Episode 317 – Unstoppable Safety Positive Leader with Amy SP Wilson

While participating at the National Federation of the Blind National convention this year with my colleague and friend, Sheldon Lewis who also is a former guest here on Unstoppable Mindset, we had the opportunity to meet Amy SP Wilson. Amy is the founder and leader of the Safety Positive Foundation. Amy began losing her eyesight at the age of ten years old due to a condition known as Stargardt's. this disease can best be described as macular Degeneration in juveniles. If you want to know more about Stargardt's just listen into my conversation with Amy.

Amy has always been quite interested in personal safety. She also has been quite a physical person starting with wrestling with her cousins to later becoming the first female wrestler at the Missouri School for the Blind to later becoming part of the inaugural women's Judo team of the United States Association of Blind Athletes.

Amy went on to college where she obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. After a time and some life challenges Amy will tell us about she decided to go back to college to obtain a second Bachelor’s degree in Social Work. She decided to get this second degree because she wanted to help persons with disabilities in the United States.

In 2023 Amy founded Safety Positive Foundation to teach blind persons about self defense. Her approach is by no means all about being physical. She will talk with us about self awareness and self advocacy, two aspects she feels must be part of the psyche of everyone who wishes to take charge of their own life.

About the Guest:

ael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us. Well, hi everyone. I am your host, Mike hingson, and welcome to another episode of unstoppable mindset where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. And the reason it's worded that way people still ask me why I say that. The reason it's worded that way is that when we talk to diversity people, they'll talk about race, gender, sexual orientation and so on, and they never talk about disabilities. So unfortunately, the ship has mostly sailed when it comes to including disabilities in diversity, no matter what they say. So we won't let them do that with inclusion, which means it's inclusion diversity and the unexpected. And today we get to deal with a lot of all of that. The unexpected is anything that doesn't have anything to do with inclusion or diversity. But today, we do get to talk about inclusion a lot in some esoteric and maybe not so esoteric ways. Our guest today is Amy SP Wilson, and I just discovered, as Amy showed me, if you were to ask your smart speaker, like my Amazon Echo, who is Amy SP Wilson, it will tell you that she is the CEO of the positive safety positive foundation. We're going to talk more about that, so we'll get there anyway. Amy, welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're glad you're here. Wonderful.   Amy SP Wilson ** 02:45 Thank you for having me. It's an honor and a privilege, and   Michael Hingson ** 02:49 it's nice to know that the echo knows your name.   Amy SP Wilson ** 02:53 Yeah, I'm still kind of flabbergasted that that's a thing, but definitely gives you some street cred, I guess.   Michael Hingson ** 03:02 Yeah, it probably means that there, there aren't, well, there certainly aren't very many. Amy SP Wilson, so that works, yes, well, why don't we start the way I kind of really love to. Why don't you tell us, sort of about the early Amy growing up and some of that sort of stuff.   Amy SP Wilson ** 03:21 So in my younger years, I was born and raised in the state of Missouri, and have what I consider a biker family. We did a lot of traveling on motorcycles. I was riding my own dirt bike at the age of four, and so really tomboy at at heart, but loved, you know, wrestling and fighting with the cousins. And at the age of 10 is when I was diagnosed with star guards, and that put me on a different path, because at the age of 10, my dream was to be a motorcycle mechanic and join the Navy. And at the time, I did not have any expectations that a blind person could do either. So it really put me on a different trajectory of what I thought my life was going to going to be like, and I, of course, went on with school and and that sort of business, but I loved wrestling so much that I became the Missouri School for the blinds First Lady wrestler. And that led me into being part of the United States Association of Blind Athletes, where I was on the first women's judo team that they had, and so just got real passionate about personal safety and different ways. But due to my eye condition, I couldn't take hits to the head, and so there went my martial arts career this. I'll just say, or so I thought, and led me into going to college and get my my first bachelor's degree in psychology and and so on. But I I have people tell me that apparently I have been pioneering new things my whole life. And when I have to talk about myself and talk about I was the first to do this and first to do that, yeah, it's a very sobering reminder of those steps that I've make it in my life. Right?   Michael Hingson ** 05:35 Reading your bio, it says that because of star guard, you weren't at some at one point, able to continue kind of dealing with martial arts. What did star guard specifically have to do with that?   Amy SP Wilson ** 05:47 So it it affects my retina, and I noticed the more hits that I was taking to the head and, you know, being thrown I was having more cloudy spots in my vision, and when I stopped doing those things, it, it, you know, significantly reduced the amount of things I wasn't able to to see. And so that's, that's how that played into that well,   Michael Hingson ** 06:19 tell me a little bit about what star guards is. I'm not sure that everyone listening or watching will be familiar with   Amy SP Wilson ** 06:26 it, correct? Yes. So star guards is a juvenile form of macular degeneration. So you hear of, you know, your grandparents, or you know, maybe you're a person of experience, as I like to say, in your in your later years. And you know, hear about people getting macular degeneration. I essentially just got macular degeneration at the the age of 10. So little bit of a flip. And of course, again, being a first, I was the first person in my family to have any kind of blindness, low vision, and so it was. It really shook everything   Michael Hingson ** 07:06 is star guards, a genetic kind of situation.   Amy SP Wilson ** 07:12 So I learned that the only way that a person can get star guards is essentially by your parents getting together. It's not a medication defect, which is what they originally told my mother. So she carried a lot of guilt with that. And when I went to get seek a different doctor, he had me do some I guess genetic counseling is what they called it, because I had concerns of my son having it. And they were like, no, no, it doesn't work. And they explained it. I was like, well, that had been helpful in my younger   Michael Hingson ** 07:50 just sort of the right combination of things getting together that brings it on. Exactly. Yeah. Now, where do you live today? I live in the great Show Me State. Ah, so you're still in Missouri? Yes, I've   Amy SP Wilson ** 08:05 moved to a couple other states. I spent a year in Alaska, where my son was born. I lived in Indiana for a little bit. I pass on that, and fortunately, I was able to come back to to Missouri.   