The show is going downhill fast this week - but in a good way! Shawn and her co-host Dani welcome Canadian Paralympic Alpine skier Mac Marcoux to the show. With Dani also being a skier, she and Mac share their experiences in skiing and training with visual impairments and some of the adaptations they use and challenges they face.

Jinnie joins Shawn as co-host this week and both are absolutely thrilled to welcome author Amanda Leduc to the podcast, where she talks about her latest book, “The Centaur’s Wife”, a dystopian novel which deals with the theme of disability. They discuss how disability is represented in fiction and fairy tales, person-first language, Amanda’s own experiences as an author with a disability, and much more!

This week is another special episode of the show as we feature a recording from a recent session of one of Blind Beginnings’ popular programs, Exploring Work Wednesday. Shawn sits down and talks with Tamara, who explains her job as TransLink Coordinator and Access Transit Planner and describes her employment journey with Translink, but also discusses her other, very important job as well: mother to an almost 2-year old!

This week Shawn and co-host Ishita welcome Jennie Bovard to the show. Jennie has a new podcast on AMI called “Low Vision Moments” which is part comedy and part advocacy and she gives us a taste of some of the topics that she discusses on the show as well as talking how it came about, the importance of educating people about what it’s like to be blind or partially sighted, and much more!

This week Shawn welcomes a small group of parents, all of  whom have children who are blind or partially sighted, to the podcast. Candice, Jaeger and Maria all have participated in Parent Support Groups offered by Blind Beginnings, and in this episode they open up about their respective experiences - from their initial reactions to learning their child’s vision diagnosis, to the importance of building support networks and meeting other parents in similar situations.

Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching and to commemorate everybody’s favorite “day of love”, we thought we would talk about a subject that almost everyone is passionate about: dating! Love it or hate it, dating is something that everybody has done at some point, but when you are blind or partially sighted, it presents its own unique set of challenges and situations. Join us for this very special episode as Shawn and her co-hosts Keisha and Kaya discuss their own dating experiences and talk about what it’s like in the dating realm being blind or partially sighted when your potential partner is not. 

White Cane Week is February 7 - February 14, and in honor of this we welcome Bill Conway, BC-Yukon Director of the Canadian Council of the Blind, who explains the origins and purpose of White Cane Week, the CCB, and covers some of the different events that are happening for this year’s celebration. 

We are so excited this week to welcome the very talented musician and producer, Joey Stuckey, all the way from Macon, Georgia! Joey joins Shawn and co-hosts Nika and Ishita to tell his story of how he lost his sight and what it was like to build a career in music performance and production. We talk about accessibility in music, how COVID has affected his touring and his production methods, and much much more -- including how he filmed an action packed music video for his song, “Blind Man Drivin’”! 

This week Shawn welcomes two of the Blind Beginnings staff to the podcast to talk about some of the different types of programs that the organization is offering in the first half of 2021. Rob Mineault, the Communication Coordinator, and Emily Burkholder, the Program and Volunteer Coordinator, join Shawn to discuss the kinds of programs Blind Beginnings has offered over the years and what lies in store over the next few months.

Not only are we excited that this is our very first episode of 2021, but we are also releasing it in honor of Louis Braille’s birthday, otherwise known as World Braille Day! Join Shawn and co-host Jinnie as they welcome Jill and Patricia to the podcast to discuss the importance of Braille Literacy as well their respective introductions to Braille and how that impacted its continued importance in their daily lives. Happy Birthday Louis!!

It’s the last episode of 2020! As we prepare to move into a new year full of hope and promise, we thought it was fitting to end with one of our favorite types of episodes -- our Ask A Blind Beginnings Youth, where several of our co-hosts answer questions from the public about what it’s like to be blind or partially sighted. This episode, however, is extra special -- we are taking questions live from Ms. Cote’s Grade 2 / 3 class during the episode! 

This week the bells are jing-jing jingling and the halls are being decked for this very special episode all about the Holiday Season! Join Shawn, Nika, Kolby, and Seerat as they reminisce about past Holiday seasons, discuss how their respective families celebrate, and more Holiday content than you can fit in a one-horse open sleigh! 

Nika joins Shawn this week as co-host as the pair welcome local actress, artist, advocate, and podcaster Amy Amantea to the show to discuss her many projects, including a new podcast on AMI called “Accessing Art with Amy”.  

Get ready to lace up the skates and strap on those skis, this week Shawn and co-hosts John and Keisha are talking all about Winter Sports! If you’ve ever been curious to hear how sports such as cross country skiing, alpine skiing, and hockey have been adapted for people who are blind or partially sighted, then this is the show for you! See you at the bottom of the hill!

This week we have put together a very special Giving Tuesday edition of the podcast. Giving Tuesday is a day celebrated as a global day of giving and a worldwide celebration of generosity, and is considered to be the opening day of the giving season. Blind Beginnings participates in Giving Tuesday every year, but this year we wanted to also give back and thank all our donors and supporters by telling some stories about the impact their contributions have on the youth we serve. Nika, Jinnie, Kolby, and Seerat join Shawn in this episode to share their experiences with Blind Beginnings and the impact that the programs that they participated in had. Thank you to all our supporters over the years -- this is for you.

This week Shawn flies solo and welcomes Ryan Fleury, Rob Mineault, and Sarah Mennell to discuss Ryan’s audio-described music video, “Make a Difference”. Ryan wrote and performed the song, Rob produced and edited the video, and Sarah wrote the audio description track, all combining into something unique and special. Shawn discusses the song’s origins with them, how it came to be an audio described music video, the challenges faced, and the growing popularity and importance of audio description.

This week Shawn and co-host Randi welcome Paralympic judoka Priscilla Gagné and her training partner Ali Briggs. We discuss topics such as how Paralympic Judo is adapted from its Olympic counterpart, what the training regiment is like preparing for competitive sport, and what it was like for the pair to go to the Rio Paralympics in 2016.

We are so excited this week to welcome Adam Wilton from the Provincial Resource Centre for the Visually Impaired to talk all things Braille with Shawn and this week’s co-host, Jinnie! They discuss everything from what Braille is and where people tend to find it in public spaces to how it’s being taught in schools and why Braille literacy is so vitally important. 

After 20 episodes, we thought it was about time the show went to the dogs -- Guide dogs, that is. Jill and Nika, who are both considering getting their first Guide dog, join Shawn and co-host Kolby this week to ask a wide variety of questions about what the training process and day to day life is like with a Guide dog. Some of the topics and questions might surprise you, so don’t miss this one!