June 25, 2025 • 23 mins
Let's talk about the importance of believing in yourself and doing the work to achieve your goals and make a difference for others.
Otis Wilson Jr. was born blind but that never stopped him from accomplishing his goals and objectives in life. He graduated from Southern University with a degree in Broadcast Journalism and received an MBA from the University of Phoenix in Business administration. Otis traveled extensively throughout Europe as a Jazz Alto Saxophonist and percussionist, worked in morning drive radio as a journalist and announcer, and in the sales and testing division for the largest screen reading software developer.
Catch Otis on his podcast, OLWJ Captivation
Here are some other resources we discuss on the episode:
Freedom Scientific and JAWS for windows
American Council of the Blind
Follow Marci Talks Money (and Life) wherever you get your podcasts to get the episodes as they post.
Visit MoneyMarci.com to check out other financial literacy resources.
Otis Wilson Jr. was born blind but that never stopped him from accomplishing his goals and objectives in life. He graduated from Southern University with a degree in Broadcast Journalism and received an MBA from the University of Phoenix in Business administration. Otis traveled extensively throughout Europe as a Jazz Alto Saxophonist and percussionist, worked in morning drive radio as a journalist and announcer, and in the sales and testing division for the largest screen reading software developer.
Catch Otis on his podcast, OLWJ Captivation
Here are some other resources we discuss on the episode:
Freedom Scientific and JAWS for windows
American Council of the Blind
Follow Marci Talks Money (and Life) wherever you get your podcasts to get the episodes as they post.
Visit MoneyMarci.com to check out other financial literacy resources.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, Welcome to Marcie Talks Money in Life. I'm Money Marcy.
It's so wonderful to have the opportunity to meet with
the interesting and amazing people that I get to share
with you via this podcast. My guest today is Otis
Wilson Junior. Otis was born blind, but that never stopped
him from accomplishing his goals and objectives in life. He
(00:23):
graduated from Southern University with a degree in broadcast journalism
and received an MBA from the University of Phoenix in
business administration. Otis traveled extensively throughout Europe as a jazz
alto saxophonist and percussionist, worked in Morning Drive radio as
a journalist and announcer, and in the sales and testing
(00:45):
division for the largest screen reading software developer. His full
time job and passion is to teach newly blinded and
vision impaired adults how to use computers. This includes screen
reading technology software with programs like the Mind, Microsoft Office
Suite of Apps, various web browsers, and more. You can
(01:05):
also find Otis via his podcast OLWJ Captivation. I will
share the link with that in the show notes.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Welcome Otis, Hi Marsy, nice to be on your podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
I am so thrilled to have you here. You are.
You are an amazing man with an inspirational story and life,
and I'm excited to share you with the world.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
It's a pleasure to be here. And thank you so
much for the compliment, Marcy. I appreciate that immensely.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
So tell me what are you doing now?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Well, on a day to day basis, technology is my passion.
As you mentioned in my bio. Nice bio by the way,
I appreciate that. But on a day to day basis,
technology is my passion teaching individuals how to use assistant technology.
They're wanting to get back into the workforce, wanting to
go back to school. Living the life as a blind
person is what they want to do. So the hardest
(01:59):
technology for me. So that's what I'm doing every day
from eight to five.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
That's awesome. So are you working for a company or
are you a consultant? How are you doing this?
Speaker 3 (02:10):
I work for the State of Texas.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Oh okay, So if I called the state and say, hey,
I am newly vision impaired and I need to figure
out what my resources are, they would put them in
touch with you right.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Actually, I am working with the Department of Texas for
the State of Texas. Texas Workforce Commission is who I work.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
With or work for.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
I should say, oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
So what individuals would do is they would basically contact
vocation that rehab services and they would put them in
touch with the center that I work for. We would
do a tour and from there they would of course
become a part of what we do.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
And how long have you been doing this?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
I've been doing this for eleven years now. Actually I
just made eleven years back in February.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Congratulations. Eleven years is a good anniversary at any job.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Yes it is, Yes it is.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
But you've done a lot of things in your career,
amazing things for someone who can see, so doing them
with vision impairments is even more incredible. How did you
end up getting to do all these fabulous things and
how did you end up where you are now?
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Hard work, Marcie, It's always a challenge for anyone, But
for me, it's wanting to be a part of life,
not wanting to sit down and do nothing as a
blind person.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
As my.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Bio that you indicated says, I grew up in a
small town in Louisiana with a love and passion for music.
