Full Transcription
Kaleigh:
I actually don’t find the paper with the remote learning system, partly because of its lack of structure.
Simon:
What I did to problem solve, I called up IRA and I used the five minutes for free of IRA and I had them remote into my computer with the Team Viewer application.
Jillian:
A lot of my teachers just post work for us to do, but very few of my high school teachers really actually engage with the students in direct instruction.
John:
This is for anyone here with any mental health. And I’ve been kind of struggling with some mental issues recently.
Gianna:
So when I get math assignments posted, it’s like, “Oh, how am I going to do this?” Because some of it is really visual and some of it is not accessible to me.
Jillian:
So this all virtual learning platform has posed a lot of new and unforeseen challenges.
Jeff:
Welcome to Blind Abilities. I’m Jeff Thompson, virtual and distance learning. A big change has happened over the last couple of months, especially for transition age students and that students who are transitioning from high school to college to the workplace. Simon Bonenfant, teen correspondent for Blind Abilities, gathered together some high school students and talked about the impact, the changes, the adjustments, and how distance and virtual learning is going for them. I have to admit, you always wonder how things are going and hearing from the voices of those actually impacted is second to none and a big thank you from all of us for all you people on the front line doing what you do to you and your families and to all the teachers, the TVIs, the paras and administrations that are adjusting to this new change to the education system.
Jeff:
We want to thank all of you. Stay well, stay informed and stay strong. For more podcasts with a Blindness Perspective, check us out on the web at www.blindabilities.com on Twitter @BlindAbilities and download the free Blind Abilities app from the app store or the Google play store. That’s two words, Blind Abilities and you can listen to us anywhere podcasts are available. And be sure to check out the Blind Abilities community group on Facebook where we ask those tough questions. Where we advise, where we share and most of all learn.
Kaleigh:
It’s imperative both for your physical health and your mental health to get out to exercise. Take that lap around the neighborhood with your family. Get out in the yard, get some form of exercise. It’s going to relieve you from your work for a little while. Number one. And number two, ensure that you stay healthy because in the midst of all this is imperative that you keep your immune system strong.
Jeff:
Now, please welcome Kaleigh, Gianna, Jillian, John and Simon. We hope you enjoy.
Simon:
Hello everyone on Blind Abilities. My name is Simon Bonenfant. I’m here in the midst of the COVID-19 coronavirus quarantine to do a special show where we are going to be doing a student round table today. Talking about the effects of the stay at home order and the homeschooling that has been taking place right now through the effect of COVID-19.
Simon:
So I’ll run through the participants that we have here today. We have me, Simon Bonenfant, John Dowling, Gianna Zaccagni, Jillian Milton and Kaleigh Brendle. We have a diverse group of people here from a lot of different places. So why don’t we go around the round table and start off with explaining what you all go to school and what State you’re from, that kind of deal.
John:
So my name is John Dowling. You probably have heard my voice before because I’ve been on the Blind Abilities podcasts. I am from Cinnaminson, New Jersey and I am a junior and I attended Cinnaminson High School.
Kaleigh:
My name is Kaleigh Brendle. I’m currently a junior in the Scholar Center for the Humanities Program, House to Holly school. I reside in Freehold New Jersey.
Jillian:
My name is Jillian Milton. I’m a senior at Middletown High School South. I live in Middletown.
Gianna:
And mine is Gianna Zaccagni. I’m from Northeast Philadelphia. I’m a freshman at Archbishop Ryan high school.
Simon:
All right. As all of you know me, Simon from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and I’m a junior at Archbishop Carroll high school. As you all know, everybody knows now about COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Everything is shutting down. As we prepare and as we go through our social distancing efforts that all the States and the government has put in place for us. All of the schools are closed, which means everyone is doing remote learning systems. So why don’t we all go around quickly and talk about how we liked the remote learning systems and what do you all think of them.
John:
I think it’s good because for me, I really like to work at my own pace. So I think it’s amazing that now I can kind of work at my own pace and I don’t have to have time constraints.
Kaleigh:
I actually don’t find a favor with the remote learning system, partly because of its lack of structure. I think that there is a complete lack of organization in my particular district, just teachers posting assignments and they feel like they need to overcompensate for the fact that we’re not in school and post more because of that. I’ve had 16 hour work days and I think that it’s not something that I would like to continue to experience. It’s very cumbersome for me.
Jillian:
I’m also not really too much of a fan of the remote learning situation now because a lot of my teachers just post work for us to do. But very few of my high school teachers really actually engage with the students in direct instruction. And that’s something that I definitely miss with doing virtual learning versus learning that’s gone through in person classroom. Because I typically learn better when there’s a teacher who’s actually like teaching me the skills versus independent work. And similar to Kaleigh I’ve had very long work days because I’m trying to teach myself upper level subjects now. So yeah.
Gianna:
This is Gianna. I feel that the online learning is kind of good and kind of bad. I feel like it’s good because we get to teach yourself some stuff and I feel that it’s bad because I personally need had a teacher to teach me one on one, especially with math. So when I get math assignments posted it’s like, “Oh, how am I going to do this?” Because some of the is really visual and some of it is not accessible to me.
Simon:
Right. For me in some ways I enjoy not having to have a full school day and wake up early in the morning and have to do that. I mean obviously I would not want this to happen at all. Obviously the situation nobody does, but in terms of a little more flexible structure I’d say I enjoy that, but I ultimately miss the interaction with the teachers and the students. And just interaction of getting up in the morning and going out to school and having a structure and having a really routine going outside.
