Episode 83: Hosts Unfiltered

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Center for Accessible Living. Any content provided by our guests is their opinion and is not intended to malign any group, organization, company, or individual. You're listening to Demand and Disrupt, the podcast for information about accessibility, advocacy, and all things disability.

Welcome to Demand and Disrupt, a disability podcast. I'm your host, Kimberly Parsons.

And I'm your co-host Sam Moore, coming to you from our respective D&D towers, or, well, Kimberly's D&D tower. I'm at the Northwell Motel, of course, in, uh, in beautiful Henderson, KY. And, uh, you know, Kimberly, as we're recording this, it's one of those days, you know, when people hear this, who knows, but as we sit here now, it's one of those days that's nice enough that we should both be doing this outside.

You are correct. It is. It is beautiful here. It's— I mean, we had those— we had wicked storms, but now it is— oh, it is wonderful. It's like a spring day, isn't it?

Oh, yes. A few, a few days ago, Henderson dodged a bullet, knock on wood, and it all sort of went around us. But there were a few tornadoes earlier this week in the, in the Bowling Green area, were there not?

Around, I think. I think it all went a little northeast of here. So everyone who was impacted by that, we fingers crossed, wish you well, all the things.

Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. We're here to be therapy for you as much as humanly possible.

That's, that's exactly right. Sam, guess who our guest today is?

Drum roll.

It is you.

Oh, I'm flattered.

You should be. You should be, actually. Well, not so much, because as it turns out, we just don't have a guest today because sometimes things fall through and things happen. We don't have a guest, but I thought, let's go ahead and do this anyway. And, you know, we'll just see where it takes us.

Kimberly, but I think this was purposeful because you just, you know, you just long to hear an hour of Sandman bantering back and forth with yourself.

We're going to plumb the depths of Sam's mind. That's what we're going to do.

Just—

oh, God. And that's it for today. For demand.

You've already gotten to the bottom.

Yeah. Like, like, like hearing like a coin down at the bottom. That's it. That's— we, we hit the bottom itself.

Y'all have fun. We'll catch you in 2 weeks.

So, and what we did today is usually Sam and I do a little pre-meeting when we get on these calls. We, we talk about what, what events, what we're going to talk about. We believe it or not, a little bit of effort does go into our Our normal chaos.

Somewhat.

Somewhat. Not this time.

This week you people are privy to the pre-meeting.

It is unfiltered. It's this. Yep. This is—

You're going to get the pre-meeting, the post-meeting.

You're getting all of it. And I'm so tired, I might not even edit this bad boy. Let me tell you what.

Now, before you did come— before we did come on, you did tell me that it had been a day.

So it had been, it had been a day. Yes.

I told her, I said, we can't have days on Friday, which is when we're recording this. You know, days on Friday, there ought to be a law against those.

Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, well, I mean, I had a, I had a 2-hour meeting on that I was not, not in charge of, but kind of leading.

You were playing along.

Yes. Yes.

Coordinating the Zoom aspects of it.

I was, I was. And that's never a good situation. So, and that was, it was fine. It was a good meeting. I like all the people, just, you know, a 2-hour meeting.

Vicious rumors were not spread about me in that meeting, were there, Kimberly?

Well, I don't know. Maybe they were. They could have been. They might've been.

If they were, I guess that's what I get for not being, you know, lending an ear to that meeting, at least one ear. You know what?

I had a thought this morning before that meeting. I was like, you know what? I think I might reach out to Sam and see if he wants to hop on this. And well, misery loves company is honestly what I was thinking, but I spared you. So you are welcome.

Oh, so I got spared the misery, but I might not have been spared the rumors necessarily. But anyway, you know, like with anything in life, you've got to take the good with the bad.

And then my mom was here, which, you know, lovely. Love to have mom here. And she was having technical difficulty.

Uh-huh. And like, and you know, you attempted at least to come to the rescue.

I did, I did. And she doesn't, she doesn't trust me. I don't know if it's because I'm her daughter, which makes no sense because, you know, Wunderkind Ian, you know, him, him being her first grandchild can do no wrong. So he just sort of, I don't know, breathed on her phone and it magically fixed it.

And So that's something. I mean, yeah, not only does she listen to Ian effortlessly, but he seems to solve all of her technical issues effortlessly. So it sort of goes both ways.

Yeah, but you know, it did make me think about you and I are really, really reliant on technology.

No, really?

Smart aleck. Smart aleck. That's what you are.