I went to the School for the Blind and bet
and rouge. But I had a desire to want to
do and want to work. After graduating from college, I
worked in radio for about four years and I found
that it just wasn't paying the bills, you know, it
(03:53):
wasn't doing enough. So I wanted to get into something
that was going to provide a long term career for me.
And of course, when I was in college back in
the nineties early nineties, there weren't any such things in
terms of assistant technology. There was just Braill. Everything was
Brail audio for school, in other words, listening to audio
(04:16):
cassettes to do things. So there was not the life
of what we know today as a Windows computer. When
I was in college, Dalls was just becoming in existence.
But once I graduated from college, we were entering into
a new age where the computers were beginning to become
what was going to be a new wave of doing things.
(04:37):
And when I discovered that I can get into something
that I can do and of course make money, I said, wow,
I need to be a part of this. And I
was able to start my job search because of the
desire to do things.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
There was a.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Company in Saint Petersburg, Florida, Freedom Scientific. They were looking
for individuals to sell the jaw for window screen reading software.
I said, oh wow, this is this is awesome. So
I applied for a job there, and I had just
gotten married, and I said, this is this is great,
this is what I need because, as I mentioned before,
working in music just wasn't enough. Working in video just
(05:14):
wasn't enough. So I applied for that job and I
moved to Saint Petersburg, Florida, and I began selling the
jobs for window screen meeting software at that company. Worked
there for about sixteen years in sales, and I moved
over to their testing division, sold their product of course,
tested their products, and then I found that I wanted
(05:35):
to do more. Beginning with testing and after testing, it
was a point in time where I wanted to just,
I guess, in a sense, move closer to home. So
getting into Austin, Texas, the opportunity to work here was,
I guess, you can say, a new open door. And
that is what led me here to begin training individuals
(05:55):
and teaching them how to use computers. So after sixteen
years in floor, I moved here to Austin, Texas. That's
my story.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
That's quite a story. So do you feel that your
blindness impacted your ability to earn money, your financial opportunities
or it wasn't the biggest challenge?
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Well, I guess you can. It depends on how you
look at that. It just depends on how you look
at it. The world is tough for individuals who want
to do anything in terms of working, but it's extra
tough for individuals who are blind because people have I
guess you can say a hang up for wanting to
(06:39):
give many of us the opportunity. Notice that I said
many of us, not.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
All of us.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
But when you are wanting to look for a job
and you have the desire to work, once that door
opens for you, then you have to take opportunities and
go with it and make the best of it. And
that is what I found myself doing and not giving
it one hundred percent, but one hundred and twenty percent.
So when you give it one hundred percent and one
(07:05):
hundred and twenty percent, those doors open and you can
find yourself getting into things that are amazing in terms
of financial progression and just just making some awesome things
happen financially and from other successful perspectives.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Where do you think you learned financial literacy and how
to manage money?
Speaker 2 (07:27):
That is a different side of the story. That is
that is where side hustles come in. I have a
dear friend of mine who was, I guess you can say,
like a brother to me, and he told me about
some things that I can do to just help me
to understand money, learn more about money, and I said, wow,
(07:48):
this is something that I really need to look at
and explore. I started talking to him and I wanted
to know more about you know, what he was into,
and I just wanted to learn more about how money.
So this is where I wanted to, I guess, in
a sense explore, learn more about investing, learn more about
insurance and that type of thing. So I got myself
(08:11):
licensed and I started selling these products. That's basically what
I did, and it was it was something that I
didn't think I would do, but because of the need
and the desire to do it, it was just something
that I guess you can say was a need, a necessity,
but also something that I felt that others need to know.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Okay, would you describe growing up that you learn the
positive or the negative of financial literacy.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Growing up, it was I guess you could say it
was something that I knew about, but I didn't have
a full understanding of it. I didn't have a full
understanding of what financial literacy was. I think it was
something that I needed to know more about because when
I was in college, you know, I wasn't really interested
in finance and literacy. That is why I took advantage
(09:02):
of the opportunity that he told me about, because I
wanted to know more about investing. You know, what mutual
funds were, what valuable variable annuities were, you know, the
difference between whole life insurance term life insurance, those types
of things. Those are things that I felt that I
needed to know more about. So the thing about it
(09:24):
all is when you can get yourself into things that
were going to number one, help you not conflict with
what you're doing on a day to day basis, but
also you can find yourself getting paid to help others
understand them, then all of those things come together as
(09:46):
rewarding experiences.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
That's a good way to look at it.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yes, it is, and of course too, when you find
yourself learning about those things putting it all together, being
able to write about it and teach it.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
That also, again is something.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Do you think there are a lot of opportunities available
to blind individuals in the computer world, in the financial
world that people may not be aware of.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Well, it depends on what that individual was looking to do.
