{"id":6138,"date":"2020-08-12T13:53:02","date_gmt":"2020-08-12T18:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=6138"},"modified":"2020-08-12T13:53:02","modified_gmt":"2020-08-12T18:53:02","slug":"access-and-engagement-to-education-and-flatten-inaccessibility-surveys-meet-dr-l-penny-rosenblum-director-of-research-american-foundation-for-the-blind-afb","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=6138","title":{"rendered":"Access and Engagement to Education and Flatten Inaccessibility Surveys: Meet Dr. L. Penny Rosenblum, Director of Research, American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Full Transcript<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Jeff Thompson<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have talked to transition-age students, parents of blind children, teacher of the blind and visually impaired, about how they are adjusting to the challenges of distance learning.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Man 1<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The pandemic hit us hard \u2013 everyone shut down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Woman 1<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I actually don\u2019t find favor with the remote-learning system, partly because of its lack of structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Man 2<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What I did to problem solve \u2013 I called up Aira and I used the five minutes for free of Aira, and I had them remote into my computer with the team viewer application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Boy 1<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A lot of my teachers, like, just post work for us to do, but very few of my high school teachers really, like, actually engage with the students and direct instruction. So when I get math assignments posted, it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Man 3<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My main concern was just making sure they had the proper technology to even do the work. So they are fine to have their laptops or iPads, and computers, if they had that and they\u2019re connected to the internet then they should be fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Woman 2<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He uses usually either his Macbook or his HP to access his work and he does his work on his (unintelligible) Touch as well, and he emails his teachers. He typically gets some support from a resource teacher at school, each day, especially with math, and also his PDI helps him a lot with math.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Boy 1<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, like, this virtual learning platform has posed a lot of new and unforeseen challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeff Thompson<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019ve heard their voices, and so has the American Foundation for the Blind, conducting two large-scale surveys listening to the voices of teachers for the blind and visually impaired, parents of blind children, and people who happen to be blind or visually impaired themselves.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. L Penny Rosenblum<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Troy Otillio, the CEO of Aira, was really seeing a difference in how people were using the Aira app for the types of things they needed visual access for. And so he came up with the idea to do a survey to check in on how adults with visual impairments were coping during COVID, and AFB very quickly got involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeff Thompson<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meet Dr. Penny Rosenblum, Director of Research at American Foundation for the Blind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. L Penny Rosenblum<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I have low vision, I have congenital cataracts and nystagmus, and now as a middle-aged adult also have glaucoma, so I\u2019ve lived a life of low vision pretty much my whole life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Rosenblum shares with us the intent and reports derived from the surveys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Penny:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To examine how COVID-19 is impacting the education of students, both from the families\u2019 perspective and from the professionals serving the students, so teachers of students with visual impairments and orientation and mobility specialists.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Please welcome Dr. Penny Rosenblum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Penny:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each of us have a responsibility to make sure our voice is heard, and for our transition-age youth, you\u2019re the future, and you really have the opportunity to let the generation in front of you know what your issues are, and to set a model for the generation behind you.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can find all survey details at flatteninaccessibility.com, and accessengagement.com. Welcome to Blind Abilities, I\u2019m Jeff Thompson. Today we\u2019ll be talking about two major surveys that have gone across the nation since the COVID-19 pandemic has struck, and they were led by American Foundation for the Blind. And in the studio today, we have Director of Research from American Foundation for the Blind, Dr. Penny Rosenblum. Welcome to Blind Abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Penny:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thanks, Jeff. I\u2019m really excited to be here and have an opportunity to talk with you and get some information out to your audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, thanks for taking the time to come on here and talk about these surveys. Now, these are two major surveys, the Access and Engagement to Education and Flatten Inaccessibility survey. Can you tell us a little bit about those?