Disability and Progress-April 4, 2024- Out-Of-Sight.net

[00:00:00] Speaker A: KPI.org. And greetings. Thank you for joining disability and progress, where we bring you insights into ideas about and discussions on disability topics. My name is Sam. I'm the host of the show. Thank you for joining me. Charlene Dahl is my pr research person. Hello, Charlene. [00:01:14] Speaker B: Hello, everybody. [00:01:16] Speaker A: Thanks for joining me, everyone, and welcome to this week's April 4, 2024 episode. Thank you for the correction last week, Erin. Erin said I set a different date than it was. Okay, well, you know, stuff happens, and today is particularly a great day. Please feel free to show the love as we are in our pledge drive, 612-375-9030 and for your prize, you get great information. So we could bring you shows like so many that we've brought and like we're going to bring tonight. And tonight we have Roger Curry. I believe that's how you pronounce his name. Who will be with us talking about fascinating stuff. Hello, Roger. [00:02:05] Speaker C: Hi. How are you guys tonight? [00:02:06] Speaker A: Good. Thanks so much for joining in. Roger will be with us. He is with us and he's a member of Outofsight.net. And it's a whole community for blind people. And probably, I don't know, it's a free community, so probably anyone, but it specializes for blind people. So I want to talk a little bit about that. Roger, we'll get into the nitty gritty details in a bit, but can you give us kind of a brief idea of what Outofsight.net is and just a little bit about what they offer? Because we'll get more into that and also your history, how you got into it. [00:02:57] Speaker C: Oh, sure. I'd be happy to. First of all, thank you so much for allowing me to be on your program. It's an absolute delight to be here to chat with you and all your lovely listeners. So out of Sight began in 2008, and it opened up as a website online community to help address any socialization. Not socialization. It helped to help the isolation issues that the blind community were facing by developing a platform where they could come together online to listen, learn, be educated, and play some fun games along the way. [00:03:44] Speaker A: We use. [00:03:45] Speaker C: Oh, sorry, go ahead. [00:03:46] Speaker A: What inspired the creation of it? Like, how did you decide that there was a need? [00:03:52] Speaker C: That's a great question. I was not involved back in those days, so I'm just sort of talking secondhand. But I knew that there was a lot of socialization, social isolation. I can't even. I keep stumbling over those words. [00:04:08] Speaker A: That's okay. [00:04:08] Speaker C: Must be late in the day. But, like, basically folks not being able to socialize together. So I knew that there was a big need for that. There was also a lot of emerging technologies that folks wanted to teach the blind community about. Come together, rub elbows, and make a few friends along the way, and also have a little bit of fun by playing accessible games together. [00:04:34] Speaker A: So it sounds like they cater to people with disabilities, particularly in the terms of, you know, accessibility, making sure everything's accessible. [00:04:45] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, that's a big issue, first of all, like being accessible for the greater disability community, but more so specifically, you know, responding to the needs of the assistive technology that folks who are blind use. We also have folks that also have hearing impairments on the site. So those would be the two biggest communities. But that doesn't mean you have to be blind or that you have a hearing impairment to become a member, because we do have a lot of people who are sighted, but largely speaking, it's a community that was designed for the blind. It is run and operated by the blind community. So it's kind of like for the blind by the blind. [00:05:32] Speaker A: How large is the [email protected]? [00:05:37] Speaker C: Oh, well, we're actually just a nonprofit organization, and there is a core group of people who make up our board, so they're responsible for the day to day operations and making financial decisions and setting up the schedule and things like that. So that's just a small group of people? A small group of five people. However, the bulk of the everyday tasks, such as setting out the schedule or hosting and facilitating games, events, or chats, range in the neighborhood of about 40 different people, depending on which week it is, will be dependent on how many events are going on that week. [00:06:23] Speaker A: So I know how we get our money, you know, through some, you know, listener contribution, basically, and people who we interview contribution. But how do you get your money? [00:06:38] Speaker C: Yeah, that's a great question. So anyone who wants to participate, it's a completely free website. There's no membership fee. There's never any time where you have to pay to participate. And the way that out of sight does that is by holding an online auction in the fall. And it's a really neat way where folks can contribute, you know, products or baked goods, and then they will be put up in an auction, and then the. The person who put forward that item that they're donating will mail it out to the winning bidder. But the money and the proceeds are sent to out of sight, and that's how we're able to operate. And then also during some of. Some of our special events, we draw upon some of that money, not only to