Podcast Summary:
The White Cane Project is going nationwide! After Sight and AwareWolf Gear are teaming up to get free white canes into the hands of blind and low vision people across the United States, with shipping covered, too.
On Blind Abilities, Jeff Thompson and Pete Lane sit down with Kim Wardlow, Penn Street, Bari Azman, and Sedona Dave to hear how it all came together. It started when Penn kept meeting riders on Colorado public transit whose canes were broken, too short, or missing altogether. What began with Penn handing out her own spare canes grew into a Colorado program with support from the Lions. Now the team can finally say yes to requests from across the country.
Hear what sets the Urban Xplorer and All-Terrain Cane apart, from navigating busy sidewalks to exploring rugged trails, and find out how to request a cane through After Sight’s White Cane Project online.
Links of interests:
Thanks for listening!
Full Transcript
{Music}
Penn: And he told us about the All-Terrain Cane. At that point. I bought one and it was a game changer for me.
Kim: And now we’re able to go national. That that’s just been such a wonderful feeling.
Dave: I feel like this is a new world for me, a new life. Here we go.
Penn: As of today, the White Cane Project is now national. So anybody in the United States can go to AfterSight.org.
Bari: You can also go to AwareWolfGear.com, information right there on our home page.
Penn: They’re free.
Jeff: Welcome to Blind Abilities. I’m Jeff Thompson.
Pete: And I’m Pete Lane. Good afternoon Jeffrey. We’ve got a full studio here, a special guests. I wonder if you might take a moment and introduce them for us.
Jeff: Well, we got from After Sight the executive director, Kim Wardlow. How are you, Kim?
Kim: I’m doing well. Thanks. Thank you for inviting us to be on the show.
Pete: Hi, Kim. Welcome.
Kim: Hi.
Jeff: And we got Penn Street from the podcast, The Blind Chick. Welcome.
Penn: Hello, hello. Thanks for having us.
Pete: Hi, Penn. I’m a big fan. Great podcast.
Penn: Oh. Thank you. Thank you.
Jeff: Well, there’s some big news coming out of After Sight. And I heard it on The Blind Chick podcast and glad that we’re able to spread the news here. But first of all, Kim, why don’t you tell us a little bit about you and what you do?
Kim: As you said, I’m the executive director at After Sight. I’m a Colorado native. I always like to mention that that’s sometimes a bit rare. And I actually started out my affiliation with After Sight as a volunteer reader and did that for a couple years. And then I came on staff in 2001 as the marketing director, and I did that for many years, and I’m just starting my ninth year as executive director.
Jeff: Oh, terrific.
Kim: So I’ve done a little bit of all the things I’ve helped set up equipment and written grants and done the outreach piece. So lots of different pieces to the organization.
Pete: That’s fantastic, Kim, that you’re a reader, a volunteer reader. Why don’t you tell our audience a little bit about After Sight? What its purpose is and what it does.
Kim: After Sight exists to bring print to life and to make publications be accessible for individuals who are blind or have low vision or need alternatives to print. And that’s been our original mission since 1990. And we have wonderful volunteers over a hundred that read for us, and then we make those available. But then as things have changed with the landscape, a print, publications, news media, we started about, I want to say five years ago to do our original podcasts. So obviously The Blind Chick is our flagship podcast. I do a podcast called Navigating Life with Vision Loss. We have blind level tech, BLT, and we just have a new host, Liam Irwin, who has just started to host that podcast. And he’s just exceptional. So definitely if you have any interest in or questions about technology, do that. Blind Sight is our mental health podcast. And then for folks either in Colorado or visiting Colorado, we have Colorado Views and it’s just kind of a good news podcast about things happening in the state. We also have a peer group, online virtual peer support group, as well as an online audio book club. And then of course, our main thing that we’re here for today, and we’ve had a white cane program within Colorado for I think four years now. So we’ve been doing that. So we’ve kind of branched out a bit from just the publications, but we’re still getting information critical to the community out to them, as well as providing a few other things of interest to folks, just ways for them to interact, be independent.
Jeff: Tremendous. Penn, I heard that’s the flagship podcast, The Blind Chick.
(laughter)
Jeff: Penn, why don’t you give us a little introduction to you?
