At Banter Podcast

We’re back from vacation (again) and go full steam ahead on discussing a few recent news stories surround accessibility. From Lyft horror stories to self-service kiosks, Rob and Ryan cover a wide range of topics before welcoming back Karthik Kannan from Envision AI to announce some big promotional news.   Show Notes Wheelchair users say even accessible taxis will refuse rides in Vancouver https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/wheelchair-accessible-taxis-vancouver-1.5234791 San Francisco woman with disability who says Lyft drivers repeatedly cancel her rides is calling for change https://abc7news.com/society/sf-woman-with-disability-says-lyft-drivers-repeatedly-cancel-her-rides/5460706/ This blind woman says self-checkouts lower the bar(code) for accessibility https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/self-checkouts-accessibility-concerns-1.5243720 A blind man couldn’t order pizza from Domino’s. The company wants the Supreme Court to say websites don’t have to be accessible https://www.cn

This week we delve back into the always-hot topic of Accessible spaces as Rob and Ryan talk with Jessica Hipp, Chief Operating Officer of WayAround, an innovative Audio Tagging system that could help revolutionize public, home, and office settings. Show Notes WayAround https://www.wayaround.com/ Contact Jessica connect@wayaround.com New law requires pharmacies to provide “prescription readers” to blind patients https://www.klcc.org/post/new-law-requires-pharmacies-provide-prescription-readers-blind-patients AT Banter is brought to you by Canadian Assistive Technology, providing sales and training in Assistive Technology and Accessibility with over 30 years of knowledge and experience. Visit them online at www.canasstech.com or call toll-free 1-844-795-8324. Need repairs on your device? Chaos Technical Services offers service and support on almost any piece of Assistive Technology, while also providing parts and batteries. Visit them online at www.chaostechnicalservices.com or call 778-847-6840.

This week Rob and Ryan welcome Amy Silverman, author of “My Heart Can’t Even Believe It” into the Guitar Dungeon this week where the three discuss a variety of topics including the language of disability, advocacy, and raising a daughter with Down’s Syndrome. Show Notes My Heart Can't Even Believe It: A Story of Science, Love, and Down Syndrome https://www.amazon.ca/My-Heart-Cant-Even-Believe/dp/1606132741 Amy Silverman Online https://www.amy-silverman.com/ AT Banter is brought to you by Canadian Assistive Technology, providing sales and training in Assistive Technology and Accessibility with over 30 years of knowledge and experience. Visit them online at www.canasstech.com or call toll-free 1-844-795-8324. Need repairs on your device? Chaos Technical Services offers service and support on almost any piece of Assistive Technology, while also providing parts and batteries. Visit them online at www.chaostechnicalservices.com or call 778-847-6840.

Every shop at Old Navy and wish you could purchase a t-shirt that could regulate temperature or monitor your vital signs? Well, you may be in luck soon. This week we talk with Jess Jur, Associate Professor of Textile Engineering, Chemistry & Science at NC State University's College of Textiles who gives us an overview of the notion of Smart Textiles and helps us breakdown what the implications are for Assistive Technology. Show Notes Comcast’s latest accessibility feature lets customers change TV channels with their eyes https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/17/18681792/comcast-eye-control-accessibility-feature-change-tv-channels Bad braille plagues buildings across U.S., CBS News Radio investigation finds https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bad-braille-plagues-buildings-across-u-s-cbs-news-radio-investigation-finds/ NEXT Research Group https://sites.textiles.ncsu.edu/next/ Smart Clothes TED Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oUHW9eqNaA AT Banter is brought to you by Canadian Assistive Technology, providing sa

The show returns from a week long break as Rob and Ryan welcome friend of the show Colleen Connor back into the Guitar Dungeon, where they discuss everything you want to know (and likely a few things you don’t) about the current state of Audio Described content and where they see things (hopefully) going in the future. Show Notes BlindInspirationCast http://www.blindinspirationcast.com/ Audio Description Retreats http://www.adtrainingretreats.com/ VocalEye http://www.vocaleye.ca/ AT Banter is brought to you by Canadian Assistive Technology, providing sales and training in Assistive Technology and Accessibility with over 30 years of knowledge and experience. Visit them online at www.canasstech.com or call toll-free 1-844-795-8324. Need repairs on your device? Chaos Technical Services offers service and support on almost any piece of Assistive Technology, while also providing parts and batteries. Visit them online at www.chaostechnicalservices.com or call 778-847-6840.

