Kia ora Mosen At Largers.
I’m looking forward thanks to your help to bringing you another show full of things to keep you informed, make you think, and entertain you.
From time to time, I have mentioned that I am proud to be blind. The disability pride movement is something that I notice is really taking off among young people. I think it’s wonderful, it gives me hope. But this old blind guy has felt an immense sense of pride in being a blind person for a long time. After the recent discussion we had on the show about the idea of a blind culture, I think it crystallised my blind pride further.
From time to time, I’ve received comments from listeners telling me that they don’t feel proud to be blind. Most people take the view that while they are at peace with being blind, blindness is, for them, something that just is. They’re no prouder to be blind than, say, they are to be short or tall. Others feel that blindness is a pain in the butt and certainly nothing at all to be proud of. So I have taken some time this week to really think about this, and I want to articulate on this weekend’s show exactly what blind pride is and why I am brimming with pride to be a blind person.
Whether we’re proud to be blind or not, if our only impairment is blindness, then most of us would agree that we’re perfectly capable of walking through an airport, thank you very much. Yet airports, which can be stressful places, are often also places where we encounter the most patronising, condescending attitudes towards blind people. How do you cope with that? If you get offered a wheelchair, should you just take the damn thing to keep the peace? We discuss, and your views are welcome.
We will have published Mosen At large 118 before this weekend’s show which features a detailed explanation, unboxing and demonstration of Apple’s new AirTag devices, but for those who don’t listen to the podcast version, we’ll play it on this weekend’s show.
And we get updates on how vaccination is going for you. We also send special good wishes to our listeners in India, where things are so difficult with COVID at the moment.
As usual, there’s a wide array of blindness and technology topics from listeners on which you may like to comment once you hear them.
If you want to raise something new, you’re very welcome.
Getting your contributions in ahead of time leaves you free to hear the show, and gives me a chance to organise them all, so go for it. Please don’t be shy, I’d love to hear from you. To contribute, send an email with an audio attachment or just written down to Jonathan at MushroomFM.com, or call the listener line, +18646066736, that’s 1-864-60Mosen.
The best way to hear Mosen At Large is when it airs live and in full. Catch it on Mushroom FM, either on the station itself or in the Mushroom FM club on Clubhouse, the Mosen At Large YouTube channel and the Mosen At Large Facebook page on Saturdays at 2 PM Eastern, that’s 7 PM in the UK. It will then be available in abridged form on the Mosen At Large podcast, available anywhere you get podcasts.
Thank you so much for listening and contributing to the show and see you soon for Mosen At Large.