024 Entrepreneurship and Disability with James Warnken
Today's guest lost his sight to Stargardt disease, a rare genetic condition, at just nine years old — and instead of letting it limit him, he built an entire career, and two companies, around it. James Warnken is the founder of Clear Vision, a digital accessibility consulting practice, and a rising voice in the conversation about disability and entrepreneurship. From cue cards he couldn't read in a childhood play to reframing disability as a professional advantage, James's story is about turning constraint into confidence. Stick around for a conversation about imposter syndrome, self-advocacy, and why disability might be the most underrated skillset in the room.
The Third Layer of Exhaustion
When I sat down with James Warnken for this episode, I expected to talk about entrepreneurship. I got that — James has built and rebuilt three companies since college, most recently Clear Vision, an accessibility consulting practice that helps organizations design accommodation into their culture instead of bolting it on after the fact. But what stayed with me after we stopped recording wasn't the business story. It was something James said almost in passing, about being tired.
James began losing his vision at nine years old to Stargardt disease, a rare and progressive condition. Like a lot of the guests I talk with, he described the early confusion of not understanding why his body was working differently than everyone else's — headaches from straining to read standard print, a school that couldn't accommodate him, doctors who assumed he was simply an uncooperative kid. His mother did everything she could to prepare him: braille lessons, mobility training with a cane, all the tools he might eventually need. And James, by his own account, absorbed a philosophy early on: advocate for yourself, don't rely on other people, make things accessible for yourself because no one else will.
That philosophy served him well — until it didn't. By high school, James told me, he had simply burned out. Explaining, over and over, why he needed large print or extra time or a separate room for tests wore him down until he stopped asking altogether and let his own experience suffer rather than keep drawing attention to himself. His grades slipped. He wanted, in his words, to blend into the wall.
As a therapist who works with people adjusting to vision loss and other disabilities, I hear some version of this story often enough that I've started thinking of it as a pattern with three distinct layers. The first layer is the disability itself — the practical, moment-to-moment work of navigating a world built for people who see, hear, or move differently than you do. The second layer is grief: the ongoing process of adjusting to loss, which doesn't resolve once and stay resolved, but resurfaces at unexpected moments — a vacation where you can't quite see the wildlife everyone else is pointing at, a milestone that looks different than you imagined it would.
The third layer is the one we talked about explicitly for the first time on this show: the exhaustion of self-advocacy itself. It's the cumulative weight of having to ask, explain, and justify your needs to people who forget, doubt, or simply don't think to accommodate you in the first place. It's a layer that's easy to overlook, because from the outside it can look like a series of small, reasonable requests. From the inside, it can feel like a part-time job you never applied for.
What struck me most in our conversation was how James eventually found his way out of that exhaustion — not by advocating harder, but by changing the terms of the game. He leaned into technology that let him access information independently, without having to ask. He built an entire company around designing accessibility into systems from the start, so that individual people wouldn't have to keep requesting what should have been there all along. And eventually, he started his own business, in part because it gave him something a lot of my clients tell me they're craving: control. As James put it, when the whole business is yours, you don't have to ask anyone for an accommodation. You just build it the way you need it.
I recognized that instinct immediately, because it mirrors my own relationship to private practice. There's a particular kind of relief in not having to negotiate your own needs with a supervisor or an HR department — in simply designing your environment around what actually works for you. I don't think entrepreneurship is the right path for everyone, and James was careful to say the same. But for those of us who've spent years asking for accommodations, there's something genuinely liberating about a context where you're not asking anyone for permission.
The other piece of this conversation I keep returning to is imposter syndrome — a term James didn't have language for until he was well into his career, but that shaped years of his life. For a long time, he told me, he was driven by a fear that people would assume he couldn't do something because of his disability, so he tried to outperform every expectation to prove them wrong. It was mentorship, ultimately, that helped him loosen that grip: watching other disabled professionals put their disability forward as part of their identity and their value, rather than something to minimize or hide.
That shift — from hiding disability to naming it as an asset — is one I see over and over in my work with clients, and it rarely happens all at once. James described it as a process, not a decision: it took time before he could introduce himself as legally blind without feeling a lump in his throat. If you're earlier in that process yourself, I don't think that timeline should discourage you. It's the timeline most people are on.
Near the end of our conversation, James offered something close to a thesis statement, and I want to leave you with it here. He talked about all the reasons any of us can find for why something won't work — why we can't ask for the job, can't start the business, can't request the accommodation. And then he challenged listeners to do something harder: to get creative about all the reasons we can. Not as toxic positivity, and not as a denial of how exhausting that third layer really is. Just as a genuine, practiced habit of looking for the workaround, the alternative path, the different door — because, as James has learned firsthand, there is almost always one there.
If you're navigating your own version of self-advocacy fatigue right now, I hope this episode — and this post — helps you feel a little less alone in naming it. And if you're further along in that process and have found your own way through, I'd genuinely love to hear about it.
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In this episode of Insight Out, host Matthew Reeves sits down with digital accessibility professional and entrepreneur James Warnken to discuss the transformative power of shifting from a mindset of survival to one of professional empowerment. Diagnosed with Stargardt’s disease at nine years old, James opens up about his journey through progressive vision loss, the intense burnout that can come with constant childhood self-advocacy, and how he ultimately learned to embrace his disability as his greatest professional asset.
James walks us through his career trajectory, from launching an apparel line in college to founding his own digital accessibility consulting framework, Clear Vision. He shares insightful reflections on how navigating a world not built for low vision instills crucial professional skills like hyper-organization, proactive planning, and innovative problem-solving. We also dive into a fascinating family dynamic: James’s younger brother shares the exact same visual diagnosis but approaches life with an entirely different personality, highlighting why accessibility and accommodations can never be a one-size-fits-all solution.
Whether you are currently navigating employment with vision loss, battling imposter syndrome, or considering taking the leap into entrepreneurship, this conversation offers a refreshing, solution-oriented perspective. James reminds us that lived experience cannot be replicated by certifications alone, and that embracing our unique adaptations allows us to walk through open doors with confidence.
Topics Covered: Stargardt's disease , progressive vision loss , childhood self-advocacy burnout , digital accessibility , entrepreneurship and disability , assistive technology , imposter syndrome , workplace accommodations , personalized IEPs , adaptive professional skills.
Contact James at james@jameswarnken.com or 330-936-2556. Learn more about Clear Vision: https://clearvisionllc.org/.
