Full Transcript
Jeff Thompson:
Check out the Blind Abilities community on Facebook, the career resources for the blind and visually impaired and the assistive technology community for the blind and visually impaired as well.
Jeff Thompson:
Welcome to Blind Abilities, I’m Jeff Thompson.
Jeff Thompson:
I was at a convention and met up with two blind brothers. Not just two blind brothers, I mean the two blind brothers. They run a company that have some of the softest feeling material that you will ever find. Lori and I bought a couple shirts. She bought a tank, I bought a jersey shirt. It’s kind of a baseball shirt and it is some of the softest material you will ever find. I can’t repeat that more often because feelings believing and some of the sleeves you’ll find the word feel in raised lettering on it. You’ll be able to check that out and they have the puffy paint down below where it tells the color of the shirt as well.
Jeff Thompson:
I got talking with Bryan and Brad was out busy doing something at the time. I think he was getting a salad. The next day we got them both together, you know, two blind brothers and one stone, you know? Get them both at the same time. I personally remember them on the Ellen DeGeneres show and they told me that after that show, their service blew up. The listeners gave such a response to it. They knew they were onto something. So without further ado, I’d like to introduce you to two blind brothers, Bryan and Brad.
Jeff Thompson:
Brother Brad, did you two guys meet yesterday?
Bryan:
No idea. He was out eating a salad.
Brad:
Oh nice to meet you.
Jeff Thompson:
He’s a hell of a young man.
Bryan:
Yeah, he was eyeing up the candy over there.
Brad:
Yeah.
Bryan:
You’re sure it’s gotta hit man.
Brad:
Yeah that’s right. I mean the candy’s is a big… I’ll tell you that’s a big draw. I was like wow this is a popular item here.
Bryan:
I told you.
Jeff Thompson:
Now I’m getting confused this is?
Brad:
Brad.
Brad:
Brad. Bryan.
Jeff Thompson:
Bryan. Yeah. Let’s rock and roll. Two blind brothers and one stone.
Brad:
Two blind brothers and one stone.
Jeff Thompson:
There we go. Welcome to Blind abilities I’m Jeff Thompson and I’m at the convention in Las Vegas the NFB 2019 and I came up to the Two Blind Brothers booth with Bryan and Brad. How are you both doing?
Brad:
Fantastic. Bryan and I both had a little luck last night in the casino, so we’re feeling pretty good and the convention has been awesome. It’s our first time here. It’s the first time we’ve been at an organization with these many folks that you know, obviously are affected with different vision impairments and blindness, as well as the vendors in technology that are here to support the community. So it’s been a lot of fun for us.
Jeff Thompson:
What about you Bryan?
Bryan:
It’s been unbelievable. We’ve gotten to meet some of the nicest, kindest, most thoughtful folks in the world. Gotten to laugh a bunch and gotten to learn about a lot of people’s stories which is our favorite part of being in this community.
Jeff Thompson:
Now, tell the listeners what you guys produce?
Brad:
Two blind brothers is a clothing brand and we make the softest shirts in the world and we help support research, pre-clinical retinal research to help cure blindness and we work with partners like The Industries for The Blind. We’ve worked with Dallas Lighthouse for the Blind and some other community partners to help empower the community.
Brad:
But about the clothing you know, Bryan and I, when we go shopping it’s a big pain because we can’t see the prices, the sizes, the labels that well. So the first thing we do, is we grab the item and figure out if we like it. So this happened to us about four years ago and we ended up buying the exact same shirt. It was kind of this ‘Aha!’ moment for us where maybe there is something to, this vigilance, ,the touch, and maybe it could be our way to give back to this community and so that’s when we came up with the idea for Two Blind Brothers and through we’ve been the beneficiaries of a great community here. They’ve lifted us up on many occasions when we were just an early company and now we’ve had great publicity from people like The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Richard Branson and a lot of support from organizations that are all here at the convention as well.
Jeff Thompson:
You even have a little bit of puff paint down there. One says feel and the other says the color of the shirt, right?