Michael Hingson ** 08:20 So we're in Missouri. Are you, uh, close   Amy SP Wilson ** 08:23 to Kansas City area? Okay, about about in that area, but I like to, I like it because I can take the train back and forth between Kansas City and St Louis. So, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 08:34 well, trains are very useful things to have around. I when I lived on the East Coast, would use the train a lot. And of course, going from New Jersey into New York, we had New Jersey Transit and other things that we had a lot of train stuff. But out here, where I live now, there is a train that stops here once, at 430 in the morning. If I want to go to San Francisco, I'm not going to do that on the train, I don't think, because you actually have to go to Los Angeles and then get another train to go to San Francisco, because the train that comes from Los Angeles stops here, and then, I guess, goes east. So, oh, well, one of these days, maybe there'll be more trains and more mass transit, and that'll be a good thing. Exactly.   Amy SP Wilson ** 09:19 I know in Europe, trains are used very heavily, and people that come over here are constantly surprised that we don't have more sufficient trains. And so hopefully, like you said, with time we'll we'll get some more transportation going. There's   Michael Hingson ** 09:36 a big argument and a brouhaha going on out here right now because Los Angeles wants to create a gondola system to go from downtown LA the train station to Dodger Stadium and stop along the way. And there are people who are saying, no, no. Because you're not going to get that many people on it, it's just not going to be worth the cost. So it'll be interesting to see how that all shakes out. I do agree that if you're going to do that, you have to have a lot of people using it, and you have to be able to transport a lot of people. So it will be interesting to see how that works out.   Amy SP Wilson ** 10:22 I can very much agree with that.   Michael Hingson ** 10:25 Oh, life goes on, right? That it does. So you went to, yeah, go ahead. I   Amy SP Wilson ** 10:32 said. We've heard the same debate here in Missouri about different, you know, options for trains. So, yeah, it's always an ongoing conversation.   Michael Hingson ** 10:39 When we first moved to New Jersey, we learned that with the Americans with Disabilities Act, they were finally catching up, if you will, to doing something. And the something where we lived in Westfield was to make the train station accessible and access to the train to be accessible. And what that meant was that they actually had to build a platform and ramps up to the platform so that a person in a chair, for example, like my wife, could transfer straight across and roll onto the train. Because before the platform was raised, the trains have these big, huge, high steps built into them. Each step is like 18 inches tall and you've got three steps to go into the train. Well, you're not going to really do that in a wheelchair. And there was major opposition from people in Westfield to putting in the ramps, putting in the platforms, because they said, well, but this is going to slow us down if we have to go up the ramps and can't just run to the train and jump on the train. Why don't you just have somebody at every station who will lift people in wheelchairs onto trains? Yeah, that's gonna really work, right?   Amy SP Wilson ** 11:50 Yeah, that's not, not feasible,   Michael Hingson ** 11:54 no. And it didn't, and the argument didn't hold, fortunately, and the the platforms were built and, and, and the reality is it didn't jeopardize anybody, other than maybe make them arrive 30 seconds earlier, rather than being so lazy. But, ah, the arguments that people have. But it'll be interesting to see how the train thing works out, because they do need to have more mass transit out   Amy SP Wilson ** 12:18 here. Absolutely, 100%   Michael Hingson ** 12:21 so you went off to college, and what did you do in college,   Amy SP Wilson ** 12:27 college stuff, but because I was unfamiliar with how to really maximize your college experience. I didn't really, you know, have a plan. Once I got done with college, all I knew was I needed to go to college. Go to college, yeah, and, you know, because that's, that's what's going to make your life better. Okay, I can, I can follow that plan. But what's the plan after, like, nobody, nobody had that. They just knew, you know, go to college. Oh, okay. And so I tried to get some, some different jobs, unsuccessfully. And then I ended up getting married and moving to Alaska, and so did some some different jobs up there. And through my experience of being married during that time, I also shared with people that I'm a domestic violence survivor, and it's one of the things that I really wish the disabled community was having more conversations about this, because there I know that I'm I'm not alone, and when I share it, I always have people come forward and Me too, me too. And I'm like, Yes, like, we, can we, you know, support one another. And fortunately, I was only in that marriage for for three years and and got out of it. Spent a couple more years in Indiana, but then when I moved back to Missouri, I learned about some blindness consumer organizations and and started getting involved with those. I also, at the same time, heard, heard about a self defense program for the blind. And I'm like, wait a minute, there's something you know that that works for us. So I jumped on it, became an instructor, became very involved in the that particular organization. And due to some some different circumstances, realized that that was not a healthy environment, and spent probably a year not doing that. But then had some people contact me to get another self defense program going, and I'm like, All right, let's do it. So yeah, that's a. Um, but I've, I've taken in that time of me teaching self defense, I also worked with my local dojo and would help with my son's classes. So I've definitely got the personal safety self defense experience down at this point, I feel like   Michael Hingson ** 15:24 so. So in other words, maybe if there were violent situation today, you could turn the tables and and be the one to beat up the other guy.   Amy SP Wilson ** 15:33 So that's you know, because I will share that, that that is you. That is a common thought.   