Media
Over the years, I've been approached by various media outlets to talk about my story and my advocacy efforts for accessibility.
Blind Tech Guys Episode 89 - Digital Accessibility and Why it Actually Matters
Blind Tech Guys Episode 89, July 2021 - I was invited to speak on a recorded Clubhouse panel about Digital Accessibility and shared my story of how I got into the a11y space and my ideas and experience so far. I was on stage with Rabeea Wajeeha, Catarina Rivera, Taylor Arndt, and Ted McCoskey, all awesome advocates within the a11y field.
Lorem Ipsum - Blind New World
CTR Radio May 2021 - For Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Deon Fung from the University of Vancouver found me on Reddit and wanted to interview me about my experiences with online dating as a blind person. We went over my blind dating primer, talked about overall accessibility within the overtly visual medium of online dating, and discussed how my life changed after losing my vision.
Mosen at Large - Episode 50: Audio Description Formats
Mosen at Large Podcast July 2020 - I met Jonathan in the /r/blind subreddit where we got to talking about how Audio Description is never presented in a consistent format to media consumers and how the experience seems to be intentionally degraded for the veryt users who would most benefit from the best audio experience possible. More often than not, audio description is an afterthought in the creation of BLu-Ray or DVD media, and while sighted users get to watch the movie with full-on 5.1 Audio or better, the audio description track is crushed into 2.0 Stereo, ruining the overall experience for those of us with actual home theater setups. Netflix and other streaming services have figured out how to provide AD in the center channel for home theater setups, but broadcast television still crushes Secondary Audio Programming into all the channels for a stereo 2.0 presentation when the primary audio feed is presented in 5.1. Even large movie houses who have no excuse for putting out sub-standard Blu-Ray discs like Marvel end up giving blind consumers a terrible home theater experience with audio description. Jonathan and I discuss this and my experiences on his podcast here.
Lyft's braille guide to autonomous tech helps the blind become familiar with robocars
Popular Science 2019 - Tommy Hayes and I are interviewed again for the Lyft and Aptiv Self-driving car experience we set up in Las Vegas for NFB 2019. Not only were blind and visually impaired attendees able to take a ride in our autonomous vehicles, but we worked with the Lighthouse for the Blind in San Francisco to create tactile graphics and maps to help make the overall experience that much more immersive and inclusive for all riders.
How Video Game Companies Are Improving The Experience For Visually Impaired People
NPR re-edit of my KQED story about accessible gaming.
Gaming Has Many Visually Impaired Fans. Why Not Serve Them Better?
KQED interview about gaming for the visually impaired.
Why Blind Americans Are Worried About Trump’s Tech Policy
New Yorker interview on my take on the Trump administration's regressive attacks on Audio Description.
The Specialist - Cane Trainer
KALW Cross Currents audio featuring my Orientation and Mobility trainer Katt Jones along with the story of how I lost my sight. Listen to me run into Umame Burger on King Street!
San Francisco Needs to Get Out of the Car Storage Business
Hoodline report on an unfortunate incident I had involving getting off a Muni train and running into a van, a broken cane, and people not paying attention.
Facebook tool helps blind users 'see' photos
USA Today Tech report on Facebook's auto-alt text feature. I'm quoted on my experience with the accessibility research testing process.
Is braille relevant in a digital age?
KALW interview about how I went blind and how I am finding uses for braille in every day interactions.