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Penny:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sure. So let\u2019s start at the beginning \u2013 I know back in January, COVID was something that was on the news happening across the pond, so to speak, and as we moved into March, COVID became more in the news here in the United States. Troy Otillio, the CEO of Aira, was really seeing a difference in how people were using the Aira app for the types of things they needed visual access for. And so he came up with the idea to do a survey to check in on how adults with visual impairments were coping with COVID, and AFB very quickly got involved. So that survey is called Flatten Inaccessibility, we ran it April 3<sup>rd<\/sup>&nbsp;to the 13<sup>th<\/sup>, and we ended up with 1,921 surveys from people with visual impairments, 18 on up, who are from across the United States, and that data really showed us that people who are visually impaired have concerns related to COVID in the areas of transportation, healthcare, access to meals, food and supplies, education, employment, voting, and AFB took the lead role of the 16 organizations in developing the survey instrument, analyzing the data once we collected it, and now writing a report. And your listeners may really enjoy an AFB leadership conference presentation that myself, Troy, Dr. Paola Chanes-Mora, who works with me at AFB, and Dr. Bonnie Swenor from Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University did back in June, where we shared some of those results. Our more formal report will be out I hope by the end of August, so pretty soon.&nbsp;<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So that\u2019s the first survey, looking at the experiences of COVID for adults. The second \u2013 Access and Engagement \u2013 came about- as soon as that first survey launched, my colleague Dr. Tina Hertzberg at the University of South Carolina Upstate contacted me at AFB, and she said would AFB be willing to work with her in developing a survey to examine how COVID-19 is impacting the education of students, both from the families\u2019 perspective and from the professionals serving the students, so teachers of students with visual impairments, or TVIs, and orientation and mobility specialists, or O and M instructors. Very quickly Dr. Tiffany Wild from the Ohio State University joined Dr. Hertzberg and I, and the three of us put together the survey called Access and Engagement that launched on April 22<sup>nd<\/sup>, ran for three weeks, and closed on May 13<sup>th<\/sup>. Initially we thought we had 1764 responses that are usable, but some of these little data analysis programs trick you, so in our much deeper analysis that we\u2019re in the midst of right now we actually have 1660 usable surveys, so that\u2019s a little bit of a change for some information we\u2019ve put out on the Access and Engagement website. That report I hope will be out by the end of September, and we\u2019re also looking to repeat that survey during the 2020-21 school year, because I think we all can agree, things have changed in our lives tremendously since the end of last school year even going into this one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mm-hm. Penny, can you tell us the differences and similarities between the two surveys?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Penny:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sure. Well, obviously the biggest similarity is they focus on folks who have visual impairments and what\u2019s happening with them during the time of COVID. One of the differences, though, is the Flatten Inaccessibility survey gathered data from adults who are visually impaired, and Access and Engagement we didn\u2019t actually collect information from the students, the children birth to 21 years of age, instead we collected information from their family members, and we also collected information from professionals. Now, we don\u2019t know if the professionals who answered were working with the children of the families who answered, but we were able to now look across the lifespan for somebody with a visual impairment. When we bring these two data sets together, it\u2019s helping us to see that there are issues around accessibility \u2013 for example, whether we\u2019re talking about a fifth grader whose general ed classroom teacher is using an app or has made a video that\u2019s not accessible, or we\u2019re talking about somebody in the 45 to 54 age range who\u2019s employed at a job who is having the same issue around accessibility \u2013 their employer has put up some training for them to learn how to use the new web conferencing tool that say that company is using, and that training\u2019s not accessible. So, the issue of accessibility crosses the lives of people with visual impairments no matter what their age is. So that\u2019s one issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another issue is access to materials that you need. For our children this may be not having a Braille writer at home when they\u2019re used to having a Perkins Braille writer at school, or a piece of technology. A child with multiple disabilities not having materials that are designed specifically for them \u2013 for example, on the communication board. For adults who, let\u2019s say, are enrolled in a college course \u2013 biology or chemistry, a very hands-on, visual type of course. Through the disability resource center at their college, they may have requested sighted assistance in class, for doing an experiment for example. Now their class is online, it\u2019s pre-recorded modules, and they\u2019re supposed to watch someone else do these experiments. They\u2019re not getting that same type of experience themselves because they\u2019re not getting to be hands-on with the materials. There\u2019s no description of what\u2019s really happening in the video that\u2019s giving them the detail that they need, and so their education is being impacted as well.