Latest / Marci talks money (and life) / Believing in Yourself and Achieving Your Goals with Otis Wilson Jr.
Transcript
- Marci Grossman (00:01.147) Hello, welcome to Marci Talks Money and Life. I'm Money Marci. 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 Jr. Otis 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. His full-time job and passion is to teach newly blinded and vision impaired adults how to use computers. This includes This includes This includes This includes sThis includes screen This includes screen reading technology software with programs like the Microsoft Office suite of apps, various web browsers, and more. You can also find Otis via his podcast, OLWJ Captivation. I will share the link with that in the show notes. Welcome, Otis. Otis Wilson Jr. (01:22.286) Hi, Marci. Nice to be on your podcast. Marci Grossman (01:25.361) I am so thrilled to have you here. You are an amazing man with an inspirational story and life, and I'm excited to share you with the world. Otis Wilson Jr. (01:35.464) it's a pleasure to be here and thank you so much for the compliment Marci. I appreciate that immensely. Marci Grossman (01:41.16) So tell me, what are you doing now? Otis Wilson Jr. (01:44.3) 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 assistive 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 heart is technology for me. So that's what I'm doing every day from eight to five. Marci Grossman (02:15.919) That's awesome. So are you working for a company or are you a consultant? or How are you doing this? Otis Wilson Jr. (02:22.817) I work for the State of Texas. Marci Grossman (02:25.117) Okay, so so you are 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 Otis Wilson Jr. (02:36.214) Right, actually I am working with the Department of Texas for the State of Texas. Texas Workforce Commission is who I work with or work for, I should say. Marci Grossman (02:48.621) Okay Otis Wilson Jr. (02:49.878) So what individuals would do is they would basically contact Vocational 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. Marci Grossman (03:07.055) And how long have you been doing this? Otis Wilson Jr. (03:09.262) I've been doing this for 11 years now, 11 years, actually. I just made 11 years back in February. Marci Grossman (03:17.201) Congratulations, 11 years is a good anniversary at any job. Otis Wilson Jr. (03:20.982) Yeah, yes it is. Yes it is. Marci Grossman (03:24.337) 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? Otis Wilson Jr. (03:43.81) Hard work, Marci. 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. As my 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 in Baton 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 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 90s early 90s there weren't any such things in terms of assistive technology. There was just braille. Everything was braille. Audio for school. In other words, listening to audio cassettes to do things. So there was not the life of what we know today as a Windows computer. When I was in college, DOS 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. 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. Otis Wilson Jr. (05:39.096) There was a company in St. Petersburg, Florida, Freedom Scientific. They were looking for individuals to sell the JAWS for Windows screen reading software. I said, wow, this is awesome. So I applied for a job there and I had just gotten married and I said, this is great. This is what I need because as I mentioned before, working in music just wasn't enough. Working in radio just wasn't enough. So I applied for that job and I moved to St. Petersburg, Florida. And I began selling the JAWS for Windows screen reading software at that company. Worked there for about 16 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 to do more, beginning with testing. And after testing, it was a point in time where I wanted to just, 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 and teaching them how to use computers. So after 16 years in Florida, I moved here to Austin, Texas. That's my story. Marci Grossman (06:58.411) 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? Otis Wilson Jr. (07:15.692) Well, 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 hangup for wanting to give many of us the opportunity. Notice that I said many of us, not all of us. 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 100%, but 120%. So when you give it 100 % and 120%, those doors open and you can find yourself getting into things that are amazing in terms of financial progression and just making some awesome things happen financially and from other successful perspectives. Marci Grossman (08:27.675) Where do you think you learned financial literacy and how to manage money? Otis Wilson Jr. (08:32.258) That is a different side of the story. 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, this is something that I really need to look at and explore. Marci Grossman (08:35.556) Yeah Otis Wilson Jr. (09:01.062) 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 worked. 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 licensed and I started selling these products. That's basically what I did. and, 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. Marci Grossman (09:53.623) Okay. Would you describe growing up that you learned the positive or the negative of financial literacy? Otis Wilson Jr. (10:04.248) Growing up, was, I guess you can 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 financial literacy. That is why I took advantage of the opportunity that he told me about because I wanted to know more about investing. you know what mutual funds were, what variable, uh, variable annuities were, you know, the difference between a 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 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 rewarding experiences. Marci Grossman (11:16.599) That's a good way to look at it. Otis Wilson Jr. (11:18.54) 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, that also, again, is something to be. Marci Grossman (11:38.715) 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? Otis Wilson Jr. (11:49.73) Well, it depends on what that individual is 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. Marci Grossman (12:12.923) When I was, boy, in my teens, I believe, a family friend who was blind and she became blind through diabetes in her early 20s. 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 me and I worked. I think a summer with her, were just fascinating. I think she had something that could read the dollar bills and say what was on them. Excuse me. This would have been, well, let's just say a lot of years ago, probably in the early 80s, I think. And when we think about how far things have come since then, it's amazing. It opens up. Otis Wilson Jr. (12:52.344) Yes, yes. Otis Wilson Jr. (13:02.168) Yes. Marci Grossman (13:11.523) 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, guess mostly technology that can make up the difference on a lot of things. Otis Wilson Jr. (13:30.114) Oh yeah, absolutely. Well, this day and time cell phones are capable of doing all of those things. There are so many different devices and software applications for the cell phones that can scan money and recognize images and that type of thing. the opportunities are there. The question is, you know, as a blind individual, do you want to take advantage of it? Even as a sighted 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 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. 