operate, but also to give away cash prizes as door prizes for some of our events. [00:07:34] Speaker A: Well, since we're talking about five hundred one s and non profits, I do want to remind everyone, excuse me, this is pledgedrive and you can give by [email protected]. Or 612-375-9030 we're talking with Roger Curry. Roger, how did you guys decide? Do you know how they decided on the name out of sight? And also, you know, there's dot.net, dot, dot. How did you decide what dot you were going to be? [00:08:05] Speaker C: Well, you know what? I know that the community that came together wanted to have a play on words. So they wanted to have the word sight in there, like s I g h t. Because we all have site challenges, right? So they would say wanted to have that in there, but they also wanted to have like a really positive spin on it. So they're like, hey, it's out of sight. Oh, in sight as sigh. But you know, whether, whether it was.com or.net comma, I'm not sure why they, why they went with that. But the other thing too, that I just wanted to stress, if folks are going to be dialing it up on their browser online, there's hyphens in between. Because sometimes people are like, okay, so is that all three words? Is that one word? [00:08:53] Speaker A: Right? [00:08:53] Speaker C: So it's out dash of dash site.net. So you got to be sure to put the hyphens in there to find a specific site. [00:09:03] Speaker A: Great. Can you share like some type of story or success stories or memories, you know, memorable experiences that you've seen or had with the outofsight.net? [00:09:22] Speaker C: I would say that a lot of people have come to the community and not really had much friends or interactions with other blind people because as you can imagine, people spread throughout Canada, the US, or around the world. It's a fairly large planet. Even in your own state or in your own community, you might not have a lot of people around you that are facing the same kinds of challenges that you're facing. So just coming together from like small little communities and bonding with other people, having the same kinds of challenges and then finding that there's solutions and there's hope and that there is somewhere or something for you to do that is accessible and inclusive for you. Online is a constant success story that we have each and every day where people go, wow, I didn't know that this online community existed. I don't really have much to do or I don't really have many, many friends around now. I just found a whole big group of people that I can rub elbows with, but more so, they get to see how other blind people are taking leadership roles in planning and facilitating events, activities, games, and presentations. So for them, they're, like, very uplifted to say, hey, you know what? That's another person with a disability just like me. And yet they're being able to put on a very professional and engaging activity. So that in and of itself, has inspired a lot of other people to jump in and say, hey, you know what? I'm also going to host an event. There's a niche thing that I would like to talk about, or there's a game that I would like to host, or perhaps there's something special that's coming up during the year that they would like to facilitate. So those are the success stories that we have. [00:11:30] Speaker A: And it is true that people say, it's a small world, and it feels like it is, I think unless you don't have a lot of friends, and then it becomes a very large world because, you know, who are your friends, and you may not feel comfortable with a lot of people outside of your disability who may not understand, and maybe you're in a particular situation where you only know people without disabilities and you'd like to share stuff. So I get it that there's. It becomes a much smaller world with a platform that you can meet all sorts of people with different, you know, sight disabilities or hearing disabilities for you. [00:12:17] Speaker C: Yeah, we need to take. [00:12:20] Speaker A: Go ahead. [00:12:21] Speaker C: I was going to say, too, like, even like, within the disability community, like, let's say in the realm of vision loss, somebody could have partial vision or could have the same eye condition as you or me. But the thing is, there's different acuity levels, and there's also different backgrounds and contexts for that specific person. So, in other words, not just in the blind community, but in the greater disability community, there is not one cookie cutter person that is identical to the other. And unfortunately, sometimes society does kind of, like, lump us together that way. But this has been a source of strength. This difference has been a source of strength because folks on out of sight have been able to learn, work, and play together based on the fact and realize that not everybody can see or understand as they would. So then it's been actually a learning opportunity for the blind community to work together. And then also when other groups or people with disabilities come on to out of sight to be able to weave that person so that they, too, can feel included and accommodated because it's very easy for me to know how to accommodate a blind person at an event or something online. But if another disability, another person with a disability comes in, let's say it's an intellectual disability, maybe I'm going to need a little bit of schooling and understanding on how to do that, but you're definitely involved in an environment that would be willing to flex and