Two weeks ago we, as we often seem to, only completed one of the two elements we had proposed. Interestingly enough, during our last program our guest raised the same issue when talking about a science fiction novella he had written. Essentially what we asked two weeks ago was, "If you could have full vision for just a few minutes only once in your life, what would you want to see?" We wonder if the answers from folks who are totally blind would be different than those that people with some vision would offer. Would people who had never seen want to see anything? Might it be more abstract and general? We hope that lots of you will come and share the answer to this question. My answer is a little strange, I think but, of course, I won't tell you what it is till we are together next Tuesday!

Folks who are deaf have managed to develop a detailed and effective form of communication called in this country, American Sign Language. Many deaf people can also read lips! Some have learned to speak fairly well! If deafness is their only disability, folks with that issue can drive, can see to get around, can read regular print, and, in lots of ways, can be more independent than we as people who cannot see are! If you had a choice, would you want to be deaf or blind? Tell us why! There was a survey done well over twenty years ago where both deaf folks and blind people were asked. Would our results be the same?

Just in case these two questions aren't sufficient, I would like us to explore an assertion I have heard quite often. People who are blind have never had it so good as we do today! Is that true? Defend your position, please! For what it's worth, I am not sure what the right answer is!

It has been a while since we have invited a guest to share his or her life and opinions with us. On this program we are pleased to welcome Anthony (Tony) Candela. He has been a wrestler, a runner, a worker in the field of blindness and a writer. He has three books on bookshare. One is a sort of memoir of his athletic experiences; one is a collection of short essays that are easy to read and have certainly provoked some thought from me; the third book is a science fiction novella.

Tony has worked as a rehab counselor, served some time with the American Foundation for the Blind and currently is working part time with the Blindness project housed in Mississippi. I suspect Tony has some interesting things to tell us about his life and about being an athlete and a writer. I hope he will also reflect some on the state of the game in the blindness service industry, if it's appropriate to speak of such a thing! In any case, there are lots of reasons for you to join us on zoom so you can interact with our guest with wide ranging experiences that he can discuss with all of us!

Kim Charlson will join us for a few minutes on our show to remind us about the fourth annual Audio Description Gala! It is an amazing event and we look forward to hearing all about the latest iteration of an important opportunity to celebrate audio description and those who create it.

On Election day, November 5, which is also Guy Fawkes day in the UK, Tuesday Topics will take to the air from 7 to 9 PM on November 5. Fittingly, we think, Tuesday Topics will concentrate on the election. We felt it would be good for us to be available for folks to tell us about their voting experiences this cycle. We will also explore how this election may be different from those in the past. Obviously, we will not be conducting a partisan political exercise. If we were going to do that we would have done it much sooner! We know that many of you will be glued to your media for the results. Perhaps we will talk about how they are functioning but it will be pretty early for us to look at their performance. I have not heard either Presidential candidate make meaningful statements about disabled voters. What does this tell us? Voters with disabilities represent more than 20 percent of the electorate. If there are significant disability elements that we have missed, I hope you will tell us about them! Have you played a role in campaigns this year? Would you tell us about what you have done?

It is certainly possible that the Tuesday Topics Team will be talking among ourselves a lot but I hope not! Last time our election show had interesting input from many people. We hope this one will be exciting, informative and relevant.

We are two days before Halloween but we are not going to talk directly about that! However, one of the things associated with Halloween is fear. We would love you to tell us the time in your life that you were the most scared. We suspect that people who are blind or have low vision might find different events frightening than would people with vision. I know that for me the time in my life that I was most frightened was Well, you'll have to tune in to find out, won't you! We are looking for a particular moment rather than something like cockroaches or moths.

Our topic this week, on the surface at least, may seem a little unlikely. At its heart, our question is "Are we better off because of COVID?" I am not speaking about the country as a whole. I am talking about people who are blind. Many of us had to learn skills we might not have learned were it not for COVID! We learned to use zoom! We learned to shop on line! We acquired a range of knowledge from the community programs that may even have kept us from becoming more frightened and depressed. What other skills did we acquire? Were there other COVID benefits? What about the other side of the coin? What did COVID take away? Are we less willing to go out? Did the skills we learned persuade us we didn't need to leave our houses as often? Did we learn to fear being around other people? Are we frightened of crowds now? The question, then, is, on balance, has COVID left us better or worse off? Join us and share how you feel about the legacy of COVID for people who are blind! Are you more likely to go to plays or movies or stay at home? Now that the conventions of states and ACB are being streamed, do you feel safer being at home? Has COVID made it harder for you to make friends or easier? Do you have more contacts because of the people you meet on line? Are you more  isolated?

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!