🎙️ Listen to this Podcast.
In this uplifting episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan sits down with Carol Trapani to explore the “why” behind ConnectAlt, a community-driven, fully accessible hub designed to help blind and low-vision people quickly find events, programs, and resources in one place. Carol shares how the idea grew out of her family’s lived experience as the mother of Lucy (born blind and determined to do everything), and the frustration of having to hunt across countless separate calendars and websites, an insight validated through extensive conversations with the community. She also describes the platform’s early momentum, including its launch at the National Federation of the Blind convention in New Orleans, where strong sign-ups and real stories of connection underscored just how needed this kind of central resource is.
Donna then digs into what makes ConnectAlt practical and trustworthy: searchable listings by topic/date/location and virtual vs. in-person, streamlining tools like adding events directly to a user’s personal calendar, and experiments (still in progress) around AI-driven assistance and voice workflows. Carol also walks through the realities of sustainability, keeping the service free to users while exploring sponsorship models that avoid clutter and distractions, and explains how the team prioritizes quality control by building direct relationships with organizations and updating listings on a reliable cadence. The conversation ends with an open invitation for listeners to sign up, contribute resources, and support the mission, plus a hopeful note about planning a future in-person meetup in Toronto.
TRANSCRIPT
Podcast Commentator: Greetings.
Podcast Commentator: Donna J Jodhan, LLB, ACSP and MBA invites you to listen to her biweekly podcast, Remarkable World Commentary. Here, Donna shares some of her innermost thoughts, insights, perspectives, and more with her listeners. Donna focuses on topics that directly affect the future of kids, especially kids with disabilities. Donna is a blind advocate, author, site loss coach, dinner mystery producer, writer, entrepreneur, law graduate, and podcast commentator. She has decades of lived experiences, knowledge, skills, and expertise in access technology and information as someone who has been internationally recognized for her work and roles, she just wants to make things better than possible.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary. I’m Donna Johnson, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, touch and stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments, as in November 2010, I won the Landmark Charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites accessible to every Canadian, not just to sighted ones. And in July of 2019, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act with more than two dozen disability groups to return equal access into federal law. And most recently, on June 3rd, 2022, I was greatly humbled. Humbled by Her Late Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers. When I’m not in a courtroom or in a committee room or a pottery studio, you’ll find me coaching kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles one goal to turn accessibility from afterthought into daily practice. I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench where policy meets live. Sorry, where policy policy meets lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today’s conversation, let me shine a spotlight on today’s guest, a change maker whose work is every bit as remarkable as the world that we are trying to build. And I am very, very pleased to welcome Carol Trapani. I hope I’m pronouncing your name correctly.
Carol Trapani: Yes you are.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay. Welcome, Carol.
Carol Trapani: Thank you. Thank you so much, Donna. I’m really happy to be here.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: So, Carol, let’s kick things off. And I’d love to start with your first spell. Why? Okay. When did you first razaleigh’s. When did you first realize, sorry, that the blind and low vision community needed a single, accessible place to find events, programs, and resources? And what moment turned that realization into ConnectAlt.
Carol Trapani: Okay, so I’m the mother of a blind daughter. My daughter Lucy was born blind. She’s had several, many corneal transplantation surgeries, and right now has just a little bit of vision in one eye. Not really functional vision, but but she’s not all in the dark, just a little bit in her her left eye. And as Lucy is, she wanted, wants to do everything. And so she she said, mom, I want to be an actress and I want to be a writer. And so as a mother, you know, as, as you are aware, like teaching someone who’s blind and with all of your amazing degrees that you have. Donna, it’s Wow. It’s amazing. And kudos. I’m inspired every day when I meet people like you that have walked this earth without vision and have just been so successful, and Lucy was one of those very determined and driven. So I sought out to find blind acting for her. And it took a while to find a person who is also blind that teaches acting for the blind. She and I sought her out through the internet and then through another connection, and I finally reached her. And and so I also as trying to find different other things for Lucy that are more practical for her computer skills or things of that nature.
Carol Trapani: I found it was very hard to go to. There’s so many available resources and so many wonderful organizations, particularly in the US. There’s, I think 2500 in US and Canada that support the blind, but everyone has stuff on their site and a calendar. And so it was very difficult for a sighted person to navigate and to find things for Lucy if she was available that day, where it was, if it was in person, if it was virtual. And so this was a problem that I addressed as a mom. But Lucy’s really the brainchild of this. She had in a book she wrote and published, she wanted to create a social network for the blind and low vision in the book. And so she sought after that. She’s very social. But at an entrepreneurial program for San Diego State, she submitted the idea. We went through this interviewing process of over 100 people in the space or that are blind with low vision, and really what came out was what the mom was struggling with me, which was really being connected to resources, events and programs. And through our journey of this, we found so many amazing things that are available for people who are blind that you wouldn’t think a blind person could surf or rock, climb or ski.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right?
Carol Trapani: Right. But anyway, we’re learning a lot, and we’ve I think the turning point for me, Donna of Wow was we did a soft launch of the site, which Lucy and her best friend Ella created at the San Diego State Launch Pad, the Entrepreneur program. It’s completely accessible. We’ve been working with all the organizations for the blind to and getting their input as we put it together, but we launched at the National Federation of the blind conference in New Orleans in July, and that just one on one conversations we had with we signed up over 350 people that there are only a thousand people attended the event. It was everyone. Please encouraged us. Please keep this up. We really need this. It’s so great. And one gal came up to us the next day who had was from a small town in Nebraska, and she said, I don’t have any resources close to me. But last night I signed up for a yoga class at The Lighthouse, San Francisco on virtual, and I met three people. She was so thrilled. Wow. It was. It really saw the whole thing in motion.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You know, the name Lucy, I think suits your daughter, Lucy. And I hope to God that one day I get to meet this young lady. But how was her name chosen?
Carol Trapani: Well you know, nothing’s nothing’s a coincidence. I believe in this world, but my grandmother was named Lucy. And so I have a son who’s Luke. And my son. Lucy’s brother is three years older than her, and he sought out to become an ophthalmologist. And he’s graduated from medical school, and he’s become an eye doctor for his because of his sister. And I wanted to name her Lucy, but my husband, Lucy’s dad was like, oh, Luke and Lucy. That’s too cutesy. So anyway, when Lucy was born, he looked at her and he said, She’s Lucy. And we found out she was blind and Saint Lucy, I don’t know if you were aware, but Saint Lucy is the patron saint for vision. And so it was just all really meant to be.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay, now, as a blind host who often has to hunt across dozens of sites for information, I feel the fragmentation every single week in plain language. How does ConnectAlt reduce that friction for someone like me? Searching for opportunities by topic, date, location, or online and in person? Yes.
Carol Trapani: So when you go on ConnectAlt you can search by all of those categories. So if you are interested in sports soccer, it would show where we’re at. Adding more to the site every day as we’re meeting with individuals on zooms that have these organizations that support the blind, and then people are introducing us. It’s just been really wonderful. But we’ve you can you can search by date. So this past Saturday, Lucy and I had a booth at Wayfinders Christmas Carnival, and it was really beautiful. Stevie Wonder’s foundation gave away a scholarship to a young girl who’s also a go getter like you and Lucy.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh.