adapt to accommodate anyone. [00:14:09] Speaker A: Excellent. We need to take a short station break and we'll be right back. And you're tuned to KFAI, 90.3 FM, Minneapolis and kfai.org dot. This is disability and progress. I think I like that superhero one, don't you, Charlene? [00:14:33] Speaker B: That's cool. [00:14:34] Speaker A: That was good. I was a superhero today. I donated. So I'm feeling like I can pull out my superhero badge and stick it on here and yeah, I will be in good ranks. So you can too. You can go over and pull out your superhero powers and get on your computer or your phone or your iPad or your Android or whatever it may be. [00:15:02] Speaker B: Or even an old fashioned, or even. [00:15:05] Speaker A: An old fashioned check. Or you can call. We have somebody watching our phones. So 612-375-9030 and you can donate whatever you feel. Is superhero ly possible? Is that a word? Maybe. We're talking with Roger Curry. Roger is part of the out of sight, out dash of Dash site.net party, and he's talking about that platform. Why don't you talk a little bit about, you know, you guys have been around, as you said, for a long time, and while the community, you were probably, you know, one of the early adopters and not many were there, you know, other communities are popping up. So how do you remain different? [00:16:01] Speaker C: Oh, that's a great question. Like constantly reinventing yourself, staying fresh, engaging and welcoming are probably the key concepts that, like, any group or organization has to remember because otherwise you grow old, dull and boring. So the really neat thing is that when you look at, like, the activities, games and presentations that happen on out of sight, you definitely can say to yourself, they're fun and they're engaging. One of the signature things that we do in January is our annual birthday celebration. So we'll kick off the day with some interactive games. You know, we can talk a little bit more about, like, some of the games in a moment or two. But just to let you know that we'll kick the day off with a few of the interactive games, and then the whole afternoon will be filled with live interviews that we're doing with notable newsmakers and movers and shakers in the community regarding the blind. So it could be successful blind people, or it could be people and organizations or companies that are doing something very positive for the blind community. And that yearly event tends to draw a lot of people because then they get to talk to firsthand with a lot of these companies, like, say that. That build and create assistive technology, or maybe they get to talk to people that are authors or that are people who are involved in reading, because a lot of people are into audiobooks or will talk to people that are successful business owners. And yet all of this is underpinned by the fact that they're blind and that they're very successful. So, then again, you, too, can be that as well, by listening and learning from them and whatnot. And, you know, some of the people, some of the notable people like that stand out in my mind that we've interviewed include Ronnie Milsap, which a lot of people may know is a very successful singer. I mean, nowadays, maybe he doesn't sing as much, but he was super, super popular in the eighties, nineties, and early two thousands. And, you know, he talked about his. His career growing up and going to, like, a blind school. Then we also had, like, you know, folks from, you know, Microsoft or folks from, like, other companies that create or do, you know, programming and whatnot for the blind. But the. The main thing is that the creativity really comes from the members themselves, because a lot of people will come up with an event or an activity themselves, and then they will step forward, and then they'll let the board know that, like, hey, I'd like to do this event, and here's what it is. So by constantly inspiring and motivating people, folks are actually stepping forward themselves and offering that spark that keeps things fresh. [00:19:17] Speaker A: Let's talk about the platform that you use. Tell us a little bit about that. [00:19:23] Speaker C: Okay, that's great. Most people are familiar these days with Zoom or, let's say, Google Meet. So these are essentially web conferencing platforms or web conferencing apps. We use something very similar. It's called Team Talk, and it works in the same way that folks will just log in and meet up. And there you go. And then now you're, quote unquote, in, let's say, a virtual room. [00:19:50] Speaker A: Is it team t e a m talk? [00:19:54] Speaker C: Yes. [00:19:54] Speaker A: Okay. [00:19:54] Speaker C: Yes, exactly. It's free. There's no subscription. There's no cost to download it. And the advantage is it is very accessible to people who use screen readers. So people who are blind to be able to access a computer or a mobile device, we use text to speech software, so we call those screen readers. So team Talk is very accessible for screen readers and for people who use magnifications. So those are the two main types of assistive technology that the blind community will use. However, this program was never designed for the blind. This program was never catered for the blind, but it was designed in such a way that it incorporated universal design, which allowed the blind community to very, very easily and quickly take it and adapt it. And also the behind the scenes stuff that, like, you would need to do as an admin person also is accessible to