Sayyida Victoria Hilliard was going about her day like any other when suddenly, her eyesight was gone. Joseph Fleeks was 16 years old, and an up-and-comer star athlete when he was shot in the face, and blinded. The condition which stole Sy's eyesight causes paralysis in others some times. Sy, Joseph and I had an intriguing conversation: What would …

Ed Davis' Famous Chili and Fa' Shandra Howard's Delicious Baked Pork Chops and Smothered Potatoes...Those are the recipes on this edition of The Cooking Without Looking TV Show Blind United Edition. Hosts Allen Preston and Annette Watkins introduce us to Ed Davis, President of Blind United, and organization whose motto is what the group stands for:…

Cooking Without Looking TV Show host Allen Preston welcomes Thierry Rentmeesters all the way from Belgium to make his mom's Belgian Beef Stew. Chad Bartelt is preparing a super delicious, extra-special Mother's Day Brunch Scramble! #ChangingTheWayWeSeeBlindness The Cooking Without Looking TV Show jingle is composed and performed by the Sing for Ser…

If you've wanted to learn more about air fryer cooking, this is the show for you! Cooking Without Looking Host Allen Preston and Guest Host Sylvia Stinson-Perez welcome Flo Walsh and Dave Carragher as the give us the lowdown on using the air fryer if you are blind or visually impaired or even if you're sighted! Flo prepares her Jamaican Jerk Sweet …

Let's try Dinner and a Dessert! Cooking Without Looking TV Show hosts Allen Preston and Annette Watkins welcome Jessica Clay as she prepares her Mexican Street Corn Chicken. Then, if you want to cool your palate Annette prepares her vegan Chocolate peanut butter tofu pudding. Everyone on The Cooking Without Looking TV Show is Blind/Visually Impaire…

Chef Debra Erickson and Chef Earl Frederick create the Poached Shrimp in Orange Juice, Ginger and Sauternes. Chef Debra is legally blind; Chef Earl is not. Chef Debra prepares it first. Chef Earl dons a blindfold, and creates the same recipe. Who wins? Watch now! #ChangingTheWayWeSeeBlindness. For more information, please call 305.200.9104. For thi…

Do you want to make an elegant, but easy dinner for friends and loved ones? Philip and Mary Sotelo, a blind couple from the Two Blind Mice Show will show us how to make Stuffed Chicken Cordon Bleu. Cooking Without Looking TV Show host Allen Preston and Guest Host Jessica Clay discuss the recipe with the couple, as well as the work of Philip and Mar…

Cooking Without Looking TV Show Happy Hour w/Miss Blind Diva empowerment pageant nominee, Rosalyn Kennedy with Special Guest Goddesst! Miss Blind Diva Empowerment registration is open August 1 through September 1, 2024. Register at www.myblindisbeautiful.com or 863-944-2007.By cookingwithoutlooking

"I enjoy being blind," says Philip Sotelo. "I think I like it better than when I had sight." Both he and his wife, Mary are blind. Their podcast, "Two Blind Mice," showcases everything that is available to people who are blind. "Once you seek out what is available to help you live an independent life, you realize that these programs are free," says…

Maryann Grignon has been through a lot of changes recently...and, she's totally blind. Her advice is to gain as many skills as possible so you can maneuver challenging times without losing yourself. #ChangingTheWayWeSeeBlindness Maryann's Healthier Banana Nut Chocolate Chip Muffins will leave you wanting more while staying guilt-free! You can find …

Chico Jackson had a hard time accepting that his retinitis pigmentosa. was taking his sight. He continued to drive, and even devised ways to live with his blurry eyesight. In his words, he was, 'hard-headed'. But, after attending the Louisiana School for the Blind, he was trained to live with his blindness. "You have to understand your purpose, and…

Don't be afraid of trying something. If you want to do something, nothing can get in your way. Those are the words of Chad Bartelt, someone who has been losing his sight progressively since he was young. He graduated college with textbooks that were read and recorded on tape. He worked in the business world for Fortune 500 companies until a physica…

Lea Cazares started cooking when she was 10 years old. She has always loved cooking. In fact, she loves cooking so much that she makes three Thanksgiving meals...one to test new recipes with friends; one which is the official meal; and one afterward because Thanksgiving was so much fun! Lea was born sighted but went completely blind at 8. She went …

Casey Scoffield came in second in a chili cook-off. He is sharing his award-winning recipe with us, and you can find it on our website at www.cookingwithoutlookingtv.wordpress.com Casey is visually impaired and only has light perception in one eye. He tells us to never let our fears hold us back because we will never reach our dreams. #ChangingTheW…

Live your life as comfortable as possible. Those are the words of Bill Boules, and that is the advice he is giving anyone who has just found out that they are going blind. "Try new things...step out of your comfort zone," says Bill. Bill progressively went blind beginning when he was a child. Now, he heads up the Rehab Department for the VA. #Chang…

Shawn Keen asked his open AI to create a recipe that no one had ever prepared before. It gave him a chocolate chip cookie recipe with...rosemary! Shawn is a professional blind tech with glaucoma who lost all of his vision when he was 20. He says that AI can be very helpful including creating a low carb meal plan for a week, a month or a year...what…