Penn: I’m a tomboy. That’s probably the first thing you need to know about me. But I’m also the development and outreach director for After Sight. I’ve been there about five and a half years, and before that I worked for Eric Weihenmayer’s nonprofit called No Barriers USA. And when I was working there, I was also on their development team. Yeah, I really, really enjoy raising money for nonprofits that I’m passionate about, but I also love being outside, avid hiker, skier, anything, any excuse that I can sit outside or be outside on any level, that’s extremely important to me. And I try to get the blind community that I’m part of also outside, regardless if it’s a serious hike or skiing or I just think it’s good for your soul to be outside. So I’m a big, big component of that. So.
Pete: Well, having worked with Eric and his organization, I would hope so.
Penn: Yes, absolutely.
Pete: Because I imagine he gave you a workout.
Penn: Exactly. Yeah. It’s wonderful being back in Arizona because I was here for a short period of time during Covid, but before that, I actually my first time to Arizona was rafting the entire Grand Canyon with a group of blind, low vision high schoolers. It was life changing for me to do that. So it was a dream come true.
Jeff: And can you tell us about the White Cane Day initiative and your involvement with the Lions?
Penn: Absolutely. Well, when I was working for No Barriers, I was taking public transportation both ways, five days a week, and I spent a minimum two hours a day on public transportation. And a lot of people that I would run into that were blind and low vision. Their canes were broken or too short, or they didn’t even have one at all. But I could tell they were really struggling. And I have a big mouth and, and I’m, I’m usually a guide dog user. So but I always carried a folding cane in my bag, right? Like that’s what you do because you never know.
Pete: Of course.
Penn: Absolutely. So I kind of became known as the cane lady. I was I would pull out my cane and say, here, use this one. And if it wasn’t the right size or whatever, it’s like, here’s where you can get one. You need to talk to an O and M like I, you know, gave him the whole riot act. So it just was happening so frequently that and I’m, and I was financially in a place that I could afford a new cane, but I was really like, I need to stop giving these away because it’s actually impacting my budget. Right.
And so I’m a Lion. I’ve been a Lion now for decades because when I lost my vision as a kid, it was the Lions that showed up at my parents house saying, what can we do for your, you know, blind child? They had never been around blind people. They were the ones. The Lions were the first one to give me a white cane. They paid for special glasses for me. My first camp I ever went to was a camp. So growing up I. I knew I wanted to be a Lion because I wanted to give back like they gave to me.
And so I approached my local Lions Club in Loveland, Colorado. Give you guys a shout out. And I kind of pitched the idea and then they said, oh, you need to talk to this person. And then it just kind of spread like wildfire. In Colorado, the Lions Club really got behind it. The Lion Foundation of Colorado got behind it and but it was really restricted to Colorado. So the word, of course, got out that we have free white canes. And we kept getting requests for outside of Colorado as well as internationally. And it broke our hearts every time to say we can’t. But and I would try to connect them with their local Lions Club, but I never heard from them again. So I have no idea if that happened. So I know the need is there to take this project nationally because Dave will tell you to. And you guys know, like without our canes, like we’re stuck on the couch, we can’t go to school, we can’t get a job. We can’t, you know, we’re so dependent on other people that white cane is our Maserati, right? Or our Jeep or whatever.
Pete: Mhm. Well, our Chevy.
Penn: Yeah. Our Chevy. Yeah.
Jeff: Tell me this. I mean, you’re out there and you’re seeing canes break and you decide to initiate giving canes away. What canes did you decide on?
Penn: Well, at first we did. Ambutech, because that was my go to cane and I did. We surveyed our blind community and Ambutech just kept coming up and I was like, okay. And they’re great company. They were very supportive. But it was very hard because as you know, when you order an Ambutech cane, it’s custom, right? Like, what handle do you want? How tall do you want it? What kind of cane do you want and what kind of tip do you want?
Pete: How many sections?