Smart aleck. Yes, we are. When the internet goes out, gosh, we both feel like we're up a creek without a paddle.

We exactly. And so, so many things. So it got me thinking in regards to that, because, you know, as you age, the technology that you use changes. Are you worried about that, Sam? Are you worried about where you'll be like, wow, this has really left me behind? I don't really know What? I don't know what this sort of thing is asking of me anymore. I mean, it is sort of—

Intimidating when you think where we might be, uh, 20, 30, 40 years down the road. I try not to overwhelm myself with that thought because, you know, as, as quickly as we have birthdays, Kimberly, which is once a year, uh, technology generally changes a lot more rapidly. So, you know, it really does. It's almost impossible to keep up, but I just try to learn what I have to learn and embrace what I have to embrace. And, you know, at least make people think that I know what I'm doing.

You know, I've actually had the experience of things changing drastically because when I lost the use of my left hand, I came back from a month in, you know, the rehabilitation hospital and could not use my computer anymore because I could not type. I couldn't even feel. the keyboard well enough to really know where keys were. I don't know if you're like me, but if you're— you go up to a keyboard, the thing that I would do would be like find home row, right?

Yeah, the home keys. That's what they always taught me whenever I was learning the keyboard many moons ago.

Right. Well, I couldn't find home row, so I didn't know where any keys were. I mean, I may could like find the spacebar. Yeah, that's it. So I was just— I mean, I was having to relearn so many things. I— it was 6, 7 years before I got back to using a computer at all. And so I kind of had to learn to do everything on a phone. And that meant there were some things I just wasn't able to ever do.

And now, in your defense, I'll tell you what, after I learned that, you know, you were without the use of your, of your left hand, I attempted for a few brief shakes to type on one hand. And it's— it didn't come naturally for me, to say the least.

No, it's hard because I think most of us, we get to the point where we're almost thinking through our fingertips. You know, those of us who can, you know, type in a conventional way.

Yeah, it's almost like we type faster than our brain works, especially if you're me, because my brain doesn't work very fast anyhow.

But right, right. But, and, you know, that's one of the things that I did get from the disability community was other people who don't have the use of their hands and they use, you know, at the time it was like Dragon Dictation and things like that for other apps who really helped get me back into thinking I could do anything at all on a computer. So.

Right.

Yeah. And, you know, that reminds me, I know that off and on here, as you and I have been podcast partners here, you've been attempting to relearn braille with one hand. And why don't you give us an update on that, Kimberly?

Well, I do have a Mantis now. I can— I've realized that I cannot read paper braille.

Oh, uh-huh.

It's just not—

So you've got the, you know, the Mantis with the refreshable braille?

Yes. Yes. I can't do paper braille because it's just— I really just need one I mean, just figuring out the braille on its own, but figuring out what's the right line.

Yeah.

I really—

Knowing how far to skip ahead with one hand.

Exactly.

Yeah, that can, that can be a bear, I'm sure.

So I'm not— I realize I just can't ever do paper braille, but I can do the refreshable braille display. I still do it slowly, but it's meeting my needs right now. Except I have a dog. I don't know if y'all knew this.

Oh, really? Well, what's his name?

Her name. I know we need— we need— we, we never did get music for the Biscuit Chronicles.

Um, yeah, I need to write a song for the Biscuit Chronicles. I sure do.

So she came flying at me. This dog is— this dog is a lot. She came flying at me, which she often does. So I had my hand out, you know, to— so she wouldn't slam right into my head. Well, she had a bone in her mouth, but You know, dogs have— dogs have sharp teeth, right? It was like a puncture wound in my thumb. Like, her one tooth, like, jabbed me in the thumb.

So, like, her bone jabbed you in the thumb?

No, it was one of her teeth.

Oh, her— one of her— oh, one of her sharp teeth.

You know, now that you say that, it could have been the bone, but I don't think so. I think it was a jab because it was like a puncture wound. I mean, in the pad of my thumb.

Had to be— if it was a bone, it's probably very— it had to be more tooth than bone.

I think so. For it to be instead of a scrape or a scratch, it was a puncture wound. So I think she got me with a tooth.

And that's my—

that's my Braille thumb.

Oh God, even worse.

I know. So I haven't been able to read Braille for over a week because that is my Braille thumb. And I mean, I was bleeding.

It was—

I was gonna ask if you had another story for the Biscuit Chronicles, and I got one without even asking.

You get Didn't even ask. Yeah, y'all, this is exactly what we— we get all this stuff out before we start recording. So y'all are just getting the—

Yeah, you're privy to the stuff that we chat about off air, which is normally left private. So you folks ought to feel real special.