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s like going back to old times, how it used to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Penny:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Exactly. So let\u2019s think about travel \u2013 obviously for adults we\u2019re travelling to the grocery store, we\u2019re travelling for work, we\u2019re using public transportation potentially and Uber, a taxi, those types of things now are challenging in the day of COVID where we want to social distance. Do I want to get on a bus with 30 of my best friends, where there\u2019s not enough room to social distance? Or perhaps in some communities they\u2019ve restricted bus service, so they maybe have gone to a Sunday schedule and have gotten rid of the weekday schedule, or they are now requiring that riders enter the bus from the back door, which is problematic because A) you can\u2019t speak to the driver, the driver\u2019s up front and they put a partition, B) if I have a physical limitation, maybe I have arthritis, or I\u2019m a person who is used to the bus kneeling down for me, that\u2019s not going to happen at the backdoor, there\u2019s these big steps I have to go up. So transportation for adults is an issue, while transportation when we think about our children \u2013 many of them are receiving orientation and mobility instruction. They\u2019re learning how first to get around their classroom, their home neighborhood, the school neighborhood, then they\u2019re moving out to business districts \u2013 how do we do that virtually? How do we provide those children instruction, or let\u2019s say somebody who has diabetic retinopathy and has experienced vision loss in their 60s, and now is not feeling confident even travelling from their front door to their mailbox, let alone the three blocks to the bus stop and going through all the steps of riding the bus with a newly acquired vision loss. So how do we provide services to allow people with visual impairment to maximize their independence during this very hands-off time when it comes to instruction?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of the information that I read in the survey was how the TVIs have reached out and stepped up- they\u2019ve become heroes, almost, because they had to wing it, they had to create either videos or information or contact them directly and give them tips \u2013 homework, basically, during this time where they can\u2019t presently do it one on one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Penny:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Very much so, and many of our TVIs and our O and M instructors are meeting with children, meeting with families to provide either access to the classes that that child is taking, giving families suggestions of activities they can do with their child, and sometimes it\u2019s just rethinking things that we normally do as a family. So, for example, a family of a young child or a child with multiple disabilities \u2013 eventually we all want to get out of the house, even if it\u2019s just to walk around the block. Helping families understand that you can use this as a learning opportunity \u2013 your child can figure out which direction are we going based on where the sun is, so talking about how to use the sun during travel, or what sounds are you hearing, let\u2019s listen for cars before we cross the street as a family, because I\u2019m not going to let you as a child do this on your own, but rather than just taking you by the hand and taking you across that street, how can I engage you in this routine of us walking around the neighborhood. So, helping families think about how they can support the child\u2019s education, or expand on the things that the child would be learning in school in a different way.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And this is something you\u2019re very familiar with as a child yourself, crossing, what was it, 9<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;Street, 9<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;Avenue?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Penny:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, (unintelligible) Bruce Springsteen over at 9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah, 9, there you go. For transition-age students, other than, you know, going to school, what other obstacles do you see them having to overcome?