Carol Trapani: And we At the event, I was able to show everyone out today. Today’s the carnival, and there’s a soccer soccer program, blind soccer program in Los Angeles. And that night, there was a tech group that was meeting online. So there were a few folks there that had signed up for the tech online thing. There were a couple of techie blind techie people there that had interest in meeting other people. So anyway, it does, it does. That’s the goal is really to hopefully have as much as possible where someone can say, oh, I’m free, I’d like to do yoga, or I’d like to try to work on my fitness, or I’d like to work on a my professional resume. And then you can connect with the blind professional organization. Or you can connect with Braille Institute does resumes and they have different topics that they do throughout the year for job finding and job preparation, if you will. So that’s really the goal is to make it really easy for, for the parents as well. But as a person with low vision or blind to be able to get on the site and connect with their community.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And I think it would benefit those, especially who live in remote areas. Right? Yes. Yeah.
Carol Trapani: Yes.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Clip. Alt is a family powered venture with Lucy and Ella. Okay, yes. From my seat. Lived experience often sharpens products decisions. And how does Lucy’s perspective and Ella’s media stop’s skills shape the platform’s voice, feature priorities and community standards?
Carol Trapani: So I would say that this is a wonderful question because I think Lucy, Ella and I really do have three different perspectives. So Ella is my godchild, and she and Lucy have known each other since Ella was born. Lucy’s a few months older than Ella and Ella’s perspective, and I’ve heard her share this. Is that she doesn’t know anyone else who’s blind but Lucy, that she has introduced Lucy to so many of her friends and acquaintances, and she gets a perspective of how intimidated maybe someone is that has never met someone who’s blind. And and how they act or react in their connecting with Lucy. And then the biggest thing for Ella is the surprise when they hear that Lucy is a published author and she’s a scriptwriter, and she created a website and she’s traveled around. And so Ella has shared the joy that she gets by being able to introduce other people, sighted individuals on to introduce them to someone like Lucy and introduce them to what? And I believe my perspective of being Lucy’s mother as well is I’m always trying to challenge her. I don’t want her to be limited by her sight. I don’t want her to be limited at all. And so you know, I, I, I tend to, you know, try to stretch your boundaries a bit. Although she’s stretching them further than I. But I can tell you to Donna, when I close my eyes and try to, to do something, I go oh. Why was I so, so tough on Lucy about being messy? I think I just missed my mouth, so.
Carol Trapani: Oh, lovely.
Carol Trapani: So I think our goal as we we’ve been it’s been so wonderful to be able to connect with CEOs of organizations that support the blind. Troy with AIA. Ira has been so generous with his time and his organization and helping us. And so we are able, I think, to in just grassroots and speaking to community members as well as people who support the community, really understand kind of what the priorities should be, and really trying to create a site that takes away a lot of the angst that someone may have, you know, trying to sign up for an event or find an event or find find their their people, if you will, that have, you know, an interest in something that they may have or a goal. And so I think our job really is these one on one zooms we’re doing with organizations. And we would encourage anyone who’s listening to your program to please email us any thing that they think we should have on our site, or please send the site out to users that they think may benefit. But, you know, I think this is a community platform. So we certainly want to keep enriching the site with great content and then great individuals to engage.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I think this is a marvelous, marvelous initiative. And, you know, like I wish somebody had thought about this long before, but nothing before. It’s time, you know. Right, right. I really I really think it is.
Carol Trapani: Right. It’s it’s a bit of a labor of love. I can share that because it is pretty, you know, pretty time intense in getting the content. Yeah. The girls did a really good site, and we’re doing a lot of grassroot exposure. So, like, Lucy and I were at the Wayfinder event this weekend, and it’s very joyful because we get to talk to to people and parents and because it won the this founder of Be My Eyes said something to me, Donna, that it had not occurred to me, which is silly based on I’m the mother of a blind child. But he said blindness is a family affair, and it certainly is. The whole family gets involved in helping support, you know, if you’re if you’re fortunate to have family support, not everybody in the world is whether or not. But but to have that family interaction for a blind individual is, is an important thing. And, and so we were able to speak to families at this event this weekend. And anyway, I felt very we felt very fortunate to be invited and, and we did pick up some information of people that were struggling with certain things that were going to try to help solve.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Lovely. You exhibited at the National Federation of the Blind convention in New Orleans. What did you learn at NFB 2025 about needs, about language and trust that change or validated connect alts roadmap?
Carol Trapani: Well, I can tell you that at that event, I mean, I, I was just blown away by the individuals that I met, the inspiring stories that we heard we were validated by everyone that came up to our table and signed there, signed up. But I can share a story. There was a gentleman that we were about to shut everything down. We had because I’m from New Orleans, so I live in we live in California, but I have a big my whole family is there. So I had a lot of support there. And we had a snowball machine and we had beignets in the morning. So we were meeting people through food like you do in New Orleans. And we’re about to wrap up. It was the last day, and this gentleman wheels up to our table and his name was Shaquille. And he says that I said, your dad must have named you that name. And he said, yes, because Shaquille O’Neal was his, his favorite basketball player or whatever. And he wheeled up to the chair and table and he said, my name is Shaquille. No sight, no legs, no problem.
Carol Trapani: No, God put.
Carol Trapani: Me here to inspire people. And he was a motivational speaker and he said this, your site is something that is going to allow. He lived in Alaska, so he flew to New Orleans alone, with no legs, in a wheelchair and blind. Wow. And he’s a motivational speaker. And he he I mean, I was in tears hearing his story, but he turned that around, and he said, this is something that I need. I’m in Alaska, so if I can sign up for something virtual that I wasn’t even aware of and then I can connect with people and even help improve his own craft. Of speaking he he took a bunch of our little NFC tags with him that connect to the site, and he ended the event for us in a big way.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Wow. That must have been really, really moving. I think I would be in tears myself.
Carol Trapani: I was Donna.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah, yeah. Now, many platforms say that they are accessible. But the some details matter.
Carol Trapani: Yes they do.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Could you walk me through specific choice like skip link, keyboard flow headings and screen reader cues that you have implemented and what you still want to test or audit against wcaG?
Carol Trapani: Yes.
Carol Trapani: So Ella, Ella and Lucy really worked with the team at San Diego State in the lab to work on the site, creating the site with a lot of help. Lucy had, I would say she’s not as tech savvy. Lucy isn’t. She’s more of a social person, but she had a half a dozen friends who are very tech savvy. In fact, a couple were teachers. When she attended the California School for the blind, there was a few of us. One was a blind person who was the tech, person at the school. And so and then the Braille Institute was very helpful as well in reviewing our site and making recommendations. So Lucy’s team they would put the site together, they’d get feedback, they’d go back to the drawing board and they’d continue to try to improve it. The, the one thing that we have tried, and we had to take it off the site because it wasn’t working. But it is a goal. And I think we’re going to get there is we we worked with the brilliant folks at Infosearch and they and they put together AI on our site, but it wasn’t drawing from our site. So if you went if you asked AI on our site for yoga class in your area, for example, it would pull, you know, yoga classes all over the place. It wasn’t specific to the stuff that was on the site that was tailored for someone with low vision, So they tried a few attempts and took it down, and they’re still kind of working on that. So what we really what we really did change was we were able to, from our site, add to the calendar someone’s personal calendar.
