Latest / Podcasts By Donna Jodhan / Remarkable World Commentary Episode #71: Ask Advocate Donna

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Remarkable World Commentary Episode #71: Ask Advocate Donna · Podcasts By Donna Jodhan

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  Podcast Commentator: Greetings. Donna J Jodhan, LLB, ACSP and MBA invites you to listen to
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  her biweekly podcast, Remarkable World Commentary.
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  Here, Donna shares some of her innermost thoughts,
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  insights, perspectives, and more with her listeners.
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  Donna focuses on topics that directly affect the future of kids,
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  especially kids with disabilities.
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  Donna is a blind advocate, author, site loss coach,
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  dinner mystery producer, writer, entrepreneur,
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  law graduate, and podcast commentator.
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  She has decades of lived experiences, knowledge,
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  skills, and expertise in access technology and information.
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  As someone who has been internationally recognized for her work and roles,
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  she just wants to make things better than possible.
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  Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Hey, I'm Donna Jodhan, and welcome to the second Remarkable World
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  commentary by me for January 2026.
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  I'm starting something new for the new year, and previously I used to host a
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  podcast called Ask Donna Advocacy in Action.
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  Well, I've decided to roll this in to this podcast on a monthly basis.
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  Much shorter, much more succinct.
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  And I'm hoping that based on feedback that I have received over the months,
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  that this commentary will help people to become stronger advocates,
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  more confident advocates, more independent advocates.
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  So let's start with my January podcast, Ask Donna.
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  Okay. See how we do here.
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  I want to start with this quotation.
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  Speak in such a way that others love to listen to you.
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  And listen in such a way that others love to speak to you.
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  Very true. Listen in such a way that others love to speak to you.
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  You know, I like this quotation, and it's a quotation that I chose for this
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  particular commentary that I will be doing once a month.
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  It's ask advocate Donna.
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  So let's get down to some business here, And I want to start with my word game for
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  you. Okay, here is the word game.
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  I'm going to give you two sets of words and let's see how you do as opposed to what I
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  think. The first set of terms is act now or put off for a good
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  advocate, an advocate who is confident and independent.
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  Act now is what they often go by.
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  Act now. Okay. So if they put it off, it means that they're not confident enough or
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  they don't feel comfortable enough going forth with their advocacy efforts.
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  So act now means that they're confident, independent and committed.
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  Put off means that they want to make sure that they have everything or their ducks in a
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  row before moving forward.
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  Act now or put off. Okay.
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  The next set of terms is accessibility or expediency.
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  You have a lot of companies or entities telling you that they are committed to
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  accessibility. But what does that really, really mean?
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  Is it accessibility because they're being forced to do it,
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  or accessibility as a goodwill gesture, or accessibility because they see the
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  benefits and the advantages to it?
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  Or is it expediency whereby they say, you know what we need accessibility.
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  We need to be expedient in what we do, not just to increase our bottom lines or not
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  just to increase our customer base, but we need to do something.
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  Accessibility versus expediency.
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  Which of these two words would you promote to any so-called client or customer
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  seeking your advice? Okay, that is my little word game for this episode
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  and I want to share some stories with you.
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  How advocacy comes out here when you have jealousy is the cause of
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  bullying. What does one really do if one can identify that jealousy is the cause of
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  bullying? Are they just going to say, oh gosh,
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  jealousy is the cause of bullying?
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  Let's let's just see what happens here.
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  What should we do? Jealousy is the cause of bullying.
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  I think for me, if I were to find out that jealousy is the cause of bullying,
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  I would try to step in and start deciphering what is the next thing to do.
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  At least I've identified that jealousy is the cause of bullying.
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  All right, so this is what has happened.
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  Jealousy is the cause of bullying.
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  Okay. The second story I have is the young boy's voice.
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  High voice is a problem.
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  Okay, but is it really a problem?
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  We had little Ty whose voice did not crack or did not deepen at the so-called appointed
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  time, and because his voice was high.
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  At age 14 and 15, it became a problem for him because he was being bullied.
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  He was being laughed at.
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  How can advocacy help young Thai to get over this?
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  What advocacy can get be involved here?
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  When you have child and his parents and the teachers working to build awareness of what
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  is going on? This is advocacy in its pure sense.
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  Okay, just like jealousy, the cause of bullying,
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  when you have a youngster being bullied because of,
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  you know, the resources he has or coming from a good home,
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  these being bullied by others who are less fortunate.
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  Advocacy is what is needed here again.
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  Jealousy. The cause of bullying.
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  Advocacy. All right. The young boy's voice not deepening at an appropriate time,
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  and his peers making fun of him is also cause for advocacy.
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  Let's go to the third story.
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  Here we have a blind student who was denied an opportunity to try out for a music
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  festival. And the only reason why this blind student,
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  whose name was Sheena, denied the opportunity to try out for a music
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  festival. The only reason she was denied was that she was vision impaired.
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  This happened at a very good high profile girls school,
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  and the nuns in charge decided that Sheena would not have that opportunity because she
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  was blind. What do you think Sheena should have done?
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  I think Sheena should have gone to her parents,
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  which she did. Parents went to the teachers with which they did.
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  The teachers at first hesitated, but after much advocating on the part of
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  Sheena and her parents and advocating from peers and even some teachers,
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  it happened that this decision was reversed and Sheena was given the opportunity to try
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  out for a music festival.
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  She did fairly well. She did not win anything,
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  but she went pretty far in the competition.
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  So those are three stories of examples of advocacy.
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  Okay. I'd like to leave you with these thoughts for this month.
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  Ask Donna or ask Advocate Donna.
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  Every month I will bring you word games and I will bring you examples of advocacy.
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  Hope you enjoyed it. Write to me at Donna Jordan at gmail.com.
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  Tell me what you think and we'll go from there.
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  Thank you very much. Bye for now.
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  Podcast Commentator: Donna wants to hear from you and invites you to write to her at Donna Jordan at gmail.com.
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  Until next time.