us. So most of the time, apps might be designed for the end user and they're made accessible. But what about the tech team? What about if the tech team needs to do something behind the scenes? Usually apps fall short, and then, you know, someone who is blind or uses a sifted technology can't be the one to run things. And we don't want that. We don't want to have all these barriers in our way. You know, if you're technically minded and you have the skills, you should be able to run a server and run whatever program or whatever you want. And so team talk offers both the best of both of those worlds. So again, we operate out of sight and we use team talk. And then the behind the scenes of, like, you know, accepting memberships. Like, if people want, if somebody wants to become a member, you would go to our website and you just fill out an online form, and we would authorize you in team talk at our server and send you the login credentials. All that is done by people who are blind or low vision. And it's a very neat app. One of the really great selling features, in addition to what I just mentioned, is that it allows us to, to you limit who is talking at what point. And I'm not saying that, like, you know, we're not limiting speech or anything like that. We're just saying right now, because we're on, like, let's say, a virtual platform, usually a lot of people might start talking at the same time, and they sort of talking over top of one another. Well, team talk allows us to say that only one person at a time can. Can have access to the microphone. So if you want to think about it like a walkie talkie or a CB radio, somebody pushes the button on their handset and they're talking, and no one else can really interrupt them until they let go. So that kind of model has been implemented into team talk so that you can press and hold the control key on your keyboard. So you now have the floor. So now you're talking, and then you let go, and then the next person waiting now has access to talk. So, this kind of a model has allowed us to have a very organized and clean running of our games, events, and presentations. [00:23:28] Speaker A: Okay, couple questions there. So, the team talk works on computers, iPhones. What else? [00:23:38] Speaker C: That's right. Computers, iPhones, and Mac computers and Android devices. [00:23:43] Speaker A: Okay. I still got to find out. It should work on blind shell, but that's the newest smartphone that's out. And that is being prompted in regards to a lot of people who don't like the use of an iPhone because it has buttons. So they've switched to the blind shell. So it'll be interesting to see if it works with that. I do have a question about. I think I saw something about music time. Like, you could play music together. How do you do that with this kind of model, then? [00:24:25] Speaker C: Oh, no problem at all. It's the same idea where it'll be one person at a time gets to access the streaming features in team talk. And so, like, people would gather together, and let's say they want to take turns playing some music. So if it's my turn, I go, hey, guys and gals. Yeah. This is a song that I really like. This is the artist, and this is the title. And here's why I really like it. Okay, great. Okay, I'm gonna play it now. And then you hit a couple of keys, and you start streaming the file. And then when I'm done, the next person, like yourself, go, hey, guys, this is Sam. Yeah, I want to play this song. So, again, you. You take turns. [00:25:07] Speaker A: So. But if you're wanting to, like, do a performing piece together, can you do that? [00:25:12] Speaker C: Okay, so if. Yeah, well, let me. Let me just back up. We have a night called on stage where people can perform karaoke tracks of their own, whether they want to do that live or whether they want to pre record it and just stream it at night so people can showcase their talents. However, if both of you are wanting to sing a duet together. No, that cannot. That cannot be done. If you're in separate locations, if you're in the same room together, obviously physically. [00:25:45] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's too bad. But still, you know, a good platform that holds control for each person, I'm sure is very valuable. So, what are some unique features offered by Outofsight.net platform that maybe isn't offered by others? [00:26:13] Speaker C: Yeah. And I just do want to say, too, like, by the way, that it's implemented, like, who can speak? And it kind of has it a little bit organized, actually ensures that everybody's going to be heard, because if you have a room full of, like, 25 or 30 people at an event and everybody is talking over top of each other, you might get drowned out by somebody else who might be a little bit louder. So just having it, like, organized in the way that it's organized ensures you will have a turn and the floor will be yours. You say whatever you want, and then you let go of the control key, or, like, on your smart device, you stop transmitting and then it will go to the next person. But now onto your question about, like, you know, what's offered that's not offered anywhere else. Is that a lot of the, let's say, let's focus in on, let's focus in on some of the games that are offered, because there's a number of games every day that are offered a variety of games, and they would really fall within the category of, like, say, word games, trivia games, or music games. And the thing is, how do you play wheel of Fortune, for example, if