ABOUT THE PODCAST
inSight Out is your podcast home for living well with vision loss. Host Matthew Reeves (LPC CRC NCC) is a legally-blind psychotherapist and rehabilitation counselor specializing in helping people thrive while living with disability. Matthew is licensed in Georgia and is a nationally certified rehabilitation counselor.
Please be sure to subscribe to catch every episode. And remember to share the show with others in the blind and low-vision community!
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©Integral Mental Health Services, LLC
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The following transcript is AI generated and likely contains errors.
024 Entrepreneurship and Disability with James Warnken
COLD OPEN
[00:00:00]
James Warnken: seeing people in that light was, like, very motivating for me to, to say, like, "Why am I so afraid? Why am I second-guessing all of these things? Why am I not just doing?" Like, to me, like, a lot of that fear was, like, preventing me from doing and taking action. And so because of the mentors and the people that I had around me, they were pushing me, they were motivating me, they were telling me, like, "You have good ideas. Just go do them." Um, and they were putting opportunities, and I was taking them and running as far as I could with them. And, uh, oh, just over time, like, that confidence builds. It's not something that you just wake up one morning and all of a sudden you wanna put it in your, your LinkedIn profile that you have a disability. It took a, a-- It's a process. It took time to get to that point to where I felt comfortable saying, "Hi, my name is James. I'm legally blind. I work in the digital accessibility field," and not getting choked [00:01:00] up and feeling emotional about that in some sort of way.
INTRO
Matthew Reeves: You're listening to Insight Out a podcast about living well with low vision. Maybe you're feeling confused, scared, isolated, or disheartened about a recent vision loss diagnosis, or maybe you've been managing your vision loss for a while and now you want to hear from others about how to continue growing and thriving. Insight Out is your supportive space to find healthy and impactful tools to build and maintain a truly rich and gratifying life with low or no vision.
I'm Matthew Reeves. I'm a legally blind psychotherapist and rehabilitation counselor. I specialize in helping people adjust to disability through my practice, integral Mental Health Services in Atlanta, Georgia. [00:02:00] I'm really glad you're listening.
Please subscribe so you don't miss an episode, and let others in the low vision community know about the podcast so the word can spread to those who might find it helpful. And now on with today's discussion.
TOPIC INTRO
Matthew Reeves: today's guest lost his sight to Stargardt disease, a rare genetic condition, at just nine years old. And instead of letting it limit him, he built an entire career and two companies around it. James Warnkin is the founder of Clear Vision, a digital accessibility consulting practice, and a rising voice in the conversation about disability and entrepreneurship.
From cue cards he couldn't read in a childhood play to reframing disability as a professional advantage, James' story is about turning constraint into confidence. Stick around for a conversation about imposter syndrome, self-advocacy, and why disability might be the most underrated skill set in the room
INTERVIEW
Matthew Reeves (2): james, [00:03:00] welcome to Insight Out. Um, I had seen some of your content on social media in the, in the accessibility space, and I thought, "He'd be a fun person to get to know." And then independently, somebody else I know said, "Have you ever talked to James? He might make a good guest for the podcast." And I didn't even, even know your name at the time, but I saw who you were, and I was like, "Wait a minute.
I was already gonna try to reach out to him." So it was serendipitous, and I was really happy to get acquainted and, and, uh, make the-- have the connection made. So welcome to the podcast. Thanks for being here.
James Warnken: Thanks for having me
Matthew Reeves (2): absolutely. Um, I'm excited to hear your story and hear how it's evolved into, your, your businesses and your career and, and that whole journey and all the, um, things you've overcome and capitalized on along the way.
So why don't we just start, as I usually do, by asking you to, to introduce yourself and tell, and s- kinda launch the beginning of your story of low vision, and, uh, we'll take [00:04:00] it from there
James Warnken: Yeah. Uh, I'm gonna keep it, uh, brief 'cause it's been a, a crazy 20 years, but, uh, happy to dig into whatever, uh, seems the most interesting for the t- for the conversation today. So, um, my vision loss story really starts at the age of nine, and it's a little bit of a funny story in retrospect looking back on it now because it, like, completely unexpected.
I didn't really have, um ... Like, vision loss doesn't really run in the family very prominently. I have an uncle and, um, older relatives had some, some visual difficulties, but nothing like, uh, th- that what I was about to go through was planned or expected. And it actually started, I was in a church play, uh, when I was nine years old, and when you're a kid, remembering what to say is not very easy, so they had these, like, giant, like, cue cards that they were holding up in the back of the church, and I could not read them.
Matthew Reeves (2): Oh
James Warnken: I was just standing up [00:05:00] there with nothing to say. Um, and from, like, that experience, my mom, uh, thought maybe I needed glasses, so went to the eye doctor, and I would-- I couldn't read the letters on the little screen across the room besides the giant letter E. And, mm, the first eye doctor said, "Oh, he's just being a kid.
He just doesn't wanna cooperate." My mom took me to a series of eye doctors, and
Matthew Reeves (2): Mm-hmm.
James Warnken: of them finally came around and said, "Uh, I think there might be something more serious going on here than just him being a s- a stubborn kid." And, uh, from that point on, we did all of the testing. We did all of the trips back and forth to the Cleveland Clinic.
I'm in northeast Ohio, so luckily an hour away there was the Cleveland Clinic, which is one of the, the better institutes in the country from what I understand. And, uh, through all of that process, we learned that I was, um, losing my vision progressively with what's called Stargardt's. And, uh, it's not a very [00:06:00] common thing.
Even at 29 years old, there are not very many people that I've met that have Stargardt's. It's not something you run into every day. But over the last 20 years now, I've just been progressively losing my vision, and for me, it's been on the fortunate side where it's so gradual that I don't even notice. I just naturally adapt as my vision gets worse.
And so for the most part, I haven't really had any major, like, dips in vision or anything like that. But, uh, the beginning of that process, I remember sitting in the, the eye doctor's office, and they told my mom, and my mom started crying. As a nine-year-old kid, I had no idea what was going on or what any of this meant.
And, um, I, I now know 20 years later and, and fully understand, like, she wasn't, uh, crying, like- More than anything because she didn't know where to go, who to talk to, what questions to ask. Like, you c- you- you're not prepared for that kind of stuff. And, [00:07:00] um, she did everything she could to set me up for where I am today.
So, uh, at the age of nine I was learning how to read and write in braille. I was getting, uh, pulled out of my classes in elementary school to learn mobility with a cane. I was, uh, getting all of the technology and the magnifiers and the CCTVs and the audiobooks and, and all of those things so that I could prepare for the day that if I ever lose all of my vision, which could happen, it could not.