Kathy Peterson and her husband have been married nearly 49 years. But, after being diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, and going blind, she realized that they started as one relationship, and as her sight declined, it became another relationship. #ChangingTheWayWeSeeBlindness Check out the recipe for her hearty ham and bean soup on our website www…

Jessica Clay wasn't born blind. She went blind slowly after suffering a bout with diabetic retinopathy. Jessica's advice is don't be ashamed of being blind. Don't let it define you. Give yourself a break. You're human. #ChangingTheWayWeSeeBlindness Jessica shares her Cheddar Garlic Buttermilk Biscuit recipe along with some special tips if you are b…

How do you explain blue to a child who's never seen the sky? That's the question Erica Sanchez Kress poses as a visually impaired person. Erica lived the first half of her life sighted, and when she graduated from college, she began losing her sight. In the beginning, she had what she calls, "white cane shame", and hid her cane in her closet. She h…

Go for it!!! That's the advice of Jordan Thomas, owner of the Twisted Tomato in Delray Beach, Florida. A former firefighter, Jordan is blind, only seeing light or darkness. He said that after he became blind, he realized he wanted to do something different, and remembered that what he had really enjoyed was working in his family's restaurants when …

Where were you on 9/11? Michael Hingson was on the 78th floor of the World Trade Center. Blind since birth, Michael took control of his panicked co-workers, and, with the help of his guide dog, Roselle, led his frightened friends down 78 flights of stairs through fire, smoke and debris. He became an international hero. One of the main lessons he le…

Sex for a person who is blind is different because, "We touch instead of see. We feel what we're doing," says Blind Canadian Podcaster Victor Gouveia. "We feel our partner's pleasure." Within days of getting married, Victor went blind from diabetic retinopathy. Then, within a couple of months, his daughter was born. A brief flash of light allowed h…

Mark Cadigan and Tanja Milojevic were in the same car, just going in different directions yet they ended up together. Mark and Tanja have been together for five years. They are both blind. Together, they have created getbraille.com to make the world more accessible for people who are blind/visually impaired. As they say, most companies want their m…

One night after Tara's friends were partying, they asked her if she wanted to go to get something to eat. She said sure, but, when they handed her the keys, she reminded them that she was blind. "I don't want to be treated like I'm blind," Tara said. "My parents told me if you want something, you have to work for it. You can cry but then you have t…

When Micah Ranquist was a toddler, his mom noticed he was doing strange things like running into the wall, and taking corners. Doctors told her that Micah was just trying to get attention. But that wasn't it. It would be first when Micah was in his 20's that he would get the correct diagnosis: Retinitis Pigmentosa. #ChangingTheWayWeSeeBlindness Mic…

Living with a disability develops strengths that you didn't know you have. Resilience. Grit. Creativity. That's what Dr. Kirk Adams says about his blindness. As Managing Director of his own business, Innovative Impact, he helps private business owners hire the perfect workforce made up of people with disabilities. "Living in a world not designed fo…

Kyle Laconsay of Hawaii starting losing her eyesight in her mid '30's. She had several operations and one worked so she still has some sight in her left eye. Her philosophy about blind ness is this: Do what you love, only do it differently! #ChangingTheWayWeSeeBlindness You can find the recipe for Kyle's Merry Berry Crumble at our website www.cooki…

Annie Obasih was going blind since birth, but it was when she was about 26 when she was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa (RP). She was worried that she wouldn't be able to support her children if she lost her job because of her visual impairment. But, after holding major jobs with New York, she retired and started her journey to creating, "Annie…

Ne' Vaeh Brooks has been visually impaired since birth. But she has never let that get in the way of her artistic abilities. "We are more capable than people give us credit for," says Ne' Vaeh. She is taking art therapy classes, and would like to be an art therapist one day, and own her own business. #ChangingTheWayWeSeeBlindness If you want to try…

Cazerny Bussey was sighted until he was 15 years old, when he had an operation on his retina, and he went blind. "Blindness gave me vision to see the rest of the world," he says. Cazerny is an up-and-coming professional singer, and entrepreneur who sang at his graduation where Tony Bennett shook his hand. #ChangingTheWayWeSeeBlindness Cazerny share…

Chef Christine Ha started her life sighted. But when she was in her 20's, her sight started to become blurry. She was misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and even became taking the medication for it, until she found the right doctor who diagnosed her with Neuromyelitis optica, in which a person's own immune system attacks the optic nerves and spi…

Jenny Davis looked up in the nighttime skies, and saw stars for the first time in several years. It brought her to tears. Jenny is on the beginning journey of retinitis pigmentosa and it's rare that someone with RP can see the stars in the darkness. Sometimes she feels confident. Sometimes she feels vulnerable. A doctor told her the best thing she …

Tricia Waechter had been going blind from Retinitis Pigmentosa. She was in the fashion merchandising business and was traveling around the world. But, at one point when she was going into a meeting with her white cane, her colleague stopped her because of how he thought the clients would think. That angered her to the point of starting her own busi…

