetables needed an engraved invitation.
GRANDMA MARIE’S BROCCOLI CHEDDAR POTATO SOUP
WHAT YOU NEED-
4 medium potatoes
2 cups fresh chopped broccoli
2 tablespoons butter
2 to 2 and a half cups milk
1 and a half to 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
3 to 4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Onion powder to taste
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
And whatever vegetable Grandma Marie has decided needs rescuing
WHAT YOU DO-
Cut the potatoes into small cubes- Peel them if you want.
Into the pot they go.
Cover the potatoes with just enough water to barely cover them.
Add salt and bring everything to a boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer for about 12 to 15 minutes, until the potatoes are very tender.
Now comes the trick… Do not throw away all that potato water.
If there is too much, remove some, but leave about a cup in the pot.
Mash about one third to one half of the potatoes right there in the pot.
Leave the rest chunky.
That mashed potato thickens the soup naturally and gives you that wonderful creamy texture without needing heavy cream.
Add the butter.
Add about 2 cups of milk.
Add a good shake of onion powder.
Stir everything together over low heat.
Now add your broccoli and let everything gently simmer for another 5 to 8 minutes.
Or add carrots. Or zucchini. Or whatever Grandma Marie discovered in the refrigerator five minutes ago.
Once the vegetables are tender, turn the heat very low or turn it off completely.
Add the cheddar a handful at a time, stirring as it melts.
Then add the Parmesan.
If the soup is thicker than you want, add another splash of milk.
Taste it.
Now add your black pepper and decide whether it actually needs more salt.
Remember that cheddar and Parmesan are already bringing plenty of salt to the party.
GRANDMA MARIE’S RULE- Do not obsess over measurements.
If you have another potato, put it in.
If you have more broccoli, congratulations. You have more broccoli.
If you only have one cup of cheddar, nobody needs to call the authorities.
And if there are suddenly six people standing in your kitchen instead of four, add another potato and another splash of milk.
That was Grandma Marie’s kind of cooking. Food was not supposed to be precious. Food was supposed to feed people.
This soup is warm, inexpensive, filling, forgiving and almost impossible to make exactly the same way twice.
You can also add a little extra shredded cheddar on top, a few small pieces of crisp bacon or ham work beautifully, a little freshly cracked black pepper makes the bowl look finished, and if you want a little extra richness, put one tiny pat of butter in the center and let it slowly melt into the hot soup.
GRANDMA MARIE’S WASTE NOT WANT NOT ADDENDUM- Nothing useful was getting thrown away in that kitchen.
A couple slices of pork roast left from dinner, chop them up and put them in; a couple hamburgers left from Sunday’s barbecue, crumble them up and put them in; a few pieces of ham hanging around after breakfast, you already know where they are going- into the soup; chicken worked; beef worked; pork worked; Ham definitely worked! Grandma Marie was not interested in whether the original recipe called for it. The question was much simpler. Is it good? Is it still good? Will it feed somebody? Then into the pot it went.
***
Welcome to Kitchen Camp!
[Kevin’s Corner, Insight Scoop Newsletter September 2026, https://centeroftheblind.org/]
Fall is just around the corner, which means it’s time to head off to Kitchen Camp and prepare for the upcoming eating season! Here are a few important guidelines to keep in mind:
- Balance is everything. A fattening treat is perfectly fine, as long as you follow it immediately with fruit!
- Don’t worry about a little mess. If a dish or utensil isn’t quite as clean as you’d like, just pretend you’re camping.
- Too many cooks spoil the soup. Two or three are fine, as long as they’re thinly sliced or puréed.
- Remember the five-second rule. Whatever the dog or cat hasn’t eaten after five seconds goes right back into the recipe.
- Church goodies have no calories. Everyone knows that.
- Cooking with alcohol? If a recipe calls for beer, wine, or brandy, sample it before, during, and after adding it to make sure the temperature and consistency are just right. Repeat as needed.
- The back of the refrigerator is a historical archive. Anything growing there is probably best left for future generations.
- If there’s a mysterious smell coming from the kitchen and you can’t identify it, you may have a bigger problem than the garbage.
- Never put a utensil or other metal object into the toaster, until you’ve completed your will.
- And finally: Never try to “help” a blind person cooks without asking first. You might be surprised at what they can do, and unsolicited help could land you in hot water.
Happy cooking, everyone, and welcome to the eating season!
****
Pod Casts/Blogs/Webinars- Check these out!
Hadley Presents audio podcast, Conversations on Topics Unique to Vision Loss
Getting Ready to Vote with Vision Loss (Episode 165)- https://hadleyhelps.org/podcasts/hadley-presents/getting-ready-vote-vision-loss
Getting Ready to Vote with Vision Loss- With voting season here, we’re bringing back this helpful episode. Vision loss can make voting a little trickier, so we look at different ways to cast your ballot and find an option that works for you.
Watching TV with Vision Loss: What Can Help (Episode 164)- https://hadleyhelps.org/podcasts/hadley-presents/watching-tv-vision-loss-what-can-help
Watching TV can get frustrating when vision changes, but a few adjustments can make a difference. The Hadley team talks about simple changes to your setup, easier ways to manage remotes and menus, and options like audio description that can help you enjoy your favorite shows.
Cooking After Vision Loss- https://hadleyhelps.org/podcasts/hadley-presents/cooking-after-vision-loss
In this encore episode, we chat with and learn from members of the Hadley community. Dia Kraft and Don Pojman share their own tips and tricks for continuing to cook after having lost some vision.
Staying Active with Vision Loss (Episode 162)- https://hadleyhelps.org/podcasts/hadley-presents/staying-active-vision-loss
Missing walking, running, or just spending more time outdoors because of vision loss? Hear how one Hadley member found his way back through Achilles International, and learn how guides, community, and a little encouragement can help you get moving again.
