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Episode 000 Final
07-03-20

[Music.]

>> Welcome to My Blindspot Podcast accessibility works, a podcast about the possibilities of accessibility for people with disabilities. My name is Albert Rizzi. I’m the founder of my blind spot, an organization devoted to inspiring accessibility for people of all abilities. At blindspot, TEAM is an acronym that stands for together, everyone achieves more.

And through this podcast, I went through the many interviews we had with colleagues of mine who I admire and respect and who inspire me to do great things to give us a bird’s eye view into how to introduce authentic inclusion into the DNA of your corporate culture and what digital equity means and how it allows people who are otherwise marginalized and disenfranchised to stop relying on entitlement programs and disability insurances with deadend results.

Our first episode, I’m joined today with Jonathan Hermus, my cohost. [Laugh.] Say, “Hello,” John.

>> Hello, John.

>> And then we have our producer, Gabe de Maio, in the background, muting our minds and keeping me from being bleak out. John, is there anything you’d like to share at the moment?

>> No, not really.

>> [Laugh.] Oh, my God. I work with a bunch of numb nuts. Just a little –Go ahead.

>> My Blindspot is an organization that is dedicated to making web platforms accessible to everyone and getting people of all abilities back into the workforce, making independent taxpayers out of tax dependent individuals. Not only are they able and willing to do the job, but they’d probably be more excited and adamant about doing the job because they have been cut out or blocked out for so long.

Most of our team is built up with part of the disability community. To be honest, they’re some of the hardest workers I know.

>> A little bit about what this podcast is going to encompass, what it’s going to be about. We’re going to touch on topics of accessibility. Having access to digital platforms that allow for our assimilation into mainstream society, shopping, working, playing, just about anything and everything people do who have not been disabled with their computers, allowing all of us with apprentice ability, namely people who are blind, deaf and blind, deaf, people with speech impediments, people with mobility issues, paralysis, cognitive delays, organic dysfunction like dyslexia, and all of you people aging into the community who are now babyboomers.

At Myblindspot, we believe that access to the right tools promotes ability and resource infinite possibilities. We’ll be speaking with corporate heads, world renowned advocates, and regular people from Mainstreet who are one degree of separation from people with disabilities, our friends, our families, our colleagues, and anyone and everyone who wants to see ability celebrated along side race, gender, orientation, and religion in both our social and corporate cultures.

One of the things that Myblindspot espouses is supporting the community. Nearly 90% of the members of our team have apprentice ability or are one degree of separation from a person with a disability. We have Jeff Weldon, who broke his neck bicycling. He’s been paralyzed from the neck down and is one of our consummate testers for people using Dragon naturally speaking.

We have Richard Kelly, who has been with us since basically our inception. He’s our resident QuickBooks guru. Fred quick, trainer extraordinaire, Christopher Zomp, who is our project manager, senior project manager. Tommy Rhatigan and recent addition to our team, Miles Kegan. And the list goes on. And for those of you who don’t know, I also happen to be blind. I lost my eyesight almost 14 years ago unexpectedly.

I’m not just a club member. I’m the president of the club. All of our team are coming in to introduce themselves, so you can get dimension and appreciation for what people who just happen to have a disability can actually do when given the opportunity to do it.

Jonathan and I have known each other nearly 9 years. Gabe and I have known each other since high school. So this is a family effort. Thank you for listening to the podcast Accessibility Works brought to you by Myblindspot. Check us out on all social medias including FaceBook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You can find us on the page, myblindspot.org. I’m Albert Rizzi.

>> And I’m Jonathan Hermus.

>> Thanks for listening. And talk to you soon.

[End of class.]

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