It's very unpredictable. But, um, she did everything she could to set me up so that I knew how to do the things that I needed to do in order to, to be successful, to be independent. And I took that and have kind of always grown up with this mentality of like, I need to advocate for myself. I need to make it accessible for me.
Don't rely on other people. Don't account o- or count on other people to, to make things [00:08:00] accessible. And, um, that worked for the most part until I got into high school, college, and, and sort of stepping into the career and, and the working world. Because in high school I had a lot of teachers that didn't believe that I was low vision because I wasn't using a cane and I wasn't wearing sungla- like, I didn't fit the mold.
I'm, I'm a little skater kid. Like, I'm, I'm wearing hats and, uh, walking around with a skateboard. Like, I didn't look legally blind. I didn't look low vision. And so in high school I faced a lot of like, challenges and, and those battles of like, just trying to convince people that I needed large print or that I needed to go to a separate classroom to take my tests, or that I needed more time because it took me longer to read a big 11 by 17 sheet of paper to do my assignments.
And at a certain point, like I burned out on advocating for myself, and I just kind of like shut everything down. I was like, "I hate school. I [00:09:00] don't wanna be here. I just want this to be over so that I can do my own thing and go back to like worrying about myself and being able to advocate for myself." And so funny enough, uh, my last couple of years of high school weren't that great.
I think I graduated with like a 2.3 GPA. I barely scraped by and got into college, and in college is where kind of the, the switch flipped for me, and I started to understand that like that-- what that world looked like to be a professional with a disability, to have the opportunity to advocate for myself and get the things that I needed again.
And through that process, I just became a workaholic, and I, uh, ultimately stepped into a career in the world of digital marketing after graduating college, and then later transitioned into the accessibility field in late '21, early '22.
Matthew Reeves (2): Yeah.
James Warnken: So
Matthew Reeves (2): definitely wanna get into that, but I have questions
James Warnken: Yeah, it, it was,
Matthew Reeves (2): that story.
James Warnken: [00:10:00] it, it's a, it was a rollercoaster of an experience, like good and bad.
And, and the, uh, one thing that I'll say is like I didn't know that the business side of accessibility existed until after getting out of college and being in the workforce for a little bit. And somebody actually asked me how I was making the marketing and the websites and the stuff that we were working on accessible, and I didn't have an answer.
Uh, so instead of shying away and shutting it down like most people do, I leaned into it, and it opened up a whole new career path for me luckily. And through that process, I learned how to own my disability. I learned how to be confident talking about having a disability. And now I am actually leveraging the fact that I have a disability within the work that I'm doing because who's gonna tell the blind guy that accessibility doesn't matter?
Like, that's not,
Matthew Reeves (2): right
James Warnken: not in normal human nature to, to, to do that kind of thing. So
Matthew Reeves (2): when
James Warnken: become more of a positive
Matthew Reeves (2): back [00:11:00] to, that, that younger version of you starting at nine, unable to read the cue cards and un- unable to see anything but the E on the eye chart, which is some pretty significant vision loss at a very young age for star guards. Um, that, what was... I, I, I'm, I wanna get into the, the adult part definitely for sure, that had to have been, I mean, your mother was crying, but how did you, how were you receiving it?
That had to have been at least confusing, if not
James Warnken: Con- confusing, um, a little bit frustrating. Uh, I would say the frustration for me was because, like, I was trying to be, quote-unquote, normal. I was still trying to, like, read the normal-sized books in school, and I was getting headaches from straining my eyes so bad. And so, like, I didn't understand, like, why I was getting headaches or why I was having to do all of these things that none of the other kids in the class or that I played with in the neighborhood were having to do.
And for [00:12:00] me, I-- like, the biggest, like, transition point for me was that the school that I was at wasn't able to accommodate me. And so, uh, in between fourth and fifth grade, I actually had to transfer to a different school in a different district to get the things that I needed. And for me, that was kind of like the transition point for me, not because I understood it more, but because I wasn't the only kid in the class with, with big papers.
I wasn't the only kid going to a different room to take my tests. Like, there was more people that were doing the same things as me, so I didn't feel, like, so singled out and so isolated. Even in fourth and fifth grade, like, you don't want to be different. You don't want to be singled out or, um, kids are gonna be kids of, "Where do you go when we take tests?"
Or, "Why are your papers so big?" And I didn't know how to answer that. So, uh, I think I didn't like having to go to a different school than all the [00:13:00] kids that I played with in the neighborhood, but I was getting more support and more help that ultimately was, was going to be beneficial in the long run for me.
And so, like, for me, it was frustration, it was confusion, but over time, I just learned to not really think about it, I guess. It was like, uh, the less you think about it, the less it can bother you kind of mentality. Um, and for me, like, that's still what I do today. Like, I don't really pay attention to the fact that I can't see as well as everybody else around me until it's pointed out to me, right?
Like,
Matthew Reeves (2): Right?
James Warnken: I, I'm at my home office in front of my computer where I can be as close to the screen as I need to be without worrying about what other people think. I have my house set up the way that I want it to be set up, and e- everything here works for me, and I don't even really think about it until I'm outside of the house and, say, my wife and I, we are-- we went to the zoo last weekend, [00:14:00] and, uh, the animals were not having a great time because it was so hot out.
But they're in the back of their enclosures or they're hiding away in their little den, and I can't see them, but everybody else can. Uh, so until it's very obvious to me, like, that I can't see as well as everybody else, I don't really even think about it
Matthew Reeves (2): Yeah, I had a similar experience. I had the opportunity to go to Costa Rica a couple years ago, and we go on this tour of, uh, a national park, and Costa Rica is known for its wildlife. Uh, and the guides are like, "Oh, do you see the tree sloth?" And I've always wanted to see a tree sloth 'cause they're really adorable, 'cause in the pictures.
What I didn't realize is that they're quite small and very far away, and it, and notoriously extraordinarily still. So I'm scanning with my monocular and I finally find it, but it's even then the detail was just lost to me. So it was one of those moments where it was like, [00:15:00] this experience is not what I wish it was.
And I had to kind of process that and deal with that, and it was frustrating and sad and, and disappointing. Um, and there was nothing I could do about it 'cause I was, wasn't like I was gonna go climb that tree
James Warnken: All right
Matthew Reeves (2): of Costa Rica. Um, you know, you, you mentioned in your experience, um, both learning to be an advocate for yourself and learning how to ask for what you need, also at the same time saying, "I don't wanna be different.