Resource mentioned in the podcast: Achilles International
https://www.achillesinternational.org/
Find All Episodes here- https://hadleyhelps.org/podcasts/hadley-presents
Hadley Insights & Sound Bites- https://hadleyhelps.org/podcasts/insights-and-sound-bites?page=7
It’s more comfortable talking to others that understand (Episode 101)- https://hadleyhelps.org/podcasts/insights-sound-bites/its-more-comfortable-talking-others-understand
When Terry lost more of her vision, it took time to come to terms with what was happening. Talking with others who understand what she’s going through has made it easier to open up and find her way forward.
Find all episodes here- https://hadleyhelps.org/podcasts/insights-and-sound-bites#podcast-episodes
***
Apps to check out-
- Hadley at your fingertips
The new Hadley Helps app offers practical solutions, emotional support, and community connections right from your phone or tablet.
Already have a Hadley account?
Once you’ve downloaded the app, follow these step-by-step instructions for signing into your account with your email address or phone number.
Join the Hadley Community
Hadley’s resources are always available to you. Create a no-cost Hadley account to go further:
*Pick up where you left off Everything you start is automatically saved across Hadley.
*Personalized recommendations- We’ll suggest resources based on your interests.
*Join live discussions- Live and lively discussions on technology, cooking, and more, all geared toward the community of people living with vision loss.
*Find peer support- Connect with people who understand what you’re going through.
Need some help?
1-800-323-4238Mon – Fri8am – 5pm Central
https://hadleyhelps.org/mobile-app
- New free app for braille music
[David Goldfield, Blindness Assistive Technology Specialist www.DavidGoldfield.com]
Hello everyone,
I’d like to share something we have just launched at Fundación Chile, Música y Braille, a nonprofit in Chile: BrailleScore, a free app for blind and visually impaired people to read, write and share music in braille.
– Converts MusicXML into braille music and back.
– Works with screen readers and braille displays.
– Includes a library of more than 100,000 scores.
– Free for blind and low-vision people.
Launch video: https://youtu.be/gxbIHoEN-Rg
Website: https://braillescore.com
Tip: the first time, the app opens in Spanish. Open the menu “Voz y lectura” › “Idioma”, choose English and press “Guardar”; it remembers your choice.
Any feedback is very welcome.
Pablo, Fundación Chile, Música y Braille
***
How to Pay for Low Vision Technology- Funding sources, Medicare options, and free programs available now
The right assistive technology can be life-changing, but many people assume the cost puts it out of reach. The reality is that grants, Medicare benefits, state programs, nonprofit organizations, and other funding sources can significantly reduce or eliminate out-of-pocket expenses. In this digest, we are sharing three essential resources that explain how to find financial assistance, understand Medicare coverage, and access free assistive technology programs that help individuals with low vision maintain independence and quality of life. Explore these helpful resources.
Assistive Technology Funding Guide: Grants, Programs, and Financial Aid
Read More- https://nelowvision.com/assistive-technology-funding-guide/
Does Medicare Cover Assistive Technology for Low Vision? Many people are surprised to learn that Medicare coverage for low vision devices is limited and often misunderstood. This guide explains what Medicare may cover, what it typically excludes, how Medicare Advantage plans can help, and practical steps to take when claims are denied. Understanding your options can help maximize available benefits.
Read More- https://nelowvision.com/medicare-assistive-technology-low-vision/
Free Assistive Technology Programs. Every state offers assistive technology programs designed to help individuals try, borrow, and access devices before making a purchase. These often-overlooked resources provide demonstrations, lending libraries, equipment reutilization programs, and affordable financing options that can make technology more accessible while helping you find the right solution for your needs.
Read More- https://nelowvision.com/free-assistive-technology-programs/
The biggest mistake many people make is assuming they must pay for assistive technology entirely on their own. Whether you’re exploring magnifiers, screen readers, wearable devices, or other low vision solutions, there are often funding opportunities available that can make these tools far more affordable than expected. Taking time to understand your options today could open the door to greater independence, productivity, and confidence tomorrow.
New England Low Vision and Blindness
Schedule a no-obligation consultation today!
888.211.6933, info@NELowVision.com, https://nelowvision.com/
****
Production of Accessible $10 Bill Pushed to 2027
(Dots and Dashes, September 21, 2026)
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing has filed their court-ordered semi-annual report on their efforts to make US currency accessible. Unfortunately, the BEP asserts that they have run into additional testing and calibration needs for the accessible $10 note. Therefore, the note is now scheduled for production in 2027, instead of 2026. ACB is disappointed with this news.
Additional updates included in the report were that BEP continues to work with various entities across the United States to distribute currency readers to constituents, including libraries, Veterans Affairs Blind Rehabilitation Centers, and others. As of September 3, 2026, BEP states that the program has distributed more than 120,000 currency readers. Further, BEP continues to support mobile device applications which can function as currency readers. As of September 3, 2026, there have been more than 229,00 app downloads.
ACB will continue to keep members informed of progress on this issue.
***
Walker Hayes Puts on His Puppy Voice for New Song Dedicated to His Dogs!
By Tim Chan
As a married dad to six kids, Walker Hayes is well-known as a family man, but his family extends these days to his four-legged children as well.
That’s the inspiration behind the country star’s campaign with Canidae Heartland, a new pet food line that pays tribute to America’s Heartland, with “farm-raised nutrition” that supports dogs, American farmers and the environment.
