Month: October 2025

In this insightful episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan sits down with global advocate Diane Bergeron to trace a life shaped by retinitis pigmentosa, guide dogs, and a tireless commitment to system change. Diane explains how losing vision by her mid thirties taught her that no one accommodation fits everyone, and how working with guide dogs sharpened a leadership style that sets the destination while inviting the team to chart the route. She connects early municipal work in Edmonton to provincial advising and national advocacy, then to a global dashboard through the World Blind Union, where she confronted stark regional contrasts in funding, women’s equity, and youth leadership. Listeners also meet Lucy, the sock-stealing guide dog who turned packing into a comic ritual, and the story becomes a doorway into Diane’s larger message about preparation, resilience, and grace under pressure.

In this wide-ranging episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan welcomes “Charter-challenge champion” David Baker for a candid tour of modern equality law’s past, present, and future. Baker recalls the phone call that launched Donna’s landmark case and traces his own origin story, from launching Canada’s first legal aid clinic inside a psychiatric hospital as a law student, to early public-interest work with Ralph Nader, to the coalition-building that helped entrench disability in Ontario’s Human Rights Code and the Canadian Charter. He explains how his graduate work informed early Section 15 strategy, demystifies the shift from formal to substantive equality with a simple “stairs vs. access” example, and describes today’s CRPD-inspired “inclusive model of equality,” noting he has just filed a first Canadian case grounded in it.

In this inspiring episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan sits down with Cathy Nyfors of the Vancouver Airport Authority to explore how YVR’s non-share-capital governance keeps the community, and accessibility, at the center of every decision. Nyfors walks through the airport’s co-created “Beyond Accessibility” roadmap and the philosophy of designing with lived experience: adult-size change benches and a new assisted changing place with an overhead lift; quiet/low-stim spaces; expanded tactile/Braille wayfinding; animal-relief areas; and even a yoga room. She explains how YVR’s real-time “digital twin” helps teams make data-driven improvements, right down to tracking loaner wheelchairs so they’re easy to find, while long-running partnerships like rehearsal tours with the Canucks Autism Network, a discreet sunflower identifier for non-visible disabilities, and the inclusive Paper Planes café (which trains neurodivergent adults) embody a human-centered approach.

In this inspiring episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan sits down with community sport builder Alan Ma, widely credited with introducing blind and low-vision tennis to Canada, to trace how a brief BBC clip sparked a national movement. Alan recounts two years of knock-backs before a local church opened its doors, the values-first volunteer culture that kept the program resilient, and the eventual creation of Change Through Sport to house Toronto Blind Tennis alongside Rexdale Volleyball. He and Donna explore the nuts and bolts of sustainability, from $11 audio balls sourced from Japan to partnerships with the TDSB that secure accessible gym space, always with the goal of turning sport into a welcoming, barrier-busting community hub.

In this wide-ranging episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan welcomes longtime friend and mentor Dr. Leo Bissonnette for a sweeping conversation about braille, family advocacy, and the craft of inclusion. Bissonnette traces how learning braille in Grade 3 and his mother’s quiet, relentless problem-solving, securing a Perkins, scouring “Recordings for the Blind” catalogs, recruiting relatives to tape textbooks, even arranging weekly typing lessons, built the confidence and tools that carried him from student to sociology lecturer. He recalls early teaching years powered by human readers and five-by-eight braille index cards, the shift to digital files that let him grade independently, and the enduring value of a “toolbox” that mixes low-tech standbys with iPhones and modern braille displays.

In this candid, forward-looking episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan welcomes longtime friend and mentor Larry L. Lewis, Jr., tracing his path from the “Olympic-sized pool” of CSUN 1998 to helping bring the BrailleNote to market at HumanWare, leading sales at Optelec, founding Flying Blind and publishing Top Tech Tidbits, shaping Section 508 mobile testing at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and now guiding a roughly forty-person accessibility team as Senior Lead Technologist at Booz Allen Hamilton. Larry explains how his dual grounding in English and blind rehabilitation forged a communication-first approach, recalls the breakthrough of internet browsing on the BrailleNote that unlocked Bookshare and NLS for readers, and revisits personal moments—from teaching Donna her first iPhone to opening professional doors—that anchor their decades-long mentorship.

In this deeply practical and compassionate episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan sits down with productivity catalyst and inclusivity advocate Clare Kumar to explore how inclusion and performance rise together when we design “hospitable containers” for work and life. Clare traces her journey through chronic illness and an autism diagnosis to the insight that “productivity is personal,” unpacks her Productivity CPR framework, and introduces “neurological safety” as the conditions that let our nervous systems relax so we can contribute at our best. The conversation gets concrete fast: negotiating shared home spaces, using close-miked headsets to curb noise, and taming light with warmer tones and screen dimming, all toward values-aligned, sustainable focus. Donna and Clare also chart the evolution of the Happy Space® Podcast from “where productivity meets inclusivity” to “where inclusion meets design,” underscoring why agendas, movement options, and participant agency are simple design choices that change how meetings feel.

In this timely episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan zeroes in on the persistent problem of unaffordable access technology. She explains how high prices keep essential tools out of reach for the very people who need them most, including seniors and those who feel technically shy, which in turn shuts them out of everyday online activities such as banking, travel, and shopping.

In this thoughtful episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan examines what she calls “the self checkout sword”, a double edged shift in retail in which companies cut costs by installing self checkout kiosks while people who rely on cashier roles lose vital income. She asks who benefits and who is left out, and she urges listeners to weigh convenience and savings against the human and social costs.