I w- don't wanna need special things. I don't wanna shine a, a spotlight on what I..." Th- there's a tension there that I
James Warnken: Oh yeah
Matthew Reeves (2): of young people or, or people who are young to vision loss, no matter, no matter their chronological age, I think there's a tension there that I'm not sure we've discussed on this show before.
Do you have insight into I, I need this and I deserve this and I'm gonna advocate for myself, that sort of go get 'em attitude, along with, but I don't want to [00:16:00] be singled out, I don't wanna be different?
James Warnken: Yeah. And, and when I was in school, it's weird to say that 'cause I'm like, I'm not even 30 yet, but like, even, like when I was in high school, that was when we were first starting to see like the introductions of like iPads and Chromebooks in the classroom. So like technology was just making its way into every classroom.
And so for me, I didn't have that technology like fifth grade to 11th grade or whatever it was. And so I had to have like the big, huge pieces of paper. I had to go to a different room. But as technology got introduced into the classroom, like a lot of my accommodations were contained within the screen.
Um, and, and, and that to me was, and still is like the biggest thing that helps me to not feel different, right? Like I d- I don't want to go out of the house and people to look at me and s- and be able to make assumptions about me just because of the way I look or what, how I'm doing certain things. And [00:17:00] technology to me has really been that, that difference maker.
And for me, even at 29 years old, like I could go out with a monocular like you just said, um, or I can put on my Meta smart glasses and take pictures and have them described back to me. And by the way, those pictures sync to my phone so I can just act like I'm playing on my phone, but actually be looking at the pictures that my glasses just took.
Like to be engaged, but not having to do all of these other things that, that make me, uh, seem or appear different from everybody else. And so I think technology helped alleviate a lot of that tension Up until that point, that go-getter, like not afraid to ask mentality is something that, like I was always encouraged to do, uh, because like my parents and my friends even didn't want me to not be included or, or to fall behind or anything [00:18:00] like that within those environments.
And fortunate for me, like I had a really strong group of friends around me that when I was in those classroom settings and a teacher wasn't giving me what I needed in a large print format, or when we had, say, a substitute and they don't know if I'm just like pulling their leg and being difficult or being a kid or if I'm being serious, a lot of my friends would actually jump into the conversation to sort of back me up and say like, "He's not playing around, like he actually needs that.
You, you kinda have to do that. It's part of like how he does his work." Like, so having a good support system that, that is encouraging, that is motivating, like I think that helped sort of build my perspective a little bit and not being afraid to ask when I needed something. But also, like I said, when I was in high school, I got so burnt out on it that I just wanted to blend into the wall.
And so there is a balance and, and that tension of [00:19:00] when is it becoming too much and too often to where like you feel like a burden, you feel like you're, um, disrupting everybody else's experience for your own, that almost kind of feels selfish in a way. And, uh, that is a very real thing that I experience and, and I chose to let my experience suffer so that ev- I wasn't interrupting everybody else's.
And in hindsight, like there are a lot of different ways to approach that without disrupting everybody else's experience. Like a lot of planning, a lot of organization. Like my entire life now, down to the 15-minute increment Monday through Friday are, are very planned and organized and structured so that I don't run into surprises where like if I would've thought about this ahead of time, if I would've done a little bit more planning, if I would've reached out and asked for this in advance, could we have avoided this?
So, uh, for me, I very much leaned into [00:20:00] like the preparation side of alleviating it rather than like reacting when it was happening
Matthew Reeves (2): Yeah, I feel like I'm-- I, I took the same path, and I'm, I'm trying to be careful not to assume that this is how everybody solves the problem just
James Warnken: Right
Matthew Reeves (2): and I are solving the problem. But I, I describe it to people as, look, there are a lot of things in my life that other people can control that I can't control, and that means that those things I can control, I'm going to control them.
Like, I'm not just gonna leave it up to chance. Uh, if I can control something, I'm going to, uh, just to reclaim some of that. And I've found that that in my, in my experience, that kinda becomes a personality trait. It kinda goes very broad, it has to do with vision loss or accommodation or not, it, it just tends to be a, a pattern that has served me well, so I tend to stick with it. you mentioned that you kind of, you took the self-advocacy really, really full throttle early on and [00:21:00] then relinquished it because it, it started to sound or started to maybe feel selfish, like you said, uh, which I think for a, for a kid who's self-advocating, I don't want them to hear the message that that's selfish.
I don't think that that's
James Warnken: No, not at all. Yeah, exactly
Matthew Reeves (2): but, but at the same time, that's how you were feeling, so it's real. Um, but it also, as you were describing it, I was also thinking, it also, it's also exhausting. Like, it takes a lot of energy to constantly... You're-- It's the energy of, of doing the hard thing a-and, like, dealing with the large print.
Just l- just surviving with low vision is just a lot. It's very energy drain- energy draining to begin with. The grieving process is energy draining, whether we, uh, are aware of it or not in the moment. But then the self-advocacy is a kind of a third layer of exhaustion that we face, and it would... Y-you didn't say that, so I wanted to ask about it.
Is that something you feel like you were facing in high school?
James Warnken: Yeah, like it, how whatever words you wanna put to it, the answer is yes. Like, [00:22:00] you get tired of asking for the same things over and over again. Like, we've, we've done this song and dance all year long, how are you still forgetting that, that one, one student in the class needs large print? Or like, um, it, it gets exhausting, and for me, like when I'm tired of something, I'm, I'm not gonna do it anymore.
Like, that's just like g- being in control, like you said. Like, the things that I can control, I will control, and, uh, I think that's why I ultimately started my own company is to have more of that control of my experience. But in school and, and going through that process, like how many times are you willing to ask the same questions before you get tired of hearing the same answers or the same excuses or the same responses?
And so like, uh, an, an example current time is like you go out to eat and they hand you a, a menu that's 20 pages long, and it's all in little tiny cursive [00:23:00] font. Like, you're not gonna ask for a large print version of the menu. Like, uh, I'm pulling out my phone and either looking online for a digital version, thanks to technology, or I'm taking a picture of the menu and zooming in because the cameras in phones are so good now.
Like, so that self-advocacy, like I'm not even bothering asking if I know how to do it myself. Like, if it takes a couple extra minutes, I'm fine with putting in the extra effort to have the same experience so that I don't have to ask somebody to read it to me or anything like that. But not everybody's like that.
And, and the, that is one of the things that I've had to learn over these last couple of years stepping into the accessibility space is like there are no two people that are the same, especially when it comes to disability. A perfect example of that is like we're talking about my experience in being a, a self-advocate.
