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Eyes Free Sports explores sports and recreation activities for blind and visually impaired individuals.
Episodes
Saturday Apr 10, 2021
Saturday Apr 10, 2021
In Episode 35 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, we visit with blind long distance runner and marathoner Abigail Shaw. She talked about:
- Her diagnosis of a visual impairment at age four
- Attending Appalachian State University to earn a bachelor’s in music and audio production and Fordham University for a Master of Social Work
- Her guide dog from the Running Guides program at Guiding Eyes for the Blind and a special harness to make running with her dog more efficient
- How she got involved in running with Achilles International, an organization that helps engage people with disabilities in running and other recreational activities
- The half-marathons, marathons, and triathlons she has competed in
- What she enjoys most about running and how accepting the running community is for people of diverse abilities
- Her job with Learning Ally, an organization providing audiobooks and mentoring to students who are visually impaired, dyslexic, or have other challenges
- Her advocacy work on the Advisory Committee on Transit Accessibility through the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in New York
Learn more about Achilles International at http://www.achillesinternational.org. Learn more about Learning Ally at http://learningally.org.
Saturday Mar 27, 2021
Saturday Mar 27, 2021
In Episode 34 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, we chat with deaf blind athlete Brian Switzer of Massachusetts. Switzer, who has competed in a number of sports and challenging running events, discussed:
- His early years growing up in Massachusetts
- Being diagnosed with Usher syndrome at a young age, which meant both a visual and hearing impairment
- Earning dual undergraduate degrees in economics and philosophy with a minor in German from Stonehill College
- Earning a master’s in public policy with a focus on disability policy from Suffolk University and his current master’s program at UMass-Boston
- Working at the Perkins School for the Blind in the Career Launch program to help prepare young people with visual impairments for employment
- Several sports he initially played and then how he got into running
- Playing beep baseball with the Boston Renegades
- Competing in the Equinox Marathon in Alaska, one of the world’s most challenging races
- Competing in the Radnar Relay Ultra in New Hampshire
- The adaptations of running for blind individuals and the relationship between blind runners and their sighted guides
- The concept of rucking and an event he competed in for Heroes in Transition to help veterans
- His guide dog from Guiding Eyes for the Blind
- Accessibility testing he has done on running apps like RunKeeper and Strava
Check out his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/briandeafblindathlete/.
Find his two books on Amazon:
1) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Y6MRD99/ref=cm_sw_r_em_api_glt_BP5ENYHYR7H082B65CBR
2) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D3Z6ZM8/ref=cm_sw_r_em_api_glt_B6ZMFKZ58S1DWDHRA53Y
Check out the Career Launchpad Facebook Group he manages for young visually impaired individuals seeking employment or professional development at https://www.facebook.com/groups/2497533623910676/?ref=share. Learn more about the Career Launch program at Perkins at https://www.perkins.org/school/transition-programs/career-launch.
For a text transcript of this podcast episode, visit: https://greglindberg.net/index.php?id=the-eyes-free-sports-podcast-ep-34-running-with-deaf-blind-athlete-brian-switzer-podcast-transcript.
Saturday Mar 13, 2021
Saturday Mar 13, 2021
In Episode 33 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, Joshua “The Jedi” Loya is our guest. In Part 2 of our chat with Loya, he talked about:
- Getting to work with an Olympic alternate who helped train Ronda Rousey
- How he got into surfing and the unique intersection between surfing and judo
- Competing in the U.S. Open Adaptive Surfing Championships and a national event as well
- Competing in the AmpSurf ISA World Para Surfing Championship
- What slack lining is
- The importance of athletes surrounding themselves with positive coaches and actually enjoying the sports they compete in
- Why he believes blind and visually impaired people should take some risks and do some “scary things”
- His Adventure Mind podcast and initiative to get more blind people into surfing
- What it’s like skydiving as a blind individual
- Jumping off the Stratosphere building in Las Vegas
- His personal mental health challenges and strategies he uses to cope
Follow him on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/joshuathejedi/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/JoshuaTheJedi/, and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/servantwarrior.