Ready to do some button mashing?? We take a deep dive into the history and future of Accessible Gaming with this week’s guest, Mike Feir, who is a regular contributor on AMI as well as author of several books. Mike’s experience with Accessible Gaming goes all the way back to the 90s, and he discusses what it was like back then and where he sees gaming going these days. Show Notes Audio Games http://www.audiogames.net AppleVis https://www.applevis.com/ Mike’s Blog http://michaelfeir.blogspot.com/ Blind Bargains https://www.blindbargains.com/ Kelly & Company https://www.ami.ca/category/kelly-and-company AT Banter is brought to you by Canadian Assistive Technology, providing sales and training in Assistive Technology and Accessibility with over 30 years of knowledge and experience. Visit them online at www.canasstech.com or call toll-free 1-844-795-8324. Need repairs on your device? Chaos Technical Services offers service and support on almost any piece of Assistive Technology, while also providing parts

This week it’s all about Apple as we welcome Tyler Stephen from AppleVis into the Guitar Dungeon to give us a rundown of the major Accessibility announcements that were made at Apple’s annual Developer’s Conference.   Show Notes Ali Stroker Makes History as First Wheelchair User to Win a Tony https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/09/theater/ali-stroker-oklahoma-tony-awards.html WWDC 2019 as it happened: everything announced during Apple's keynote https://www.techradar.com/news/wwdc-2019-liveblog AppleVis https://www.applevis.com/ AT Banter is brought to you by Canadian Assistive Technology, providing sales and training in Assistive Technology and Accessibility with over 30 years of knowledge and experience. Visit them online at www.canasstech.com or call toll-free 1-844-795-8324. Need repairs on your device? Chaos Technical Services offers service and support on almost any piece of Assistive Technology, while also providing parts and batteries. Visit them online at www.chaostechnicalservices.com or call 778-84

A very special episode this week as we spend the entire hour talking with Kelly Goto, respected presence in the UX, Service Design and CX communities and Founder of Goto Media. We discuss the often mysterious world of design, and get an inside view of some of the most important design elements of the past 20 years before diving into the importance of universal design.    Show Notes Goto Research / Media www.gotomedia.com www.gotoresearch.com Global Research Consortium www.uxfellows.com Colin’s Story https://mindfultech.us/light-and-dark/ AT Banter is brought to you by Canadian Assistive Technology, providing sales and training in Assistive Technology and Accessibility with over 30 years of knowledge and experience. Visit them online at www.canasstech.com or call toll-free 1-844-795-8324. Need repairs on your device? Chaos Technical Services offers service and support on almost any piece of Assistive Technology, while also providing parts and batteries. Visit them online at www.chaostechnicalservices.com

Rob and Ryan fly solo this week while Steve is out and welcome Amanda Tolson and Jenna Reed from En-Vision America to the show.  We discuss En-Vision’s long standing presence in the Assistive Technology community, dive into everything we wanted to know about bar code scanning, and the importance of Accessible Prescription labeling solutions. Show Notes AODA Alliance More Details on Amendments to ACA https://www.aodaalliance.org/whats-new/more-specifics-on-the-amendments-to-bill-c-81-the-proposed-accessible-canada-act-that-the-senates-standing-committee-passed-and-that-we-want-the-house-of-commons-to-ratify-still-no-commitment-by/ Accessible Canada Act Could Become Law Next Month https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/canada-s-first-accessibility-bill-could-become-law-next-month-minister-1.4433709 CRTC calls for comments on Bell, Corus, Rogers proposed amendment to described video conditions https://mobilesyrup.com/2019/03/12/crtc-amendments-call-comments-bell-corus-rogers/ En-Vision America https://www.envisioname

This week Rob, Ryan, and Steve welcome local photographer, accessibility advocate, and one of the busiest people we know, Cathy Browne into the Guitar Dungeon to talk about her photography, some of her advocacy work and the importance of accessible environments. Show Notes Google Unveils Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/google-glass-enterprise-edition-2-2/ Cathy Browne Flickr Album https://www.flickr.com/photos/cathybrowne/albums/72157660569356506 Soap Box Radio Archive https://www.coopradio.org/station/archives/4575 Follow Cathy on Twitter! @CathyBrowne AT Banter is brought to you by Canadian Assistive Technology, providing sales and training in Assistive Technology and Accessibility with over 30 years of knowledge and experience. Visit them online at www.canasstech.com or call toll-free 1-844-795-8324. Need repairs on your device? Chaos Technical Services offers service and support on almost any piece of Assistive Technology, while also providing parts and batteri

