The last month has been full of natural disasters. Hurricanes Helene and Milton have caused devastation in several states and tornadoes have contributed their destructive impact. Tuesday Topics wants to hear from people who have interacted with emergency management folks! How were you treated? What about preparations for events? Did you find adequate ways to keep in touch with what was happening? Television is supposed to provide audio description of information being scrolled across the bottom of the screen during emergency announcements. Do you know if they did that? Do you know how to turn your audio description on?

Do you have a register of people with disabilities in your area? What was your experience in a shelter? Do you use a guide dog? How did your companion do and how was he or she treated? Now that you have had experience with a disaster, what changes do you think need to be made?

Are the messages being sent great? If not, what should they say? Should they focus on pride, discrimination, employment, equity, inclusion or something else? It's your job to think about what the "big question" ought to be and then share your conclusions with us! What is the message that we would like society to share about people who are blind. in October of each year proclamations proliferate from Mayors and governors and even from the White House. Many years ago all of those missives would urge everybody to recognize and obey the White Cane law. For the past several years different emphases have emerged. Sometimes we hear about the employment of people who are blind! Sometimes we hear about the importance of disabilities and are asked to respect and value what folks in that category bring to our world. Since it appears that there is a question about what message folks think they ought to deliver, isn't it appropriate for us to share with society what we think is the most important thing they should trumpet about us? So that is what this edition of Tuesday Topics will explore!

Our show last Tuesday featured a number of people who shared their experiences going to school. While most had some pleasant memories of their education, many also had pain they chose to share with us. Learning didn't come without hurt and hardship. Some felt schools for the blind did not live up to expectations. Others felt mainstreaming didn't protect kids who are blind from harm or care much how effective teaching was. If you wanted to put in your two cents on this issue, call in early. We won't talk very long among ourselves and will get to folks who want to share pretty quickly.

There has been a lot of academic debate among experts as to whether folks who are blind do better if they have atffended schools for the blind or been mainstreamed. Experts may fight but I would be interested to know from those who actually experienced being educated as a person with vision loss what you think is best. Some say that kids who are mainstreamed are more academically prepared but far less socially ready for life after school! It is argued that those who spend time at schools for the blind do better with blind and sighted friends than those who are mainstreamed! Many mainstreamed kids do not get any access to physical education and often get little career education! A long time ago, schools for the blind kept students there most week ends! Was that a good thing or a bad thing? Now kids must go home every week end from most schools! Is that good? Is doing both mainstream and residential school the best of both worlds?

One of the hosts of Tuesday Topics is famous for his culinary prowess. Brian Charlson recently presented to the Greater Louisville Council on the subject of barbecue. There are shows on ACB Community that feature cooking. One is hosted by Florida's own Sheila Young. In the past Cooking with the Hazelnuts was a regular program on ACB Radio and a gentleman who often hosts Tuesday Topics for Clubhouse, Herbie Allen, is currently doing a cooking show.

We clearly have some resources at our disposal and I haven't talked about perhaps our most popular cooking show with Sheryl Cummings and the gentleman from Blind Mice Mart. Are there new devices that cooks are using? Do people like being able to be connected via wifi to the phone? Are there devices that are relatively inexpensive that can do cool things? We hear lots about small kitchen appliances and there is, I think, still a show and a list that explores air fryers and other such devices.

Where do folks find their recipes? Are there areas where there aren't enough instructions? Are new stoves making accessibility possible?

We hope we can persuade some of the culinary cream of the crop to be with us next week to tell you about what they do and how they do it!

