Taking the Lead | Happy Halloween

On this episode we have cohost Timothy Cuneio in studio! We catch up on life and talk about tips for navigating the holidays.

What is Taking the Lead ?

Leader Dogs for the Blind empowers people who are blind or visually impaired with the tools for safe and independent daily travel. Our goal is to educate, advocate, and share real life experiences of those with blindness. Come learn, laugh, and grow with us.

Taking The Lead Podcast_082324_Timothy_Halloween
[00:00:00] Welcome to the Taking the Lead podcast where we empower people to be unstoppable. I'm Christina Hoener with my co-host, Leslie Hoskins and Timothy Kune, who is actually here with us not calling in today. So that's really fun. Hi Timothy. Oh yeah. It's always fun to get around you guys. I tell you there.
Yes. Now you can actually like. Hear how crazy we are in person. I don't have to hear it. I know it. I know personally. Well, we were discussing the last time Timothy was in studio was almost two years ago. That was two years this month I believe. Yeah. Time has really flown by for sure. I know. Yeah. 'cause last year was just nuts that we.
We, I think we had talked about it and it never Yeah. In de fruition. I could never get up here in on the right day to get up here. Yeah. I was up here, but not on the right day. Yeah. Yeah, man. And it just worked out perfectly this time. Yeah, it worked out perfectly. So I'm in here, so just wanna give a shout out to, to, and David and Jason, I met them recently and, uh.
[00:01:00] Met them over at the Cedarville Lion Club a couple months ago and had a great time. And I just wanted, they listened to the podcast, so hello guys. I told 'em I'd give him a shout out 'cause they listen very well. They listen every week. Oh, I love that. That's so cool. Yes, it is fun. We were talking Timothy, uh, we picked Timothy up from the airport yesterday and he was sharing like all the people that you have met and then coming back and being in, um, the residence, meeting people that you met.
Two years ago, or three years ago, and it's, it's just so fun and everybody following your story, it's fun because I know most of these people can't see very well and they hear my voice. Mm-Hmm. Yeah. And they go, is that Timothy? Yeah. Well, it, it, it's exciting to see people again and again and again and over again.
So, and I get to see them, how they're pr progressing in the leader dog. Yeah. Yeah. The lady I met this past weekend, she was here for o and m two years ago and now she's getting into the dog. Yeah. Oh my gosh. I know. So, uh, it's just exciting and we, she, we chat a lot. Yeah. So it, it's good. It's good to be here and I always look forward to [00:02:00] coming up here and, and experience stuff with clients.
I like seeing whipped Lee. Our dog is. Doing to everybody. I like seeing how it's progressing with them. Mm-Hmm. Yeah. It's just a, and I love representing leader that wherever I go. Well, we're very thankful for everything that you do. Um, but it is Halloween, you guys boo. Happy Halloween. Yes. Um, so. Any plans for Halloween besides, I mean, we will obviously be trick or treating tonight.
We are going out getting all the candy. Um, we have friends coming over, which is always fun. And we live in a really great neighborhood. Lots of kids come, so it's, it's nice and it's a good way to like meet the neighbors every time everybody's like out and about. It's so much fun. I actually love Halloween.
Yeah, it's, uh, down in, down in Georgia. We're gonna have a good time. Uh, we'll probably have warm weather still. And, uh, we, we, we always have a trunk of treats and stuff like that. Mm-Hmm. So that's what we'll be doing. And uh, uh, yeah, we don't have many kids in our neighborhood so we don't get [00:03:00] any knocks on the door.
So, yeah. Yeah. Last year was my first Halloween in my house, so this will be our second one. And now we have another dog. So I have two dogs that will be there 'cause Duke sat with us last year. So now Duke and Soli will sit with us this year while we pass out Candy. Are you gonna dress them up? Um, last year.
So Duke has like a little thing. I have. I um, I'll give Sully something. I guess. I guess I will. I'll figure it out. I about that. Was Johnny been that? You better get on that. Yeah. Olly's gonna be left out. Um, I think it just says happy Halloween. I'd have to look. It's in a, it's in a. Basket, tote, whatever.
I'm like, what is the name of that? Yeah. Um, I am curious though. So this time of year, obviously all the spooky things are out. It gets a little crazy. I know my kids get scared sometimes because you'll be at like Home Depot or something and they have those giant displays and there's, you know, they're silent, they're not doing anything, and then they're motion detectors and you walk by and then it like pops up or does something creepy.
