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(gentle music)

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Welcome to "Hadley Presents."

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I'm your host, Ricky Enger, inviting you to sit back,

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relax, and enjoy a conversation with the experts.

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In this episode, we discuss a new podcast offering

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from Hadley, featuring listeners like you.

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And our guest is Hadley's Chief Innovation Officer,

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Douglas Walker.

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Welcome to the show. Hey, good to have you.

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Hey, Ricky. It's great to be here.

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I mean, I'm a huge fan of Ricky Enger

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and of the "Hadley Presents" podcast,

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so it really is great to be with you here today.

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Well, I'm glad you are.

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It's been a little while since you've been here,

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but for listeners who maybe this is their first

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"Hadley Presents" and they don't know who you are,

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give us just a brief little intro

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and tell us about yourself.

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Well, as you said, I'm the

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Chief Innovation Officer

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here at Hadley, and I've been with Hadley

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for about 10 years now.

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I've, in the past, I guess, known for producing the Apple,

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all the Apple workshops and stuff like that.

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Have my hand here and there in all kinds

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of other little workshops as well,

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any new types of innovation that Hadley's looking at,

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concepts and designs and stuff.

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So kind of a fun job,

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I get to dabble in just a bit of everything.

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Yeah, fingers in lots of pies. That's always fun.

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Yeah, and it's been a while since you and I've

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done a podcast together, so this one should be a lot of fun.

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Absolutely.

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And I kind of teased in the intro

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that we're actually going to be talking about a new podcast.

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Wow, that is exciting.

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Everything that we do at Hadley doesn't happen randomly

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or by chance.

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There's always some kind of need or something

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we think it's going to benefit our learners in some way,

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otherwise why spend the time and energy doing it?

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So what is just the reason or the background

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behind why we're going to do this new project?

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When you're new to vision loss,

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or even not new to vision loss,

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the whole adjusting to vision loss

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can be really, really tough.

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You tend to have your emotions,

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you're just all over the place.

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And we hear about people talk about all those stages

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that you go through, like denial and grief,

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bargaining, and I think depression's one of those.

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And hopefully you get to that acceptance in the end.

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Well, when we released

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the Adjusting to Vision Loss Workshop Series,

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the comments from those that worked those workshops

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really just started flooding in.

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People were extremely emotional about the series.

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We were getting comments like,

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"I wish that someone had told me

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all of this stuff years ago."

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And one that really sticks out to me is a comment that says,

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"I was stuck, I think I can finally move forward now,"

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which is really amazing.

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So the Adjustment Series was really powerful.

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And for those of you that haven't checked it out,

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there's four workshops in that.

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We have Coming to Grips, which talks about all the emotions

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if you're new to vision loss

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or if you've had changes in vision.

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There's one called Tools for Talking About Vision Loss,

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and that really speaks to different kinds of strategies

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that you can use to talk with people about your vision loss

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and how to share about it, whether it's your grandchildren

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or your spouse or your partner.

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Then there's Asking for Help and Turning It Down Too,

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which is actually my favorite 'cause I struggle with that,

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being able to ask for help.

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And then not ask for help or saying,

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"I can do this on my own."

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So walking a fine lines at times,

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so there's some really great tips in there

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that talk about that.

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And the last one in the series

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is Partner to Build Skills and Boost Confidence.

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And this really speaks to the partner or the family member

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or the caregiver and gives them strategies

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on how they can help, or even when they can back up

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and know when to let the person take the lead

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dealing with the vision loss.

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People have called in with a lot of comments

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ever since the Adjustment Series was released,

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but it's not just all about the Adjustment Series comments.

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People get really emotional with all of our workshops.

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and I'm sure you've seen this, Ricky,

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with the technology workshops, right?

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Oh, for sure.

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I mean, people have those moments of just feeling

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like there was a problem in their lives.

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"I can't read the birthday cards

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that are sent to me anymore," or "I can't see my phone,

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and I used to use it to communicate with my family,

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and now what do I do?"

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And then those moments of, "Wow, look at me,

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I learned all this and, oh, how much better do I feel."

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Yeah, well, it's those same types of comments

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that I mentioned earlier.

