WEBVTT 00:02.000 --> 00:05.000 Hello and welcome to the HumanWare See Things Differently podcast. 00:06.000 --> 00:16.000 Each month, join your hosts, Rachel Ramos and David Woodbridge as we bring you engaging interviews from guests, interaction from our one of a kind distribution partners, stories that will take you off the beaten path. 00:17.000 --> 00:20.000 Current promos, shows where you can find us and so much more. 00:20.000 --> 00:23.000 So stick around. 00:23.000 --> 00:24.000 Hello 00:24.000 --> 00:30.000 See Things Differently listeners, and welcome to episode 11 of the podcast. 00:30.000 --> 00:33.000 I can't believe we are into November already. 00:33.000 --> 00:39.000 The holidays are approaching and pretty soon we'll be into a new year. 00:39.000 --> 00:43.000 We are taking a little bit of a different approach today. 00:43.000 --> 00:54.000 David Woodbridge is traveling so he is not able to be here with us, but I'm so excited to be with Mathieu Paquette, who is one of our product managers here at HumanWare. 00:54.000 --> 01:05.000 And we are with some fantastic people who have taken on what most of us wouldn't consider doing. 01:05.000 --> 01:09.000 And that is a climb of Mount Kilimanjaro. 01:09.000 --> 01:14.000 I have so many questions for these folks, and it's my pleasure to introduce 01:14.000 --> 01:18.000 Doctor Conchita Hernandez and her partner Sachin. 01:18.000 --> 01:29.000 They live in Northern Virginia and Doctor Conchita has low vision, describes herself as blind, and has completed this climb with her partner. 01:30.000 --> 01:47.000 They are avid technology users, and we're going to find out all about the tech that they have used during their climb, and being that they use technology and are involved with the blindness assistive technology side of the equation. 01:47.000 --> 02:01.000 HumanWare / EssilorLuxottica we're honored to sponsor them during this climb, and we've provided them with some Ray-Ban Metas and it's going to be a fascinating conversation. 02:01.000 --> 02:07.000 So welcome Doctor Conchita and Sachin to the podcast. 02:07.000 --> 02:09.000 We're so excited to have you here. 02:09.000 --> 02:11.000 Thank you so much. Thanks for having us. 02:11.000 --> 02:12.000 Thanks for having us. 02:12.000 --> 02:15.000 So I have so many questions. 02:15.000 --> 02:21.000 I guess I want to start kind of at the beginning when you endeavored to do this climb. 02:21.000 --> 02:23.000 What was the training like? 02:23.000 --> 02:25.000 You know, I train as well for different things. 02:25.000 --> 02:31.000 I enjoy working out and exercising, but you guys have taken it so many steps further. 02:31.000 --> 02:37.000 So how did you develop the strength needed to do the climb, and what was that training like for you? 02:37.000 --> 02:40.000 So we did a lot of training at the gym. 02:40.000 --> 02:45.000 We live in an area that really doesn't have elevation, as much. 02:45.000 --> 02:52.000 So we did some outdoor climbs, some hikes, but we really committed ourselves to going regularly to the gym. 02:52.000 --> 03:01.000 And we did weightlifting as well as StairMaster as well as, treadmill stuff. 03:01.000 --> 03:04.000 So that's kind of how we prepared. 03:04.000 --> 03:15.000 But I will say that no matter what, you're not prepared for sure you think you're ready, and then you're just like, what did I get myself into here? 03:15.000 --> 03:23.000 Yeah, well, actually, I'm going to take a step back here at all the training and everything and go one step behind. 03:23.000 --> 03:31.000 And that question would be, and this is coming from a self-professed couch potato, but the question would be why? 03:31.000 --> 03:33.000 What motivated you to to get that going? 03:33.000 --> 03:38.000 I've always had the desire to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, and it's not something 03:38.000 --> 04:00.000 I was, pursuing constantly, but I was at a meeting at the UN, but little over a year ago, and, just the group I was, talking to, you know, in between meetings, we got into this discussion of, you know, different things that people have and, you know, just having side conversation about different things. 04:00.000 --> 04:08.000 And this one group talks about, you know, a couple people that I was in conversation with said something about, Kilimanjaro hike they had. 04:08.000 --> 04:23.000 And that's when I yeah, you know, kind of got into that whole discussion about Kilimanjaro and they said, if you know, we, they, you know, if I want to do it, let's find something together. 04:23.000 --> 04:29.000 So they approached me when they're planning another trip and they planned the entire thing around my schedule. 04:29.000 --> 04:31.000 So that's kind of how it came about. 04:31.000 --> 04:35.000 And so you then went to Conchita and said, hey, I'm going to climb 04:35.000 --> 04:37.000 Mount Kilimanjaro. Are you in? 04:38.000 --> 04:40.000 Is that how that conversation went? 04:40.000 --> 04:43.000 And I very naively was like, sure. 04:43.000 --> 04:46.000 And I had no idea what I was doing. 04:46.000 --> 04:58.000 It just kind of speaks to the power of networking, that you met these folks kind of by happenstance at a meeting, and they were very active in their lifestyle, and it sounded like you are as well. 04:59.000 --> 05:03.000 And given that you guys said, hey, you know, let's organize this climb. 05:03.000 --> 05:10.000 Now, I know you said that you guys trained in a gym and that is just excellent. 05:10.000 --> 05:13.000 I kind of have a home gym as well that that I use. 05:13.000 --> 05:19.000 Did you train with the, folks that you met from the UN? 05:19.000 --> 05:24.000 Were you able to train with them to kind of work out a climbing system? 05:24.000 --> 05:30.000 The folks I met at the UN, they lived all over the world, so there was no way to kind of coordinate with them. 05:30.000 --> 05:39.000 So the people I trained with was, you know, one of them lived locally there. 05:39.000 --> 05:40.000 He was one of our guides. 05:40.000 --> 05:44.000 So we specifically were doing all the training with that individual. 05:44.000 --> 05:49.000 It was you know, it's hard to do the training with, you know, not everyone wants to climb Kilimanjaro. 05:49.000 --> 05:52.000 So to find a guy, it is not an easy thing. 05:53.000 --> 05:57.000 So we were fortunate enough to train with at least one guide that went with us. 05:58.000 --> 06:03.000 But what's complicated about the mountain is, even with the guide that we trained with. 06:03.000 --> 06:06.000 And he's Andrew, he was amazing. 06:06.000 --> 06:09.000 We had two other guides that were coming from Utah. 06:09.000 --> 06:11.000 And they're amazing as well. 06:11.000 --> 06:26.000 But at some point on the mountain, the local people end up being our guides because it's just so intense that we we did some guiding with the guides that we took and then we ended up being guided by the local guides who are there on the trip. 06:27.000 --> 06:29.000 Because it's just become so intense for everybody. 06:29.000 --> 06:38.000 Sure, there's nothing like a local to kind of give you some ideas for success or, you know, even if you're visiting a new town, you want to talk to the locals. 06:38.000 --> 06:43.000 If you're climbing a mountain like you guys did, you want to talk to the locals. 06:43.000 --> 06:46.000 Switching, I guess, to the technology piece. 06:46.000 --> 06:53.000 So you guys are doing this, this wonderful feat of pure strength and will and determination. 06:53.000 --> 06:56.000 What technology did you guys use? 06:57.000 --> 07:00.000 We can start with maybe the climbing technology. 07:00.000 --> 07:02.000 You know, things that help you kind of grip on to the mountain. 07:02.000 --> 07:07.000 And then maybe we'll hop over into the the blindness assistive technology space. 07:07.000 --> 07:13.000 So for climbing different blind people climb the different- it's more hiking. 07:13.000 --> 07:16.000 So different blind people hike differently. 07:16.000 --> 07:19.000 Original idea was different than what we ended up doing. 07:20.000 --> 07:22.000 For myself, because I have low vision. 07:22.000 --> 07:26.000 I was like, well, I'm just going to follow behind because that's worked really well here. 07:27.000 --> 07:28.000 And I should be okay. 07:28.000 --> 07:41.000 And then Sachin was going to use a method where he used, a hiking pole on his right hand and then, kind of used his left hand as a tether with a guide. 07:42.000 --> 07:47.000 And as soon as we got there, we realized the way we train just was not going to work, on the mountain. 07:48.000 --> 08:00.000 So we ended up, doing a system that Sachin and his guides came up with, which was you share a pole, a hiking pole, on your left hand with the guide. 