Michael Hingson ** 15:43 I understand, yes,   Amy SP Wilson ** 15:46 however, in june 2019 I experienced sexual assault by somebody. And it's really what got me to tell people that personal safety you need to be proactive about it, especially in the disabled space. It is so very vital in that realm, yeah, but   Michael Hingson ** 16:11 yeah, there's only so much you can do. And you're right. It's, it's a matter of being, as you say, personally safe. And you know, it's, it is so important, and I think so many people, especially I think a lot of blind people I know about aren't as aware of their surroundings as they need to be, even just in in walking, even if it's not a a safety issue, that is where you're endangered from another person, but just being aware of your surroundings and being able to travel. I remember living in Boston and at the time, and I don't know if it's still the same or not today, but Boston or Massachusetts, had the highest accident rate per capita in the country, and this was back in the late 1970s into the early 1980s and I knew it, and it, it was just one of those factoids, if you will, that helped me stay really aware. So whenever I cross the street, I really made sure that the traffic was going the way I wanted to go, and I listened extremely carefully to what the traffic was doing around me, because any moment a car could come whizzing around a corner, nobody else would have seen it, and if I weren't listening for it, I might not have been able to judge appropriately whether it was safe to go or how fast I had to go to get across the street. So the reality is that we really do need to be situationally aware. And I think it's not just true for people who happen to be blind, but but it is especially true that we need to work on that and be aware of our surroundings   Amy SP Wilson ** 18:01 100% 100% that that is like, one of the first things we started offering right out the gate when it came to safety positive, is having discussions about personal safety topics, because it makes you more situationally aware. I know that. You know now that I have the mindset of being proactive about my personal safety, I am so keyed up on situational awareness that I sometimes freak out people, because I'm like, pay attention. Over there, pay attention. They're like, how? And I'm like, well, the more you learn about safety education, anything in the personal safety realm, it just helps you to become more situationally where, so you respond faster. You don't have to sit there and go, Well, what was that that I learned? No, no, that's not what we we want you to have. We want you to be, you know, kind of studying up on it so much that it becomes second nature for you?   Michael Hingson ** 19:00 Yeah, all too often we we learn something, and then we just have we, we sort of memorize the lesson. And we don't memorize what it is we really need to do. It isn't what, what did I learn? You need to get to the point where it's second nature, where it's just part of you, whether it's situational awareness or or a lot of things, even good musicians,   19:24 yes, you know,   Michael Hingson ** 19:26 do what they do because they've it's become second nature, yes.   Amy SP Wilson ** 19:30 And we, we talk about that, you know, it's, it's a journey you're not going to jump from, you know, being a beginner, you know, car guitar player, kind of like your manual musician, to being able to play on a, you know, stage with 5000 people overnight, it does not, you know, it is a process. And so, you know, giving, tell, you know, reminding people to give themselves grace. And it is a work in progress. So you know, you there's going to be deja mess. Up, but that's okay, you know, be do better tomorrow, on, on all those different situations. The   Michael Hingson ** 20:07 more you practice it, though, and the more you work on looking at lessons and looking at the things that you do and practice making them second nature, the easier it becomes. But it is a muscle the mind that you have to develop.   Amy SP Wilson ** 20:25 Yes, we, we basically tell people your, you know, your most important tool is your mind. So many people want that quick fix of having the pepper spray or, you know, this side of the other, and it's like, no, no, your mind is your most important, you know, tool in your arsenal, so take, take care of it. It's your, it's your biggest investment in life, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 20:48 and it's and it's the most important one, and it will do so much more for you. But the more you truly use it, the easier it becomes to use. But you've got to make that effort to make that happen, yes, so you got through college, you got, I think, what a degree in psychology, as I recall. And you said you went and worked on various jobs, and I gather nothing really struck a nerve.   Amy SP Wilson ** 21:15 No, you know, I, I actually went back to school and got a second bachelor's degree in social work because I knew I wanted to work with the disabled community, and so I of course, was advocating in my own classes for disability rights and driving my fellow students crazy. But I'm like, we're in social work, and we're not learning about disabilities. This is madness. You're going to be, you know, working with at least, you know, half the people have some sort of disability in some fashion, and we're not even having a conversation about it. So, but I guess I actually, before I got real involved with personal safety here, more recently, in the last couple years, I actually was a Mary Kay consultant for a while, and had had some fun with that. And it's a great, great company. They're they're real supportive. They call it kind of the pink bubble. But I learned a lot about marketing and sales through that. So I constantly am telling my team, I'm like, Yeah, that's a Mary Kay thing. That's America. But they've been around for so many years. There's obviously, like, I said, a method to their madness.   Michael Hingson ** 22:31 They kind of know what they're doing, yeah,   Amy SP Wilson ** 22:34 yeah, yeah. They've, they've got systems down. So yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 22:37 So when did you get your social work, bachelor's degree. When did you graduate with that 2016 Okay, so that was eight years ago, and then you you did other things and so on. But eventually, what, what caused you finally to form safety positive foundation.   Amy SP Wilson ** 22:58 I I essentially got madder than a hatter because we weren't offering choices. It was just this one self defense program, this one self defense program. And I'm like, Well, what about teaching people to advocate for themselves, or having discussions or this or that? Like and I kept getting shot down time and time again from from the leadership in those organizations, and I and I actually had a couple people who pulled me aside and really strongly encouraged me to start my own non for profit. And I was like, Excuse me. Like me be the leader. Uh, I don't, I don't. I don't know how I feel about this, um, but luckily they, you know, they convinced me. Had other people convinced me. And I just, it really is a big passion of mine to just make sure that the blind community has as many personal safety choices as everybody else does, because historically, we have not. So   Michael Hingson ** 24:05 you're saying some of the major consumer organizations kind of discouraged it at first. I   Amy SP Wilson ** 24:14 they were from elsewhere. Was from elsewhere. I wouldn't say some of them, you know, I'm not going to throw no shade on the major groups,   24:21 no, no, no.   Amy SP Wilson ** 24:22 But it was the companies that were teaching self defense got really only focused on just, you know, hands on self defense. And I'm like, and it was either, you know, release or break body parts. And I'm like, not everybody's comfortable breaking body parts like we need some choices. We need to teach people to advocate for themselves, to speak up. That is the like. The bigger thing that I have found is people not understanding the power of of their words and their language to, you know, get themselves out of situation. And it's usually a freeze response, and I know because I was personally guilty of that for many years. And so yeah, I'm I'm thrilled that I don't struggle with that nowhere near as much as I used to, but I can recognize that it is a huge need within our community.   