I think that in many cases, people are afraid to
take chances. Many people have doubt and reservations about the
kind of things that they want to do. But if
they're open to new opportunities, absolutely, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
When I was in my teens, I believe a family
friend who was blind and she became blind through diabetes
in her early twenties. She had a store, and she
had the store with her sister, who was fully could see,
and Jane would handle the money, she would talk to
the customers, she would the things that were available to
(10:53):
me and I work. I think a summer with her
were just fascinating. I think she had something that could
rea the dollar bills and say what was on them? Yes,
excuse me, this would have been well, let's just say,
a lot of years ago, probably in the early ease.
I think yes, And when we think about how far
(11:14):
things have come since then, it's it's amazing. It opens
up all these people that you might not think are
able to do a job are much more capable because
of the things that are out there. The technology, the well,
I guess mostly technology that can make up the difference
(11:35):
on a lot of things.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Oh yeah, absolutely, well, this day in time, cell phones
are capable of doing all of those things. There's so
many different devices and software applications for the cell phones
that can scan money and recognize images in that type
of thing. So the opportunities out there, The question is,
you know, as a blind individual, do you want to
(11:58):
take advantage of it? Even as a site of individual,
do you want to take advantage of it? You know,
as I mentioned earlier, people are afraid of taking advantage
of opportunities. You know, people have doubt about taking advantage
of opportunities. But you know, if you allow yourself to
explore new things, it's like learning about financial literacy. People
(12:22):
have doubt about investing, you know, people have doubt about saving.
But these are the things that we need to start
doing to put ourselves in a position of taking care
of the future. You know, if you have kids, if
you have grandkids, or whatever the case may be, or
even yourself to prepare for retirement. These things are essential
(12:45):
for just those reasons alone, not being afraid to learn
and to prepare or for preparation.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Do you have any thoughts about AI? Because you're so
into the technology and things that are out there, you
have strong opinions on what resources it offers or what
challenges it creates.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
It is, it's cool, it's something to I would say, explore,
but it's not here to replace anything.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
If that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Everybody says, well, AI is going to replace this, replace that.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
That's not true.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
So if you are a human you have a job,
I wouldn't say that AI is going to take your job.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
That's I don't believe that.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
I think if anything, AI is here to perhaps enhance
some of the things that we have. Notice I said
not all, but some things that we have. But it's
not here to replace anything.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Is screen reading technology similar to AI partially connected? Where
is the line drawn?
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Screen reading technology and AI are totally different. When you
look at a screen reader, screen reading technology is there
to read what's on the screen. So, for example, if
you are browsing of the web, or if you want
to read what's on a web page, the screen reader
is designed to do just that on the computer. So
(14:06):
if you want to read that screen, that's what the
screen reader will do. Whereas AI is in a position
right now, to a large degree, attempt to describe the screen.
It does a good job at describing the screen, but
it cannot do it letter by letter, if that makes sense.
(14:28):
What is happening right now with AI technology though? And
I will say it's pretty cool. Screen reading technology and
AI are working together to describe images. That's where you take,
for example, the Jaws for Windows screen reading software. It's
using the AI technology to describe things that it cannot
(14:50):
get access to, if that makes sense. So that's how
the screen reading software is taking advantage of AI. It's saying, hey,
we you can't get access to it, so help us out.
Does that make sense? Help us get access to things
that we're not able to get access to.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Okay, I don't know a lot about screen reading technology.
I've written a book and it's available through libraries, but
I have not done an audiobook on it. Would you
be able to download the book from the library and
your screen reader would just read you the book and that.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Would yes, that's correct, Yes, So.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
I don't need an audiobook if I want it to
be accessible to someone who's vision impaired, because their screen
reading technology would take care of it.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
That is correct.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
And for example, when I logged into your Riverside Film
podcast here to do this recording everything that, I got
access to the buttons and everything. I use my screen
meater to do that. I didn't use a mouse to
point and click. I used my screen mead to log
into it to do it.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Well, so it describes the screen and you say, oh,
I want you to push this button and goes from
there right exactly.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
So rather than point and kick, I use my keyboard
to navigate. For example, I'm using a braille display as well,
so it says I'm want to chat button now, So
if I were to press into on that chat button,
I could then chat with you. That's how the screen
reader gives you access to what's there, and it's also
speaking to me as I use my tail button and
so forth as well.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
That's amazing to think of how far it's come and
how much farther it will go, because as a financial person,
I want to make things as accessible as I can.
