[NFBMI-Talk] For Federationists Who Love Podcasts: The Latest On Jonathan Mosen

[Kane Brolin]

Greetings to my fellow Federation members in Indiana and Michigan.

If you have listened to podcasts and Internet radio focused on blindness
and low vision issues, you are probably familiar with Jonathan Mosen.  This
incredible person, along with his wife Bonnie, has done a lot of work as
both an entrepreneur and as a representative of numerous companies that
operate in the blindness technology space.  Even back in the 1990s and
early 2000s, he served as host of the Freedom Scientific podcast; so a lot
of us learned both basic facts and advanced techniques about JAWS For
Windows from Jonathan Mosen.

Now, Jonathan Mosen has signed on to play a defined role in the National
Federation of the Blind.  What follows might be something that you already
know; but we have not really seen the particulars of Jonathan's career
change all in one place, and I have talked to folks who are confused as to
what he is going to do in the Federation and what he is not going to do
elsewhere.

Since I was curious about this myself, I did some quick research and
discovered that Jonathan Mosen explained his upcoming role in the
Federation on Episode 299 of The Living Blindfully podcast
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPUV5FtUB7k>, which Jonathan had been
issuing under his own name.  Episode 299 was released in early September,
2024, and alongside Jonathan is our own national president Mark Riccobono.
If you don't have time to listen to this entire episode, it is worthwhile
to note that President Riccobono says he is "excited to announce that we
[the Federation] have engaged Jonathan Mosen to help advance our strategic
priorities in technology, accessibility, and communications to build
further capacity within the organized blind movement."

In the meantime, Jonathan and Bonnie Mosen discontinued production of
Living Blindfully in October of this year.  They have announced that
through their help, the National Federation of the Blind is about to launch
a new, tech-related podcast that is called "Access On."  While no new
episode has yet been issued, you can subscribe to the RSS feed at this link
<https://pinecast.com/feed/accesson> in order to receive notifications when
episodes do become available.

I bring this up only as a point of interest.  I have no inside track to
either the NFB national Board of Directors nor to Jonathan Mosen himself.
So if anyone else has something to add, or if anyone has a point of
correction, please contribute to this thread.

Having followed Jonathan Mosen for more than two decades, I am aware of his
professional competence, passion, thoughtfulness, and seemingly endless
energy.  And his international focus is amazing, too.  Jonathan Mosen is
arguably the most influential individual who has ever appeared in the
English-speaking blind community around the globe.  In this highly
important season for us as we try to advance toward the self-determination
and security of the blind in an ever more tech-charged world, it is great
that Jonathan Mosen has chosen to self-identify with the National
Federation of the Blind.

Respectfully submitted,

Kane Brolin
Treasurer, Indiana State Affiliate
National Federation of the Blind
(574)386-8868 (mobile)