As part of the campaign, Hayes has penned a new song titled, “Love Is a Four-Legged Word,” which celebrates the country star’s bond with his dogs Puckett and Copper, as well as his late dog Skeeter (sample lyric: “He’s my dog and I’m his human”).
The song starts with Hayes’ point of view, before transitioning to Skeeter’s thoughts. “I like it when Walker scratches my belly, I tell him with licks and he throws sticks,” Hayes (as Skeeter) sings. “Just a couple of best buds in the heartland, lending a paw and lending a hand,” continues the chorus to the soft-plucking acoustic ditty, which is surprisingly poignant for a simple song.
Hayes says he originally developed the country-inspired track as a theme song for an animated kids’ series he’s working on, called Walker’s Woods, but he tweaked it to better fit the Canidae campaign. As the Grammy-nominated singer explains, “If you have a bond with a dog, you just get it.”
***
Announcement from Guide Dog Users of the Empire State (GDUES
Running Guides presentation with GDMI Jolene Hollister
Hello all-
We are pleased to be sharing a presentation about the Running Guide program at Guiding Eyes for the Blind with GDMI Jolene Hollister.
https://rising-anchor-g595.here.now/GDUES-Joline-H-Running-Guides.mp3
Guide Dog Users of the Empire State (GDUES) is affiliated with ACB of New York and has been a chapter since 2016.
*****
The Seeing Eye Announces Veterinary Financial Assistance Fund
[Monday, September 28, 2026]
Dear Seeing Eye graduates and applicants,
The Seeing Eye Board of Trustees, alongside our staff, recently concluded a strategic planning process. During our conversations with graduates, one barrier to guide dog ownership was consistently mentioned: the increasing costs of veterinary care. There’s real evidence to support this. According to Consumer Price Index data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the cost of veterinary services rose roughly 67% over the last decade.
The Seeing Eye conducted an in-depth analysis to establish a comprehensive understanding of its graduates’ veterinary care needs and created a clear roadmap for implementing a sustainable model for a Veterinary Financial Assistance Fund (VFAF).
I am excited to announce that our Board of Trustees has approved the VFAF as a new pilot program to support the cost of veterinary care for working Seeing Eye dogs.
Through the new program, which will roll out in two phases in 2027, active Seeing Eye teams may apply for financial assistance to cover their dogs’ routine, chronic, and emergency veterinary expenses.
Phase One: January 2027- Beginning Jan. 1, The Seeing Eye will provide assistance of up to $750 USD for routine and chronic care for individuals who meet need-based criteria. Assistance for routine and chronic veterinary care includes but is not limited to annual physical exams, vaccines, and parasite screening and prevention, and will be available to support active Seeing Eye dogs’ long-term health.
Phase Two: July 2027- Beginning July 1, all Seeing Eye graduates may receive up to $5,000 USD in assistance for approved emergency veterinary care.
Webinars in December- We are in the early stages of developing this program, so please understand that we are not yet ready to answer specific questions or take inquiries. Under the direction of Dr. Kyle Quigley, TSE will use the next few months to carefully develop the program. We plan to host webinars in December to provide more information.
We are all incredibly excited about what this pilot will enable for the continued health and vitality of Seeing Eye teams. For more information and an FAQ, please visit https://seeingeye.org/guide-dogs/vetfund/
With best wishes for a wonderful fall,
Karen Leies, President and CEO
***
New Uber App Settings- settings for Pickup Preferences for enhancing how you can be notified when your driver arrives, and how you can be identified.
[tech exchange list- https://lists.second-sense.org/lists/info/techexchange]
Eric Boklage, MBA, MEd, CVRT, CATIS
Certified Assistive Technology Instructional Specialist/ Certified Vision Rehabilitation Therapist
Second Sense, 1 N. LaSalle St., Chicago, IL 60602
312-236-8569, www.second-sense.org
Uber has recently updated their app with some new settings that are particularly helpful to those in the blind and visually impaired community. These settings allow for Self-Identification as Blind or Low Vision, or to notify them that you use a service animal. There are now also settings for Pickup Preferences for enhancing how you can be notified when your driver arrives, and how you can be identified.
These changes can be made in Account > Settings > Accessibility. At the bottom of the Uber app is a tab bar with four buttons. The default focus is on the Home tab, but the far-right tab is the Account tab. After activating Account, swipe down until you hear Settings, then swipe right to navigate to Accessibility. Within Accessibility, there is a section for Self-Identification, and another for Pickup Coordination.
Self-Identification- Not too long ago, Uber added options so that you can self-identify as:
– Blind
– Low Vision
– Deaf
– Hard-of-Hearing
– Use a service animal
You can turn on any of these options as appropriate for you as an individual.
Pickup Coordination- Very recently, Uber modified the Pickup Preferences with two other very helpful modifications for accessibility.
One – you can ask the Uber driver to signal their arrival. There are toggle switches for:
– Call out my name at pickup
– Contact me at pickup
– Flash vehicle lights at pickup
– Honk the horn at pickup
Calling out your name and/or contacting you are both great options to consider.
Two – you can tell the driver how to identify you. There are options for:
– I wear tinted glasses and/or use a white cane
– I use a cane
– I use crutches
– I use a walker
– I use a manual wheelchair
– None of these apply.
Letting the driver know that you either wear tinted glasses and/or use a white cane will make it obvious to them how to locate you.
Communication Settings- There is also an option to select your preferences for how the driver should communicate with you. There are options for:
– Call or Chat
– Call – talking to them
– Chat – texting with them
Uber says that Call or Chat is recommended, but you can set it to either call only or Chat only.
If you use Uber, particularly if you use the RAP program, we recommend that adjust these settings to improve your experience with Uber.
***
GDB PSA ON GUIDE DOG HANDLER ACCESS
(Guide Dog News 2026 Issue 3.)
