Aaron’s Opinion

Aaron, thank you for your interest in Sideways Innovations, LLC. My name is Stephen Poirier, alias Blind Yoda. I noticed at a very young age that I could not see well but my teachers thought I was simply lazy. When I told them I could not see through the cloud on the chalkboard, they did not understand. This was confusing to me and my family since I knew I had a problem. I saw many specialists without results. Though I was able to participate in sports, my academic abilities were very limited. When I turned 14 years old, I was finally diagnosed with Juvenile Macular Degeneration which is now known as Stargardt disease. At this point I was declared legally blind. Music became my only focus, mainly drumming. At 22 years of age I finally had to accept my blindness and attended the Carroll Center for the Blind. During one of my mobility trainings, a man taking a right hand turn hit my blind mobility cane, knocking it out of my hand. He stopped and said, “I did not see you”. I replied, “If I had a light saber you would have seen me and I would have cut your car in half!” Hence, the concept of the Light Sword was born! Fast forward 40 or so years later, I created the Light Sword Blind Mobility Cane out of a modified light saber. Today, my focus is to bring vision to the sighted, enabling them to better see the blind community at night in a cool and stylish way.


Looking forward to talking with you!


Stephen

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About Me:
My name is Natalie Kay Hamlin. I’m a writer, content creator, and advocate focused on vision‑loss awareness, emotional intelligence, and lived‑experience education. I was born with chorioretinitis and I also experience Charles Bonnet Syndrome, so a lot of my work centers around explaining these conditions in a way that’s honest, accessible, and human.
I create educational content, personal narratives, and community‑building posts across my platforms, and I’m passionate about helping others understand what life with low vision and CBS actually looks like.
Platforms:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/natal...
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@NatalieArmstrongcreate
My Book:
https://a.co/d/0gaEY2mR
If you need anything else — a shorter bio, a headshot, accessibility notes, or specific topics you’d like me to prepare — just let me know. I’m happy to provide whatever you need to make the episode smooth on your end.
Thank you again for the opportunity. I’m looking forward to it.
Warmly,
Natalie Armstrong

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Aaron, thank you for the opportunity. I believe you wanted some background information and what my platform is so I am Leia Lemons-McGahee I am known as the complicated diabetic. I started this Facebook page because I saw some diabetics that were younger. Having these histrionic fits over their blood sugars and anxiety over nearly dying in the middle of the night with low blood sugars so I just wanted to throw things out there with an older diabetic that deals with complications. My number one complication is my vision changes so most people don’t know that I have vision and loss or challenges because I still have a lot of vision, but I do have some weird challenges with glaucoma and retinopathy, but the key thing that caused my vision loss is the cataract surgery that went wrong on my left eye although they did everything perfectly they say it was my eye that did not tolerate the surgery now my right eye is getting progressively worse with cataracts so between the glaucoma and the cataracts and the retinopathy there are so many different avenues in which my eyesight has diminished a little bit and will continue to diminish more than likely so if you’re still interested in my story, let me know again email is really hard for me to work, but I do answer calls on messenger or answer to messenger a little easier

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Hello Aaron,

First and foremost, thank you for the invitation to join you on Aaron’s Opinion. I am truly honored by the opportunity and look forward to our conversation.

By way of introduction, my name is Anthony Corona. I am a writer, broadcaster, advocate, mentor, and the founder of The Sunday Edition Family of Podcasts and Digital Media Content Services.

Storytelling has been the central thread running through my life for as long as I can remember. Long before launching my own media platform, I spent more than a decade working in journalism and entertainment media, including time with The Associated Press, where I covered entertainment and popular culture. Communication, community, and helping people tell their stories have always been at the heart of what I do.

My life changed dramatically in 2016 when I lost my sight suddenly due to complications from shingles. Like many people facing a life altering event, I found myself forced to reinvent nearly every aspect of my personal and professional life. What initially felt like an ending eventually became the beginning of a new chapter, one built around resilience, adaptation, advocacy, and rediscovering purpose.

Today, I continue that mission through The Sunday Edition Family of Podcasts, a growing network of programs focused on disability, accessibility, advocacy, entertainment, technology, faith, LGBTQIA plus issues, guide dogs, current events, and the shared human experience. Our goal is simple but powerful. We strive to create meaningful conversations, amplify underrepresented voices, build bridges between communities, and remind people that every voice has value and every story deserves to be heard.

In addition to my media work, I currently serve as Vice President of Blind LGBT Pride International, where I help foster community, advocacy, education, and connection among blind LGBTQIA plus individuals and allies around the world.

I am also fortunate to serve as a mentor, friend, and resource to many people across multiple intersectional communities. Whether through disability advocacy, LGBTQIA plus outreach, accessibility initiatives, employment discussions, faith conversations, or simply helping someone navigate a difficult chapter in life, I believe strongly in showing up for people and helping them find their own voice.

At my core, I am a fierce believer in advocacy, community engagement, and the social contract we share with one another. I believe that progress happens when we listen, when we learn, and when we are willing to share our stories openly and honestly.

I would love for our conversation to explore both the life I built before blindness and the reinvention that followed. The challenges, the lessons, the unexpected opportunities, and the work I continue to do today all helped shape the person I have become. While blindness changed many things, it never changed my belief in the power of communication, connection, and human potential.

Thank you again for the invitation. I am looking forward to spending time with you and your audience and sharing my journey.

Warm regards,

Anthony Corona

Founder
The Sunday Edition Family of Podcasts and Digital Media Content Services

Vice President
Blind LGBT Pride International

www.anthonycorona.com
Sent from my iPhone

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Hi everyone.
I'm Britta from "Braille and blindness" here in Denmark.
In this episode of Aaron's Opinion I try to tell you everything about how seven years ago I was so lucky, that a 3 yr old blind girl entered the kindergarten I was working at.
How I got to follow her all the way through kindergarten and into school, where we're about to enter 4th grade right after the sommer holiday.
How I try to make a new approach on the work with blind children by the help of everyone around them, how to sometimes make the impact of being blind appear less and how to make learning materials from scratch.
All this is this episode and on my Facebook page "Braille and blindness".

(1) Facebook

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