We are once again going to tackle two topics! We thought it might be interesting to

talk about an issue that is not blindness-related. It may be a little scary for us to discuss this topic but we want to know if we are creating holidays or, I suppose, special days that focus too much on specific issues of particular groups. So, juneteenth, Martin Luther King Day, Jewish holidays, Christmas, Easter, and so on. We do not have a holiday celebrating the ADA! Should we have one? What is the impact of these specific holidays. If you look at a calendar, virtually every day is dedicated to something.

In a couple of weeks we will reach October 15 which is known as "White Cane Safety Day". That day has often been used to create an understanding of mobility problems faced by people with low vision and who are blind. How effective are these celebrations? What do they accomplish? In the past, we had lots of partners including the White House, state and local governments, local agencies serving people who are blind and companies interested interested in allying with us. Now the White House is describing what we are celebrating as Employment of people who are Blind Day or some such title. What messages are we sending with our White Cane celebration? When we ask sighted people to wear blind folds, are we creating a better understanding of the problems we face? Do we create room for partnerships with White Cane Day or are we allowing ourselves to be used to create advantage for other groups who feel like they can take advantage of the day? What might we do to make it better? What kind of outcomes would make White Cane Day more valuable? We hope that many of you will take part in both these discussions that will explore together the things that bring us together and the things that divide us! This is another of those situations where we don't think there may be right answers. We do think it's important for us to think about the implications that our actions include!

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In Florida, as a part of the the Florida Council of the Blind, we have a special interest affiliate called the Council for the Concerns of the Totally

Blind. In Florida and, of course, throughout the country there are chapters of and a national organization championing the issues of people with low vision. This organization is, of course, Council of Citizens with Low Vision (CCLVI). Do we need an organization like CCTB or CCLVI. If so, why? If not, why? Do we need one more than the other? What does creating organizations for people with particular issues do to our organization as a whole?

We hope that many of you will take part in this discussion that will explore together the things that bring us together and the things that divide us! This is another of those situations where we don't think there may be right answers. We do think it's important for us to think about the implications that our actions include!

Find out more at https://acb-tuesday-topics.pinecast.co

Last week, as usual, we bit off more than we could chew. Essentially, we did not have the opportunity to discuss Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Section

8 housing and homelessness. These are all components that impact people who are blind or have low vision. We hope that some of you who have dealt with subsidized housing will call in and tell us about your experiences. Many of us qualify for subsidized housing. How equal is our access to this system. Is the system accessible. Does state and Federal law need to be strengthened or do housing employees need to be better trained? There are clear rules governing some elements of access for people who use wheel chairs or have mobility problems. What kinds of accessibility options ought to exist in housing for people who are blind or have low vision? What is ACB doing about this and what else should we do?

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People with disabilities are among the population with the least disposable income. hat means, among other things, that many people who are blind or have

low vision have very limited choices where housing is concerned. Despite this, like many of our non-disabled peers, we want to own our own homes. What are the barriers that particularly apply. As a person who has just sold and bought a house, I am fully aware of how things have changed since I last moved. Many of us qualify for subsidized housing. How equal is our access to this system. Is the system accessible. Does state and Federal law need to be strengthened or do housing employees need to be better trained? There are clear rules governing some elements of access for people who use wheel chairs or have mobility problems. What kinds of accessibility options ought to exist in housing for people who are blind o! have low vision? What is ACB doing about this and what else should we do?

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Right at the end of Tuesday Topics there was a brief discussion of audio description. It has been a while since Tuesday Topics has spent some time talking about this most powerful equalizer for people who are blind. During our discussion there were a couple of questions that came up. First, do descriptions actually describe what is most important? Second, how different would different audio description files be from one another. There are some opportunities to find out with the arrival on HBO Max of new descriptions which describe the same shows as were described in England. There are beginning to be several podcasts about audio description. Brian Charlson and Carl Richardson do one called "picture This" which we have already discussed here. However, it might be good to hear more about their first full year and where they are going in the future. Are there other podcasts? If so, what are they? Should we be subscribing to some of them? Our hand raiser Marianne Grignon knows about one which she will tell us about. It offers a unique idea and allows listeners to have input into what it does which is pretty unique!

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For a third week in a row, Tuesday Topics found itself completing only part of what was planned. We heard lots of fascinating stories of how people became blind and how folks felt about whether they would want to see again! So, what about next week? We will look at research as we were supposed to this week. In particular, we want to know what kind of research should we support? There are efforts to create vision that, so far, have not borne a lot of fruit. There are genetic efforts that appear to be gradually creating some real hope. There have been some amazing new drugs that have made a huge difference in some diseases that affect older people who are losing vision. We will look at some of these elements but will also ask how we should feel about research that doesn't offer much hope to many of us. Should we argue for spending more on services instead?