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Penny:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You know, I think when you\u2019re transition-age, you\u2019re starting to get ready for college, or the world of work that\u2019s going to come next, what\u2019s going to happen next in your life? Your social life is also really important to you, school\u2019s a place where you connect with your friends. All of a sudden, now, you don\u2019t have access to the same people and the same support systems that you\u2019re used to. For many young people, this is an opportunity to really start to build yourself advocacy skills, starting to figure out what is it that I need to communicate to my biology teacher or my English teacher about the videos that they posted, or that scanned PDF that\u2019s not accessible that I\u2019m expected to be able to open up and answer the questions or do the activity. My teacher of students with visual impairments is not going to be as available to me, potentially, may not be paving the way they did in the past, may not have the supports there where things are getting sent to that Braille-is in the district and then getting sent to me for my note-taker, so I as a transition-age youth with a visual impairment, I\u2019m going to need to really advocate for myself, and this really translates to when folks are going into college and into the world of work \u2013 there\u2019s a big transition. You don\u2019t have a teacher of visually impaired students there anymore advocating for you, making sure your materials are available, making sure that your test is put into the proper format or that the graphics that accompany your calculus course are there. You\u2019re going to have to, as a visually impaired college student or employee, you\u2019re going to have to let folks know what accommodations you need, and you\u2019re going to have to come up with a lot of the solutions. So, part of the small, tiny silver lining here \u2013 obviously there\u2019s not a silver lining here at all \u2013 is for many of our transition-age youths, they\u2019re having to step up. And we\u2019re seeing this for families as well of even younger students \u2013 here\u2019s an opportunity where I\u2019m really going to have to learn about what my child is doing in school, and what skills my child needs to learn. And from the professional\u2019s perspective, the TVI and the O and M instructors, they\u2019re having to think differently about how they provide instruction, and what skills they need to teach their students. So, I\u2019m hoping that one that that\u2019ll come out of COVID-19 is this idea that we all need to be problem solvers and not rely on others to solve our problems for us.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s basically what these surveys are for, is to find where the problems are, see where we can improve, and I don\u2019t think anyone else is doing anything like this.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Penny:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not to my knowledge, looking specifically at folks with visual impairments. Our field is very small, research studies if we have a couple hundred visually impaired people in them whether we\u2019re talking about adults or children are very rare, so to have 1000+ in both of them, almost 2000 in the Flatten Inaccessibility, just over 1600 in the Access and Engagement, really gives our field, as professionals, a wealth of information that we can in turn then share with policymakers, we can share with administrators in schools, we can share with employers, we can share with technology companies. Many of us have learned if we weren\u2019t already using things such as Zoom for web conferencing, which is how you, Jeff, and I are connecting today to do our visit, because we\u2019re virtual because we\u2019re in the COVID world. Zoom is not fully accessible \u2013 a lot of the Zoom functions do work with screen readers, there are some JAWS scripts that you can load that are not part of the typical JAWS scripts, but there are still functions, especially if you\u2019re the presenter, that are not available to you with screen readers. Things like this need to be addressed, and it\u2019s folks with visual impairments who need to not just sit back and say \u201cWell, it\u2019s not accessible, I can\u2019t do my work\u201d or \u201cI can\u2019t go to my class\u201d \u2013 instead, what can we do about that? How can we work together with our advocacy organizations such as the National Federation of the Blind, the American Council of the Blind, the Blinded Veterans Association, National Organization of Albinism and Hyper-Pigmentation, National Association of Parents of Visually Impaired Children, how can we work together to leverage these companies to recognize that they need to think about inclusive design from the beginning? So, I want every transition-age student who\u2019s hearing this podcast today who has been frustrated with something that hasn\u2019t worked right at school to get on the company\u2019s website that makes that product and let them know who you are and what your specific challenges are, and that you have a visual impairment. That\u2019s the first step in advocacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wow, that\u2019s great. Penny, what advice would you have for a transition-age student today, with all the challenges that are in front of them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Penny:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wow, you know, Jeff, when I think about all the challenges that are in front of all of us, I sometimes get overwhelmed for my own self, and I have a typically sighted niece who\u2019s 18 and a nephew who\u2019s 23 \u2013 my niece, though, will be starting college here in the next couple weeks, and I don\u2019t think she even knows what that\u2019s going to look like. And she doesn\u2019t need any accommodations, she doesn\u2019t need to meet with her professors ahead of time to let them know what tools she\u2019s going to use, what accommodations she\u2019s requesting. This is a really unsetting time, and I think it\u2019s really important that first everybody recognizes that we\u2019re all doing the best that we can with what we have, and so many unknowns. And so, to feel anxious or to feel a little depressed, it is typical, you\u2019re not alone. That being said, I really encourage everybody to