Triple Vision

In triple Vision’s 63rd episode we tackle the issue of diversity, equity, and inclusion. President Trump’s second term has placed DEI under attack in the United States, and there are rumblings of discontent in Canada around the practice as well. To answer some of the questions around this, Karoline and Peter speak with Varsha Naik of the Regional Diversity Round Table (RDR). Located to the west of Toronto, RDR’s mandate is to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion amongst some of the largest organizations in the area. WE ask Varsha what is the continuing value of DEI in the face of cutbacks to immigration, as well as where is accessibility in this conversation?“We are creating a lack of acceptance. We are creating a polarization in our communities. We are creating communities where hate will fester. We will be looking at an eventual violent society and that’s not where we want to go.”Please join us for this exciting and stimulating episode of Triple Vision!

In this fourth and final episode for Disability History Month, the Triple Vision team talks with Ma-Nee Chacaby about her book "A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa Cree Elder". Co-written with Mary Louisa Plummer, the book won Canada Reads 2025 as the "one book to change the narrative". In this compelling podcast Ma-Nee talks about why she wrote the book, and the values which are important to her, including taking care of the land and the importance of telling your own story. She also talks about her long journey of discovery of who she is as a two-spirit person."I also wanted First Nations people to start writing their story. Lots of people in this planet – I’m not blaming anybody – but lots of people in this planet always say things about First Nations people, when they say things about the way we live our lives, and who we are. So I always say, you know you should write your story. Just tell the truth, what it was like when you were growing up".Don’t miss Ma-Nee telling it exactly the way it is, and when you need more, be sure to pick up her book!

In this third podcast in Disability History Month, Triple vision contributors Vic Pereira and Diana Brent discuss the autobiography "Stars Come Out Within" by the much loved Canadian children’s author Jean Little. Little wrote over 50 books, many of them dealing with the topic of disability, writing about the topic long before writers began to treat kids with disabilities as their own persons, with their own agency. Born with a visual impairment herself in 1932 in Japan, Little struggled all of her life to fit in – caught between the worlds of the sighted while not quite fitting into the community of individuals with vision loss. Despite her struggles, however, she left behind a treasure trove of published works which include novels, picture books, poetry and short stories. Little identified with the 19th century poet, Emily Dickinson who wrote the poem which starts with, "We grow accustomed to the Dark" and contains the title of her book "Stars Come Out Within"."We do develop strategies, and we do learn what it is like to live as someone with partial vision or totally blind - as where someone who shows up for an event and puts on a blindfold they don’t know the strategies that we’ve developed or what we’ve learnt to do. She touched upon that, that she is going to learn how to do it so she realize that there are ways to do things. They might be slightly different. They might not be the same. I think she learnt that from her students."

In this second podcast for Disability History month, and Triple Vision’s 60th episode, host Hanna Leavitt speaks with Miguel Agayo of the Accessibility Hamilton Alliance about the book “The blind Mechanic”: The Amazing Story of Eric Davidson, Survivor of the 1917 Halifax Explosion”. Written by his daughter, Marilyn Davidson Elliott, the book is a biography of a pioneering Haligonian who defied all expectations to take up car mechanics.In 1917 Eric was two years old and playing in front of the window of his Halifax home when two ships collided leading to what at the time was the world’s largest non-nuclear explosion. Approximately 2,000 individuals were killed, and 9,000 injured. Eric was one of 37 people who lost his vision that day. He went on to attend the Halifax School for the Blind, but unconventional, he defied all expectations of him becoming a washing machine repair man and followed his father and brothers into the field of car mechanics. He worked as a mechanic in Halifax, Toronto and Ottawa and lead the way in breaking the stereotype of what blind Canadians are capable of. Join Hanna and Miguel as they discuss the historical context of the Halifax explosion and the extraordinary life of Eric Davidson in this month’s podcast."He continually took the engine apart, and put it back together again to create a mental map of what goes where. He also experimented by disconnecting a part, listening to the engine, feeling its vibration. … He would listen to find what made that noise, what made the vibration, what made that smell."

September is Disability History Month in the city of Hamilton. This September the Triple Vision team is collaborating with the Accessibility Hamilton Alliance and students from McMaster University to bring listeners a podcast per week focussing on disability history as told through books. In this first podcast Ruth Vallis talks about her book Love is Blind which details her life as one of the first eight students to be integrated into Toronto’s regular classrooms in 1969. She then goes on to talk about her education in England as a physio therapist and her working life at the top rehabilitation clinic in Toronto."maybe someone who could see could look around and see what is going on here, not for blind people. So that was very, very challenging. And it almost overcame me. I almost wanted to not live anymore. But suddenly I got a grip and things got better. By the time I graduated I could have stayed living in England."Triple Vision especially wants to thank Tim Nolan, director of the Accessibility Hamilton Alliance, and the students who helped out with preparing and editing these podcasts – Ava Antolic, Enya Lee and Amy Jun. Thank you very, very much! We literally could not have done this without you!