Bryan:
Yeah in all of our shirts we have a few braille touches as we call them. On our graphic tees we have the word feel written on the left-hand sleeve. But way more interestingly and something we’re so proud to announce is on our entire collection on the bottom right hem, we have the color of the shirt in either puff paint or embroidery. The reason we did it is because we think first, we wanted the functionality. We wanted the ability for somebody to reach into the closet and know what color shirt they’re pulling out.
Bryan:
Two, we think braille is aesthetically just beautiful. We think it is such a representation of Brad and I’s life. We had to learn braille as young children because they weren’t sure how far our vision was going to go and so we wanted to convey that message and convey that feeling onto people, as well as give them the ability to have a little bit more knowledge and have a conversation piece around what the shirt is and what it means to them.
Jeff Thompson:
I was at your table and they are soft. There’s also some socks here that are really, really nice. I’m wondering can you guys give a little information where people can find your products?
Brad:
Sure. You know, we do most of our sales through our website and that’s twoblindbrothers.com just all spelled out, T-W-0-B-L-I-N-D brothers.com.
Bryan:
I’m always concerned he is going to try and spell brothers and make a mistake.
Jeff Thompson:
Well you’re listening.
Bryan:
You’re listening.
Jeff Thompson:
Now you guys did something really fun last night. You guys went to dining in the dark?
Bryan:
Yeah we went to a great spot. We took our whole Two Blind Brothers team out where they actually black out an entire room where maybe you shut your eyes and you squint hard and you can’t see anything. So we sat in this room and we had a long dinner and it was really interesting to get different aromas, different tastes, different textures, but I think the best part was nobody knew I was eating with my hands the whole time.
Jeff Thompson:
Well, that’s good for the team.
Brad:
Yeah that’s exactly. I mean really what it was is sort of a fun Vegas moment that we were able to have, but you know we were out with Justin Bishop last night who is a blind skateboarder. You can find him on Instagram at Justin the bishop, but what he found in, and you know he has retinitis pigmentosa, but what he found interesting about it is that everybody knew that they couldn’t be seen. So what he says is kind of funny because people were eating with their hands, people were like dancing in their chairs. Nobody knew what was going on except for the waiters that had night-vision goggles.
Jeff Thompson:
Well, that’s great. I’m really impressed that you guys are here. Nice to see you guys here and I hope you guys enjoys Vegas, the rest of the convention, and thank you very much.
Bryan:
Thank you as well.
Brad:
Yeah, thank you so much.
Jeff Thompson:
Not only are they two blind brothers, but they’re actually two great guys. Had a great time just chatting with them, talking about anything and everything and it was a great time. So if you get a chance to meet up with them, do so, you won’t regret it. They also got a great team working at the booth with them, so check them out on the web, ask questions, find out the information you need. They will be very responsive, twoblindbrothers.com.
Speaker 4:
T-W-O-B-L-I-N-D-B-R-O-T-H-E-R-S.C-O-M. Twoblindbrothers.com
[Music] [Transition noise] -When we share
-What we see
-Through each other’s eyes…
[Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence]
…We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities.
Jeff Thompson:
For more podcasts with the blindness perspective:
Check us out on the web at www.BlindAbilities.com
On Twitter @BlindAbilities
Download our app from the App store:
‘Blind Abilities’; that’s two words.
Or send us an e-mail at:
Thanks for listening.
*****
Contact Your State Services
If you reside in Minnesota, and you would like to know more about Transition Services from State Services contact Transition Coordinator Sheila Koenig by email or contact her via phone at 651-539-2361.
To find your State Services in your State you can go to www.AFB.org and search the directory for your agency.
Contact:
Thank you for listening!
You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities
On the web at www.BlindAbilities.com
Send us an email
Get the Free Blind Abilities App on the App Storeand Google Play Store.
Check out the Blind Abilities Communityon Facebook, the Blind Abilities Page, the Career Resources for the Blind and Visually Impairedand the Assistive Technology Community for the Blind and Visually Impaired.