Last week Tuesday Topics took a look at the convention as a whole. We think there is more to cover from ACB 2023 and propose considering three specific

concerns surrounding this event. First, what was the new tech that was shown at the exhibit hall. What should folks look for in the future from some of our more established companies? We will review some of the new stuff and look ahead to a couple of cool things that were hinted at during meetings or at the exhibit hall! What were the highlights of the program? What podcasts do we think you should try to get as soon as they are available? Third, there was what we think is a pretty serious problem that occurred this year that did not appear to be as much of a problem in the past. Particularly United Airlines seemed to be canceling trips all through our convention period. Clearly we cannot do much about the fact of cancellations but what happens afterwards? Should we ask ACB to make available the access numbers of all the airlines before convention next year? Are there other things we can do? Clearly, it was United's turn this year! Last year Southwest seemed to have the most problems. Two years in a row of issues suggests we must consider how we can help our members with this problem! Were you one of the many who had blights go away? What did you do? How successful were you? Could you fix it on your own? So here are three topics surrounding the convention that we hope will persuade many of you to make our next edition of Tuesday Topics a must on your calendar on May 18.

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

After a period away, Tuesday Topics is overjoyed to be back. You can probably guess what our topic will be. Every year we utilize our first presentation

after the convention to provide our sense of how the convention went. While our opinions are important, your views as our listeners are even more important. Brian, Maryann, Larry, Rick and Paul all attended the convention in person. We want particularly to invite folks who came to Schaumburg virtually. What were the strengths of our convention? What can we do better? how did the break out sessions on the general agenda work? What changes seem to be necessary? Is the convention too long or too short? How did the Zoom links work? Did people know where they needed to be and how to get there? What subjects should be included in the program next year that were not there this year? Obviously there are loads of other issues that %we are sure will come up! This will be your first chance to react to ACB twenty-three! Did "the winds of change" create balmy breezes or hurricanes?

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

In around 2004 a new phenomenon arrived that was to alter the technology scene. As with so many developments, there was a question of whether the idea

would catch on. Now, twenty years after their first appearance, podcasts have become hugely popular, amazingly diverse and immensely entertaining. We think there are a lot of people who are blind who do not listen to podcasts. We want to tell you about some of our favorites. We want you to tell us about some of your favorites. We want to explore some of the huge variety of ways you can access podcasts and, most of all, we want to explore just how huge the selection of podcasts is. Will will also talk about at least one program and podcast about podcasts. It has sadly finished its run but there are lots of episodes that you can listen to in order to find new and exciting podcasts.

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

On this show we are going to explore some of the impacts both negative and positive of

the end of the COVID era. What happened to people who are blind during Covid? We isolated; we used technology to survive; we virtually stopped traveling; we used technology to create our new communities. What impact did all those elements have? Are we less comfortable going out now? How have stores and businesses treated us since Covid ended? They didn't see much of us during Covid. When we did ask for help, we were sometimes told that, because of Covid, the usual assistance couldn't happen! Is there a new normal where people with vision impairments are at a greater disadvantage because entities feel like Covid has created an ability to refuse assistance? If things have changed for the worse, what do we do about it? Is it time for organizations like ACB to be more assertive with businesses, hospitals, doctors' offices and restaurants? Do we need to remind all these groups of our rights now that Covid is allegedly gone? Have people had experiences in other countries? Is there the same reluctance to help there than in this country?

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

Yes, Janet Dickelman, our irreplaceable convention coordinator, will be our guest tomorrow on Tuesday Topics.

Illinois is getting close! Registration is open! Many tours are filling up fast! It may even be a little tricky to get rooms if you are staying before or after the convention. Janet has the knowledge and experience to guide us through all the convention variables. There will be lots of time for questions and we will talk about tips and tricks that can make the convention experience more enjoyable. How will this hybrid thing work anyway? Which programs will be hybrid and which only in person and which only streamed? How do these decisions get made? What's happening during the virtual week before the convention starts? Will the convention end right after the banquet or are there other activities? Where will ACB have its convention next year? How is registration this year? Good or should we be concerned that there aren't enough of us going to convention? I always look forward to having Janet on our show because I always learn something I didn't know about ACB or what's happening at our next get together!

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

Tuesday Topics has been planning for quite a long time to do a whole show on cruising and that will happen before the end of the Summer. For now, though,

we thought it might be fun to do a show about traveling as a person who is blind. We hope that old hands will talk about getting ready for convention travel. We hope that guide dog users will tell folks what preparations they make before convention. Are there things folks should remember to take with them to convention that we might not think about. Are there things we should know about how to deal with assistance at air ports? I now use a wheel chair when I go through air ports. This has nothing to do with my visual impairment, however. Are folks taking trains or fuses these days. What can you tell us about those forms of transportation and getting the assistance we may need? I think the whole crew will be with us next week but I will actually be in the midst of a cruise to Bermuda. I expect to be good to go but, just in case I am not, others will cover for me.