reach out to others, and I think that\u2019s why our consumer organizations that I mentioned before are so important, because you can connect with other people who have a visual impairment, who\u2019ve had experiences like you. And if you\u2019re not an organization person that\u2019s cool, not everybody is, you might want to reach out to your TVI or your O and M specialist, or your VOC rehab counselor, and ask if there\u2019s other folks that they know, around your age, maybe with similar technology use or visual impairment level to you, and see if you can connect with somebody to share information. I think having both a plan A, B, C, and D is really good \u2013 how are you going to access your job right now if you\u2019re working virtually, how are you going to make that transition to going back to that jobsite if you have a job? Some folks in our Flatten Inaccessibility study talked about their concerns that when the employer said \u201cHey, it\u2019s time to come back and work in the restaurant, we\u2019ve reopened,\u201d that they were concerned about how they were going to get there with limited transportation, or that buddy that they used to carpool with might not want to carpool, might not even want to get in that person\u2019s car because you can\u2019t maintain six feet social distance in the car, so how are they going to get to the jobsite? So, it\u2019s a time to recognize that that uncertainty is normal, but to start to think about, well, what are my options? Do I live close enough that I could start practicing walking that route? Is there a family member that I could pay to take me who\u2019s more in my personal bubble of people I\u2019m being exposed to, so I\u2019m less likely to come in contact with somebody I don\u2019t know and how they\u2019ve been spending their time and if they\u2019ve been maintaining good social distancing and other practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mm-hm, you have to become resourceful and be your, as you mentioned earlier, become your best advocate, get those skills up there for advocacy before you self-determine you have to use those skills, and now\u2019s a good time to practice them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Penny:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Very much so, Jeff, definitely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While I was going on the afb.org website, I came across a book that\u2019ll be coming out, and there\u2019s a presentation there as well, some videos, on finding wheels, and I thought this was really interesting because, you know, when someone who\u2019s visually impaired or blind, and the age 16 hits, really strike home to that part right in there of what, like, five \u2013 I think there\u2019s five different students, five different people \u2013 all experiencing it in five different ways, and I thought that was pretty good. Could you give us a little bit on that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Penny:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sure. So, I didn\u2019t mention it at the beginning of the podcast, Jeff, but I have low vision. I have congenital cataracts and nystagmus and now, as a middle-aged adult, also glaucoma, so I\u2019ve lived a life of low vision pretty much my whole life. And ironically, my dad owned a driving school in New Jersey, so he literally taught half of the 400 students in my graduating class how to drive, so it was pretty tough for me to make that transition to wait, everybody else is getting a driver\u2019s license, where\u2019s mine? As I got older and started working as a teacher of visually impaired students and then as a college professor, I found that a lot of our transition-age youth aren\u2019t prepared to be non-drivers, and those who might qualify to be low-vision drivers don\u2019t even know what that\u2019s all about. So, in 2000 Dr. Anne Corn and I wrote a book called Finding Wheels. Now, there might be some TVIs and O and M instructors listening to this podcast and if you go pull out your copy it\u2019s kind of fun, because I don\u2019t know the last time I made sure I had quarters for the payphone. Things have changed a lot with travel in the last 20 years, and so Dr. Corn and I have been working with the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired to revise the book. It\u2019s getting there \u2013 it\u2019s been a long process with the revision and really it\u2019s almost a new book, because we talk about how can you be a successful non-driver in today\u2019s day and age.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, skills that you need to have \u2013 how do you find your rideshare driver get an Uber or a Lyft, how do you plan your budget for thinking about transportation, what are safety considerations when your out walking or taking a bus, how do you hire and fire somebody to be your driver? So there\u2019s a lot of topics that we talk about, and as we\u2019re all moving into this virtual world due to COVID, there were a lot of professional conferences that got cancelled, and I was supposed to speak about this book at a couple of them, and felt kind of badly that there were O and M instructors who weren\u2019t sure what to do with their transition-age students and there were professionals who needed their continuing education credits, so thanks to my colleagues at AFB I was given the opportunity to put on a couple of two hour workshops, and we made those videos available. So they walk you through the different chapters of the book, which I hope will be out soon, but they are good for families, for teens, for those in their early twenties, for professionals who are working with folks in that age range, because they make you think about all the different aspects of being a non-driver in our very car-oriented society. And they\u2019re free!