Honestly Adapting with Dr. Alex H Cohen, PhD

Dr. Alex H Cohen is the Chief Marketing and Accessibility Officer at AccessiblePharmacy, a tenured professor in the Marketing Department at West Chester University, and president of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Foundation Fighting Blindness. Alex's story is a testament of what you can achieve if you embrace that you are your own best advocate.

Alex delves into how his passion for the hospitality industry led him from Philly to Las Vegas. By 25 years old, Alex was already a general manager of a hotel in Philadelphia. His professional career didn't stop there. We also explore Alex's efforts in networking and his initiatives in DEI and disability that facilitated his entry into a doctoral program.

In the final segment of our conversation, we uncover the story behind AccessiblePharmacy, a company that offers home delivery services to the blind and low vision community. Alex, along with his team, established this company amidst the chaos of a global pandemic. We delve into the challenges faced by Alex and the significant role his wife Sarah played in his journey. Additionally, we explore the differences between low vision and blindness, the commendable work of the Foundation Fighting Blindness, and Alex's optimistic perspective towards the future. Don't miss out on this episode filled with resilience, inspiration, and the power of hope.

AccessiblePharmacy
https://accessiblepharmacy.com/
https://www.instagram.com/accessiblepharmacy/?hl=en

Foundation Fighting Blindness
https://www.fightingblindness.org/

West Chester University
https://www.wcupa.edu/business-PublicManagement/aCohen.aspx

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey everybody, I'm Kimberly Dobbs.

Speaker 3 (00:06):
And I'm Jacob Miller.

Speaker 1 (00:07):
And we'd like to welcome you to another episode
of Intuitive Choices.

Speaker 3 (00:10):
Kim and I are mental health therapists working in
Philadelphia.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Each week, we invite a guest to speak about how their
own intuitive choices have ledthem to live a more meaningful
life.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
We hope that this conversation encourages you to
make meaningful choices in yourown life.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Alright, off we go.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
Let's do it.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
Hey everybody, this is Kim.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
And this is Jacob.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
And we'd like to welcome you to another episode
of Intuitive Choices.
Today we have with us Dr AlexCohen.
He is a professor of marketingat Westchester University right
here in Pennsylvania, and he isalso the co-founder of an
amazing company calledAccessible Pharmacy, which is a

(00:56):
company that providespharmaceutical services to folks
in the blind and low visioncommunity and most recently
became the president ofFoundation Fighting Blindness,
the Philadelphia chapter.
So we are really excited towelcome you and have an amazing

(01:17):
conversation.
So we'll see where this goes.

Speaker 4 (01:19):
Welcome.
I'm very excited to be here.
Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
Thanks for coming.
We're so happy you're here.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So right now you are theco-founder of this company,
accessible Pharmacy.
You're a marketing professor,but can you tell us a little bit
about your journey and how yougot there?

Speaker 4 (01:34):
You know it's interesting.
It's also funny that wheneversomebody uses the word journey,
I cringe a little bit.
Because, I feel that the wordjourney implies that there's an
end, there's an end point, and Ifeel like I have ongoing

(01:58):
important pursuits until I'mphysically unable to perform
anymore.
What word would you use?
Really, put me on the spot.
Anything but journey, anythingbut journey.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
So tell us about your process.

Speaker 4 (02:14):
Oh, there you go.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Hey, therapists are shock-full to synonyms.

Speaker 4 (02:18):
This is like what we do Right.
So from a very early age I wasalways fascinated with the
hospitality industry.
I love traveling, I love goingon vacation.
I especially love staying inhotels and decided at an early
age like I wanted to do that,and so, growing up in
Philadelphia, when I was 15years old, I was able to get my

(02:42):
first job at a hotel.
I got to get the Warwick Hotelat 17th and Locust and started
taking reservations and checkingpeople in and out as a front
office clerk and it was justawesome.
And I got to meet somecelebrities while I was there.
That was just a fantasticexperience, and so I attended

(03:04):
Central High School here inPhiladelphia.

Speaker 3 (03:07):
What class?

Speaker 4 (03:08):
253.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
Oh, is that a thing?
It is a big thing.

Speaker 4 (03:13):
My father was 214 and my son, charlie, is now 283.
So, yeah, it's a familytradition.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
That's so cool Okay.

Speaker 4 (03:24):
But yeah.
So I always wanted to be inhospitality and so discovered
that this was a pursuit that Icould pursue and go after in
college.
And so I went to PurdueUniversity, which had a really
good hospitality program at thetime, and so I went there and
stayed there for a year anddecided that, you know, it was

(03:45):
really cold.
It's very cold.
Maybe Anna Also you know I'mnot really a midwesterner.
I needed more of a city, urbankind of life.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
Yeah, I'll grow it up in a city.

Speaker 3 (03:56):
I'd imagine you can say anymore of a bite.

Speaker 4 (03:58):
Yeah, yeah, and so I decided to move out to Las Vegas
, go out west to seek my fortune, and so why Las Vegas?

Speaker 1 (04:07):
Had you looked at any other options besides Las Vegas
?
Or that was just like what youhad on your mind.

Speaker 4 (04:12):
Well, cornell University wasn't lucky enough
to accept me, but at the timeUNLV was the second best
hospitality program in thecountry and it makes all the
sense in the world.
If you've ever been out to LasVegas, you know you get off of
Paradise and make a left rightoff.
You know, out of the airport, Imean right there at the Four

(04:34):
Corners, a drop in the boulevardare at the time it was the MGM
Grand, the Tropicana.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
New.

Speaker 4 (04:41):
York, new York, the Excalibur.
I mean there are more hotelrooms in that, you know, four
Corners than the entire city ofPhiladelphia combined.
I mean you know it's just anincredible place to be.
If you know that's yourprofessional interest Right.
And so I did finish UNLV infour years.

(05:07):
Or you know, I graduated withmy bachelor's in four years.
I did it.
I made that happen in Las Vegasand my dorm was like right
across the street from the HardRock Hotel.
I still made it happen.

Speaker 3 (05:21):
Is it the kind of thing where, like, if you're so
close to it, you never go?
Or were people going all thetime?
We went all the time.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
Well it's funny because you're like, yeah, I
graduated in four years and Iwas like, well, isn't that
typical?
But you're making a good pointthat you're like in a party, you
know, like you're in Las.

Speaker 4 (05:33):
Vegas for graduate.
You're not just at a college,you're in Las Vegas and nobody
ever came out to visit me nowone time at Purdue.
Yeah, every other weekendpeople are coming out like, hey,
this is really fun.
Yeah, like, yeah, you think,yeah, that's great.
I stayed out there and workedfor Mirage Incorporated, based

(05:55):
at the Golden Nugget Resort andCasino, and anybody who's ever
been out west can tell you thatyou need to drive everywhere.
There's no publictransportation.
It is not pedestrian friendly.
You know you have to get inyour car for everything, and so
I was.
You know had always had aproblem seeing at night.

(06:20):
My night vision was always poor, but I was also very near
sighted, so I always had trouble, you know, seeing pop flies,
especially at night, playingLittle League, or being able to,
you know, play with my friendsoutside at dusk.
They were able to kind of see,you know, the football coming at
them and where it would hit meright in the face.