Simon:
And of course this also blends into the whole social distance thing because no one can really go outside with other people for long periods of time. So it can also be hard to deal with that and being in the house for so long and things of that nature. Why don’t we take a little bit of a step back and why doesn’t each one of you kind of talk about your visual impairment specifically because we have some people in here that can see a little bit more than others.
John:
So I have a retinopathy prematurity, which essentially means that the blood vessels in my eyes weren’t fully developed when I was born. That caused me to lose my vision in my left eye and in my right eye blew out and cataract. And I also have glaucoma, so I have the combination of three eye conditions.
Kaleigh:
I possess a condition called Leber Congenital Amaurosis or LCA for short. Specifically a mutation of the CEP290 gene, which renders my right eye incompetent to work correctly. I do have some degree of vision, but no depth perception and no peripheral vision. And it’s difficult for me to focus on one thing for a given amount of time because I possess the sadness and strabismus. So it’s hard for me to focus.
Jillian:
Yeah, I have retinopathy of prematurity like John and they also have missed Agnes and I also have cataracts. Yeah, I have a combination of the three eye conditions as well. What’s funny, I can see better out of my right eye, even though my right eye has more cataracts. I have 2,200 in my right eye and 2,400 in my left eye. So I have 10% vision.
Gianna:
I also have retinopathy of prematurity and I was born at 24 weeks. I was supposed to be born in February, but I was born in October and I don’t have any vision whatsoever so I can’t even see light.
Simon:
I have retinopathy of prematurity as well and I was born prematurely. That’s the cause of my Blindness. I was born very small at a one pound three ounces. So I was very small and it’s a miracle I’m alive and I have light perception, but in of any kind of computer screen or any kind of functional division tasks, I’m not able to complete them without adaptive techniques as a blind person. So let’s talk about accommodations. We all use, accommodations in a regular classroom setting. What kind of accommodations do you all use in a regular classroom setting.
John:
One of my accommodations is that I get extra time to do specifically tests and other assignments because I do all my math materials on a Perkins Braille Writer. So every week my TVI or teacher for vision impaired, will come out and transcribe my raw work into great blueprint for the teacher.
Kaleigh:
I have several accommodations written into my IEP, one of which is that I need, like John said, extra time for assessments, quizzes, tests. I also do not take them in a regular classroom setting. I take them in what my TVI calls the braille room, where it’s her specific office where she performs all for transcription and adaptation work. In addition to that, I also have all my documents either converted into a word format, a Google doc format or braille, particularly with math, I use braille.
Kaleigh:
And then one of my courses is AP biology, which is a collegiate level biology course. So I have a lot of diagrams that are coming through. So my transcriptionist will actually adapt the diagrams using puffy paint and a variety of other materials. So all of my diagrams must be given to my teachers ahead of time. In fact everything must be given to my transcriptionist and TVI ahead of time in order to ensure that accommodations are properly met.
Jillian:
As far as my accommodations, I have very many. I have extended time for testing quizzes depending on the subject. I get a double time for English and more of the humanity subjects that I get double time plus a quarter for math and science. I have to get my documents adapted to my specific thought, size and margin specs. And I have a team that does basically sets and adapts all my documents. I have to go my documents in either Google docs for more humanities based subjects and science and math lab or PowerPoint. Yeah. Stuff like that.
Jillian:
So the teachers at my school have to give my TVI and my IEP team, the documents within five days. If a teacher is going to assign a project, then that has to be given out within seven days because I also require specific accommodations for a product as well. And I might have to use a certain app that I’ve never really used before. And products in general take more prep time for me just to figure out what I’m able to do in the project and how other people respond to me being legally blind. So yeah, so that’s just some of my accommodations in school.
Gianna:
So my accommodations are also extra time on tests, quizzes, assessments, etc. And stuff also has to be given to my teachers ahead of time and if they’re not, my TVI will say something like, “Oh listen, you need to remember to give me that ahead of time because I have to braille for her and get it ready.” For example, we’re going to be starting Romeo and Juliet and let’s just say this coronavirus thing didn’t happen. My teacher would have to braille that whole entire story for me. So she would needed a week, two weeks in advance.
Simon:
Yeah. For me, I would say I have a lot of accommodations as well. I have extended time on tests, quizzes, things like that. I use all my technology to complete my work, my computer, my braille note taker, my Perkins Braille Writer where I do math, and I email all my assignments to the teachers. So we all have a lot of different accommodations and a lot of different technologies that we all use to succeed in the classroom. And it’s actually very good that this podcast is being recorded and done when it is, because I’m sure we all have heard the news that as of April 2020 the schools have gone virtual for the whole rest of the school year.
Simon:
So now there’s no options to be coming back to the school. So this is something that we’re going to be having to deal with for the rest of the school year. Until all this is sorted out. So how has this onset of virtual learning disrupted your accommodations and have you had any accessibility challenges or barriers that normally your teachers or TVIs would be able to help you with but because it’s all virtual, you’re not able to do that. And how have you worked around that to problem solve and get your assignments completed?
John:
So as far as with me, I think the most challenging for me is math, specifically geometry because that’s where I’m learning right now. Luckily we were able to come to an agreement with my geometry teacher and he’s giving the other kids assignments from a packet and from a service called Khan Academy, which I’m sure many of you are probably familiar with. But I’m unable to use Khan Academy. So he’s been giving me stuff from the textbook because about a week before this whole coronavirus thing happened, my mom went to our school and picked up basically all of my math books.