Learn more about his podcast at www.adventuremind.net and feel free to contact him at joshua@adventuremind.net.
Saturday Feb 27, 2021
Saturday Feb 27, 2021
In Episode 32 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, Joshua “The Jedi” Loya is our guest. In Part 1 of our chat with Loya, he talked about:
- Growing up in Santa Cruz, CA
- Having limited vision as a child
- How he suddenly went totally blind at age 15 but why this actually improved his quality of life
- Getting into martial arts
- How he and his wife got into running a Dojo and how he has adapted when teaching martial arts techniques to blind and visually impaired students
- His involvement with Blind Community Martial Arts in San Diego, CA
- How martial arts and self-defense go hand-in-hand
Learn more about Joshua “The Jedi” Loy at http://servantwarrior.me.
Find his Adventure Mind podcast on all major podcast platforms.
Friday Feb 12, 2021
Friday Feb 12, 2021
In Episode 31 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, Kevin Broussard of the United States Association of Blind Athletes (USABA) is our guest. Broussard talked about:
- His early years growing up in San Clemente, CA
- His visual impairment
- A dinnertable conversation he recalls having had at age eight and how this conversation ultimately changed his mindset as a young man with a disability
- Playing offensive line on his high school football team
- A high school coach who gave him a chance at track and field
- The first blind sports event he attended in 2007 at the Junior Blind of America (now Wayfinder Family Services)
- Competing in the World Youth Games
- Competing on the track and field team at the University of La Verne in California
- Competing and winning medals in the 2011 and 2015 World Championships in track and field
- The adaptations of the discus and shotput for blind and visually impaired competitors
- Getting into judo and the adaptations of this sport for the blind
- His role working for USABA
- His interest in blind soccer and a description of this sport
- His thoughts on why the unemployment rate in the disability community has remained high and some advice on how job candidates can increase their chances of finding gainful employment
Visit www.talksbykevin.com to learn more about his story, watch some of his videos/speeches, and to follow him on social media.
Learn more about the United States Association of Blind Athletes at www.usaba.org.
Saturday Jan 30, 2021
Saturday Jan 30, 2021
In Episode 30 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, host Greg Lindberg speaks about a book he just finished reading. The book is titled Seeing Home: The Ed Lucas Story – A Blind Broadcaster's Story of Overcoming Life's Greatest Obstacles. Greg provided a brief overview of the book without giving away too many details. His life has included getting to know some U.S. presidents, Hall of Fame baseball players from the 1930s to the present, having four guide dogs from The Seeing Eye, and finding ways to persevere in many aspects of his life despite being blind since age 12. Lucas was also inducted into the Irish-American Baseball Hall of Fame which is recognized by the main Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.
Check out the book on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Seeing-Home-Broadcasters-Overcoming-Obstacles/dp/147678583X and on Audible at https://www.audible.com/pd/Seeing-Home-The-Ed-Lucas-Story-Audiobook/B00VKSCMD4.
Learn more about the Ed Lucas Foundation at www.theedlucasfoundation.org.
Saturday Jan 16, 2021
Saturday Jan 16, 2021
In Episode 29 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, we hit the skatepark to learn all about skateboarding for the blind and visually impaired. Guests Matt Janz and Curtis Ruttle of Calgary, Alberta, Canada spoke about:
- Matt’s background and attending the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) and the University of Calgary to earn journalism and communications degrees
- His volunteer work in teaching skateboarding and how he got into low vision skateboarding
- His visual impairment and how his parents spotted it quickly when he was a youngster since he has an inherited condition
- How Curtis attends a self-directed high school program
- Curtis’ involvement in skiing with Canadian Adaptive Snowsports and playing blind hockey through the Calgary Seeing Ice Dogs and Canadian Blind Hockey
- How they each got into skateboarding, including Matt’s introduction to skateboarding while living in Vancouver and how Curtis was introduced to the sport by Matt
- The unique Skate Bats program Matt started to offer skateboarding lessons to visually impaired kids
- Curtis’ Alt Route program and how he got grant funding through the CNIB Youth Council
- The adaptations Curtis and Matt have come up with to make skate parks more accessible using some very creative techniques for both low vision and totally blind participants
- How blind skateboarders can actually use a white cane to help guide them
Learn more about Skate Bats at www.skatebats.ca and on Instagram at http://instagram.com/skatebats.
