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Podcasts By Dr. Kirk Adams

Podcasts By Dr. Kirk Adams

De: Dr. Kirk Adams PhD
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Podcasts By Dr. Kirk Adams is a compelling podcast series that brings listeners into the world of accessibility, leadership, and social change through the lens of one of the most influential voices in blindness advocacy. Dr. Kirk Adams, former President and CEO of the American Foundation for the Blind and a lifelong champion for the rights of people with visual impairments, hosts this insightful and inspiring program.2024 Economía Política y Gobierno
Episodios
  • Podcasts By Dr. Kirk Adams: July 17, 2025: Interview with Margaux Joffe, Founder, Mind of All Kinds

    Podcasts By Dr. Kirk Adams: July 17, 2025: Interview with Margaux Joffe, Founder, Mind of All Kinds
    Jul 17 2025
    In this engaging episode, Dr. Kirk Adams sits down with Margaux Joffe, a board-certified cognitive specialist, accessibility champion and founder of Minds of All Kinds, to trace her journey from a late-in-life ADHD diagnosis at 29 to becoming a leading voice for neurodiversity in tech and beyond. Joffe recounts how learning she was neurodivergent reframed earlier struggles, inspired the women-focused Kaleidoscope Society project, and ultimately propelled her to create Yahoo's first Neurodiversity Employee Resource Group, which blossomed into a 35-office global network before she moved full-time into the company's storied accessibility team. Along the way she underscores the importance of dismantling invisible workplace barriers, from overwhelming procurement paperwork to inaccessible technologies, and credits mentors like accessibility luminaries Larry Goldberg and Mike Banach for sharpening her advocacy lens. The conversation then pivots to Joffe's entrepreneurial leap: launching Minds of All Kinds as an LLC dedicated to “learn, connect and lead” programming for neurodivergent professionals. Flagship offering ADHD Navigators has already graduated more than a hundred participants across fifteen cohorts, pairing evidence-based coaching with peer community to combat burnout and build strength-based career strategies. Joffe and Adams explore the ripple effects, parents modeling self-regulation for their children, companies re-thinking cognitive accessibility, and a broader “generational healing” that turns lived experience into systemic change. Their dialogue leaves listeners with a clear takeaway: inclusive design and empowered storytelling are not just accommodations, they're pathways to flourishing workplaces and lives. TRANSCRIPT: Podcast Commentator: Welcome to podcasts by Doctor Kirk Adams, where we bring you powerful conversations with leading voices in disability rights, employment and inclusion. Our guests share their expertise, experiences and strategies to inspire action and create a more inclusive world. If you're passionate about social justice or want to make a difference, you're in the right place. Let's dive in with your host, Doctor Kirk Adams. Dr. Kirk Adams: Welcome, everybody, to podcasts by Doctor Kirk Adams. I am, said Doctor Kirk Adams. And today I have a fabulous guest who I have had the pleasure of knowing for quite a number of years now. Margaux Joffe is here. She is the founder of a nonprofit called Minds of All Kinds. So say hi, Margaux. Margaux Joffe: Hi. Hi. Kirk. Hi everyone listening. Let me just say. Oh, Doctor Kirk. My Bad. Dr. Kirk Adams: There you go. One time. Margaux Joffe: Doctor Kirk. Dr. Kirk Adams: We'll go doctor one time. But yeah, I, I and I come by that. For those who don't know me, I have a PhD in leadership and Change from Antioch University, which I completed about six years ago. And my dissertation it's called Journeys Through Rough Country, an ethnographic study of blind adults employed in large American corporations. So I interviewed a lot of really cool blind people working at brand name companies that we all know and found out to. To what did they attribute their success? What were their challenges and ongoing challenges and what are their disappointments? That was a bit of a surprise that I wanted people who would self-describe as successfully employed, and they all did. And they, they very clearly tied that success to compensation and economic freedom, and they all expressed a pretty strong degree of disappointment that they were the only person who was blind who'd reach that level in the org chart, that they didn't see anyone in leadership with the disability, that people who were junior to them and they felt less qualified were promoted beyond them, that they needed to constantly battle for accommodations that their employer would, for instance, decide to implement a new technology system and not take accessibility into account. Dr. Kirk Adams: They would walk in one day to do their job and couldn't do it. So they had had had to continually, continually battle and really disappointed really, really a high level of disappointment that they were the exception rather than. And anyway, it's called Journeys Through Rough Country by Doctor Kirk Adams. You can find it with a search engine. And I'm proud of it. The doctoral work was really, really enlightening, talking to all these fellow blind individuals. And I'm blind myself. Have been since age five, when my retinas detached and I became totally blind very suddenly. And I went to a residential school for blind kids. State of Oregon, Oregon State School for the blind for first, second, and third grade. And I was given three gifts there. I was given really strong blindness skills. I had to learn how to read braille, travel with a cane, and type on a typewriter. So I could go to public school. When I was ready, I was given the blindness skills I was given the gift of high ...
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    46 m
  • Podcasts By Dr. Kirk Adams: July 14, 2025: Interview with John Robinson, Founder, Our Ability, Inc.

