#157 How a Blind Man Sees the World - Tommy Edison

27:27Tommy Edison:And I think, you know, people always are careful and they don't want to ask you things that are either annoying or offensive. I mean, one of my biggest fears as an interviewer all the time is asking guests things which are just boring because they talk about them all the time. But I must ask you to tell me basically everything that you know about color. I have to do it. Okay, well, I'll tell you what I know about color. I know that, you know, red is fire. Red is also, you know, it's hot. Like, and it's very eye-catching. I know that, for example, Coca-Cola, I think, is red, right? The bottle or the can of Coca-Cola is red.

28:06So I know that. I know being in the red is a good thing. No, being in the red is a bad thing. Being in the black is a good thing. backwards um but you know i know blue i we did a video about this a long time ago and i talked about how i couldn't understand how the ocean and the sky could be the same color yeah but they can but the but you see one of the there's so much texture with color that's one of the things that i think i've learned in the past few years there's a lot of a lot of different texture with color so things kind of the same color but look different just by the different textures and things that sort of go into it.

28:40But what else do I know about color? White is the absence of all color and black is all colors mushed together. I think that's right. It's the opposite.

28:48Tommy Edison:Other way around, yeah. Other way around. Okay, excuse me. Forgive me. But yeah, what else? I know that yellow is a nice bright color. The sunshine sometimes can have sort of a yellow feel to it. Yeah. What else do I know about color? Orange. I joke that nothing rhymes with orange. And I found that a real orange was an actual, like the orange fruit is the color orange. Eczema is unpredictable, but you can flare less with Epglyss, a once-monthly treatment for moderate to severe eczema. After an initial four-month or longer dosing phase, about four in ten people taking Epglyss achieved itch relief and clear or almost clear skin at 16 weeks.

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30:43Tommy Edison:express that's right yeah that's that's true they sort of share an etymological root i think weirdly i think neither is named after the other i think i might be mistaken about this but i think there was a tree which was called the orange tree and both the color and the fruit are named after of that tree or something like that i'm not entirely sure but i think what what's what's clear is that when asked about color you are sort of giving cultural associations you know you might talk about blues music or how or things that you just know from from what other people have said you know that the sky is blue but but what on earth does does that mean and like the reason i'm particularly interested in this is you know i i have a philosophy show and we talk all the time about consciousness and what it means to be alive and to have experiences of the world.

31:35Tommy Edison:And typically, when people are asked to define consciousness, they find it really difficult. And they say things like, well, it's the redness of red. But they do also say it's the sound of a violin or it's the feeling of the wind on your skin or that kind of stuff. And there's a big debate in philosophy as to the extent to which consciousness and experience will ever just be scientifically reduced to just being explained as activity happening in your brain. One of the most important thought experiments that have been proposed on this line is to imagine somebody who spends their entire life not experiencing color.

32:17Tommy Edison:It's called Mary's room. It's this idea of Mary being in a room and it's all black and white. There's no color, basically. And learns everything there is to learn about color. Like learns, like reads everything there is to read, learns about the science of the eye, learns about like neuroscience and everything like that. And learns everything that even in principle, it would be possible to ever learn about color. And at the end of her life, she steps outside and she looks up and she sees blue for the first time, Has she learned something new? And most people say, yeah, it feels like she would learn something new, which is what it's like to see the blueness.

32:52And this is used as an argument that whatever color is, it's not whatever experiences and consciousnesses by extension. It's not something that will ever be just reducible to scientific explanation. and i just wanted to know what what you think about like people presumably have tried over and

33:13Tommy Edison:over again to tell you what color is they'll be like oh it's kind of like flavor for a food um how like you know toothpaste and a mint leaf can kind of taste the same even though they're totally different uh or they say well maybe it's a bit like sort of sound and presumably it gives you some grip on what they're talking about, but do you feel as though there would ever be, even in the future, some kind of description or some kind of series of words that might make you go, aha, now I know what you're talking about? Or do you think it is just forever out of your grasp? I think it's forever out of my grasp.

