Changing the Narrative

Murray Elbourn (Host) & Elizabeth Rouse (Co-Host)
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  • Education

Changing the Narrative is a weekly podcast about blindness and low vision hosted by Murray Elbourn and Elizabeth Rouse. They cut through clichés, share lived expertise, and spotlight what works in education, work, sports, tech, and daily life. Expect frank talk on independence, policy, and culture, plus features on organizations moving the needle. Watch on YouTube via Amerability. Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify

  1. Jun 30

    Knowing Yourself: Changing the Narrative E:25

    In Episode 25 of Changing the Narrative, Murray Elbourn and Elizabeth Rouse wrap up season one with a finale that takes on two very different topics in one sitting. They start with dressing for success as a blind person, where Elizabeth talks through packing seven pairs of shoes for an upcoming convention and Murray owns up to a sizable shorts collection of his own. Along the way they get into the power suit and the mindset that comes with it, the case for and against mismatched socks, tactile ways to tell similar shoes apart, and a practical approach to decoding unfamiliar dress codes. It is an honest and useful look at what it takes to walk into a room feeling confident and put together. From there, they turn to conflict and the different ways people approach it. Elizabeth shares a color-based framework she learned from a mentor, and together they explore why some people want to address a problem right away while others need time to step back and process first, and why knowing your own triggers matters so much. The conversation moves into personality tests, the value of asking people you trust for honest feedback, and using AI as a starting point for understanding yourself. They close out the season with thoughts on cane etiquette and respecting personal space, along with a warm invitation for listeners to come and say hello at convention. You can also stream this podcast on other platforms:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2CxmNSmbAhR6QBGMJfEDZi?si=bfadbd9da64f4b9eApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/changing-the-narrative/id1839554274Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9b232296-ba3b-4106-83ce-56271c74ba8c/changing-the-narrativeOther ResourcesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/murrayaelbourn/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@murrayamerability?_r=1&_t=ZP-97LlF79lgCNLinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/murray-elbourn-69576543?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_appAmerability Website: https: https://www.amerability.com/Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Amerability About Amerability: Amerability was born from a simple but powerful idea: that blind and low vision individuals deserve more than support — they deserve the tools, mentorship, and real-world experiences to build lives on their own terms. Founded by CEO Murray Elbourn, a legally blind leader with more than 25 years of executive experience in disability sports and workforce development across two continents, Amerability combines lived experience with professional expertise to create programs that don't just prepare participants for the world — they prove the world is already theirs to conquer. Murray's journey from captaining Australia's national goalball team and leading Disability Sports Australia as CEO to founding Amerability in the United States gave him a firsthand understanding of what blind and low vision individuals truly need to succeed: not sympathy, but strategy, structure, and someone who has walked the path before them. That philosophy is woven into everything Amerability does, from the way programs are designed to the mentors who deliver them, ensuring that every participant is met with high expectations, practical guidance, and the unwavering belief that their goals are within reach.

  2. Jun 24

    2026 NFB National Convention Agenda Highlights: Changing the Narrative E:24

    In Episode 24 of Changing the Narrative, Murray Elbourne and Elizabeth Rouse turn a packed convention agenda into a survival guide for anyone who has ever felt swallowed by a giant professional gathering. With the National Federation of the Blind's national convention in Austin on the horizon, they map six days of sessions, exhibit halls, and late-night networking, then hand you the strategy that actually matters: how to prep, prioritize, and walk into an enormous hotel like you own the place. It works for convention. It works for your next conference. It works for life. Recorded on a rare burst of morning energy, this season finale crackles with friendly bickering, running jokes, and the occasional kazoo. Underneath the fun is something bigger: a community that shows up, in person or on Zoom, to prove what blind and low vision people can do when they refuse to shrink. There are tips, there are laughs, and there is a quiet reminder that exploring without fear is its own kind of power. You can also stream this podcast on other platforms:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2CxmNSmbAhR6QBGMJfEDZi?si=bfadbd9da64f4b9eApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/changing-the-narrative/id1839554274Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9b232296-ba3b-4106-83ce-56271c74ba8c/changing-the-narrative Other ResourcesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/murrayaelbourn/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@murrayamerability?_r=1&_t=ZP-97LlF79lgCNLinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/murray-elbourn-69576543?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_appAmerability Website: https: https://www.amerability.com/Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Amerability About Amerability: Amerability was born from a simple but powerful idea: that blind and low vision individuals deserve more than support — they deserve the tools, mentorship, and real-world experiences to build lives on their own terms. Founded by CEO Murray Elbourn, a legally blind leader with more than 25 years of executive experience in disability sports and workforce development across two continents, Amerability combines lived experience with professional expertise to create programs that don't just prepare participants for the world — they prove the world is already theirs to conquer. Murray's journey from captaining Australia's national goalball team and leading Disability Sports Australia as CEO to founding Amerability in the United States gave him a firsthand understanding of what blind and low vision individuals truly need to succeed: not sympathy, but strategy, structure, and someone who has walked the path before them. That philosophy is woven into everything Amerability does, from the way programs are designed to the mentors who deliver them, ensuring that every participant is met with high expectations, practical guidance, and the unwavering belief that their goals are within reach.