    Podcasts By Dr. Kirk Adams: July 14, 2025: Interview with John Robinson, Founder, Our Ability, Inc.
    Jul 13 2025
    In this 30-minute episode, Dr. Kirk Adams speaks with John Robinson, quadruple-amputee entrepreneur and CEO of Our Ability, about the journeys that led them from navigating New York's subway and Amtrak to building tech that removes barriers for people with disabilities. Robinson recounts his path from NBC ad-sales to launching Our Ability, explaining how collaboration with Syracuse University students and successive IBM Watson and Microsoft Azure grants birthed the Jobs Ability AI engine. Today that platform draws around 15,000 monthly visitors and has matched more than 10,000 job-seekers with roles at companies such as CVS and Pfizer, proving that inclusive technology can scale. The conversation pivots to a new frontier: adapting that same AI core to connect disability-owned businesses with corporate procurement opportunities. Prompted by a Fortune-500 client, Robinson is gauging community demand through a concise six-question survey sent to DOBEs, already yielding a 9 percent response rate with overwhelming support. Adams underscores the larger vision, closing the procurement gap, expanding entrepreneurial possibility, and demonstrating that inclusion is a strategic advantage, before urging listeners to complete the survey, share it widely, and join a follow-up discussion in six months when the beta marketplace goes live. TRANSCRIPT: Podcast Commentator: Welcome to podcasts by Doctor Kirk Adams, where we bring you powerful conversations with leading voices in disability rights, employment and inclusion. Our guests share their expertise, experiences and strategies to inspire action and create a more inclusive world. If you're passionate about social justice or want to make a difference, you're in the right place. Let's dive in with your host, doctor Kirk Adams. Dr. Kirk Adams: Welcome, everybody. This is Doctor Kirk Adams, and you are listening to the very cleverly titled podcasts by Doctor Kirk Adams. And my guest today is John Robinson, who is founder and owner of Our ability. And I've known John, I think it was 2016 when I was Recruited to lead the American Foundation for the blind. As president and CEO. And left that that same role at the lighthouse for the blind here in Seattle and moved to New York City, lived in Brooklyn, worked at two Penn Plaza, which was right next door to Madison Square Garden in the heart of the Big Apple. And as a totally blind person my greatest orientation and mobility accomplishment was to learn how to take the F train from Park Slope to J Street Metro Tech and transfer to the A, and then take the A into Penn Station and up to 34th and into the office. So took took some leaps of faith. I know, I know, native New Yorkers, blind people who grew up there. It's not a thing. But but for me, I had to I had to screw my courage to the sticking point on that one. But anyway, I met I met John very soon after I, I it might have been because I had been very, very involved with disability in here in Washington state, and I think I was trying to connect with whoever was doing something locally. Dr. Kirk Adams: And someone said, I should talk to John, and I called John, and you you graciously made the trip into Manhattan, came came to the office at AFB. We had a good talk and we we were very closely aligned on a number of things. Yes. As people with disabilities and entrepreneurs and innovators and leaders, I'll, I'll venture to say. And we've we've had a an ongoing dialogue since then. I really appreciate what John has done with our ability as far as creating a platform for people with disabilities and employers to connect. And now there's an exciting new venture, which I'll ask John to tell you about, which will also support the thriving of people with disabilities in business. But, John, I usually let my guests do most of the talking, so I probably just said about 90% of the words I'm going to say. So I would love to have you tell folks about yourself, your journey so far, how you became so passionate in advocacy and activism. What our ability is doing. How did our ability come to be? What's it doing now and where do you see it going? John Robinson: Well, there's a lot there. Doctor Kirk Adams, I remember that meeting very well. You're exactly right. That's how it started. So if you were navigating the F train and God bless you for doing that. I was navigating the Acela train from Albany, actually, Rensselaer, down into Penn Station. And so that means, for me, navigating a lot of stairs, navigating elevators that don't work, navigating, carrying my backpack around so that I can use the washroom. I'm a quadruple amputee. I'm three foot eight. Limited extension of my arms and my legs. So our disabilities are different, but the the challenge of journey is is a challenge, and that's part of it. Similar. And so I remember the train trips very well to New York City. I very much try to avoid it as much as I possibly can. Mainly because it's just easier for me to jump in ...
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    32 m
  • Supercharge Your Bottom Line Through Disability Inclusion: Blind and Low-Vision Workshop by Dr. Kirk Adams and Aaron Di Blasi: ChatGPT Advanced Voice Mode Demonstration: Cutting Edge AI For The Blind: How We're Using It