I have a younger brother who has the same visual [00:24:00] impairment as I do. Our personalities are very different in how we approach our visual impairments. Uh, he, he and I are kind of opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to like how we view and think about technology and how it can help. Like, uh, we are very different in the way of like how we talk about our disability.
He is a very much like taken the humor route of like trying to make light of it, trying to, uh, always make jokes and, and not take things too seriously. I have always been more on the like solution-oriented of like how can I do this to the same level of everybody around me? So Uh, funny, funny story here since we've talked a lot about school, um, and going just kinda tying back that no two people are the same is I was in high school and, and when I was a senior, he was a freshman.
And we both were on IEPs, same last name, same disability diagnosis. [00:25:00] Like, on paper everything looked exactly the same. They couldn't figure out why the accommodations they gave me weren't working for him. And, and so much so that they pulled me out of class to sit in his IEP meetings to try to figure out, like, how to get him what he needed because what they were trying to just recycle wasn't working anymore.
Um, and to me, like, I love that story not because of the, like the actual story itself, but how well it demonstrates, like, you could have two people on paper that seem identical that have very different personalities, thus what works for them and the solutions that they need and how they go about doing things needs to be different.
It needs to be tailored. It needs to at least have the option for the user to do it in the way that they prefer. We shouldn't be trying to put disability in a one-size-fits-all box
Matthew Reeves (2): That sounds like it, [00:26:00] that experience with helping your brother with his IEP, uh, four years younger than you at the time, but I guess still today that sounds like it really informed your view on technology and accessibility in general, and it's a philosophy. It turns into a philosophy, and I, and I, I, I'm putting a bookmark in that 'cause we haven't really told the story of what you've built for yourself.
Uh, and, and but I think we- I wanna come back to that 'cause it, it sounds important. Uh, why don't, why don't you tell our audience and tell me more about, um, that from college up until, and graduating college and, and career-wise, what that trajectory looked like and, and how, uh, your low vision became pretty central to your career?
James Warnken: Yeah. So, um, first and foremost, like, at going into college, like I, I had shut [00:27:00] down. Like, I wasn't really in the mood to advocate or anything like that. And like I said, that switch flipped for me in college where, like, I started to, uh, explore things and learn, learn different ways of doing things, which was incredibly helpful and, and really sort of brought a lot of things to light.
But I still wasn't openly, like, wearing a T-shirt that says, like, "I'm legally blind" on it. Like, I was still trying my best to blend in. Uh, like I went to a small private college and, um, was in the same classes with the same people for five years 'cause we were all going to school for marketing. And, uh, they knew, but it wasn't something that, that we openly talked about.
It wasn't something that I was disclosing when I introduced myself on the first day of class. Like, there was none of that. Like, everybody knew, but it was like, "We don't talk about that because James doesn't wanna talk about it." And luckily, in college, people respect those boundaries, and I'm grateful for that.
But from a professional sort of standpoint, I was in school to [00:28:00] go, uh, to get a degree in digital marketing because my dreams of playing basketball professionally didn't seem very real anymore. Um, and so I, in high school, decided the next best thing was get into marketing because when you watch a basketball game, there's all the highlight reels and the video packages and all of the marketing and branding that goes into a sports franchise and a sports team.
And, uh, growing up, my idol, if you'll-- if that's the right word, was LeBron James. I still very much look up to him and, and how he sort of moves through life and, and being in the spotlight and everybody kind of always watching. And when I realized, like, I'm not gonna be able to do that, that's not a ver-very realistic career path for me, like business and marketing was kind of my next best option to where I could have still been involved in the sports world, but not on the court playing necessarily.
Matthew Reeves (2): sports adjacent.
James Warnken: Yeah, [00:29:00] exactly. And, and so marketing was what I was going to school for. And, uh, while I was in school, I was taking all these intro classes and learning about social media and websites and branding and consumer behavior and all of these different topics, and I was like, "That's great, but, like, what do I do with that?"
Um, and so I got, um, into a good conversation with a, another local small business owner and, um, was playing around with this idea of, like, designing my own apparel. Again, I grew up skateboarding. Like, the skate apparel scene is huge. And, um, decided that that's what I wanted to do, one, as like a, a side hobby sort of passion project, but to learn how to do marketing, but also to bring a lot of my personal interest into it and start to sort of just experiment.
And so that was when I actually started my first company called Clear Vision Clothing. And while I didn't openly talk about my disability, [00:30:00] Clear Vision was like my subtle way of saying, "This is being done by somebody with a visual impairment." And, um, to people who knew me, like they understood it. Again, we didn't talk about it, uh, but they understood it.
And, uh, so I got ahold of an illustrator, I got ahold of a, a press and a printer, and I started doing that, and I learned how to build websites. I learned how to run social media. I learned-- Like I sandboxed everything with my own small business making T-shirts. And,
Matthew Reeves (2): Right
James Warnken: went super well, and I stepped into an internship, uh, where I actually moved to Washington, D.C.
and worked in cybersecurity doing digital marketing and search engine optimization and, uh, a whole bunch of stuff for this cybersecurity firm. Came back home, was still doing Clear Vision Clothing, but when I came back, it was almost like people viewed me differently. More of that, more of that like James as a professional now because I had [00:31:00] people reaching out to me saying, "Hey, I have a friend who runs a jewelry store.
Can you help them with their website?" Or, "Hey, my payment gateway on my e-commerce website went down. Can you help me fix it? Can you help me set up an email? Can you help me with..." So I slowly stopped making shirts, and I started helping people with their digital marketing. And so Clear Vision Clothing became just Clear Vision Marketing and Media, and I was doing social media.
I was building websites. I was running advertising. I was helping people design billboards. Like, I was doing all kinds of cool stuff, and I was still in college, like doing all of this. Like, so I became known, like within my college class as like, "That's James. He's a workaholic. If he's not in class, he's working."
Like I, I went to class, I went home. Uh, that was me. And so through all-
Matthew Reeves (2): frat parties on the weekends.
James Warnken: No. Not, not at all. It was, it was very much like I wanna get as much experience as possible was sort of my mindset. And so doing all of that, [00:32:00] I stepped into a second internship working on a e-commerce health company. At the time, I think they had like a 21,000 product catalog on Amazon, and I was like e-commerce optimization more so than anything.
Good for six months. It was, it was nice steady money, but not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. So, uh, that internship ended. I was still building websites and doing all of that, and then I stepped into my third internship, uh, which was in search engine optimization and automation with a local ad agency here where I'm at in Stark County, Ohio.
And this is where the story really like sharp 90, because three weeks into that internship, a small thing called COVID happened.
Matthew Reeves (2): Mm-hmm.