John:
So I have all the boxes are literally in my house and actually one box is sitting here in my room and every week I sit down with my geometry teacher and he says, “All right, this is what we’re going to go through this week.” And then I sit down with my aide who is wonderful at geometry and she kind of explains what’s going on as far as what I have to learn and to kind of walk me through the process of that. As far as my other classes, everything else has been going relatively well.
John:
Although I’m kind of struggling with band because with a lot of the band stuff, there’s kind of some visual aspects, especially in regards to playing through this specific measure. And then you have to figure out when to stop and that stuff. But I’ve been addressing those issues with my band director and we’ve found ways to get around with that. So I’m grateful for the awesome communication skills that my school teachers have is me and I’m grateful to them for that.
Kaleigh:
So each one of my subjects, because this is a distinct or rather presents a distinct bevy of challenges. So if I were to start with my honors pre-calculus class actually faced the same challenge as John did with regards to Khan Academy. But with me, I attempted to kind of circumvent that a little bit in the sense that I tried to watch one of the videos. My mother who’s extremely skilled at math, she sat next to me for four hours and we attempted to kind of traverse that obstacle.
Kaleigh:
And the problem that we kept running into over and over is that the narrator of the films continuously referred to specific mathematical equations on screen as over there and right here. And of course such terminology is not beneficial or assistive to people in our specific situation. So my math teacher who was incredibly accommodating, he of course told me that I didn’t have to worry about the Khan Academy assignments and he gave me assignments out of the textbook instead.
Kaleigh:
So the same type of solution was reached. With regards to AP Psychology, my teacher uses a service called Canvas and that likes to impose time limits on quizzes and assessments. And sometimes it’s difficult for teachers to delete that time restriction. So in one particular instance, I was not able to finish an assessment within the allotted time and my grade suffered tremendously. I had to be a 98 in the class and it went down a lot because I wasn’t able to answer about a fifth of the questions.
Kaleigh:
So that was a problem but we are now operating through word documents. That was the midst of me communicating with my teacher, my TVI communicating with my teachers. So we kind of reached a conclusion that way. AP States history, my teacher does a lot of college board. I’m sure Jillian’s familiar with that too. And an Albert IO. I’ve had the most horrendous time trying to navigate that with my software, especially because of the maps and political cartoons. So I just do the Princeton review and five steps to a five in AP English hasn’t really been a challenge.
Kaleigh:
But where the real problem arose was AP Biology because there’s so many diagrams. I spoke early on the fact that my TVI has to adapt all of those diagrams with poppy paint and bump dots and all this other in-person equipment, and now that’s completely impossible. So we kind of do FaceTime check-ins every day or so to make sure that everything’s running smoothly. My teacher tends to post PDFs, social, convert them to word documents for me.
Kaleigh:
It’s a lot of my TVI kind of working in close tandem with me. I’ll tell her, “Hey this isn’t working,” and she’ll sort of fix that. So it’s all about communication overall. And then art has been a really distinct challenge, honors, modern art. But my teacher is wonderful in the sense that she grades me more on a completion system rather than accuracy. So as long as I’m producing some sort of finished product that’s satisfactory for her.
Jillian:
So this virtual learning platform has posed a lot of new and unforeseen challenges. For example, sometimes my AP Calculus teacher forgets to post the assignments I need. So to fix that I would just send him a quick email saying like, “Hey, you forgot to post this progress checker or whatever.” Since he uses AP Central then he’ll get back to me within a few minutes saying has been posted in your personal Google drive folder. Then once I get the word document, I can use an Apple pencil to write on the iPad and write all the math equations and everything.
Jillian:
My computer science teacher has also then in a similar problem where she would just forget to post the assignment. So there have been some days where I’ve just had to go on to the AP computer science principles of Google Classroom page and just look at the assignment on there to fix this issue. I just spoke with my TVI who I have a call with every other day during the school week. And now we’re able to figure this stuff out. And then with my AP environmental science class we just have to take an exam on AP Central and see then this is why I hate it so much it’s because I have extended time for test taking.
Jillian:
What happened was that basically the test timed out after the allotted time and I was using a lockdown browser to keep it secure. But basically the problem was that the test kicked me out and then I had to email my environmental teacher saying, “Can you give me an extra time?” The issue might have been because I was using a Mac instead of a Chromebook. We really don’t know my school when I was trying to figure out how I’m going to be able to take the AP exams this year for both calculus and the environmental science. So yeah.
Gianna:
All my teachers are pretty much accommodating except for one. This teacher, she sometimes forgets to accommodate me in a certain way. I’ll email her and say I can’t play the video and then she’ll come back at me and give me a not so nice response on. She’ll say, “Oh, you just click on the video and it should play.” That’s all she’ll basically say and that’s troubling for me because I don’t know why she does that, but… Yeah.
Simon:
For me, I haven’t had too many issues with the online learning platform. The way my school is set up, and I think the way all of our schools are set up is that even before this started, a lot of the assignments were being posted online and it was online forms of communication. So that wasn’t too different. However, there are some softwares that I had to use that are a little bit inaccessible in terms of, it could be just one link and I’ve tried it with multiple browsers or one link that’s unlabeled and it won’t be able to be clicked or it’s not clicking or there’s a section that has to be clicked with the mouse pad rather than the keyboard.
Simon:
So actually what I did to problem solve, and I’ll use this as a resource, I called up IRA and I used the five minutes for free of IRAs and I had them remote into my computer with the Team Viewer application. That is something that IRA is able to do and actually I had some extended minutes because of the introductory or the five minutes offer had some extended minutes. So I was able to complete that task with them and running into my computer and it was something so simple, but something that I just couldn’t access on my own. It’s a little simple click and it was not able to be accessed.
