Dan Parker joins Pete Lane and Jeff Thompson as he talks about his new goal of building his own car from scratch, designing welding, bending and knotting. Staying busy and figuring out how to do it Blind. Dan has an idea that started when he lost his sight after a racing accident, Dan wants to plants the seeds for developing an autonomous apparatus for a 3-wheeled bicycle. Something that people could use to get out and about and having the...
The Blue Collar Blind: Not Necessarily About Blindness derives from talking to so many people who met the challenges of blindness and forged forward. They are who they are because they had the drive to succeed at their ambitions. They carved out their own niche in life and are living out their passions. Not Necessarily About blindness is the fact that some of us don not look at the world in the same way and see opportunity where others see...
Wood Working is something that people have low expectations for the blind and probably think that it is too dangerous for their son/daughter or any person with limited or no vision to get involved with as a hobby or profession. Training centers across the states have proven that wood working can be done safely and successfully and require students to take the class not to actually become a carpenter but to challenge their clients to overcome a...
Wrap-up, Blindfold Racer National Championship 2016, A Follow-up With Project Starfish Blind Abilities presents this follow up interview with Project Starfish after their successful completion of the first ever Blindfold Racer National Championship. Join Jeff Thompson and Pete Lane and their guests, Nazreen, Labisha and Karl, as they break down the challenges and achievements of this unique worldwide competition. The challenge spanned 60...
The Blind Abilities Team visited the University of Minnesota to talk to Dr. Mona Minkara in her office about her job and how she navigated her journey with vision loss. Dr. Mona Minkara is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Minnesota in the Department of Chemistry. Her goal is to one day obtain a faculty position that would give her the opportunity to teach and do research. You can find out more about Dr. Mona Minkara on her...
Blind Abilities Presents: Parnell Diggs the Director of Government Affairs, National Federation of the Blind. Pete Lane and Jeff Thompson chat with Parnell about the ABEL Act, which is an acronym, Achieving a Better Life Experience, and about Airline Entertainment accessibility. Pete Lane is retired from the IRS and together Parnell and Pete walk us through the benefits of the ABLE Act and some of the legislation happening today pertaining to...
Blind Abilities extends its international connection with our new Canadian correspondent Nick D’Ambrosio. Nick’s first guest is Kim Holdbrook: a blind massage therapist who has opened her own unique massage studio, Hands that See, in Montreal. Kim’s studio is one of a kind as it employs exclusively blind and visually impaired massage therapists. Join Jeff, Pete and Nick as they introduce this remarkable individual and hear of her...
I had the pleasure of talking to Mugambi Paul from Kenya, Africa where he has created songs delivering a message that can be heard around the world. In this brief conversation with Mugambi, his music and advocacy takes front stage. From being awarded the Activist of the Year to his song, Never Ever Give Up now available on YouTube, I am excited to hear his next album release that as he puts it so well, “...it is still cooking”. You can find...
In the final installment of his podcast creation series, Pete Lane demonstrates how he pastes-over the three components of his project to form the final podcast. This concludes the series, but Jeff and Pete will present an addendum installment in which they share some additional techniques, tips and tricks from their years of experience with Amadeus Pro. We very much want to hear from listeners who heard any or all of this podcast series, and...
Ray Wright teaches wood working and was once a student learning about wood working as an elective class. Ray had no idea that one day he would be teaching others the art of wood working. His class is an opportunity for students to work with tools and create projects that they probably did not expect that they could do as a person with visual impairment. Ray has become a master of the Lathe and from the tiniest projects to Ice Cream Cones Ray the...