And my kids [00:04:00] and myself, who am I kidding? Um, jump. Have you experienced that with Glacier? Like what is her reaction to something like that? Well, the, the worst re reaction we had was one where, um, you went by and all of a sudden it starts playing funky music and the guy pulls his head off. Oh my gosh. And Glac is staring at it, and then we're gone.
Yeah. I mean, there's no way of controlling any dog in that situation. Yeah. Yeah. Because I mean, all of a sudden they're, they're walking by something that's not doing anything. And it's like, that cat attacked us at Home Depot a couple months ago. You're not expecting it. And. Uh, so she doesn't like those very much.
So we, we try to stay away from those things. Now that sounds like a really horrific one. Well, it scares me. I mean, yeah, some of them are really creepy. We have, um, one of the houses in our neighborhood like goes all out and does all of those like creepy things. And they have like the, the smoke and the music.
Oh yeah. And even on the sidewalk, they put something down where you walk on it and it like, makes creepy music. And I mean, it's super fun, but it's a little scary, you know, [00:05:00] sometimes we. You know, walk a little faster past that house. Yeah. Well, I remember one year when I took my son when he's a little 5-year-old, that was a long time ago.
And, uh, some guy was out there with a black line. He had a skeleton suit on. And so Timmy's up there walking real timid Timmy, and then all of a sudden the guy moved and his candy went flying. He fell down and uh, we had to go over and pick the candy up. The man was laughing at him, but then he. I kind of got onto him 'cause he laughed at my kids.
Yeah. Yeah. He, he was very scared about that. So it can be spooky for even human beings. Of course. Yeah. I guess, do you have any like, tips that you'd give other people if they have to, if they're going trick or treating and taking their guide dog? I would not take my guide dog. Guide dog. Yeah. There we go.
It's, you don't know what you're gonna run into. Yeah. And uh. Spooky stuff and somebody might drop some stuff on the ground. Yeah, that's true. And you don't want that in your dog. So I would not take, my glacier will not go IGI guarantee. Yeah. Yeah. So Wake can wait Cane time there. Oh, there's a smile.
There's that smile de Oh my gosh. What a great idea. Gotta [00:06:00] get Laurel and Hardy out, you know? Yeah. There you go. So get your K now. No, I agree. I think it's. Unpredictable on Halloween. Right. And like you mentioned, all the spooky things jumping out or things dropped on the ground 'cause everybody's out walking, whether it be candy or other things.
Um, you have to treat your guide dog kind of just like kids, right? We have to be extra cautious and be careful on those nights. Yeah. Decorate your cane. Yeah, I love that. And that fluorescent thing on it or, and then take it off because take it off. Research has shown that the white and red is the most DEI bible.
Well, you can be a rebel one night. You know? I know. It's actually interesting topic. 'cause now you can get a cane that's, you know, like white and blue or pink and get all these different fun colors and I think it's really cool. But at the same time, the research has shown that the white and red is most detectable or recognizable.
Yeah. Interesting. So it's kind of, uh, you know, but also at the same time, like. If we have a 6-year-old and the only cane they're gonna carry is if it's pink, I'm gonna probably give them a pink cane. So it's kind of picking your [00:07:00] battles, but it is good to know that the, uh, red and white is the. Standard.
The best option. Yeah. Yeah. And that's a good topic as we are wrapping up Blindness awareness month. That's true. That's true. It's been a really good month. I feel like we've done a lot of really great things. We've had so many people on campus for different events, um, and just spreading the word and, and advocating and educating just about blindness.
But of course that rehab services exist. That is one thing that is still. Not apparent. Those are conversations we're continuing to have with eye care professionals, with physicians, with just anybody who will listen, right? There's so many people out there not getting services because they don't even know they exist.
It's a good thing that all these ophthalmologists and eye doctors know about. Leader Dog. I. And, uh, you'd be surprised how many don't or any other organization, so, 'cause I mean, I've gone to a lot of them for all my life and nobody's ever mentioned it to me. Yeah, that's sad. It really is. It's definitely been a huge initiative for us these last couple years is getting out there and.
Going to conferences for eyecare professionals [00:08:00] and doing presentations and, um, all sorts of things. So it's, it's continues to be a goal of ours to educate. And the best thing is, is they're all so receptive. Like they wanna know. It's just they don't spend a lot of time on it in their schooling. Like, we talked to Dr.
Tracy on the podcast and he shared, you know, that what they learn about blind rehab is very, very small because they have to learn. So many other things about the anatomy and how things work and procedures and stuff. But, um, once you do have these conversations or once somebody kind of introduces into it, they're so excited and they're onboard and they're ready to advocate and help their clients, and that's, that's awesome.