  3. Jun 17

    Lead Like You Mean It: Changing the Narrative E:23

    In Episode 23 of Changing the Narrative, Murray Elbourne and Elizabeth Rouse are settling a score. There is a cross-continental sports rivalry to relitigate, a wrestler accused of cursing an entire NBA playoff run, and at least one fast food order so questionable it nearly derails the whole show. Then the gloves come off. What really separates a good leader from a great one? Murray and Elizabeth do not just talk about it, they compete over it, turning their answers into a head-to-head draft where every pick has to be defended and nobody backs down quietly. It is fast, it is funny, and it might just change how you think about the people you choose to follow. But the real heart of this one sneaks up on you. Somewhere between stories of unlikely mentors and hard-won lessons about owning your mistakes, Elizabeth lays something raw on the table, a leadership opportunity staring her down right now, one she is not at all sure she is ready for. How she wrestles with that question is the kind of unguarded moment that makes you sit up. This is an episode about confidence and fear, about leading and following, and about the uncomfortable truth that the things we are most afraid of are often the ones worth chasing. Press play and ask yourself the question they cannot stop circling: what would you do if the scariest opportunity was the right one?

  4. Jun 4

    The Top 10 Accessible Apps: Changing the Narrative E:22

    In Episode 22 of Changing the Narrative, Murray Elbourne and Elizabeth Rouse count down the top 10 accessible apps in the world, the tools that quietly run daily life for the blind and low vision community. It opens, naturally, with a cricket commentator, a number that refuses to leave Murray's head, and a Messi jersey that has no business being on a podcast about apps. From there the two work their way up a list that sparks strong opinions, a few friendly bets, and one stubborn argument about whether a screen reader even counts as an app in the first place. Along the way they swap stories about reading marathons, narration requests that have gotten faintly out of hand, and the quiet confidence that comes from pulling out a phone and simply knowing. There's talk of airport navigation, grocery aisles, post office mysteries solved in seconds, and why the best of these tools are built with blind voices in the room instead of as an afterthought. Murray and Lizzie don't quite agree on which app deserves the crown, and they're not about to spoil where everything lands. Press play, place your bets, and find out which one comes out on top.

  5. May 23

    Aisle Be the Judge: Changing the Narrative E:21

    In Episode 21 of Changing the Narrative, Murray Elbourne and Elizabeth Rouse celebrate the show's 21st birthday the only responsible way they can, with a total absence of actual drinks and a brand new countdown. Picking up where their accessible destinations list left off, the two rank the top ten most accessible retail stores in America, and Murray turns the whole thing into a slow-drip guessing game by refusing to confirm whether a certain beloved warehouse chain cracks the list at all. Elizabeth, who would very much like to know if Costco makes the cut, spends the episode somewhere between delighted and ready to file a formal complaint. Along the way you will learn exactly which store inspired her to quietly weaponize VoiceOver on a row of unsuspecting Apple displays, and why she may or may not still be welcome there. Underneath the fun is a genuinely useful tour of how everyday stores are showing up for blind and low vision shoppers, from visual interpreting services waiting just inside the door to spoken prescription tools, braille labels, and built-in screen readers that turn a phone into an independence machine. They mark an accessibility milestone that happened to land on the very day they recorded, get into the surprisingly spicy distinction between access technology and assistive technology, and make the case that good intentions still need better staff training to truly stick. Expect Australian coffee patriotism, a family Christmas wrapping ritual, and a stuffed mascot named after a state capital, all before the number one spot is revealed. You will have to listen to find out whether Costco earns its crown.