James Warnken: and that was my final semester of college. That was my third internship. Like, everything was rolling, like with a ton of momentum, and then over the, a single weekend, everything shut down.
Don't-- I didn't go back, didn't go [00:33:00] back to my internship. All of my classes switched to online. I didn't get a graduation ceremony. Like, it, it was a very like underwhelming springtime for me in 2020 because everything was shut down. And so at that point in my career, I was like, "Well, all of the momentum that I just built is kinda gone.
So what do I do now?" And so with Clear Vision and building the websites, I gave myself the summer To either scale it to a point where I could get approved for a mortgage and move out of my mom's house or find a real job. Uh, I found a real job at the end of the summer. I did not grow it to where I wanted it or where I needed it to be.
Luckily, I, through one of my clients, met another startup, and we ended up joining forces and doing a lot of really cool work over the course of the pandemic, helping small businesses survive the pandemic. Uh, so setting up e-commerce, setting up curbside delivery, phone [00:34:00] systems, like doing SEO, doing paid ad, like we were helping the small businesses within our community through the pandemic, and I sort of grew into this sort of operations and management role, like building services and products and like templatizing and systemizing everything and, um, figuring out how we don't do the same thing over and over again without having to do it from scratch.
And that is where like that piece of the story of somebody asked how we were making it accessible came in and hit me like a ton of bricks because I didn't have an answer, and I'm a part of that community. And so that rabbit hole was opened up, and I dove headfirst into that rabbit hole and, um, met a lot of really great mentors.
I spent almost a year learning as much as I could about other types of disabilities, not just my own, how accessibility worked, things like screen readers and braille displays, and how te- technology played a part in it from the user experience [00:35:00] side. And from that point on, I sort of incubated up until last January of '25 with a couple of different companies, helping them build accessibility programs and products and services while also like building my confidence in being a professional with a disability, openly talking about having a disability, while also working to make things accessible.
And so I was, uh, building classes, I was building and delivering trainings to developers and designers. I was leading projects. I was building empathy lab ex- like, experiences to help people understand disabilities. Like, a lot of really cool things over the, the-- that sort of in between incubation period.
And last January, I decided that it was time for me to go out and try to do this on my own again. Uh, s- circling back to Clear Vision, it's now just Clear Vision, so it's shrunk down to just that as the name. [00:36:00] But that is where I took the leap of faith and said, "I think I have enough experience, enough personal brand, enough whatever you wanna put in that bag of s- of skills and tools to build an accessibility process that is easily repeatable, that is
Matthew Reeves (2): Mm-hmm.
James Warnken: to understand and easy to implement."
And for the last year and a half now, that's what we've done, is we've built this sort of framework for accessibility implementation at the organization level, helping the designers and the developers and the communications and the marketing and the HR and recruiting, and helping all of those people understand how they play a part in creating an accessible and inclusive culture, building and designing accessible digital content, having open conversations where accommodations become baked in, they don't necessarily need to be requested.
Like, that is the framework that we have been building [00:37:00] and delivering and scaling over the last year and a half, and it's been a rollercoaster in and of itself of like, there is nobody telling me when to wake up or when to get things done or who to talk to or what, what to say to them. Like, I'm figuring it out again.
And, and it's been a lot of fun, but, uh, very, very stressful, uh, to be in that position. And a lot of opportunities have come and, and I have been somebody that's always taken full advantage of, of an open door and run as far as they'll let me with any opportunity and experience that I can get my hands on.
And to this point now, like, we're, we're scaling, we're growing, uh, but I also am building up a localized nonprofit as well that is helping serve and support our local disability community, not just this broader digital effort
Matthew Reeves (2): Well, before we get to that, I, I wanted to ask, 'cause it sounds like you, [00:38:00] your effort to the disability community through entrepreneurship sort of the bridge for something that happened for you where you went from being... your disability being something that maybe we're all aware of but we don't talk about 'cause it's not comfortable to very much an identity, a public identity. Uh, it seems like that, the, that was the impetus to turn an invisible disability into a, a highly visible disability. can you talk about that process and, and what shifted for you?
James Warnken: Yeah. Well, I now know that that process is called imposter syndrome. Um, and, and that's not feeling like you belong in the room or, like, that you're qualified or, um, having a lot of self-doubt and a lot of lack of self-confidence in who you are and what you do. And for me, a lot of that stemmed from a fear of people assuming that I couldn't do something because of my disability and trying to constantly prove that wrong and go above and [00:39:00] beyond and outdo and outshine any expectation that was ever put on me.
And I learned that through mentorship, uh, through talking to people that were already in the positions that I wanted to be in. Uh, so I met people like Mike Hess, who founded and is running Blind Institute of Technology. I met people like Kara Kahn, who was probably one of the best TEDx presentations I've ever seen.
I was meeting people that were doing all of these things where their disability was more forward-facing in their personal brand, and it was something that, um, was sort of driving the work that they were doing. I don't know if I'm using the right wording here, but, like,
um-
Matthew Reeves (2): You, do you find that, um... Well, I talk to a lot of folks that, and I, and I, I've experienced this myself, um, where for folks that are not in an entrepreneurial role, right? That's not their [00:40:00] They're looking for employment. Um, there's often a sense of, "Why would anybody hire me if they could hire somebody just like me without a disability?" and on the surface, that's a logical argument. I've used it myself. Um, but what you're describing is that you, you figured out how to put your disability up forward almost as an advertisement, uh, of, of what, how that differentiates you and how that makes you stronger as a candidate. this case, you're, you're a candidate for yourself or maybe for hi- for getting clients. Um, but I think the same would be true in an interview setting or an employment setting. Can you talk about how disability is a feature and not a bug?
James Warnken: I love the way that you phrased that, and I'm so glad that you asked because for me, that was the overcoming of that imposter syndrome is like h- going from I don't want people to [00:41:00] view m- my disability as a limiting factor, or that they're gonna put lower expectations, or that I'll get less opportunity because of disability.
And now I'm at a point where it's, it's everything that I do. It's everything, uh, that I sort of have built around is this idea that disability is not a, a negative, it's not a limiting factor. It is an opportunity. Um, and the mentors that I have around me are, are part of the reason why I sort of have that mindset is because a lot of them are working to sort of advocate and push awareness around the opportunity of hiring people with disabilities, and that it's a, uh
Like you said, it's a benefit, it's advantageous because when I think about myself, like my entire life has been built around being flexible and being adaptive to my environment, learning how to plan and organize ahead of time instead of always reacting to the situation. Like, [00:42:00] those skills that I've been forced to learn because of my disability are very much so skillsets that employers are looking for.
