{"id":5007,"date":"2019-05-16T17:40:49","date_gmt":"2019-05-16T22:40:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?p=5007"},"modified":"2019-05-19T18:21:31","modified_gmt":"2019-05-19T23:21:31","slug":"meet-kristin-smedley-author-of-thriving-blind-stories-of-real-people-succeeding-without-sight-interview-by-simon-bonenfant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?p=5007","title":{"rendered":"Meet Kristin Smedley: Author, of Thriving Blind: Stories of Real People Succeeding Without Sight. Interview by Simon Bonenfant"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--powerpress_player--><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_3273\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-5007-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/blindabilities\/ThrivingBlindFinal.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/blindabilities\/ThrivingBlindFinal.mp3\">http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/blindabilities\/ThrivingBlindFinal.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=5015\">Full Transcript<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Show Summary:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Life is funny\u2026 sort of.<\/em><\/strong><em>&nbsp;<\/em>&nbsp; &nbsp;That\u2019s how Kristin sees it! Kristin Smedley is an award winning non-profit leader, TEDx speaker, and author \u2013 but she never planned on any of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"194\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ThrivingBlindBookCover-194x300.jpg\" alt=\"Image of the Thriving Blind Book Cover\" class=\"wp-image-5008\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ThrivingBlindBookCover-194x300.jpg 194w, https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ThrivingBlindBookCover-97x150.jpg 97w, https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ThrivingBlindBookCover.jpg 270w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 194px) 100vw, 194px\" \/><figcaption>Image of the Thriving Blind Book Cover<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p> however her personal path to greatness took an unexpected turn when two of her three children were diagnosed as blind. She had to learn the tools of blindness and build a team of experts that would help her navigate this path that she had not been trained for. Kristin\u2019s two blind sons are now thriving. (taken from&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.kritinsmedley.com\/\">www.KritinSmedley.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blind Abilities Teen correspondent, Simon Bonenfant, sat down with Kristin to talk about her book&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/173206640X\/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0\">Thriving Blind<\/a>. Kristin shares her experience from raising 2 sons who happen to be Blind, and how she found confidence from&nbsp;&nbsp;others who were living successful lives without sight. Her journey through education and meeting parents who faced the limited expectations gave Kristin&nbsp;&nbsp;the incentive to do more.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Learn about the foundation she created and what led her to write her first book, Thriving Blind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can find&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/kindle-dbs\/entity\/author\/B07NVNFJ2C?_encoding=UTF8&amp;node=283155&amp;offset=0&amp;pageSize=12&amp;searchAlias=stripbooks&amp;sort=author-pages-popularity-rank&amp;page=1&amp;langFilter=default#formatSelectorHeader\">Thriving Blind<\/a>in paperback , and in Large Print, as well as in Kindle Edition. You can also go to&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.kristinsmedley.com\/\">www.KristinSmedley.com<\/a>and get the Electronic Braille format.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can follow Kristin on Twitter <a href=\"Http:\/\/www.Twitter.com\/KristinSmedley\">@KristinSmedley<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Contact:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you for listening!<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>, the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/jobinsightssupportgroup\/\">Job Insights Support Group<\/a>and the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/assistivetechnologyfortheblind\/\">Assistive Technology Community for the Blind and Visually Impaired<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<!--powerpress_player--><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_3275\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-5007-3\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/blindabilities\/ThrivingBlindFinal.mp3?_=3\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/blindabilities\/ThrivingBlindFinal.mp3\">http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/blindabilities\/ThrivingBlindFinal.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p>http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/blindabilities\/ThrivingBlindFinal.mp3 Full Transcript Show Summary: Life is funny\u2026 sort of.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;That\u2019s how Kristin sees it! Kristin Smedley is an award winning non-profit leader, TEDx speaker, and author \u2013 but she never planned on any of that. however her personal path to greatness took an unexpected turn when two of her three children were diagnosed as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5008,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17,310,514],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bapresents","category-independentliving","category-transcribed"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ThrivingBlindBookCover.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6rcRg-1iL","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6483,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?p=6483","url_meta":{"origin":5007,"position":0},"title":"Braille Doodle: Creating touchable drawings. and the Perfect Solution for Teaching and Learning Braille While Remote Learning","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"January 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Transcript Show Summary: BlindAbilities presents the team from touch pad pro assistive technology, \u00a0who is in the process of developing three new and totally innovative products for the blind and visually impaired. Jeff Thompson chats with\u00a0Kristin Smedley, Chief Communications Officer, Brian Edwards, chief \u00a0operating Officer, and founder and Chief\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;BlindAbilities Presents&quot;","block_context":{"text":"BlindAbilities Presents","link":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?cat=17"},"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":5146,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?p=5146","url_meta":{"origin":5007,"position":1},"title":"World Champion Lex Gillette \u2013 The Journeyman, and Inspiring Young Athlete, Mitch Smedley &#8211; The Apprentice, Talk Olympics, Goals and Having a Vision","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"June 22, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Transcript Show Summary: World Champion Lex Gillette \u2013 The Journeyman, and Inspiring Young athlete, Mitch Smedley, The apprentice, Talk Olympics, Goals and Having a Vision And this podcast we catch up with Lex Gillette, a four-time Paralympian with numerous awards. Lex is competing and training 5 days a week\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;BlindAbilities Presents&quot;","block_context":{"text":"BlindAbilities Presents","link":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?cat=17"},"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":6975,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?p=6975","url_meta":{"origin":5007,"position":2},"title":"Qudsiya Naqui \u2013 Lawyer, Advocate and Podcaster. 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From job interviews to workplace dynamics, they discuss the emotional and social impacts of disclosure and the perceptions it may create. 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