(06:43):
So, you know, and as you getolder, more and more of your
social life takes place in theevening, and so it was getting
more apparent that, you know, Ihad always had this problem.
I never felt comfortabledriving at night, and so, in Las
Vegas, as my vision wasdeteriorating, I was really, you

(07:09):
know, lacking the confidence todrive and get around, and
realized that I needed to moveback east to a more pedestrian,
friendly city, and so I movedback to Philadelphia.
I do have RP, retnitisPigmentosa, and so I was
diagnosed with this back when Iwas 19 or 20 years old, and had

(07:30):
been living with this diagnosisfor a little better than a
quarter of a century.

Speaker 3 (07:37):
Is the night blindness like a typical first
indication?
Because I know, kim, youmentioned the same with you.
Yeah, interesting.

Speaker 4 (07:44):
Yeah.
So I went to Will's EyeHospital and I remember you know
being diagnosed and saying well, you have Retnitis Pigmentosa.
I'm like great Wait.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
Did they say it with that much enthusiasm?
I don't really remember it, itjust makes for a better story.

Speaker 4 (08:01):
High fives all around .
You're going blind.
They're cheerful.
Well, so at the time, theydidn't say that.
Oh, they didn't Like.
I was like okay, great.
What do we do about that?

Speaker 1 (08:13):
And they're like oh well, that's a.

Speaker 4 (08:16):
Well, there is a guy up in Massachusetts at Harvard
Massachusetts Ion Air Infirmarythat is doing some work and we
can connect you with him.
And they were talking about thelate, great Dr Elliot Burson.
And so I became a patient of DrBurson and began in these, you

(08:38):
know, taking part of theseclinical trials to see if
vitamin A combined with a luteinand several servings of oily
fish each week could somehowslow down the progression of the

(08:58):
disease.
And so you know, from prettyearly time we were involved with
trying to do something aboutthis.
But getting back to theoriginal point of moving back to
Philadelphia, I did stay in thehospitality business.
I mean, philadelphia does havea robust hospitality community,
a wonderful convention centerand a lot to offer.

(09:21):
So it was not an easytransition, especially from
somebody with a little bit ofLas Vegas experience.

Speaker 1 (09:28):
Oh, yeah, yeah, when you like, when you moved back to
Philly, was that, did thisplace?
Was it?
Did it seem boring?
Was it like boring incomparison to having lived in
Las Vegas for so many years?

Speaker 4 (09:42):
I mean it's definitely different.
It's quite a bit easier to moveabout in Philadelphia and you
know, at the time things were,things were very exciting.
I mean you might forget, youknow, around the turn of the
century Old City wasn't thatmuch of a thing.

(10:03):
You know, it was just comingonline when the Continental had
opened up at Second and MarketStreet and these places started
popping up around there.
So it was an exciting time to beback in Philadelphia and being
in the hospitality community.
It's a pretty tight community.
It was able to meet a lot ofpeople and make a lot of friends

(10:24):
and you know friends from highschool and the neighborhood were
still around, so it was apretty easy transition.
And yes, you know I did misssome of the Las Vegas stuff, but
I had a very good reason formoving back.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (10:43):
Alex, can you speak a little more to the draw towards
the hospitality industry?
You mentioned like you lovegoing on vacation as a kid, but
you know millions of people havegone on vacation.
So what was the thing that yousaw in the hospitality industry
that made you feel like this iswhere I want to be?

Speaker 4 (10:57):
Well, so interestingly, my father's best
friend from when he was in themilitary police back in the 60s.
My dad got injured and kind ofcame back to the States and now
I call him my uncle.
Mike actually ended up going toVietnam.

(11:19):
And after Vietnam, washed up onthe shores of St Thomas in the
US Virgin Islands and sospecifically going to visit him
and saying, you know, wow, stThomas, like the Freshman's Reef
, like this is fantastic.
I would love to do somethinglike this.
Once I began in the hospitalityyou know, specifically in the

(11:43):
hotel business, I realized that,you know, I liked the service
industry.
I liked, you know, makingpeople happy, making you know
sure that the guests that werethere were having, you know, a
great experience, not just withmy hotel but with Philadelphia
in general, being kind of ahospitality ambassador for the

(12:06):
whole city.
I mean, I think there's aninert sense of hospitality and
service and you know you got itor you don't.
Everybody's had that experiencegoing to a restaurant or hotel
where you've received reallytremendous service and that was,
you know, usually as a resultof the service personnel, and

(12:31):
you know also, when you don'thave such a great experience, it
might also be due to thatservice personnel maybe, who
aren't putting in that extraeffort and I always did put that
.
You know I wanted the guests tobe happy.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
That's really.
I really love the ethos of likeI had a good time so I also
want other people to have agreat time and then to be sort
of like one of the custodians orushers of like.
This is the experience ofPhiladelphia being a
Philadelphia itself.
I think there's a nice fullcircle beauty to that.

Speaker 4 (13:05):
Yeah.
So eventually when I came back,I was in sales and marketing
for the, the Wyndham FranklinPlaza for a little over a year
and I got recruited to join theLatham Hotel as a director of
sales and marketing, which isgreat for you know, at the time
I'm still a pretty young guy andto have you know that kind of

(13:26):
title was was very exciting.
On the Latham Hotel, 17th and1st, it is, you know, smaller
European boutique place.
It's not like a big conventionhotel or resort but, you know,
is mine, all mine, and Ieventually got promoted to be a
general manager there.
So I like fulfilled my lifelongprofessional dream at like like

(13:49):
25.

Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah, fantastic.

Speaker 4 (13:52):
Wow, I made it.
That was that was easier than Ithought.
But I also, you know, while Iwas there as a GM my first year,
I implemented this processwhere during the reservation
process, while people werebooking their room, I would have
our reservation agents turninto concierge and say you know,

(14:13):
would you like us to make anydinner reservations for you?
Do you need any informationabout tours or how to get around
the city or transportation?
Or you know attractions, likehow can we make you know you're
staying in Philadelphia better?
And you know everybody, youknow the whole service line, the
front office staff really,really bought into that and

(14:35):
really appreciated taking that,that extra step.

Speaker 3 (14:39):
Yeah, that's great.

Speaker 1 (14:41):
So, yeah, it's almost like you intuited that a little
bit, like you were able to kindof see naturally, like that,
there was a need for that.

Speaker 4 (14:50):
I wondered how long it was going to take you to
insert a pun.

Speaker 1 (14:54):
Oh yeah, either you're going to say about the
pun, about seeing, okay, I wasthinking about more Intuitively.
Yeah, yeah.
Nicely done, thank you.