Guide Dogs for the Blind (GDB) is proud to launch “Nonsense,” a new public service announcement (PSA) shining a light on the barriers guide dog handlers routinely face when attempting to access restaurants, rideshares, hotels, and other public spaces.
The PSA aims to raise awareness about the issue of businesses denying access to people with service dogs, despite such denials being illegal in both the United States and Canada. The tagline, “Let them in. Let them work,” underscores the difference between working service dogs and pets.
GDB will promote the PSA through paid advertising, public relations, partnerships with allied organizations, and social media. Broadcast and audio-described versions are available on our website. We encourage you to watch, share, and help spread the message that guide dog teams belong wherever the public is welcome.
To view and share “Nonsense,” please visit guidedogs.com/access-psa.
The role of the guide dog handler in the PSA was played by GDB client Braden Dashney, and the guide dog was portrayed by yellow Lab guide dog in training (at the time), Chase. Braden’s real-life guide dog is black Lab Legend, and Chase has since completed his training and was recently paired with a GDB client. “Having a guide dog has really improved my life so I was happy to help GDB raise awareness about accessibility issues and advocate for access and inclusion for guide dog teams,” Braden says. He’s proud to support GDB’s efforts to address accessibility barriers, noting that access issues remain a significant challenge. “These are trained service animals who are clean and behave appropriately,” says Braden.
The PSA is already generating buzz on social media and elsewhere. Braden says that while this may be his “15 minutes of fame,” he jokes that “I haven’t quit my day job.” When he’s not starring in PSAs or working as a rehabilitation instructor, Braden enjoys traveling and hiking with his guide dog.
He has visited Europe three times and says having a guide dog is a huge help when navigating busy cities. He says, “You always have your best friend with you and who doesn’t love that?”
***
Please stop telling me you wore a blindfold: a conversation about reality, consent, and lived experience
A Sunday edition, Spotlight
By: Anthony Corona, Founder of the Sunday Edition Family of Podcasts and Digital Media Content Services
JUL 22, 2026
There is a conversation that happens more often than many blind people probably care to admit.
Someone smiles, leans in with the best of intentions, and proudly tells me that they put on a blindfold and walked around their house. Or they walked to the mailbox. Or around the block. Or they tried making a sandwich without looking.
I know exactly what they are trying to say.
“I wanted to understand.”
I genuinely appreciate that sentiment.
But here is the uncomfortable truth.
Five minutes wearing a blindfold does not replicate blindness.
It cannot.
Not for someone born blind.
Not for someone who gradually lost their vision.
And certainly not for someone like me who lost his sight suddenly in the middle of adulthood.
A blindfold can temporarily remove vision.
It cannot recreate the fear, grief, anger, confusion, adaptation, rehabilitation, rebuilding, or acceptance that often comes with vision loss.
It cannot recreate learning to trust a white cane.
It cannot recreate trusting a guide dog with your safety.
It cannot recreate losing your driver’s license, changing careers, learning accessible technology, navigating relationships that suddenly change, or discovering what independence now looks like.
Blindness is not simply the absence of sight.
It is an entirely different way of experiencing and interacting with the world that develops over days, months, years, and for many of us, a lifetime.
There is an important distinction worth making here.
I have tremendous respect for Orientation and Mobility specialists, rehabilitation professionals, and others who participate in structured blindfold training as part of learning to teach blindness skills. Those experiences can be valuable. They can build empathy. They can expose instructors to challenges they might otherwise never consider. They can make someone a better teacher and a better professional.
But even those exercises have limits.
At the end of the day, the blindfold comes off.
Vision returns.
Life resumes exactly as it did before the exercise began.
That does not make the training meaningless. It simply means it is training.
It is not blindness.
Even during those simulations, there may be moments of uncertainty, hesitation, anxiety, or even fear.
Those emotions are real.
What is different is the knowledge that they are temporary.
The participant knows that in an hour, or at the end of the class, or after the lesson is complete, they will remove the blindfold and see again.
For many of us, there is no moment when the lesson ends.
There is no removing the blindfold.
There is no waking up tomorrow expecting vision to return.
That is not happening for me.
It is not happening for most of my blind and low vision friends.
The permanence changes everything.
It changes how you think.
It changes how you plan.
It changes how you travel.
It changes relationships, employment, hobbies, confidence, independence, and the countless ordinary moments that sighted people often move through without giving them a second thought.
That is why even the very best simulation can never become the lived experience.
That is why those conversations can feel a little cringe worthy.
Not because someone cared enough to try.
Because I suddenly find myself in the position of having to explain why the experiment, they were so proud of cannot possibly replicate my lived experience.
Instead, imagine beginning somewhere much simpler.
Ask me.
Ask if I am comfortable talking about my blindness.
Ask what you would genuinely like to understand.
Ask respectfully.
You might be surprised by how much I am willing to share.
Because here is another important truth.
I do not owe anyone an explanation.
I do not owe you the story of how I went blind.
I do not owe you when it happened.
I do not owe you my medical history.
I do not owe you an explanation of how I learned to cook, travel, work, date, write, host podcasts, or continue living my life.
More often than not, I am happy to talk about many of those things.
But there is an important difference between choosing to share my story and feeling expected to explain it.
Likewise, when someone tells me they wore a blindfold, it does not automatically convince me they are an ally.
It also does not automatically make me think they are mocking me.
Both of those things could be true.
Neither of those things could be true.
And honestly, it is not my responsibility to investigate someone’s motivations because they decided to conduct an experiment before having a conversation.
Intent matters.
Impact matters too.
There is another stereotype that often finds its way into these conversations.