08:00.000 --> 08:05.000 And so you're pretty much both using that one, and then you have your own on the right. 08:05.000 --> 08:10.000 So if a guide needs to, like, point or be like, put your foot on this rock, they can take the pole. 08:10.000 --> 08:12.000 And that ended up being a lot simpler. 08:12.000 --> 08:19.000 And both Sachin and I use that technique because there just no way to follow behind with all the rocks and everything for me to, like, find my placing. 08:19.000 --> 08:24.000 That's fascinating that you were able to adapt, kind of like you said at the beginning. 08:24.000 --> 08:35.000 You know, you think you're ready, you train and you build your upper body strength and your coordination, and then you get out there and you're like, oh my goodness, this is so much more than I thought it would be. 08:35.000 --> 08:44.000 And I love the story of just the adapting that that you guys were able to do is the sharing the pole. 08:44.000 --> 08:46.000 As you mentioned, I've, I've done a little downhill skiing. 08:46.000 --> 08:53.000 Is that kind of similar where you're both holding the pole horizontally almost and using it as kind of a longer tether. 08:53.000 --> 08:59.000 So the way I used the pole at, at the mountain was so we basically had two poles. 08:59.000 --> 09:01.000 So I was holding on to two. 09:01.000 --> 09:12.000 But the middle pole of shared between myself and the guide. So his hand was above on the top of the pole and my hand was like slightly below. 09:12.000 --> 09:19.000 And so every time he moved that middle pole, I knew where to place my footing went. 09:19.000 --> 09:22.000 So if I knew step over something. 09:22.000 --> 09:24.000 So it helped a lot. 09:24.000 --> 09:26.000 And placement of where my next step is going to be. 09:26.000 --> 09:31.000 So it would need to go a little further to the right, because a lot of the terrain was like rocks. 09:32.000 --> 09:38.000 Yeah. So you know how you where you place your footing was critical so you didn't twist your ankle. 09:38.000 --> 09:44.000 So that's like a tactile system of him leading you and then you knowing exactly where to go. 09:44.000 --> 09:46.000 Yeah. That's so great. 09:46.000 --> 09:51.000 Jumping into the assistive technology space as mentioned. 09:51.000 --> 09:58.000 You know, as a EssilorLuxottica was able to sponsor you guys for this climb and you have some Ray-Ban Metas. 09:58.000 --> 10:05.000 How did the glasses help you either before the climb in your training or if you use them during the climb? 10:06.000 --> 10:07.000 We did a little bit of both. 10:07.000 --> 10:09.000 So we used the glasses. 10:09.000 --> 10:22.000 Well, just in our everyday life, just using them to read stuff, using them to navigate, and be like, what's around me and, get place to place. 10:22.000 --> 10:28.000 We also use them, at the gym to kind of find our way around. 10:28.000 --> 10:31.000 And we, we actually practice different prompts. 10:31.000 --> 10:45.000 So one of the prompts that we found that did work was asking the glasses, like is or someone using that machine and it would tell us, and so part of using the glasses is kind of like you have to imagine scenarios and then figure out what question you're going to ask. 10:46.000 --> 10:48.000 So it was really good at that. 10:48.000 --> 10:52.000 And also kind of like find the buttons on the machines that we needed to locate. 10:52.000 --> 10:55.000 It was really good at that. 10:55.000 --> 11:00.000 In terms of like finding the weights, that was a little different, like changing the weight. 11:00.000 --> 11:07.000 That, that it couldn't quite read that, but it worked really well for, for navigational stuff. 11:07.000 --> 11:11.000 And then on the mountain, we used them a lot to take pictures. 11:11.000 --> 11:15.000 And because again, I can't like, 11:15.000 --> 11:18.000 I already have all my hands, all our hands full with the poles. 11:18.000 --> 11:19.000 Right. 11:19.000 --> 11:22.000 So we use them a lot to take pictures. 11:22.000 --> 11:25.000 There was no reception on the mountain at all. 11:25.000 --> 11:35.000 So everything we had, our phones and our glasses ended up being picture devices because nothing, nothing worked. 11:35.000 --> 11:47.000 So you can tell the pictures that we took because I did it, it didn't even occur to me that, you know, when you're wearing a hat, there's like, when you take the picture with the glasses, the rim of the hat is like showing up in some of my pictures. 11:47.000 --> 11:58.000 But I think it's cool because it's kind of like the perspective of like, oh, this is coming from the, my point of view, as opposed to like a picture taken by somebody else. 11:59.000 --> 12:02.000 Yeah, it's definitely, it's definitely gives you a good memory. 12:02.000 --> 12:05.000 It's a good memory right, of the time you spent up there. 12:06.000 --> 12:10.000 And that's actually my, my, my next question would be, you know, for 12:10.000 --> 12:18.000 I've read, you know, people climbing different mountains and everything and everyone who gets to the top, you know, we'll talk about what the view was like and so on, so forth. 12:18.000 --> 12:21.000 The pride that they felt. 12:22.000 --> 12:27.000 Obviously for you, the view is, is not really that important. 12:27.000 --> 12:30.000 But what is the feeling that you got when you finally reach the summit? 12:30.000 --> 12:50.000 I would say for me, the whole experience walking and the seven days that we were hiking, if each day was very each day was very different because, you know, first two days we're walking through a rainforest and the smells, the sounds, all that added to the experience. 12:51.000 --> 13:00.000 And the third and fourth day was more, more like, gravel, rocky terrains, but still some greenery, I guess. 13:00.000 --> 13:09.000 And then the fifth day was pure just alpine desert, sandy everywhere, you know, kind of miserable. 13:09.000 --> 13:12.000 But that was the terrain. 13:12.000 --> 13:26.000 But, you know, so every day had different kind of feel, and fortunately, we didn't have any bad weather, so that kind of worked out, but that, that experience, you know, the smells, the sounds, the temperature change, everything. 13:26.000 --> 13:30.000 You know, the air we got, it got extremely windy. 13:30.000 --> 13:31.000 Yes. 13:31.000 --> 13:33.000 It was, tough. 13:33.000 --> 13:35.000 But, you know, experiencing all that. 13:35.000 --> 13:40.000 What you hear people talk about that was, you know, that all added to the total experience. 13:40.000 --> 13:41.000 Yeah. 13:41.000 --> 13:51.000 Were there any moments where you were- maybe. regret is a strong word, but like, you were second guessing yourself about getting on to that endeavor. 13:51.000 --> 13:54.000 I had that question too are there moments where you're like "I'm done" 13:55.000 --> 13:56.000 Yeah. 13:56.000 --> 14:20.000 Especially the, you know, the the fifth day making our way to the summit where we started, at 15,700ft and we are going all the way to 19,400ft, which, you know, which was really hard because we started at midnight and, I was there, and that was after, hiking all day the previous day. 14:20.000 --> 14:23.000 So I didn't get any rest at all. 14:23.000 --> 14:28.000 And I was two hours into it when we started at midnight. 14:28.000 --> 14:32.000 I was literally trying to keep my eyes open while we were walking, and we are walking really slow. 14:33.000 --> 14:38.000 And it was because we can't go too fast because if we walk too fast, the altitude was going to get you. 14:38.000 --> 14:45.000 If you walk too slow, the cold wind chills, you know you'll get hypothermia. 14:45.000 --> 14:48.000 So you're kind of stuck one way or the other. 14:48.000 --> 14:55.000 So it was, it was it was really hard where I started telling myself, why am I doing this? But I just kept going. 14:55.000 --> 14:58.000 And you can't exactly just call Uber and go home. 14:58.000 --> 15:01.000 Right? Right. Exactly. 15:01.000 --> 15:01.000 Yeah. 15:01.000 --> 15:06.000 You definitely think to yourself on that summit day like, it's fine. 15:06.000 --> 15:08.000 I'm willing to die on this mountain. 15:08.000 --> 15:10.000 I don't care anymore. It's okay. 15:10.000 --> 15:12.000 It's like you were just so over it. 15:12.000 --> 15:14.000 That's, But yeah, it's. 15:14.000 --> 15:17.000 I think for me, it's more than, 15:17.000 --> 15:19.000 I would say more than physical training. 