Penn: How many sections. Like every single one. And then with what’s going on right now in the United States with all the tariffs and the just the whole political thing. And Ambutech was trying really hard to continue to get those canes to us at a decent price. But they hit a point like the wait time got longer and longer and longer, or if somebody ordered the wrong size of cane, even, as you know, even a couple inches makes a huge difference. Well, that would even delay it longer. And Dave, we heard about Dave, we had him on the blind chick and he told us about the All-Terrain Cane. At that point I bought one and it was a game changer for me. And then I was going to travel internationally a couple years ago, and I got an Urban Xplorer cane and again, a game changer. So I beat the crud out of my canes on these trips and these hikes, and they were holding up way better than the Ambutech. And also I could get them from AwareWolf Gear like in less than a week. And because they’re adjustable, you can make them taller or shorter. They’re small, medium, large, extra large. Like we could keep them in stock. So we were getting the canes out much faster. And at first we gave people a choice. But more and more and more people were ordering the AwareWolf Gear cane unless people were ordering the Ambutech. And so I don’t know how long ago it was, maybe six months, nine months ago, we said, why are we stressing with these Ambutechs when everybody obviously wants the AwareWolf? So I called Bari and Dave and I said, we just want to make it an exclusive. And they, of course, were grateful. And yeah, that’s how we moved over.
Jeff: That’s a good segue because we brought Bari and Dave right on the show with us here.
Pete: So yeah, probably a good time to introduce them, wouldn’t you think, Jeffrey?
Jeff: There you go. Go ahead, Pete, bring ‘em in.
Pete: Uh, ladies and gentlemen, with us today, along with Kim and Penn, we have Bari Azman and Sedona Dave, the one and only. Gentlemen, welcome to the podcast.
Dave: Thank you so very much, you guys. It’s so great to be here. Always a thrill. Always.
Bari: Thank you. Jeff. Thank you. Pete. It’s so good to be back here. Very refreshing and you know just a very exciting time. So thank you so much for hosting us.
Pete: Great to have you.
Jeff: Bari, when you contacted me and you talked about White Cane Safety Day, and then you mentioned After Sight, I wondered where this is going and then this initiative to bring the canes free across the United States and the Urban Xplorers. My go to cane. I was just talking to Pete about it. I’m out and about and I got some site, so I probably don’t use a cane exactly like someone that’s totally blind. But when I do, I’m usually amongst lots of people, a lot of foot traffic, a lot of congestion, or I was just out in North Carolina, on the Outer Banks and that was my cane. It’s durable. It’ll knock people aside.
(laughter)
Jeff: I use it a little bit differently. Sometimes I use it as a walking stick when I’m climbing up the dunes or the banks and stuff like that. So for me, it’s my go to cane. So it’s been to Florida, it’s been the Texas and it’s been the North Carolina with me. Sedona. Dave, why don’t you tell us about a werewolf gear?
Dave: Oh glad to. My pride and joy AwareWolf Gear. We started out as a, of all things, a clothing company, high visibility clothing for low vision people. And it was a great place to start, but I very, very quickly shifted my focus to ambulation. Being blind and an avid outdoorsman wanting to be on the trails, AwareWolf Gear very quickly went from a clothing company to an R&D. How do you get a blind guy hiking company started out with a couple prototype trekking poles and ultimately brought us forward to where we are today with the All-Terrain Cane. It’s quite an adventurous story. Yeah, we started out with clothing and ended up really focusing on durable, supportive mobility canes. I’m proud to be able to say supportive Mobility cane, because I could hear the O and M instructors like you’re not supposed to lean on them. And I kept asking why until I never got an adequate answer. Because in the wilderness, I need to lean on things for safety, support, and modicum of grace. So that’s where we are. And that’s really the brainchild behind, as Penn mentioned, the flagship All-Terrain Cane in the city friendly version, the Urban Xplorer as well, both vertically and laterally supportive and trip and fall modes. It’s there to keep us safe and where we want to be.
Pete: Hey, Dave.
Dave: Yes, sir.
Pete: This is Pete. I want to say that I actually acquired both the Urban Xplorer and the All-Terrain Cane, and I’ve kind of migrated over to the Urban Xplorer cane. I don’t do a lot of inner city travel, but I do travel in large crowds and at venues where I’m going to be ducking and bobbing and weaving. And I find that at my age, you know, I’m just a spring chicken.
Dave: I know.
Pete: But, I’m having to, uh, regain my stability occasionally is not is not an uncommon thing for me and the stability of both of those canes. But in my case, more often than not, the Urban Xplorer cane, I find it very helpful. Every once in a while I’ll turn too fast, or I’ll switch directions and I’ll need to find some balance. And that’s perfect. So giving me some stability and being able to lean on it is perfect for me in my situation. So good job on both of those canes.