Happy Global Accessibility Awareness Day! It’s been a week since Google I/O, Google’s big annual developer’s conference, and we welcome have three of the Google Accessibility Team to talk about some of the Accessibility announcements that were made at the event. Show Notes New Microsoft Patent Reveals Plans for Braille Controller https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/05/06/new-microsoft-patent-reveals-braille-controller-for-visually-impaired-gamers Microsoft is Improving Windows 10 Update Process https://wccftech.com/microsoft-promised-future-of-windows-10-update-process/ Google Accessibility Website https://www.google.com/accessibility/ Contact Google Accessibility https://support.google.com/accessibility/answer/7641084 Transcript of this show Big shoutout and thanks to Adrian Roselli for his invaluable assistance in making the transcription of this show possible. Visit his website at http://adrianroselli.com/ AT Banter is brought to you by Canadian Assistive Technology, providing sales and training in A

It’s back to business as usual this week as we pick up the pieces from the 150th episode and welcome Dr. Amy Kavanagh to the Guitar Dungeon, all the way from across the pond! Rob and Ryan explain what happened to Episode 150 and cover a bit of news before chatting with Dr. Kavanagh about her Twitter campaign of #JustAskDontGrab and the origins behind it. Show Notes Lego Creates Braille Building Blocks https://www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/building-blocks-lego-creates-new-braille-bricks-1.4398733 Microsoft is making VR better for those with vision problems https://www.engadget.com/2019/04/18/microsoft-seeing-vr/ Cane Adventures https://caneadventures.blog/ Dr. Amy Kavanagh on Twitter @BlondeHistorian #JustAskDontGrab AT Banter is brought to you by Canadian Assistive Technology, providing sales and training in Assistive Technology and Accessibility with over 30 years of knowledge and experience. Visit them online at www.canasstech.com or call toll-free 1-844-795-8324. Need repairs on your device? Chaos Technica

Rob, Ryan, and Steve cover a few news stories of the week and then are joined by Noah Callan, CEO and founder of the website Disability Tek.  Noah discusses his excitement about assistive technology, what impact it’s had on his life, and the state of Apple Accessibility. Show Notes Intuitive Limbs: The New Era In Prosthetic Technology https://www.forbes.com/video/6000038875001/#192bb3472c57 Toronto’s only operating cannabis retail store not wheelchair accessible on opening day https://globalnews.ca/news/5120247/hunny-pot-cannabis-co-accessibility-toronto/ Third of blind people have been hit or narrowly missed by electric car https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6914721/Blind-people-hit-narrowly-missed-electric-car.html British scientists on cusp of curing blindness with stem cells https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6919821/British-scientists-say-theyre-cusp-curing-blindness-stem-cell-treatment.html Disability Tek https://www.disabilitytek.com AT Banter is brought to you by Canadian Assistive Te

This week we’re joined by Sam Seavey from the popular YouTube Channel The Blind Life.  We discuss the state of Assistive Technology, what kind of AT he uses in his daily life, and the trials and tribulations of being a YouTube Content Creator.  Show Notes The Blind Life YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNbzN3eHbLKPzltSB560DkA Blind Shell Accessible Mobile Phone https://www.blindshell.com/ AT Banter is brought to you by Canadian Assistive Technology, providing sales and training in Assistive Technology and Accessibility with over 30 years of knowledge and experience. Visit them online at www.canasstech.com or call toll-free 1-844-795-8324. Need repairs on your device? Chaos Technical Services offers service and support on almost any piece of Assistive Technology, while also providing parts and batteries. Visit them online at www.chaostechnicalservices.com or call 778-847-6840.

This week Rob, Ryan and Steve welcome Karthik Kannan, co-Founder and Chief Engineer at Envision Technologies, into the Guitar Dungeon all the way from the Netherlands! We discuss the details of the Envision app, which assists blind or partially sighted users and the power of AI and machine learning that drives it.   Show Notes Envision AI https://www.letsenvision.com/ Download Envision AI for Android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.letsenvision.envisionai Download Envision AI on iOS https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1268632314 AT Banter is brought to you by Canadian Assistive Technology, providing sales and training in Assistive Technology and Accessibility with over 30 years of knowledge and experience. Visit them online at www.canasstech.com or call toll-free 1-844-795-8324. Need repairs on your device? Chaos Technical Services offers service and support on almost any piece of Assistive Technology, while also providing parts and batteries. Visit them online at www.chaostechni

