Do you find yourself wondering what life is like for other people who have experienced vision loss? A new podcast called Aftersight produced by the Audio Information Network of Colorado features conversations with people who are blind or have low vision
Aftersight is “a podcast about print disability and the life of possibilities that follow.” It is hosted by their Director of Development and Outreach Penn Street. Penn began losing vision at the age of 9, and she has been an outdoor guide, Lions Club leader, educator, and advocate for people with low vision and blindness.
AINC describes the podcast as follows:
“Penn Street began her journey into vision loss at the age of nine, and each week she is joined by a member of the community who can talk about how print disability has impacted them or how they have impacted the community. These conversations can be informative, or they can be stories of the denial, depression, and grief that come with processing a life change—but together we grow and find solidarity. On Aftersight, we learn, and we share experiences. We hear how lives have changed, lives have stayed the same, and we’re always reminded that there is life AFTER sight.”
Guests so far have included
Esubalew “Ethan” Johnston, who was born in Ethiopia, taken from his family and blinded at a young age then forced to beg for those who injured him. Ethan was adopted by an American family and now works for the federal government.
Bonnie Barlow is an audio describer also featured on the podcast. She talks about her work narrating what is going on during movies, plays, ballets, TV shows.
Dale Hill, president of the Colorado Council for the Visually Impaired and Blind (CCBIB), talks about his life and his experience with Bardet-Biedl syndrome, an inherited disease causing progressive loss of night and peripheral vision from retinitis pigmentosa. He talks about his education, slow loss of vision, and struggles with finding employment.
Robert Weinberg is a talented photographer who was struck with central vision loss when he was about 50 years old. Robert talks about his career in photography and about the finality of his diagnosis and the depression that followed. He shares the path he walked toward renewed independence and the second career he worked for 17 years.
Moses Street is a photographer and Penn’s husband. “In Moses and Penn, a life together,” Penn talks with Moses about what it is like to be married to someone who is blind.
You can find Aftersight on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and the AINC website.