Carol Trapani: Right.
Carol Trapani: The event so that they didn’t have to sign up, then go to the calendar. So we’re trying to streamline. That was one of the things that we did here. And then the other was that if we could create this where it was a voice AI to say, sign me up for a, you know, a tech class or surfing or whatever in San Diego, wherever the case is for blind surfing. And then can you also put on my calendar to call the Waymo, you know, 30 minutes before and can you so that that it could be everything on this, it could make it as smooth transition as possible to get out the door and to go attend the event.
Carol Trapani: Wow.
Carol Trapani: We’re not there yet, Donna, but we’re working on that.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You’re getting there? Yes. I mean, even that is innovative. I am really impressed, I really am.
Carol Trapani: Thank you. Thank you.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Now, I know that early stage teens agonize over sustainability.
Carol Trapani: Yes.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: What business model options are you exploring that keep the platform free for end users while getting organizations valuable tools with all without compromising editorial integrity?
Carol Trapani: Yes.
Carol Trapani: So this is something that we have been working on and continue to work on. So at the program that we got into at San Diego State for the idea that is all part of it. It’s like, how will you be able to make this sustainable for the, for the users.
Carol Trapani: And.
Carol Trapani: And create some sort of a monetization package. So and we’ve we’ve been fortunate, like I said, to meet with many people in this space from the commercial side. So like the IRAs of the world that have been like, I can’t even say enough how wonderful they’ve been the whole team. And so this is where we think we are that we want to keep it free for the user. And I think that is probably, you know, a consistent theme in In the Blind Space is, you know, trying to provide these resources and services at no cost to the user. So that leaves sort of two areas. One are the organizations that support the blind, mostly non-profits. There’s, like I said, just the wayfinders and the lighthouses of the of the US. They’re all separate. But and those folks have the great content. They have great delivery of, of resources. But they’re non-profits and they also have a user base that they can connect us with. So we kind of see that as our partnership with them is getting their content, making sure it’s accurate on our site, providing outreach for them, but also them providing outreach to us. So we we really see a model to be more of a sponsorship type of model. One of the big things, as you know, is not to have a bunch of advertising on the site with photos or anything, because that’s a big distraction for for the blind user. You know, we want to keep that. So our thought would be, is that based on the number of users there, there are models out there, like a monthly sponsorship model for companies that would want to, you know, promote on our site.
Carol Trapani: And so our thought would be is we could highlight a sponsor of the day and just have a little blurb about that, but have a whole sponsorship page where people could connect in to those organizations as you know, as they see fit or as, as a need. And that model is probably the the one at this point that we would we have not signed up any sponsors yet. We’re trying to increase our base. We’re our goal is to try to get to 1000 users by the end of the year. So we’re getting close. But, you know, I think I think Donna and I don’t know, there’s so many different numbers about how many folks that are blind and low vision, but I think the number that I there’s like 8 million tech savvy blind people in the, in North America, I don’t know how accurate that number is. That was from I think the World Health Organization or one of those. So it’s not a big percentage of folks that we need to sign up that we’re trying to sign up as users. But the more the more users, the more engagement we get, the better information we have on the site. And then I think the the better it is all the way around. We can support it. We can sustain it.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: How many members make up your team?
Carol Trapani: So right now we have Ella and Lucy and I are the founders. And then we have three interns currently. So we were able to we’ve connected with the National Association of Blind Students again. Makes me feel very embarrassed about how I’m not as accomplished as these people.
Carol Trapani: These young people.
Carol Trapani: That have multiple degrees.
Carol Trapani: And don’t be embarrassed.
Carol Trapani: I’m joking a bit, but again, you know, the gal that is working with us, she’s she has her masters, she’s getting a teaching degree. And so she’s a national association of blind students. She is interning for us. And then we, San Diego and San Diego State, we have an intern. And then we have another unpaid intern. So we have three unpaid interns, Ella, Lucy and I. So there’s just five of us right now.
Carol Trapani: Wow.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Good start.
Carol Trapani: Yes. A lot of work.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And do you sleep at night?
Carol Trapani: Well, it’s a good. It’s a good reason to have bags under my eyes. And so any of your listeners, if anyone again, if they have any, any organizations or anything they’d like us to add, please do. And if, if anyone be would be interested in being a free intern, we would love that for you. We would help someone with their resume building or anything of that nature. Because again, it is a community site.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You know, as I sit listening to you, my mom said to me the other day, she was born too early for technology.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You know, it’s true.
Carol Trapani: Yeah. That’s true. Yeah. Yeah it’s true.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. Listings quality is everything.
Carol Trapani: Yes.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay. How do you vet organizations and events? Prevent outdated information and handle moderation so that a parent, student, or professional can trust what they find on Connect alt.
Carol Trapani: So right in the in our initial phase, we’ve had we’ve paid very close attention to making sure that what we put on the site is, is, is accurate, up to date. And so we had a couple of little glitches along the way. That and it’s, and it was because we didn’t have a direct conversation with the provider. What happened was there’s the blind athletic. Oh, gosh, I’m at Northwest Blind Athletic Association. They have amazing classes that they do virtual for fitness. And so we we were connected to them through someone else. We went on their site and we put their information on the site, and the poor gal that runs the organization, called me and said, we’re overwhelmed with the number of people who have signed up on our classes. And so we we kind of we had to go back and put limit to 20. And so we learned from there. Wait, we need to have real direct communication, not just an internet search. And then this was actually forwarded to us by someone who who had attended a lot of their fitness classes. So and, but but we didn’t call and set the zoom up first. So that was a little bit trial by error. We learned that we have to have a direct conversation with all of the folks, which is why it’s taken us a little bit more time to get everything up on the site.
Carol Trapani: But we’re making great progress there. So what we do, Donna, is we’ll we’ll reach out to the organization, we’ll set up a zoom, we’ll share with them what we’re doing. I have not had one group say that this is a bad idea. Every every one of the organizations. Oh, this is so needed. I can’t believe that no one’s been able to do this yet. I know it’s a it’s a big lift, and we’re here to help. And we’ll make sure that we update this so they’ll share with us, like wayfinder or I think maybe Braille Institute does their events or their programs. They update every quarter. So we have we call them once a quarter. We go through this with the events that they want us to post or that, you know, because some may not be ones that they may be already maxed out. So we want to make sure we get that out. So no one’s getting frustrated. So and then some posts there’s annually some do it monthly. So Ella and Lucy have a pretty big calendar going. And when they they reach out via email, they send us their calendar and we update it accordingly. So I think it’s that kind of communication that’s, that’s trying to keep us as accurate as possible.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: That’s a lot of work, isn’t it?
Carol Trapani: It is.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: But listening to you, it gives me a headache.
Carol Trapani: You know what, Donna? I mean it. My day job, my commercial real estate I’ve done for over 30 years. And I love my job. Obviously, I’ve been my career this long, but this has been just magical because everyone really wants to help and support each other. And every time I get off of one of these zooms, I learn something new and I connect with another beautiful soul.