15:19.000 --> 15:22.000 It was a mental exercise at that point. Yes. 15:22.000 --> 15:33.000 All the, all the physical training that didn't really matter on the fifth day as much because you're not exercising as much and know you're not moving that fast. 15:33.000 --> 15:36.000 But everything else is fighting against you. 15:36.000 --> 15:54.000 The, the, you know, the, the tiredness, the you know, lack of sleep, the, the extreme high incline with very slippery sand because you're taking every step, but you're taking things like a sliding back down two steps. 15:54.000 --> 15:58.000 I know that, that such a climb is an expensive endeavor. 15:58.000 --> 16:01.000 And I know that you had the a few sponsors for this trip. 16:01.000 --> 16:01.000 Yeah. 16:01.000 --> 16:06.000 And Rachel mentioned before that EssilorLuxottica, our parent company was one of those. 16:06.000 --> 16:08.000 But I know that you had other sponsors. 16:08.000 --> 16:12.000 Who would you like to maybe give them a quick shout out and see what they helped you with? 16:12.000 --> 16:17.000 We have friends of ours who, helped us, financially sponsor. 16:17.000 --> 16:27.000 And then also AIRA was, another big sponsor and probably our, out of biggest sponsor was, Accessibility Accelerator. 16:28.000 --> 16:30.000 They and they did a lot of the logistics as well. 16:30.000 --> 16:42.000 So that's the organization that kind of coordinated the entire group, because that was 48 of us that went on this club from all around the world with different disabilities. 16:42.000 --> 16:51.000 So the 48 of us, went up, but we also had, you know, local support from a local company, 200 people supporting the 48 people. 16:52.000 --> 16:56.000 So it's a big A accelerator, 16:56.000 --> 17:01.000 I would say our top sponsor that, you know, obviously, you guys, along with 17:01.000 --> 17:06.000 AIRA, is the the gear that we got from Accelerator, from you guys was phenomenal. 17:07.000 --> 17:10.000 I would say we were probably the most comfortable on top of the mountain. 17:11.000 --> 17:13.000 We were not freezing like everyone else. 17:15.000 --> 17:17.000 Yeah, everyone else was definitely freezing. 17:17.000 --> 17:21.000 Because we had such great gear that, 17:21.000 --> 17:24.000 EssilorLuxottica sent us so we were very grateful. 17:24.000 --> 17:27.000 We were the only ones that were not cold on the mountain. 17:27.000 --> 17:29.000 When you when you got up to the top and you, 17:29.000 --> 17:35.000 I don't know if you turned around to just kind of felt, you know, the, the distance that you had come. 17:35.000 --> 17:44.000 Was there any pictures that you took or any maybe things that you may have said to, to each other or to your climber mates? 17:44.000 --> 17:49.000 Like, what was that feeling like when you had reached the top and you're like, we did it. 17:49.000 --> 17:52.000 I mean, can you describe that for us? 17:52.000 --> 17:59.000 So Conchita got there a few months before me and I as soon as I found Conchita I broke down, like I was extremely emotional. 17:59.000 --> 18:02.000 I was yeah, it took everything out of me. 18:02.000 --> 18:07.000 So I broke down and bottles while I was being emotional. 18:07.000 --> 18:19.000 One of the organizers, he comes running with the satellite phone saying, here is, this individual good friend of mine, and she was on the across the globe at the Dead Sea. 18:19.000 --> 18:24.000 So on the lowest point of the world, calling me to congratulate me. 18:24.000 --> 18:32.000 So we had this, you know, so I had to kind of change my being all emotional to be all excited. 18:34.000 --> 18:37.000 So that's how this switch was a little rough, but. 18:38.000 --> 18:40.000 Yeah, it it's a mix of emotion. 18:40.000 --> 18:41.000 You're definitely up there. 18:41.000 --> 18:44.000 You're like, oh my gosh, I can't believe it. 18:45.000 --> 18:46.000 And you're so excited. 18:46.000 --> 18:48.000 And you're also like, I'm never ever doing this again. 18:48.000 --> 18:51.000 Like, what was I thinking? This is a horrible idea. 18:51.000 --> 18:58.000 So it's just such a mix of emotions because you've been walking for the last five days. 18:59.000 --> 19:02.000 And it's just gotten to this point. 19:02.000 --> 19:06.000 And, you know, at some point on the mountain, you thought you weren't going to make it. 19:06.000 --> 19:09.000 So just getting to the top, you're like, oh, okay, we made it. 19:09.000 --> 19:13.000 This is this is it like, okay, what were we thinking? 19:13.000 --> 19:15.000 But glad it's over. 19:15.000 --> 19:21.000 What would you say to everyone who's maybe thinking about, hey, how can I get more active? 19:21.000 --> 19:26.000 Or how can I use my technology that I already have to stay active? 19:27.000 --> 19:48.000 I think that honestly, the biggest barrier to blind people getting out in the community and doing any type of activity, whether it be hikes or swimming or join a group is transportation, and I feel like there is so much right now in technology both to find out what's going on around you. 19:48.000 --> 19:59.000 So using your note taker to like, research things, to look things up, but then also using navigational tools like the rate that needs to be like, okay, what is the street sign? 19:59.000 --> 20:04.000 Where am I going if you don't have kind of like a little bit of research skills? 20:04.000 --> 20:10.000 And then a little bit of like orientation skills, it's going to be really, really hard. 20:10.000 --> 20:13.000 No matter what's exists in the world, you're not going to have access to it. 20:14.000 --> 20:24.000 So it doesn't matter how good of a hiker you are if you don't know how to use technology, it's going to be a huge barrier for you to be able to go out and find things. 20:24.000 --> 20:32.000 We're part of a group here of like, blind people doing stuff, and like, they send emails out and they do hikes and they do. 20:32.000 --> 20:38.000 So we have to figure out like, okay, let's use our technology to figure out what's the metro, how are we going to get there? 20:38.000 --> 20:39.000 Are we gonna have to Uber? 20:39.000 --> 20:42.000 Are we taking paratransit like use your resources. 20:42.000 --> 20:52.000 And I feel like if you don't know how to use technology, you're going to be your biggest barrier to be able to get out and do the things that are going to help you be active. 20:52.000 --> 20:56.000 So Kilimanjaro is now behind both of you. 20:56.000 --> 20:57.000 What's ahead? 20:57.000 --> 21:02.000 This there any big project or anything else that you wish to tackle in the future? 21:03.000 --> 21:03.000 I think 21:03.000 --> 21:07.000 Kilimanjaro sets a new baseline of, like, what's difficult. 21:08.000 --> 21:11.000 So we don't have any plans for, like, an-. 21:11.000 --> 21:13.000 Everyone's like, are you going to do like, Everest? 21:13.000 --> 21:15.000 You know, next we're like, absolutely not. 21:15.000 --> 21:17.000 We're not doing Everest. 21:17.000 --> 21:23.000 But I think it- as blind people, we're always told, like, you can't do this, you can't do this, you can't do that. 21:23.000 --> 21:26.000 And I think, like, there's nothing that's going to be harder than Everest. 21:26.000 --> 21:28.000 Like it has nothing. 21:28.000 --> 21:33.000 And so I think for me, it just sets a baseline of like, no matter what. 21:33.000 --> 21:36.000 Like, I know I can do this because I did 21:36.000 --> 21:39.000 I did, you know, I did Kilimanjaro. 21:39.000 --> 21:49.000 So not necessarily plans to climb any bigger mountain, but rather just like continue to do the work that we do, like Sachin works in the blindness field. 21:49.000 --> 22:00.000 I worked in the blindness field, and I think when we come across like negative attitudes or low expectations, this is a good baseline of like, actually, no, that's very doable. 22:00.000 --> 22:07.000 But then also when we're questioning ourselves as we're going through these spaces of like, oh, this is hard, is complicated, 22:07.000 --> 22:09.000 I don't remember, okay, we climbed Kilimanjaro. 22:09.000 --> 22:11.000 This is a piece of cake in comparison. 22:11.000 --> 22:13.000 I have a lot of blind people in my life. 22:13.000 --> 22:26.000 Obviously, being that I work at HumanWare and the things that I see my colleagues do and, and, you know, not let being blind be an obstacle in any shape, way, shape or form in their daily lives. 22:26.000 --> 22:35.000 Just, you know, we have a colleague here in Quebec who plays in, I can't remember the name of the sport, but it's similar to hockey, but for blind people. 22:37.000 --> 22:43.000 Yeah, it's just awesome and good for you for not letting that be an obstacle to having a great, active life. 22:44.000 --> 22:47.000 It might inspire me to get on my bike a little bit more often. 22:47.000 --> 22:49.000 As I said at the beginning, I'm- I'm a couch potato. 22:49.000 --> 22:53.000 But I did buy a bike last year, and I need to get on it a bit more often. 