Someone inevitably asks if blind people recognize everyone by feeling their face.
Let me gently put that one to rest.
No.
I have never gone around asking people if I could map their face with my hands.
I cannot imagine a circumstance where I ever would.
There is exactly one exception that comes to mind.
When I held my newborn great niece for the very first time, I gently felt her tiny face, her little nose, her cheeks, her ears, and those impossibly small features that every proud family member wants to memorize forever.
That moment was about love.
It was about connection.
It was about meeting the newest member of our family.
It was not because I am blind.
Beyond moments like that, I am not interested in walking around feeling the faces of everyone I meet.
That stereotype has lived far longer than it deserves.
If you truly want to understand blindness, skip the blindfold experiment.
Start with a conversation instead.
Ask permission.
Be curious.
Listen more than you speak.
Accept that there are some experiences that cannot be fully understood unless they are lived.
And that is perfectly all right.
Empathy has never required complete understanding.
You do not have to experience blindness to respect a blind person.
You simply have to be willing to listen when they tell you what the experience is actually like.
I would much rather spend thirty minutes answering thoughtful questions from someone who genuinely wants to learn than five minutes discussing why a blindfold experiment did not tell them what they thought it would.
The conversation is almost always richer.
The understanding is almost always deeper.
And both of us usually walk away having learned something worth carrying forward.
I would love to hear your thoughts.
Have you ever had someone tell you about their blindfold experiment.
If you are blind or have low vision, how did you respond.
If you are sighted, what questions have you wanted to ask but were not sure how.
Let us have the conversation.
Just maybe leave the blindfold in the drawer.
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MSP Airport Debuts Tactile Maps
(Dots and Dashes, September 21, 2026)
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) is providing a new navigational resource for people who are blind or have low vision. MSP is the first airport in North America to offer tactile maps for its entire suite of public restrooms to help users better understand the layout of key fixtures within each facility.
Nearly 150 tactile maps — which measure approximately two to three feet square — have been installed near each restroom entrance at a height between 48 and 60 inches from the floor, an optimal reach range based on Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines.
The MAC partnered with members of its own MSP Travelers with Disabilities Advisory Committee to develop map symbols, since there are no national standards. Along with lettering and braille, the map symbols — including square, triangle, line and oval, and diamond — note locations for stalls, urinals, accessible stalls, sinks and other fixtures. Every map marks a “start here” entrance location with a raised-dot path to orient users how to move through the restroom.
For more information, visit https://www.mspairport.com/airport/accessibility/tactile-maps.
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ASK EMILY AND GARTH
[Presented by the Sunday Edition Family of Podcasts and Digital Media Content Services]
By: Barbara Hinske, author of the Guiding Emily series, and Anthony Corona
Welcome back to Ask Emily and Garth, where we take your questions about guide dogs, working partnerships, access, etiquette, and the sometimes funny, sometimes frustrating, and always interesting relationship between a guide dog and their human.
As always, we have two questions from readers. Emily gets the first word from the perspective of an experienced guide dog handler, and then Garth gets his turn. And anyone who knows Garth knows he always has something to say.
QUESTION ONE, Lenny in New Mexico writes- My guide dog Buzz is three and a half years old and very friendly. He gets a lot of attention when we are out in our neighborhood, and I have a sign affixed to his harness stating that he is working and asking people not to distract him, pet him, or try to feed him. Unfortunately, that does not stop people from calling out to him and distracting us while we are working. It is becoming uncomfortable. The more people see us and get to know us, the more they seem to feel entitled to call out to him and distract him while he is working. Do you have any advice?
EMILY ANSWERS- Lenny, this is something so many guide dog handlers experience, especially in places where we become familiar faces. There is an interesting thing that happens when people see the same guide dog team regularly. They begin to feel as though they know the dog. And in a way, they do. Buzz becomes part of the neighborhood. People recognize him. They may genuinely care about him and look forward to seeing him. The problem comes when familiarity starts to erase the boundaries that keep you and Buzz safe.
The first thing I would suggest is being consistent. You do not need to apologize for asking someone not to distract your guide dog. You do not need to soften the message until it becomes meaningless, either. A simple, friendly statement can work. He is working right now, so please do not call to him. Or-I know Buzz knows you, but when he is in harness, I need his attention on our work. If someone continues after you have explained it, it is perfectly reasonable to become more direct. Please do not distract my guide dog while we are working. Your harness sign is a useful reminder, but unfortunately, signs do not replace conversations. Some people will not notice it. Others will read it and decide that somehow it does not apply to them because Buzz knows them. It does. You can also help your regular neighbors understand that there may be appropriate opportunities to say hello when Buzz is not working. That makes the distinction clearer. Harness on means Buzz is working. Harness off, and only with your permission, may mean there is an opportunity for social time. The important part is that you decide when that happens. Not the neighbor.
Not the person across the street.
Not the friendly person who has decided that Buzz absolutely needs a snack.
You.
Buzz is your working partner, and maintaining his focus is part of maintaining your safety and independence. Being clear about that is not rude. It is responsible.
GARTH ANSWERS- Lenny, I need to have a word with the humans.
Hello, humans. Yes, we know you. Yes, we remember you. Yes, we may like you very much. And yes, we may be extremely excited that you exist. That is precisely the problem. Buzz is three and a half. He is friendly. He has neighbors who know him. Somewhere in his magnificent dog brain, there is probably a little neighborhood directory. Nice lady on the corner. Guy who smells like bacon. Person who once gave me a biscuit and therefore shall never be forgotten. Dogs notice things. But when Buzz is in harness, he has a job. Imagine trying to concentrate while someone across the street keeps shouting your name. Buzz. Buzz. Hey, Buzz. Hi, Buzz. Buzz, look over here.