Carol Trapani: So yeah.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: No, from the SD, from the s d s you use zoom, you sdsu’s? Yes. Zip.
Carol Trapani: Launchpad. Yes.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: To warm introductions in our community, mentorship and networks accelerate. Impact. Which mentors or partners, formal or informal, have been pivotal for Connect Alt and what doors did they open for you?
Carol Trapani: Oh, wow. So when we got accepted into the program, there was our mentor who was given to us by San Diego State. And these there’s two gentlemen that they split up the the group, and they divide them up based on, you know, the company that you’re trying to build and maybe their level of interest. And that’s how we got introduced to IRA, the CEO of IRA. And so that wind up being just he was again, Troy put us on his calendar for a half hour, and we, we you know, we talked about the idea. He gave us some input and he said, you know, when you’re ready, reach back out. Feel free to reach back out on my calendar. And we were going down to San Diego. He’s in San Diego, and I asked if he’d meet for coffee instead, which we had a half hour and we wind up meeting for over two hours. And I just again, I can’t say enough about how much these early mentors in these folks that really first of all, they believed in the idea and they they want to help, you know, the community for the blind. So it’s an added besides a business thing, it’s an added, you know, philanthropic value, I think for for a lot of people when, when they really understand what we’re trying to do. So it those, those meetings were invaluable. And then once we got past the first year and we built the site we were given another mentor who is, you know, a business consultant, and she’s kind of once a month, we have a call with her and tell her what we’re doing, and they kind of encourage us on, on taking new steps. So the zip launchpad at San Diego State was invaluable.
Carol Trapani: Wow.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Now you’ve built a high stakes career at CBRE, navigating complex transactions and long term client relationships. Which skills from commercial real estate, prospecting and negotiating the execution discipline translate most directly to building a national access platform?
Carol Trapani: Okay, so.
Carol Trapani: I it’s a great question. I would say that
Carol Trapani: Being tenacious if you are.
Carol Trapani: Is probably one of the ones that, you know, that kind of drive of what you have to do in a, when you’re a self-starter in commercial real estate. Yeah. And I would also say just one of the things I love the most and maybe my daughter takes this gets this from me is the relationship building piece. And getting to meet so many people like I’ve shared with you, like you, Donna, that have just done so much for the blind community and selfless selflessly have been putting yourself out there to help. And I think that that has been like the creating, developing relationships that I hope create long lasting ones, I think would be the most valuable from my commercial real estate experience to connect. All because it’s about people.
Carol Trapani: Really.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yes, yes it is. My clock is starting to wind down, but I have two important questions for you. And the first one is have you ever been to Canada?
Carol Trapani: Yes, Claire.
Carol Trapani: I’ve been to Vancouver and I’ve been dying to go to Toronto because I heard Toronto is the food capital, one of the food capitals of the world. And I like.
Carol Trapani: Food.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: So how long ago was this?
Carol Trapani: So I was in Vancouver for a wedding.
Carol Trapani: It was.
Carol Trapani: You know, everything now is pre Covid post Covid. So it was pre Covid. So I gosh I guess 7 or 8 years ago. It’s been a while.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Don’t you think it’s time for another visit.
Carol Trapani: Yes I’m coming Donna.
Carol Trapani: I’m coming.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You’re coming. I’m very, very serious. I’d love to meet you and Ella and Lucy.
Carol Trapani: Great.
Carol Trapani: Donna, where are you?
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Toronto.
Carol Trapani: Oh, you’re in Toronto. Oh, well, we should definitely plan on coming. And then perhaps we can meet with some of the organizations to for the blind that are there. And while we’re there and and meet, of course, come to meet you and then also, you know, meet other organizations while we’re there would be helpful for us to continue to add on to the site.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Definitely. So that is one of the initiatives we will plan for sometime next year.
Carol Trapani: I would love.
Carol Trapani: That. Great.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: So my final question to you is what is your call to action for parents, for students, for organizations? And you know, I’m most interested to know, especially for those who have, you know, were born with a vision impairment. I’ll just let you know. I’ve had several cornea transplants myself. So I do share something with Lucy.
Carol Trapani: Yeah, she.
Carol Trapani: Said 20 plus.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: No, I only had five.
Carol Trapani: That’s five is five is a lot.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: It’s very, very stressful. And on the other day surgeon asked me, would you, would you like to regain your sight? And I said, no. You know why? It’s too stressful. Yeah, it’s too stressful. And you know, my mom has walked the walk with me, and she’s still with us. But, you know, I it’s not. It’s not the same.
Carol Trapani: Yeah. No, I understand. Lucy. Lucy, you should definitely share those feelings with each other as well. I think it would be. It would be helpful for Lucy to hear what you’ve said to me as well. So, you know, I, I would say that Gosh, I got lost in our question. I was just thinking about what you said, Donna. And so if you could repeat the question again. So I make sure I’m answering everything that.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: What is your call to action? Yes. Parents for students, for organizations of and for persons with disabilities, especially for those with, with sight impairments. So your call to action.
Carol Trapani: So our call to action is from the community based. The individuals that can get the most out of this site is to sign up on the site, because the more users we have and the more engagement we have, then we can make this sustainable and continue to grow the platform internationally and within, you know, within the communities at large. For the organizations that support the blind to send us your content, you know, connect us with your members so that, again, we can provide outreach for them and outreach for the events that they would like to, to showcase in and for the community to be able to actually participate in. And so, again, in the organizations that or maybe on the commercial side, the, the for profit organizations, the folks that do the great technology, etc., would be to support our site. And, you know, I believe that with organizations like Waymo and Google and the world is thinking of blindness in a different way than they did in the past. And you know, I do believe as a sighted person, very often we’re blinded by our sight. So it goes both ways. You know, sometimes the lack of vision of someone with sight overtakes them. Whereas my daughter Lucy, not seeing something, has much greater insight to share with the world. And I think being able to connect and connect alt by improving someone’s life either through entertainment or through education, but primarily through other other individuals who have walked the same journey or walking the same journey would be a gift. It would be. It would be a gift. And so the call to action is for us to all connect on, connect alt and make it a better sight for everyone that’s using it and for everyone who can benefit from it.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: It has been a pleasure having you in my interview on my podcast. I really, really appreciated, Carl. And if there’s anything I could do, you know, in the future, I’d love to stay in touch. I’d love to collaborate with you in any way, shape or form. And hopefully we get to see you in Toronto.
Carol Trapani: And yes, we will. We will definitely make a plan. Well, offline, I’ll, I’ll email and we’ll get some. We’ll try to get a date for 2026 that, you know, maybe works in your schedule and, and everyone that’s listening. It’s our website is WW connect. So connect.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Com thank you very much and have a great rest of the day. And hello to Lucy.
Carol Trapani: Thank you Donna.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay. Bye bye bye. Bye now.
Carol Trapani: Bye bye.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Bye.
Podcast Commentator: Donna wants to hear from you and invites you to write to her at DonnaJodhan@gmail.com. Until next time.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA
Global Leader In Disability Rights, Digital Accessibility, And Inclusive Policy Reform
Turning policy into progress for people with disabilities.