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah, I always thought to myself, ah, that doesn\u2019t bother me as much, but I was able to drive and then I lost my sight later, so I can\u2019t imagine what it\u2019s like, especially for you with your dad owning a driving school, that must have hit home pretty good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Penny:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It sure did.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Can you tell listeners where they can find out more about the surveys and the reports?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Penny:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sure. The flatteninaccessibility.com website has right now some results that are very preliminary, and the accessandengagement.com website also has some preliminary results. We also have pages at afb.org \u2013 Flatten Inaccessibility and Access and Engagement that talk a little bit about the surveys and have forms on each of those to be notified when our reports are available. So my hope is that the Flatten Inaccessibility report will be out by the end of August, and optimistically the Access and Engagement report will be out by the end of September. These reports will be a little on the thick side, but they have lots of quotes from our participants which I think really make, you know, those numbers if you\u2019re not a number person, and I get it, we\u2019re not all researchers and that\u2019s cool, they do make the information come to life because you\u2019re hearing from the real people. Each report also has recommendations, and I think reading through these recommendations is very important regardless of who you are, whether you\u2019re a transition-age youth, you\u2019re a family member, you\u2019re a professional \u2013 and then thinking about what of these recommendations apply to me? So, I\u2019ve already given an example earlier in the podcast, about advocating for technology that\u2019s not accessible for you. In many communities, you might be concerned or your family members if you don\u2019t have a vehicle might be concerned, how do we get to the food bank and get food because you line up in your car? Or how do we get to a drive-thru test site for COVID-19 because we drive up? Or how do we get to the school, because they\u2019re giving free internet if you bring your car and you sit in the parking lot, but we don\u2019t have a car to sit in the parking lot.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, you may have some recommendations about how can you approach policymakers in your community to ensure that when they\u2019re thinking about all these drive-thru, drive up things, including like going to pick up your prescription at the drive-thru and you don\u2019t drive through, will they let you walk through? Then, how can we take this data and share it with those folks to help them understand that not everybody in the community is going to drive up to McDonalds or any of the fast food restaurants or CVS or Walgreens to get their prescription, nor food banks or test sites. So, we want folks to use the recommendations in both reports to make their needs known, make our larger community of people with visual impairments needs known, so that others from the city council to the congress of the United States start to think about that we need to be inclusive, we need to think about the needs of people with disabilities at the beginning and not as an add-on, and people with visual impairments in particular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, I want to thank you, AFB, for being the driving force of these surveys, giving the visually impaired a voice, because this is information that actually can result in policy changes and impact communities, I like how you\u2019re telling people to get their voice heard as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Penny:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, thanks, Jeff, and as somebody myself with a visual impairment, who has often had to advocate for the things that I need both in my personal life and in my professional life, each of us have a responsibility to make sure our voice is heard, and for our transition-age youth, you\u2019re the future, and you really have the opportunity to let the generation in front of you know what your issues are, and to set a model for the generation behind you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Penny, you mentioned Troy Otillio, from Aira, and it\u2019s funny how when you said that we\u2019ve got to start the network and with our peers, I just got a contact from someone who works in Colorado, and they said \u201cI can\u2019t sign an electronic signature,\u201d I said, \u201cWell, you get Aira five minutes for free,\u201d and they actually asked \u201cWhat\u2019s Aira?