Speaker 4 (15:03):
Well, I mean, it really is all about service and
I loved being there.
It was, it was really a greatexperience.
And then, you know the theowners of the property decided
to sell and they sold to a groupthat was going to convert this
beautiful hotel to condominiumbuilding, which is just what

(15:24):
Philadelphia needs more of.
And so, anyway, I decided totry and stay in the hospitality
business.
In a way, I got a very uniqueopportunity with a brand new
startup company which is aproperty management company, but
the whole idea behind it was tocreate this ultra luxury, you

(15:47):
know, hotel atmosphere.
So it's like the residents, thepeople who actually lived in
the condominium space, were,were treated as if, you know,
they were in a five star, fivediamond, you know white glove
service kind of property.
And so it was really wonderfuland great experience to set up
the entire management andhospitality and infrastructure

(16:11):
for this, and I stayed there fora while.
But unfortunately that was when, you know, the recession was
happening and you know the units, especially at that price for a
square foot, just you know,weren't moving and I'm not in
the real estate business, Idon't sell houses or you know
anything like that and it justdecided, like okay, to move on

(16:34):
from there and realize that Ireally need to make a career
change At that point when Istarted there, that's when I
actually started my canetraining.

Speaker 1 (16:46):
Oh, so your career change, your decision to do the
career change, was more, wasmore because of the recession.

Speaker 4 (16:52):
Yes, but it was both Okay, both what Well?
Simultaneously.
The deterioration of myefficient and the recession were
all happening simultaneously.
So what I was finding is I wasgoing on interviews for director

(17:12):
of sales positions and generalmanager positions, for which I
was very qualified, as my visionwas deteriorating and I was
using my cane more, you know.
I think that might have scaredsome people off.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
Yeah, it's hard to know that discrimination is real
and we're not accusing.

Speaker 4 (17:37):
I just, you know, I'm a fantastic guy, why not hire
me?
But yeah, in a way I get it.
If all things are equal onpaper and one person can see
well and the other can't, thesepeople are worried about their

(18:00):
asset.
So, you know, I decided that Iwas going to go into education
first, with the idea that I wasgoing to be a hospitality
management professor.
I here, I had all thisexperience and the desire to
make this career change and Ithought I also thought, being,

(18:23):
you know, in higher education,being in academia, they might be
a bit more forgiving of myvision loss.
And so, you know, making this,change.

Speaker 3 (18:37):
really, where did that come?

Speaker 1 (18:38):
from.

Speaker 3 (18:38):
It's not something I would have naturally thought of.
What the to become a professorthat that education would be
more accommodating orunderstanding of someone who was
in the process of losing theirvision.

Speaker 4 (18:49):
Well, I was aware of the Americans with Disabilities
Act and thinking about in auniversity setting.
You're covered by two of thosearticles, or actually you know
potentially all three.
Right, the workplace education,and you know common common
spaces, yeah strategic.

Speaker 1 (19:11):
Yeah, it's really really incredible.
You know, you made you madesome decisions that were really
logical, you know why I always,I always pride myself on my
logic and reason.

Speaker 4 (19:24):
Yeah yeah, you know, being illogical and hysterical
doesn't usually get me very far,but at least for this, this
level I mean.
So I reached out to theoccupational, vocational
rehabilitation, blindness andvisual services, for you know
Philadelphia and you know they.

(19:45):
They had helped me in the pastwith my cane training and so I
said, okay, well, I need to makea career change.
And what do you want to do?
And I want to be a hospitalityprofessor.
And oh well, we haven't had oneof those before.
What does that entail?
And it was about, you know,going back and getting a
master's degree with the goal ofpursuing a doctorate.

Speaker 1 (20:08):
So it's interesting, you went to those services to
ask for some guidance and then,essentially, they turned it back
around on you and asked you toguide them through that process
because they had neverexperienced that before.
Is that what you're saying?
Yes, okay, okay.

Speaker 4 (20:22):
But I'm okay with it.
Yeah, of course, you know.
Sure, I just want to be clear.

Speaker 1 (20:26):
Yeah, you know I that you ended up just figuring it
out, you know yourself.

Speaker 4 (20:30):
I think it's important to help people who
want to help you.
Like be able to help you betterRight.

Speaker 3 (20:36):
Yeah, that's a beautiful statement.
People get so frustrated whenthey when they reach out to
someone for help and you're likewell, you know you haven't
solved all my problems, but toknow that you have to the person
asking for help has to befacilitated in that process is
paramount.

Speaker 4 (20:49):
Yeah Right.
Well, you know you're your ownbest self advocate, I guess in a
lot of ways.

Speaker 3 (20:55):
Yeah.
To teach someone how you wantto be interacted with in a lot
of ways yeah absolutely Likepeople don't know what you need.

Speaker 4 (21:04):
Yep you know they can they can guess, but or assume
which is also not ideal, butyeah, I mean but, but also you
recognize somebody's willingnessto help you, right, and you'd
be appreciative and grateful forthat.
And I was grateful for theseservices, especially since they
they paid for half of themaster's degree.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
Well, Drexel which is not insignificant.
I didn't know that that's oneof the service.

Speaker 4 (21:30):
I didn't realize that you actually have to.
One thing that was interestingand I'm always grateful to my,
my wife, for having done all thepaperwork but applying for
social security disability isnot easy.
Right, it's quite an arduoustask.
But also the BVS, or many ofthe BVS services, are not free

(21:57):
unless you have that designation.
Oh, okay.
So that was important to getthat done first.
Okay.

Speaker 3 (22:05):
What's, what's the?
What makes it difficult toapply for the services that you
mentioned?

Speaker 1 (22:09):
Social security, disability, I mean yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (22:11):
It's.
I mean it's it's a lot ofpaperwork, yeah, and it's
getting a lot of information,health records.
You know it's probably a loteasier now, yeah, actually if I
think about it.

Speaker 1 (22:23):
But I mean back then it was probably paper pencil.
Literally 17 years ago orwhatever.

Speaker 3 (22:28):
You know that's it's a long time.
It's like you think it's likegood old fashioned, like
bureaucracy can be inefficient.
Or do you think there's likeimpediments that are put in
place to keep you from applyingto the services?

Speaker 4 (22:39):
I'm not sure, but I also don't think it should
necessarily be easy.
Okay.

Speaker 1 (22:46):
You know, it's an arduous process when you don't
really have great eyesight paperpencil you're losing, so I
think that's how I kind ofinterpreted like it was an
arduous process.

Speaker 4 (22:55):
There's that right, but there's, you know, there's a
sense that they want to makesure that you really should have
this Yep, and I think we astaxpayers probably should be
grateful that it's not justbased on a phone call Like.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
I need this.

Speaker 4 (23:20):
Sure, here you go.
So we did that, and so I beganmy master's program at Drexel,
which at the time was an onlineprogram, all online, which was
new.

Speaker 1 (23:38):
I was gonna say that was unique at that, because if
we put ourselves back there.
What'd you say?
17 years?

Speaker 4 (23:42):
ago.
I mean, it wasn't that, it was2010,.

Speaker 1 (23:46):
I think yeah, but still nothing was happening
online.

Speaker 4 (23:49):
Like that.
But I mean, Drexel is veryinnovative and they really had
done a phenomenal job with that.
Also recognizing that if youhave an online offering,
especially for master's programs, you can market those programs
well beyond Philadelphia, Rightright.