Dave: Thank you, I appreciate that. And you really bring up a very huge conversation of having support in the urban experience in the urban setting. I honestly don’t know why we couldn’t in the past lean on canes because yeah, yeah, I’m 62 and still not a spring chicken, but so many times we want to or need to lean on or have support, as you say, slipping trip and falls dizzy. Vertigo. My goodness. A couple years ago, I was suffering from a debilitating sciatic nerve inflammation, and there is just no relief other than a few very isolated stretches. And thank goodness the UX was with me on our walks, able to work our way out of that and then trip and fall scenarios in the city, tripping over parking blocks and cobblestones and curbs. It’s a jungle. So to be able to develop a super strong, supportive mobility cane that seconds or doubles as a trekking pole or a device that will keep us upright when we need that extra balance in the kitchen. A quick turn, that inner ear or vestibular issue that we can sometimes deal with, and just the examples of where the UX shines there, just unfolding week after week after week where people report, is it good for this scenario? I never thought about it, but it’s perfect for that scenario. So I couldn’t be more proud of the blind and low vision community for really discovering where else the Urban Xplorer can shine.
Jeff: I think it’s evident that they’re working and people feel confident enough to use it to explore, and that’s what’s really happening. Bari, what was it like when Kim and Penn reached out to you?
Bari: So when After Sight reached out to us, we were just really thrilled, thrilled to pieces to hear that After Sight, once a werewolf gear our canes to be front and center as far as their canes that they give away for the White Cane Project in Colorado. We were working already on a much smaller scale, and we thought that this is, you know, really, I think take our collaboration, take it to a whole new level. So things start moving, things change over and we’re shipping canes and things are moving along. We felt that this is a dynamic shift. Not that we haven’t seen this around the world per se, because AwareWolf Gear canes are on four continents and growing. This was again a true testament to everything that myself and Sedona Dave have been working towards to get us to this point. You know, we’re here. Organizations like After Sight are bringing AwareWolf Gear as an exclusive option. So it was just truly incredible.
Jeff: I think it’s awesome too. Yeah, we did the one where how many mountains have they climbed?
Dave: Yeah.
Jeff: Kim, when you first heard, I don’t know if Penn came up with it or if you did. Kim. But when you first heard about this initiative first in Colorado, now where it’s gone today, how’s that feel?
Kim: It’s just wonderful because, as Penn said, we would get requests from out of state and because of our funding restrictions, which was understandable, we weren’t able to fulfill those. And while we would try to connect folks, we just weren’t sure. And we really wanted to be able to ensure that people did receive their white cane. We know how important it is a tool that really can help individuals be independent. So that was that was important to us. And, and in the beginning, I know some people are surprised we do white canes because they said, well, that’s not audio information. You know, it’s not news, entertainment and audio format. It isn’t. But it was such a need and it was a way for people to learn about us and learn about the other offerings that we have as well. But it was just such a need and the Lions were supportive. And now we’re able to go national, that that’s just been such a wonderful feeling and the whole team is really excited about it.
Pete: Who would like to put it all together for us and tell our listeners exactly what the project is and how they can participate?
Bari: I say they hand over the mic to Penn this one’s Penn’s.
Pete: There you go.
Kim: Yeah, it was her idea originally, so I think she gets to do that.
Pete: There you go, Penn, no pressure.
Penn: I know, I feel like there should be a drum roll.
(Sound of drum roll)
Penn: As of today, the White Cane Project is now national, so anybody in the United States can go to AfterSight.org. It’s a pretty simple application. We don’t get too deep in the weeds with it. We need your basic information. We will then pass your order over to AwareWolf Gear and they actually fulfill the order. That is definitely a partnership between AwareWolf and After Sight. When we thought it was going to launch, it was like the gods, whatever you believe in, fairy dust, whatever you believe in. But we got in three requests out of state that day, and it was just wonderful because we’re like, we don’t have to say no. And our whole staff was just super joyous about it. And yeah, it was just incredible. But it really was Dave and Bari helping us find funding, really getting that ball rolling, because we would not have been able to do the national campaign without Bari and Dave.
