Month: July 2025

In this candid episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan speaks with her 13-year collaborator and friend Aaron Di Blasi — engineer-turned-publisher and founder of Mind Vault Solutions — about his path from a Tandy computer fascination at age seven, through a career-shaping battle with chronic kidney stones, to becoming a leading curator of disability-focused news. Di Blasi explains how a chance encounter with accessibility champion Larry Lewis drew him into the blind community and inspired Mind Vault’s “serve the few perfectly” ethos, which now powers the globally read newsletters Top Tech Tidbits, Access Information News, AI-Weekly and Title II Today. He shares the philosophy behind financing these outlets through industry sponsorships rather than community donations, and outlines how his PMP discipline and small virtual team keep projects on track while embedding ADA, WCAG and Section 508 compliance from day one.

In this engaging episode of Remarkable World Commentary, host Donna J. Jodhan sits down with North-Carolina Braille teacher Veronica Puente, who opens by reaffirming her mantra that “Braille is literacy, and literacy is a human right.” She explains how true tactile literacy underpins everything from writing emails to reading elevator signs and is therefore non-negotiable for independence. Veronica recounts her own journey — from first-generation college student and aspiring diplomat to Master’s-trained Teacher of the Visually Impaired — describing the volunteer experience with a neglected elementary student that redirected her path into the classroom. Today at Governor Morehead School she tailors instruction with Perkins Braillers, Braille-Legos and double-spaced flash-cards, making literacy accessible even for learners with additional intellectual or tactile challenges.

In this engaging episode of Remarkable World Commentary, host Donna J. Jodhan sits down with Toronto educator Shannon Greene — one of the founding teachers at The Grove Community School — to revisit a classroom activism story that helped shape Canadian accessibility law. Greene recalls how her six-year-olds read a newspaper article about Jodhan’s 2010 Charter-rights lawsuit and spontaneously wrote heartfelt letters urging Prime Minister Stephen Harper to drop the government’s appeal, a campaign that taught them the “real-world power of kids’ civic voices”. Their exchange also highlights the inquiry-based lessons that flowed from that moment, from questioning how a blind advocate navigates the world to mounting a tactile art gallery that welcomed Jodhan into the classroom.

In this engaging episode of Remarkable World Commentary, host Donna J. Jodhan sits down with Kerianne Wilson—Air Canada’s point-person for customer accessibility—to explore how Canada’s flag carrier is translating policy into practice for travelers with disabilities. Donna opens by recounting her own advocacy journey before welcoming Kerianne and asking why Air Canada chose to be the first North American airline to roll out the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower program; Kerianne explains how the simple green-and-yellow lanyard quietly signals that a customer may need extra patience, easing anxiety for families and solo flyers alike.

In this engaging episode of Remarkable World Commentary, host Donna J. Jodhan sits down with Patrick Long, co-founder of the accessible-commerce start-up Innosearch, to explore how the company is “shaking up the landscape.” Long explains that Innosearch’s new strategic alliance embeds the service directly inside the Be My Eyes app, giving blind and low-vision shoppers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia a friction-free portal with 2% cash-back on every purchase. To reach users who prefer the phone, Innosearch has also launched the 24/7 hotline 1-855-SHOP-GPT, and its interface is purposely stripped down so that everyone — from screen-reader power users to newcomers — can search, compare and return products with minimal keystrokes.