(24:11):
And so.
But I created a collaborationwith the Office of Disability
Resources at Drexel and the goodpeople at BVS to figure out
what I needed, what technologywas available, what was gonna
come from the university, whatwas coming from BVS, how I was

(24:34):
gonna get trained on thesethings, how they were gonna let
my professors know.
And it was all about puttingthese two offices together to
coordinate this on my behalfrather than just kind of going
through me as some kind ofintermediary.
Is that something?

Speaker 3 (24:51):
you had done before, to have been a facilitator of a
collaboration as opposed to aconduit between people.

Speaker 4 (24:57):
Well, people in the hospitality industry are really
any kind of business.
Do that all the time.
It's like simple networking.

Speaker 3 (25:04):
Can you give me an example in the hospitality
industry?

Speaker 4 (25:07):
Well, sure, well, I mean if you know that one
business will benefit from therelationship of another business
and they work at well, okay, soa restaurant in my hotel right

(25:28):
needs particular equipment.
Is having some equipmentbreakdowns.
I know people who do that frommy experience at other hotels
and working in some restaurantsand internships that I had and
kind of bringing those peopletogether to find a solution for

(25:50):
my hotel.

Speaker 3 (25:52):
It's like I don't know about hotel culinary
equipment, what you would needin the kitchen, but I know
people who know and so it's ittakes a lot of awareness to like
as you move through your lifeand just like kind of have like
a director in your head, of likeoh this is what that person
does and that's their function.
But that look for opportunitiesto connect them.
I think is a unique trait.

(26:14):
Yeah, I do too.

Speaker 4 (26:15):
And this was before.
Linkedin was such a thing.
Yeah, no, but I mean hey.
I always tell my students thisthat your network can never be
too large.
Yeah, so you know.
So I went through my master'sprogram and so it was time to
start applying for doctoralprograms, and what I realized is
I didn't want to leavePhiladelphia.

(26:36):
My wife, who at the time was aneonatal intensive care nurse at
Pennsylvania Hospital, I hadtwo small children have a great
deal of familial support in thePhiladelphia area, not leaving
to go to you know.
So, specifically looking around, there were not places in

(26:57):
Philadelphia that had doctoralprograms in hospitality.

Speaker 1 (27:02):
Why'd you have to go for your doctorate?

Speaker 4 (27:04):
You can't be a professor without having a
doctorate.
You could be, maybe, an adjunct.
Oh, okay, but you couldn'tactually be like an assistant,
right.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
So there's those different.
Yeah, they had the depending on, like, the kind of instructor.
You are at the collegiate level, right?
You?
Just you need that degree.

Speaker 4 (27:22):
You need that designation, and so I figured
that I could stay.
I could get a degree, abusiness degree, and I always
loved marketing, particularlysales and marketing.
That's how I came up in thehospitality business and decided
to go to the LeBeau College ofBusiness at Drexel and they

(27:46):
accepted me and it was great,great.
There is one thing that I willsay.
As interviewing for thatposition, I was very nervous and
my advisor and very closefriend gave me some fantastic
advice.
Fantastic advice it's like youknow your GRE scores are okay,

(28:12):
you know you have a master'sdegree.
It's fine, it's hypercompetitive.
It's hyper competitive to getinto a doctoral program.
The school has DEI, you knowinitiatives, you have a
compelling story, but you needto put that story in their face

(28:32):
and make them eat their DEIpolicy.
And so they wanted to do aSkype interview with me.
And he said under nocircumstances do you do a Skype
interview?
Yeah, and so when you meet themwith your cane, maybe you bump
into some stuff, like you knowlike you, play that for all it's
worth and right on.

Speaker 1 (28:53):
Yeah, how did you feel about that?
You know, depending on therelationship with your
deteriorate, like, was that okayfor you or not?

Speaker 4 (29:02):
It's fantastic.

Speaker 1 (29:03):
Was it Okay cool.

Speaker 4 (29:05):
So I don't feel that way.
Okay, right, I don't get there.
I don't have negativity aboutany of that.
And when I'm giving you know, Igive a lot of talks to you know
kids, students with you knowvarying disabilities, and say
like, look, all the places thatyou wanna go, the things you

(29:29):
wanna do, places you wanna work,they all have these DEI
initiatives and the DEI alsostands for disability, which is
you use that, get in, you know,and make your mark.
And if you need that, if youneed that additional bump to get
into a place you know, so thatthey can have a more diverse and

(29:51):
inclusive workforce, then youknow hell yeah, make it happen,
yeah.

Speaker 3 (29:56):
It's a very clear and matter of fact way of like.
This is the system, and so Iwill use it because it's here.

Speaker 4 (30:02):
That's right, and the unemployment rate is way, way,
way too high in the blind andlow vision community.

Speaker 1 (30:08):
I think it's 85%.
Oh my goodness, yeah, it reallyis.
Yeah, it really is astronomical.

Speaker 4 (30:12):
It's bananas.
So this is a way to do that.
Yeah, I also, you know, just ona side note, when I am, a lot
of students are interested, youknow, in the blind and low
vision community, are interestedin helping other blind and low
vision people, which iswonderful and it's a beautiful

(30:32):
thing Going into, you know,special education or being at
special schools or working withassistive technology.
I also say to them that you cando great things for this
community by working in amainstream company and reminding

(30:54):
them that accessibility isimportant to everybody and all
the benefits thereby making thegreater world outside more
accessible and not just ourlittle own circle of our own
community here.
That's great, that's greatadvice.
So, yeah, and I mean, hopefullythey take it.
We'll have to see.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (31:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (31:14):
So I finished my doctorate from LeBeau and you
know it was also interestingbecause, you know, during that
whole educational process I keptsaying like I want to be a
hospitality guy and they're like, oh great, but you understand
that hospitality professors makehalf as much as like marketing

(31:37):
professors.
I'm like I'm going to be amarketing professor, yeah, and
I'm going to use, and I'm goingto use, I'm going to use
hospitality related examples inmy lectures because it's
something that everybody knows,everybody enjoys, they know
about the restaurant businessand hotels and having been on

(31:59):
vacation, and so it's somethingthat everybody can get.
You know, when you're talkingabout different marketing
concepts yeah.
So it works, you know it worksvery well, yeah.
And so I was lucky enough toget hired by Westchester
University and I was recently,you know, tenured and promoted

(32:22):
to associate professor.
So congratulations.

Speaker 1 (32:24):
Thank you yeah that's amazing.

Speaker 4 (32:26):
Yeah, it's a terrible business model.
You work really hard for sixyears and you have your job for
the rest of your life.
Yeah, you know, I wouldn't dothat at my own company.
Yeah, I'm glad to takeadvantage of that and it's
wonderful and it's been afantastic place to work.
Yeah, what a blessing and theyare incredibly supportive of me

(32:47):
and, you know, whenever you knowit's very rare, but whenever
some kind of accessibility, youknow related issue comes up,
they're right on top of it.
And they really want to dowhatever they can, and it has
been a wonderful place to work.

Speaker 1 (33:03):
So if things were so wonderful there, tell us then
what inspired you to start thecompany Accessible Pharmacy.
So I have to take a step backwith that.