After spending some time on these weighty matters, we thought it would be fun to explore a question we want to get answered. If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, what happens if the beholder beholds nothing? How do people who are blind measure beauty? Do we rely on what other people tell us? Do we think beauty doesn't matter? Do we make decisions about who's beautiful based on what we hear or what we smell? Are we comfortable with someone who is, in the eyes of others at least, terminally ugly or do we have prejudices about what we expect that are just as real as those held by folks who can see? I am looking forward to learning a lot! Come and teach me and Brian and Mary Ann and Rick and Larry! All of us on Tuesday Topics want to know what beauty is for blind people!

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Last week Tuesday Topics was supposed to look at two issues. As has often happened in the past with this presentation, we never got to our second issue. Instead we ranged from a discussion of the impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act and its consequences to even broader questions like "how do you %decide what changes you really want to make in the law and how much detail is needed? The net result was that we have our topic for next week and we will just have to hope it will sustain us for two hours.

The second question we  didn't get to concerns blindness itself. If you had the chance, would you want to have your vision back? Would you want to participate in the electronic vision exercises currently going on that create some semblance of vision at this stage but may enable more in the future? Who would be most likely to answer affirmatively when asked about recovering vision? Would it be people with some vision? Would it be people who have recently lost vision? We think these questions are interesting and may relate to a broader one. Are we devoting too much money to research  that could lead to the recovery of vision? Would we get more bang from our buck by devoting funds to serving people with vision loss rather than working on eye research aimed to restore vision?

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I received a couple of chides from faithful listeners who expressed dismay and chagrin that we did not cover the ADA on its anniversary. Had I thought of it, it might have happened. The 26th for me is my son's birthday and since he is not a girl I could not name him "Ada". I don't think it matters that our discussion is a week later than the anniversary. The law and its value, unlike the economy, is not likely to change much in seven days. What is its value? Are those of us who are blind making appropriate use of its provisions? What does the ADA offer to us and how can we maximize what we get through the law? Should we seek to change it in the current political climate?

The second question I propose we spend some time on is one that lots of people have asked. If you had the chance, would you want to have your vision back? Would you want to participate in the electronic vision exercises that create some semblance of vision at this stage but may enable more in the future? Who would be most likely to answer affirmatively when asked about recovering vision? Would it be people with some vision? Would it be people who have recently lost vision? We think these questions are interesting and may relate to a broader one. Are we devoting too much money to research  that could lead to the recovery of vision? Would we get more bang from our buck by devoting funds to serving people with vision loss?

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Paul Edwards and Brian Charlson will begin a discussion that we fervently hope our listeners will help us continue. It is on a subject that may make some of you uncomfortable.

ACB is an organization of people who are blind but it is also an organization of just plain people. Some of these folks are conservative and some are liberal. Some come from the South of this country while some are from the North. Is ACB a liberal organization? Do we make enough room for conservatives? Is ACB a conservative organization? Do we make enough room for liberals? Are we somewhere in between? How should ACB handle political difference? Should extreme views be discouraged? Should we seek to limit the expression of political views because they do not directly relate to blindness? What are conservative views of how blindness should be dealt with? What would liberals say? Surely, given their differing views on the role of government, their notions of how the nation ought to treat people who are blind should differ as well. We hope you will join us to explore the political character of ACB and what it might mean for how we interact with each other.

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It has been too long since our last Tuesday Topics program appeared for your delectation. However, we are back. My producers Rick Morin and Larry Gassmann are ready to go and my new co-host and i can hardly wait to once more foster good conversation and the exchange of ideas. I am overjoyed to let everyone know that, from now on, Brian Charlson is my co-host for TT. We were partners in the past and I am delighted to be partners again!

Of course, we are going to talk about the convention. I had actually thought that we might not but Brian convinced me that, in spite of the fact that some of you may be conventioned out by the time we get to Tuesday, there would still be value in what we plan to do. We have discussed the convention and we think that our approach will lead us to look at some elephants that may be in the room and some ways of making sure they don't step all over our next convention. Did ACB do enough with regard to Covid? How can we improve the debate process? Is there a better way to handle resolutions? How different is debate in person and only on Zoom? These are just some of the questions we will explore. There will be lots of opportunities for your input.

We do not intend to bash the convention! We want to focus on the pluses and minuses surrounding it! Truly, a hybrid convention is quite an accomplishment!

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