Following is a list of all Insight Beyond Eyesight teleconference calls. This is only for people who are involved in the field of Blindness and Visual Impairment whether personally or professionally. Please contact us for the playback number if you fit the criteria and are interested in listening to these recordings. *note that these calls started in 2013-so we have updated some of the info which might not be mentioned in presentations and/or some information might be outdated on the recordings.

Download conference recordings list

1. Sara Mindy Cinnamon- fully Blind woman lives in Baltimore with her husband and children. 2. Miryam Devorah Cohen-Visually impaired woman, lives in Monsey with her husband and children. 3. Chaim Bieberfeld-blind Social Worker, lives in Monsey with his wife. 4. Vincent Pedulla-blind TVI and technology specialist in NYC. Then there’s a Q&A with R’ Lehman from Computer Services for the Blind (CSB Care) 5. Janette Christie -mother of VI child (used to) run National Association for Parents of Visually Impaired children (NAPVI) through Lighthouse. 6. Judith Milman-Social Worker who runs teleconference support groups for the Lighthouse. 7. Tim Pennington-father of blind daughter. 8. Arthur Jacobs-blind teacher, involved in NFB (national Federation of the Blind) 9. R’ Moshe Lefkowitz-Blind and lives in Monsey with his wife. Talks about raising large family keh and how supported himself and family. 10. Shoshana Aranowitz-visually impaired and lives in Five Towns with her husband and children. 11. Shimon Brand-blind social worker. 12. Chancey Fleet-Blind and is technology instructor in Andrew Heiskill Library in Manhattan 13. Udi Eidensohn -lost vision later on. Lives with her husband in Yerushalayim. Mother of large family keh. 14. Gitty Blau-blind woman with Spina Bifida who lives in Brooklyn. Author of Many Ways to See-children’s book. 15. Garry Wunder-Blind man who is editor of Braille Monitor magazine through NFB. 16. Heather Bird-blind social worker and is the president of the NFB of New York (calls herself Aubree now) 17. Esty Simon- visually impaired, lives in Manchester, England. She is a proud mother and grandmother as well as an active member in her community. She works as a Dula, is involved in projects with adults who have special needs, and has produced story CD’s for children. 18. Betty Lidsky-mother of 3 blind children-lives in Florida. 19. Penny Rosenblum-visually impaired professor for TVI’s. 20. Stacey Sophoranko-blind adult, director of NFB blind parents group. 21. Melissa Milic-blind TVI in New York City. 22. Annie and Robyn Safier-blind girl and her mother talk about her experience growing up and going to NFB training center as Jewish religious girl. Now in Social Work school. 23. Katelyn Macintyre-blind singer, musician, and music instructor 24. Bernice Bird-blind woman involved with NFB Newsline 25. Shani Chill- She worked as a Teacher of the Visually Impaired in EI and CPSE programs for over a decade, before joining the International Academy of Hope (iHOPE) in New York City as the Director of the Department of Vision Education, serving over 50 students with visual impairments, including CVI. Ms. Chill is a Perkins-Roman CVI Range Endorsee and provides consultation services to families on a global scale. In addition, she works closely with agencies providing special education services to young adults, helping transition high school graduates with visual impairments into the labor force. 26. Brian Fischler- is a blind web accessibility specialist, technology trainer, podcaster, comedian, Philanthropist, and public speaker. How does one individual wear that many hats? Easy start your career out working in the movie business, start losing your vision, end up working on WallStreet, and then go completely blind. It is not about where you end up in life but the journey that takes you there. Brian is also the Founder of Laugh For Sight, a comedy benefit that raises money for retinal degenerative eye disease research and the funding of guide dogs. 27. R’ David Keen A’’H (passed away soon after this call) lost his vision in his late teens. He lived in Kew Garden Hills with his wife and kids. David has accomplished much over the years and was the Chaplain at the NYU Langone hospital. He was also the vice president of the Queens Jewish Community Council, on the Chaplain’s committee of the Rabbinical Council of America, and was on the advisory board of VISIONS among other community services. 28. Edie Goldman-retired TVI. Talks about her experience as a TVI. 29. Recording of Chanukah party ladies discussion about daily living skills tips moderated by Miriam Devorah Cohen. 30. Arielle Silverman- she is a research specialist at the American Foundation for the Blind. She is a blind activist and a social scientist who is passionate about improving public understandings of life with disabilities. 31. Colleen Conner – created Blind Inspiration Cast, a podcast focused on demystifying and raising awareness of blindness. Here she began to reveal her own experiences and challenges as a blind professional. By speaking openly about what it means to have disabilities in the modern world, she developed a broad network. She is involved in the Audio Description industry and spends most of her time running Audio Description Training Retreats, LLC; where she directs training for AD writers, editors, performers, and describers. 32. Dr. Andrea Zimmerman-is a low vision Optometrist at the Guild-Lighthouse. Her activities have included promoting vision rehabilitation in lectures throughout the tri-state area, and she has also been published in professional journals for her work in low vision optometry. 33. Tzipora Wishky- from Israel. She compares and contrasts hers and her late husband, Shavtay’s, early lives as blind individuals. As adolescents, they came to Israel, where each became Torah observant. Eventually, their paths crossed. They discovered that blindness wasn't the only thing they had in common. Deciding to marry, they went on to build a home based on Torah values. They were active in their community as independent blind adults and met the challenges that life threw them. 34. Faigy Hirsch- describes her experience of being raised by her mother who was blind. Faigy is a volunteer for the Be My Eyes app, co-coordinates the YALLA (Young Adults Living Life Always-for adults with physical and medical challenges), and is a Chaplain. 35. Eileen Mcnamee- is a semi-retired TVI. She has worked in Special Education and with visually impaired students ages birth through 5 for many years. She also has experience working with students with multiple disabilities including Cortical Visual Impairment. 