Michael Hingson ** 25:20 So when did you actually form the foundation?   Amy SP Wilson ** 25:25 March 3, 2023 was when we officially launched safety positive foundation.   Michael Hingson ** 25:31 So it's fairly new. Yes, well, a year and about a year and a half old.   Amy SP Wilson ** 25:39 Yep, yep, we're still baby.   Michael Hingson ** 25:43 That's okay. Do you find that that men and women are interested in personal safety and so on, or is it just women or just men? Or what we   Amy SP Wilson ** 25:54 have both? I'd say at our events, it's half and half, I get more men volunteering to to work behind the scenes on stuff, because personal safety is primarily a male dominated profession, which makes me kind of a odd woman out. But you know, we are not for profits. I'll take the help wherever I can get.   Michael Hingson ** 26:17 Sure, well, even if you were for profit, it would make sense to do that. But yeah, I hear you, yes, yeah. So exactly, what does the safety positive foundation do?   Amy SP Wilson ** 26:32 So we offer, again, a variety of choices for personal safety. We have what we call our safety positive guide that gives our blind community, 24/7, access to training and resources. And so that's a resource all by itself, because we put in there motivational information resources, asking discussion questions. But then we also have chapters in our guide to where people can take our courses, where they can go from ProAct or from reactive to proactive on their personal safety. We also have in that guide links to what we call our weekly tea times, and that's probably one of our most popular services, and that's where we're having the space for discussions on personal safety. Each month we do a different topic, and we have also added verbal craft, which is a self advocacy and assertiveness communication training. And we've actually had that training from the very beginning, because, again, I knew, in my experience, that people really needed to learn that that advocating piece, like we're told to advocate, but never given a formula. And we finally have a formula with with verbal craft. So it makes me very excited. And then in just this year, when we started getting into our second year, we shifted away from focusing on the psychological safety to that physical safety aspect, and I became the first blind woman pepper spray instructor with saber so that was exciting. And then we created our own hands on self defense program that focuses on the fundamentals of self defense. We created this course because we knew people needed some pieces. So if they wanted to go take a, you know, martial arts class on a consistent basis, or if they wanted to go take that self defense class, they would have some language to talk with the instructors. And this is how you can assist me. And so, yeah, those, those are pretty much what we offer, but, and we're partnering with with other companies organizations to bring in more resources and training for our community. So like I said, it's only been a year and a half, but yeah, we're bringing it when it comes to the choices. Tell   Michael Hingson ** 29:13 me more about verbal craft, what, what that is all about, or how does that work? So   Amy SP Wilson ** 29:19 at the core, verbal craft was developed as a crisis de escalation communication training, and of course, for the purposes of the blind community, we realized that it also helps with teaching you self advocacy and assertiveness in your communication. So you know, say, somebody comes up and, you know, grabs your arm trying to assist you. Verbal craft has a, you know, we we work with you to develop to personalize your own formula. We also have a verbal craft club where people can come in and practice. This maybe a scenario and and get better at at their skills. I know for me when I first, because I did not even know a verbal craft again, I went to hearing about all the you know, need to advocate for yourself, and I'm like, How do I do that. But it was in November of 2022, that I I finally was able to take verbal craft. And since then, I have, I've discovered that I am even you know better at it. I don't, I don't freeze or fawn as much. And when people are trying to help me, or when people are trying to cross my my boundaries in those different ways.   Michael Hingson ** 30:48 I remember many times being in New York City or in other large cities, but New York especially, wanting to cross the street and go a particular way, waiting for the traffic flow to be going the way I wanted, and making sure that it's going the way I wanted, somebody will come up and grab me. Oh, let me. Let me help you. And of course, the problem is they don't even know for sure which way I want to go correct, which really makes life fun. And so they'll grab me and I go, No, hold on a minute. First of all, I'm really good. Do you know why I'm just standing here? No, you're, you're, obviously, you need help. No, let me explain Ricky, you know, but it is so unfortunate that people make these assumptions. And it happens all too often. It goes back to the basic view of of blindness that that people have, which is that we really don't know what we're doing and we can't really do it ourselves, that you need to have eyesight to do it, which is why earlier this year, at the National Federation of the Blind convention, I crafted the resolution that was adopted that says we need to stop using the term visually impaired and go to blind and low vision. And I mean, there are other terms, but the real issue is to get rid of the concept of impaired, which is what the professionals brought to the field many years ago, which was such a disservice.   Amy SP Wilson ** 32:18 Yeah, I can, I can agree, the word impaired is not the greatest term we want to be be using in that realm. And yeah, in in all my teaching of of self defense, the people coming up and grabbing is the number one frustration that that we deal with as a as a blind community, and it's the reason that people want to learn self defense, because they want to be able to figure out, how do I get myself out of this situation? And that's where you know verbal craft is that that first step of, if you can talk them down, that's that's the ideal situation. And then, of course, we're going to be bringing more choices of they don't want to do that. That's okay. We got some other skills. Yeah, yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 33:05 Well, and it's important to really learn to use all the skills that we have available, which is, of course, something that gets back to the whole issue of using your mind. And that's just something that all too often, well, if I were really abusive, I'd say that's something that every politician should learn to do, is use their mind, but they haven't learned that yet. So that's another story. But, oh, that was That was mean, but, but the reality is that that we need to learn to listen better than we do.   