22:53.000 --> 22:56.000 Like Conchita say, I don't have any goals in mind. 22:56.000 --> 23:06.000 I, I'm one of those who like to challenge myself like I have, you know, obviously climbing another mountain is probably not the one I'm looking for next. 23:06.000 --> 23:07.000 It might be something else. 23:07.000 --> 23:15.000 The last one I did was a, long distance, bike race, which, which has been a few years since I've done that. 23:15.000 --> 23:20.000 It was a 206 mile, one day bike race, which I was very challenging as well. 23:20.000 --> 23:23.000 So see what's what. 23:23.000 --> 23:26.000 What's the next big challenge? That would be interesting. 23:26.000 --> 23:32.000 Thank you guys so, so very much for coming on and for sharing your story, your experiences. 23:32.000 --> 23:42.000 It's so neat to hear about something that that you've done that I don't think a lot of people can say that they've done is literally climbed a mountain. 23:42.000 --> 23:47.000 So if you guys can literally do it, then all of us can figuratively, you know? 23:47.000 --> 23:47.000 Yeah. 23:47.000 --> 23:52.000 Or maybe even literally climb certain mountains that that we may come across. 23:52.000 --> 23:53.000 Thank you guys so very much. 23:53.000 --> 23:55.000 Thank you. Thank you. 23:57.000 --> 24:01.000 Welcome, everybody, to the Hot Topic segment. 24:02.000 --> 24:08.000 This month we want to talk about going to the gym or having a home gym. 24:09.000 --> 24:18.000 And our fantastic guests doctor Conchita and her partner Sachin are still here and they've agreed to chime in on this topic. 24:18.000 --> 24:27.000 So I'll, jump in first and say that I've had the opportunity to do both. 24:27.000 --> 24:39.000 I have attended the gym for a couple of years, and now I have a home gym, so I have a treadmill and, some weights that I do for weightlifting, and I just follow, various workouts. 24:39.000 --> 24:41.000 Right now I'm using Apple Fitness Plus. 24:41.000 --> 24:42.000 I think it's great. 24:42.000 --> 24:48.000 There's all kinds of different workouts, but a lot of the challenges that I can- 24:48.000 --> 24:57.000 I find with the gym, whether I'm traveling and want to workout in a hotel gym, is knowing where the machine is that I'd like to use. 24:57.000 --> 25:12.000 And then, as was mentioned previously, knowing is somebody on that machine, knowing the buttons, as to how to get the machine going in at the speed I want, if it's, a bike or getting the resistance or a treadmill. 25:12.000 --> 25:22.000 So my question is, and it's hard to know which is the best, but I think I at this moment, I'm preferring the home gym because once I have the equipment set up, I know how to use it. 25:22.000 --> 25:26.000 And it's very easy to, to get on and do my workout. 25:26.000 --> 25:29.000 But, Conchita, I'm going to throw it over to you. 25:29.000 --> 25:31.000 What do you think? 25:31.000 --> 25:39.000 Is- I don't again, I don't know if I want to say better or best, but what has worked best for you, home gym or going to the gym? 25:39.000 --> 25:43.000 I think there's a difference between what I wish I had and then the reality of my life. 25:44.000 --> 25:46.000 So I've never had a home gym. 25:47.000 --> 25:49.000 And I think there's a lot like- you need the space. 25:49.000 --> 25:51.000 You need, like, the money for the equipment. 25:51.000 --> 25:52.000 You need all that stuff. 25:52.000 --> 25:54.000 So I would love the home gym. 25:54.000 --> 25:56.000 I think it would be amazing. 25:56.000 --> 26:01.000 But we right now, go to the gym. 26:01.000 --> 26:06.000 Going to the gym as a blind person takes us four hours of our time. 26:06.000 --> 26:11.000 Three hours of our time because of transportation, and waiting on paratransit and just everything else. 26:11.000 --> 26:22.000 So, yeah, I would love to have a home gym, but I think the reality of having a home gym is, is more difficult, for a lot of people than going to the gym. 26:22.000 --> 26:24.000 Sachin, what what are your thoughts? 26:24.000 --> 26:27.000 I think I'm pretty similar with Conchita, and I've. 26:27.000 --> 26:30.000 You know, have had a gym in the past. 26:30.000 --> 26:34.000 I don't have a full set up like I used to in the past, but 26:34.000 --> 26:44.000 I still like the idea of going to the gym just because it makes me commit to doing something that, I may find excuses when I'm at home. 26:44.000 --> 26:47.000 So that's the reason I like going to the gym. 26:47.000 --> 26:49.000 And plus, a lot of things I want to do. 26:49.000 --> 26:53.000 It's impossible to have all those equipment at your house. 26:53.000 --> 26:56.000 You know, just treadmill straight or. 26:56.000 --> 27:02.000 Yeah, because you get so focused on just couple of things, because there's only so much you can have. 27:02.000 --> 27:04.000 Right? You know, unless you have a massive space. Right. 27:04.000 --> 27:05.000 And who has that? 27:05.000 --> 27:08.000 Nobody has a warehouse on their property for a gym. 27:08.000 --> 27:11.000 Transportation does put a barrier because it does take a chunk. 27:11.000 --> 27:16.000 And so how have you found, getting assistance in the gym? 27:16.000 --> 27:25.000 You know, once you're there, is it, you know, once you have been going for a while, folks tend to recognize you and you just kind of learn the layout and your machines. 27:25.000 --> 27:27.000 Or how have you found that process? 27:27.000 --> 27:30.000 We have found that it's like shopping for anything else. 27:30.000 --> 27:36.000 We went to a gym that we despised, just like everything was too close together. 27:36.000 --> 27:40.000 It was too loud, like you had to wait in line to use machines. 27:40.000 --> 27:43.000 And it was not ideal. 27:44.000 --> 27:47.000 We found another gym that, like, everything is spread apart. 27:47.000 --> 27:50.000 You don't have to wait, to use the machines. 27:50.000 --> 27:52.000 The people that are really friendly. 27:52.000 --> 27:55.000 So I think it's like anything else, you're going to have really bad gyms. 27:55.000 --> 28:00.000 You're going to have good gyms, and even the same type of gym. 28:00.000 --> 28:04.000 Like, we use Planet Fitness, for example. 28:04.000 --> 28:07.000 Like we've gone to different Planet Fitness and they're completely different. 28:07.000 --> 28:13.000 It depends on like going to an individual one. So, it depends asking for help. 28:13.000 --> 28:16.000 Depending on the individual gym. 28:16.000 --> 28:20.000 What's nice is, you know, I'm sure there's lots of people around that you can ask for help. 28:20.000 --> 28:27.000 And it's also nice, you know, if you do go to a gym, you're, presumably you're paying for that membership. 28:27.000 --> 28:32.000 And so you're putting, you know, that money into that experience as well. 28:32.000 --> 28:33.000 I think of the other machines. 28:33.000 --> 28:38.000 And do you use any other aspects of the gym like the pool or. 28:38.000 --> 28:42.000 I know some, you know, can be health clubs as well and they have smoothie bars and things. 28:42.000 --> 28:51.000 What I guess in addition to the machines do you use or do you guys just use the machines and then head on home? 28:51.000 --> 28:54.000 I'm really like, we use just the equipment. 28:55.000 --> 29:04.000 We have used like their massager and they have this, I don't know what they call it, like a it's a hot water massage, but they're nice. 29:04.000 --> 29:09.000 It's like a massage bed, but it runs hot water underneath it, so it's, Yeah. 29:09.000 --> 29:10.000 So it's it's. 29:10.000 --> 29:12.000 I never seen anywhere. That's why it's kind of nice. 29:12.000 --> 29:15.000 So I do use that occasionally. 29:15.000 --> 29:20.000 And I will say we use, we use the location of the gym, to then do other errands. 29:20.000 --> 29:24.000 So, like, our favorite Indians grocery store is close to the gym. 29:24.000 --> 29:32.000 So then we'll go to the gym, and then while we're there, like you saw guys say, that's a benefit of the gym, even though it's not technically part of the membership. 29:32.000 --> 29:35.000 That that is very, very helpful. 29:35.000 --> 29:40.000 You know, just to share perspective, you know, if you can get to the gym, then here are some advantages. 29:40.000 --> 29:48.000 If someone is able to maybe set up a machine or two, in a basement or something, then that could be an advantage. 29:48.000 --> 29:52.000 And this is usually where we always end up with these little segments. 29:52.000 --> 29:54.000 There's pluses and minuses to both. 29:54.000 --> 30:03.000 And I would say that as long as you're active in some form, as much as you can and comfortable with, that's the true win of all of this. 30:04.000 --> 30:05.000 Absolutely. 