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Remarkable World Commentary Episode #66: Interview with Carol Trapani, Founder, ConnectAlt
🎙️ Listen to this Podcast.
In this uplifting episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan sits down with Carol Trapani to explore the “why” behind ConnectAlt, a community-driven, fully accessible hub designed to help blind and low-vision people quickly find events, programs, and resources in one place. Carol shares how the idea grew out of her family’s lived experience as the mother of Lucy (born blind and determined to do everything), and the frustration of having to hunt across countless separate calendars and websites, an insight validated through extensive conversations with the community. She also describes the platform’s early momentum, including its launch at the National Federation of the Blind convention in New Orleans, where strong sign-ups and real stories of connection underscored just how needed this kind of central resource is.
Donna then digs into what makes ConnectAlt practical and trustworthy: searchable listings by topic/date/location and virtual vs. in-person, streamlining tools like adding events directly to a user’s personal calendar, and experiments (still in progress) around AI-driven assistance and voice workflows. Carol also walks through the realities of sustainability, keeping the service free to users while exploring sponsorship models that avoid clutter and distractions, and explains how the team prioritizes quality control by building direct relationships with organizations and updating listings on a reliable cadence. The conversation ends with an open invitation for listeners to sign up, contribute resources, and support the mission, plus a hopeful note about planning a future in-person meetup in Toronto.
TRANSCRIPT
Podcast Commentator: Greetings.
Podcast Commentator: Donna J Jodhan, LLB, ACSP and MBA invites you to listen to her biweekly podcast, Remarkable World Commentary. Here, Donna shares some of her innermost thoughts, insights, perspectives, and more with her listeners. Donna focuses on topics that directly affect the future of kids, especially kids with disabilities. Donna is a blind advocate, author, site loss coach, dinner mystery producer, writer, entrepreneur, law graduate, and podcast commentator. She has decades of lived experiences, knowledge, skills, and expertise in access technology and information as someone who has been internationally recognized for her work and roles, she just wants to make things better than possible.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary. I’m Donna Johnson, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, touch and stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments, as in November 2010, I won the Landmark Charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites accessible to every Canadian, not just to sighted ones. And in July of 2019, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act with more than two dozen disability groups to return equal access into federal law. And most recently, on June 3rd, 2022, I was greatly humbled. Humbled by Her Late Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers. When I’m not in a courtroom or in a committee room or a pottery studio, you’ll find me coaching kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles one goal to turn accessibility from afterthought into daily practice. I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench where policy meets live. Sorry, where policy policy meets lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today’s conversation, let me shine a spotlight on today’s guest, a change maker whose work is every bit as remarkable as the world that we are trying to build. And I am very, very pleased to welcome Carol Trapani. I hope I’m pronouncing your name correctly.
Carol Trapani: Yes you are.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay. Welcome, Carol.
Carol Trapani: Thank you. Thank you so much, Donna. I’m really happy to be here.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: So, Carol, let’s kick things off. And I’d love to start with your first spell. Why? Okay. When did you first razaleigh’s. When did you first realize, sorry, that the blind and low vision community needed a single, accessible place to find events, programs, and resources? And what moment turned that realization into ConnectAlt.
Carol Trapani: Okay, so I’m the mother of a blind daughter. My daughter Lucy was born blind. She’s had several, many corneal transplantation surgeries, and right now has just a little bit of vision in one eye. Not really functional vision, but but she’s not all in the dark, just a little bit in her her left eye. And as Lucy is, she wanted, wants to do everything. And so she she said, mom, I want to be an actress and I want to be a writer. And so as a mother, you know, as, as you are aware, like teaching someone who’s blind and with all of your amazing degrees that you have. Donna, it’s Wow. It’s amazing. And kudos. I’m inspired every day when I meet people like you that have walked this earth without vision and have just been so successful, and Lucy was one of those very determined and driven. So I sought out to find blind acting for her. And it took a while to find a person who is also blind that teaches acting for the blind. She and I sought her out through the internet and then through another connection, and I finally reached her. And and so I also as trying to find different other things for Lucy that are more practical for her computer skills or things of that nature.
Carol Trapani: I found it was very hard to go to. There’s so many available resources and so many wonderful organizations, particularly in the US. There’s, I think 2500 in US and Canada that support the blind, but everyone has stuff on their site and a calendar. And so it was very difficult for a sighted person to navigate and to find things for Lucy if she was available that day, where it was, if it was in person, if it was virtual. And so this was a problem that I addressed as a mom. But Lucy’s really the brainchild of this. She had in a book she wrote and published, she wanted to create a social network for the blind and low vision in the book. And so she sought after that. She’s very social. But at an entrepreneurial program for San Diego State, she submitted the idea. We went through this interviewing process of over 100 people in the space or that are blind with low vision, and really what came out was what the mom was struggling with me, which was really being connected to resources, events and programs. And through our journey of this, we found so many amazing things that are available for people who are blind that you wouldn’t think a blind person could surf or rock, climb or ski.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right?
Carol Trapani: Right. But anyway, we’re learning a lot, and we’ve I think the turning point for me, Donna of Wow was we did a soft launch of the site, which Lucy and her best friend Ella created at the San Diego State Launch Pad, the Entrepreneur program. It’s completely accessible. We’ve been working with all the organizations for the blind to and getting their input as we put it together, but we launched at the National Federation of the blind conference in New Orleans in July, and that just one on one conversations we had with we signed up over 350 people that there are only a thousand people attended the event. It was everyone. Please encouraged us. Please keep this up. We really need this. It’s so great. And one gal came up to us the next day who had was from a small town in Nebraska, and she said, I don’t have any resources close to me. But last night I signed up for a yoga class at The Lighthouse, San Francisco on virtual, and I met three people. She was so thrilled. Wow. It was. It really saw the whole thing in motion.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You know, the name Lucy, I think suits your daughter, Lucy. And I hope to God that one day I get to meet this young lady. But how was her name chosen?
Carol Trapani: Well you know, nothing’s nothing’s a coincidence. I believe in this world, but my grandmother was named Lucy. And so I have a son who’s Luke. And my son. Lucy’s brother is three years older than her, and he sought out to become an ophthalmologist. And he’s graduated from medical school, and he’s become an eye doctor for his because of his sister. And I wanted to name her Lucy, but my husband, Lucy’s dad was like, oh, Luke and Lucy. That’s too cutesy. So anyway, when Lucy was born, he looked at her and he said, She’s Lucy. And we found out she was blind and Saint Lucy, I don’t know if you were aware, but Saint Lucy is the patron saint for vision. And so it was just all really meant to be.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay, now, as a blind host who often has to hunt across dozens of sites for information, I feel the fragmentation every single week in plain language. How does ConnectAlt reduce that friction for someone like me? Searching for opportunities by topic, date, location, or online and in person? Yes.
Carol Trapani: So when you go on ConnectAlt you can search by all of those categories. So if you are interested in sports soccer, it would show where we’re at. Adding more to the site every day as we’re meeting with individuals on zooms that have these organizations that support the blind, and then people are introducing us. It’s just been really wonderful. But we’ve you can you can search by date. So this past Saturday, Lucy and I had a booth at Wayfinders Christmas Carnival, and it was really beautiful. Stevie Wonder’s foundation gave away a scholarship to a young girl who’s also a go getter like you and Lucy.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh.