Simon:
So they were able to remote into my computer and helped me out with that. And that is a true example of how IRA is a really good helping hand in situation like this. But I think the key to all that you’re hearing just now as you’ve been talking about, and this is not just in this Corona virus situation, but in all of the time, I’m sure you can all talk about how we’ve all had to advocate and use a communicating skills to communicate to the teachers. Because a lot of times it’s something that we may be having issues on, but the teachers may just not know about it, but a lot of them are usually accommodating, usually are aware. I would hope.
Simon:
So just to kind of make them aware of what’s happening and as I’m sure you walk and say communication is a real key to success. In Kaleigh’s point of view, when she had that test that she was talking about that she wasn’t able to complete and it changed the grade. She was able to communicate with the teacher and get that changed and the teacher was accommodating to her. So I know that, that’s a really a key, that’s something I would impart to the listeners as one of the words of advice that I would give it is communicate and don’t be afraid to communicate and express your needs because it’s not just an education field that’s going to be all your life.
Simon:
All our lives as blind students and blind people alike, the sighted public is not going to know how to help us. So we have to make them aware. We have to do what we can to make them aware of that. So since this is a relatively new phenomenon that we’re all working from home, let’s kind of talk a little about routines and structure and scheduling and things of that nature. As we all have said, it takes a lot of time to do this work. Why don’t we kind of talk about scheduling and what kind of systems we all use and how many hours it takes us and what kind of systems do we all use to complete our work and get it done in a timely manner.
John:
Sure. I usually wake up at about 8:30 AM and that gives me about 20 minutes to get ready. And then by 8:50 I’m mentally ready by nine on my assignments. So I use Google class on my assignment to post that on classroom. I’m usually finished my work by 11 or 12. And if it’s a longer assignment, I’m usually finished by about two or 3:00 PM. I usually start out just by going through my day and just what’s my first class? And then I’ll tackle that assignment. Then I’ll say, what’s my second class? I’m going to tackle that assignment. And it just keeps going until I finished all my classwork for that day.
Kaleigh:
My routine operates a bit differently. I don’t go on a class to class basis. I go on an assignment to assignment basis in a sense that, “Okay, what’s due first. What do I have to do by 5:00 PM then what do I have to do by 11:59 PM.” And yes, there have been multiple instances where I’m submitting the assignment at 11:58 PM. So if that gives you kind of an estimate of where I am in terms of time. So I’ll usually get up somewhere in the 7:00 AM range 7:30-ish if I don’t have as much to do that day.
Kaleigh:
And there is a giant avalanche of assignments posted in perfect synchrony at 8:15 AM and it can be sort of overwhelming at first. So I tend to just take a deep breath and figure out what to do first. So in many cases I’m not going, “Okay, I would have AP Biology first on this day.” I’m going, “Okay, I have an art assignment that I have to get done by today.” But that’s actually something that recently got changed. This is something I would say to a lot of listeners, is if someone’s telling you that they can accommodate for you but not accommodating and they’re not doing what you need them to do, go to a higher level.
Kaleigh:
Go to someone who will listen to you. Because I had to do that in multiple cases where I was reaching out to my case manager and saying, “Listen, this isn’t working for me. I’m doing 12 hour days. I can’t do this. Mentally I’m overwhelmed.” And she was saying, “Well, this just started. There’s not a lot we can do right now.” And I understand that she’s overwhelmed and she’s a lot to do. But I needed an answer because I was wearing myself out and I still am. And so I reached out to my principal and he listened to me.
Kaleigh:
He really listened to me and got it such that my deadlines are no longer. I don’t have to submit by 11:59 PM lest I get no credit for a specific assignment. So that was a weight lifted off my shoulders to say the least. But still I still kind of operate, I like to get everything submitted. I’m a sort of a perfectionist where I like to get everything submitted as close to the time that it’s due for everybody else’s I can. Because I want to show my teachers that I’m just as capable as everyone else.
Kaleigh:
That tends to be what I like to do. But technology has posed a significant setback and Jillian and I actually experienced the same problem where just as remote learning was beginning, our technology specialist was taken away from us. So we had no one helping us. And that was in the midst of my timed assessment crisis, my Khan Academy crisis and all through that I had no one there to guide me or help me out. And it took a week for that to get fixed. It was horrible. I can’t even describe it in words.
Kaleigh:
It was the most horrible experience and nobody wants that for anyone. I’m happy that it got rectified for both me and for Jillian because I know she was experiencing it too. And kids across the State where that were affected by his lack of availability. I would say overall you’ve got to figure out what to do first and then go in that sort of route. And as for systems, I use Google Classroom for everything. My teachers seem to be addicted to Google Classroom and Google Drive, Canvas, which is by instructure.com formerly Khan Academy but not anymore. So yeah that’s about it.
Jillian:
So as far as my daily routine goes, I share similar aspects of it with John. So I wake up at around 7:30 ish every day. Okay. So I would have, AP Calculus now. So I would do those assignments first. Not only because it’s the first class in the day for me, if I was in a real non virtual school. I also start with calc because those assignments take me a really long time to do, but I still get them done in a timely manner. My next class would be taking a college level writing class.
Jillian:
So I do that assignment and then band and then psychology. And then after I’m done with all of my classwork for that day, I would take click a 30 minute break or something like that. Well I sure might for a walk and then I would do my homework that’s due the next day. The way my school does it is that each teacher posts attendance checks that we have to do. It just basically quick, a little less than 10 minute assignments. They make sure that we’ve logged on to Google Classroom and those are due at 11:59 PM like on that same day.