Speaker 4 (33:14):
First, because there's something that I did not
realize as a college studentSay it, that I thought that
college professors were there toteach me, to educate me, and
that was their most importantjob.
That's not really all a collegeprofessor does, it's not even
half of it, and a lot ofuniversities it's conducting

(33:37):
academic research.
Yeah, I mean, that's why theygive you the tenure right.

Speaker 3 (33:40):
They think you're going to be a conduit for
research.

Speaker 4 (33:42):
Exactly.
And so and your entire doctoralprogram is not about you know,
creating or having you you knowhow to be a great teacher, it's
how to be a great researcher.
And so I looked at what mymarket, you know, my marketing

(34:04):
research could be on and, youknow, talked to a lot of people
in the, you know, blind and lowvision community about it and
decided that I was going to haveall of my research directed
toward you know how to create amore inclusive marketplace for
the blind and low visioncommunity.

(34:26):
And so this led to a great dealof study, particularly in the
online marketplace, withwebsites which are astoundingly
inaccessible.
That's right, and so in whatways?

Speaker 3 (34:39):
are they?

Speaker 4 (34:39):
inaccessible.
Yeah, I was going to say weshould explain that, I think
Okay.
So for somebody with you know,low vision or blind, to navigate
a website, in the vast majorityof cases they need assistive
technology, usually in the formof magnification or a screen

(35:00):
reader.
Well, for this to work, thewebsite must be designed in such
a way as to be compatible withthis assistive technology.
In many cases, it's not so.
For example, images are notdescribed.
This was at the root of theNational Federation of the Blind

(35:21):
versus Target lawsuit, wherepeople would shop online but you
couldn't get a description ofthe product because they didn't
use something called alt text,which is used to describe images
.

Speaker 1 (35:36):
So instead, what would happen is like again,
we're all using touch screens,so you would tap your screen and
you're expecting to for yourscreen reader to like read what
you're tapping, and it wouldjust say something like image or
whatever the quite literallylike whatever the IP coding is
It'll?
Just read that out to you,which is not helpful, not

(35:57):
helpful at all.

Speaker 3 (35:58):
I mean, kim, like sometimes when we've shopped for
things for the office on Amazontogether, like you and I try to
use the screen reader togetherand it's like still difficult,
and then I'll take it off andI'll say, jacob, I can't do this
Like I've ordered things forthis office and I think it's one
thing.

Speaker 1 (36:12):
And then Jacob's like this is what it looks like,
it's been delivered, it's just,and that's Amazon.

Speaker 4 (36:18):
Right, or links that don't work or appropriate
labeling, or if you have to fillout a form of some kind but the
points aren't labeled so youcan't tell if it's name first
name, last name, address wecould literally go on and on all
day about this One other thing,though, is the CAPTCHA is the

(36:39):
nightmare.

Speaker 1 (36:41):
Yeah, just having the scrambled letters and things,
and only recently have theystarted offering the audio
version.
But even those are great.

Speaker 4 (36:49):
Because what happens for the audio version for me is
it sounds like it's being saidby a baby underwater and I'm
sorry, that's really terrible.
I didn't really.
You should probably edit that.

Speaker 3 (37:03):
So what does it sound like with the audio CAPTCHA?

Speaker 4 (37:06):
It just sounds like somebody's speaking underwater
and so you can't really hear itclearly.
But also when the audio CAPTCHAfirst came out, what would
happen on my computer is itwould have to pop up some kind
of Microsoft sound thing tolisten to it and so you're not

(37:27):
in the box where you can type itin.
You're in the sound and thewhole thing has been in it and
it just doesn't work.
So my research was reallylooking into this and finding
out how blind and low visionconsumers react in the anti-firm
reactions that they would havein terms of negative word of

(37:49):
mouth and avoidance, and thesedifferent things.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
And so that leads us into accessible pharmacy
services, because can I just askyou a question Do you happen to
know this statistic, and it'sOK if you don't Do you happen to
know a percentage or whateverof how many people in this
country or whatever, are usingthat need assistive technology,
that are low vision and blind?

(38:13):
And if you don't know that,that's OK, but it's not a small
percentage.
So I just want to say that Is asignificant amount of people,
that.

Speaker 4 (38:23):
There's more to assistive technology than just
screen readers, right, but likemagnification, all those
different things.
So also in my work, the waythat I describe online
accessibility is it's pertinentto anybody who would be unable
to use a mouse.

Speaker 1 (38:44):
Oh, like the handheld .

Speaker 4 (38:47):
Yeah, and that could be for a variety of reasons.
If you can't navigate thewebsite using keystrokes, it's
not accessible.
Wow, ok.
So even if things areaccessible, it's still not great
.
Can you imagine having to tabthrough the old Yahoo homepage?
Yeah.
Like the number of links thatyou have to get to what you're

(39:09):
looking for.
So also, though, it's the goodold fashioned universal design
approach that if it works wellfor this community, it really is
going to be easier and workwell for everybody.
What is the old?
What can a ramp be used for?
To get into a store?

(39:31):
Who uses the ramp?
Somebody's like somebody in awheelchair, Like OK, what else?
And you could really dig downfor how many different people
can use that ramp?

Speaker 1 (39:44):
Can benefit from it.

Speaker 4 (39:45):
Right, yeah.

Speaker 1 (39:46):
I think that's an important thing to say so.

Speaker 4 (39:49):
That's the same thing with website design.
And so at the time, my kidswere going to Greenfield
Elementary and I was introducedto one of my best friends and
business partner now, andyBurstein, who is actually the

(40:10):
fellow co-founder of AccessiblePharmacy Services, and he and
his partner were working in theonline accessibility space.
They had developed a tool, aplug-in, that could make most
websites accessible, and so Iwas doing consulting for them,
and so he started asking meabout my research, and so we

(40:31):
went through all of this and Ihad done a five-year study
looking at the retailenvironment, actually on the top
100 retailers in the US, andthis included all of the major,
all of grocery chains, bigdepartment stores, like anything

(40:54):
that you can imagine is goingto be on this list.
And so we started lookingthrough and noticed that, like
hey, pharmacies are particularlyinaccessible, and whether that
was a standalone pharmacy or apharmacy inside of a big box
retailer or a grocery store,they were inaccessible.
This is a real problem.

(41:16):
I mean, this is importanthealth care for people and so
whenever you get a good researchquestion, you dig in further
and you do more research, and westarted doing field research,
going into the differentpharmacies around the city.
It's like, what do you do assomebody is blind?
Like, oh, and find out, or likecalling the

(41:36):
1-800-CUSTOMER-LINES and all thedifferent things, like doing
focus groups and interviews tosee what people's experiences
were, and they were, you know,magnificently negative.
And so we decided like weshould do something about this.
And then we look at each other,like, well, neither one of us

(41:58):
are pharmacists.
That's an important part ofthis and so we started looking
around and we're introduced toDr Jason Barrett, who's a PharmD
and is, you know, decades ofexperience, and you know kind of
made the initial pitch to him,and he pitched us right back

(42:21):
that you know he had aclosed-door pharmacy that had
specialized in packingmedications for assisted living
in senior centers, and so a lotof the same equipment could be

(42:41):
used for, you know, all sorts ofdifferent packaging, and so we
explored how did you find him,though, interestingly, he and
Andy used the same accountant.