Carol Trapani: And we At the event, I was able to show everyone out today. Today’s the carnival, and there’s a soccer soccer program, blind soccer program in Los Angeles. And that night, there was a tech group that was meeting online. So there were a few folks there that had signed up for the tech online thing. There were a couple of techie blind techie people there that had interest in meeting other people. So anyway, it does, it does. That’s the goal is really to hopefully have as much as possible where someone can say, oh, I’m free, I’d like to do yoga, or I’d like to try to work on my fitness, or I’d like to work on a my professional resume. And then you can connect with the blind professional organization. Or you can connect with Braille Institute does resumes and they have different topics that they do throughout the year for job finding and job preparation, if you will. So that’s really the goal is to make it really easy for, for the parents as well. But as a person with low vision or blind to be able to get on the site and connect with their community.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And I think it would benefit those, especially who live in remote areas. Right? Yes. Yeah.
Carol Trapani: Yes.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Clip. Alt is a family powered venture with Lucy and Ella. Okay, yes. From my seat. Lived experience often sharpens products decisions. And how does Lucy’s perspective and Ella’s media stop’s skills shape the platform’s voice, feature priorities and community standards?
Carol Trapani: So I would say that this is a wonderful question because I think Lucy, Ella and I really do have three different perspectives. So Ella is my godchild, and she and Lucy have known each other since Ella was born. Lucy’s a few months older than Ella and Ella’s perspective, and I’ve heard her share this. Is that she doesn’t know anyone else who’s blind but Lucy, that she has introduced Lucy to so many of her friends and acquaintances, and she gets a perspective of how intimidated maybe someone is that has never met someone who’s blind. And and how they act or react in their connecting with Lucy. And then the biggest thing for Ella is the surprise when they hear that Lucy is a published author and she’s a scriptwriter, and she created a website and she’s traveled around. And so Ella has shared the joy that she gets by being able to introduce other people, sighted individuals on to introduce them to someone like Lucy and introduce them to what? And I believe my perspective of being Lucy’s mother as well is I’m always trying to challenge her. I don’t want her to be limited by her sight. I don’t want her to be limited at all. And so you know, I, I, I tend to, you know, try to stretch your boundaries a bit. Although she’s stretching them further than I. But I can tell you to Donna, when I close my eyes and try to, to do something, I go oh. Why was I so, so tough on Lucy about being messy? I think I just missed my mouth, so.
Carol Trapani: Oh, lovely.
Carol Trapani: So I think our goal as we we’ve been it’s been so wonderful to be able to connect with CEOs of organizations that support the blind. Troy with AIA. Ira has been so generous with his time and his organization and helping us. And so we are able, I think, to in just grassroots and speaking to community members as well as people who support the community, really understand kind of what the priorities should be, and really trying to create a site that takes away a lot of the angst that someone may have, you know, trying to sign up for an event or find an event or find find their their people, if you will, that have, you know, an interest in something that they may have or a goal. And so I think our job really is these one on one zooms we’re doing with organizations. And we would encourage anyone who’s listening to your program to please email us any thing that they think we should have on our site, or please send the site out to users that they think may benefit. But, you know, I think this is a community platform. So we certainly want to keep enriching the site with great content and then great individuals to engage.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I think this is a marvelous, marvelous initiative. And, you know, like I wish somebody had thought about this long before, but nothing before. It’s time, you know. Right, right. I really I really think it is.
Carol Trapani: Right. It’s it’s a bit of a labor of love. I can share that because it is pretty, you know, pretty time intense in getting the content. Yeah. The girls did a really good site, and we’re doing a lot of grassroot exposure. So, like, Lucy and I were at the Wayfinder event this weekend, and it’s very joyful because we get to talk to to people and parents and because it won the this founder of Be My Eyes said something to me, Donna, that it had not occurred to me, which is silly based on I’m the mother of a blind child. But he said blindness is a family affair, and it certainly is. The whole family gets involved in helping support, you know, if you’re if you’re fortunate to have family support, not everybody in the world is whether or not. But but to have that family interaction for a blind individual is, is an important thing. And, and so we were able to speak to families at this event this weekend. And anyway, I felt very we felt very fortunate to be invited and, and we did pick up some information of people that were struggling with certain things that were going to try to help solve.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Lovely. You exhibited at the National Federation of the Blind convention in New Orleans. What did you learn at NFB 2025 about needs, about language and trust that change or validated connect alts roadmap?
Carol Trapani: Well, I can tell you that at that event, I mean, I, I was just blown away by the individuals that I met, the inspiring stories that we heard we were validated by everyone that came up to our table and signed there, signed up. But I can share a story. There was a gentleman that we were about to shut everything down. We had because I’m from New Orleans, so I live in we live in California, but I have a big my whole family is there. So I had a lot of support there. And we had a snowball machine and we had beignets in the morning. So we were meeting people through food like you do in New Orleans. And we’re about to wrap up. It was the last day, and this gentleman wheels up to our table and his name was Shaquille. And he says that I said, your dad must have named you that name. And he said, yes, because Shaquille O’Neal was his, his favorite basketball player or whatever. And he wheeled up to the chair and table and he said, my name is Shaquille. No sight, no legs, no problem.
Carol Trapani: No, God put.
Carol Trapani: Me here to inspire people. And he was a motivational speaker and he said this, your site is something that is going to allow. He lived in Alaska, so he flew to New Orleans alone, with no legs, in a wheelchair and blind. Wow. And he’s a motivational speaker. And he he I mean, I was in tears hearing his story, but he turned that around, and he said, this is something that I need. I’m in Alaska, so if I can sign up for something virtual that I wasn’t even aware of and then I can connect with people and even help improve his own craft. Of speaking he he took a bunch of our little NFC tags with him that connect to the site, and he ended the event for us in a big way.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Wow. That must have been really, really moving. I think I would be in tears myself.
Carol Trapani: I was Donna.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah, yeah. Now, many platforms say that they are accessible. But the some details matter.
Carol Trapani: Yes they do.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Could you walk me through specific choice like skip link, keyboard flow headings and screen reader cues that you have implemented and what you still want to test or audit against wcaG?
Carol Trapani: Yes.
Carol Trapani: So Ella, Ella and Lucy really worked with the team at San Diego State in the lab to work on the site, creating the site with a lot of help. Lucy had, I would say she’s not as tech savvy. Lucy isn’t. She’s more of a social person, but she had a half a dozen friends who are very tech savvy. In fact, a couple were teachers. When she attended the California School for the blind, there was a few of us. One was a blind person who was the tech, person at the school. And so and then the Braille Institute was very helpful as well in reviewing our site and making recommendations. So Lucy’s team they would put the site together, they’d get feedback, they’d go back to the drawing board and they’d continue to try to improve it. The, the one thing that we have tried, and we had to take it off the site because it wasn’t working. But it is a goal. And I think we’re going to get there is we we worked with the brilliant folks at Infosearch and they and they put together AI on our site, but it wasn’t drawing from our site. So if you went if you asked AI on our site for yoga class in your area, for example, it would pull, you know, yoga classes all over the place. It wasn’t specific to the stuff that was on the site that was tailored for someone with low vision, So they tried a few attempts and took it down, and they’re still kind of working on that. So what we really what we really did change was we were able to, from our site, add to the calendar someone’s personal calendar.