At some point, even the most disciplined professional is going to think, WHAT DO YOU WANT? Except Buzz cannot say that. So, you have to. You do not have to be mean about it. You just need to be clear. When the harness is on, Buzz belongs to the work. When the harness comes off, maybe there is time for neighborhood celebrity Buzz to make an appearance. But that decision belongs to you. And humans, one more thing. Please stop assuming that because a guide dog knows you, the rules have changed. They have not. Familiar distractions are still distractions. Sometimes they are even more tempting because we already know exactly who is calling us.
So, admire us. Tell our humans how handsome we are. Marvel at our professionalism. Whisper among yourselves about our extraordinary intelligence.
We are fine with all of that. Just let us work.
QUESTION TWO, Susan in Massachusetts writes-
My guide dog is nine years old and about to turn 10, and she is showing no signs of wanting or needing to retire. She is very healthy, energetic, and playful, and I have spoken with my veterinarian, who feels confident that she is still in prime shape for working. What are some of the signs I should be looking for over the next year or two that might let me know it is time to start thinking about retirement and perhaps applying for my successor guide dog?
EMILY ANSWERS- Susan, I love that you are asking this question before there is a problem. Retirement is not determined by a birthday alone. Every dog is different, and your veterinarian’s assessment of your dog’s physical health is an important part of the conversation. Your guide dog school can also help you evaluate changes in her work and determine when it might be appropriate to begin planning for a successor dog. One of the biggest things I would watch for is change. You know your dog. You know her normal walking pace, enthusiasm, stamina, concentration, recovery time, and attitude toward work. Pay attention if those things begin to shift. Does she seem less enthusiastic when the harness comes out? Is she slowing down noticeably on routes that were previously easy for her? Does she tire more quickly? Does she need longer periods of rest after working? Is she becoming reluctant about stairs, curbs, getting into vehicles, longer walks, or certain environments? Are you noticing changes in her concentration or confidence? Is she still making the same decisions with the same reliability? Some changes may have nothing to do with retirement and should always be discussed with your veterinarian and guide dog school. That is why communication with both is so important. But I would gently encourage you not to wait for one of those changes before beginning the conversation about a successor guide dog. That can be an emotional step. Applying for a successor can feel as though you are making a decision about retirement before either you or your dog is ready to make it. But those are not necessarily the same decision. Applying for your next guide dog does not mean that you are taking the harness away from the dog beside you today. It means you are planning. There can be a significant amount of time between beginning the application process and actually being matched with your next guide dog. Your school is not simply looking for any available dog. They are looking for a dog whose temperament, pace, skills, personality, and working style are appropriate for you, your lifestyle, and your needs. That match can take time. And none of us knows exactly what the next year will bring. A healthy older guide dog can continue doing beautifully, and then something can change unexpectedly. That possibility is difficult to think about, particularly when your dog is happy, healthy, and working well. But planning ahead can protect both of you from having to make several enormous decisions at once. If you begin the successor process while your current guide is still working well, you give yourself and your school time. You are not predicting that something bad will happen. You are making sure that if something does change, you are not starting from the very beginning at the same moment you are dealing with that change. So, I would start talking with your school now. Ask about their current application process for successor dogs, expected timelines, what they recommend for a dog of your guide’s age, and how they approach the transition when a current guide is still working successfully. Planning for tomorrow does not diminish the partnership you have today. In some ways, it honors it. Most importantly, try not to think of retirement as something you are doing to her. When the time eventually comes, retirement is something you are doing for her. A guide dog gives an extraordinary amount to the partnership. Part of our responsibility as handlers is recognizing when our partner has earned the right to put away the harness and simply be a dog.
GARTH ANSWERS- Susan, I am going to tell you something that dogs wish humans understood. We do not read calendars. Your dog is not going to wake up on her tenth birthday, look at the date, sigh dramatically, and announce that she has scheduled a retirement luncheon for Friday. If she is healthy, energetic, enthusiastic, and still loving her work, those things matter. But Emily is right about watching for changes. You know your dog better than almost anyone. You know the sound of her getting up in the morning. You know how quickly she moves when the harness comes out. You know her normal pace. You know whether she finishes a working day ready for a nap or ready to grab a toy and convince everyone that the day has only just begun. Watch the little things. Maybe the harness does not bring quite the same excitement. Maybe a long route takes more out of her than it used to. Maybe she pauses before something that never bothered her before. Maybe she is perfectly capable of doing the work but would increasingly rather be home supervising the couch. Those little changes can tell you a lot. And please do not wait until she absolutely cannot work anymore before you begin thinking about what comes next. Emily is right about something else too. Applying for the next dog does not mean you are firing the current employee. Think of it as succession planning. Very important executive level succession planning. Your school needs time to find the right youngster for the job, and your current guide does not need to hand over her harness tomorrow just because you started the conversation today.
In fact, I rather like the idea of the veteran still being around when the new kid arrives. Someone has to supervise. Someone has to explain where the best sleeping spots are. Someone has to point out which human can most easily be persuaded to provide an extra treat. And someone certainly needs to tell the new recruit: Listen carefully, kid. I have spent years training this human. Do not mess it up. There is something beautiful about being able to pass the torch that way. Your current guide gets to finish her career on her terms, while she is still successful and still enjoying the work. And when the time is right, the new dog gets to step forward. Not because the old dog failed. Not because something went wrong. Because one extraordinary partnership reached the point where another could begin. A guide dog retirement should not have to begin with failure. It can begin with gratitude. One day, that harness will come off for the last time. And yes, that may be emotional for both of you. But do you know what happens next? Breakfast still happens. Walks still happen. Toys still happen. Sniffing things that have absolutely nothing to do with navigation happens. Naps become an increasingly important part of the daily schedule. And the retired guide dog gets to watch the youngster who comes along next and think: Kid, you have no idea what you are getting yourself into. I trained this human for years. Good luck.