Jillian:
But the actual homework, I have two whole days to get the homework done. But yeah, I use than most of the day working on schoolwork. There was one time where I was finishing up a psychology project and I was up until 11:30 doing it and it still didn’t finish it. So I had to get an extension for it. But then eventually I did get the project completed. That’s a little bit about my daily routine.
Gianna:
So my daily routine, I usually get up around 6:45, 7:00 and my principal, he posts attendance checks every morning. And we have to submit our name. Yes, I will be completing a flexible instructional guide. And then I look at my classes. I look at algebra first and then I’ll be like, “Okay, here’s my assignment. Italian, there’s my assignment.” And then etc.
Gianna:
So then I’ll do the assignment for algebra, which takes me about I want to say an hour, and then Italian, that doesn’t take me as long. And then I have lunch and then my next classes, except for physics. My next classes they don’t really take me that long. But physics, sometimes it’s quick and sometimes it’s like, “Oh my God.” Sometimes it takes me forever. That’s my daily routine.
Simon:
For me like Jillian and Gianna was talking about. I have to do an attendance in the morning and I have to sign in by a certain time of the day 9:45. So between 8:00 AM and 9:45 AM so that way they know that we’re in and we’re working and all that. And then I will start doing my classes in order. So first period or second period. In terms of I don’t actually follow lunch. When you have lunch and stuff in a regular school they timed it like that. But in terms of the order of the classes, I will go from first to eighth period because it helps me to organize my day.
Simon:
I feel like if I wasn’t doing it that way, I’d be kind of floundering around, but it usually takes me quite a lot of the day to complete my assignments. So yeah, it’s kind of a hard, but in some ways it could actually be more work than in actual regular school day. I don’t know if any of you are feeling that way. It sounds like you are, but it can actually be more work than a regular school day is because in a regular classroom, there’s a lot of the times we’re learning instructional materials. So there’ll be times where the teacher will be lecturing on a concept and we won’t actually have homework in that concept.
Simon:
Where we’ll take a test and we’ll have a homework in that concept. But with this is learning virtual learning. There’s homework in every class every day, so it can take more time. Also, for example, there are some classes where I just don’t need to get homework in a lot at all. In my choir class, when we’re in the regular school, I do not get any homework in a choir class because the assignment is to just sing and participate in the class as we’re going. But for this, we’re not actually doing any kind of singing because you can’t really.
Simon:
Actually, Kaleigh does a virtual choir, but for the school, we don’t do any kind of virtual choir. It’s more of like a musical appreciation kind of class. It’s turned into now because we’re not singing, so we’re just writing about music and that’s been enjoyable as well. It’s all related in that area. So whereas that class I wouldn’t have homework and now I have work to do in any class every day and it’s not difficult, but it all adds up in time. So I would say it’s not too, too bad, but it’s definitely a manageable amount of work that I have to do.
Simon:
Now let’s talk about another part of this quarantine is we’re all stuck inside everyone and aside from doing a work, we all have some free time. A little bit of more free time than before obviously. What would you say you all do to pass the time? Anything in particular that you may have not been able to do before? What would you say you’d do to pass the time through this quarantine time period?
John:
Yeah. So yeah, I do a lot of music work and actually I just posted a tribute to an artist who has really inspired my life. I run a YouTube channel and I post covers there. And actually I’m going to do attribute to someone that we lost a few weeks ago. Not from the coronavirus but just from old age. His name is Kenny Rogers. I mean you do the music work. I also work on my radio show, because I do a radio show every Sunday from 12:00 to 3:00 on a radio station called Venom FM that at www.venom.fm. I mean, but besides that, that’s really all I do.
John:
And then I also, I talk to my friends. I have a very social life. I’m on Facebook a lot more than I used to be. I’m also on Twitter a lot more than it used to be. Yeah, I feel like this has really changed me as a person. And I think I walk away from this pandemic, more social than ever.
Kaleigh:
So with what little free time I have, I like to devote a lot of it to sing for serenity, which is the international online choir for the blind that I direct. We actually operate quite normally, even despite the pandemic. That’s the one thing that’s kind of remained the same in my life and it’s a nice reminder of constancy. So I was always so busy and so enveloped in my academics that sometimes I wouldn’t have enough time to give to my choir. And I feel so lucky and privileged that now I get to start really devoting more of my time to choir.
Kaleigh:
So when I’m not doing schoolwork, I’m arranging, I’m composing. I’m making part tutorial tracks for my choir members to utilize in the recording process. I’m making instrumentals that they can use. I’m making as many resources as I can. Actually last night is a perfect example. When I finished what I needed to do, I began arranging. We’re going to be doing, You Will Be Found from dear Evan Hansen. So I started arranging that. And then I also conducted two interviews of new individuals that want to join the choir.
Kaleigh:
But we have a YouTube channel so we recently posted a cover assertive tribute to people that left us recently that are relatives of members of the choir. And it’s a really beautiful sentimental piece and I encourage you to check it out and share it. Besides that, besides kind of working and sing for serenity, I’ve sort of tried to restore myself a little bit. I don’t think enough people appreciate that a lot of juniors and seniors have so much work that they really sacrifice their social lives for it. I can speak to it, I’m sure Jillian can speak to it. Where you put everything on the line for your academic future and you give up everything.