\u201d And I\u2019m thinking doesn\u2019t everybody in the blindness community know Aira? And it\u2019s just, you may assume something like that, but- so, I sent her a link to it, and she\u2019s signing up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Penny:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s great, Jeff, you really bring up a really good point. There are tools that each of us use, and we just assume that everybody knows about the tools and the websites or the resources or the apps that we find helpful to help us navigate our world as people with visual impairments. You can\u2019t make the assumption that first off what works for one person will work for the other, but also that everybody knows what you know. And I really encourage folks to think about maybe some Facebook groups, or LISTSERVs, or, you know, consumer organizations that are having meetings to go and share, one, what you\u2019re doing and what works for you, but two, to find out what works for other people. Just like you, I actually was talking to my friend\u2019s mother, who has experienced macular degeneration, and I suggested that she could increase the font size on her iPad, and went over to her house and showed her how we could take a picture of her recipe card and she could read her recipe again \u2013 I mean, you would have thought I gave her candy. I mean, she was so excited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s great. It\u2019s great to find something new that works, because we don\u2019t need these blockades, these barricades and brick walls in front of us when all it could take is one small, little bit of information, and you can find a lot of that through your peers and on afb.org too, there\u2019s lots of resources there, and we\u2019ll put all of this in the show notes, we\u2019ll put links that you can click on and go find out more stuff.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Penny:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thanks, Jeff!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Penny, I notice a lot of organizations are part of this, collaborating together on this, but where does the funding come to do all this work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Penny:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You know, that\u2019s a great question \u2013 both surveys started out as grassroots efforts, there really was very little time and not a long-term plan put into place for either one of them, they were ideas, and so the collaborating organizations have been phenomenal about tweeting, blogging, sending information to their memberships or their consumers, but the actual funding really isn\u2019t there. The American Foundation for the Blind has been very gracious in allowing myself and Dr. Paola Chanes-Mora to spend considerable time on these studies. In addition, we have two phenomenal volunteer teams of folks who are researchers, folks who want to learn more about researchers, doctoral students, and we\u2019ve had literally probably 2000 volunteer hours put in on these studies so far. We really want to repeat the Access and Engagement study this fall, and again this spring, and that will take considerable money to do that, so myself and our CEO of AFB, Dr. Kirk Adams, would be very happy to speak with anybody who has suggestions on funding sources we could look at or, potentially, is an organization or a company that would like to make a monetary donation to support our work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, such a great cause, and such a positive effect that this information could have on all of our futures.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Penny:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Definitely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Penny Rosenblum, Director of Research for American Foundation for the Blind, thank you so much for coming on the Blind Abilities and sharing with us about those two surveys and a little bit about yourself. Thank you very much!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Penny:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s been a real pleasure, and I hope that many of your listeners will check out the AFB website and sign up to be notified when our reports are available and then share those widely. Thank you so much.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Such a great time, and great information from Dr. Penny Rosenblum, Director of Research at American Foundation for the Blind. You can find out more about American Foundation for the Blind on the web, at afb.org, and be sure to check out the surveys on the web at accessengagement.com and flatteninacessibility.com. And for more podcasts with a blindness perspective, check us out on the web at www.blindabilities.com, on Twitter @BlindAbilities, and give us a call at 612-367-6093, leave us a message, and let us know if we can put your voice on the next podcast. Drop us an email at info@blindabilities.com, and download the free Blind Abilities app from the app store and Google Play store. That\u2019s two words, Blind Abilities. And from all of us here at Blind Abilities, through these challenging times, to you, your family, and friends, stay well, stay informed, and stay strong. I want to thank you for listening, hope you enjoyed, and until next time, bye-bye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[Music]&nbsp; [Transition noise]&nbsp; -When we share<br>-What we see<br>-Through each other&#8217;s eyes&#8230;<br><br>[Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence]<br><br>&#8230;We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeff Thompson<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more podcasts with the blindness perspective, check us out on the web at\u00a0www.blindabilities.com, on Twitter @BlindAbilities. Download our app from the app store Blind Abilities, that&#8217;s two words, or send us an email at\u00a0info@blindabilities.com. Thanks for listening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Contact Your State Services<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If you reside in Minnesota, and you would like to know more about Transition Services from State Services contact Transition Coordinator Sheila Koenig by&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:Sheila.Koenig@state.mn.us\">email<\/a>&nbsp;or contact her via phone at 651-539-2361.