That's right. And it's going to be— it's going to be a whole hour of this. Y'all buckle up.

Yeah, buckle up.

So since we spoke last, I have been injured. Tell me what you're doing, Sam. You've been—

yeah. Thanks to Biscuit. But there were— well, before I go on, there were no other injuries besides the one caused by Biscuit further?

No.

Okay, good.

No, but I do have— that is not, that is not all the biscuit, y'all.

I can rest easy.

Yes.

No, knowing that.

But anyway, there are no more injuries.

Yeah, knock on wood about that. But yeah, things have been, uh, yeah, things have been okay here at the, uh, The North Quail Motel, and we're, we're just, uh, creeping right along doing Demand and Disrupt and, and blabbing in the bluegrass and, and just having a, a whole bunch of fun with, with both shows. And, um, 4th of July was, uh, I don't think we've talked since the 4th of July. That's hard to believe, Kimberly.

I know, Melvin, I don't think we have, huh?

And, um, and that was, you know, a, a firework-filled neighborhood here, and I, I I sat outside and between raindrops, definitely soaked up plenty. I know that fireworks aren't, you know, they're not exactly what you live for. But did you at least go out there for 2 seconds and listen to one?

I mean, I heard the neighborhood going off. You know, I heard the ones in the neighborhood.

So it's, you know, it's fun. But yeah, that's all you need, I guess. And Anyway, it was a, it was a solid 4th. And, um, I know a few weeks after that you went to a, uh, a professional soccer game, the Nashville FC. And you've, you've been a soccer fan for a while now. That's, that's the one sport that I know you actually get into, uh, yeah, rather, rather religiously. Well, was this your first FC game to actually go to, Kimberly.

It was, it was. And I did hear fireworks there, actually. They, uh, it was one of those things, it was a Friday night game, so they, uh, set fireworks off. They won. Yay!

Okay, yeah, the FC won. So yes, they are 1-0 with you in attendance.

There you go. They won, they beat Atlanta United. So yeah, fun.

And then they had the fireworks afterwards.

Fireworks after.

Now, do they shoot off— I've never actually been to a pro soccer game. Do they like shoot off fireworks when somebody, you know, makes a goal?

When there's a goal, yeah. I think they— I don't know if they're fireworks. It sounds like a cannon. I don't know.

It might have been a cannon.

It might have been a cannon. I don't, I don't know, but it was loud. And yeah, yeah.

But anyway, I have a lot of respect for the, the hard work and effort that soccer players put in, but gosh, it's It amazes me how much running and gunning it is for a final score of like 1-0.

That was the score. That was the score when we went, 1-0.

Oh, it was 1-0?

Yep, yep. Nashville won 1-0. Yep.

That means they had good defense because they pitched a shutout.

I, I get— yeah, I guess that's how they think of it, you know.

Yeah. Um, and it was, um, gosh, it was pretty sticky and hot that weekend you went, wasn't it?

Oh my God, that I, I was going to put when I was making notes. I did make a few notes about what to talk about. Like, I traveled. I hated it.

I know traveling is out of your comfort zone, isn't it?

It is. And I've decided not to ever do it again. Ever, ever. Because it was so hot. And we just went to Nashville for a couple of days. That's all we did.

And we stayed down the road a whole hour.

I just— I did. I went down the road a whole hour. But then we had this bright idea. I think, what is it? What is the saying? Your reach should always exceed your grasp or whatever.

I think I've heard.

Yeah. Something like that.

Or different versions of it. Yeah.

It's, it's like, you know, keep, keep reaching, keep trying. Even when you—

It's sort of like when you eat and they say your eyes are bigger than your stomach.

Sort of. Yeah. That kind of thing.

I guess in our case, you know, since we can't see, it'd be our ears are Are bigger than ours.

I guess, I guess our ears are bad. I don't tend to— I don't know, but you know what I'm saying?

Yeah, I get you.

So we decided we would do a few things that day in Nashville before the soccer match, and I said, well, we could go shopping. And my idea was to go shopping in a nice cool air-conditioned mall.

Opry Mills.

Opry Mills, or what is it, Green Hills?

Green Hills is another biggie down there.

Yeah, whatever. So I was like, Michael, look up and see what's the nearest one. And he said, so he looks it up and he said, well, there's, I forget what it's even called, but he said, it's only about a third of a mile away. I was like, oh, that's great. He said, yeah, we can walk.

