Joe Strechay, Consultant for Blindness and Disability Employment Initiatives

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Patricia O’Connell interviews Joe Strechay, an entertainment media consultant for blindness and disability employment initiatives. They discuss Joe’s childhood, his interest in representation and inclusivity for persons with blindness, low vision, and disabilities, his career, and the opportunities in entertainment today for persons with low vision, blindness, or disabilities. The door is open but we have further to go.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Listen in to learn what your company can do to foster representation and inclusivity in your hiring practices and your products and services. Remember all your audience.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> <br /></span></p> <h1><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Key Takeaways:</strong></span></h1> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">[:21] Patricia O’Connell welcomes Joe Strechay to CEO Stories on</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">This is Capitalism.</span></em></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">[:50] Joe is in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in quarantine, preparing to get back to Season 2 of Apple TV+’s</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">See.</span></em> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">Joe was an associate producer on Season 1. He was in-charge of the blindness-related aspects of the show. He has been promoted to Producer.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">[1:15]</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">See</span></em> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">is a science fiction show set hundreds of years in the future, in a world with a small population and universal blindness caused by a viral apocalypse. It tells the story of a family with a set of twin children born with vision.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">[2:51] Joe grew up in New Jersey. Joe and his mother were both diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), a degenerative eye condition. At 19, Joe was legally blind. Joe did not have the services that most people have in preparation for school, edu