33:51I mean, as I say, the Mary's room thing is fascinating to me because, yeah, she can go see that color, but she doesn't know what it is. So, for example, I think if I got sight right now, I wouldn't know what it was. And I've heard about all these things. I could see a blue, you know, you could show me, well, that's a blue, what color is that sky right there? And I'd be like, I don't know. Yeah. You know, it would be very strange. So I don't think, one of the parallels I'd like to make is that it would be like trying to explain to somebody who's never heard before what the ocean sounds like or what the birds sound like.

34:26you would never be able to describe that to a deaf person you couldn't or what it sounds like when a giant you know when a big jumbo jet flies overhead or you know a helicopter or anything fireworks um you know i i think if you that's how i look at color trying to explain to someone who's deaf what all those things sound like what my world sounds like yeah um and i yeah like i love it like i love being outside and listening to the birds because it's just this natural stereo and it sounds great and they're all flying around and making all their noise and stuff and i just i'm fascinated by it i love it yeah but that's all it is to me is just but you you could never a deaf person could have like how would you ever explain again you could hear about what all these things are and what they you know you could sort of describe what you think they might sound like but to bring that person out of mary's room and have them listen they wouldn't know what was going

35:21Tommy Edison:an eye yeah i i mean i i think i agree with you um but it's it's difficult to to know for sure i i'm interested if as i say like people have probably tried again and again to to sort of explain different concepts you it must kind of get a bit annoying at times i just wonder are there are there any like are there any kinds of attempts that you found particularly interesting or like how that has kind of taught me something new and are there any that are like your least favorite that people sort of say all the time that are kind of or that do nothing for you you know i'm just intrigued as to how people approach that kind of topic yeah people people do try to explain color and i just i guess i sort of tune out when they explain lots of visual things for example like a rock video um you know or a video game i don't understand that i just don't get it yeah you know people try and explain it and i just don't have a clue and so i just sort of tune out yeah you know it's like they're speaking portuguese yeah i'd not understand spanish but not portuguese right right i i'd not thought about it the concept of a video game before because presumably you could kind of play a video game and that someone could tell you what's happening on the screen or there could be some kind of input like uh response from the buttons you're depressing but it would be difficult to understand how that's different from just like an interactive story or something right like is is that the kind of thing you're getting at with with the sort of how strange it is i'd never thought about video games before as a as a as a concept for for a blind person i mean like a game like grand theft auto i think i understand because you're just driving around and committing crimes and you know screwing around and you know doing that like i i get that but something like um like world of warcraft or something i no idea because you're in these different worlds there's different creatures um yeah you know and there's all sorts of games like i just don't have a clue i i get completely lost yeah it's i i guess i guess there's and video games are so so visual something like tetris or or something would would be essentially unplayable i imagine um um how have you ever are there other games that you do play or do enjoy playing i don't mean like sports i mean like i don't know like something like chess or something you ever given that a go presumably you'd have to have a pretty good memory to even play a play a game very efficiently yeah i never really got into chess i yeah people have talked about it but i just you know i sort of missed that train um but as a kid we had you know there was a an organization called the Lighthouse for the Blind, and they're all over the U.S.

38:12And they had made regular, you know, board games into Braille. So, like, I had a Braille Monopoly, which I loved. That was great fun, you know, and community chess and chants and all that stuff. And it was just big squares on the board. There was Braille to tell you each street, you know, when you were in jail and the just visiting side. So, you know, I enjoyed that. That was fun. And I like trivia a lot. I love, you know, music trivia. I'm very good with music trivia and just general knowledge trivia I like to think I'm okay like a trivia night I'm always pretty good at those

38:48Tommy Edison:Yeah, I'm a big fan of that too I've asked you so far about video games and about colour and some of the more obvious questions that people have are there questions that you sense people are afraid to ask you about that, I don't know, maybe they shouldn't be so afraid, or maybe they should be typically afraid, but you're happy to answer. But what do you think is the question that most people want to know, but most people feel it's either offensive or inappropriate or something to ask you? On the internet, when we started the Tommy Edison experience, one of the questions that came in, now it's a question that had never been asked to me in real life.