30:05.000 --> 30:12.000 And I think, you know, as blind people, I'm always like, if I were sighted, how much would I be saving if I wasn't taking all these Ubers? 30:12.000 --> 30:13.000 Right. 30:13.000 --> 30:23.000 So maybe I would be, you know, maybe, like, it is worth it buying the equipment, because all the transportation we spend money on would add up to that eventually. 30:23.000 --> 30:32.000 So it's, it's it's one of those type of things of like, how much are we paying in transportation that we could actually, you know, put towards equipment. 30:32.000 --> 30:33.000 Thank you guys. 30:33.000 --> 30:45.000 Always fun to have a chat about, activities and, and what gyms offer and what home setups can offer, along with, you know, customized workouts and things. 30:45.000 --> 30:49.000 But coming from the the champion climbers over there, I, 30:50.000 --> 30:53.000 I really appreciate your input. 30:54.000 --> 31:00.000 Welcome, everybody, to the Trials and Triumph segment for this episode. 31:00.000 --> 31:02.000 We have some fun ones today. 31:02.000 --> 31:06.000 They're trials, but they're kind of silly. 31:06.000 --> 31:13.000 So we're gonna jump in here and tell you guys all the details. 31:13.000 --> 31:14.000 So I'll start. 31:14.000 --> 31:19.000 And my kind of silly story happened not long ago. 31:19.000 --> 31:26.000 There was a sighted family member in town, and we were showing him around, and we wanted to take him to dinner. 31:26.000 --> 31:34.000 So my husband and I recommended a great barbecue place, and we drove there and started walking to the entrance of the restaurant. 31:35.000 --> 31:41.000 And we walked inside and there was some very upbeat music. 31:41.000 --> 31:56.000 There was a lot of different people, but it did not have the same ambiance, the same smells, the same atmosphere as the barbecue place that my husband and I knew, which should have. 31:56.000 --> 31:58.000 So we started looking around. We even sat down. 31:58.000 --> 32:02.000 We're like, well, this is an interesting place. 32:02.000 --> 32:13.000 And then my family member started looking around and was like, this is not the right place. So we were able to exit gracefully and and found the right place. 32:13.000 --> 32:24.000 But it was just kind of a funny reminder that even for those who have full vision, even they can sometimes still walk into the wrong place. 32:24.000 --> 32:41.000 And the clues were very obvious: smells what you hear, the atmosphere and I just thought that, you know, we talk sometimes about how blind people can walk into areas that they get maybe a little lost in, and it happens to everybody. 32:41.000 --> 32:43.000 So it made me kind of feel good. 32:43.000 --> 32:48.000 That wasn't just just me who sometimes gets lost, that everybody gets lost. 32:48.000 --> 32:51.000 And it was a happy ending because we found the barbecue place. 32:51.000 --> 32:56.000 We were just one door over and had an absolutely amazing, amazing dinner. 32:56.000 --> 32:58.000 Can I ask the obvious question? 32:58.000 --> 33:00.000 What about the sign on the front of the restaurant? 33:00.000 --> 33:08.000 Wouldn't that be different as well? It would, but where we parked it was a back parking lot, so we ended up walking in like a back entrance. 33:08.000 --> 33:15.000 So yes, signs are very helpful too, but I guess I don't have a sign saying this is not the restaurant you're looking for. 33:15.000 --> 33:16.000 That's right. 33:16.000 --> 33:18.000 Let's see if my one equals that one. 33:18.000 --> 33:24.000 My one just shows you that, you people have to have responsibility on both sides of the fence. 33:24.000 --> 33:26.000 Not just us as blind people, but also sighted people. 33:26.000 --> 33:32.000 So I was at a conference a couple of months ago, and we had these little sort of five minute segments. 33:32.000 --> 33:41.000 So you had to get up there quickly onto the stage, get yourself set up really rapidly, do your presentation get off again, and you have exactly five minutes because there was lots of stuff to get through. 33:41.000 --> 33:47.000 So I was using my Monarch this day so people might not realize that the Monarchs actually fairly large. 33:47.000 --> 33:54.000 It's like a 15 inch gaming laptop, and the only thing they had on the actual stage was a lectern. 33:54.000 --> 33:57.000 So there's some there's not much room in there. So. 33:57.000 --> 34:03.000 So I had my noetes already up and running on the monarch and I thought, yep, all you need to do really is just find it, you know, where the microphone is. 34:03.000 --> 34:09.000 So started, got it up onto the stage because I thought, understand, you know, if I go up too much. 34:09.000 --> 34:13.000 So the stage went to put my Mmonarch on the lectern. 34:13.000 --> 34:15.000 If a somewhat recent I did. 34:15.000 --> 34:19.000 So when I put it down, it wasn't fitting on the lectern properly. 34:19.000 --> 34:25.000 So I thought, oh well, I'll just I'll just push it towards the back of the lectern a little bit more. 34:25.000 --> 34:33.000 Now, the problem with that is there was a laptop already on the lectern which was used by other presenters to, you know, preload their PowerPoint slides. 34:34.000 --> 34:35.000 So two things happened there. 34:35.000 --> 34:42.000 The number one, I should have actually double, double checked by touching the lectern with my hand before I put my Monarch down to see if there's a laptop. 34:42.000 --> 34:45.000 There was the left. There was. 34:45.000 --> 34:51.000 Secondly, it didn't occur to any sighted person to say, David, you're actually pushing another laptop off the lectern. 34:51.000 --> 35:00.000 And by the time they said that the left the laptop on the back, the lectern was already in sort of roughly in the air, it was actually tipping backwards off the lectern. 35:00.000 --> 35:02.000 Oh, no. 35:02.000 --> 35:10.000 The personel- sighted personel had to run around the front of the lectern and actually catch the laptop as it actually hit airborne, and so rather than. 35:10.000 --> 35:12.000 So sorry, enough with that. 35:12.000 --> 35:12.000 But that was the right. 35:12.000 --> 35:17.000 So I did my talk because I was literally just using the microphone and the actual Monarch 35:17.000 --> 35:28.000 But then what happened was because the laptop had fallen off all the cords, it came out and everything got disconnected from the conference audio, the conference video conference network. 35:28.000 --> 35:30.000 You just derailed it all. 35:30.000 --> 35:30.000 I did, right. 35:30.000 --> 35:37.000 So rather than having a so rather than being a very quick five minute for each person, it was a five minute quick section. 35:37.000 --> 35:42.000 So I did my one and I had to have a 10 or 15 minute break while I got the audio and the video reconnected. 35:42.000 --> 35:51.000 So but I just thought sometimes, I mean, sometimes you think, well, why don't blind people- sorry, sighted people tell you what's happening in a space? 35:51.000 --> 35:58.000 But then again, it's also our responsibility to make sure that when you put something down, you're not going to knock something off or do other silly things. 35:58.000 --> 36:04.000 So I just thought it was a bit of a lesson for both, you know, people to people to say, look, we haven't got much room. 36:04.000 --> 36:05.000 There's already a laptop. 36:05.000 --> 36:12.000 There would you like to like us to move it or put your hand down and say, if it's all clear and then put the thing down that you're actually using? 36:12.000 --> 36:14.000 But luckily it had a good ending. 36:14.000 --> 36:15.000 The thing got reconnected. 36:15.000 --> 36:18.000 My Monarch was safe, so everything worked out in the end. 36:18.000 --> 36:20.000 But yeah, it was just hilarious. 36:20.000 --> 36:22.000 That's some great advertising right there. 36:22.000 --> 36:25.000 Everybody's going to remember, oh, the guy with the Monarch. 36:25.000 --> 36:30.000 Yeah, the conference got stopped 50 minutes. 36:30.000 --> 36:31.000 That's fantastic. 36:31.000 --> 36:32.000 But it's true. 36:32.000 --> 36:37.000 You know, we both blind or sighted, should maybe check our surroundings a little bit. 36:37.000 --> 36:42.000 And before we put our equipment up on, on stage or on the podium. 36:42.000 --> 36:45.000 Well, dude, I love that story. 36:45.000 --> 36:50.000 It's a good lesson for all of us to just be a little more aware of, of our surroundings. 36:50.000 --> 36:52.000 And lecterns can also be different sizes too. 36:52.000 --> 37:04.000 So sometimes I find I have plenty of room to put down my stuff, and sometimes I find that that there is things on the lectern and you're kind of Tetris-ing them to, to get them to fit. 37:04.000 --> 37:16.000 So I think this was a story with a happy ending, and I'm really glad that the conference was reconnected and you were able to give your talk and tell everybody how great the Monarch was, even if it didn't quite fit on the podium. 