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And with technology I hear some of those too,

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or see those comments where

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"Thought I'd never be able to use the technology,

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and then I found the Hadley Technology workshops."

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And we've heard this with the technology,

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but also daily living, just our cooking workshops

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are super popular as well.

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So that's kind of why we started thinking

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about a new podcast.

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It's kind of a place where people can share

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their own insights and their own journey

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through vision loss.

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This sounds incredible.

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So I actually, I love the title of this,

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it's "Insights and Sound Bites."

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I think that's so clever.

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I guess it really, right there in the title,

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says a bit about how this is going to work.

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So what exactly is that podcast going to look like?

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How do we get this stuff from people and put it together?

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What's it going to be like?

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Right, well, it is "Insights and Sound Bites."

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And with all of these great comments, started thinking,

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what if, what if people share their own stories?

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They're able to give their own strategies.

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They could share insights that they discovered

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in their own journey.

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And it's really cool because it's a podcast

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in their own words.

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And at the end of each podcast, we'll prompt the listener

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with a question.

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And that question will be something like,

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"Was there something someone said to you

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or maybe something someone did for you early on

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that made all the difference in the world

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in helping you to adjust?"

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It's really cool because we've given people a couple of ways

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to leave their insights.

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And we've set up a phone number where people

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can actually just call in

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and leave their stories or insights.

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Or people can record their thoughts

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on either a smartphone or a computer

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and just email us in a recording.

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But the plan is to release a new podcast

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about every two weeks.

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We'll just see how it goes from there.

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Ricky, there's nothing more powerful

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than people sharing with each other.

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I tell you, I'm super excited about the possibilities

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because this is really going to give people a chance

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to be able to really help each other,

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and I think that's great.

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So that's how the "Insights and Sound Bites" podcast

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is going to work.

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Wow, I love this.

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And like you said, this is really tapping into the power

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of community, the power of sharing things with each other.

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We've seen this for sure in our discussion groups

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where people come together and just can share that knowledge

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with each other, and we know it works.

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And so having a little podcast where people

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can do that as well, I am super excited about this.

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I can't wait to listen.

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And actually, if you're listening right now,

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don't go away because you're going to get two podcasts

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for the price of one.

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At the end of this podcast, we're going to share

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just a sample of what an "Insights and Sound Bites" podcast

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is going to be like.

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It's really short and sweet so if you're thinking,

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"Oh my goodness, I don't want to hear 20, 25 minutes

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of this kind of stuff every couple of weeks,

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I already have podcasts that are that long,"

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this is going to be a little shorter.

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If you stick around you can check it out and get an example

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of what it's going to be like, as well as that information

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about what the topic is going to be next

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so that you can provide your own insight and sound bite.

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And also, what number do you need to call

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or what email should you send that information to

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so that it can be included in the next podcast.

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Wow, how exciting.

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And I think it's smart, just for people to know

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that these are short, like you said.

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They're only about three to five minutes.

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Just hold on here at the end and you'll get

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that first episode, very first one.

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Yes, well, you're my captive audience here,

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and I feel like it's only fair,

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you're going to be voicing the introduction

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and the conclusion and maybe little thoughts between

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all of these stories that we'll get from learners.

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But I feel like we should give you a chance

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on the other side of things.

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So is there an insight/sound bite that you would share

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with our listeners, just something that you've learned

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through your journey of vision loss that has, you know,

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maybe it took you a while to learn,

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but it's ultimately been really helpful for you

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that you would share with other people?

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I went through all of those emotions

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that we briefly talked about earlier.

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I mean, there's the denial and the depression

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and all of that.

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I've been losing vision slowly

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over a really long period of time.

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I've found that I go through a lot of those same emotions

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all over again each time I have

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even just a tiny change in my vision.

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Thankfully, I've learned over time that it's okay

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to go through all of those emotions,

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and to give yourself the opportunity to grieve,

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because it really is a loss.

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But I've also learned that the waves

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of all of those emotions, they do get smaller over time.

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But it's okay to give yourself the time you need

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and to really focus on giving yourself a break.

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So that would be my insight.