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Contact:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><br>You can follow us on Twitter&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/blindabilities\">@BlindAbilities<\/a><br>On the web at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/\">www.BlindAbilities.com<\/a><br>Send us an&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:info@BlindAbilities.com\">email<\/a><br>Get the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/app\/blind-abilities\/id1085849859?l=es&amp;mt=8\">Free Blind Abilities App&nbsp;on the App Store<\/a>and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.blindabilities.android.blind&amp;hl=en_US\">Google Play Store<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Check out the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/607027582712671\/\">Blind Abilities Community<\/a>on Facebook, the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BlindAbilities\/\">Blind Abilities Page<\/a>, and the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/jobinsightsgroup\">Career Resources for the Blind and Visually Impaired<\/a>&nbsp;group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Full Transcript Jeff Thompson Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have talked to transition-age students, parents of blind children, teacher of the blind and visually impaired, about how they are adjusting to the challenges of distance learning.&nbsp; Man 1 The pandemic hit us hard \u2013 everyone shut down. Woman 1 I actually don\u2019t [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6138","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P6rcRg-1B0","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5205,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=5205","url_meta":{"origin":6138,"position":0},"title":"BoseFrames are Getting steroids! Putting a Camera on the Bose Frames is the Next Step for the Aira and Bose Partnership. #NFB19","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"July 17, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Transcript Jeff Thompson:Welcome to Blind Abilities, I'm Jeff Thompson. Just returned from the National Federation of the Blind conference held in Las Vegas, Nevada. Yes, Sin City. It was a great conference held at the Mandalay Bay. Jeff Thompson:It was a huge, huge hotel, and yet, after day one,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4561,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=4561","url_meta":{"origin":6138,"position":1},"title":"Aira\u2019s Jonathan Mosen Announces a New Aira Promotion,  and Talks about the New Opportunities For Aira Explorers. Download the Free Aira App!","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"February 21, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Transcription {Music} Jonathan Mosen:Aira is a free app. Anybody can download the app for free. You can sign up as a free user. Jeff Thompson:Please welcome Jonathan Mosen. Jonathan Mosen:We slashed the entry point, so now it's as cheap as $29 a month. Jeff Thompson:Aira's Vice President of Australasia\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5356,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=5356","url_meta":{"origin":6138,"position":2},"title":"Aira is Free! Connect with an Agent Now and Start Saving Time. You Have Nothing to Lose \u2013 Literally! A Conversation with Ryan Bishop, Explorer Account Manager at Aira","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"September 4, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Transcript Ryan Bishop:A year ago when I joined Aira, free was something that was something we were hoping for, but a year later to the month that I joined, we're free now and I can't believe it. Like it's just one of those ... Jeff Thompson:Aira is now free\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5084,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=5084","url_meta":{"origin":6138,"position":3},"title":"He Happens to Be Sighted: How Working as an Aira Agent and Now the Customer Experience Operations analyst is Changing His Perceptions &#8211; Meet Ryan Bresnahan","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"June 6, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Transcript Jeff Thompson:This interview may be a little bit different. Typically, we interview people who happen to be blind. Ryan happens to be sighted, and he works for Aira Tech Corporation. Aira, as you may know, makes and provides a service providing instant access to information when you need\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6210,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=6210","url_meta":{"origin":6138,"position":4},"title":"Sustainability is Fueling Aira\u2019s Future. Aira Gift Cards Roll Out and a Plan and 5 Minutes Free for Everyone Explained by Aira CEO, Troy Otillio, and Operations Manager, Ryan Bresnahan","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"September 3, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Transcript Troy Otillio: -and right now it is a limited time, and it starts on the 25th, but the cards come in 30, 50, or 100 dollar increments or amounts, and can be applied to any Aira account, as long as you know the phone number.\u00a0 Ryan Bresnahan.: It\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7506,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=7506","url_meta":{"origin":6138,"position":5},"title":"The BlindShell Accessible Cell Phone with Tactile Buttons is Growing to Meet the Needs of the Blind and Visually Impaired. 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Diane:\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6138"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6139,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6138\/revisions\/6139"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}