But on the flip side, reading my book audibly and
making a recording of it. I attempted to do that.
There are graphs in there, there are other items that
(16:38):
I felt I couldn't do justice in explaining. But a
screen reader already knows how to do it, and you
already know how to understand how it's going to describe things.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Well, let me say this about that. Two things.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Number one where screen reading technology is not its very
best at this point is reading graphical images. However, as
I mentioned the female minutes ago, that's where AI is
picking up the load to help screen reading technology.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Does that make sense?
Speaker 2 (17:07):
So what you have is you have a screen reader
that reads the text, and then where the screen reader
cannot describe or get access to the graphic, then the
AI is at this point in time able to help
screen reader out. Now, don't get me wrong, Marcy. Audible
is awesome. There are many screen reader users or blind people.
(17:31):
Let me say it this way, there are many blind
people who take advantage of audible content or audio content.
Let me say it correctly, audio content simply because it's convenient.
But there is so much available for which we need
to get access to it. For example, on the job,
(17:52):
you can't have everything in an audible format. There has
to be things that a person needs to use the
computer for or to get access to, you know, Microsoft
word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, reading Adobe files, that
type of thing. These are the things for which a
(18:15):
screen reader uses its power to give a person employment.
That's where we're talking about a screen reading technology having
its place in society.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Okay, that makes a lot of sense. Do you think
there are specific financial challenges that blind individuals face that
those of us who can see wouldn't necessarily be aware of.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
I don't think there's a difference. I think that it
depends on how that blind person wants to position themselves
when it comes to finances. We're no different from the
other individuals. It's all about how the blind person is
setting themselves up to, you know, for any other achievement.
You know, what do we want to do with our money?
(18:56):
How do we want to position ourselves for any type
of scl says, you know, there are a lot of
people who are blind who are successful with investing in
that type of thing. There are a lot of people
who are very much successful at you know, motivational speaking.
When when you think about how blind people have positioned
(19:17):
themselves in life, again, it all goes back to researching
and learning. One of the things that I've learned by
being in the financial profession is being able to reach
out to site it people and say, hey, listen, I
want to sit down with you and educate you on
investing and say, oh, no, I don't think so you
know what I mean. They don't want to hear my
(19:39):
message because they think that I'm blind.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
I can't educate them.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Hey, it's okay, I'm just blind, but I know what
I'm talking about. Does that make sense. It's only the
lack of sight that I don't have, but I have
the education to teach you what you need to know
about your money. That's where I think the misconception is.
Do they want to hear the message that a blind
person can convey to them? But blind people, but we
(20:05):
have our place in society and a lot of us,
you know, we do well and we have really carved
ourselves out in society to make some great things happen.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
I love the way you have had so much experience
and exposure in so many different industries outside of what
people would have expected. When you say your blindness hasn't
limited you, there are no limits. Absolutely I mean, okay,
so I wouldn't let you drive, but I mean other
than that, not yet, not yet. But I bet we're
(20:37):
coming there.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Yeah, we're trying to get there. I think that we
are alone ways off from that too. They have these
self driving cars. But I'm not ready for that.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
I'm not, you know, but yeah, yeah, no, I totally agree,
I am. I am not ready for that. I think
one of the fascinating things out there is is there
are apps that a cited person can volunteer to be
on call and spend some time on the app, and
I forget the name of it, where a blind person
can use their cell phone and say, hey, can you
(21:05):
help read some things to me, just so that they've
got a third party not invested, whether it's for shopping
or whatever. I think it's fascinating.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Yes, there are quite a few of those. Yes, that's correct. Yes,
I think.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
I think it's amazing. I think it's it's so important
to include all aspects of society in It's beneficial both
financially and just in the overall course of the world
to be inclusive and to not miss out on any
of the opportunities that including people give us.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Absolutely, I think that one of the things that people
have to realize and if you want to know something,
one of the things I feel that we should all
do is to take the opportunity to educate ourselves. There
are so many resources available online. Now, we have Google,
now we have AI, so there there's no excuse as
(22:01):
to why we can educate ourselves on how this works,
how that works.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
But the main thing.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Is of course to check your resource to know how
to validate where you're getting information from. But once you
do that, it's possible to learn and of course ask
questions from credible sources and you'll be amazed at what
you can learn.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
I absolutely agree. Before we wrap up, do you have
anything you would like to share?
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Well, I definitely appreciate the opportunity to be on the podcast,
and you can always reach out check out my podcast.
Beginning next week I'll be launching my first again episode
with Marcy being my first guest at www dot olwjcaptivation
dot com. And if you want to learn more about blindness,
(22:50):
there's several organizations that you can check out as well.