Amy SP Wilson ** 33:40 Well, I mean, the common thing is you have two ears and one mouth, because you're supposed to do twice as much listening, and that also plays a lot into the situational awareness is, you know, sometimes you have to just stop talking so you can pay attention to what, what is going on on around you, right? I know, like with my friends and my team. They know if I'm stopped talking, they need to start paying attention themselves, because I don't usually stop mid sentence. I'm like, wait a minute, what? You know, I start kind of perking my ears and, yeah, yeah, yeah. And we've got, we've created different code words and stuff like that to help, you know, everybody be on the same page, to support people in that, that journey too   Michael Hingson ** 34:21 cool. Well, it's important. So what are the basic core values, the the core things that go into safety, positive foundation and that kind of guide what you do.   Amy SP Wilson ** 34:33 So we have five core values. One is safety, of course, um, innovation, because we are, I've been told numerous times we are pioneering new paths with what we're we're bringing in, so that's and we're always looking for other other things that the community needs to bring in as well. We also have potential as one of them, because. Do believe in the potential of of people in general, and then we also have agency because we want we strongly believe in people having choices when it comes to their personal safety and authenticity. Is our last one, and this one, it it took a little bit to get everybody on board, because I am very authentic myself. And so they were like, we're not talking about you. And I'm like, I know that like but you know, people feel safer when they can be them, their authentic selves, and that's what we want to support, is you know you getting comfortable with you and knowing that you have those you know, choices, potential and and those things. So we, we strongly believe in our core values   Michael Hingson ** 35:55 and and having the ability, or learning to have the ability to analyze who you are, what you do, what you're doing, and when necessary, make changes or to reaffirm that what you do is a good thing, whatever it is.   Amy SP Wilson ** 36:11 Yes, yeah. So, you know, sometimes people need that permission to, you know, change their mind or be on the path that they're they're being on on our on our tea times. I am very well known for telling people, does anybody have questions, comments, concerns or emotional outburst? And because I want to give people that space to you know they need to just yell it out. Yell it out. We're here to support you. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 36:40 sometimes that's important and necessary to do absolutely. Why is the foundation called safety positive Foundation?   Amy SP Wilson ** 36:50 We created that name. And actually I created that name because I got tired of the fear mongering that was going on with the self defense organizations and programs that already existed in the blind community. In fact, I had been told one time that I needed to be more negative and in pitching, you know, and trying to scare people. And I'm like, I refuse. I will not do that. Our community is already scared enough. And No way am I, you know, going to hammer home all the the statistics and stuff like that, people, people already have fear. And so in that I played around with words, of course, I have SP in the middle of my my name. And so I was like, Well, you know, safety positive, like, we're all about safety. We want to be positive. And then one of my board members was like, well, we need to add, you know, foundation, because, you know, we're building a foundation here. And I'm like, there it is, safety, positive Foundation was born just based off of the collection of all that. There   Michael Hingson ** 38:14 you go. And and it works. How is it different from mother, self defense and similar kinds of organizations. Because I'm I'm sure that you feel that it is definitely different. Yes,   Amy SP Wilson ** 38:29 yes, we have created it different from the beginning. Because when we launched, we focused on psychological safety, it people would ask me, well, where's the hands on? I'm like, Nope, we're not, we're not doing it yet, because psychological safety needs to be that first step on your on your journey, especially if you have a lot of fear when it when it comes to personal safety. So that was the the mindset that we intentionally chose. The other thing that I would say that probably differentiates us is, of course, the choices and that as of right now, we don't have it to where you can sign up, pay a bunch of money and become an instructor in our program we're not interested in making making money off of that. We are interested in bringing people in as instructors at some point, and we've talked about doing that next year, but we want to be very mindful of how that approach works, because people have gotten trained in other programs, and then they go off and do their own thing, and we're like no, because we want to make sure that the curriculum you were teaching is safety, positive focus. We don't want people running off and trying to fear monger like they had been taught. Before. So that's that's our method to our madness.   Michael Hingson ** 40:05 Well, I may not know that the whole idea of fear is a subject that is near and dear to me, because recently, I published a new book called Live like a guide dog, true stories from a blind man and his dogs about being brave while becoming adversity and moving forward in faith. And the whole idea behind the book is to get people to understand that they can learn to control fear and that you don't need to have fear forced on you. And the reality is that all the negative aspects of fear that you've been talking about is what promotes fear. And I picked on politicians before, but that's what they do. They promote fear to a very large degree themselves, and promoting all this fear just makes people negative. They make it makes people be mistrustful. And the fact of the matter is that if we really learn to understand fear, which also is involved in developing the mind, as we've been talking about. But if we really focus on understanding fear, what we learn is that we can control fear, and that fear can be a very powerful tool to help us. So it isn't about not being afraid, it's about using that fear to focus and not let it, as I would say, blind or overwhelm you.   Amy SP Wilson ** 41:24 Yes, again, 100% agreeing with you on that, the more that you can. I'd say they're, they're, say, lean into the fear and make it your friend that you know that that helps so much. It's also part of that muscle memory of going, Okay, I don't need to be fearful in this situation. And we actually talk about that in our verbal craft training, how the brain, your brain state works when you know something happens to you, and how you can move through that   Michael Hingson ** 42:04 well, and that's exactly right. The issue is moving through it. I mean, just something happens. I mean, I was in the World Trade Center on September 11, and something happened. Right? So there's a lot to be afraid of, but if you prepare and learn to control your own mind, then that fear becomes a very powerful tool to help you focus and learning to listen to that inner voice is one of the most important things that we can ever do in our lives.   