you're blind? That's a very visual game. [00:27:29] Speaker A: Yes, it's a good question. [00:27:31] Speaker C: How would you play a card game or a dice game, which are also very, very visual? [00:27:40] Speaker A: You could have accessible dice. [00:27:44] Speaker C: Well, that's what we do. We exactly have an accessible dice rolling program that we use. But the thing is, if you are, let's say, playing a game like Farkle or Yahtzee, where, you know, there's different roles and different types of patterns that you're trying to collect, again, there's another layer of complexity. Now, I personally, I'm never of the opinion where I'm going to say, no, it can't be done. I will never have that mantra. I always will have the mantra of saying, this is what we want to do. Let's get it implemented. And I would really encourage everyone listening in the disability community to always have that mantra. Maybe it might appear to be difficult, but if you really get your creative juices flowing, you can try to find a workaround to get the job done. So for us, what we do is we've taken some of those games and things like that, and we've adapted them to the online community into this virtual room that we keep talking about. So, for example, wheel of Fortune, the host would say, and would be very descriptive and would say things like, the category today is a phrase. It's five words, and then they would describe how many letters are in each of those five words, and they would then spin the wheel. You'd hear the wheel spinning, and you'd hear the value of what comes up. So your team would ask for a letter. Let's say they asked for the letter R, as in Roger. And then the host would tell you, starting from the first word, going all the way to the fifth word, where the occurrences are, where you'd find the letter R. So people can either try to memorize where the r's or where the rest of the letters are. Some people will braille it out. Some people will use their computer. So there's. So everybody has their own way of trying to internalize and digest the information. And that's how we've adapted a game like Wheel of Fortune. But we also play trivia games, too, which is essentially like you're being asked a question and your team has to come up with an answer. Or for example, a game like Jeopardy. Where you have different categories and there's different amounts. So people will, you know, be described the board and how many categories and how many questions and the values on that board. And then as you're playing along, people may say, okay, well, like, if they're not, like, keeping track of it themselves, they'll ask the host, okay, so what's left in, let's say, potpourri? I want to get a question from Potpourri. So everything is described, but it's not verbose. You're not going to get drowned with information. So that's kind of the way we've implemented some of these fun games and. [00:30:43] Speaker A: Activities, looking for those superheroes out there. Charlene, gotta do that pledge thing. 612-375-9030 or kfai.org. And pledge what you can afford and then stay. Stick your superhero cape on. Helps us bring the. All the stuff that we bring to you through the year on everything from cancer to strokes to heart attacks to colonoscopies. Colonoscopies, which are coming up and out of sight and different dog stories, guide dog stuff or helping paws and things like that. 612-375-9030 or kfai.org. And we're with Roger Curry, and Roger's talking about the outofsight.net that he is involved with. And Roger, I'm curious because I think now especially, can be really a little bit daunting about ensuring safety and security. And I'm wondering how out of sight ensures safety and security, especially some, you know, we were talking about some people with disabilities could be vulnerable people with intellectual disabilities, how do you guys make sure things are safe and secure there? [00:32:09] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, that's a great question because definitely we want to have a safe environment online, myself included, does not want to be, you know, for example, bullied or taken advantage of and things like that. So we do have a code of conduct, and when people come to the out of site website and want to become members, there is a code of contact that we ask people to abide by. And if something is observed online, that we will address it, or the board will be made aware of it and look into it. Or if a person feels very uncomfortable by something, they can also reach out to our board. So we got those mechanisms in place. [00:32:52] Speaker A: And, you know, we have touched on a little bit of this as the technology that has helped you do this. But I'm wondering, you know, how, if you can elaborate a little bit on the role of technology that has helped empower individuals with disabilities and how out of sight contributes to this mission. [00:33:14] Speaker C: Oh, that's actually a brilliant question, because you know what? Like, I can honestly tell you that I feel that I'm a more stronger and independent blind person as a result of being involved with this online community. I think it was probably around, say, 2011, 2012, when I joined somewhere in that range. And a lot of things all of a sudden became possible that I never thought were possible for the blind community. You know, there were folks that were meeting online, and they were talking about their iPhones. They were talking about different apps and how they use their iPhones. And I remember a time when the iPhone