One of Tuesday Topics's frequent contributors is DeAnna Quietwater Noriega. I have had the privilege of knowing this fine lady for over thirty years and am proud to call her a friend. DeAnna has just released her second book which is about growing up as a Native American. Here is a little of the blurb about her book.

DOGWOOD BLOSSOM: GROWING UP NATIVE

AMERICAN

"In Dogwood Blossom, DeAnna Noriega beautifully invokes a simpler time and her Native American heritage. Poverty and oppression are no match for the strong bonds among the members of this hardworking and loving family. The life lessons here will resonate with readers young and old. Immerse yourself in the captivating, heartwarming world the author creates, and you'll be left yearning for more."

Growing up is the topic of this book but it is by no means all that DeAnna is about. We will talk about her experiences as a student, a wife, a mother, a care giver and, perhaps most of all, a Native American person.

I am truly looking forward to the opportunity of exploring the life of a totally blind person who has accomplished so much and who gives so much back as well.

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

There are lots of laws that are passed that have created accessible traffic signals, accessible voting machines, the availability of braille materials from counties or the state and announcements on buses. These are just some of the accessibility elements that we have "demanded" or, at the very least, come to expect. More and more municipalities are saying that they don't know why they bother because people who are blind are not making use of the accommodations they make available!

Is this true? What should we do? Do our chapters, state affiliates, special interest affiliates and our national organization have a role to play? Should we continue to ask for more accommodations if we have no intention of making use of them? Clearly there are many more things we could use! County gymnasia could provide accessible machines! Parks and Recreation departments could provide accessible devices such as tandem bikes and special programs for people who are blind or have low vision! They do exercise programs for others! Programs at libraries operated by the county should at least be advertised in ways that people who are blind can easily find out what is happening! County web sites are sometimes very good and sometimes awful. The same applies to state web sites. Should telephone access be allowed to replace web access as it does in at least one state.

Why is it that people who are blind or have low vision seem to shy away from using hard won privileges? Will advanced AI make many of the inaccessible web sites irrelevant? Should we ask states or counties to pay for AIRA or something like it?

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

Our first topic will explore how people who are blind feel about the patronizing attitudes of other people. We have all had it happen! Who helps you dress? Isn't your daughter lovely to take care of you! You actually work????? Clearly we don't love these situations but how should we handle them! Are those with us partly responsible? Should we expect them to stand up for us? Should we argue and get the person who is with us upset?

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

Our topic will explore how people who are blind feel about the patronizing attitudes of other people. We have all had it happen! Who helps you dress? Isn't your daughter lovely to take care of you! You actually work????? Clearly we don't love these situations but how should we handle them! Are those with us partly responsible? Should we expect them to stand up for us? Should we argue and get the person who is with us upset?

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

Tuesday Topics will once more consider questions raised by the Voter Task Force. There will be representatives from Resolutions, the Constitution and Bylaws group and the Voter Task Force. At the beginning of our first meeting with this group on October 24 we read a document that the Task Force is using for a number of community calls. We have looked at some of them but still have lots to look at. We will look at the resolutions process and perhaps talk a bit about changes to the Constitution. We will explore how many people should be allowed to ask for a record vote and I am sure there will be lots of other byways that we will travel down as we explore how the American Council of the Blind will do business over the next several years. We are glad on Tuesday Topics to be a part of exploring where there may be consensus for proposing changes next year and looking at ways that may not involve constitutional change but could involve altering the convention rules.

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

Tuesday Topics will consider fear on ACB Media One. It isn't often that Tuesday Topics actually occurs on Halloween. As a result we thought it might be fun to explore some questions we think operate around Halloween for people who are blind. Have you had Halloween experiences that were cool? Have you had experiences that were awful? Were there things at Halloween that scared you? Halloween aside, what are you as a person who is blind afraid of? Do you watch horror movies? Do they scare you? Are there things you just won't do because you are a little afraid? I know that I feel that there are things that make me really scared! I will share my fears and hope you will share yours! After you finish trick or treating, treat us to your company as we explore Halloween and elements associated with it!