This week we’ve got a very important show – if you only listen to one episode of AT Banter this year, this is the one! Renowned disability advocate David Lepofsky joins us to talk all about C-81, the proposed Accessible Canada Act and details some of the shortcomings of the Act which he and many other disability advocates hope will be rectified before the Act passes into law. Listen in and find out what you can do to help and make your voices heard! Show Notes AODA Alliance Website https://www.aodaalliance.org EMAIL THE SENATE COMMITTEE! soci@sen.parl.gc.ca AODA Alliance on Twitter @aodaalliance Email the AODA Alliance aodafeedback@gmail.com Accessible Canada Act Is Too Weak to be Effective, Advocates Say (CTV News) https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/accessible-canada-act-is-too-weak-to-be-effective-advocates-say-1.4224281 AT Banter is brought to you by Canadian Assistive Technology, providing sales and training in Assistive Technology and Accessibility with over 30 years of knowledge and experience. Visit them

This week Rob and Ryan welcome Nancy Thorogood, Research Associate from the Rick Hansen Institute into the Guitar Dungeon to talk about the Institute and the work that they do on Spinal Cord Injury research, all the while trying not to ask stupid questions (and sometimes succeeding). Show Notes Rick Hansen Institute http://rickhanseninstitute.org/ RHI and Stem Cell Research http://rickhanseninstitute.org/resource/sci/stem-cell-research Additional Information on Spinal Cord Injuries https://scireproject.com/ https://scireproject.com/community/ Local Studies on SCI http://icord.org/research/participate-in-a-study/ Apple Event 2019 Annoucements https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-event-2019-apple-card-tv-plus-news-plus-arcade-everything-just-announced/ AT Banter is brought to you by Canadian Assistive Technology, providing sales and training in Assistive Technology and Accessibility with over 30 years of knowledge and experience. Visit them online at www.canasstech.com or call toll-free 1-844-795-8324. Need rep

Assistive Technology geeks, rejoice! This week it’s all about gadgets and shiny objects as the boys are joined by Albert Ruel and Kim Kilpatrick from Get Together With Technology to talk about the recent CSUN Conference. Albert, Kim, and Steve tell us all about the highlights from the conference and the new technology that was on display as well as some of the Conference's surprises and standout experiences.    Show Notes Canute http://www.bristolbraille.co.uk TactPlus Tactile Printer https://www.tactplusprinter.com BrailleMe http://innovisiontech.co/brailleme B2G https://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/technology/b2g QD Laser https://www.qdlaser.com/en/applications/eyewear.html Tech4Freedom – UFO https://www.tech4freedom.net/ufo Tech4Freedom – Box One4ALL https://www.tech4freedom.net/box Zoomax AceSight https://www.zoomax.com/low-vision-products/wearable-AceSight.html Sony Wearable Neck Speaker https://www.japantrendshop.com/sony-wearable-neck-speaker-srsws1-p-4096.html Nearby Explorer https://www.aph.org/pr/nearby-exp

This week we’re visited by local visually impaired artist, advocate, motivational speaker and self-proclaimed Renaissance Man, Richard Harlow. Richard tells us how he was first diagnosed with the rare condition LHON, how it impacted his life, and how it eventually saw him begin a life of advocacy that resulted in the city of Nanaimo adopting a new Accessibility icon. Show Notes Delta Air Lines bans young puppies and kittens as support animals https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/12/us/delta-airlines-bans-support-animals-trnd/index.html A look at TTC accessibility through the eyes of a rider who uses two canes https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2019/03/10/a-look-at-ttc-accessibility-through-the-eyes-of-a-rider-who-uses-two-canes.html Richard Harlow Interview from Times Colonist https://www.timescolonist.com/how-artist-richard-harlow-changed-his-style-after-going-blind-1.22756732 AT Banter is brought to you by Canadian Assistive Technology, providing sales and training in Assistive Technology and Accessibility wit

This week we’re excited to welcome back Shawn Marsolais, Founder and Executive Director of Blind Beginnings to the Guitar Dungeon. We catch up with what Blind Beginnings has been up to for the past year and discuss some of the issues that visually impaired people face on a day to day basis and what solutions and programs Blind Beginnings is actively working on. Show Notes Walmart Is Phasing Out 'Greeters' In U.S. https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2019/02/28/walmart-greeters_a_23680761/ Dentists No Longer Permitted To Turn Away Patients Due To Disabilities https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2019/02/28/dentists-turn-away-disabilities/26093/ The writing of this AI is so human that its creators are scared to release it https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/ai-writer-disinformation-1.5030305 Blind Beginnings https://www.blindbeginnings.ca/ For those in the Lower Mainland who want to help support Blind Beginnings and the work they do, get your tickets to the 9th Annual Gala Dinner and Online Auction, April 6th 6 – 10:30pm.