39:28No one has ever asked me this question in person ever, ever, ever. But when you're in front of a keyboard, you can ask anything you like. And the nuttiest question I thought was, how do you know when to stop wiping in the bathroom? Right? No one's ever asked me that question ever, but now on video, boom. And there's loads of them, just a bunch of people wanted to know. I found that very strange, but it was, yeah, I guess. And did you, did you answer it?

39:58Tommy Edison:Did you do a video about it? I did. Yeah. We did a video about it. Yeah. And I just, you know, I probably use a little too much, you know, but that's how it works. Safety first. You know, the funny thing I thought about that was though, that no one ever asked me, how do I know when to stop wiping my face after I've eaten like a, like a donut, like a powdered sugar donut. Yeah. It's so funny as well, because like, you know, you're this wonderful educational resource and it's an opportunity for people to learn about ways to make life easier for blind people. They how can I help you if I see someone struggling?

40:34Tommy Edison:But no, they decided that they wanted to know that's the burning question. That's what's important to them, is how you know when to stop wiping. That's brilliant, isn't it? I think it says something about the nature of the internet. Yeah, well, it's that classic thing, isn't it? It's like you could show, take some historical figure, take Thomas Jefferson and show him the internet. And he'd be like, wow, so you have this this device in your pocket where you can learn about every single discipline and you can teach yourself latin and greek and you can do it for free from your bit and you're like yeah and we just use it to like you know send memes to each other and uh and and like waste our time you know but that that's that's how it is but i think people find your videos entertaining and uh engaging for that reason because you're willing to answer the stuff that's besides just being like useful or whatever it's also interesting like the life that you live is is interesting to many people because there are ways in which they won't have thought uh wouldn't have thought about that that you have to live in in totally different ways are there any other like sort of unexpected things which come up in your daily life which when you tell people about they go oh of course yeah i hadn't thought about that one of the questions that gets asked a lot is so if i go out for example in the evening right i go out for dinner or something like that by myself yeah someone will invariably ask how'd you get here what did you drive i go no yeah right oh of course you did of course i feel so stupid excuse me yeah yeah yeah but it makes you laugh every time yeah i i guess there are some some more more obvious questions than others right but like i do do you think do people um do people just i i you make a youtube channel where people are commenting all the time but people just like in your real life just like in the street in a bar or something do they just feel they have the right to ask you questions about blindness just because you're blind and is that kind of annoying not at all no i love it i because again i mean i'm sort of an educator um in a sense because there's not a lot of people that are blind since birth.

42:44There's a lot of people that are losing their sight due to things like retinitis pigmentosa and other degenerative diseases. But somebody who's blind since birth is a real, people are fascinated by it. How do you get around? How do you navigate life? How do you get dressed in the morning? You're always so well put together. I'm like, I don't know. I just sort of pick up my clothes and fix my hair, and off I go.

43:11Tommy Edison:Yeah. Some people might even ask, like, you know, like, why get dressed in the morning? Like, when you get dressed to go outside, is it because, I mean, I was thinking about this, again, like, when I've been, anytime I'm about to speak to someone interesting, everything I'm doing in my life just, it raises questions about whatever I'm about to talk to someone about. And I remember thinking to myself, like when it came to sort of getting dressed, I thought if I were blind and blind from birth, you know, like there's this classic thing where if you live in a house and you're getting changed and you can't be bothered to close the curtains.

43:46Tommy Edison:So, you know, my neighbors have probably seen me naked and it's like, oh, that would be really embarrassing if they saw me. And it suddenly struck me like, is that something that you would care about? Like, would you be like embarrassed by nakedness to even understand like why that would make a difference or be a problem? Like, you know, if somebody said, hey, man, like, you know, I can I can see you in the shower or something. Would you just be like, oh, I reckon I'm told that something which societally is not supposed to go down? Or would you feel a kind of embarrassment? You know what I mean?