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And you know what?

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Turnabout, Ricky, is fair play, right? (chuckles)

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So, Ricky, do you have any insight that you'd like to share

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or just anything you'd like to share about your journey

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or something that really sticks out?

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I guess, for me it's different for me

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because I have been blind all my life

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so the journey is different.

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But something I have noticed is just to acknowledge

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that people are really uncomfortable

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with blindness or vision loss.

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And it's not always the person experiencing that vision loss

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who's the most uncomfortable with it,

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it's the other people who are watching or observing.

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And for a long time, I felt like it was my job to fix that,

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to make people feel comfortable with me.

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And to the point where I could put myself

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in some very uncomfortable situations

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just to make other people feel better.

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And so there was this sense of, you know,

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don't take up too much space in the world,

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and don't be a bother.

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And I realized over time that

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that was not a healthy way to approach things.

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It wasn't helpful for me, and it wasn't really helpful

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for the people around me that I would encounter.

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So I just feel like, if people know that it's okay,

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and if other people are uncomfortable with you,

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it's not a thing that you need to take personally.

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Just feel comfortable with yourself and what you need to do,

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and honestly, the rest follows.

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When you feel solid and okay with yourself,

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that projects outward and people can be more relaxed

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without your having to try so hard at it.

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That's so powerful.

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I mentioned it earlier, but there really is, Ricky,

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nothing more powerful than people sharing their own journey.

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And I'm really excited.

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This is going to give people a chance to be able

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to share things like you just shared

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and to be able to really help each other.

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And I can't wait until these launches.

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Absolutely, I am really excited about it as well.

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Thank you so much, Douglas, for joining us

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and for sharing what you have, 'cause sharing your journey

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is powerful too.

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And I just am so looking forward to people

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having the opportunity to do this.

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So thanks for spending a little time with us.

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And for the listeners, don't go away, stay tuned.

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And next up is the first "Insights and Sound Bites."

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Thanks so much.

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(gentle music)

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[Voice 1]You cannot do this alone.

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You need people who are experiencing the same thing.

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[Voice 2]Probably the hardest part was just navigating

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through the emotions of it.

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[Voice 3]Think if this had happened to a

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dear friend of yours,

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how much you would feel for him or her.

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Hello, and welcome to

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the "Insights and Sound Bites" podcast.

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My name is Douglas Walker.

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When you're new to vision loss,

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your emotions can be all over the place.

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Today we'll be hearing from Larry.

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Larry will be sharing some of the things that helped him

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work through the emotions of vision loss

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when he was first diagnosed.

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[Larry]I was in a fog, a funk, if you will.

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I was shellshocked that I'd been,

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I can see, but I can't see.

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I shouldn't drive. What does that mean?

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How do I make a living?

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How do I do the things that I did in life?

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How do I recreate?

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How do I associate with people when I can't recognize them?

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I just see blobs. I mean, they're severely out of focus.

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And the further away they are from me,

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the harder it is for me to identify them.

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It's an unnerving time because you really don't know

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what to expect, what's going to happen,

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how am I going to do this?

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And at some point, you get to the "why me?"

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You know, you get through the why me stage,

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and then you've got to get back to your core beliefs,

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your faith, your training.

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In my case, it was the Army,

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the survive, adapt, overcome.

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And once you get that on board, and once you realize

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that your wife is in it for the long haul,

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God bless her, she's been with me 40 years, you can do it.

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But when you first get it, it's tough, it's rough.

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Larry was in a fog, shellshocked,

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but he relied on his core beliefs to survive,

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adapt, and overcome.

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Yeah, so many of us can relate to exactly

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what Larry was feeling.

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Was there something that someone said to you,

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or something someone did for you early on that made

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all the difference in the world in helping you

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to adjust living with vision loss?

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We'd love to hear from you.

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If you'd like to share us, just leave us a message

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on our "Insights and Soundbites" podcast voicemail

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by calling 847-512-4867.

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Or you can use your smartphone or computer

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and email us a recording to podcast@hadley.edu.

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Again, my name is Douglas Walker,

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take care and I'll see you next time.

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(gentle music)