36. Amber Bobner-lives with her husband and seventeen-year-old son, Ivan, in Massachusetts. Ivan is blind and multiply disabled. Amber is the founder and administrator of Wonderbaby.org, a website dedicated to supporting parents and caregivers of children who are blind or visually impaired, with or without additional disabilities. Afterwards there is a demo of the Blind Shellphone by Diane Du Charme. 37. Mindy Giffin-. lives in Chicago. Talks about her journey of losing her vision after she was married while raising her children. Also discusses continuing to work and running a household in spite of the loss of her husband at a young age. 38. Chana Werdiger- shares her experience of being married to her blind husband for 35 years. She relates her inspiring perspective viewing this nissayon as a gift in disguise. We then discuss ideas for future events and programs. 39. Tricia Waechter is the founder and CEO of Blind Girl Designs, an apparel company focused on the blind community. She started the company in 2020 after her retinitis pigmentosa had diminished her eyesight to such an extent that she could no longer work in the corporate fashion community. She travels around the country to sell her products at conventions and other venues. Tricia is also involved in advocacy for the blind and promoting awareness about blind people to the general community. 40. Miryom Landau lives in Monsey with her husband and son. She became visually impaired as a child growing up in Israel. She discusses her experience of adjusting to her vision loss and eventually moving to New York. She shares her unique perspective of being raised by a visually impaired parent with humor and practical tips. 41. Alter (Al) Fogel is a attorney in general practice for over 25 years with offices in White Plains and Brooklyn, NY. Being visually impaired from a very young age, Mr. Fogel has used his skills and talents effectively to practice law and be a valuable and integral member to the Jewish community and the community at large. 42. Debra Erickson is the Executive Chef and Founder of The Blind Kitchen. The Blind Kitchen is a website (https://theblindkitchen.com) where she showcases and sells adaptive culinary tools as well as strategies and techniques for cooking safely and independently with low vision/blindness. She is an entrepreneur and does onsite workshops and motivational speaking. Debra shares her personal experience of losing her vision and how she achieved her accomplishments in spite of her vision loss. 43. Sara Rosenberg is totally blind from birth and lives in Lakewood with her husband. She is a retired Teacher of the Visually Impaired (Tvi) and a former special education teacher. She taught students with learning disabilities for thirteen years in a resource room setting. She then pursued her Tvi degree and taught students who are blind and or visually impaired with and without additional disabilities for six years. She shared her experience and emphasized the importance of attaining independence skills such as Orientation and Mobility, technology, and self-advocacy to achieve success. 44. Shai Wolman lives in San Diego, California. He is blind since birth. Shai works as an itinerant Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments, managing a resource room while also traveling between schools to support students across various educational settings. He is highly skilled in a wide range of assistive technologies, including braille note-takers and displays, the JAWS and NVDA screen readers for Windows, ChromeVox on Chromebooks, macOS accessibility features, and mobile platforms. Passionate about accessibility, equity, and student empowerment, he is committed to helping visually impaired learners reach their full potential. Shai discussed his personal experience of being mainstreamed with supports which shaped his deep understanding of inclusive education. 45. Randy Farber and his wife live in Houston, Texas. Randy lost his vision as an adult due to RP (Retinitis Pigmentosa). He shared his journey of obtaining 3 degrees and working in the fields of computers, business, real estate, and law-and how he had to adjust to his vision loss during his third career. He also discussed his involvement in the NFB (National Federation of the Blind) and how it has helped and supported him. 46. Call with Diane and Camila at Blindshell Phone company-questions and answers as well as a demo of the new classic 3 model. 47. Call with Patrick at Innosearch AI, an accessible online and phone shopping service. 48. Robert (Bob) Caterino lives in Monroe NY. He is blind due to RP (Retinitis Pigmentosa). He has spent over 30 years in the physical therapy and physical fitness industries. He still works at a part-time, and now for the last five years has been a licensed real estate agent in New York. Bob shared his experience of being blind since a young age and how he didn’t let his blindness get in the way of accomplishing many things in his life. New conference line: 1. Matthew Shifrin lives in Boston and is blind. He is an innovator in making play more accessible for blind kids and adults. He’s the founder and CEO of Bricks For The Blind, a nonprofit creating text-based instructions that enable blind people to build LEGO sets independently. He's also a professional opera-singer, accordionist, and is the composer of the award-winning one-man musical in English and Yiddish “My Grandma’s Mind Is Like An Ocean”. Shifrin also created Yiddish Braille, so blind people could read Yiddish books independently which Apple incorporated as an accessibility feature into their iPhones. 2. Rabbi Yoel Kemeny lives in Israel with his wife and children. He discussed his journey from Australia to Manchester to Israel as well as his other journey of gradually losing his vision. Nonetheless, he continued learning. He also discussed the process of publishing two sefarim - the first of which Yotzer Hameoros explores all the halochos for blind and visually impaired people on all 4 sections of the Shulchan Oruch. He shared an intense personal saga filled with incidences of hashgacha pratis (divine intervention) of seeming hope to halt his vision loss and its ultimate failure-with a powerful message of Emunah (belief that everything is from Hashem). 3. Debra Kent Stein lives in Chicago with her husband. She discussed her childhood as a fully blind child and her education as well as her careers including Social Work, teaching, writing, and performing. She also talked about the NFB and some of their programs, particularly the Future Reflections magazine (which she edits) for parents and educators of blind children.