44:17Oh, yeah, I'd definitely be embarrassed. I would I'd be mortified because nobody else is walking around naked. So, you know, I'm going to wear clothes just like everybody else. And, you know, I'm no, you know, I'm, I'm no Adonis. You know what I mean? I'm not, you know, I mean, I look good. You know, I look nice, but I, you know, I don't think I want to be naked for the world. So yeah, I keep the curtains closed and stuff. I'm always very concerned about that because I don't want to, you know, I always keep the curtains of my house closed because I don't want people looking in. I don't want you to see what I do.

44:52That's not for you. That's for me.

44:53Tommy Edison:Yeah. This is my house. So what's your concept of terms like beautiful and ugly as pertains to objects, as pertains to houses? Would you walk into a room and say this is a beautiful room based on the way that you experience the room? And then, of course, people as well. When people say that person's beautiful or that person's ugly, does that mean anything to you? well yeah so well let's start with the the walking into a place so i bought a house in 2002 um and i walked into this place and i went just in my mind i didn't tell the realtor i didn't tell anybody but i was just like oh this feels great i like the way this place feels i didn't know anything about it i didn't really know much about it but there was a connection um this house too i walked into this house and there was a connection um yeah and it's just so that's great but as far as people being beautiful and ugly and stuff i think it's more about um their personality and sort of i always talk about it's what's in your heart and what comes out of your mouth that make you beautiful or ugly right it's the words you say it's a it's the feeling that you have it's um you know sort of your thought process all that kind of stuff you know the rest of it's all bonus but you know if you have a beautiful soul that'll come out every time you talk it just does yeah and so yeah that's how i like to judge people on what they say and how they say it yeah i i think that that makes sense to people i i when somebody says um you know somebody looks beautiful or looks ugly or something like that like in a story or in a in a book or something is that as like confusing a concept of something like color is that also like a sort of i just have no idea what they're talking about or is it more like graspable by analogy like Do you understand what it would be like for someone to be attracted to a beautiful person or something like that?

46:51Tommy Edison:Or is that one of those things that you're like, I don't really know what that means? This episode is brought to you by Palmolive. Family time isn't just the big moments. It's weeknight dinners, sitting around the table, everyone talking all at once. So when the plates are empty and the sink is full, use Palmolive Ultra. Palmolive's most powerful formula removes up to 99.9 % of grease, leaving your dishes sparkling clean. And the new convenient pump makes cleaning even easier, so you can spend less time tackling dishes and more time together. Shop now at palmolive.com. Send Help is now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.

47:29We're somewhere in the Gulf of Highland. Getting us out of here should be your focus. I'm your boss. You work for me. We're not in the office anymore. It's bold, relentless, and endlessly rewatchable. Discover why critics give it 93 % on Rotten Tomatoes. You're so fired. Oh, am I? No help is coming. Send help. Rated R. Now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+. Oh, no. I get why sad people are attracted to somebody beautiful because they like looking at them, and they think that this person's got to be interesting to talk to because they're so beautiful. But those two don't normally run hand in hand.

48:09I don't know if they... I shouldn't say normally because I don't know that for, you know, but, you know, you can be a beautiful person and be ugly at the same time because you're just, you know, a horrible person. Yeah. You know, you can have all the looks in the world and just be awful. And conversely, you could be hideous and be the most lovely person in the world. So, you know, that whole beauty thing is it is in the eye of the beholder and it's also in the ear of the beholder.

48:34Tommy Edison:Yeah. Yeah, that's fair enough. Beauty is in the ear of the beholder, I suppose. Yeah. I was hoping I could ask you a little bit about accessibility in that we've spoken a bit about how you might go about using a phone and how things used to be back in the 80s. But are there any areas at the moment that you think are particularly lacking? In particular, areas that you think could maybe be relatively easily fixed if enough people put some attention into it? Or maybe some things that people haven't really thought about that might need fixing? one of the things that I struggle with a lot is buying an airplane ticket online.