Mike Smith's parents treated him like a sighted person, even though he's been blind since birth. They wanted him to know that he could do everything, just in a different way. Fast-forward to today, Mike is in a program which helps him own a restaurant, and make money as an entrepreneur. #ChangingTheWayWeSeeBlindness His beef tips and gravy has a sp…

When Lynn McLellan began going blind with Retinitis Pigmentosa, she became angry and sad. But her advice to others going through the same thing is to accept help from others. Lynn also shares her Moroccan Roasted Vegetable recipe which can be found on our website at www.cookingwithoutlookingtv.wordpress.com . #ChangingTheWayWeSeeBlindness For more …

Katherine Chavez became totally blind in the third grade after childhood cancer. But, she never let that hold her back. She's a graduate of Arizona State University, a wife and a mother of a 15-month-old. Katherine teaches people what living a life with blindness is like on her Tik-Tok account and YouTube channel. #ChangingTheWayWeSeeBlindness Go t…

Aryianna Wyatt loves to help people...and she LOVES to cook! Totally blind after a bout with cancer as a baby, Aryianna has chosen to go into the mental health field for personal reasons which she shares. She also shares how she makes her Chicken Alfredo from scratch. #ChangingTheWayWeSeeBlindness For more information, please call 305.200.9104. Ple…

Amanda Davis doesn't like to "babysit her food." She's found ingenious ways to cook and bake safely and quickly without standing by her food watching it cook. She has better things to do. She has 4 daughters, three of them teen-agers...well, who give her a challenge. She's also been blind since shortly after birth. #ChangingTheWayWeSeeBlindness You…

For her whole life, Jessica Alessio has worked with people with multiple disabilities. But, Jessica, who is not Blind/Visually Impaired, now teaches accessible technology, Braille, and Orientation and Mobility to name just a few. We take a deep dive into how a person who is Blind learns orientation and mobility to travel through traffic utilizing t…

Finding out that she was losing her eye sight first gave Naomi Panarella pause about what her future held. But, as she accepted it, she realized that losing her eye sight was actually a freeing experience. "I live as much as I can while I still have some sight," Naomi says. In November, she's going surfing in Costa Rica. Naomi has been named, "Miss…

When Melissa Reyna gave birth, the nurses wouldn't bring her daughter to her unless there was another person in the room. When she asked, why, they told her because she couldn't see. That really jump-started Melissa's urge to advocate for herself, and others with visual impairments or blindness. She now has created a business teaching other blind/v…

A motorcycle accident shattered Ed Davis' face, his eyesight, but not his life. After going through a depression from not helping his family when he lost his eyesight, Ed decided to do something about it. He sought help from a blind organization in Los Angeles, where he met other people who were blind, and he realized it wasn't as bad as he thought…

"I would be terrified if I woke up tomorrow with sight." Those are the words of Blind British Paralympian, Lora Fachie, who hales from Manchester, England, and has been a bicyclist in the Paralympics for the past 13 years. She's a proud paralympian, and prefers to keep the Paralympics and the Olympics separate. #ChangingTheWayWeSeeBlindness To rela…

When Francis Ford Coppola asked Hoby Wedler to create a very special wine tasting in his vineyards...Tasting in the Dark, the former chemist teacher jumped at the idea. He developed delightful tastings for guest so they were not distracted by eyesight. This was a very unique way of experiencing the world in the same way Hoby experiences the world..…

One day, Chad Bouton and his mom went to the store. She parked in a handicapped spot, Chad grabbed ahold of her arm, and they walked into the store. When they came out, there was a note on her car which said she should be ashamed of herself for having her son pretend to be disabled to get that parking space. "What does a blind person look like?" Ch…

When Brianna Scerenscko turned 21, her parents made good on their promise to take her to Las Vegas. So, when her dad took her to the bar, the bartender didn't want to give her a drink because she couldn't make eye contact which to him meant that she was drunk. When she said she would never be able to make eye contact because she was blind, he apolo…

Stay patient. Stay focused on your dreams. Those are the words of Kimberly Bonnette, M.A.; Senior Human Services Program Manager; Instructional Supervisor; Rehabilitation Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired; Florida Division of Blind Services. Ms. Bonnette's vast experience helps the Blind/Visually Impaired people who come to the Daytona Bea…

You might be afraid, but you will get through it! Those are the words of Shamara McCall from the Florida Division of Blind Services Rehabilitation Center in Daytona Beach, FL. Shamara is visually impaired from diabetic retinopathy. She says it's ok to allow yourself a small pity party, but then move on right through it! And, preparing her Fabulous …

Winona Brackett is an "old" friend of The Cooking Without Looking TV Show. She was with us on one of our first shows when she was only 9 years old. Winona was born blind. She wants parents of blind children to keep a positive attitude on blindness. She also reminds parents that their blind child is still a kid, and wants to play with their friends.…

Kimberly Strain is a Home Management Instructor with the Florida Division of Blind Services Rehabilitation Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Daytona Beach, FL. Kimberly was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa at the age of two, and tells us how to prepare her Ohh-La La French Onion Soup. "If you are newly blind, just get out there and g…