That's too good to pass up.

Right. He said, yeah, we could walk it. And because I'm an idiot, I didn't say no, that's the worst idea I've ever heard because I just wasn't thinking. Oh my God, it's going to be so hot. And walking—

You realize how hot it was when you got probably halfway through that third of a mile that you had to walk?

Yes, we had. And it ended up, of course, being further than that because there's this traffic and you got to— I don't know, I'm pretty sure it was 25 miles easy. I'm sure that's how far it was.

Oh, so you didn't walk it?

No, we walked it. We totally walked it.

Okay. Oh, well, it felt like 25.

Yes. Because you know how, like, when you're on pavement, right?

Oh, yeah.

On the street or whatever, it's always so much hotter.

You ever tried taking your shoes off on hot pavement? Right.

Right. So that's what we did. We walked down to this little mall and I was miserable. I mean, just—

So it was a, it was a little mall. Was it like an outlet mall?

Or like, I mean, I think we were on Music Row.

I think we were on Music Row.

Oh yeah, because we were walking past all the bars and everything. So we walked past that to something else. There was an Apple Store. Finally, we went in an Apple Store. Michael was just for the air conditioning, like, Michael was just to cool off. Michael was pretending to be interested in the Vision Pro. And I'm telling you, I would have bought one just to stay there longer.

Yeah, just to sit in the cool.

It would have been worth, what, $2,500 just to stay there longer?

Like, I don't really need this, but, you know, at the end of the day, even though I spent $2,500, I got a, I got a new gadget and I got an hour or two of AC.

But then I really started to be afraid. Michael really does appear like he might buy this, so we better get out of here.

And when you went in there, I'm sure they were like, welcome to the Apple Store. What brings you in today? And I know you didn't really want to say AC.

I thought they know. Oh, you can't tell me they don't know. It was— you could have seen your breath in there. It was so cold. I mean, they knew what they were doing. They knew.

Yeah.

The first thing she said is like, do you want to look at our vision, bro?

Mike was like, sure, why not?

Oh gosh. Well, Ian said when we were in there, Ian said, you need to look more blind. Clearly they don't know you're blind. And I said, well, actually, the Vision Pro, I understand, does have like disability features. It does have voiceover and stuff like that.

Like voice capabilities?

Yeah, it does have voiceover on it. So.

Cool.

I need to look into that myself.

But do you already had your birthday?

I did. Yes. I guess I have to wait till Christmas now and ask Santa Claus for it.

We might have to tell, uh, uh, Mama Moore about it.

Yeah, Mama Moore, that's my— yeah, that I'll have to tell her.

I hope you've been a very good boy.

Well, I have when, when people are looking. That's about all I can promise. But, but, but anyhow, so, so you went to Apple. What, what else do they have in this little mall? Do they have a food court at least?

Yeah, I think they had a food court.

We didn't We didn't eat.

No, we didn't eat. We just, um, I think Sayer bought a skirt. I bought a hair clip because I was so hot to get my hair up off my neck.

And then— How long is your hair when it's down? Is it like shoulder length?

Yeah, it's like shoulder length.

Okay, gotcha. Now we know. So yeah, any little bit of, any little bit of relief you could get, right, right, was worth it. So you bought a clip?

I bought a hair clip. That's all I bought. And then we went back to the hotel and rested, and then we went to the soccer match and honestly walked just about as far from the parking area to our seats.

As you did to get to that mall?

Yes.

Yeah, exactly. Oh God, now they play at the Titans Stadium, right?

No, no, I believe they've got their own stadium. I don't know what it's—

Okay, they've got their own, they've got their own digs. Yeah, but, um, yeah, I believe so.

I don't know what it's— I don't know what— I mean, I feel like I was told what it was called, but I don't know what it is.

I'll have to look that up next.

It's big.

Yeah. Um, I would try to look it up while we're talking, but then that might cause dead air, and, and dead air is a cardinal sin, Kimberly, on the, on the Demand and Disrupt show. Absolutely.

Absolutely.

It absolutely is. But anyways, but the point is, you, you, uh, had a good time. Oh, and did Ian buy anything at the mall?

No, Ian never buys anything. He is— no, he—

Okay, he's quite frugal.

Yes, yes, he's stingy, some might say stingy.

Yeah, yeah. Now, did you— which, which motel did you stay in down there?

I believe we stayed in the Holiday Inn whatever. I think it used to be a different hotel, but Holiday Inn has bought up, you know, everything.