Speaker 1 (42:54):
Okay, and so I had a feeling it was going to be
something like that, which iswhy I was like I need to ask you
know how you came about this,Because, yeah, so also, we
started Accessible Pharmacy, Iguess in March of what was it?

Speaker 4 (43:16):
2020, right in the middle of the pandemic.
The start of it.

Speaker 1 (43:19):
Well, so March started at March 13th.

Speaker 4 (43:22):
So we didn't know that we were launching in the
middle of the pandemic, but itended up in a way being helpful
for us.
Yeah Well, because yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's not easy for the blind andlow vision community to
socially distance.

Speaker 1 (43:39):
Yeah, it's a little bit, even, if possible.

Speaker 4 (43:42):
And taking, you know, at the time, particularly
taking a septa or paratransit oranything like that, or even
just walking around in any kindof retail store, it's like, oh
my goodness, I'm taking my verylife in my hands.
We didn't know.

Speaker 1 (43:57):
Yeah, that's what it felt like.

Speaker 4 (43:59):
So it was like really I mean not that this was the
marketing pitch, but this islike the theme sort of is like,
you know, if I'm going to takemy life in my hands, it sure as
hell isn't going to be to walkaround in a pharmacy.
Yeah, you know.
Yeah, and so we offer homedelivery and it's all through

(44:19):
the phone and there's no, youknow you never get stuck in
voicemail hell or having to typein a 15-digit like pharmacy or
reorder code or any of thesethings.
You know it's all like instantcommunication and you know free
home delivery.
So if you're going to be, youknow, out and about, why not be

(44:44):
out and about doing somethingthat brings you joy?
Yeah.
Yeah, and that was, you know,really kind of where a lot of
the home delivery servicestarted.

Speaker 1 (44:55):
So, speaking of doing something that, like that,
makes you experience joy, so youit's, you've made all these
decisions in your life, right,that, like we're talking and
it's like you, just it's notjust on corny, but like you
really did follow your heart,right, like just recognizing at
15, how much you lovehospitality, and like following

(45:17):
your dream to go do that, andthen, like you know all the
while, like you get this.
You know you're, you're goingblind, right, but also like
still, almost like not even likeletting it stop you to sort of
just being like this is how Iwant to do it and I'm just
making these decisions, I'm kindof adapting, but I'm making
these decisions all the whileknowing that I'm going blind,

(45:39):
but I'm still doing what I wantto do.
And but I want to circle backto like since you, since your
eyes, I and of course I'mbecause the same thing happened
to me, right De-de-deteriorrating like what was that
process like as you were?
Like starting a family, like anew career, going through school

(45:59):
, like all of that, but like allthe while you're, you're still
processing slowly because it'svery slow, losing your eyesight.
You know what I mean.
So what was that like for youto have to go through all of
that, or or as you're goingthrough it too and you're still
experiencing it.

Speaker 4 (46:18):
Well, I think a lot of it is about my support system
, which is truly fantastic.
My wife is really the mostamazing human being I can think
of she's she's a unicorn.
And I'm really really lucky.
I was on a cruise with my dadout of San Juan, puerto Rico,

(46:41):
and it was a celebrity cruiselines.
It was the first day of thecruise and I could see much
better than I could now.

Speaker 3 (46:54):
How old were you?

Speaker 4 (46:55):
Maybe 24?
I have 24 or so, and so thiswas we remember it was January.
I think it was a January 4th orsometime in January 2002.
Okay, Right.
And so it was the first firstday and we were having like kind

(47:19):
of the the shove off party, andso Sarah was sitting at the, at
the bar, at a bar, on the deck,and I saw her from across the
way, what?
But so also I had been on anumber of cruises before and I
had been always very good atgetting the younger people

(47:42):
together on the ship to hang outand to do things and to meet up
and, to you know, form like abig group of friends for the
entire cruise.
And so I went up, you know, andshe was gorgeous, but I went up
to kind of recruit her, andagain, this was in San Juan,

(48:03):
puerto Rico, and so somethingthat you, you wouldn't do around
Philadelphia is you could asksomebody where they're from.
It's a perfectly reasonablequestion, and so she said she
was from Philadelphia and I waswow.
So at the time I was living inan apartment at 18th and one on

(48:23):
written house square.
Where was she living?
And I said where where are youin Philadelphia?
And she's like well, actuallyI'm, I'm in Downingtown.

Speaker 1 (48:30):
I'm like that's not Philadelphia.

Speaker 4 (48:32):
But he's like but we're in Puerto Rico, and if I
said Downingtown would youreally know what that was.
And so she had just actuallygraduated from the Pitt nursing
program and was starting a jobat CHOP when they got back, and
so her parents were celebratingtheir 25th wedding anniversary
and took Sarah and her youngersister along, and so I, you know

(48:55):
, met the whole family and spenttime with them for for the
whole week while being on acruise, and then, you know, she
started at CHOP and we startedto date and really haven't
looked back since.
Oh wow.

Speaker 1 (49:09):
What a cool way to meet your wife that's.
I've never heard a story likethat.

Speaker 4 (49:13):
There is one other part to it, though, that I
forgot to mention.
Well, we were at the bar, and Ihad never done this before.
Well, we were at the bar.
I said I would love to meet upwith you later.
I'm going to be in the club.
I have this thing I can't seevery well at night or in the
dark, and so it's pretty dark inthe club.
I'm going to go sit at thecircle bar and I'd love for you

(49:37):
to come find me.

Speaker 1 (49:40):
What was it that you didn't really do at the talk of
what was what's the thing thatyou didn't usually do?

Speaker 4 (49:44):
So there were lots of times in Philadelphia that I
would meet somebody out at nightyou know Lucy's hat shop or
something like that Get a phonenumber, go out on a date, be at
a dark restaurant and like haveno idea actually, really what
this person looks like yeah.
Anything.
Also, I never ordered off themenu.

(50:07):
I always ordered the specialbecause I couldn't read the menu
in the dark restaurant.

Speaker 1 (50:13):
So you were like playing it cool yeah.

Speaker 4 (50:15):
So I was like adapting in a way to dishonestly
adapting, I guess, yeah, youknow, in a way like not, you
know, recognizing this.
And then Sarah would be likewhy don't you just get a damn
light?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, she wasactually on the menu, but she
was like the first person that Iever you know Told about that

(50:38):
and it was you know.

Speaker 3 (50:39):
And she came up and she, she grabbed my hand and
like that was what made you Wow,that decision in that moment of
I'm gonna be honestly adaptiveinstead of dishonestly adaptive.

Speaker 4 (50:50):
Divine intervention.

Speaker 1 (50:54):
Yeah, there's something right, but it's hard
to like.
Who knows?
Yeah, and you know what'sinteresting is, it makes me
think because you know we'retalking about this in years that
she's so supportive, right,your family, and especially your
wife, that do you feel likeshe's been an integral part of,
of Helping you adapt.
Like, in those moments of like,why don't you just get a light

(51:16):
like, go, do you know?
Do I mean she do a lot of that,or does she do that?