Kaleigh:
And I’ve really been able to sort of revisit and rejoin friend groups that I kind of lost touch with and it’s been a really amazing experience. And for that I’ll be forever grateful. But I’m sorry that it came to having a pandemic in order for us to have that Bible experience, but overall to reflect it was just serenity. I’ve really been kind of working on that more. And if you’d like to join, by the way, we have a YouTube channel called Sing for Serenity Choir. Contact singforserenity@gmail.com and we’d love to have you. And just restoring what school took away. It’s been a really big thing.
Jillian:
So before I talk about what I do during my free time, I just want to say that Kaleigh that cover that was just posted. I just wanted to say that on the choir sounded great and all your listeners out there that you should definitely check out Sing for Serenity. We’ve done some great covers during the past. I’ve even had a few solos because I’m the soprano two section leaders. So now I’ve got much free time. I’ve been doing a lot of different things.
Jillian:
I think what’s hard about staying indoors all the time is that you don’t really get enough exercise as much. So sometimes I would walk with my dad and my dog around the neighborhood once or twice some every day. I think it’s a great source of exercise. You get to enjoy the weather for a little bit. I have also found more time in my life to play my clarinet. I play clarinet in my school band. I just recently learned how to play on Darth Vader’s steam on the piano.
Jillian:
So I’ve been devoting more time to a piano and clarinet. I just finished recording a part for a Sing for Serenity. But that recording hasn’t been posting yet on the YouTube channel. So this is actually my ring break week and I got to tell you it’s been a really busy week because I have to make a decision about what I’m going to do next year. I have to enroll in a school by May 1st, even with all the pandemic stuff, because some schools have extended their deadline.
Jillian:
So June 1st with all of my schools say, “Nope, you got to do it by May.” So all throughout the week I have been attending all of the admitted student open houses to the schools I got accepted to. It’s not the same as visiting the campus and talking with students and faculty in the flesh. But I really do like these virtual college experiences because you still get to communicate with the school deans, professors and current students. But just a different way. I’ve even sat in on some college level classes this week.
Jillian:
I had a liberal arts school that I was accepted into and sitting in on those classes kind of helped me make my decision. As of right now, I’m still undecided of where I want to go. I did get accepted into a lot of different schools, but it’s actually a good problem to have because I got accepted and it’s five schools actually. So yeah there’s definitely been a lot going through my mind right now. But yeah, that’s basically how I spend my free time.
Gianna:
I spent my free time. I had been listening to a lot of music lately. I don’t have a YouTube channel, but I do try and sing when I’m alone and I record that on a tape recorder. But none of it is viral, so I’m sorry if you look me up, you won’t be able to find anything. But later on in the future I might try and do something where I do start something and I record myself singing, but mostly in my free time I been listening to a lot of music.
Simon:
I would say one of the upsides to this as a lot of people have said is that there’s been a lot of free time. And for me I think I enjoyed the flexible scheduling. The fact is that a lot of times I will have meetings during the day or things that I have to attend to during the day that I wouldn’t necessarily be able to when I’m in school. So I am able to do my work around that time. So if I have a meeting at 11 o’clock or if I have something going on at 12 o’clock I’m able to do my work around that time.
Simon:
And then when 12 o’clock comes, I’m able to stop my work and do whatever I have to do on the computer or do a meeting, things like that. So I like the flexibility. And the other thing is I’m doing a lot of Blind Abilities podcasts now because a lot of people are available. What I mean by that is I’ve been doing a lot more Blind Abilities podcasts than when I would be, if I was in school and everybody was in work. Because a lot of people now are more available because you’re at home, people that travel, things like that.
Simon:
Just slows the pace down a little bit. So I’m able to contact them and schedule something with them and do a Zoom conference like we’re on now. And I think, I like to just say that this is a really opportune time, that technology is playing a role in our connection, in our social connection. Because while we’re social distancing physically, we can be virtually there with someone and we can be virtually talking to someone. And now the only thing they got to come out with is the smell of vision. So we could smell whatever going on in the other persons area. Smell some good food or whatever.
Simon:
But I say that’s really good. Technology has been really good and now people that wouldn’t even be using technology at one time and not getting on Zoom and getting internet connections and getting connected with people. So it’s really nice to see that. But there’s a lot of downside obviously we all did not want this to happen of course. And I keep wrecking on that. There’s a lot of downsides to this in the fact that we cannot go outside and that thing. But for example, we’re not able to gather as you once were and as we always are able to.
Simon:
To gather for church, for family parties, things like that. We’re not able to do that. My church has moved to online platform, which has been nice and also there’s a lot of events that have been canceled, postpone. For example, there’s an event that me and John are going to and Jeff would be going to and a lot of the listeners, I’m sure we’ll be going to the NFB convention in Houston, Texas. Which is scheduled for this summer in Houston.
John:
It’s funny, I was actually just going to bring that up.
Simon:
Yeah. And it’s now a virtual national convention. The first ever that’s happening. I know ACB is moving virtual as well.
Kaleigh:
So is the braille challenge for anyone who’s participating. There’s just a notification at the National Braille Challenge will be held remotely and you’re taking your tests in your home State. They are doing a virtual awards ceremony kind of thing now. So now there’s 1600 kids who are going to be taking it remotely.
Simon:
Yeah, so it’s really, really different and I just can’t wait for a time when we can all go back together again, be together again. Not have to be socially distance and folks, I will just echo that while we’re on the topic, this is really a real thing and please, please as you’ve heard it from many other sources, I’d like to echo, please stay inside. Please do your part to do social distancing as we will see and as you are seeing the numbers are getting better and will continue to get better. The curve is starting to flatten in some States.