37:16.000 --> 37:17.000 Correct. 37:17.000 --> 37:20.000 And look, I have been finishing off this little segment too. 37:20.000 --> 37:27.000 I hope your barbecue was completely satisfying once you got to the right restaurant and were able to eat the right cuisine at your table. 37:27.000 --> 37:30.000 Oh, it was absolutely brilliant. Excellent. 37:30.000 --> 37:32.000 Absolutely amazing. Well done. 37:34.000 --> 37:38.000 Welcome everybody to the Partner Corners segment. 37:38.000 --> 37:50.000 This segment is a short little interview of someone who is a partner of ours, whether it's one of our dealers or distribution partners or whether it's another organization. 37:51.000 --> 37:56.000 This month I have the absolute pleasure to have Jason Martin on. 37:56.000 --> 38:06.000 He is the product manager at APH for Wing-It, and it's my pleasure to welcome you, Jason, to our lovely little podcast. 38:07.000 --> 38:07.000 Thank you. 38:07.000 --> 38:09.000 It's great to be here for the first time. 38:09.000 --> 38:16.000 I just want to start out, how did you come to APH and what was that journey like? 38:16.000 --> 38:22.000 And then of course, we'll drill down a little bit and chat about Wing-IT, but just give us a brief overview. 38:22.000 --> 38:24.000 How much time do we have? 38:24.000 --> 38:26.000 As much time as you want. 38:27.000 --> 38:33.000 So so my journey to APH is a long one, actually, in my family, 38:33.000 --> 38:38.000 I come from a and when I say this, it sounds so Lord of the rings. 38:38.000 --> 38:39.000 It really does. 38:39.000 --> 38:44.000 I come from a long line of blind individuals, and I actually do. 38:44.000 --> 38:50.000 And so, I'm a third generation graduate of the Alabama School for the blind. 38:51.000 --> 38:57.000 And so you do going into a career, into blindness and teaching blindness. 38:58.000 --> 38:59.000 It was kind of a no brainer for me. 38:59.000 --> 39:03.000 It took me an undergraduate degree to realize that. 39:03.000 --> 39:09.000 But, once, once I realized that I really enjoyed special education. 39:09.000 --> 39:11.000 That's what I dove into. 39:11.000 --> 39:16.000 And I became an excellent trainer and worked with the Center of Assistive Technology training. 39:17.000 --> 39:29.000 That's, in many of the areas throughout the US and basically came over to APH to learn how to develop products, really with a teacher's expertise. 39:29.000 --> 39:37.000 But also now getting this, this element of, what's it like to create a product? 39:37.000 --> 39:38.000 What are the ins and outs? 39:38.000 --> 39:42.000 And those are two completely different fields, actually. 39:42.000 --> 39:49.000 Like when individuals consider APH they really think about TVIs and blindness. 39:49.000 --> 40:00.000 But really we're here creating products and, and it's, it's been a big learning curve, I would say coming over, but it's a bit of a creative one as well. 40:00.000 --> 40:04.000 I can imagine, you know, I sometimes call it being on the other side of the table. 40:04.000 --> 40:14.000 You know, we do a lot of shows, trade shows, conferences, and I've been that person that's come up to the company's tables and just shown so much excitement. 40:14.000 --> 40:15.000 And I love looking at the products. 40:15.000 --> 40:26.000 And now I'm fortunate to be on the other side of the table where I get to share the products with customers, and it kind of sounds like you had a similar journey, if you will. 40:26.000 --> 40:28.000 Yeah, that's that's it really. 40:28.000 --> 40:33.000 And it's odd, you know, for for many, many years you become an expert. 40:33.000 --> 40:46.000 I mean, many, many individuals in the AT world, that are AT trainers and AT teachers, and I still always will consider myself a teacher, the visually impaired and AT trainer. 40:46.000 --> 40:56.000 And so in that sense, when you're coming through this, you get the ins and outs of a product, but you get it from a user's perspective, right? 40:56.000 --> 41:07.000 It's totally different to be on our side developing, something like Wing-IT or some of the latest Monarch applications or really anything for the Monarch. 41:07.000 --> 41:10.000 To be honest, is it's a gift. 41:11.000 --> 41:12.000 It is. 41:12.000 --> 41:16.000 We are so appreciative of the gift that you guys bring to. 41:16.000 --> 41:18.000 We'll just say the Monarch table, right? 41:18.000 --> 41:24.000 We need developers, and we need engineers and product managers who can guide that whole process. 41:24.000 --> 41:26.000 So tell us about Wing-It. 41:26.000 --> 41:28.000 What was the brainchild for that. 41:28.000 --> 41:35.000 And maybe if you can share a little bit about some other Monarch applications that are going to be maybe out in the wild soon. 41:36.000 --> 41:37.000 Sure, sure. 41:37.000 --> 41:51.000 Well, I can tell you, just to start out with like Monarch applications and development, APH partnered with HumanWare to create an SDK for the Monarch, and that was something with this product we'd never done before. 41:51.000 --> 41:59.000 And so creating a software development kit, something that would allow us to continue building on to 41:59.000 --> 42:04.000 Monarch as a platform was, was really, incredible. 42:04.000 --> 42:09.000 And so two of the apps I've already built with the team here at APH are. 42:10.000 --> 42:14.000 And when I say I've built up in the product manager, I don't code whatsoever. 42:15.000 --> 42:18.000 But I play one on TV. 42:19.000 --> 42:30.000 So, so like I work with our developers and I do lead their direction and lead where, the product, should come from or should become and what it should end up being. 42:31.000 --> 42:38.000 And so the two products that are that are out and on Monarch right now are Monarch chess and the Monarch Startup Guide. 42:38.000 --> 42:40.000 And so those were different. 42:40.000 --> 42:44.000 And, if you use the Monarch startup, it's creative. 42:44.000 --> 42:48.000 It's you're squishing butterflies or pointing and clicking butterflies. 42:50.000 --> 42:51.000 To, to learn how to point and click. 42:51.000 --> 42:56.000 And chess was kind of an iteration of learning how to point and click. 42:56.000 --> 43:10.000 So Wing-IT, this, this new application was created based on this need of how are students receiving tactile graphics, on the fly or impromptu tactile graphics. 43:11.000 --> 43:25.000 And so what we found is that, you know, and a lot of this is has been said in numerous podcast, is that students were basically receiving very little exposure to tactile graphics. 43:25.000 --> 43:42.000 And so when those tactile graphics are prepared, when they're, created by a tactile graphics artist or by teacher, it takes time and it takes preparation with a teacher and sometimes, you know, all of those things can be in place. 43:43.000 --> 43:45.000 And then there's still a graphic. 43:45.000 --> 43:47.000 And I know as a teacher, I'm, I'm to blame it. 43:47.000 --> 43:57.000 This is that sometimes you're teaching a subject and you could be- and I used a cell wall as an example or a model of a cell. 43:58.000 --> 44:07.000 And sometimes you could, you could have this great model of a cell, but then as a teacher, you go and let me tell you about this cool word called the Golgi apparatus. 44:08.000 --> 44:18.000 And then you might not have this graphic that really goes into that detail or exactly what you're talking about. 44:18.000 --> 44:22.000 The cell wall is just one example of many. 44:22.000 --> 44:32.000 And so Wing-IT has done is it's an iOS application that pairs with the Monarch, and it's free to anybody, no Monarch required. 44:33.000 --> 44:37.000 So you can search, Monarch Wing-it because if you just search Wing-it, 44:37.000 --> 44:39.000 I've got to say you got to give a disclaimer here. 44:39.000 --> 44:43.000 It comes up with so many chicken wing applications, it's pretty great. 44:44.000 --> 44:46.000 So if you order wings, don't send me the bill. 44:46.000 --> 45:03.000 But, if you're looking for the tactile, graphic, drawing application, it's Monarch Wing-It on the App Store and what that does is it allows you to draw tactile graphics instantly and send them to the Monarch. 45:03.000 --> 45:07.000 And even if you don't have a Monarch there, you can still draft tactile graphics. 45:07.000 --> 45:15.000 And when you do have one nearby, you can display those tactile graphics, with the monarch Wing-It application on the Monarch as well. 45:15.000 --> 45:17.000 It is so neat. 45:17.000 --> 45:21.000 I know some examples of people just fiddling with Wing-It. 45:21.000 --> 45:29.000 Figuring out how it works is a lot of people have said, I want to see what my signature looks like, so they've drawn their signature. 