Triple Vision Pandora Project

In this month's podcast Peter Field of the Triple Vision team takes listeners on a tour of his hobby farm in Ashcroft British Columbia. Peter became fascinated about how blind individuals could take up farming following an interview on podcast 22 with Professor Geoffrey Reaume of York University. In that podcast Professor Reaume explained how, prior to the industrial revolution, blind individuals fully participated in the economy by working on farms. Consequently, he and his partner purchased a 20-acre hobby farm in the interior of BC where they manage chickens, sheep, 7 dogs and an intrepid barn cat. Tune in to this month's episode of Triple Vision for this fascinating story about managing life on a farm without vision.



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In Triple Vision's first podcast reporting from location, Peter and Karoline talk with researchers and participants at the Co-Design Festival organized by the CNIB's Research Team. On March 11 participants gathered at the Microsoft campus in Toronto to talk AI, accessible competencies, inclusive and ethical research and designing accessible blood pressure monitors. In this podcast Peter speaks with three guests at the festival about what co-design means for them. Karoline follows up with two interviews with participants on their impressions of the event. Co-design is the concept of designing products and services with those who will benefit from them at the very beginning, rather than waiting for a final, or nearly final, product.



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Uncovering Book Clubs: Why Book Clubs are More Accessible to Individuals who are Blind than Ever Before
In this month's podcast Karoline and Peter uncover the world of book clubs for individuals who are blind, deafblind, and partially sighted. It used to be that it was very difficult for individuals with visual impairments to join book clubs, but now, with the proliferation of books available in so many formats, attending book club meetings is no longer such a big deal. In this podcast Karoline asks Chris Jonas and Pasquale Agnone of her chat-based book club to talk about why they find book clubs so interesting, and the pros and cons of joining book clubs organized specifically for people who are blind vs. mixed book clubs.
"In terms of your question about why blind people would go to a blind book club, I think its just because there's that shared experience. They have a common format like, typically most blind people prefer the audio format. They know what the sources are. They can compare what is available. They can talk about the narration which is not something which is usually talked about in a "non-blind" book club. There's things like that. Things that everyone is familiar with as a person with a visual impairment when it comes to reading books."



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Re-imagining Human Rights - Let's Take This to Another Two Levels
In this month's episode of Triple Vision, the team follows up on the interview it did with Dean Stacey of the Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians, produced in December 2023. In that episode Dean talked about the Alliance's attempts to overturn a decision by the Canadian Human Rights commission not to hear a complaint of discrimination against it. This month Peter and Karoline talk to lawyer Anne Levesque who brought the case to two levels of Canadian courts hoping for a different decision. Each time the courts rejected the Alliance's attempt at justice. Now, Anne speaks freely about what she sees are the difficulties with the current human rights process in Canada and what could be some solutions for a re-imagined human rights system.
Human rights law in particular, and this is not me that says it, it’s the Supreme Court of Canada, ought to be interpreted liberally to give purpose to the Act. You shouldn’t look for exceptions or loopholes. We really need to look at what is the intention of Parliament, and the intention of Parliament behind human rights legislation is to allow all Canadians to live the lives that they wish to live.
Resources:
Profile: Anne Levesque, Faculty of Law
LinkedIn: Anne Levesque



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In this month's Triple Vision episode, Peter and Karoline start to re-imagine what human rights in Canada could look like. We start this re-imagining by talking with Dean Steacy of the Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians (AEBC). AEBC had launched a complaint to the Canadian Human rights Commission (CHRC) against the federal department of Employment and Social Development Canada, on the basis that AEBC was discriminated against when the forms it used to apply for a grant were not accessible. The CHRC refused to hear the complaint, and the AEBC appealed to two levels of Court to have that decision overturned. Tune in to hear Dean describe the case and why it is so important to blind Canadians.
If the Commission were to do things right, they'd be moving to a digital process so that everything is online and everything that the sighted community has to use on line, we as the blind community have access to that.
Resources:
December 3rd is the annual observance day of the International Day of Disabled Persons, which was proclaimed in 1992 by the United Nations General Assembly.
Canadian Human Rights Commission
United Nations: International Day of Persons with Disabilities



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Universal Banter. How Does Assistive Technology Fit with the Idea of Universal Design?
In this week's episode the Triple Vision Team, with guest host Karoline Bourdeau, joins forces with the AT Banter podcast team to discuss the interplay of assistive technology with mainstream technology towards a horizon of universal design. Join the Triple vision team, along with Steve Barclay, Ryan Fleury, and Rob Mineault of Canadian Assistive Technologies Ltd. to discuss the past, present and future of assistive technologies in Canada, and around the world.
Imagine, for example, somebody who lives a good majority of their life in a powered wheelchair with very limited physical access. We can, through various technologies that we handle, we can connect somebody to a computer right down to a single muscle if necessary, or even eye gaze technology if necessary. There is an interplay that happens in cases like that between occupational and physical therapists to determine exactly how a person can be positioned, how a person can do movement that is meaningful for their access. I just can't see there being a one solution for everybody given that because they do get so very specific.
Resources:
AT Banter Podcast: Advocating for Inclusivity, Diversity and better Accessibility for the world we live in
Make A Difference - Described Video, By Ryan Fleury on White Cane Records



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