was the absolute rave all over the world. And when a friend of mine came over and was visiting from out of town, and he wanted me to plug in his iPhone so it could charge. I'm like, oh, let me feel this phone here and see what the big rave is about. What's the big WHOOP de do about this phone? And I touched the screen, and I'm like, ah, this is no good for blind people, whatever. And I just shrugged it off. I didn't think that I'd be ever able to use something like that. How could they be so foolish to design a device that I couldn't even use? What a waste. And I just said, okay, whatever. And then on out of sight, and there's blind people talking about the iPhone. I'm like, how are you guys using this phone? Like, is there something that I don't know about? Like, do buttons pop up off the screen or what? And then folks started telling me that by using different gestures with your fingers on the screen is how you control what you want to be spoken or what you want to do. And I'm like, wow, that's just completely mind blowing that there is another way, that there is something that's been built in that has included the blind community. Like, wow, that's so innovative. So they completely changed my mind. They made me feel like that a lot of this technology now is at my fingertips so that I could start using apps on the go. I could start using the calendar and checking my email and become more versatile and independent with that device and with other devices, too. So, for example, you had a lot of people that were very smart and clever as it related to different apps on the computer or whether they were programmers or whether they were web developers. And again, I'm like, okay, but how do you do that? What environment are you using to code or to test something to become? And then they're just like, oh, and here's how you do it. So, again, they made that world possible. And, you know, for me, I don't want any blind person to be left behind because there's so much opportunity that has opened up as a result of technology and the Internet. But at the same time, there's some challenges, because not everything with technology, not everything with the Internet is accessible. But that's when we have to put on our advocacy hats. And through, like, helping one another build our self confidence and our self esteem, we can approach different organizations or businesses or companies or websites and say, you know, hey, I'm a blind user. I have a disability. I'd like to take advantage of your resources or your. Whatever would you consider? And then, you know, here's how to, you know, make it a little bit more accessible and whatnot. [00:36:56] Speaker A: Charlene, you had a question about future stuff. [00:37:00] Speaker B: So what exciting things are in the future for you guys? [00:37:05] Speaker C: Hey, that's a great question. That's a great question. Every day, every week, to me, is exciting because of the group of people that you're going to meet, whether it's like, say something in the morning, like you're meeting up with folks just to chit chat, or whether you're going to Bible study, whether you're going to the book club and you're discussing, you know, all the. All the novels that you're going to be chatting about or reading about, or whether you're going to our tech sessions, about learning about technology, whether you're going to any of our games or whether you're going to any of the upcoming, like, you know, special events that might happen. Now, let me think here. So this is April. So what we have coming up over the summer are special games and events that are in the works where people are going to be, you know, stepping forward to introduce new things that they've been thinking of. Now, I don't know exactly, because they haven't really been unveiled yet, but I'm super excited because I know that when people step forward and they want to do something that's near and dear and close to their heart, whether it's a special topic they want to present about or whether it's something that they want to, you know, start up, I'm like, hey, this is something cool. Something, something fresh, something new for everyone to check out. [00:38:36] Speaker A: Cool. Well, I wonder. I mean, it sounds like out of sight has helped you a lot. And your outlook, personally? [00:38:48] Speaker C: Oh, absolutely. Oh, and there's no doubt about it. And you know what? Like, I've. I've seen the growth in myself to become more stronger, independent, and to continue to have that hunger to learn about new technology, new resources, and new strategies. And I see that as well with other people that join with us. So the analogy that I like to give people is that we're a group of lions, but very friendly lions, not the kind of lions, you know, that want to destroy or fight, but just very strong people, very, very positive, cooperative, collaborative people. And if you feel, well, I'm not really a lion, I'm not going to really fit in. The thing is, whether you're a lamb, right, or whatever, when you come and you're rubbing elbows with lions, you, too will get beefed up to become a lion yourself. And the reason why I say that is because sometimes people with disabilities, because of systemic discrimination, or because of, like, life situations have been beat down by the world, by others, by family, by situations, by work discrimination, or what have you. So that's gonna put, like, you in a tough spot. That's gonna really hurt your self esteem, your self worth, your self confidence. But when