Speaker 4 (51:21):
for you.
Well, she was part of the wholething together.
Like, yeah, going up to Bostonfor my eye doctor appointments
with my dad, I started goingwith my.
It was Sarah yeah.
I started vision visiting theUniversity of Pennsylvania low
vision Center with her yeah andyou know she, dr Steinberg at
the time, was teaching her howto be a sighted guide Right like

(51:45):
how to, you know, show justthrough, like arm motions when
to get skinny and get behind herright.
You know, with that right rightyeah, and so all these different
things Filling out thepaperwork so I could get a
really expensive ruby reader.
Yeah, covered by insurance oryeah?
you know all of these differentthings.
So she's actually always beenPart of the process and

(52:06):
something you know, now that I'mpart of the foundation fighting
blindness, she has her ownStruggles with it.
It's hard to see your spouse gothrough something like this,
yeah, and so much more weight isput on our spouses than perhaps
other spouses.
You know, everybody has theirown issues, you know, and is

(52:27):
getting through their life inany way that they can.
But I think Spouses of somebodywho is going blind, like
they're going through a lot aswell.
And so she is very eager toStart a support group through
the Philadelphia Foundationfighting blindness chapter to

(52:47):
start a Support group forspouses of people with these
diseases.
So you know her work continues,our work continues and we keep,
we keep going.
But also, yeah, also her she hada blind grandmother, oh well,
and you know the grandmotherwasn't blind for her, her, her

(53:11):
whole life, but for a lot ofSarah's life and you know had a
guide dog and and all sorts ofthings and lived in California
with her grandfather, you know.
So Pardon me the Having thatkind of support and you know my

(53:32):
brother and my dad and andSarah's family, like it's, it's
a thing that everybody hasadapted to.
And in terms of deterioration,it's hard to say right things.
Things Are slow sometimes andfast others.
You know you wake up and like Ican't see something that I used

(53:53):
to see like Can happen.

Speaker 1 (53:55):
It.
Does this happen for you?
Like?
From one day to the next,something might feel different?

Speaker 4 (54:02):
It can, yeah, it can, and so my vision is really far
from good.
I'm not in the dark, but I alsoI mean to be talked about.
I mean I have retinitispigmentosa.
I'm involved with thefoundation fighting blindness.

Speaker 1 (54:20):
And what?
What do they do?
Can you give us a little bit ofa like broad stroke?

Speaker 4 (54:23):
Well, I have always had an attitude of you know, I'm
not, I'm not blind, I'm.
You know I'm temporarilyInconvenienced.
Oh, I think so interesting thiswhole temporary Inconvenience
of having retinitis pigmentosa.

(54:44):
I believe that there is goingto be a cure.
Will it ever restore my visionto perfect?
I have no idea.
I don't know what it's like tohave perfect vision.
I've never had perfect visionright but maybe something to
Reverse some of the progressionof the disease, to make it so
that I don't you know, don't endup in the dark.

(55:04):
Yeah, you know, I believe thatthis is going to happen now.
I believe this for 27 years andI keep you know and you're did
that.

Speaker 3 (55:13):
Beliefs sink in.

Speaker 1 (55:15):
Well, it's all you know.
When he says it's going tohappen, he means the cure, not
blind us.

Speaker 4 (55:19):
Yeah, I understand, oh, okay so I don't think I'm
gonna be in the dark.
I Think that there's going tobe a cure and there's going to
be something to help me.
Now I've had this attitude.
Now that attitude, you know,ebbs and flows Like the
foundation fighting blindness.
Sarah got involved with that,you know, almost immediately,

(55:42):
you know, before I did, andactually brought the the vision
walk Back to Philadelphia andwas like the first vision walk
chair, yeah, and you know,started making connections and
starting raising money andawareness for Because that's a
big role of FFB.

Speaker 1 (55:59):
Right is to raise money toward a cure is
essentially what, yeah that'sthe, that's the primary goal.

Speaker 4 (56:05):
Yeah, and that's great, like I.
So I had gone to FFB, like whenI was, you know, newly
diagnosed.
It was kind of, you know, Iwent to some NFB meetings for
example, and they were doing.
They were really concerned withadvocacy for for blind people.
Mm-hmm which is fantastic,right, it's fantastic looking at

(56:28):
different governmentlegislation, how to make things
more accessible.
You know that Hybrid orelectric cars make noise because
yeah, many blind people.
Oh yeah, like walking yeah, youknow all of these different
things and that's remarkable andso incredibly important, but
that's not.
You know, there there's a youknow a slight nuance there of

(56:55):
low vision versus blind in some,some instances right, and so
foundation fighting blindness isall about, you know, finding
finding cures for these diseasesand raising funds to Fund the
science.
Yeah now there's also a pushthat I'm working on more for the

(57:16):
.
The Philadelphia chapter israising Money and creating
awareness is fantastic and weneed that.
That.
That is, that you know the, the, the core of the mission Mm-hmm
, but also you While we'rewaiting for this cure we do have

(57:37):
to live in our current state ofthings and learn to adapt and
learn how to deal and adapt tothis vision loss and how we can
maintain our professionalpositions, how we can pursue
education and higher education.

Speaker 3 (57:57):
I think that really speaks to that honest adaptivity
.
I like how you put that.
And, kim, that goes back to thepoint that we had touched on
earlier about acceptance itself.
I think some people are nervousthat if they accept their
current state and really look atit for what it is, they won't
continue to push forward.
If I accept that I'mexperiencing this process that

(58:21):
is uncomfortable for me or thatI hate, rather then I'll make it
more real and then I won'tovercome it.
But, alex, I think you've doneexactly the opposite.
It's like via the acceptance,and actually that's.

Speaker 1 (58:33):
and yeah, off the air .
Alex, you did say I think youactually said the words like I
haven't accepted it and I said Ihave some thoughts about that.

Speaker 4 (58:41):
Yeah, no, I haven't accepted the fact that I'm going
to go blind.
I think that there's going.
I think and believe thatscience is going to catch up
with this malady and issomething is going to be there
to help it and then help me andhelp the you know.

Speaker 1 (59:01):
But in the meantime and this is so interesting, when
I think about acceptance, Ibelieve that accepting is
actually in the moment makingdecisions and like honestly
living your life in a meaningfuland fulfilling way.
Is accepting not necessarilylike that you're, that you know

(59:25):
that that blindness is is what'swhat's going to happen, because
it hasn't happened yet, so it'snot something to accept.

Speaker 3 (59:32):
Yeah, it's like you should, not, you should.
And Alex, I want to hear yourlanguage on this.
I don't want to like put wordsin your mouth, but there's the
difference between acceptingsorry, not accepting accepting
and then also over accepting,it's like you're not committing
yourself to a fate that has notyet manifested.
It's often, because it is notmanifest, Like why?
Why commit yourself to, I willgo blind.

(59:54):
It's like no, the science iscontinuing to progress.