Bari: Thank you, Penn. I just want to add to that. Ben and I are having these conversations after After Sight, which is over. You know, all the, you know, Colorado, you know, White Cane Project, you know, canes and we’re talking and and, you know, Penn’s mentioned to me that she wants to one day launch us as a national program. Right. Because she obviously, you know, working Colorado, based in Colorado, taking care of the citizens of Colorado, that that’s great. But like Penn was saying before, there are so many people outside of Colorado that are sending in requests and they have to deny it. And so Penn had planted the seed in the back of my mind when we had this conversation. And I have probably and you probably didn’t think it was going to come to fruition this quickly either, right?
Penn: No, I did not.
Bari: So at AwareWolf Gear, we have an early adopter user of both the All-Terrain Cane and the Urban Xplorer. And this individual, he wants to stay anonymous. He’s not interested in as far as being in the limelight, but I want to just say a big thank you to this individual.
Dave: Yes, yes.
Bari: Because without his generosity, this initiative would not come to fruition so quickly. So we were fortunate to be able to have this individual his generosity, to be able to put this all together, Create this partnership After Sight AwareWolf Gear and launch this program today. It’s really just the beginning and is working really hard to take this to, again, to a whole nother level. But we have an incredible foundation from where we are to launch this program. I encourage anyone out there, if you were thinking about, you know, getting a AwareWolf Gear, Kane, it’s something that wasn’t easily available to you. Now is your opportunity. I want to encourage everyone out there. And if you know someone that could use a mobility Kane a stronger mobility Kane have that extra support, right, After Sight is the place to fulfill those dreams.
Pete: Will there be a reduced price for these Kane’s or…
Penn: They’re Free!
Bari: Basically free.
Dave: So the answer is yes.
Bari: One yes 100% free. There’s there’s no no shipping costs.
Penn: And obviously if you can afford to donate something to the project, that’s awesome. But if you can’t, you can’t. They’re absolutely free. And then we are getting requests for new tips because the canes are amazing. But your tips wear out. That’s what they’re made for. And so we also will fulfill those for free. If you just need a new tip for your cane, that’s wonderful.
Bari: Make sure you choose gecko green. Haha.
Dave: Yeah, my my personal fave.
Bari: So yeah, it’s a huge deal because being able to take this on a national level have the foundation and the funding for this is really, I would say is a dream come true for all of us.
Dave: Yeah.
Bari: We’ve always been there as AwareWolf Gear to do whatever we can to support the community. We’ve always been there. Dave, I’ll let you elaborate on that. As far as how you personally feel, you know, when it comes to taking care of the community, it’s something that’s been it’s been a big part of our DNA and something that we like literally eat, sleep and breathe every day.
Dave: But it’s literally my DNA. I am an I am blind. And yes, I developed these canes originally, selfishly, because I wanted to continue hiking. But then I realized on one eventful day or day on the beach, I’m tired of being alone on the beach or on the rocks or wherever. So I’ve got to take this prototype and really convert it into something that we all can identify and recognize and use. That was really pivotal for me that one day where I realized, I’m not, I don’t want to be alone, but that also showed me something more about myself getting into not leadership. But we got this. And I’m not alone now. I’ve got community with a capital C, and I suddenly realized that we as a collective, as a community want to do bigger and better things. And we’ve got the skills. We just need better tools. And that’s really how I emerged from wallflower, from a surveyor who didn’t want any attention put on him to a guy in front of the mic and doing podcasts and really not saying no. And I think getting back to your question, Bari, that not saying no, It was very hard for me because you’re my community, you’re my peeps, and I would do anything possible to often to my detriment, to help out, to make sure it gets done. Yeah. So some interesting projects I also recently delved into and I have no idea. I don’t know anything about hockey, and yet I find myself working with the US Blind Hockey Association. Go figure. I can’t say no. And and my momentum with AwareWolf Gear from one brain cell rubbing into another. And here comes the All-Terrain Cane grade nine titanium alloy. Good lord. And now the Urban Xplorer. What next? Innovative tips getting involved with hockey. I feel like I’m on a roll. I feel like I’m hitting my stride. Not as an engineer, but almost an innovative or innovation engineer, taking what we need and making it so it’s really exciting.