So yeah, that is a pretty big conglomerate now. So it looks like a Holiday Inn, uh, not, not an Express, probably one of those real nice Holiday Inns.

I mean, I don't know that it was real nice. It had a pool.

It had a pool. Yeah. Well, that would, that would have been another source of relief. Did the Parsleys partake in the pool?

We did. We did. There was, yeah, we stayed in the pool and the kids, there was like a ping pong table. The kids played ping pong, you know, um, by the pool. So yeah, I mean, we had fun, but we were very much ready to get, to get home and the person pet sitting For us was very ready for us to get home.

Was that, was that your mom? Was that the person pet sitting?

No, no, my mom ain't keeping my dog. I had to, we had to pay somebody to keep this animal.

Oh gosh. Well, shout out to the sitter. Do we want to reveal her name?

I don't know what her name was. I think I forget what it was. I forget what it was even called. I mean, we found her on Facebook and— Okay.

Her first name is V and her last name is sitter.

It was pet sitter. Yeah. And I mean, they were really nice. They did. A great job with her. But, you know, when you get a text from your pet sitter and it starts with, Biscuit is safe, everybody is safe, you know that whatever follows is not going to be good.

You know, there's a conjunction like but coming.

Yeah. Yes, exactly.

So everybody's safe. We're all still in one piece. But—

Right, right. I mean, apparently for 2 days, Biscuit didn't let anyone come near her. They had to, like, slide her food toward her. She was fine. They have a, like a, like a small poodle. She played with the poodle.

Oh, she played with the sitter's poodle. Okay.

Played with the sitter's poodle. They have 2 cats. She was fine with the cats, but the people were not allowed to come near her. So.

Gosh, Biscuit was trying to be a guard dog, which at times that comes in handy, but other times like this, you know, she should just abandon guard dog mode.

She should. She should just abandon that, but she didn't. She was ever vigilant. So there's that.

But anyway, so so you got at least one. I'm guessing maybe two or three texts while you were down there. Like yeah, biscuit's okay.

Yes.

But yes.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

Oh gosh! Now back on this pool. What what? Yeah, you you said it was an outdoor pool.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Okay. So I bet. As hot as it was, that water probably— it probably felt more like a hot tub in the swimming pool.

It did. You're right. You're right. It does feel— when it's that hot and it was in Nashville. So it's interesting to be in a pool and there being like tall buildings and stuff all around you. That's weird. You ever had that happen? It's—

it is kind of a— it's been a while since I've been in a motel pool. I used to love them. But that reminds me, I got a good story about a pool that— Oh, do tell.

It's story time. It's story time. It is story time.

I'm just about— but, but before I, before I drift into that, did it, did it sort of have— even though you were, you know, obviously you couldn't see him, but could you just sort of sense the big buildings in your surroundings?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, because sound was— yeah, sound was playing.

Yeah, you got the echoization and things like that. That, that would be kind of weird. But anyhow, I used to love motel pools. I used to— well, you know, whenever, uh, we were growing up, or whenever I was growing up, I would always practically insist that whenever we got a motel, that it was one with, um, uh, an indoor or an outdoor pool, just so I could swim and, and take it in and entertain myself, basically. So anyhow, we, we were at this motel one time. It was on our way out to see my, uh, cousin, aunt, and uncle in, in Kansas. So we get to, uh, we get to Columbia, Missouri, which is about halfway. And so they have a real nice pool at the motels. I swam that night and the next morning before we checked out, and And, uh, Mom took me down that night to swim. And then that next morning I wanted to go again. And, and she told Dad, she was like, I took him last night, so you take him this morning. So Dad was on pool duty with me. So he took me down to the pool. Of course he didn't get in, but he took me down and, um, watched me splash and flounder around and pretend like I knew how to swim. Eventually I did learn and took, I took swim lessons or what have you. But, but anyhow, I was, uh, doing my thing in the water. Uh, finally I got to where I was tired, and usually, you know, I wouldn't get tired before Mom was ready to go or Dad was ready to go, and they'd have to wait on me. But this time I was actually tired, and, um, I, I told Dad that I was about ready to get out. Well, Dad was not ready to leave the pool, and do you know why, Kimberly? Why would be because, um, the, uh, apparently the, the UCLA cheerleaders were, were in town.

Oh!