49:15Um, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep. It's cause sometimes it might be unmarked buttons or I remember I bought, I was trying to buy a ticket a couple of years ago now. Um, but I had the whole thing done except for one little button that I, that I forgot to click. And so I needed some help and I, you know, asked him like, Oh yeah, you forgot to click this one over here. And I was like, you know, I saw that and just never touched it. Um, you know, So that's a little bit tricky. That's one of the hardest parts for me. And sometimes people's websites aren't very accessible because, again, they have unmarked buttons and things like that.

49:49You know, some apps, too. Yeah. So, you know, and I just think if people were more aware that there are people that are using this thing that can't see, it would be more helpful. Yeah. But for the most part, it's working really well. But there are a couple of little sort of bumps in the road, if you will.

50:11Tommy Edison:Yeah. How has it changed in your lifetime? I mean, technology is one thing, right? Like, I think it's easy enough to understand how, you know, a phone or a computer might be better or worse, depending on whether buttons are labeled and stuff. But like out there in the real world, so to speak, in terms of like crossing the road, like the bumps on the street before you cross the road or like going into a train station and there being like a like a guide for blind people on the floor, that kind of stuff. Like how has that changed throughout your lifetime? Yeah, well, I remember the days when there were no bumps on the platform.

50:48Tommy Edison:Right. There was no that stuff. and you know i generally don't really need that you know because i know where the edge of the platform is and i have a cane with me and i'm not gonna walk over um but um you know i like the bumps on the street those are good to get you right to the crosswalk and stuff um but it's up to me to sort of do it as straight as i can and i always just sort of run my way across the streets as quickly as possible because i'm always nervous but um yeah but accessibility you know like hotels are really good because everything's labeled in a hotel you know office buildings too there's a lot of labels on the doors and stuff so i can find my way around um yeah you know so all that stuff kind of works and it's but yeah it's it's just nice to have those extras i guess is what i'm trying to say i like having the extra things like the bumps um yeah you know because then i know if i hit the bumps on the other side i did a pretty good crossing i made all the way through you know yeah is it almost exact is it difficult in an open space to walk in a straight line uh like if you're using a cane can you can you use that to help you walk in a straight line or is it a bit of a guessing game if the space is open and flat it's a it's more of a guessing game if it's open in front i do my best um we did a competition a few years ago with another blind person.

52:12Really? Yeah. I lost.

52:18But it was interesting. But I don't, you know, I think I'm walking straight, but I don't know. So it's, on the street, it's nice because I can hear the parallel traffic. So I know I don't want to go that way. I want to keep to the other, to the side I'm trying to cross and stay away from the noise. Yeah.

52:37Tommy Edison:You know, one thing I heard you talk about at some point which i'd never considered is as vehicles become electric like electric cars they don't make noise which for many people is like a really good thing because you know the streets are quieter and all but presumably for you that's kind of dangerous yeah it's i don't like them it's it's too quiet i i was standing next to a car one time and all of a sudden it just moved i was a woohoo that freaked me out because you know normally you'd hear an engine on or something, right? But there's no noise. All of a sudden this thing just starts moving. Yeah.

53:11So they make a little bit of noise on the street, but I prefer the combustion engine. Thank you very much. It's good and noisy and you can smell it too. And I just like the sound of a car. I like that of a big V8 engine, right? For example, a big rumbly V8.

53:32Tommy Edison:It sounds great. people will think that you know self-driving cars are becoming a thing now um and as far as i presumably i understand at the moment that to have a self-driving car you still have to be yourself like in the car so you can take over if need be or whatever but i can kind of envision a day probably not that far in the future where you you could just own your own car and it could just be feeding back to you your own music and and you're sort of getting from a to b by by yourself are you optimistic about that happening in the future no no no i don't trust it oh so you wouldn't even if it were possible you wouldn't you wouldn't want to no sir no sir no i see right no yeah that's fair enough one of me yeah i don't yeah it scares me people get in those waymo cars in vegas all the time and they love it i'm like not me baby i don't i don't want any part of this thank you very much yeah it's kind of it's interesting because i mean i i've never been a Waymo car I've seen them all over the place I kind of want to because I think it would be interesting but it's weird it's like it's kind of like how people are scared of flying even though flying is way safer than driving a car people are far more afraid of flying and they think it's got to do with the fact that you're not in control it's like exactly even but even though that's the feeling that you have like it is it is on paper it is safer to be driven around by by a Waymo car by a self-driving car than another human being, but you just feel more comfortable if there's another person in the car, presumably.