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

Isolation, technology and COVID are discussed. The impact of the way our lives have changed because of technology is the central concern of this week's Tuesday Topics. And it may well be that the problem we discuss have gone on for a much longer time than the point that the covid pandemic arrived. Technology has allowed us to get to lots of information on the internet. It has allowed us to make "friends" on facebook, Twitter, Clubhouse, Mastonon and via email and messaging. Suddenly, we have access to a whole "community" that we can become a part of and where we can "belong". Certainly there are good things about the new state of the situation. Many people who are blind have a place where they can feel valued and important. Before the technology reached out to include us, we would get together face to face and play games, share food and drink and even "hugs". Are people who are blind becoming more isolated because of their connection to the internet? What do we lose by not getting together in person? Should we attempt to do anything about the situation? If so, what? What are the advantages of the new connectedness? Do they outweigh our concerns?

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

As often seems

to happen with our program, we only got one of our two major issues covered this time. So our next program will look at how the various notions of information affect the field of blindness! It is a little frightening to suggest that that the field of blindness and visual impairment is rife with misinformation. But why should we expect anything else? ACB and NFB have their own versions of truth! Agencies may want to emphasize elements that do not paint as clear a picture of the services they provide that they might! How do we explore what is true in the blindness field? All of us want to find ways to make our point of view seem stronger! We are not purposely propagating disinformation but we are certainly selectively choosing the facts and arguments that bolster our notions of what is right and good. Does ACB have propaganda? What's it like? How about other organizations? What might their predilections in terms of information look like? We hope that many listeners will want to help us explore how we protect the truth and learn to think critically! Propaganda is the subject of our next Tuesday Topics show! Help us explore what the truth is about blindness!

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

We are going to explore a question that may seem beyond the scope of our program. Over the past few months we have spent quite a lot of time discussing

chat bots. Recently we have seen lots of evidence that they can get things amazingly wrong in terms of information. Our friend Jonathan Mosen reported that he and his partner Bonnie were described as having been married for the past thirty years. This is certainly not true but it highlights that there is another element of our lives where misinformation can happen, whether intentionally or not. At the same time, there are news stories that indicate that actors from China and Russia have flooded our mass media with disinformation about the arraignment of Donald Trump aimed at deepening the division within the United States. Obviously, in general, it is very difficult to know what is true and what is not. What can we do to make it less likely that we will spread information that isn't true? How do we know that what we read and hear and see is true? Do we on Tuesday Topics have responsibilities? What are they? It is a little frightening to suggest that that the field of blindness and visual impairment is rife with misinformation. But why should that topic be off limits? ACB and NFB have their own versions of truth! Agencies may want to emphasize elements that do not paint as clear a picture of the services they provide that they might! How do we explore what is true in the blindness field? All of us want to find ways to make our point of view seem stronger! We are not purposely propagating disinformation but we are certainly selectively choosing the facts and arguments that bolster our notions of what is right and good. Does ACB have propaganda? What's it like? How about other organizations? What might their predilections in terms of information look like? We hope that many listeners will want to help us explore how we protect the truth and learn to think critically! Chat Bots, bad actors and propaganda are the subject of our next Tuesday Topics!

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

How well did voting work last year at ACB? What changes, if any, can we look forward to this year? How did people vote who were at the convention? Did

many need assistance? How did affiliate voting work? Are there going to be any changes in how affiliates vote this year? What do we know about who voted? Everybody voted digitally. We know that but what proportion of the vote was done by folks who were at the convention and what proportion of the vote came from those who were not there? Can we even tell? Are there ways we can encourage more voters? Will we have a candidates' forum this year? How about candidates' pages? Will there be any changes there? All of these questions will help us have a sense of where we are at a process which is still pretty new for ACB! Voting privately and independently is an important new characteristic of ACB elections. How has the new voting system affected elections? When elections only included people who attended conventions, there were expectations about how things would go. What are the expectations that the new election system creates? Members of the voting task force will be our guests next week. We don't know just who will join us from that group but believe that two or three of the members of that committee will be with us. We are looking forward to hearing from them and to an open discussion of what the new normal look like. You, our listeners, will have a chance to ask questions and to share your impressions of how things went last year and what we can expect this year.

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