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

We will be joined by the voting task force to explore where ACB needs to go from here. For the last few years ACB has had a system where every member in good standing, whether at a convention or not, can cast his or, her or their vote when ACB is trying to make decisions. We have also maintained the ongoing validity of affiliate voting. It is perhaps true that affiliate voting is fairer than it has ever been and is more reflective of the actual desires of members. That, like so much else, is up for debate! Where do we go from here? If we have one man one vote, do we need affiliate voting? How significant is it that people who have never attended an ACB convention have the power to determine the outcome in any election? What are the new rules of the road for candidates? In the old days there was a feeling that those who attended the conventions knew the folks who were running and knew what they had done in the past! How much do folks who do not attend conventions know? Does attendance at convention even matter any more? Do we need to change the rules about who can run? We know some things about last year, the first clearly autonomous hybrid convention. We know that the results of in-person voting and affiliate voting were remarkably similar. We also know from our history that there has been only one vote in our history that I have been able to establish where the results of the affiliate vote was different from the results of the individual vote. These are not the only issues. Join us as our Voter Task Force asks us to think about a series of questions surrounding ACB'S democracy.

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

Tuesday Topics invites folks from our Audio Description Project to tell us about what is happening with ADP and our upcoming festivities! We will be live on ACB Media One and there is information below on joining us via Zoom or from Clubhouse.

We will once more have the privilege of welcoming back the co-chairs of our Audio Description Project Carl Richardson and Kim Charlson. In the past they have been able to tell us lots about what is going on with audio description now. They will of course be primarily interested in being sure we know all about the upcoming Audio Description Gala and, as usual, they will have lots to report on how that is coming together. In addition to Kim and Carl, we hope we will be joined by Dr. Tabitha Kenlon who is ACB'S Audio Description Project Coordinator. We have not yet had the privilege of having Dr. Kenlon on Tuesday Topics and hope we can find out more about her and what specific priorities the ADP project is highlighting now. As usual, we expect to have some time for you to raise questions on all things audio description. These three folks will be glad to help answer those.

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

We have been threatening for the last couple of programs to spend

a program discussing White Cane Safety Day and its related laws. It now appears that the time for that has come! All over the country agencies and organizations of people who are blind cooperate to create awareness of folks who are blind on White Cane Safety Day. What impact do these activities have? What impact do White Cane Laws have? Can anyone provide evidence of a single driver who has been stopped for violating the law? When accidents happen, do a preponderance of the drivers get fined for inappropriate behavior? Is there any truth to the notion that all accidents involving people who are blind are blamed on the pedestrian? What good does it do to have a maximum charge of a misdemeanor no matter what the outcome of the accident is? These are just some of the questions surrounding a law that is different from state to state. In virtually all cases these laws have been on the books since the 1930s or 1940s without change. What changes would we propose? Are we ready to do away with White Cane Laws? If so, do we replace them with something else? If we read some of the laws they actually suggest that people who are blind do very strange things to identify themselves in the street like holding their canes up in the air! Is that relevant or okay? We need your input on a law that is perhaps being taken for granted or ignored now! The President

no longer issues a White Cane proclamation. It now has to do with employment.

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

Tuesday Topics has welcomed ACB'S Employment Committee in the past and are happy to welcome some of them again this week. Peter Altschul, Melanie Sonohui and Carrie Muth will be our guests. The committee has been very busy since we last had them on. They have been creating podcasts, collecting and spreading job announcements and, now, they have released a survey that they would like us to know about and obviously they would like us to participate by completing the survey as well. To start our Tuesday Topics next week then, we look forward to seeing some members of the ACB Employment Committee. It could be that they will have enough to fill our whole program. In case they do not, there is one additional topic we plan to at least have on tap.  October is Disability Employment Month. What does that mean? We will ask our Employment Committee guests but we are asking you as well. How should the month be used? What do we want to highlight? We hear about special and positive characteristics of disabled employees! What are they? Are they valuable? Are there other ways we could promote the employment of people with disabilities? What are some of these? We know that discrimination plays a part! What should we do about that?

Clearly there are a huge number of people who are blind or have low vision who are not working! Surely that ought to be a major concern of all of us! If you ran the zoo, how would you change this unacceptable state of affairs!

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