55:05I do. And I just do. Maybe I'm a little nuts, but I just want that human, I get human error and all the things that could happen, but I still feel more comfortable with a human that's able to react to things. And those Waymo cars, you'll see them driving around in circles sometimes and they just get stuck.

55:28Tommy Edison:hmm so yeah i i must try one out at some point maybe i can maybe i can get him on and listen to goodfellas on some long journey or something see how i get on i am oh you're fantastic well that was so are you so are you i i wanted to ask about i i i saw a video once of you uh like going to the airport and showing people what it's like to navigate the terminal and stuff as a blind person and occasionally say well you know people always like to help like if i'm getting off of a train or if i need direction somewhere people are people are always willing to give me a hand and yet i think at the same time people are always worried about um essentially like patronizing somebody by by trying to be helpful where it's not wanted like where do you think is the line between help and you know like condescension and and being patronizing and how can people in those situations where they see a blind person who might look like they kind of need help how can they approach that without just kind of annoying somebody especially if like they get it a lot and and i can kind of annoy i can kind of imagine somebody coming over and you being like look i'm fine like leave me alone you know how can people avoid that well one of the things that happens at the airport that i find patronizing is that they want to put me in a wheelchair because they think it's easier for yo yeah they always want to put me in a wheelchair all the time and i don't i'm like i have one disability i don't need people to think i've got two um you know and i'm like how do you think i got here i walked all the way you know i've been standing the whole time and now you want to put me in a wheelchair um really is that because they think it would be easier for them because they don't really have to guide you they'll just like push you around yep exactly that's what i think i've no one's ever told me that definitively But I think that's what it is.

57:21And I would much rather walk around inside a guy and just hold on to your elbow and, you know, be like I step behind you so I could feel you turn and go up and down stairs and everything.

57:31Tommy Edison:Yeah. So that's one. But if you're just going to offer help, you know, I can either say thank you or no thank you. You know, if I'm good, I'm like, no, no thanks. I got this. But I appreciate you. Thank you very much. Yeah. You know, I used to be a little short tempered with people when I, you know. they'd offer help and I had to watch myself because I was I don't want to be mean to people I don't want to be rude because right if it's somebody's first time ever dealing with a blind person I'm a jerk to them they're never going to help another blind person as long as they live and I can't do that to my people I can't yeah so you know that's but I'm always yeah so I'm always very polite and just thank you or no thank you I appreciate your help or oh you know I couldn't use a little help.

58:14Would you mind? But the cool thing about, I had to learn how to ask for help. This was tricky for me because I didn't like to, but I realized one day that somebody asked me for directions around my neighborhood and I was able to give them. And it made me feel so good to be able to help them out. And I was like, you know, I'll bet you other people feel this good when they get to help me out. And so that was sort of the thing that got me over the little hump, if you will to yeah you know to be able to ask for help yeah and some people want to do it and others