Simon:
Some States are also starting to peak and obviously information is changing rapidly. So it depends when you hear this podcast. But the point of it is, is there are the results, the data is here from doctors and hospitals, that social distancing is helping. So we want to continue to be doing that. But I know several people that have had Corona virus and our recovering. Thank the Lord. But it’s really, really something that we really need to be mindful of and wanting to be social distancing. Is there any last general advice. I know we talked in a lot of different topics, but is there any last general advice that we’d all like to give to the listeners in general?
John:
This is for anyone here who struggles with any mental health. And I’ve been kind of struggling with some mental health issues recently. I didn’t really want to go into too many details about what happened, but I am sort of in a state of depression. I’m slowly getting better and with this whole pandemic and being isolated I think it’s gotten worse. But at the same time, it’s also gotten better with me talking to all these wonderful people. Especially these people right here. I know all of these guys personally.
John:
I’ve met up with all of these guys personally. And these guys are a great bunch of people and I think it’s amazing that Simon that you were able to get all of us together here as a blind community and just unify us. And I think that for people that are suffering with mental issues, whether that be depression or anxiety to just surround yourself with good people, good loving people that really care about you and really love you. And I think that you’ll start to see a light at the end of a dark tunnel
Kaleigh:
For anyone who’s particularly academic or who has enrolled themselves in AP courses or honors courses or even just college prep or regular courses. And you’re very involved in that. It can be a lot, especially when you’re in one chair for 16 hours breaking for breakfast, breaking for lunch, breaking for dinner but that’s it. I know how hard that is and I know how taxing that can be to both your physical self and your mental self. And to anyone else that’s struggling with that because I know that, that’s something that I’ve been battling throughout this entire thing. You got to try to get up, get out, go for a walk.
Kaleigh:
Do something to get your blood flowing. Because I didn’t realize this, but if you think about it, we work in school, but we also say each school has five minutes of change time for classes. That adds up quick. So that 40 minutes of your day, your speed walking from class to class. Now you don’t have that. So it’s imperative both for your physical health and your mental health to get out to exercise. Take that lap around the neighborhood with your family, get out in the yard.
Kaleigh:
Get some form of exercise that’s going to relieve you from your work for a little while. Number one. And number two, ensure that you stay healthy because in the midst of all this, it’s imperative that you keep your immune system strong because anyone can contract this virus. It doesn’t discriminate based on age, gender, whatever. It doesn’t discriminate. And it takes anyone and you got to ensure that your body is well enough to fight against it. But for anyone who’s in those APs or those classes with a lot more weight than others typically, they are tending to overcompensate for not being in school those teachers.
Kaleigh:
And I’ve heard from other people too, that they’re trying to drown us unintentionally. Just don’t let them, just try to fight it. I know it’s hard, but speaking from personal experience, you have or it will drive you crazy. So try to use your family, be with your friends, take five minutes. It’s not going to kill you, but they can deal with it if you’re a son is a minute late. Because you know what? You have stuff to do with you and I’m sure they do too.
Jillian:
I would say make sure to please stay healthy. This is a very serious virus that’s going around right now. Make sure to avoid touching your face, don’t share food with anyone and when you’re washing your hands, make sure that really use that 22nd rule. Something that my family has been doing to contain the spread of germs because my mom is super serious about it. Trying to disinfect every single foreign object that comes into the house. Yeah. Something that we’ve been doing lately is each person in my family has their own towel so that when we’re done washing our hands, each person can dry their hands on their own towel to prevent the spread of germs.
Jillian:
And this can be a very stressful time for all of us. I’m sure Kaleigh, John so mean everybody on this call has been experienced and stressed to some degree. And what I would say to the listeners out there is try to find something in your life that makes you happy. That makes you forget that this pandemic is even happening. I before you know it, it’ll all be over. So keep a social distancing, keep an exploring your passions and interests. Try to get your schoolwork done. Of course, stay safe, stay healthy, stay productive.
Gianna:
I would basically say the same thing that Jillian said. Keep your hands off your face, keep washing your hands, social distance and if you’re going to go somewhere, just to drop something off, drop it off through the window or drop it through the door. It’s sad that it has to be that way and I’m just basically feeling when will this all be over? Every day I listen to the news and I think this will never end because every day it seems it keeps going up and up and up. When will it go down? That’s my biggest fear. When will this all be over? Will it be a year from now? Will it be two months from now?
Simon:
Yeah, the unknown. Yeah. Actually I forgot to mention this in my last question. I wanted to say about the free time and stuff like that. For me when Kaleigh and Jillian were talking about mental health and physical health, I would second that as well because let’s be honest, we can all go stir crazy just sitting in the house for so much time. And it helps to get away a little bit from people but physical and mental health is very important. For me I actually have been walking.
Simon:
It’s kind of funny, but in the Philadelphia region or Philadelphia, New Jersey region, it’s been very nice weather out. And I think throughout the whole country it’s been really, really nice weather. So that’s been good because at least it’s not winter and we’d have to stay inside because of winter and we haven’t even had that much snow this year at all. It’s been really nice. So what I’ve been doing is I’ve been taking walks and I’ve also been biking. I have a 10:00 AM bike that I ride with my dad, where we go out biking and for about two miles sometimes every day, sometimes every other day, something like that.
Simon:
So it’s been good to do that. And I usually get a lot of exercise each week because I go to my chiropractor and he’s been closed as has been everybody else. It’s something that we can’t do right now, but I just want to extend what we’re talking about. Extend to the listeners that are dealing with coronavirus or know someone that’s dealing with coronavirus or experience a fellow member that has passed from coronavirus. I want to say that we as a Blind Abilities team and as a podcast today, here we are thinking about you, praying for you.