Amy SP Wilson ** 42:38 Yes, I I've actually used my personal safety training to help me to heal from some of my past traumas. And, you know, even to the point where practicing certain techniques that had been, you know, done on me to how do I get out of this? And that really, you know, at the, you know, the first few times, oh, yeah, anxiety was real high. And sure, the more you lean into it, the more you work through it, it can be helpful. The unfortunate part is, for some situations, like what you went through in 911 Ain't nobody preparing you for that   Michael Hingson ** 43:17 well, but not directly, but what you learn? But what what you learn? So like with me in September 11, I learned all about emergency evacuations. I learned all about where things were in the World Trade Center. And I learned just and I mentioned being in Boston and dealing with unexpected street crossings with cars coming, and all that you learn how to deal with surprise, yeah, and so it wasn't like there was anything magically brand new at the World Trade Center. So all of the skills, all of the life preparation for for me over the previous 51 years. Ooh, that gives away my age, but all that life preparation made it possible to learn to and actually control fear, so that I was able to use it in a constructive way, which is what the whole point is.   Amy SP Wilson ** 44:17 Yes, and that's why we, I think we've mentioned, like, the more you can learn, the more those things won't surprise you, and you're going to be ready to handle when life's throwing you curve balls,   Michael Hingson ** 44:30 right? And life tends to have a habit of doing that.   Amy SP Wilson ** 44:34 Yeah, universe has since humor that's pretty it does have a sense   Michael Hingson ** 44:39 of humor, but when it's throwing the curve balls, you can learn to hit those curve balls. So it's okay, yes, it's not a it's not a bad thing. How is the community reacting to safety, positive foundation and what you're doing and so on?   Amy SP Wilson ** 44:56 Overwhelming happiness in. Anytime I tell people we are here to offer choices, I've heard statements like, Finally, thank goodness. And I know from our trainings that that we offer it's been completely game changing for for people who went through our trainings, they they feel way more safe. We actually had one of our community people that flat out told me, if it was not for safety positive foundation, I would not have went to the National Federation of the Blind convention, because they just didn't feel like they were prepared. And I think it was a combination of learning things, and then, of course, us being there to help support them if something happened. But yeah, that was, I was floored when I heard that statement. I was like, do what that was. That was us. So we're bringing people out of their houses.   Michael Hingson ** 45:55 Well, things happen at conventions, and unfortunately, I don't know of any convention where things of one sort or another don't happen to one degree or another. So it is a matter of being prepared, but it's also a matter of monitoring yourself and knowing what you're going to allow yourself to get into and not get into to a degree as well. Yes,   Amy SP Wilson ** 46:17 absolutely. And like before we went, we had a safety briefing for our community to give them the rundown, and it was so overwhelming. I'm like, okay, apparently we're going to keep doing this because they they just they felt more prepared and safe for for those different things, and knew if something did happen, what policies procedures to follow, or who to who to be able to contact? Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 46:44 and the National Federation has become a little bit more aware, and yes, they have, has helped in that process, which is, which is also a good thing.   Amy SP Wilson ** 46:56 Yes, I would very much agree with that as well. But,   Michael Hingson ** 47:00 but people do need to really take responsibility for themselves and their own actions, and so doing what you do clearly helps, I would think so. So, what role do partnerships play in what you do, and how is that affecting everything?   Amy SP Wilson ** 47:20 So when we with our partners, we bring in different people for different reasons, but essentially, it's to make sure our community has more resources for their personal safety. For example, we have partnered with Ali slaughter, who teaches yoga that you know, yoga can be very beneficial in so many ways. We also have partnered with NaVi lens to start, start working with them, because they are a company that offers these special cute like their specialized QR codes, but it can help you to navigate different areas. But not only that, you can create your own it's not like you got to wait for the company to do it. So you can label things around your house, where it'll be able to you know which remote or which seasoning. And the part I really like is it does it in multiple different languages, so it's not just a one and done deal. And then we've also partnered. Our most recent partner is Penny forward, and they teach financial literacy for the blind. And I'm like, financial safety, it is a thing like we seems like a very natural partnership here. So, yeah, yeah, we're, again, we partner with with people that are interested and helping the blind community become more safe.   Michael Hingson ** 48:47 Do you just work with the blind community, or do sighted or any persons without traditional disabilities ever become involved and become students and so on?   Amy SP Wilson ** 48:58 So we actually, we've had some sighted people attend our trainings and and events, and we are working behind the scenes to develop some different trainings for sighted individuals so they can communicate and interact with the blind community in a safe fashion, or just the disabled community, but there's, there's so much information, you know, out there, I feel like a lot of sighted people kind of don't know where to go, how to how to do stuff, and so we wanted to build that bridge of communication between the sighted or the non disabled world and the disabled community. I'd also like to note that, you know blind people typically, blindness is not their only concern. You know, sometimes people have mental health struggles. You. People or other types of disabilities. So we do work with other disabilities as as a result, we're not we, because we're a not for profit and we're new. We got to sort of niche down to the blind community, but we are happy to serve the disabled community as well, because from what I'm learning all disabilities lack personal safety choices.   Michael Hingson ** 50:27 They do or think they do, or probably both, which is, which is, it amounts to the same thing. Yes, we met, certainly through the NFB convention. Then also, I know that Sheldon Lewis from accessibe has reached out to you guys and, and I don't know   Amy SP Wilson ** 50:45 that's you know, you made me forget about the I've my apologies to accessibe, but yes, they are also one of our newest partners, making, yeah, making our website accessible we're happy to share With our other friends and stuff like, yeah, I, I love Sheldon from from access to be. He's one of my new friends, whether he wants it or not, but yeah, it's, it's pleasure that we're, we're also working with access to be as well.   