you're around these other lions who are taking the bull by the horn and saying, yeah, you know what? I don't care. So what if I'm blind? Big deal, I'm doing this, this and this and this, that can serve as a source of inspiration and maybe even a little bit of motivation to uplift the person that might be struggling. And I've seen that, like, happen time and time again where people's self confidence, where they're very introverted, they're shy, they're scared, they've actually been built up and strengthened, to step forward, to take on the world or to take on, say, new tasks out of sight. [00:40:59] Speaker A: So how can individuals who are interested in joining or supporting out of site.net get involved or contribute? [00:41:08] Speaker C: Oh, great question. So first things first is go to our website. Triple w, dot out Dash of and site is s I g h t. I'll give it one more time. Triple w out Dash of dash site.net. You can fill out the online form to become a new member. The information will be emailed to you of how to download or the link where to download teamtalk, and there's instructions on how to use it. But best of all, we're not just basically throwing you in the middle of an ocean saying, okay, well, there you go. Have fun. Have at it. Have a welcoming committee where we have members who will reach out to you and say, oh, that's, oh, hi, Sam. You know, just, just saw that you registered to out of site. You know, my name is Roger and I'd be happy to help you work through, like, understanding a little bit more about team talk or downloading it or helping you get on the site and taking you for a tour so that you have somebody one on one if you need it, if you want it, to help get you acclimated and maybe even talk to you about like, what the site is and whatnot. And, and then maybe, you know, you get to get a feel for what's happening because maybe your, you know, perspective might be, hey, you know what? I play a musical instrument or I sing a song. Going to your on stage eventually to perform in your virtual, on your virtual stage appeals to me. Or some people say, well, you know what, I'm not really into, you know, music or word games or anything like that. I just want to get on here and just chat with people or maybe go to some of the specialty events like the book club or the Bible study. So having that person from the welcome committee help you out gets you just one step further forward. And it, and it's not going to take a long time. When you go and register, you'll get your information. Our system will automatically send it to you. So you're not like waiting hours and hours for your info. [00:43:20] Speaker A: I wonder, are there any technologies that your platform or you as a group are specifically staying away from? [00:43:31] Speaker C: No, not that I can think of. Like, I mean, there's so much out there like that. That's a toughy type of a question. But for me, I cannot honestly think of anything. [00:43:43] Speaker A: No, we need to take one more station break. And while we are doing that. We hope that you will decide to put on your superhero shoes this time. You can have the shoes instead of the cape and run to your superhero device and pledge what you can afford. 612-375-9030 or kfai.org dot. Thank you, Charlene. You are tuned to KFai 90.3 fmminneapolis and kfai.org, which is where you can contribute and show us the love. This week and next week are your weeks that we will be looking at. Hopefully, you will be supporting us and showing us that you value this program and remembering that just like, well, just like out of sight, we keep communities connected. We try to connect all communities. So by bringing you different things on all sorts of topics pertaining to disabilities, it's sort of an educational thing, right, Charlene? [00:44:53] Speaker B: Yeah, it is. And you know what? It's been going on for over 20 years. [00:44:59] Speaker A: It sure has a little bit. It's changed names, but the views are the same. It's all on disability topics. We are here with Roger Curry, and Roger is talking about outofsight.net dot. Roger, is there anything else you want to share with us? [00:45:18] Speaker C: Hey, that's a great question, Sam. I just want people to realize that while a lot of what I've been saying, like, throughout this hour is related to the blind community, I don't want people to think that this is not just for the blind community. Like, we're not just sitting there only talking about, like, blind related things. Right? We're not here to. Oh, did you get your braille book? Or what about that state and stylist or. You know what I mean? Something like that. We're just regular, ordinary people, and everyone in the disability community should always feel that as well. You know, there's folks that go to our cooking event that want to talk about trading recipes. There's folks that want to talk politics or want to talk about. Yeah, like, like any, anything under the sun is the kinds of things that you can find on out of sight, especially for people who find themselves new to the disability community. Because, like, a lot of people assume that, like, I've been blind my whole life, which is not the case, and that there's. There's situations that happen where there could be an accident, there could be a disease, there could be something hereditary that people end up losing their vision or some of their vision later in life. Obviously, it's easier for somebody who's blind since birth to be used to it and to adapt and things like that. But there's