45:29.000 --> 45:33.000 Or hey, you want to look at a sun with some rays? 45:33.000 --> 45:36.000 You know, they're there's drawings of those. 45:36.000 --> 45:45.000 What's been your favorite interaction with Wing-It or maybe what if somebody asked you to draw that has just kind of changed their perspective on what they thought it looked like. 45:45.000 --> 45:46.000 Okay. 45:46.000 --> 45:51.000 So you touched on a couple of things, and I'm going to get to my favorite because it is my all time favorite. 45:52.000 --> 45:57.000 But we launched Wing-IT at NFB this year in New Orleans. 45:57.000 --> 46:00.000 And it was it was really incredible. 46:00.000 --> 46:14.000 I love showing off Wing-It at a conference because I get use cases that I never thought of, and, and I just or I might have thought of, but I didn't think, oh, this is going to be insane or this is, this is going to be definitely what people want. 46:14.000 --> 46:22.000 But at NFB, what was what was wild and you and you mentioned it, folks were coming up to the booth and they were like, hey, I heard, 46:22.000 --> 46:25.000 I can draw my signature and touch it. 46:26.000 --> 46:28.000 And it's like, yeah, but there's so many other things. 46:28.000 --> 46:30.000 No, no, no, I just want to see that. 46:30.000 --> 46:38.000 And I was like, oh, this is this is a really cool use case that people are like, oh, so that's what my signature looks like. 46:38.000 --> 46:41.000 Or like I drew the McDonald's arches. 46:41.000 --> 46:43.000 It was like, oh, that's awesome. 46:43.000 --> 46:46.000 That's what McDonald's looks like. 46:46.000 --> 46:47.000 Yeah. Okay. 46:47.000 --> 47:00.000 But my, my favorite experience was my first actually with my first with a student, and this was NFB two years ago, and it was very much in an early prototype stage. 47:01.000 --> 47:10.000 I was just showing the student, what Wing-IT can do, and I like to draw a circle and just move it on the screen. 47:10.000 --> 47:15.000 Just something basic to to to have some tactile discrimination to, to see. 47:15.000 --> 47:18.000 Can a student track, can they follow this on the screen. 47:19.000 --> 47:19.000 Yeah. 47:19.000 --> 47:24.000 And then I like to always ask this question as well. 47:24.000 --> 47:25.000 Let's play Pictionary. 47:25.000 --> 47:31.000 What do you want me to draw and this girl, instantly I thought, you know, we were in Orlando at this point. 47:31.000 --> 47:36.000 I was like, okay, it's going to be something mouse related or something, you know, really cool. 47:36.000 --> 47:40.000 And instantly she was like draw grandma and, 47:42.000 --> 47:49.000 I got to tell you, the thing I love about Wing-it, and I hate about wing it the most is that I'm a terrible, terrible artist. 47:49.000 --> 47:51.000 Jason personally. 47:51.000 --> 47:54.000 And so grandma was terrible. 47:54.000 --> 47:59.000 Grandma had massive feet in my drawing, but she loved it. 47:59.000 --> 48:01.000 And I made her so happy. And what's really cool. 48:01.000 --> 48:24.000 And as I say that about my bad drawing skills, but what I've seen is that in the in the two years of development where I have been the bad drawer showing off wing, it what's been incredible is then when the application, now that it's out in the wild and it's got in the hands of people who actually can draw- not me. 48:26.000 --> 48:34.000 The, the like the sports courts I've seen, like the basketball courts or football courts or, football fields, if you will, like. 48:34.000 --> 48:35.000 Those are really cool. 48:35.000 --> 48:44.000 Just like they're, they're designs that you're coming up with campus designs, in particular are, are very neat when I've seen them. 48:44.000 --> 48:58.000 We get or just, I- a teacher emailed me the other day, it was an engineering, student, a young student who was going into STEM, and he was interested in engineering, and they broke out Wing-It to show him more of the assignment. 48:58.000 --> 49:01.000 And, you know, it's the small cases that are great. 49:01.000 --> 49:05.000 This concludes part one of our interview with Jason Martin from APH. 49:06.000 --> 49:10.000 Please join us for episode 12, where we will bring you part two. 49:12.000 --> 49:15.000 Welcome, everybody, to Tips and Tricks. 49:15.000 --> 49:21.000 This month, Roger Steinberg has joined us again and he is our low vision product manager. 49:21.000 --> 49:26.000 He's going to demonstrate the new AI assistant found in Prodigi for Windows. 49:26.000 --> 49:29.000 There's a lot of neat functionality in this one, so enjoy. 49:30.000 --> 49:42.000 So what I'd like to do is give an overview of our new Prodigi AI assistant, which is currently integrated into our Prodigi for Windows software and within the Magnifier application. 49:42.000 --> 49:48.000 So I have on my computer right now logged in to Prodigi for windows. 49:48.000 --> 50:05.000 I've opened my magnifier application and I've placed underneath of my document camera, in this case a HoverCam Solo 8 plus you can actually use pretty much any off the shelf document camera, but I've placed under there a simple article with a couple of topics about health. 50:06.000 --> 50:08.000 And the global ecology and so forth. 50:08.000 --> 50:19.000 And, the camera is looking at it, at the bottom of the screen, I see a toolbar, and on the lower right corner there is a bubble with three stars in it. 50:19.000 --> 50:25.000 And this is the Prodigi AI assistant, which I'm going to click on to now to open it up. 50:25.000 --> 50:29.000 And this this opens a dialog box over the image that I'm seeing. 50:29.000 --> 50:31.000 It says what can I do for you. 50:31.000 --> 50:34.000 And we've included a number of popular searches. 50:34.000 --> 50:47.000 I can click underneath of that box on those popular searches, and I can see a list of about nine different items that I can choose from to enter into the field above, I'm going to choose provide a quick summary of this document. 50:48.000 --> 50:51.000 And then to the right of that text entry box, there's a submit button. 50:51.000 --> 50:55.000 I'm going to go ahead and send that question off to our services right now. 50:56.000 --> 51:01.000 And we're going to use ChatGPT 4 which we will work to update. 51:01.000 --> 51:02.000 Of course. 51:02.000 --> 51:10.000 As things progress with ChatGPT document, this course is two main topics global ecology and the benefits of a healthy diet one global ecology. 51:10.000 --> 51:14.000 It highlights the impacts of climate change, emphasizing rising temperatures and their effects on ecosystems. 51:14.000 --> 51:17.000 Polar bears are particularly threatened due to shrieking ice caps, which affects their ability to hunt. 51:17.000 --> 51:22.000 The document calls for action to address global warming, and mentions the repercussions for quiet life as temperatures rise. 51:23.000 --> 51:24.000 I'll pause right there. 51:24.000 --> 51:30.000 So there you hear the response that came back from the AI assistant. 51:30.000 --> 51:33.000 In this case, it's telling me that it's a global ecology. 51:33.000 --> 51:36.000 One of the articles, I could continue on. 51:36.000 --> 51:42.000 There is a section about healthy diet on there, and this image also contains multiple images. 51:42.000 --> 51:45.000 The document does, as well. 51:45.000 --> 52:04.000 And, if I want to refresh myself as to what was in the document that I was captured in the lower left of my assistant, right now, there is, two arrows pointing left and right that I can tap on, and I can toggle over to the captured image that we sent to the AI assistant there. 52:05.000 --> 52:10.000 I can zoom in and zoom out on, this image, to look at it more closely. 52:10.000 --> 52:18.000 And in the lower left, that toggle button remain so I can toggle back to my chat, with the AI assistant about this document. 52:18.000 --> 52:23.000 So I'm looking at it, have still having trouble telling what the image is in the upper right corner. 52:23.000 --> 52:28.000 So I'm going to toggle back and type into the chat. 52:28.000 --> 52:34.000 That is now at the bottom of the screen because we've asked a question and ask what that image is. 52:34.000 --> 52:42.000 So what is the image in the upper right corner. 52:42.000 --> 52:45.000 And I'll send that off and see what it comes back with. 52:46.000 --> 52:52.000 The image in the upper right corner features a vibrant underwater scene with colorful colored fish, specifically a clownfish, which is often found in marine ecosystems. 52:52.000 --> 52:55.000 The focus is on the rich biodiversity and beauty of ocean habitats. 