    Supercharge Your Bottom Line Through Disability Inclusion: Blind and Low-Vision Workshop by Dr. Kirk Adams and Aaron Di Blasi: ChatGPT Advanced Voice Mode Demonstration: Cutting Edge AI For The Blind: How We're Using It
    Jun 26 2025
    👉 More: About This Webinar that took place on June 26, 2025 live on LinkedIn. 📽️ Recording: Available for free on YouTube here. TRANSCRIPT: Podcast Commentator: Welcome to podcasts by Doctor Kirk Adams, where we bring you powerful conversations with leading voices in disability rights, employment and inclusion. Our guests share their expertise, experiences and strategies to inspire action and create a more inclusive world. If you're passionate about social justice or want to make a difference, you're in the right place. Let's dive in with your host, doctor Kirk Adams. Dr. Kirk Adams: Welcome, everybody. I am Doctor Kirk Adams, and this is my monthly live streamed webinar. And it is Supercharge Your Bottom Line through Disability Inclusion. And today we have a really special focus on technology. And my dear friend and colleague Aaron Di Blasi is here with us today. So say hi Aaron. Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Hello, everyone. How are you? Dr. Kirk Adams: And I'll ask you. I'll ask Aaron to talk a little bit about himself and what he does before he he teaches us, teaches us a thing or two. But but the focus today is really on technology and use of technology as blind people and how important and essential it is. And in preparing for this meeting, I thought of a couple things. One is the concept of the expanded core curriculum, and that is a framework that was developed by Doctor Phil Kaplan along with the American Foundation for the blind. And I had the honor and privilege of serving as president and CEO of American Foundation for the blind. Afp for a time. And I got to know Doctor Phil Hanlon, and I actually recruited him to the board of directors for the Seattle Lighthouse for the blind when I when I was in serving as the leader here. But the expanded core curriculum is is something that blind kids in school are made aware of at some point where they're told, okay, blind student, you need to learn all the things the sighted kids learn and these nine other things that you're going to have to work longer and harder than your sighted classmates, because you're going to need to learn orientation and mobility so you can travel independently and safely. You're going to have to learn self-advocacy, because you are going to have to advocate yourself in ways that your sighted classmates will not have to. You're going to have to learn to access print materials and alternative formats, whether that's braille, large print, magnification, audio, and you're going to have to master assistive technology. Dr. Kirk Adams: And that's what we're going to talk about a bit today. It also made me think of my dissertation. I have a PhD in leadership and change from Antioch University, and employment is my passion for people with disabilities. People who are blind in particular, as only 35% of us are in the workforce. About half of the the percentage of the general population, working age adults. And that means there's a lot of poverty and a lot of bad things happen. Poverty. So all all the bad health, health outcomes, the substance use disorders and depression and you know, all, all, all the bad things. So I personally and professionally and academically try, try to address that by creating opportunities for blind people and people with other disabilities to thrive in employment settings. So my dissertation is it's called Journeys Through Rough Country and ethnographic study of blind adults employed in large American corporations. So. So I interviewed a lot of really cool blind people who self-identified as successfully employed. And when I asked them what what what's your what's your metric for success? They all said money to to earn an appropriate salary, to have the freedom and flexibility to make spending decisions and have the resources to to do the things I want to do in life. And then I ask people, what were the factors that allowed them to be successfully employed in these large American corporations? So it was it was the usual usual suspects Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, meta, AT&T, Chase Bank, Boeing. Dr. Kirk Adams: Et cetera, et cetera. And there were some themes that emerged. There were there were eight success themes and family support was one being involved in some sort of team activity as a youth, like on a sports team or a choir or a debate team or something like that. A sense of agency, a strong internal locus of control where people felt that they could create their own pathways forward. If they had obstacles, they could figure out how to overcome those obstacles. And a lot of folks trace that back to some pivotal experience or experiences, and a lot of them that were outdoors, like rock climbing or skiing or horseback riding or something that that that gave people the feeling in their bones that they could, could do what they wanted to do in their lives, as opposed to a strong external locus of control where you feel stuff. Stuff happens to you and there's there's not much you can...
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    52 m
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