Matthew Reeves (2): Right
James Warnken: and, and so I bring that as a baseline on top of the professional expertise that I now have in whatever field it is that I'm working in, not to sort of build an argument or anything like that, but to like put myself alongside of, if not ahead of everybody else because I'm used to doing it. That's just the norm for me.
Like, you- that's not something that you're gonna have to teach me or you're gonna have to hope that I'm communicating when things aren't working or, or not going well. Th- to me, like that is just one piece of the, the conversation when we talk about people with disabilities and being employees. Like if something isn't working, we're gonna find a way to make it work.
The solution, the innovation side of it is very much real as well. The [00:43:00] loyalty, like if somebody gives us an opportunity We don't take that lightly. W- we're so, like, for me, I'm so used to people forgetting or ignoring or not thinking about it, that when somebody goes out of their way and puts in a little bit of effort, I, like, to me, that says a lot.
And so, like, that loyalty is there. There are all of these parts of the conversation that I've had to either be told or I had to learn on my own to sort of change my own perception around, like, my disability and that working in the accessibility field as somebody with a disability, I am the professional providing the service, but I'm also the user that is being impacted when things don't work.
So, like, who better to be in that position than someone like me? You could take somebody without a disability who has worked in this field for 36 years since the ADA was signed, but they're not going to have that lived experience component [00:44:00] like I do.
Matthew Reeves (2): Right
No matter how many certificates they might have.
James Warnken: Uh, ex- uh, no matter how much experience or certificates or anything like that.
And so, like, for me, that's what I've really leaned into and why it's so much of my personal brand is because, like, I wanna help make things accessible, and I can talk from both a lived and a learned experience at the same time.
Matthew Reeves (2): Yeah
James Warnken: and for me, it's, it's played to my advantage and, and it's done me, done me very well up to this point, and I hope that it continues because for me, what it's done is a lot of people who are afraid to ask questions because of any particular reason, or people who are curious but don't know where to start, when you put someone like me in the room with them that says, "There are no wrong questions," or, "I'm an open book, you can ask me whatever you want.
I'll answer it to the best of my ability," like, it takes down that defense. It takes down that, um, shell around not [00:45:00] wanting to look silly or to ask the wrong question or to be insensitive or rude when you can create, like, that safe environment, and that's what I love doing because that's what opens that door for change, for a better, more accessible and inclusive experience when people are not afraid about their own internal battles, but they're open to this conversation.
They're building confidence and comfort around it. They're willing to do more, and when you do more, everybody wins
Matthew Reeves (2): Yeah, and I, I couldn't agree more. And to return to the entrepreneurial aspect of it that you were touching on, uh, you know, I... When we think about how we, you and I, and other people in our position can start to acknowledge what we bring to the table as a result of what we've, uh, lived through, that can be very plain to us.
Sometimes it takes us a while for that to be [00:46:00] apparent to us. Uh, that's a, that's a journey unto itself. But then when we interface with others who are in positions of power, they have the job we want, uh, they have the a- ability to hire us, they may not be able to see that. And I think that's one of the reasons why, uh, I'm such a fan of encouraging entrepreneurship, uh, among this community.
Not everybody is suited to it, not everybody wants to do it. Um, but you, you kinda spoke to, like... And, and, and this is true for me in my private practice. I, I don't have to ask anybody for an accommodation. My entire business is mine, so I just do it the way I wanna do it, and I find that incredibly liberating. so I, I love talking about and encouraging entrepreneurship, at least thinking about it, uh, to see if that's right for somebody. Um, because asking for accommodations is inherently a power position and, and it's a, there's a power differential between the person who cannot, who can give it and pay for it, and the person who's asking for it, and not everybody likes to be in that position.
Uh, [00:47:00] so, I'm, I'm grateful to, for your example in that. Talk about... U- unless you have something to say on that point, but I, I did wanna return to how helping your brother, uh, was... helped to fashion your philosophy of accommodation and philosophy of accessibility and how everybody is different. Uh, I'd love to return to that if we can
James Warnken: Yeah, so to, to the previous point, like I have helped a number of people prepare their resumes, um, people with disabilities, and a lot of them have been the same conversation of like, "I don't have a lot of relevant experience. I don't know what to put down on this piece of paper that's gonna stand out."
And for me, like I've always tried to like explore beyond the experience of like think about how you've had to do things differently and what skills and traits you've built along that process naturally. Like look at yourself compared to other people. What are they doing that drives you crazy [00:48:00] that like seems so blatantly obvious to you?
Of like if you would've just planned for that or if you would've just thought about X, Y, or Z, like the planning, the organization, the time management, like all of those are essential skills. Like even if you don't have a ton of experience relevant or related to it, like you still have a lot of skills and a lot of experience just being you that you bring to the table.
And then like that is a, a hard thing to get people to come around to 'cause they're so fixed on like, "I didn't-- I don't have five years of working experience in this field," or, "I don't have experience me- meeting every bullet on the job description." And it's like
Matthew Reeves (2): Right.
James Warnken: that's, that's a wish list. That's everything that they're hoping to get out of the perfect unicorn person.
Matthew Reeves (2): Mm-hmm.
James Warnken: you are not expected to be a unicorn. Uh, so, so just be, be you and think about your experiences holistically, not just professionally.
Matthew Reeves (2): You're not expected to be [00:49:00] their unicorn. You are a unicorn, but you're not expected to be their unicorn.
James Warnken: Right, exactly. And, and so going back, like I'm big brother. Like I went through a, a lot of things first and, and figured them out so that I could be in those IEP meetings or so that like when he does have a question, we can talk about it. Like, um, or I've like, I've gone when every time he gets a new phone or a new computer and I help him set it up and turn on magnification and high contrast mo- And like I, I'm big brother in that sense.
And so like for me there's a, like that connection of like family. Like he's my brother, I'm gonna do everything I can to help him, whether he was the same visually impaired as me or not. Like I, I have a different younger brother that doesn't have the same visual impairment and for both of them, like I just want to be the, the example for them as to like how to move through [00:50:00] life in a responsible way that sets you up to be successful without bringing anybody else around you down.
Like there's a way to do that and there's a way to do it right, and that's what I'm ultimately trying to do. And I just happened to end up in this line of work of accessibility where a lot of the work that I'm doing is changing people's lives. It's having a lot of very positive reciprocating impact that I don't even think about on the day-to-day basis because like I'm just doing what makes sense.