A NOTE FROM BARBARA AND ANTHONY- As always, Ask Emily and Garth is meant to share experience, perspective, conversation, and a little fun. We are not veterinarians, guide dog instructors, trainers, or medical professionals. Questions involving a guide dog’s health, behavior, working ability, safety, or retirement should always be discussed with your veterinarian and your guide dog school or graduate support team. Every dog and every partnership are different, and the professionals who know you and your dog are the best people to help with individual decisions.
HAVE A QUESTION FOR EMILY AND GARTH? We love hearing from readers. Send us your questions about guide dogs, working partnerships, access, etiquette, travel, retirement, relationships, and life with a four legged professional. Your question may appear in a future edition of Ask Emily and Garth.
Send questions to- SundayEdition@anthonycorona.com
Until next time, keep asking questions, keep learning from one another, and please remember one of the simplest rules in the guide dog world.
When the harness is on, let us work.
Emily and Garth will thank you.
And so will the human at the other end of the harness.
ABOUT BARBARA HINSKE- Barbara Hinske is the bestselling author of the beloved Guiding Emily series, which introduced readers to Emily and Garth and helped inspire this continuing collaboration. And Barbara has something brand new for readers. Her newest novel, Always Almost You, was released September 17. The story follows interior designer Lauren Simpson and architect Mike Miller, two people brought together unexpectedly when a winter storm strands them at the same airport hotel. One remarkable evening and a stray dog bring them together, but by morning they have gone their separate ways without enough information to find one another again. What follows is a story of timing, near misses, second chances, and the possibility that sometimes the person you almost missed is exactly the person you were meant to find. And, because this is Barbara Hinske, there are dogs.
If you read Always Almost You, or any of Barbara’s books, please take a few minutes to leave a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or wherever you discover and review your books.
Reviews matter. They help authors, they help other readers discover books, and they help keep the stories we love moving through the world.
ABOUT ANTHONY CORONA AND THE SUNDAY EDITION FAMILY- Anthony Corona is the founder, host, producer, and creative force behind the Sunday Edition Family of Podcasts and Digital Media Content Services, bringing together conversations, storytelling, entertainment, advocacy, accessibility, technology, music, and community. And the family is growing again. Beginning September 30, SundayEdition with Anthony Corona will be part of Double Tap Live, the new 24-hour audio stream dedicated to accessibility, assistive technology, blindness and low vision, disability inclusion, and community voices. Double Tap Live launches September 30 at 1 PM Eastern with a special two-hour live celebration, and Sunday Edition is proud to be part of the lineup. For all things Sunday Edition, including programming, podcasts, Corona FM, articles, special features, and updates, visit:
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Accessible Pregnancy Tests That Have Results You Can Touch
By Holly
[FERTILITY & PREGNANCY, January 8, 2021]
Whatever answer you’re hoping for from a pregnancy test, taking one is rarely a low-stress occurrence. And for many who are blind or vision-impaired, taking a pregnancy test can be even more tricky: the tests use visual displays, and often the only solution for knowing the result is to call a friend, family member, or even stranger into a very private moment.
The app Be My Eyes is now partnering with pregnancy test maker Clearblue to offer volunteer services in reading pregnancy tests—but that still brings a stranger into the process. The UK’s Royal National Institute for the Blind, however, now has a new design for a tactile, accessible test that could be taken privately. It’s colorful, high-contrast, and big enough to use without full sight. And the results appear as bumps that anyone can feel
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THE END OF ENVISION AND THE REALITY BEHIND THE WEARABLE REVOLUTION
[SUNDAY EDITION TECH SPOTLIGHT- 10/6/2026]
By: Anthony Corona, Founder of the Sunday Edition Family of Podcasts
Some of us saw this coming. Still, I had hoped I was wrong. I had hoped that somewhere along the way Envision would find a partner, a buyer, or one of the larger technology companies willing to take what Karthik Mahadevan, Karthik Kannan and their team had built and figure out how to carry it into its next chapter. Maybe there is still a little room to hope for that. But today feels like an appropriate moment to recognize what Envision did, what it taught us, and perhaps what its story should teach our community about the rapidly growing world of wearable technology. I still have my original Envision Glasses. The first ones. The big ones built on Google Glass technology. They came into my life at exactly the right moment. I was still relatively early in my own journey with blindness, and I was absolutely ripe for the promise of a wearable product that could give me more information about the world around me. And those glasses could do some pretty remarkable things for their time.
They were great at batch scanning and OCR. They could read printed material. They put information literally on your face in a way that felt futuristic because, at the time, it was. Looking back now, those original Envision Glasses also gave us a glimpse of something much bigger. Years before most of us could have imagined what Meta glasses and other mainstream wearables would eventually become capable of doing, Envision was demonstrating why putting cameras, artificial intelligence and accessible information into something worn on your face could matter. And I think companies like Envision did something else that deserves recognition.
They helped show the larger technology industry which features actually mattered. What begins as an accessibility tool for a blind person can very quickly reveal applications for everyone. Reading text, recognizing objects, identifying surroundings, accessing information without pulling out a phone and interacting with artificial intelligence through a wearable device are no longer ideas confined to blindness technology.
They are increasingly mainstream ideas. That does not mean those original glasses were perfect.
They were big. They were bulky.
Battery life could be a problem. And trying to connect or reconnect at exactly the moment when you really needed the technology could occasionally make you want to introduce the glasses to the nearest wall. But overall, I thought the product was good. More importantly, I thought the idea behind it was very good.