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 for just those reasons alone. Not being afraid to learn and to prepare, or for preparation. Marci Grossman (14:53.873) Do you have any thoughts about AI? Because you're so into the technology and things that are out there. Do you have strong opinions on what resources it offers or what challenges it creates? Otis Wilson Jr. (15:07.924) It is, it's cool. It's something to, I would say, explore, but it's not here to replace anything, if that makes sense. Everybody says, well, AI is going to replace this, replace that. That's not true. So if you are a human, you have a job. I wouldn't say that AI is going to take your job. I don't believe that. 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. Marci Grossman (15:50.785) Is screen reading technology similar to AI, partially connected? Where is the line drawn? Otis Wilson Jr. (15:59.594) 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 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 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. What is happening right now with AI technology, though, now, 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 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 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. Marci Grossman (17:29.443) Okay, I don't know 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 would... So 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. Otis Wilson Jr. (17:48.556) Yes, that's correct, yes. Otis Wilson Jr. (17:57.954) That is correct. And for example, when I logged into your Riverside FM podcast here to do this recording, everything that I got access to the buttons and everything, I use my screen reader to do that. That's I didn't use a mouse to point and click. I use my screen reader to log into it to do it. Marci Grossman (18:16.901) so it describes the screen and you say, I want you to push this button and goes from there. Otis Wilson Jr. (18:21.814) Right, exactly. So rather than point and click, use my mouse to, I'm sorry, my keyboard to navigate. For example, I'm using a Braille display as well. So it says I'm on the 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 tab button and so forth as well. Marci Grossman (18:47.323) 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 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. Otis Wilson Jr. (19:27.65) Well, let me say this about that. Two things. Number one, where screen reading technology is not its very best at this point is reading graphical images. However, as I mentioned a few minutes ago, that's where AI is picking up the load to help screen reading technology. Does that make sense? 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 the screen screen reader out. Now, don't get me wrong, Marci, Audible is is awesome. and. There are many screen reader users or blind people. 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, 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 screen reader uses its power to give a person employment. That's where we're talking about screen reading technology having its place in society. Marci Grossman (21:16.461) 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? Otis Wilson Jr. (21:33.154) 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 individual. 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? How do we want to position ourselves for any type of success? 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, motivational speaking. When you think about how blind people have positioned 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 sighted 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 message because they think that I'm blind. I can't educate them. Hey, it's OK. 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. Does that make sense? That's where I think that the misconception is, do they want to hear the message that a blind person can convey to them? Marci Grossman (23:04.358) absolutely. Otis Wilson Jr. (23:14.414) But blind people, we have our place in society and a lot of us, we do well and we have really carved ourselves out of society to make some great things happen. Marci Grossman (23:29.835) 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. I mean, okay, so I wouldn't let you drive, but I mean, other than that, Not yet, but I bet we're coming there. Otis Wilson Jr. (23:47.614) Absolutely. Absolutely. Otis Wilson Jr. (23:52.95) Not yet. Yeah, We're trying to get there. I think that we are a long ways off from that too. They have these self driving cars, but I'm not ready for that. I'm not, you know, but yeah. Marci Grossman (24:05.379) Yeah, no, I totally agree. I am not ready for that. I think one of the fascinating things out there is there are apps that a sighted 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, can you 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. Otis Wilson Jr. (24:30.028) Right. Otis Wilson Jr. (24:34.082) Yes, there are quite a few of those, yes, that's correct, yes. Quite a few. Marci Grossman (24:37.629) I think it's amazing. I think it's so important to include all aspects of society in its 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. Otis Wilson Jr. (25:02.926) Absolutely. 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's no excuse as to why we can't educate ourselves on how this works, how that works. But the main thing is, of course, to check your resource to know and to validate where you're getting your 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. Marci Grossman (25:51.255) I absolutely agree. Before we wrap up, do you have anything you would like to share? Otis Wilson Jr. (25:57.73) Well, I definitely appreciate the opportunity to be on the podcast and you can always reach out. to. Check out my podcast beginning next week. I'll be launching my first again episode with Marci being my first guest at www.olwjcaptivation.com. And if you want to learn more about blindness, there's several organizations that you can check out as well. Go to www.acb.org. That's www.acb.org. That's an organization for which you can learn about blindness and visit www.freedomscientific.com. That is the maker of the JAWS for Windows screen 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 30th anniversary of the JAWS for Windows screen reading software. I wanted to make sure I put that out there. Marci Grossman (27:05.413) That's awesome. So it's been out there for a while and don't let anything get in your way. Otis Wilson Jr. (27:11.822) Okay, well Thank you very much, Marci. Marci Grossman (27:14.285) Everybody thank you for joining me and my special guest Otis Wilson Jr. This is Money Marci and thank you for listening to Marci Talks Money and Life. You got this. See ya.