Carol Trapani: Right.
Carol Trapani: The event so that they didn’t have to sign up, then go to the calendar. So we’re trying to streamline. That was one of the things that we did here. And then the other was that if we could create this where it was a voice AI to say, sign me up for a, you know, a tech class or surfing or whatever in San Diego, wherever the case is for blind surfing. And then can you also put on my calendar to call the Waymo, you know, 30 minutes before and can you so that that it could be everything on this, it could make it as smooth transition as possible to get out the door and to go attend the event.
Carol Trapani: Wow.
Carol Trapani: We’re not there yet, Donna, but we’re working on that.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You’re getting there? Yes. I mean, even that is innovative. I am really impressed, I really am.
Carol Trapani: Thank you. Thank you.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Now, I know that early stage teens agonize over sustainability.
Carol Trapani: Yes.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: What business model options are you exploring that keep the platform free for end users while getting organizations valuable tools with all without compromising editorial integrity?
Carol Trapani: Yes.
Carol Trapani: So this is something that we have been working on and continue to work on. So at the program that we got into at San Diego State for the idea that is all part of it. It’s like, how will you be able to make this sustainable for the, for the users.
Carol Trapani: And.
Carol Trapani: And create some sort of a monetization package. So and we’ve we’ve been fortunate, like I said, to meet with many people in this space from the commercial side. So like the IRAs of the world that have been like, I can’t even say enough how wonderful they’ve been the whole team. And so this is where we think we are that we want to keep it free for the user. And I think that is probably, you know, a consistent theme in In the Blind Space is, you know, trying to provide these resources and services at no cost to the user. So that leaves sort of two areas. One are the organizations that support the blind, mostly non-profits. There’s, like I said, just the wayfinders and the lighthouses of the of the US. They’re all separate. But and those folks have the great content. They have great delivery of, of resources. But they’re non-profits and they also have a user base that they can connect us with. So we kind of see that as our partnership with them is getting their content, making sure it’s accurate on our site, providing outreach for them, but also them providing outreach to us. So we we really see a model to be more of a sponsorship type of model. One of the big things, as you know, is not to have a bunch of advertising on the site with photos or anything, because that’s a big distraction for for the blind user. You know, we want to keep that. So our thought would be, is that based on the number of users there, there are models out there, like a monthly sponsorship model for companies that would want to, you know, promote on our site.
Carol Trapani: And so our thought would be is we could highlight a sponsor of the day and just have a little blurb about that, but have a whole sponsorship page where people could connect in to those organizations as you know, as they see fit or as, as a need. And that model is probably the the one at this point that we would we have not signed up any sponsors yet. We’re trying to increase our base. We’re our goal is to try to get to 1000 users by the end of the year. So we’re getting close. But, you know, I think I think Donna and I don’t know, there’s so many different numbers about how many folks that are blind and low vision, but I think the number that I there’s like 8 million tech savvy blind people in the, in North America, I don’t know how accurate that number is. That was from I think the World Health Organization or one of those. So it’s not a big percentage of folks that we need to sign up that we’re trying to sign up as users. But the more the more users, the more engagement we get, the better information we have on the site. And then I think the the better it is all the way around. We can support it. We can sustain it.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: How many members make up your team?
Carol Trapani: So right now we have Ella and Lucy and I are the founders. And then we have three interns currently. So we were able to we’ve connected with the National Association of Blind Students again. Makes me feel very embarrassed about how I’m not as accomplished as these people.
Carol Trapani: These young people.
Carol Trapani: That have multiple degrees.
Carol Trapani: And don’t be embarrassed.
Carol Trapani: I’m joking a bit, but again, you know, the gal that is working with us, she’s she has her masters, she’s getting a teaching degree. And so she’s a national association of blind students. She is interning for us. And then we, San Diego and San Diego State, we have an intern. And then we have another unpaid intern. So we have three unpaid interns, Ella, Lucy and I. So there’s just five of us right now.
Carol Trapani: Wow.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Good start.
Carol Trapani: Yes. A lot of work.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And do you sleep at night?
Carol Trapani: Well, it’s a good. It’s a good reason to have bags under my eyes. And so any of your listeners, if anyone again, if they have any, any organizations or anything they’d like us to add, please do. And if, if anyone be would be interested in being a free intern, we would love that for you. We would help someone with their resume building or anything of that nature. Because again, it is a community site.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You know, as I sit listening to you, my mom said to me the other day, she was born too early for technology.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You know, it’s true.
Carol Trapani: Yeah. That’s true. Yeah. Yeah it’s true.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. Listings quality is everything.
Carol Trapani: Yes.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay. How do you vet organizations and events? Prevent outdated information and handle moderation so that a parent, student, or professional can trust what they find on Connect alt.
Carol Trapani: So right in the in our initial phase, we’ve had we’ve paid very close attention to making sure that what we put on the site is, is, is accurate, up to date. And so we had a couple of little glitches along the way. That and it’s, and it was because we didn’t have a direct conversation with the provider. What happened was there’s the blind athletic. Oh, gosh, I’m at Northwest Blind Athletic Association. They have amazing classes that they do virtual for fitness. And so we we were connected to them through someone else. We went on their site and we put their information on the site, and the poor gal that runs the organization, called me and said, we’re overwhelmed with the number of people who have signed up on our classes. And so we we kind of we had to go back and put limit to 20. And so we learned from there. Wait, we need to have real direct communication, not just an internet search. And then this was actually forwarded to us by someone who who had attended a lot of their fitness classes. So and, but but we didn’t call and set the zoom up first. So that was a little bit trial by error. We learned that we have to have a direct conversation with all of the folks, which is why it’s taken us a little bit more time to get everything up on the site.
Carol Trapani: But we’re making great progress there. So what we do, Donna, is we’ll we’ll reach out to the organization, we’ll set up a zoom, we’ll share with them what we’re doing. I have not had one group say that this is a bad idea. Every every one of the organizations. Oh, this is so needed. I can’t believe that no one’s been able to do this yet. I know it’s a it’s a big lift, and we’re here to help. And we’ll make sure that we update this so they’ll share with us, like wayfinder or I think maybe Braille Institute does their events or their programs. They update every quarter. So we have we call them once a quarter. We go through this with the events that they want us to post or that, you know, because some may not be ones that they may be already maxed out. So we want to make sure we get that out. So no one’s getting frustrated. So and then some posts there’s annually some do it monthly. So Ella and Lucy have a pretty big calendar going. And when they they reach out via email, they send us their calendar and we update it accordingly. So I think it’s that kind of communication that’s, that’s trying to keep us as accurate as possible.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: That’s a lot of work, isn’t it?
Carol Trapani: It is.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: But listening to you, it gives me a headache.
Carol Trapani: You know what, Donna? I mean it. My day job, my commercial real estate I’ve done for over 30 years. And I love my job. Obviously, I’ve been my career this long, but this has been just magical because everyone really wants to help and support each other. And every time I get off of one of these zooms, I learn something new and I connect with another beautiful soul.