I had equally high hopes for Envision’s successor product. That one, if we are being fair, did not live up to the hype or expectations many of us had for it. But they tried.
Over the years, we have had three conversations with Karthik, Karthik and members of the Envision team through Sunday Edition. I am proud that we had the opportunity to help our community understand who they were, what they were trying to accomplish and where they believed this technology could go. And today I think it is important to recognize their place in the accessibility annals. There were missteps.
There were issues surrounding subscription rollouts. There were products and promises that did not always land exactly where people expected them to land. But there was also some really good work.
Envision moved the conversation forward. They helped move wearable accessibility technology forward.
And whether they ever receive proper credit for it or not, I believe some of the mainstream products we are using and talking about today exist in an ecosystem that companies like Envision helped create. For that, I want to thank them. I wish Karthik, Karthik and the entire Envision team well in whatever comes next. And yes, I am still holding out a little hope that someone at one of the larger companies looks at what they built, what they learned, the technology they developed and the community they cultivated and decides that there is something here worth continuing in a new way. But there is another part of this story that our community needs to talk about.
Right now, there are dozens of projects coming at the blind and low vision community with some variation of the same promise. This is the product that is going to change everything.
This is the wearable that is going to revolutionize blindness. This is the mobility device that is going to transform independent travel. This is the artificial intelligence that is going to completely change how we interact with the world. Maybe.
But we need to get much better at separating what a product can do today from what its developers hope it might do tomorrow. Take Glide.
I have high hopes for Glide. I have tested it. We have also had what I believe was a realistic conversation about the technology on the August 30 episode of Sunday Edition. There are things about Glide that genuinely excite me.
But my enthusiasm for what it might become cannot replace an honest assessment of what it is today. That distinction matters. We should absolutely be excited about innovation. We should encourage the people trying to build new tools for our community. We should test them, challenge them, support good ideas and imagine where the technology might eventually take us. But when we evaluate a product, particularly when people are being asked to invest their money and independence in it, we have to evaluate what is actually available now. Not simply the promise of what it could become in the near or distant future.
That brings us directly back to the larger lesson in the Envision story. As Karthik and Karthik explain in their statement, this is an incredibly difficult market in which to build something sustainable for the long term. That matters. Because I have consistently cautioned our community against becoming intoxicated by the hype surrounding any particular product, project or prototype. Until you see something beyond a demonstration or prototype, until you can actually put the finished product in your hands or on your face, purchase it and use the thing that was promised, anything can happen. Funding can disappear. Technology can change. Timelines can collapse. Manufacturing can become more expensive than anticipated. A brilliant prototype can become an impractical commercial product. And even after years of successfully delivering a finished product, as the Envision story demonstrates, a company can eventually hit a ceiling that makes continuing incredibly difficult. Are some of these projects giving people false hope? Yes. I have had those conversations directly with some of the teams developing these products, including conversations on Sunday Edition where our audience could hear the questions and the answers for themselves. But there is another side to this. Are members of our own community sometimes allowing themselves to marinate in unrealistic expectations? Absolutely.
We have to become better consumers of promises. We need to distinguish between a prototype and a product. Between a demonstration and something ready for everyday life. Between what a company hopes to accomplish and what its technology can actually accomplish today. Between revolutionary language and evolutionary progress. And we need to understand the compromises involved in both specialized accessibility technology and mainstream products. Mainstream technology has always required compromises from disabled users. That remains true.
But specialized technology has compromises too. Price. Scale. Support. Manufacturing. A smaller customer base. Long term development. And ultimately sustainability. Neither approach is inherently right or wrong. But when people are being asked to spend their hard-earned money, and sometimes place a tremendous amount of emotional hope in a new startup or accessibility product, the conversation needs to be grounded in facts and actuality rather than promises about what might someday be possible. That is why the Envision story matters beyond Envision.
Karthik and Karthik talk candidly about the difficulty of creating a sustainable business in this space. They also make an important observation about mainstream artificial intelligence and wearable technology increasingly incorporating capabilities that once belonged almost exclusively to specialized accessibility products. I encourage you to read their statement for yourself.
https://www.letsenvision.com/blog/all-we-had-as-far-as-we-could
There will be plenty of time to talk about what comes next. There will be another startup. Another prototype. Another pair of glasses. Another artificial intelligence platform. Another device promising to change mobility forever. Some will succeed. Some will fail. Some will introduce one genuinely transformative idea that eventually becomes part of something completely different. That is how technology evolves. Today, though, I want to circle back to Envision. They tried. They built something.
They put it into people’s hands and onto people’s faces. They learned. They stumbled. They improved. And ultimately, they helped move the conversation and the technology we use today forward. That deserves recognition. So, while this is a sad day for those of us who watched Envision grow and hoped to see where it might go next, it is also an opportunity to say thank you. Thank you to Karthik Mahadevan, Karthik Kannan and everyone who helped build Envision. Whatever comes next, your work mattered.
A think and thank you, peace
Read more here
https://theanthonycorona.substack.com/p/the-end-of-envision-and-the-future?r=5l74jk&utm_medium=ios
Yours,
Anthony Corona, Host and Producer of Sunday edition
****
IMPORTANT Editor’s Note-Content for GDUI News You Can Use is culled from a variety of sources; Hence inclusion herein does not imply GDUI endorses, supports or verifies said contents. Information, ideas, or expressed opinions are not advice, therefore should not be treated as such. Factual errors are the responsibility of the listed source.
Sincerely,
Sarah Calhoun, President
Guide Dog Users, Inc.
Andrea Giudice, Editor
Paws for GDUI News You Can Use
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