Simon:
For advice, I would say advocacy and communication is key. Don’t feel like you’re a burden to advocate for what you need and do it respectfully. But there’s going to be times when you have to be persistent, especially in this online virtual learning world that we’ve entered in here. It could be the case that maybe people don’t want to comply with you. Teachers if they’re virtually, they don’t really have to respond if they can just kind of forget about it. But you don’t want to be falling behind.
Simon:
So you ultimately have to think about you yourself and because you’re not going to be seeing them for the rest of the year, you’re not going to be able to tie up those loose ends in person. So you have to kind of take control virtually. One of the things that’s been floating in my mind as you’ve been talking about this is such good life lesson for all of us and like. This is about adaptability and how to adapt, how to be flexible, how to lose control, right? We will have lost some control through this and me I’ve chose to not live in a fearful state, but to live in a hopeful state.
Simon:
But it’s important to not be fearful, but to be hopeful and contented and to try to not complain. Because I know that for me, when I start thinking about complaining, I think there are people that have died from coronavirus. Many have died. So we need to remember many family members cannot have funerals right now and for your loved ones, people that are very, very sick right now in hospitals. So what I’m doing, I’m very healthy. I think we all can have a sacrifice and sacrifices and not be complaining about this.
Simon:
And also I want to give a shout out to the medical workers, the health workers that aren’t working so, so diligently helping people and I thank them for the work that they’re doing. Let’s move to our final question now, which is talking about careers. What kind of careers do you all plan to have? What kind of aspirations do you have for your future college and workplace and beyond? What kind of aspirations do you have
John:
Sure. I plan to after high school, planning to move down to Nashville and pursue my career as a musician. I think especially during these times, music has really been a blessing to me and it’s really touched me in ways that it hasn’t before. And I’m just so grateful that I have that outlet that I can turn to when I’m in desperate need. And I have all these artists that I look up to. That I one day hopefully meet and possibly collaborate with them because they mean so much to me as people and as artists. Yeah. I just hope to one day do what they’ve done for me. Help somebody, so that someone can say, “Oh, I’ve know I’ve been there, I’m going through that right now.” That [inaudible], I hope to one day a spread.
Kaleigh:
As for my career, I would assert that I want to go into something to do with law. Immediately after high school I desire to attend a four year educational institution. Some sort of university in the Tristate area and I would pursue a bachelor’s degree in English and then go from there and do law or attend law school for the three years get my degree from there. And then as for what type of law. What facet of the law I’d aspire to pursue. I would probably assert something to do with advocacy, whether it’s a civil rights attorney, a disability advocacy attorney.
Kaleigh:
I know that there’s a firm in New York that works to advocate on behalf of special needs children and I would love to ensure that my voice can ensure that another voice is heard. So that’s something that I would love to be part of. And I also want to continue directing Sing for Serenity and grow it into a whole charitable organization. I want to found another charity that I’m currently working on, seeing if I can start. But yeah, I decided to become a lawyer. I’m successful in that field, making sure that other voices are heard and then ensure that blind children are able to express their voices in song too. Here is for Sing For Serenity.
Jillian:
Yes. As far as my future plans from now that I’m going to attend a four year college or a university. As far as my major, I’m thinking of either majoring in computer science or marketing. I’ve always had this interest in my own products. My mom was actually a marketer for many different companies. She kind of worked on the ends up just how do you make a product accessible for people.
Jillian:
And honestly that’s kind of where my interests are heading right now. So I would like to work for a product development team. As of what kinds of products I’d like to be working on. I would say right now tech products or tech related products. Maybe something with artificial intelligence. I’m not exactly sure yet, but that’s the direction I want to go, as far as STEM and business.
Gianna:
My plans after high school are I want to try to attend New York University and hopefully become a musical theater singer or an opera singer or just a singer in general. Mostly I would want to be on Broadway. Star in a Broadway shows, maybe be on television, maybe do some covers here and there.
Simon:
As for me, I would like to go into the technology field. I’d like to go to college at a similar around the Philadelphia area and I’d like to go into technology field to teach blind and visually impaired people, technology, computers, iPhones or silver screen reading kind of technology. That’s kind of where my passion is in that area. And I also want to do something with music as well. I’ll maybe do a band, things like that because I am a piano player and a singer. So yeah.
Simon:
So I want to go into that kind of field and I’m actually going to be doing an internship this summer. Hopefully it might get canceled. It’s still up in the air right now with COVID-19 stuff, but planning to do an internship in Chester at a place called Center For the Blind and Visually Impaired could be doing some technology training for a camp that they have there. So I like to do that and help people really change their life through technology because as it has changed mine and give back to the blind community.
Simon:
So thank you all for coming on Blind Abilities today. I really think it was an excellent interview, an excellent podcast. I really enjoyed all your feedback and thank you all for coming on to Blind Abilities and discussing many great topics. Stay well and stay safe with COVID-19 and we will talk to you. Awesome.
Jeff:
Be sure to contact your State services for the blind, your Volk rehab, and find out what they can do for you. Live, work, read, succeed. For more podcasts with the Blindness Perspective, check us out on the web @www.blindabilities.com on Twitter @BlindAbilities and download the free Blind Abilities app from the app store and on Google play. That’s two words, Blind Abilities. You can also enable the Blind Abilities skill on your Amazon device. Just say enable Blind Abilities.
[Music] [Transition noise] -When we share
-What we see
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[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:
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