Well, they need, they need to realize, you know, with the, with the blindness or this, the visit visual impairment, there is a mental aspect of it and they need to go, you know, a little bit further and ask, you know. Direct somebody help them out because they're like me. I had a, had some issues and uh, and he'd go a little past their little comfort zone and they need to kind of direct that their patient a little bit more involved in it.[00:09:00]
There's so many services available and out there and letting people know that they exist and that it's totally normal. I think that's a great idea. Look at us blindness awareness. I love it. That what a nice month. It has been a nice month and now we're getting ready for the holidays, which is kind of crazy.
Thinking about too, right? All the spooky things. And then now we're gonna go into like those giant blow up Santa Claes and snowmen and like. Turkey, I feel like you name it Turkey, you can get a giant blow up of it. Yeah. See, I love, I love the holidays. Yeah. 'cause Halloween kicks it off and then it's just like that Ha, everybody's so happy.
Yeah. You know, because it's football season. It well, football season. Goes, I guess through December sometime. Yeah. January's Super Bowl and it on February, actually. Yeah, it's February. Okay. Okay. I don't know. Don't, well, I'm not gonna ask, I'm not gonna ask Leslie Johnny to talk about football costumes. Yeah.
Yeah. I'm not gonna talk about, you know what, and it's funny 'cause I, I watch football and the fact that I just was like, what, how long [00:10:00] is the season? It's fine. You, it's fine. Oh my goodness. I just blanked out for a minute. Uh, well, I do that often. Oh, I did tell y'all I once saw my first descriptive movie.
I mean, yeah. Oh, tell us. Yes. Once I once saw Twisters. Okay. A little while back, couple months ago when, uh, it was different. It was something I've gotta get used to. But you have to really pay attention and uh, you can get a lot of stuff off of it. But I'm sure I'm missing some stuff of the, of the uh, special effects and stuff.
Yeah. But, uh, it's just something I gotta get used to. We didn't take a glacier of course. 'cause it's be gonna be a loud movie. Yeah. So it's another reason I got my, I ain't think I even sent a picture to Leslie with me using my cane. Oh my goodness. There we go. See, there's proof. Leslie. I believe it. I believe it.
Yes. And I'm happy to hear that. So how did you find out about the movie? Like if other people are kind of looking in their area to find movies like that? Uh, what you do is call your, the, the movie theater and you have to kinda show up a little bit earlier than the movie. 'cause they have to [00:11:00] set it up.
Mm-Hmm. Okay. And give you the headphones. It took a while for the headphones ar arrive and I think they have to put a software into the movie itself. Oh, okay. And it's pretty cool. You're sitting there and the guy just starts describing what's going on. Mm-Hmm. It should be available everywhere. Yeah.
Johnny just put a ring on her finger. That's what, you know, that's kind, that did not happen. Just so everybody is clear on that one. We took, um, the campers this year to, uh, inside out two, I think it was. And they all had, you know, the headphones and the descriptions, audio descriptions. Some kids used it, some kids didn't, and that was totally fine, but.
The movie theater. Imagine, um, imagine movie theater. Yeah. In Rochester. There they were absolutely fantastic. They had, you know, 20 plus headphones and had it all set up for us when we got there and they gave everybody popcorn and pop and it was such a good experience. I'm flying up for next year's then.
Yeah. It was so cool. And it's the comfy chairs, so all the kids are leaving. Oh, the chairs are so nice now. Yeah. I mean, I will say I spent most of my time taking kids to the bathroom, so I didn't, [00:12:00] but from what I caught of the movie, it was really good. Yeah, it was super fun, but it was a great experience.
Well. Happy Halloween everybody. Happy Halloween. Happy Halloween. Such a good, uh, blindness awareness month and some good tips for going out. Yes, and all of our random stuff in between and it's fun to just have Timothy in the studio and just kind of chat like this and catch up and, you know, have good conversation because.
We normally don't get to see Timothy and it's, we always have guests, which is fantastic, and we're always learning something, but it's nice to just kind of get together the three of us and, and chat and, and talk about life. So [00:17:00] I'm glad we had the opportunity to do that today. And I wanna thank everybody for listening to this shorter episode of the Taking the Lead podcast.
I'm Leslie Hoskins with host Timothy Kyo and Christina Hepner. We hope you enjoyed today's shorter episode. Please join us next time as we continue to educate about the world of blindness. And if you'd like to learn more about applying to our free services at Leader Dog, you can head to leader dog.org or call us at [phone].
Don't forget you can reach us at taking the [e-mail] with any questions or ideas. If you like today's podcast, make sure to hit subscribe and check us out wherever Podcast Stream.