And they were staying at motel. And, and they were playing, I guess, Missouri that day because Mizzou is, is the hometown school. And so they were— and anyway, their cheerleaders were staying at this motel and they were all having some fun, uh, you know, taking a break in the pool. And so I told Dad, I said, I said, I think I'm tired. I'm about ready to, to leave. And, uh, Dad was like, you sure about that? I don't think you are. I don't think you're ready. And so, so we did our thing, and sure enough, you know, a minute or two later, you know, one of the cheerleaders came up and saw me, and she was like, he's so cute. I was only like 6 or 7 at the time. But anyway, so I, you know, I got a little extra swimming in. I, um, I trained myself to not be tired real quick, and so it was a win-win, I guess, for both of us. I got a little more time in the, in the water, and And Dad got a little extra time to lay eyes on the UCLA cheerleaders.

Now, did your mom get mad when she found out?

I'm not sure he told her, honestly.

Well, she's going to know now.

She'll know now. Actually, I think he did like years later. You know, long enough time had passed that she couldn't flip out or anything. But, you know—

I'd be interested to know how much time he thought that was, that he could. could go before telling her.

Yeah, I think the truth came out eventually, but it was not when we got back up to the room. It was not that quick.

Not— it was not then. Okay, well.

But anyway, yeah, that's, that's my favorite of all the, uh, pool stories that I have from, from, uh, various motels growing up. Now it's gotten to where, you know, we go to these motels, I don't even bring my swim trunks generally because You know, a lot of times the pools are crowded and they're full of little children, I guess, like I used to be. But, and not that I'm anti-children, but something's intimidating about being surrounded in the water with a bunch of them.

They are. They're terrifying. It's like I keep hearing the Jaws theme if there's a bunch of little kids around. Most hotel pools are small too. They're kind of small.

That's true.

Yeah.

Sometimes it's almost like you can Reach out with your left hand and and hit the hit the left-hand side and reach out with your right hand and hit the right.

Yeah, and this one was the same way. It was it was very small, but there weren't it was just us up there.

So you didn't have to share it with anybody.

Didn't have to share it with anybody.

So that's a plus. That's that's a real positive. And speaking, I'll tell you, hopefully it won't be that hot on August 16th because you know on August 16th. Kimberly, something really special is happening at Louisville Slugger Field. Louisville Bats Cares, they are putting on a fundraiser to benefit CAL, Center for Accessible Living, who makes this podcast possible.

Indeed, indeed.

As most, most of you know. But anyhow, you go on August 16th. I believe the game starts at 1 or thereabouts. And anyway, tickets are $16 and a portion of all tickets sold through CAL will go to benefit CAL and its mission. So it's going to be a great time for a great cause, Kimberly.

Awesome. That sounds great. Now, so people look in the show notes. I will put details for that if you're interested. I will put those details. And that's August 16th. August 16th.

And you do have to, you know, in order to ensure that a portion goes to CAL, you do have to buy the tickets Through CAL. But to do that, just, you know, get a hold of somebody from CAL, uh, or go to their Facebook page.

Hey, I have news!

Drum roll, she has news!

I know!

I have decided to look into getting another guide dog.

Another guide dog?

Yes, I have. I haven't had a guide dog since Garnet passed away in 2008. So I am talking to one of the guide dog organizations about things I need to focus on to increase my orientation and mobility skills. Working on upping those, upping my O&M game and looking into maybe getting another guide dog, one that can help with my balance.

So yeah, because Biscuit, as much as we love her, she ain't no guide dog.

Biscuit is not. No, Biscuit is not a guide dog. She's the antithesis. She's the opposite of a guide dog. She is the knockout.

Yeah, the total opposite.

Yeah, she's the knockover dog.

Garnet used to roam the sidewalks of Western Kentucky University when you were back in the day.

She did. She did. She, she— and it was nice. But honestly, I just didn't travel enough and as much, so I didn't need a guide dog. But now with the balance problem, I think I might look into it. So this was a kind of a tough decision for me. So very emotional. It's a big responsibility.

So yes, that's— but I think that now they have it. I've not explored this closely, but I've heard off and on that, well, of course they have, you know, the guide dog and leader dog facilities. I believe the leader dog is like in New Jersey, if I'm not mistaken.

Leader dog is in Michigan. The one you're thinking of is Seeing Eye. They're in New Jersey.

So you've got those, but I think they have I think they have the availability now that you can actually have trainers, uh, come to your hometown and, and, and train you and, and these dogs, if I'm not mistaken.

Yep, they'll, they'll train. They will come to you to train.

So you won't have to worry about going to— if, if in fact in the end you get a guide dog, Kimberly, you won't have to worry about going to Michigan or New Jersey.