Go to www. Dot ACB dot org. That's www. Dot
ACB dot org. That's an organization for which you can
learn about blindness and visit www. Dot Freedomscientific dot com.
That is the maker of the JAWS for Windows screen
(23:11):
software screen reading software, and the JAWS stands for Job
Access with Speech. Again, that's job Access with speech. By
the way, this is the thirtieth anniversary of the JAWS
for Windows Screen Reading Software. I wanted to make sure
I put that out there.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
That's awesome, so it's been out there for a while.
And don't let anything get in your way. Thank you
very much, Marcy, everybody, thank you for joining me. And
my special guest otis Wilson Junior. This is money, Marcy,
and thank you for listening to Marcie talks money in life.
You got this, Siya
Hello, Welcome to Marcie Talks Money in Life. I'm Money Marcy.
It's so wonderful to have the opportunity to meet with
the interesting and amazing people that I get to share
with you via this podcast. My guest today is Otis
Wilson Junior. Otis was born blind, but that never stopped
him from accomplishing his goals and objectives in life. He
(00:23):
graduated from Southern University with a degree in broadcast journalism
and received an MBA from the University of Phoenix in
business administration. Otis traveled extensively throughout Europe as a jazz
alto saxophonist and percussionist, worked in Morning Drive radio as
a journalist and announcer, and in the sales and testing
(00:45):
division for the largest screen reading software developer. His full
time job and passion is to teach newly blinded and
vision impaired adults how to use computers. This includes screen
reading technology software with programs like the Mind, Microsoft Office
Suite of Apps, various web browsers, and more. You can
(01:05):
also find Otis via his podcast OLWJ Captivation. I will
share the link with that in the show notes.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Welcome Otis, Hi Marsy, nice to be on your podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
I am so thrilled to have you here. You are.
You are an amazing man with an inspirational story and life,
and I'm excited to share you with the world.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
It's a pleasure to be here. And thank you so
much for the compliment, Marcy. I appreciate that immensely.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
So tell me what are you doing now?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Well, on a day to day basis, technology is my passion.
As you mentioned in my bio. Nice bio by the way,
I appreciate that. But on a day to day basis,
technology is my passion teaching individuals how to use assistant technology.
They're wanting to get back into the workforce, wanting to
go back to school. Living the life as a blind
person is what they want to do. So the hardest
(01:59):
technology for me. So that's what I'm doing every day
from eight to five.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
That's awesome. So are you working for a company or
are you a consultant? How are you doing this?
Speaker 3 (02:10):
I work for the State of Texas.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Oh okay, So if I called the state and say, hey,
I am newly vision impaired and I need to figure
out what my resources are, they would put them in
touch with you right.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Actually, I am working with the Department of Texas for
the State of Texas. Texas Workforce Commission is who I work.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
With or work for.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
I should say, oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
So what individuals would do is they would basically contact
vocation that rehab services and they would put them in
touch with the center that I work for. We would
do a tour and from there they would of course
become a part of what we do.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
And how long have you been doing this?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
I've been doing this for eleven years now. Actually I
just made eleven years back in February.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Congratulations. Eleven years is a good anniversary at any job.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Yes it is, Yes it is.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
But you've done a lot of things in your career,
amazing things for someone who can see, so doing them
with vision impairments is even more incredible. How did you
end up getting to do all these fabulous things and
how did you end up where you are now?
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Hard work, Marcie, It's always a challenge for anyone, But
for me, it's wanting to be a part of life,
not wanting to sit down and do nothing as a
blind person.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
As my.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Bio that you indicated says, I grew up in a
small town in Louisiana with a love and passion for music.
I went to the School for the Blind and bet
and rouge. But I had a desire to want to
do and want to work. After graduating from college, I
worked in radio for about four years and I found
that it just wasn't paying the bills, you know, it
(03:53):
wasn't doing enough. So I wanted to get into something
that was going to provide a long term career for me.
And of course, when I was in college back in
the nineties early nineties, there weren't any such things in
terms of assistant technology. There was just Braill. Everything was
Brail audio for school, in other words, listening to audio
(04:16):
cassettes to do things. So there was not the life
of what we know today as a Windows computer. When
I was in college, Dalls was just becoming in existence.
But once I graduated from college, we were entering into
a new age where the computers were beginning to become
what was going to be a new wave of doing things.
(04:37):
And when I discovered that I can get into something
that I can do and of course make money, I said, wow,
I need to be a part of this. And I
was able to start my job search because of the
desire to do things.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
There was a.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Company in Saint Petersburg, Florida, Freedom Scientific. They were looking
for individuals to sell the jaw for window screen reading software.