58:46Tommy Edison:don't and that's fine are there things that people like assume you can't do that you actually can do with relative ease let's see um that's a great question i'm trying to i'm trying there's really not much that i can't do anymore um yeah it's just made me think of like when you're when you're walking around like somebody might sort of i don't know like like somebody might say do you need me to show you to your room and you can be like no no it's all right you know there's braille on the on the on the hotel room doors and oh yeah of course you know that kind that kind of stuff where people kind of assume you'll need help and you're able to be like you know thanks but i actually don't need this at all absolutely yeah and a hotel that's a good one but sometimes you know the hotel you know how hotel floors are you know they can be huge like in a casino for example a resort casino that's a giant so i'll take the help because yeah i could wind up walking around for 10 minutes on the floor feeling every side and my room will be it's always the last one you see so you know i'll take the help and it gives me um you know it gives me a basic idea where my room is from the elevator but then i come up in a different elevator and i'm going oh no what happened yeah so i yeah i do that as well and i can see so i can't imagine what that must be like yeah but i feel like i can do pretty much everything i mean i you know i can't drive i can't catch a ball um you know without you telling me to watch out here comes a ball get my hands up ready to catch um but i can do so much stuff and with technology i've been able to do just so many things people one of the things that people assume is that i want um those new metaglasses but i really don't right i don't really care for those that's for somebody who's i think that's for somebody who's gone blind later in life they would be really helpful for somebody like that but for me i don't i really it doesn't do much for me yeah i use my other senses to get around the world yeah yeah yeah oh you mean like as an accessibility tool like right exactly right right right yeah yeah okay that that makes that makes sense i think um i don't know i think people i i you said before we started like about how that like you felt the need to tell me that it's okay to ask about this this kind of stuff there's a kind of general hesitation and reticence around asking people about things which are which is so personal um do you think that people should be less like careful and nervous in that way or is it just like because maybe it's just you like you're you've chosen to do this you are an educator you've decided to put yourself out there um so you don't mind that but should people retain that kind of carefulness and nervousness do you think around around other people i don't think so no i think that we should i feel like we've almost been afraid or may i feel like we've almost been made to be afraid to use particular words.

1:01:55People don't like to call me a blind person. They just don't like it. But it's what I've always been. Ever since I was a little kid, I've always been a blind person. Now, the thing that was hard for me was acceptance because I hid from it forever. I did not like being a blind person. I didn't like to say the word. I couldn't stand saying it because I hated to be different. But, you know, it's into, you know, it took years and years, but I finally accepted it. I'm finally very comfortable in my own skin. I love being a blind person. I don't want to be anything else. Um, and like, I, I just love it.

1:02:32I, I love being a blind person cause that's what I am. And I love myself. You know, I'm not embarrassed by it. I'm not it. I used to be, I was horrified by it, but no more. No more.

1:02:45Tommy Edison:That's great. And I think people, when I watch your content online, one of the comments, you must notice this too, that comes up most frequently, it doesn't matter what the video is about, but people always comment on how happy you are and how happy you seem. And not just on the level of like you report that you're content and you say like, yeah, I'm happy with my life. Just something about like your energy and like the way that you talk, the humor, the laughter. It just seems like you, at least in those moments of filming, when you feel up for getting on camera and talking about something, you just seem sort of filled with joy.

1:03:26Tommy Edison:And from the sounds of it, that hasn't always been the case. but like i think it's i think it's really nice and i think it rubs off on people and like like do you agree with the assessment do you think that you are a sort of um exceptionally happy person and if so what's your what's your secret man chronic migraine is 15 or more headache days a month each lasting four hours or more botox on a botulinum toxin a prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine before they start it's not for those with 14 or fewer headache days a month. It prevents on average eight to nine headache days a month versus six to seven for placebo.

1:04:01Prescription Botox is injected by your doctor. Effects of Botox may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness can be signs of a life-threatening condition. Patients with these conditions before injection are at highest risk. Side effects may include allergic reactions, neck and injection site pain, fatigue, and headache. Allergic reactions can include rash, welts, asthma symptoms, and dizziness. Don't receive Botox if there's a skin infection. Tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, including ALS Lou Gehrig's disease, myasthenia gravis or Lambert-Eaton syndrome, and medications, including botulinum toxins, as these may increase the risk of serious side effects.