I think it depends. Honestly, I think it depends on what they think you need. I think there's a lot of things that go into that decision. I think they try to make it very individualized now. But yeah, the specialty training at your home is an option, I think, that they can do.

So yeah, so that's, that's one that would definitely, you know, if it, if it proves to be doable, that would be a convenient option for you.

Yeah. Yeah. Because it's hard to do. It's hard to do a cane. You know, with balance problems. And I, you know, I get— I love my husband a lot, of course.

Is there a conjunction coming here, Kimberly?

A little bit.

I love my husband very much, but, but, you know, put it this way, there is no one I would rather be dragged around by than Michael Parsley.

If you had to be dragged around by somebody, let's let it be Michael.

Yes. However, I'm getting a little tired of being dragged around.

So it's gotten old.

It's gotten a little old. So I'd like to be able to say forward and the dog— I mean, I know people think the dog drags you around, but that's really not at all how it works. So I, you know, and I could be in control. I could, you know, let's, let's go for a walk today.

Let's, you know, go for a little stroll on, on nice days like it is now when you and I are talking, you know, you definitely owe it to yourself and your future guide dog to, you know, soak up the breeze and the fresh air. And it'd be real therapeutic for both of you.

Yes. Even as you say that, I was thinking when I was, you know, in the hell known as Nashville, Tennessee last week.

The hell?

Yes.

The weather hell.

The weather hell. Yeah, the weather hell. Lovely place. Terrible weather.

Yes.

You know, I, it would be so much easier to do with a dog, but it, I also wouldn't want to put a dog through that, you know, the hot paper stuff.

Oh yeah, the hotness that you suffered down there.

Yeah, the heat and stuff. So, you know, it's, there's so much to, so much to contend with and think about.

But there's a lot to consider. But I wonder, you know, our man Jonathan Mosim, who has a particularly famous and You know, long-term podcast that he's been doing for no telling how long now. But anyway, that— now you tell me he's in Baltimore working for, uh, NFB.

NFB. Yeah, yep, yep.

He moved to the States, and apparently that's sort of like a retirement gig for him.

I, I guess it's like a post-retirement sort of thing, you know.

Maybe post-retirement.

Maybe we will have him on the show. You think he would come on our humble little Demand and Disrupt?

Oh, I'll tell you, why wouldn't he?

Yeah, exactly. We might have him on sometimes. That would be—

Why wouldn't he want to chat with— we might double up on that one. You and I might take turns putting Jonathan Mosin through the wringer.

I think that would be great. I think that would be great. And, you know, since you mentioned that, us do— you know, a lot of people, when they do their podcast, they do have both hosts doing the interview.

So they do team up and You know, and not that, not that splitting these chats up is a bad thing, but, you know, we, we have teamed up. Well, in fact, I guess the, the last time we teamed up, it wasn't technically— well, it was a special kind of chat that we did with, with Tina.

You know, that's right. That's right. For her book launch.

Book preview.

Yeah, her book launch, My Silence Roars. It's her book. You can find a link to that in the show notes as well. But yeah, and of course, we do our Cal Conversations. With Keith Posey, our roving reporter, and, uh, Caprice Johnson, our disruptor-in-chief. Uh, if y'all haven't listened to the most recent episode that we did, that was one that Keith, Keith worked on for us. It was, he led a panel discussion for the world premiere of the film Life After Olmsted. And it was really, really wonderful. So powerful. So y'all go back and listen to that bonus episode.

Yes.

The one right before this one. It was, uh, It was really, really great.

The one prior to this. And, and so, yeah, we might, you know, Kimberly and I are very open to perhaps splitting a few more of our chats up in the, you know, or, you know, joining forces, I should say. Splitting questions.

Absolutely. Absolutely. And so y'all tell us what you want. What would you like? Would you like to hear more of this? I know that you can't get enough of me and Sam just saying all manner of nonsense.

But you just, you just want us to do this every other week?

More, more just of us bantering. Do you want to hear more cow conversations? Tell us what you want because we want to know. We're looking at maybe making a few changes anyway. So, Sam, moment of truth. Tell the fine people how they can get in touch with us.

This email address that you might, you know, you might need a pen and paper, maybe a slate and stylus. Whatever you use.

Whatever you got.

Whatever you use to make notes to, uh, you know, to be able to retain this long email address. It's [email protected], all one word, all lowercase. And, uh, we want to hear from you with any kind of feedback, questions, comments, vicious remarks, as long as they're not too vicious.