I'm just doing what feels right to me. If I'm building a website, I should put alt text on it because I'm aware that somebody might not be able to see that image, and if they're using a screen reader, they should have the same experience as me who can see it. So like to me, everything that I do was taught to me by my mom, by my grandma, by the people around me, the mentors around me, that like as long as you're [00:51:00] doing the right thing and you're doing what feels right, nobody can fault you for that.
And, and so like I've always sort of approached everything, the work that I do personally in my personal life, like if you're doing the right thing and you're not bringing anybody else down, you're not hurting anything or anyone around you in the process of doing that right thing What else is there to do?
Like, uh, and, and for me, like, that's really the philosophy is, like, even in the work that I do, like, yeah, we're signing contracts that have a scope and, uh, like a, a clearly defined set of deliverables, but if I'm in a conversation and somebody asks a question, I'll answer it. If somebody needs something that is, uh, adjacent or, or that I think would be helpful that's not going to cause a bunch of other trickle-down effects or anything adverse to happen, I'm gonna do it.
Like, that's just kind of the nature of how I operate, and [00:52:00] I've always sort of been a little bit of a yes man, but in the sense of, like, it has to have a reason and an outcome to it. I'm not just gonna do things for the sake of doing things. Like, to me, like, I, as someone who likes to have control, need to know that what I'm doing is for a reason, or it serves a purpose, or it adds value in some way, and it's not just like, "You don't wanna do it.
You're asking me to do it," type of thing
Matthew Reeves (2): Right. Right. In other words, it, it kind of hearkens back to what you were saying before. You- when you see a door, you like to go through it, presuming that you know what's on the other side and you wanna be in that room.
James Warnken: Yeah, exactly. Like, I'm very much someone that's like, I'll try something once. If I like it, I'll do it again. If I don't, don't count on it. Like,
Matthew Reeves (2): Right
James Warnken: that is another like sort of pillar or, or philosophy of like I'm not afraid to take a risk. I'm not afraid to take on a challenge. I'm not afraid to give something a go and, and the good old college try [00:53:00] to see if it's worth it, to see if I like it, to see if there's value or impact there.
And once I learn, I learn. I, like, I'm not gonna make the same mistake twice. I'm not gonna go through the same wrong door or window or crawl space. Like, once I learn, I learn and, and for me, I just take all of that and put it into my experience to try to do better the next time
Matthew Reeves (2): No effort is wasted. It's, uh, it all... E- every experience can come back and inform the next one or the one that comes 10 years down the road or whenever, uh, that it's
James Warnken: whether it's, yeah, whether it's successful or it's a complete and utter failure,
Matthew Reeves (2): Right
James Warnken: there's always something to take away from it.
Matthew Reeves (2): There's always something to learn, yeah.
James Warnken: Exactly
Matthew Reeves (2): um, we're, we're coming up on our time, so I wanted to end as I usually do by asking if there's anything else you, that we haven't touched on that maybe you want the opportunity to speak to, uh, any, any messages that you'd [00:54:00] like to get out from your experience?
James Warnken: I, I think the main message is, like, getting over the imposter syndrome and, and, and get outside of your comfort level and your little bubble, and take on those challenges, take that first step. Uh, you never know until you try sort of thing, and, uh, very much so just, like, go after whatever it is that you wanna go after.
There is more than likely some way of making it work. I didn't end up playing basketball professionally, but I stepped adjacently into the world of marketing, right? There's always an alternative, a workaround, a different way of doing something to get to that same outcome. We just, I, I think, limit ourselves because of our belief of what we can do individually, what the world around us can and can't do to accommodate us.
Like, there are all of these factors that are reasons why we [00:55:00] cannot. I wanna challenge everyone to be creative and think of all of the reasons why we can
Matthew Reeves (2): Couldn't think of a better way to wrap up. Uh, that's a, a, a fantastic message, so thank you for that. I really am grateful for your time, and thank- grateful for your enthusiasm and, and the, the spirit that you bring to it. Uh, and, and helping me shine a light on entrepreneurship. I think it's fantastic. So
James Warnken: Yeah.
Matthew Reeves (2): I really appreciate it, James
James Warnken: Well, tha-thanks for having me. I thank you for the questions and, and the conversation. I don't think I've been asked most of these questions before other than telling, telling my story. So, uh, again, I am as open of a book as, as they come. If there is any questions or follow-up or anything like that, like, happy to continue the conversation in any way that we can to push things along a little bit forward, and just really appreciate you for, uh, creating a platform to, to start this conversation and, and push it out to hopefully even a couple [00:56:00] people who need to hear this kind of message.
So thank you for everything you're doing
Matthew Reeves (2): And, and to your point, uh, I, you're... I know that you're okay with me putting your contact information in the show notes, so if people wanna reach out to you for, professional resources in the, in the ac- accessible technology space or accessibility space in general, or just to ask any follow-up questions, uh, thank you for making yourself available in that way.
So we'll leave it there for today and, uh, all right, have a great rest of your day, James.
James Warnken: Thank you so much. You too
RECAP
Matthew Reeves: That was James Warnken, founder of Clear Vision and an advocate for disability inclusion in the workplace. James walked us through his journey from a nine-year-old struggling to read cue cards, to a marketing career, to building an accessibility framework that helps organizations bake accommodations into their culture from the start.
He reminded us that no two people, even with the same diagnosis, experience disability the same way, and that [00:57:00] self-advocacy is a skill worth developing, even when it's exhausting. Most of all, he challenged us to stop cataloging all the reasons why we can't and start getting creative about why we can. If you'd like to connect with James for accessibility consulting or professional resources, his contact information is in the show notes
OUTRO
Matthew Reeves: Thanks for joining us for this episode of Insight Out. You are the reason this podcast exists and we'd love to hear from you. You can leave us a voice message at speakpipe.com/insightoutpod. That's speakpipe.com/insightoutpod. There, you can share your thoughts about today's conversation, suggest a topic for a future episode, or tell us about your experience living with vision loss. Again, that's [00:58:00] speakpipe.com/insightoutpod.
Insight Out is produced by Integral Mental Health Services, my private practice that offers psychotherapy for adults in Georgia and disability adjustment and chronic illness counseling nationwide. Visit us at integralmhs.com and you can visit insightoutpod.com to catch up on all the episodes and to find links for subscribing in all the major podcast apps. A video version of this podcast is available on YouTube. Search for the channel, using the handle @inSightOutPod. You can also find us on social media using that same handle. I hope you'll join us for the next episode of inSight Out. Subscribe now in your favorite podcast app to stay connected. Thanks again for listening.