Jeff: Dave. I had blind hockey practice last night, so…
Penn: Yay!
Jeff: …I am Glad you’re getting involved in it.
Pete: Jeff’s been involved for years. Yeah, he’s quite a player.
Jeff: I’m so glad you got involved in hiking and developed these canes and didn’t want to become an astronaut. And you’d be selling rockets or something.
(laughter)
Dave: Exactly, exactly. I feel like this is a new world for me, a new life. Here we go.
Pete: Good for you, Dave.
Dave: Thank you.
Bari: Yeah. I just want to say also, you know, I hear a lot from, uh, you know, we interact with a lot of O&M specialists throughout the country. And we do hear so many times my students can’t afford a cane, my students can’t afford a cane. So if you are an O&M specialist, you can now request a free cane, a free, AwareWolf Gear cane for your students. It’s something that we’re going to be so proud to fulfill. So just, you know, you know, put that out there.
Pete: That’s a great point. Yeah, it’s a great appeal right there. Bari. Good job.
Bari: There are so many agencies out there that support the low vision blind community. And if you’re looking for ways to also come on board to collaborate with us, whether it’s helping facilitate additional grant funding to support more canes for your constituents to have them get a cane. Again, this program is designed for individuals who are in a position where they cannot afford a mobility cane, and this is, you know, something that we’re just really, really proud of. So I just want to say thank you to everyone here as a team for being on this mission and working so closely with us on this.
Jeff: I want to thank you all for reaching out because this is great news. We like bringing awareness to such initiatives that Cadillac of canes going out there for free for people.
Pete: Yeah.
Jeff: And you put the team, Pete and I back together in the studio. We have all had to jump into this one.
Pete: So that was worth the price of admission.
Jeff: Okay. Dust off some chairs in the studio to get us all in here.
Pete: Jeff and I have been podcasting for 12 years. I think I counted the day and I haven’t been on a live podcast with Jeff in a couple of years, so it’s great to be back together.
Bari: So happy to bring the band back together. It’s been a while since we’ve been together as well.
Pete: Got it.
Bari: There you go. You know, we’re us. As far as the AwareWolf Gear and After Sight team. Uh, we’re actually in Sedona kicking off this launch. We’re here together for a multi-day retreat. What else could we want? Just to be together. Hitting the trails together. Seeing, the All-Terrain Cane, the Urban Xplorer in action. It’s just. It’s just incredible.
Pete: That’s fantastic. Yeah. Penn Kim, do you have any additional words of wisdom to share with us? Go right ahead.
Kim: This is Kim. I was just going to say this has really been such a great addition to the things we do. And we’ve gone from a very Colorado focused, which, as I said, we still do. We have readers and things, but with our original podcast, we know we have listeners all over the world, we’ve interviewed people from all over the world. And, and so I feel like this is now adding to that and to our reach with the white cane program as well. So we really appreciate Dave and Bari being willing to partner with us and work with us. And thank Jeff to you and Pete for having us on.
Jeff: Oh you’re welcome.
Pete: Our pleasure.
Penn: Absolutely. I was just going to say, because it is who I am is this project has launched and it’s exciting, but we want it to continue going like it can’t go away. And we just have to keep the initiatives going, the grants coming in, the donations coming in to keep it going. So if you have an extra five bucks, ten bucks, 50, 5,000, whatever it is in your couch cushions, just go to AfterSight.org and you can donate there and just put in the comment where you want it to go.
Jeff: Well, great. I’m so glad we get to spread the word on this. And anyone listening tell other people like Penn said, if you have a friend that’s in need of a cane, After Sight, check them out AfterSight.org.
Bari: You can also go to AwareWolfGear.com. Information right there on our home page. Or you can go straight to AwareWolfGear.com/WCP, for White Cane Project, and that will ultimately take you over to After Sight to complete your online application and have your cane shipped out. So again, truly incredible time, all of us coming here together. And I just want to congratulate everyone here on the team for making this a success and looking forward to a very long run here together.
{Music}
Jeff: For more podcasts with a Blindness perspective, check us out on the web at www.BlindAbilities.com. And if you want to leave some feedback, give us some suggestions. Give us a call at (612) 367-6093. We’d love to hear from you. I want to thank you for listening and until next time, bye-bye.
[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.