1:04:37Why wait? Ask your doctor, visit BotoxChronicMigraine.com, or call 1-800-44-BOTOX to learn more. This episode is brought to you by Redfin. You're listening to a podcast, which means you're probably multitasking. Maybe even scrolling home listings on Redfin. Saving homes without expecting to get them. But Redfin isn't just built for endless browsing. It's built to help you find and own a home. With agents who close twice as many deals, when you find the one, you've got a real shot at getting it. Get started at Redfin.com. Own the dream. Well, I guess I'm an exceptionally happy person. I don't know.

1:05:17I enjoy having fun. I enjoy life. I enjoy being alive. I enjoy people. A friend of mine said it one time, and this is about the best way to describe it, choose joy. There's joy all around you, and all you have to do is choose it. Because there literally is joy everywhere you turn, everywhere. It could be just in the sunshine outside. It could be a song. It could be a photo. It could be anything that just gives you joy, and you just choose that joy and be with it. and i yeah i don't know that's that's how i like to live because who wants to be around somebody who's grouchy you know and all sort of uh surly and nobody wants to be around that

1:05:59Tommy Edison:yeah i think i think it's inspirational to people just because i think even just outside of the work you do like no matter what your job was or what kind of person you were just anybody in any line of work who is so consistently happy and uplifting and humorous as you are, I think just inspires people like just for their own selves to remember that, yeah, like you can just be happy. I mean, life is hard for a lot of people and you don't have a choice in many things, but where that choice is available, even just to find a bit of joy in the things that are presenting themselves to you, you know, that option's on the table and I think it's inspirational.

1:06:39Tommy Edison:So I think people are very grateful for the example that you set and and also for yeah like being like the go-to guy online for for learning about what it's like to be blind i mean do you often hear from blind people uh i presumably they don't watch your content in the sense that they don't really need to know what it's like to be blind but they might watch out of interest in in how you're explaining it to other people and do you hear from a lot of blind people like do they do they send you emails and thank you for your work or tell you, hey, you should cut that out or you should stop saying this or you should say this or try this?

1:07:14Not too much of that, honestly. I hear from some blind creators, but the thing that I hear that really that melts my heart is to hear from a mom or a dad who says, listen, we have a blind child who's two, three years old and we had no idea what their life was going to be like until we saw your stuff. And now we feel good. And that just, that touches me. I love that. because, you know, when, when I was a kid, my mom used to listen to like Jose Feliciano. He would be on the tonight show all the time with Johnny Carson and he was a successful blind person. And that made my mother feel good. And I actually got to meet him once and told him that I was like, you know what?

1:07:52I just want to let you know that my mom, you know, looked up to you and you were an inspiration to her with her blind son and everything. And he appreciated that. But there was, but that's the thing that I, I just, I just love that. It's very, it's lovely. It's very

1:08:06Tommy Edison:sweet yeah that's awesome man well look i i really appreciate you taking the time tommy i'm gonna make sure that your channel is linked down in the description you like as i say it's all kinds of questions that you've answered for for like over a decade now um all the little particularities you wouldn't even think to ask you you take them on with with grace and curiosity and humor and it's and it's always good fun so i'll put that in the description for people to to check out but thank you so much for your time i thought this would be interesting and i was right you're very kind thank you so much for having me it's wonderful to be here um you know and like i said you know you have all these great thinkers on your show and then me so but well you know like next to hitchens and people like that you know yeah well i think you're um i think you you bring a perspective man and and the my favorite episodes that i do i think are because there are people who are smart and there are people who are who are well read and people who are experts in their field and stuff and that's great but it often doesn't do much for people unless they've got a particular angle a particular perspective a particular sort of way of approaching the subject matter and when it comes to this kind of stuff like you've got one of the most unique perspectives in the world and i think it's it's just interesting alone for that reason even if you were a sort of grumpy, humorless, you know, guy, it would still be interesting to talk to you.

1:09:32Tommy Edison:So given that you're neither of those things, and you're actually really fun to talk to, no matter what the subject is, I think it's hopefully going to be enjoyable for people. So thank you for your time. And yeah, I hope people enjoy this. It's something a little bit different. Well, it's lovely to be here. Thank you again so much for having me. I appreciate you.