I said, oh wow, this is this is awesome. So
I applied for a job there, and I had just
gotten married, and I said, this is this is great,
this is what I need because, as I mentioned before,
working in music just wasn't enough. Working in video just
(05:14):
wasn't enough. So I applied for that job and I
moved to Saint Petersburg, Florida, and I began selling the
jobs for window screen meeting software at that company. Worked
there for about sixteen years in sales, and I moved
over to their testing division, sold their product of course,
tested their products, and then I found that I wanted
(05:35):
to do more. Beginning with testing and after testing, it
was a point in time where I wanted to just,
I guess, in a sense, move closer to home. So
getting into Austin, Texas, the opportunity to work here was,
I guess, you can say, a new open door. And
that is what led me here to begin training individuals
(05:55):
and teaching them how to use computers. So after sixteen
years in floor, I moved here to Austin, Texas. That's
my story.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
That's quite a story. So do you feel that your
blindness impacted your ability to earn money, your financial opportunities
or it wasn't the biggest challenge?
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Well, I guess you can. It depends on how you
look at that. It just depends on how you look
at it. The world is tough for individuals who want
to do anything in terms of working, but it's extra
tough for individuals who are blind because people have I
guess you can say a hang up for wanting to
(06:39):
give many of us the opportunity. Notice that I said
many of us, not.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
All of us.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
But when you are wanting to look for a job
and you have the desire to work, once that door
opens for you, then you have to take opportunities and
go with it and make the best of it. And
that is what I found myself doing and not giving
it one hundred percent, but one hundred and twenty percent.
So when you give it one hundred percent and one
(07:05):
hundred and twenty percent, those doors open and you can
find yourself getting into things that are amazing in terms
of financial progression and just just making some awesome things
happen financially and from other successful perspectives.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Where do you think you learned financial literacy and how
to manage money?
Speaker 2 (07:27):
That is a different side of the story. That is
that is where side hustles come in. I have a
dear friend of mine who was, I guess you can say,
like a brother to me, and he told me about
some things that I can do to just help me
to understand money, learn more about money, and I said, wow,
(07:48):
this is something that I really need to look at
and explore. I started talking to him and I wanted
to know more about you know, what he was into,
and I just wanted to learn more about how money.
So this is where I wanted to, I guess, in
a sense explore, learn more about investing, learn more about
insurance and that type of thing. So I got myself
(08:11):
licensed and I started selling these products. That's basically what
I did, and it was it was something that I
didn't think I would do, but because of the need
and the desire to do it, it was just something
that I guess you can say was a need, a necessity,
but also something that I felt that others need to know.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Okay, would you describe growing up that you learn the
positive or the negative of financial literacy.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Growing up, it was I guess you could say it
was something that I knew about, but I didn't have
a full understanding of it. I didn't have a full
understanding of what financial literacy was. I think it was
something that I needed to know more about because when
I was in college, you know, I wasn't really interested
in finance and literacy. That is why I took advantage
(09:02):
of the opportunity that he told me about, because I
wanted to know more about investing. You know, what mutual
funds were, what valuable variable annuities were, you know, the
difference between whole life insurance term life insurance, those types
of things. Those are things that I felt that I
needed to know more about. So the thing about it
(09:24):
all is when you can get yourself into things that
were going to number one, help you not conflict with
what you're doing on a day to day basis, but
also you can find yourself getting paid to help others
understand them, then all of those things come together as
(09:46):
rewarding experiences.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
That's a good way to look at it.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yes, it is, and of course too, when you find
yourself learning about those things putting it all together, being
able to write about it and teach it.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
That also, again is something.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Do you think there are a lot of opportunities available
to blind individuals in the computer world, in the financial
world that people may not be aware of.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Well, it depends on what that individual was looking to do.
I think that in many cases, people are afraid to
take chances. Many people have doubt and reservations about the
kind of things that they want to do. But if
they're open to new opportunities, absolutely, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
When I was in my teens, I believe a family
friend who was blind and she became blind through diabetes
in her early twenties. She had a store, and she
had the store with her sister, who was fully could see,
and Jane would handle the money, she would talk to
the customers, she would the things that were available to
(10:53):
me and I work. I think a summer with her
were just fascinating. I think she had something that could
rea the dollar bills and say what was on them? Yes,
excuse me, this would have been well, let's just say,
a lot of years ago, probably in the early ease.