people that are just like sort of brand new to it and they need an outlet to rub elbows with others, you know, like, hey, you know, I've just cooked some hot dogs. How do I put the condiments on the hot dog without making a mess of my shirt and the counter? [00:47:04] Speaker B: Good luck with that. [00:47:06] Speaker C: Well, there you go. But there's strategies of, like, us other veterans of that have been blind that have done that. We've come up with strategies. Or there's people that are like, hey, you know what? I want to use my barbecue. I used to be able to cook a steak. Now I can't cook a steak. And I'm like, but why? The barbecue is not going to mind whether you're blind or not. [00:47:27] Speaker A: That's true. [00:47:27] Speaker C: You cook a steak. This is how to cook a steak. You know what I mean? So yes, we do talk about things that might be specific to blind people, but it's not only about just the blind, you know, it's, it's just everyday things and everyday people getting together to learn from one another and also to like, enjoy one another's camaraderie. [00:47:49] Speaker A: So you must post a event or schedule what's getting talked about or played or whatever every day. [00:47:59] Speaker C: That's right, that's right. Right on the website. When you go to the website to like, you know, apply for a membership, there is an event schedule on the website and we also will email it out the previous day. So it's called what's happening? And it gets emailed out the night before to tell you all the events and activities that are coming up the following day or if there's any special events, they're also promoted in there as well that might be coming up, you know, like down the road or whatnot. [00:48:30] Speaker A: If you pre register to do this on your phone, can you switch off and do it on your computer whenever you feel like it or do you have to download platforms on both things? [00:48:42] Speaker C: Yeah, there's an app that runs on both the pc and the mobile devices. So, you know, it's just kind of like, let's say Outlook. You can run outlook on your computer and you can run outlook on your mobile device, but you would have to download outlook onto your mobile device. So same thing with team talk. You can, you can have them on both devices, but the system only allows you to log in once. So let's say you're on your computer, right? You're like, oh, heck, look at the time. I gotta run. See you guys later. I'll talk to you when I get on the, on the bus, which is what I've done. So I'll log off my computer and then go run like a wild guy down the street to the bus stop, jump on the city bus, and then log in. Hey, guys, I'm back. So, you know, basically, people are traveling with me, or you can do that vice versa. [00:49:30] Speaker A: Right. Well, Roger, thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate you sharing this with us. And I suppose, Charlene, we're gonna have to try this. [00:49:40] Speaker B: I suppose we will. [00:49:42] Speaker C: Hey, there's no excuse. There's no excuse why not to, like, come on in. You'll have a lot of fun. You'll learn a few things along the way, too, and we'll be happy to have the both of you. Thank you so much for the opportunity to be on your program and to chat with you and your lovely audience. [00:49:57] Speaker A: Thank you, Roger. We really appreciate it. And good luck, and I hope, do you have any idea how many members you have? [00:50:05] Speaker C: Oh, that's a great question. In our database, I think someone was talking about, like, in the neighborhood, like, just on record, there's about a thousand. [00:50:18] Speaker A: Okay. [00:50:18] Speaker C: But not. Not all thousand people, you know, show up. I want to be fair because I don't want to sit there, say, oh, we got thousands and thousands, just like, you guys have, like, 1.2 million listeners, you know, I don't know. Right. You could have a lot out there that we don't know. [00:50:34] Speaker A: That's true. [00:50:35] Speaker B: That is, we're on the web all, all over the world, so there you go. [00:50:40] Speaker C: But I would say that on an average day, at an average event, right, because there's multiple events that happen in the daytime. So you might have, like, maybe five or ten people show up in a virtual room or many of our, like, popular events, like our birthday or our auction or our special presentations, there could be 60 to 75 people. But on an average day, you know, like, going to, like, a music game or a word game, there could be anywhere between 15 to 30 people at the event. [00:51:12] Speaker A: Great. Well, thank you so much. We really appreciate it. Go to out dash of dash site.net to experience this. And thank you again, roger, good luck. [00:51:24] Speaker C: My pleasure. Thank you. [00:51:26] Speaker A: Bye bye. And we are going to give you a couple more minutes to run to your phone or device and call 612-375-9030 or go to kfai.org. Hey, they're calling now and. And pledge. And you've been listening to disability and progress, where not every view expressed on this show is of KFAI or sport of directors, but they might be yours. This has been KFAI 90.3 fm. Still is.org, kfai.org. And we welcome your pledge 612 or kfai.org. Tonight we were speaking with Roger Curry, who was talking about out of site.net dot. My name is Sam. I'm the host of the show. Thanks so much for tuning in. Charlene Dahl is my research person and VR person. Thank you, Erin, for my podcasting and thank you for listening, everyone. Good night.