Speaker 4 (59:56):
That's exactly right and I hope to meet at the right
nexus.
Well, grieving for somethingthat hasn't happened yet, that
could be inevitable.
I mean, in terms of, you know,therapy, I'm I'm sure that's
something that people can behelpful, but it's like you know,
that would be almost like me,like Bruce Springsteen's going
to die someday, and I'm reallyupset about that.

Speaker 1 (01:00:17):
Yeah, and also and also it's fair to say, though,
that you, that that, potentially, you do grieve over things that
have already changed right, so,like maybe, not being able to
see you know your son's littleleague, you know game, or you
know, like you know, these arethings that that, like, have

(01:00:38):
happened already, that you'reexperiencing.
I just think that a lot of whatwe're saying is is around like
I don't know, like living in themoment and like living your
life in a way that, like Jacob,you and I say this to each other
all the time that, like, makesyou feel alive.

Speaker 4 (01:00:54):
So I can't see pictures anymore, right, which
would be incredibly importantfor capturing memories.
All of my memories are in myown head.
Yes, my wife has done something.
You know that she was doinganyway, but didn't maybe at the
time realize how special it was.
She recorded the kids and tookall kinds of, you know, digital

(01:01:17):
videos.
And so, looking back, you knowlistening to you know three year
old Charlie talk about jumpingin the rain, puddles or
something you know that is worthmore to me than than anything.
Yeah, but you know, I do hopeand expect to be able to see
those pictures someday.

Speaker 1 (01:01:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:01:38):
And you know that's like I don't really know what my
kids faces look like.

Speaker 1 (01:01:42):
Yeah, I know, my kids faces are frozen in time at the
ages of four and six.

Speaker 4 (01:01:48):
And voices are much scarier than that they are.

Speaker 1 (01:01:51):
I was telling that you guys a story about my 13
year old son who yelled at me ina deep, booming voice.
He was, like you know, yelling,not yelling at me, and how, and
?
And it comes from in the air,like above my head, which.
I'm basically saying to you islike there's like this voice
that's like five inches above myeye level and I'm just like

(01:02:12):
where are you?
You are not little.
Yeah, it's, it's.
It's just a different way ofexperiencing the world.
But really you're also speakingto hope, and I think hope is an
important thing to to just namehere you know, as we sort of
close out the episode that likeabsolutely, because some people
might listen to this and go, oh,denial or whatever.
But no, that's not what that itdoesn't feel like that to me at

(01:02:33):
all in hearing you.

Speaker 3 (01:02:34):
I don't think anyone could listen to this interview.
I never speak to you, Alex, andlike think you're in denial
about anything?

Speaker 1 (01:02:38):
No, no, well, you know it's, you know, I just have
to.
You know, you never know.

Speaker 4 (01:02:43):
Yeah, sure, but I.
There's also one thing thatthat people need to understand,
that you know blindness or lowvision come to people at
different times and there's, youknow, my story is my story.
I'm lucky enough to have thesupport system I do right.

(01:03:04):
I'm lucky enough to have hadthe career that I had before my
vision deteriorated to a pointwhere that would have been even
more difficult.
Like this is, this is my story.
Like I know people with RP whoare in their fifties or sixties
and still driving you know yeah.
So it comes to peopledifferently and people have

(01:03:26):
different, you know, educationsand backgrounds and income
levels, and you know supportsystems so many yeah so many
different things making usdifferent and it's like the only
commonality is, you know, kindof traversing, having, you know,
this type of malady.

(01:03:46):
You know there's more to us,there are more commonalities,
hopefully, than that.

Speaker 1 (01:03:53):
But that like connect us as humans.

Speaker 4 (01:03:56):
Yeah, absolutely.
But so that's something that Iwant to do with the FFB, right.
It's like, yeah, sure, we allhave this mission of finding
these different cures, but youknow, let's have speaker series
and let's have events, for youknow specific interests, for you

(01:04:17):
know some specific age groups,you know dating and meeting
other people when you're lowvision and blind is very
difficult Sometimes.
Even you know making friends canbe difficult, yeah, and
encouraging people to gettogether who have a lot of these
other commonalities you knowsimultaneously could help us

(01:04:39):
build a better and strongercommunity than just, you know,
functioning on awareness andfundraising alone.

Speaker 1 (01:04:47):
And you know, and I think just hearing what your
mission is with FFB and justhearing your whole story, it's
like the common denominator is,I think you're.
It's hate to pun, but it's likeyou're kind of like a visionary
a little bit and being able tofind the like, the humanness you
know, in connecting whetherit's what you were talking about

(01:05:07):
with BV, blind visual servicesand the Department, the Office
of Disabilities at your schoolor whatever it is.
It's like you're just doingthat over and over and over
again and just these differenton these different platforms and
I think that's just like.
It's just like so much of likewho you are as a person, just
you yourself.
I think it's just like aconduit for connection.

Speaker 4 (01:05:32):
I just think that also was a terrible pun.

Speaker 1 (01:05:34):
Even though you all of those wonderful things.

Speaker 4 (01:05:41):
Yeah, yeah, I completely forgot that I even
hunt.

Speaker 3 (01:05:43):
Alex, as we're closing out, is there.
I know we named severalorganizations throughout the
episode, but any organizationsyou'd like people to reach out
to learn more about a takeawaymessage for our listeners.

Speaker 4 (01:05:56):
Well, I would like people to know more about
accessible pharmacy services,and so I really do encourage
your listeners to visitaccessiblepharmacycom.
We have many wonderful webinarsand educational.

Speaker 1 (01:06:11):
Including one on mental health on September 29th
that I actually will be speakingat, very excited.

Speaker 4 (01:06:17):
I know we're so excited to have you again.
You're going to blow the doorsoff, okay?

Speaker 1 (01:06:21):
Hopefully, yeah so, and anything else of an FFB
foundation.

Speaker 4 (01:06:28):
FFB.
If you, you know, if you wereon the fence about membership or
becoming involved, you know,please get off the fence, join,
visit fightinglinusorg and jointhe Philly chapter and we're
going to have a lot ofincredible events and it's going
to be a lot of fun.

Speaker 1 (01:06:48):
Very exciting, very exciting.
I'm so happy that you came tovisit us and talk with us about
everything that you're doing.
You really are.
You're such, you're veryinspirational.
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (01:07:00):
But I've been.
I've been tied to a chair herefor over an hour.

Speaker 1 (01:07:04):
Yeah, you ready to go .

Speaker 3 (01:07:07):
We appreciate your time.
Thank you so much.

Speaker 4 (01:07:08):
Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
This has been great.

Speaker 3 (01:07:10):
All right, bye, bye.

Speaker 4 (01:07:11):
Awesome.

Speaker 3 (01:07:14):
We want to thank you so much for listening to today's
episode.
If anything in today's episodespoke to you, please like
subscribe rate and review.
Also, don't forget to sharethis podcast with friends and
family.

Speaker 1 (01:07:24):
And if there's anybody that you know that you
think would be a great guest onintuitive choices, please email
us at intuitivechoicespodcast atgmailcom.
Finally, if you want to knowmore about our mental health
practice, intuitive counselingand wellness, please check us
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