  6. May 10

    Around the World With a Cane: Changing the Narrative E:20

    In Episode 20 of Changing the Narrative, Murray Elbourne and Elizabeth Rouse take their unfiltered rapport on the road, swapping G'day jokes and Hunger Games hot takes before launching into a globe trotting countdown built for blind and low vision travellers. Expect cultural detours, opinions delivered with zero restraint, and a healthy disagreement about what accessibility actually looks like once you are standing in a foreign city with a cane in hand. The countdown anchors the episode, but the conversation refuses to stay neatly in its lane. Murray shares lessons earned the hard way on streets that did not exactly roll out the welcome mat, while Elizabeth pushes back on the idea that more design intervention always equals more independence. There is also the small matter of gelato etiquette, a public transit system that nearly defeated one host, and an ongoing dispute about pizza geography that may never be settled. Episode 20 is part travel guide, part friendly chaos, and entirely worth the airfare.

  7. May 8

    The Information You Don't Owe Anyone: Changing the Narrative E:18

    In Episode 18 of Changing the Narrative, Murray Elbourne and Elizabeth Rouse dig into the slippery world of personal information and how easily it slips out in places it absolutely should not. The conversation kicks off with a flashback that should make anyone who has ever taken a phone call in public wince a little, then opens up into the deeper territory of medical privacy, healthcare advocacy, and the strange new wrinkle of AI tools quietly recording your appointments. Throw in some honest comparisons between Australian breeziness and American suspicion, plus a lively detour involving a band that may or may not actually be Three Doors Down, and you have a chat that pinballs between practical and ridiculous in the best way. Safety threads through the back half of the conversation, especially the everyday calculations people in the community make when a cane or guide dog can mark them out in a crowd. Murray and Elizabeth swap strategies for handing out phone numbers without handing out your life, explain why your hotel room number is nobody's business, and trade tips on the gentle art of the wing woman extraction. The episode also wades into bigger questions about disability rights and the responsibility of knowing what protections you actually have. Whether you are heading to a convention, a doctor's office, or just trying to get through a Starbucks line in peace, this one gives you plenty to think about and a few good lines to steal.

  8. May 7

    Nothing About Us Without Us, Advocacy in an Age of Ignorance: Changing narrative E:19

    n Episode 19 of Changing the Narrative, Murray Elbourne and Elizabeth Rouse dig into the messy, urgent terrain of disability advocacy and discrimination, where the gap between what the law promises and what daily life actually delivers keeps getting harder to ignore. Murray comes in fired up after a documentary about disability rights, and Lizzie brings the policy chops, the National Federation of the Blind training, and a willingness to correct a preposition inside the first three minutes. The dynamic ricochets between heartfelt frustration and the kind of friendly bickering you can only have with someone who has watched you fumble a famous advocacy slogan on tape. his one gets honest about the things that keep getting kicked down the road, like website accessibility timelines, sub-minimum wages, and the curious American math where landmark legislation is somehow still considered too new to fully enforce. The hosts wrestle with whether language actually shifts minds or whether it just hands critics an easy target, and they land on opposite sides of the person-first debate without anyone storming out of the room. Expect a Maya Angelou quote that nobody promises to nail perfectly, a gentle takedown of the inspiration-porn industrial complex, and a candid look at what advocacy can really sound like when it stops apologizing for taking up space. If you've been waiting for a conversation that names the stakes without losing the humor, this one delivers.

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Changing the Narrative is a weekly podcast about blindness and low vision hosted by Murray Elbourn and Elizabeth Rouse. They cut through clichés, share lived expertise, and spotlight what works in education, work, sports, tech, and daily life. Expect frank talk on independence, policy, and culture, plus features on organizations moving the needle. Watch on YouTube via Amerability. Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify

Information

  • Creator
    Murray Elbourn (Host) & Elizabeth Rouse (Co-Host)
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    25
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Murray Elbourn
  • Show Website
    Changing the Narrative