I think yes, And when we think about how far
(11:14):
things have come since then, it's it's amazing. It opens
up all these people that you might not think are
able to do a job are much more capable because
of the things that are out there. The technology, the well,
I guess mostly technology that can make up the difference
(11:35):
on a lot of things.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Oh yeah, absolutely, well, this day in time, cell phones
are capable of doing all of those things. There's so
many different devices and software applications for the cell phones
that can scan money and recognize images in that type
of thing. So the opportunities out there, The question is,
you know, as a blind individual, do you want to
(11:58):
take advantage of it? Even as a site of individual,
do you want to take advantage of it? You know,
as I mentioned earlier, people are afraid of taking advantage
of opportunities. You know, people have doubt about taking advantage
of opportunities. But you know, if you allow yourself to
explore new things, it's like learning about financial literacy. People
(12:22):
have doubt about investing, you know, people have doubt about saving.
But these are the things that we need to start
doing to put ourselves in a position of taking care
of the future. You know, if you have kids, if
you have grandkids, or whatever the case may be, or
even yourself to prepare for retirement. These things are essential
(12:45):
for just those reasons alone, not being afraid to learn
and to prepare or for preparation.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Do you have any thoughts about AI? Because you're so
into the technology and things that are out there, you
have strong opinions on what resources it offers or what
challenges it creates.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
It is, it's cool, it's something to I would say, explore,
but it's not here to replace anything.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
If that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Everybody says, well, AI is going to replace this, replace that.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
That's not true.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
So if you are a human you have a job,
I wouldn't say that AI is going to take your job.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
That's I don't believe that.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
I think if anything, AI is here to perhaps enhance
some of the things that we have. Notice I said
not all, but some things that we have. But it's
not here to replace anything.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Is screen reading technology similar to AI partially connected? Where
is the line drawn?
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Screen reading technology and AI are totally different. When you
look at a screen reader, screen reading technology is there
to read what's on the screen. So, for example, if
you are browsing of the web, or if you want
to read what's on a web page, the screen reader
is designed to do just that on the computer. So
(14:06):
if you want to read that screen, that's what the
screen reader will do. Whereas AI is in a position
right now, to a large degree, attempt to describe the screen.
It does a good job at describing the screen, but
it cannot do it letter by letter, if that makes sense.
(14:28):
What is happening right now with AI technology though? And
I will say it's pretty cool. Screen reading technology and
AI are working together to describe images. That's where you take,
for example, the Jaws for Windows screen reading software. It's
using the AI technology to describe things that it cannot
(14:50):
get access to, if that makes sense. So that's how
the screen reading software is taking advantage of AI. It's saying, hey,
we you can't get access to it, so help us out.
Does that make sense? Help us get access to things
that we're not able to get access to.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Okay, I don't know a lot about screen reading technology.
I've written a book and it's available through libraries, but
I have not done an audiobook on it. Would you
be able to download the book from the library and
your screen reader would just read you the book and that.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Would yes, that's correct, Yes, So.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
I don't need an audiobook if I want it to
be accessible to someone who's vision impaired, because their screen
reading technology would take care of it.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
That is correct.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
And for example, when I logged into your Riverside Film
podcast here to do this recording everything that, I got
access to the buttons and everything. I use my screen
meater to do that. I didn't use a mouse to
point and click. I used my screen mead to log
into it to do it.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Well, so it describes the screen and you say, oh,
I want you to push this button and goes from
there right exactly.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
So rather than point and kick, I use my keyboard
to navigate. For example, I'm using a braille display as well,
so it says I'm want to chat button now, So
if I were to press into on that chat button,
I could then chat with you. That's how the screen
reader gives you access to what's there, and it's also
speaking to me as I use my tail button and
so forth as well.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
That's amazing to think of how far it's come and
how much farther it will go, because as a financial person,
I want to make things as accessible as I can.
But on the flip side, reading my book audibly and
making a recording of it. I attempted to do that.
There are graphs in there, there are other items that
(16:38):
I felt I couldn't do justice in explaining. But a
screen reader already knows how to do it, and you
already know how to understand how it's going to describe things.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Well, let me say this about that. Two things.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Number one where screen reading technology is not its very
best at this point is reading graphical images. However, as
I mentioned the female minutes ago, that's where AI is
picking up the load to help screen reading technology.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Does that make sense?
Speaker 2 (17:07):
So what you have is you have a screen reader
that reads the text, and then where the screen reader
cannot describe or get access to the graphic, then the
AI is at this point in time able to help
screen reader out. Now, don't get me wrong, Marcy. Audible
is awesome. There are many screen reader users or blind people.
(17:31):
Let me say it this way, there are many blind
people who take advantage of audible content or audio content.