Michael Hingson ** 51:18 That's pretty cool. I haven't been to the site and looked at it yet. I should really go visit the website. But because I've been now with accessibe for, oh, three and a half years, it'll be four years in January. So having a lot of fun, and again, I like the philosophy that it deals with a variety of different kinds of disabilities. And you're right. The fact is that whether whether we bring it upon ourselves or it's real, and it's probably both, we end up not having a lot of choices that we should have. But I think that that's what we need to do, as you point out, is to learn to advocate for ourselves, to bring those choices back into our lives.   Amy SP Wilson ** 52:06 Yes, you know, when I was talking with Sheldon from accessibe about us partnering with them, I said, Absolutely, because not only will it ensure our website's accessible, but I'm happy to tell people about it, because when blind people cannot navigate a website, it, it plays a big role into their psychological safety. And I mean, I, I'm a Mental Health First Aid person, you know, certified person, and I my joke was I needed Mental Health First Aid training to go through the training like it stressed me out, because it was so inaccessible, and I had to have people continuously helping me. And I actually had to take the course twice because of the lack of accessibility that that first go around and had to have people help me and stuff. And I'm like, This is crazy, like, we definitely need to to promote that more. And I'm so glad that they're just, you know, willing to work with with non for profits that are serving the disabled space like that, that that is going to be game changing for so many people and help them to feel more psychologically safe in going to those websites, they're not going to get stressed out and figuring out, how do I navigate this? Nope. Accessibe has got you so,   Michael Hingson ** 53:31 you know, here's a question, and I've asked a number of people this, but I'm curious to hear your answer. You mentioned earlier that we're not really involved in a lot of the conversations, whether it be about self defense, whether it be about personal safety and so on. Why is it that that blind or in general, persons with disabilities aren't involved in the conversations?   Amy SP Wilson ** 53:55 That is a great question. And I think that for some topics, it goes back to fear of being vulnerable in sharing what, what you're afraid of, at least for for personal safety. For some topics, they're they're hot topics, we discuss weapons and safety positive foundation and tell people, if that's a choice you want, we're happy to have the conversation. But people think that talking about weapons means that people are going to start buying firearms and getting involved with it, or bad things can happen, and that's where I go back to the if we're having a conversation about it, you can ask your questions and not have that fear wrapped around those particular topics, but that would be my personal answer,   Michael Hingson ** 54:56 yeah, I think all too often, suddenly. Weapons are the easy answer, yes, but they're not, no, they're not at all. But that's what people think. And they think that's going to take care of all of their fears. And it just doesn't work that way,   Amy SP Wilson ** 55:11 because often and it's statistically backed up, you know, oftentimes, those things will get turned on you, especially if you're not doing ongoing practice, and that's part of that proactive philosophy we talk about in safety positive is if you're choosing to use any kind of tool or device, you better be practicing with it at least once a month, minimum. And depending on the tool we're recommending even stronger practicing. But you you know, you can't just buy a pepper spray, drop it in your purse and you're good. It's like, no, because what happens when they do come to grab you? You're going to be finagling and but yeah, and then   Michael Hingson ** 55:59 you aim it the wrong way because you're not used to it. Yep, exactly. And it's and it's so important that, well, again, it goes back to like what we talked about before, with the mind, which is the most important tool that we have. And if we don't develop that tool by constant, and I believe it has to be constant use and constant us teaching ourselves we're not going to improve with it.   Amy SP Wilson ** 56:28 Exactly you. I mean, we are blessed right now that we have as much technology at at our fingertips to be able to phone a friend or use that app to help us cross the street, whatever the case might be, but technology fails, and so you can't say that this is going to be my, my backup for for everything, or for one of the things that I've learned is you Can't take your pepper spray through, you know, TSA. And there's certain things that, no, no, no, TSA, don't like it. So if you get too used to one kind of tool, it gets taken well, then what do you do? You have to have your own, your own mind to go, okay, I can handle this without all the fancy gizmos and gadgets.   Michael Hingson ** 57:18 Yeah. And, and TSA does what it does generally, for pretty good reasons. Yes,   Amy SP Wilson ** 57:25 yes, yeah, I understand their method to the madness. Yeah, it's still frustrating. Oh,   Michael Hingson ** 57:30 I know it is. You come all prepared, and then they take it away from you when, yeah, yeah. So of course, the the answer to that is you've got to put it somewhere in a bag where it's not reachable while you're on the flight. But that's another story   Amy SP Wilson ** 57:48 conversation for another day. Not that I'm talking about a short list that they will things that will get through TSA, but   Michael Hingson ** 57:55 well, how? Let me ask this. Then I think a relevant question, what are the future goals for safety positive Foundation?   Amy SP Wilson ** 58:05 We want to be the safety institution for the mind community, and so that's why we're we're very interested in bringing on more choices for trainings and working with different partners. So you know, when people think of personal safety in the blind community, their first thought is safety positive Foundation,   Michael Hingson ** 58:35 and that's pretty important to be able to do for you what's been the most rewarding experience you've had with safety positive foundation,   Amy SP Wilson ** 58:46 I would have to say it's watching the community grow as individuals like I said, you know, the one person that said, you know, if It wasn't for safety positive, I and I've heard, you know, other people telling me that they they feel safer and just learning different stuff, and that that is the the paycheck for me when I know we're we're making a difference in in people's lives, sometimes it makes me want to cry. I get, you know, so overwhelmed, but I I essentially do not want people to go through what I've went through in my life. And so the more that we can reach people and offer those resources and trainings that again, that that's what's going to do it for me,   Michael Hingson ** 59:46 so especially for blind people. But in general, what would be the message that you would most like for the community to hear from you regarding safety and safety positive foundation? Yeah.   