Learn more about the Alt Route project at www.altroute.ca and on Instagram at http://instagram.com/altrouteprojects.ca.
Saturday Jan 02, 2021
Saturday Jan 02, 2021
In Episode 28 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, Tim McCorkle of Ski for Light, Inc. joins the conversation to speak about:
- Growing up in Juneau, Alaska and the winter sports he learned to love as a youngster, especially cross-country skiing
- Being diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative retinal condition
- Jobs he has had working in accounting and finance
- How he discovered Ski for Light, Inc. and got involved in cross-country skiing as a blind individual
- The history of the Ski for Light organization and how it was born out of an effort from a blind musician in Norway in the 1950s
- How the ski guides are trained and what information they verbally provide to help blind skiers navigate the terrain on which they are skiing
- The weeklong Ski for Light international event held annually since 1975
- How a location is identified for the Ski for Light international events
- The 2021 virtual Ski for Light event being held from Jan. 27-30, 2021
- His experience skiing at the Ridderrennet (“Knights race” in English”) event in Beitostolen, Norway in 2014
- How skiing has benefited his orientation and mobility to be a better independent blind traveler
Learn more about Ski for Light, Inc. at http://www.sfl.org. Check out their Facebook page at http://facebook.com/skiforlight and follow Ski for Light on Twitter at http://twitter.com/skiforlight.
Saturday Dec 19, 2020
Saturday Dec 19, 2020
In Episode 27 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, blind skier Tyson Ready of the Braille Mountain Initiative was our guest. Ready spoke about:
- His early years and how he got into winter sports like hockey and skiing
- Why he suddenly lost a significant amount of vision in 2018 and 2019
- Working as a back-country ski guide for Great Canadian Heliskiing
- Getting services from the CNIB and Canadian Assistive Technology
- Receiving an Orcam device from the Canadian Ski Guide Association
- What inspired him to create the Braille Mountain Initiative, a nonprofit he recently started to bring back-country skiing experiences to blind and visually impaired skiers
- The upcoming back-country skiing trip he has planned for April 2021
- The adaptations of skiing for those with visual impairments and specifically how back-country skiing offers far more opportunity for independence for blind skiers
- Other mountain sports he hopes to incorporate into his organization
Learn more about the Braille Mountain Initiative at http://www.braillemountaininitiative.com and on Facebook at http://facebook.com/braillemountaininitiative.
Tyson welcomes email contact at braillemountaininitiative@outlook.com.
Saturday Dec 05, 2020
Saturday Dec 05, 2020
In Episode 26 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, beep baseball star player Erik Rodriguez joined host Greg Lindberg to talk about:
- A rare genetic condition causing a visual impairment that he and some of his siblings have had since birth
- Attending the Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired and getting into sports like wrestling while there
- How he was introduced to beep baseball at age 10 when he attended the 2008 National Beep Baseball Association World Series
- Starting his beep baseball career with the Chicago Comets and then transitioning to the Indy Thunder
- How he has helped the Indy Thunder win the past four National Beep Baseball Association World Series titles
- His take on how to be a successful beep baseball fielder, runner, and hitter
- What the sport of beep baseball means to him in his life
- His experience playing goalball
- His current career and future goals
Learn more about beep baseball and the National Beep Baseball Association at www.nbba.org.