You know what I get? I get people sending me stuff, uh, who, like, people want to be on the podcast. So that's a lot of how I find people is they send us, uh—

Oh yeah. And we, we like that too. People that, that, uh, want to come on with us and, and, uh, do their thing and share their story. We're all about that.

But, uh, now really, folks, the listeners, I would love to hear— I hear from Jerry. Jerry, he's so supportive. Jerry Wheatley sends me something every episode. He sends me something and it's not criticism. It's just, hey, great job. Thanks for doing what you're doing kind of thing.

He's Jerry Wheatley, our man.

Yep, yep. My mentor, Jerry Wheatley. But, you know, all you listeners out there, really, I want to hear from you. And I want you to be able to say, you know, Kimberly, you and Sam talk too much because we know that. We, we totally know.

Nothing we haven't heard before.

No, no, not at all. So it's fine. Tell us what you want.

And, you know, just don't, you know, try to save the, uh, the cursing and, you know, the obscenities.

Oh, we got fine listeners. I don't think they're gonna cuss at us.

And things like that, you know, as long as, as long as—

But, you know, if you want to, it's fine. Go ahead. We can handle it.

Well, I guess we could. Just abstain from the, uh, the worst of it.

I will filter things for Sam's delicate ears. You say what you gotta say. Let me know and I will filter it for Sam.

My ears are less delicate than they used to be, but they are still, still somewhat halfway delicate. Maybe because I try to be a man of the people, and sometimes I try a little too hard. But we're— we are, uh, we, we are people for the people, aren't we, Kimberly?

We, we are trying. We want to be for everybody. If we're, if we're failing in that endeavor, please do tell us. If, if you're like, I don't want to listen to them anymore because they never talk about XYZ, Tell me, because I want to know more about it.

Tell us what XYZ is.

Tell us what XYZ is and how I can learn more about it, because I want to know. I want to know everything, y'all. And I love doing this job. I love talking about disability issues, mainly because I love learning about disability issues. And it has been so very important to me to be involved in the disability community because they have been teachers for me. And leaders, and my life is richer, fuller, better because of all the things I've learned from all the people, you know, out there.

Yeah, a lot of us learn from each other. That's kind of how we roll. And, you know, we hear from people and we share their stories with you folks on Demand to Disrupt, and that can be a, a good teacher for all of us. So Anyway, yeah, um, let us know and, and we will, uh, you know, hold you to it, make sure that you, uh, partake in our events like Cal Day at Slugger Field on, on August—

August 16th.

The 16th.

You know, Sam, this has been fun.

It has.

It's been a fun little just catch-up, talk about the things, and midsummer no interview. But when we return In a couple of weeks, I, I have got like 4 interviews lined up already.

4?

Yeah. Yeah.

How about that?

Yep. Feast or famine, right?

That means we don't get to do this for at least, what, 2 months now though, Kimberly?

Well, we'll chat with— we'll have another Cal Conversation coming up soon. Yeah, we'll—

That's true. The Cal Conversations. Yeah, it's, you know, I guess the closest normal thing we do to this.

So sure.

So keep, keep your ears peeled for the next Cal Conversation and, and any of our other visits that we have lined up in the weeks and months ahead.

Absolutely. This has been fun. So bye everyone. Thanks so much. Demand and Disrupt is a production of the Advocato Press with generous support from the Center for Accessible Living based in Louisville, Kentucky. Our executive producers are me, Kimberly Parsley, and Dave Mathis. Our sound engineer is Michael Parsley. Thanks to Chris Ankin for the use of his song Change. Don't forget to follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode, and please consider leaving a review. You can find links to our email and social media in the show notes. Please reach out and let's keep the conversation going. Thanks, everyone.

Change. You say you've seen a change in me. Just for once, I think I would agree. Change. We both know there's a difference. We've had our curtain call. This time The writing's on the wall. Change this war of words we can't defend. Two damaged hearts refuse to mend. To judge this situation's pointless. We're the end every day, and it's not a game we need to play.

Change.

We try to make things better, repair and rearrange things, but each and every letter spelt out is new for us to open up our minds and hearts to change.

Change. Change.

Roll the dice, then what will be will be. Disregard for good to set us free. Free.

Change.

There's just no way of knowing if love lives anymore. We turn out the light, then close the door.

Change.

We try to make things better. Repair and rearrange things. Mots each and every letter. Spelt out with me for us to open up our minds and hearts to change. Change!

Change! Change!

Change!

Change!

Change!

Change!