Let me say it correctly, audio content simply because it's convenient.
But there is so much available for which we need
to get access to it. For example, on the job,
(17:52):
you can't have everything in an audible format. There has
to be things that a person needs to use the
computer for or to get access to, you know, Microsoft
word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, reading Adobe files, that
type of thing. These are the things for which a
(18:15):
screen reader uses its power to give a person employment.
That's where we're talking about a screen reading technology having
its place in society.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Okay, that makes a lot of sense. Do you think
there are specific financial challenges that blind individuals face that
those of us who can see wouldn't necessarily be aware of.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
I don't think there's a difference. I think that it
depends on how that blind person wants to position themselves
when it comes to finances. We're no different from the
other individuals. It's all about how the blind person is
setting themselves up to, you know, for any other achievement.
You know, what do we want to do with our money?
(18:56):
How do we want to position ourselves for any type
of scl says, you know, there are a lot of
people who are blind who are successful with investing in
that type of thing. There are a lot of people
who are very much successful at you know, motivational speaking.
When when you think about how blind people have positioned
(19:17):
themselves in life, again, it all goes back to researching
and learning. One of the things that I've learned by
being in the financial profession is being able to reach
out to site it people and say, hey, listen, I
want to sit down with you and educate you on
investing and say, oh, no, I don't think so you
know what I mean. They don't want to hear my
(19:39):
message because they think that I'm blind.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
I can't educate them.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Hey, it's okay, I'm just blind, but I know what
I'm talking about. Does that make sense. It's only the
lack of sight that I don't have, but I have
the education to teach you what you need to know
about your money. That's where I think the misconception is.
Do they want to hear the message that a blind
person can convey to them? But blind people, but we
(20:05):
have our place in society and a lot of us,
you know, we do well and we have really carved
ourselves out in society to make some great things happen.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
I love the way you have had so much experience
and exposure in so many different industries outside of what
people would have expected. When you say your blindness hasn't
limited you, there are no limits. Absolutely I mean, okay,
so I wouldn't let you drive, but I mean other
than that, not yet, not yet. But I bet we're
(20:37):
coming there.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Yeah, we're trying to get there. I think that we
are alone ways off from that too. They have these
self driving cars. But I'm not ready for that.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
I'm not, you know, but yeah, yeah, no, I totally agree,
I am. I am not ready for that. I think
one of the fascinating things out there is is there
are apps that a cited person can volunteer to be
on call and spend some time on the app, and
I forget the name of it, where a blind person
can use their cell phone and say, hey, can you
(21:05):
help read some things to me, just so that they've
got a third party not invested, whether it's for shopping
or whatever. I think it's fascinating.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Yes, there are quite a few of those. Yes, that's correct. Yes,
I think.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
I think it's amazing. I think it's it's so important
to include all aspects of society in It's beneficial both
financially and just in the overall course of the world
to be inclusive and to not miss out on any
of the opportunities that including people give us.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Absolutely, I think that one of the things that people
have to realize and if you want to know something,
one of the things I feel that we should all
do is to take the opportunity to educate ourselves. There
are so many resources available online. Now, we have Google,
now we have AI, so there there's no excuse as
(22:01):
to why we can educate ourselves on how this works,
how that works.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
But the main thing.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Is of course to check your resource to know how
to validate where you're getting information from. But once you
do that, it's possible to learn and of course ask
questions from credible sources and you'll be amazed at what
you can learn.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
I absolutely agree. Before we wrap up, do you have
anything you would like to share?
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Well, I definitely appreciate the opportunity to be on the podcast,
and you can always reach out check out my podcast.
Beginning next week I'll be launching my first again episode
with Marcy being my first guest at www dot olwjcaptivation
dot com. And if you want to learn more about blindness,
(22:50):
there's several organizations that you can check out as well.
Go to www. Dot ACB dot org. That's www. Dot
ACB dot org. That's an organization for which you can
learn about blindness and visit www. Dot Freedomscientific dot com.
That is the maker of the JAWS for Windows screen
(23:11):
software screen reading software, and the JAWS stands for Job
Access with Speech. Again, that's job Access with speech. By
the way, this is the thirtieth anniversary of the JAWS
for Windows Screen Reading Software. I wanted to make sure
I put that out there.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
That's awesome, so it's been out there for a while.
And don't let anything get in your way. Thank you
very much, Marcy, everybody, thank you for joining me. And
my special guest otis Wilson Junior. This is money, Marcy,
and thank you for listening to Marcie talks money in life.
You got this, Siya
Host
Marci Grossman
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