52:55.000 --> 52:57.000 Now I have, Darius reading there. 52:57.000 --> 52:58.000 You can hear it now, I know it's a clownfish. 52:58.000 --> 53:01.000 I wasn't sure exactly what kind of fish that was, and now I know. 53:01.000 --> 53:09.000 But, it tells me a little bit about that image, and I could continue to ask questions about this article and what is being returned about it. 53:10.000 --> 53:14.000 In the, in the, text field for entry at the bottom. 53:14.000 --> 53:18.000 There is also to the far right, a counter, that keeps track. 53:18.000 --> 53:23.000 We, our customers get 25 questions a day with the Prodigi assistant. 53:23.000 --> 53:33.000 And in the upper right corner are settings that can be adjusted so I can have, Prodigi read everything that I'm seeing on the screen or just the answers that are returned. 53:34.000 --> 53:36.000 And, you've been hearing Darius reading. 53:36.000 --> 53:40.000 I can also change, the voice that I have reading to me there. 53:41.000 --> 53:43.000 I have set Darius to read quite fast there. 53:43.000 --> 53:50.000 We will look to implement, a speed setting into, these settings as well in the future. 53:50.000 --> 53:52.000 But that is a system wide setting that I have set. 53:52.000 --> 53:55.000 So that's why Darius reads at the speed that he does. 53:55.000 --> 54:00.000 So, that's quite simply, an example of what you can do with this. 54:00.000 --> 54:05.000 What I'll do is flip this document over and in the upper left of my AI. 54:05.000 --> 54:16.000 So I'm going to come back out of it now and, and return to a live view of the document where I can zoom in and out and capture and OCR it and all those other things that the Prodigi magnifier does. 54:16.000 --> 54:19.000 But the document now is in French. 54:19.000 --> 54:24.000 Now our system is set to read in English and all of my interfaces in English language. 54:24.000 --> 54:26.000 But this document's in French. 54:26.000 --> 54:31.000 Maybe I want to know that I've received a French document, and I want to know a little bit about what this French document is. 54:31.000 --> 54:34.000 So let's click on our AI assistant now. 54:34.000 --> 54:36.000 And that will reopen the assistant. 54:36.000 --> 54:41.000 I'll click on the box and just say, what is this 54:42.000 --> 54:45.000 French document about? 54:45.000 --> 54:48.000 I'll type that in and send that in to the AI assistant. 54:49.000 --> 54:51.000 It will return a response here in just a moment. 54:51.000 --> 54:54.000 Takes about 3 to 5 seconds to get a response back. 54:54.000 --> 54:57.000 This rich document appears that covered topics related to health and ecology. 54:57.000 --> 54:59.000 One title and sections. 54:59.000 --> 55:04.000 The top section mentioned smoothies and for most fresh and organic fruits, suggesting a focus on healthy eating. Two. 55:04.000 --> 55:05.000 Featured on alimentation saying. 55:05.000 --> 55:10.000 This section discusses the benefits of a healthy diet, emphasizing its effectiveness, and for taking a quick pause. There. 55:10.000 --> 55:20.000 So here you can see that even though the document was in French, the response because my system is set to English, is returned in an English response. 55:20.000 --> 55:27.000 So it can be very helpful, when I want to, engage with things that are of a second language or a language that I don't know. 55:27.000 --> 55:33.000 Here again, I can toggle back and forth between the captured image that we sent to our cloud services. 55:33.000 --> 55:40.000 So it's using an image of this, to provide answers about this specific document that I'm looking at, but some other unique things about this. 55:40.000 --> 55:43.000 I'll back out of that to my live view again. 55:43.000 --> 55:46.000 That's the button in the upper left corner of my assistant. 55:46.000 --> 55:53.000 I'm going to throw, an energy bill under here now that I've received in the mail. 55:53.000 --> 55:57.000 And, so basically what I've done is reset it so that I can get a different image. 55:57.000 --> 56:05.000 Now, I'll open my assistant again now and say, how much do I owe and when? 56:06.000 --> 56:08.000 And I'll send that off. 56:08.000 --> 56:10.000 You owe a total of $308.96. 56:10.000 --> 56:13.000 The due date for this amount is June 22nd, 2021. 56:13.000 --> 56:15.000 I'm going to take a look at the document right now. 56:15.000 --> 56:19.000 And, it says that I owe $308.96. 56:20.000 --> 56:28.000 And June 22nd, 2021, both of those seemed to be accurate from what I'm seeing here. 56:28.000 --> 56:38.000 So it has done a nice job of, looking at this document and returning a response for, what I need to do with that. 56:39.000 --> 56:50.000 And then lastly, let's exit out of, asking questions about that document and let's place a handwritten note underneath of there, a card that I've received in the mail. 56:50.000 --> 56:53.000 And let's, go ahead and have the 56:53.000 --> 56:56.000 AI assistant, answer. 56:56.000 --> 56:59.000 What does this card say? 57:01.000 --> 57:04.000 And we'll send that to the AI assistant. 57:05.000 --> 57:08.000 And here it's the card reads dash, dash, dash. 57:08.000 --> 57:11.000 Dear Roger, thank you for the super terrific, phone apartment. 57:11.000 --> 57:13.000 You may not have seen my eyesight, but it saved my sanity. 57:13.000 --> 57:15.000 It has made my playing life so much bigger and brighter. 57:15.000 --> 57:17.000 So there you go. 57:17.000 --> 57:19.000 You see that it's able to recognize you back. 57:19.000 --> 57:37.000 Now, if you're listening closely, you might have said, thank you for the super terrific phone apartment I'm going to toggle to to what I'm looking at here in zoom in on this handwriting and, you, again, you can't see this because, I'm just providing an MP3 of this recording. 57:37.000 --> 57:41.000 But when I zoom in, to like, 30 x on this, 57:41.000 --> 57:44.000 I can see that, this is jet ski. 57:44.000 --> 57:45.000 She sent me the card. 57:45.000 --> 57:50.000 It actually does look like a p t on this document. 57:50.000 --> 57:59.000 So, that the, the AI assistant saw that is, is an abbreviation for apartment, and translated it as such. 57:59.000 --> 58:02.000 However, it was, correct on that. 58:02.000 --> 58:08.000 And you can say that it went on and gave me back a good summary of what she said in her card that she sent to me. 58:09.000 --> 58:12.000 So, this AI assistant can be super powerful. 58:13.000 --> 58:28.000 When used in conjunction with our magnifier application, it allows the user to interact with all the things that they might need to do on a day to day basis, from bills to cards to magazines to books to different things like that. 58:29.000 --> 58:44.000 As I wrap up, sharing about the app here, application, one thing that I would say is always take a look, at the responses that come back and be critical of them, because, again, AI is not 100% accurate. 58:44.000 --> 58:45.000 It does make mistakes. 58:45.000 --> 58:49.000 So it's always good to double check anything that's super important. 58:49.000 --> 58:54.000 So obviously bills, things like that, things of a legal or medical nature. 58:54.000 --> 58:55.000 Absolutely. 58:55.000 --> 58:59.000 Double check on those things because we are using artificial intelligence to do this. 58:59.000 --> 59:06.000 But you can see how it could greatly benefit you on a day to day basis, keeping engaged with those things that you want to keep up with. 59:07.000 --> 59:07.000 Thank you. 59:10.000 --> 59:11.000 Hey everybody. 59:11.000 --> 59:16.000 It's time for the upcoming shows segment on November 20th and 21st. 59:16.000 --> 59:19.000 Join us at the Tennessee School for the blind for the Unity Conference. 59:19.000 --> 59:24.000 That's free of charge, and we'd love for you to stop by and see us. Also on November 20th. 59:24.000 --> 59:25.000 Join us in Warwick, 59:25.000 --> 59:29.000 Rhode Island, at the Assistive Technology Conference of New England. 59:29.000 --> 59:30.000 On December 6th. 59:30.000 --> 59:35.000 Join us at The Villages, Florida for the Village Entertainment and Tree Lighting Festival. 59:35.000 --> 59:39.000 Those are all the upcoming shows we have for November and December. 59:39.000 --> 59:49.000 We will see things start to slow down a little bit over the holiday season, but don't worry, we will definitely be back in action sooner rather than later and we hope to see you around. 59:49.000 --> 59:52.000 If you have comments or suggestions, we'd love to hear from you. 59:53.000 --> 59:56.000 Please send them to podcast@humanware.com 59:56.000 --> 59:59.000 That's podcast@humanware.com. 59:59.000 --> 01:00:02.000 Thanks so much for listening to See Things Differently. 01:00:02.000 --> 01:00:03.000 We'll see you next month.