We encourage folks to suggest ideas for Tuesday Topics and have, in the past, used some of those that we have received. This week we are once again availing ourselves of a suggestion made by two ladies who both happen to have similar names. Both Debbie (Hazelton) and debbee (Armstrong) have suggested we take up a topic that we think is very important. Both of them will be a part of our panel either the deb duo or the double Debby or the larger than little Debby program. Their suggestion and our topic involves technology. They ask why many people who are blind seem to be technologically challenged? Are they technophobic? What can we do about it? There are other people who are blind who seem amazingly tech-savvy! Is there a reason? Clearly there are people with no disabilities who are technologically incompetent but there is more at stake for people who are also. If folks who are blind want to work, they must be technologically effective! If they want to avail themselves of the range of options in terms of mobility, literacy or social interaction, technology is just as crucial! The Blind Information Technology Specialists are trying to do some exciting things with technology and we hope that Jeff Bishop will be here to talk about some of them. Whether he is with us or not, we want to explore with you what creates technophobia for people who are blind and what we can and should do about it! Though I have not actually previewed what these ladies will say, I suspect their view is that this "affliction" is treatable and maybe even curable and they will help us explore some of the steps all of us can take to help those who feel challenged by the time we are trying to survive! Ms. Armstrong works at a community college where her job involves making technology available to students with disabilities. Ms. Hazelton is currently teaching sociology at a college in Alabama and has a background in psychology and technology. Jeff, if he can join us, works to make computer technology accessible at a college in Phoenix. Within ACB all three of these folks work in areas where technology is crucial. I think they bring to this issue both experience and insights that I am looking forward to having as a part of our Tuesday Topic. You, our listeners, will have insights as well! Share your tech comfort levels with us! What approaches have you used to become techpetitive?

It is Tuesday Topics' plan to see if members of the employment committee want to join us! In fact I can now confirm that at least one member of that committee will be with us! There was a lot of debate in early resolutions committee meetings this year about a proposal put together by the Employment Committee. A resolution was passed and Tuesday Topics will be asking the committee what it says and how it may affect how ACB opera'tes in the employment area!

In addition to their input, we want to explore some elements of employment. The level of joblessness is lower than it has ever been. Less than four percent of our working age population is "unemployed". Yet data demonstrates that at least forty percent of people who are blind do not have jobs. We have looked at some of the reasons and we will do that again! However, we want to explore what we think ought to be done about unemployment for people who are blind! Whether you are working or not, you have ideas! Call us and tell us what we need to do! Vocational Rehabilitation thinks they know what to do! Organizations for the blind and perhaps even organizations of the blind think they know! But we are asking you! Why do you think folks aren't working? What do you think should be done about it? How much is unemployment of people who are blind our fault as blind people? How much of a role does prejudice and discrimination play? How will artificial intelligence affect our chances of work?

Tuesday Topics will focus on how AI is being used by people who are blind! This was planned for last Tuesday but the ACB Board of Directors preempted our discussion! We will be expanding our second topic from last week!

I wonder how many of us are using artificial intelligence to describe pictures and other things. I saw a long article almost a year ago about a blind person who was using A i to describe coins he was collecting! Are there other things you are using these programs to accomplish? How well do they work? Have you noticed "hallucinations" much? Are they becoming less common? Are there things you can't do now with artificial intelligence that you would like to be able to do?

There are lots of ways that we can access artificial intelligence! How should we do it? Should we use AIRA? Should we concentrate on the approach of Be My Eyes? Should we expect that entities like copilot will become the way we implement AI.

Should the use of AI become part of the curriculum of rehab agencies? Should ACB, perhaps through BITS (Blind Information Technology Specialists), consider doing some training for us?

Are we making AI more important for people who are blind than it needs to be? Should we be concerned over what has happened to Orcam? What are the implications of this development for those who own Orcam products? There are lots of questions and lots of issues!

We are getting closer to elections and I am curious about where we get information about politics, current events and breaking news! Are there podcasts that people enjoy? Do folks use the usual news outlets? Are people tuning into news from other countries? Is there a reason why people do that? Do you read newspapers? How much of a role does National Public Radio play in your information gathering? Are there other ways you acquire information about what's going on that I haven't mentioned?

Whether we like it or not, all of us have to buy things. We get groceries, food deliveries, stuff from Amazon and lots of other online places. We watch and buy from TV channels. Many of us actually venture out into the community to stores where we buy things!

How do all these methods work for us? Has online shopping gotten easier or harder? Has covid changed the way we shop forever or are we going back to brick and mortar shopping? How helpful are folks in stores? Do we usually take someone with us when we go shopping? Do we return lots of what we buy online because it's not what we thought it was going to be?

What would we like to change about our shopping experience? How are the apps? How are the stores? Is there a role for the telephone? Do we use AIRA to help us shop? How does that work?

Ultimately there are lots of questions. We look forward to your answers. Clearly shopping ain't what it used to be folks! We look forward to exploring just how much it's changed the way people who are blind operate!