Carol Trapani: So yeah.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: No, from the SD, from the s d s you use zoom, you sdsu’s? Yes. Zip.
Carol Trapani: Launchpad. Yes.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: To warm introductions in our community, mentorship and networks accelerate. Impact. Which mentors or partners, formal or informal, have been pivotal for Connect Alt and what doors did they open for you?
Carol Trapani: Oh, wow. So when we got accepted into the program, there was our mentor who was given to us by San Diego State. And these there’s two gentlemen that they split up the the group, and they divide them up based on, you know, the company that you’re trying to build and maybe their level of interest. And that’s how we got introduced to IRA, the CEO of IRA. And so that wind up being just he was again, Troy put us on his calendar for a half hour, and we, we you know, we talked about the idea. He gave us some input and he said, you know, when you’re ready, reach back out. Feel free to reach back out on my calendar. And we were going down to San Diego. He’s in San Diego, and I asked if he’d meet for coffee instead, which we had a half hour and we wind up meeting for over two hours. And I just again, I can’t say enough about how much these early mentors in these folks that really first of all, they believed in the idea and they they want to help, you know, the community for the blind. So it’s an added besides a business thing, it’s an added, you know, philanthropic value, I think for for a lot of people when, when they really understand what we’re trying to do. So it those, those meetings were invaluable. And then once we got past the first year and we built the site we were given another mentor who is, you know, a business consultant, and she’s kind of once a month, we have a call with her and tell her what we’re doing, and they kind of encourage us on, on taking new steps. So the zip launchpad at San Diego State was invaluable.
Carol Trapani: Wow.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Now you’ve built a high stakes career at CBRE, navigating complex transactions and long term client relationships. Which skills from commercial real estate, prospecting and negotiating the execution discipline translate most directly to building a national access platform?
Carol Trapani: Okay, so.
Carol Trapani: I it’s a great question. I would say that
Carol Trapani: Being tenacious if you are.
Carol Trapani: Is probably one of the ones that, you know, that kind of drive of what you have to do in a, when you’re a self-starter in commercial real estate. Yeah. And I would also say just one of the things I love the most and maybe my daughter takes this gets this from me is the relationship building piece. And getting to meet so many people like I’ve shared with you, like you, Donna, that have just done so much for the blind community and selfless selflessly have been putting yourself out there to help. And I think that that has been like the creating, developing relationships that I hope create long lasting ones, I think would be the most valuable from my commercial real estate experience to connect. All because it’s about people.
Carol Trapani: Really.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yes, yes it is. My clock is starting to wind down, but I have two important questions for you. And the first one is have you ever been to Canada?
Carol Trapani: Yes, Claire.
Carol Trapani: I’ve been to Vancouver and I’ve been dying to go to Toronto because I heard Toronto is the food capital, one of the food capitals of the world. And I like.
Carol Trapani: Food.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: So how long ago was this?
Carol Trapani: So I was in Vancouver for a wedding.
Carol Trapani: It was.
Carol Trapani: You know, everything now is pre Covid post Covid. So it was pre Covid. So I gosh I guess 7 or 8 years ago. It’s been a while.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Don’t you think it’s time for another visit.
Carol Trapani: Yes I’m coming Donna.
Carol Trapani: I’m coming.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You’re coming. I’m very, very serious. I’d love to meet you and Ella and Lucy.
Carol Trapani: Great.
Carol Trapani: Donna, where are you?
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Toronto.
Carol Trapani: Oh, you’re in Toronto. Oh, well, we should definitely plan on coming. And then perhaps we can meet with some of the organizations to for the blind that are there. And while we’re there and and meet, of course, come to meet you and then also, you know, meet other organizations while we’re there would be helpful for us to continue to add on to the site.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Definitely. So that is one of the initiatives we will plan for sometime next year.
Carol Trapani: I would love.
Carol Trapani: That. Great.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: So my final question to you is what is your call to action for parents, for students, for organizations? And you know, I’m most interested to know, especially for those who have, you know, were born with a vision impairment. I’ll just let you know. I’ve had several cornea transplants myself. So I do share something with Lucy.
Carol Trapani: Yeah, she.
Carol Trapani: Said 20 plus.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: No, I only had five.
Carol Trapani: That’s five is five is a lot.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: It’s very, very stressful. And on the other day surgeon asked me, would you, would you like to regain your sight? And I said, no. You know why? It’s too stressful. Yeah, it’s too stressful. And you know, my mom has walked the walk with me, and she’s still with us. But, you know, I it’s not. It’s not the same.
Carol Trapani: Yeah. No, I understand. Lucy. Lucy, you should definitely share those feelings with each other as well. I think it would be. It would be helpful for Lucy to hear what you’ve said to me as well. So, you know, I, I would say that Gosh, I got lost in our question. I was just thinking about what you said, Donna. And so if you could repeat the question again. So I make sure I’m answering everything that.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: What is your call to action? Yes. Parents for students, for organizations of and for persons with disabilities, especially for those with, with sight impairments. So your call to action.
Carol Trapani: So our call to action is from the community based. The individuals that can get the most out of this site is to sign up on the site, because the more users we have and the more engagement we have, then we can make this sustainable and continue to grow the platform internationally and within, you know, within the communities at large. For the organizations that support the blind to send us your content, you know, connect us with your members so that, again, we can provide outreach for them and outreach for the events that they would like to, to showcase in and for the community to be able to actually participate in. And so, again, in the organizations that or maybe on the commercial side, the, the for profit organizations, the folks that do the great technology, etc., would be to support our site. And, you know, I believe that with organizations like Waymo and Google and the world is thinking of blindness in a different way than they did in the past. And you know, I do believe as a sighted person, very often we’re blinded by our sight. So it goes both ways. You know, sometimes the lack of vision of someone with sight overtakes them. Whereas my daughter Lucy, not seeing something, has much greater insight to share with the world. And I think being able to connect and connect alt by improving someone’s life either through entertainment or through education, but primarily through other other individuals who have walked the same journey or walking the same journey would be a gift. It would be. It would be a gift. And so the call to action is for us to all connect on, connect alt and make it a better sight for everyone that’s using it and for everyone who can benefit from it.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: It has been a pleasure having you in my interview on my podcast. I really, really appreciated, Carl. And if there’s anything I could do, you know, in the future, I’d love to stay in touch. I’d love to collaborate with you in any way, shape or form. And hopefully we get to see you in Toronto.
Carol Trapani: And yes, we will. We will definitely make a plan. Well, offline, I’ll, I’ll email and we’ll get some. We’ll try to get a date for 2026 that, you know, maybe works in your schedule and, and everyone that’s listening. It’s our website is WW connect. So connect.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Com thank you very much and have a great rest of the day. And hello to Lucy.
Carol Trapani: Thank you Donna.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay. Bye bye bye. Bye now.
Carol Trapani: Bye bye.
Donna Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Bye.
Podcast Commentator: Donna wants to hear from you and invites you to write to her at DonnaJodhan@gmail.com. Until next time.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA
Global Leader In Disability Rights, Digital Accessibility, And Inclusive Policy Reform
Turning policy into progress for people with disabilities.
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