Amy SP Wilson ** 1:00:00 When it comes to, I guess, sharing with the sighted community, be aware I'm teaching them that no is a complete sentence, and they don't gotta give you their backstory of why they don't want to accept your help, and if somebody doesn't want to take your assistance. Don't take it personal. That you know, there's so many people who do take it personal. When you tell them, No, I've got this. It's not about you. It's about people having the dignity and respect for themselves to sometimes do things on their own, or talk to you about how maybe you can assist them in a in a in a different manner, but yeah, just just don't take it personal. And no, you're also probably going to mess up a time or two. You're not You're not always going to get it perfect, because I know me as a person in the community, I mess it up sometimes.   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:01 You know, there's a lot of value in getting lost. And I, I worked in the World Trade Center a lot to get lost, because when you get lost, then you gotta figure out, how did you get lost, and how do you get out of being lost, and people helping isn't going to give you that learning experience of recovering, or, you know, using what we call whole structured discovery. The bottom line is, yeah, yeah, go ahead. I   Amy SP Wilson ** 1:01:30 say. I love the structured discovery. My whole organization, my board, yeah, when, when they like. I've got a couple of sighted board members, and they were new to the blind community, but knew it needed, you know, they were the ones who convinced me to start this. But once they learned about structured discovery, they were like, This is awesome, like, because I tell them, you know, don't help people, let them figure it out. And they watch, and they learned real fast that, okay, yeah, there is a method to the madness here.   Michael Hingson ** 1:02:04 Yeah, it's, it's important to be able to deal with, deal with, with variety of things. And you're going to be best if you teach yourself how to recover from being lost very quickly. What is structured discovery?   Amy SP Wilson ** 1:02:24 So my understanding, because I've not been given the quote, unquote definition, is where you you have an environment to where you are, um, walking through it yourself and and discovering your your environment on your own with your your white cane, your your guide dog, but you're essentially like, yeah, discovering the the environment on your own accord. Michael, you might have a different answer, but that's that's my, my understanding well,   Michael Hingson ** 1:03:00 and the other part of it is you're walking along, you expect to be going somewhere, and suddenly you discover you're not where you thought you were, or you walk on grass and you didn't expect to be there. Structured discovery also teaches you how what you do is you step back, mentally and then physically. But you step back, you go back and retrace what you did to figure out where it is that you deviated from the path that you were expecting to be on. And it works very well.   Amy SP Wilson ** 1:03:33 I've used it and all the traveling I do, yes, I've gotten lost and had to backtrack. And how did we do this? Where did we go wrong? And believe me, I'll never forget those routes.   Michael Hingson ** 1:03:48 Tell me how. So how do people get involved in the safety positive foundation? If they would like to.   Amy SP Wilson ** 1:03:57 So there's a couple different options. You can go to our website, at safety positive fdn.org, you can also we have a YouTube channel with lots of videos on on different information, and we have our Facebook page, the Facebook page and our website has links where you can come In and be part of our safety positive guide community, or you can also email us, phone call, just don't say send smoke signals. We're not going   Michael Hingson ** 1:04:31 to get those. Yeah, don't raise your hand. Don't raise your hand. That doesn't work. No,   Amy SP Wilson ** 1:04:35 no, no. It's lost on us.   Michael Hingson ** 1:04:39 Yeah, it is on all of us, which is what's okay, it's always something to be learned. Well, I want to thank you for taking the time to be here with us for more than the last hour. It's been fun, and I hope that that people have learned something from it. We'll definitely get to see you next. At the NFB convention, I assume, and that'll be kind of fun too.   Amy SP Wilson ** 1:05:02 Yes, we're going to be there with bells on. There you   Michael Hingson ** 1:05:05 go. Well, we'll, we'll be there. Yeah, and, and I'll, I'll bring my dog over, and either he'll teach self defense or he'll learn self defense. I'm not, there we go. He'll probably be looking for ear scratches and nothing else. So it's okay. We all,   Amy SP Wilson ** 1:05:24 we all need a little love from time to time. Yeah, yeah, and he's   Michael Hingson ** 1:05:27 good at that. Well, well, thank you again for being here. This has been absolutely enjoyable, and if you've enjoyed listening to us, please let us know you can email me at Michael H I M, I C, H, A, E, L, H i at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, I, B, e.com, you can also go to our podcast page, where there's a contact form, and that's w, w, w, dot Michael hingson.com/podcast, that's m, I, C, H, A, E, L, H, I N, G, S o, n.com/podcast. We'd love to hear from you, and wherever you're listening or monitoring our podcast today, I hope that you'll give us a five star review. We really value your reviews. We appreciate it if you know of anyone and Amy you as well. If you know of anyone who you think might be a good guest for the podcast, we'd like to hear from you. We'd like you to provide an introduction. We're always looking for people who want to come on and tell their stories and help all of us see why we're all more unstoppable than we think we are. So I want to thank you all for for that as well. And Amy, once again, really appreciate you being here today. This has been a lot of fun. I   Amy SP Wilson ** 1:06:38 appreciate it, and I will end with my two cents of keep it safe, keep it positive and keep it safe and positive.   **Michael Hingson ** 1:06:50 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for Listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

Amy SP Wilson, the trailblazer behind the Safety Positive Foundation, is revolutionizing personal safety for the blind and visually impaired community. Her journey began in March of 2023, but her path has been shaped by a diverse range of experiences. Some have been uplifting, while others have been challenging, but each one has served as a valuable lesson that propelled her towards the creation of the Safety Positive Foundation.

Amy's commitment to personal safety has been a lifelong pursuit. From playfully wrestling with her cousins during her early years to becoming the first female wrestler at the Missouri School for the Blind in 1996, her passion for wrestling led her to the United States Association of Blind Athletes nationals in 1997, where she discovered Judo. In 1998, Amy proudly represented her country in the World Championships for the Blind in Judo, as a member of the inaugural women's Judo team of the USABA, all before graduating from high school.

Unfortunately, Amy's eye condition, Stargardt's, prevented her from continuing her martial arts journey. Diagnosed at the age of 10 in 1992, she faced initial struggles. However, connecting with others who were also blind or visually impaired raised her expectations and inspired her to persevere.

As life progressed, Amy earned her first bachelor's degree in psychology, only to become a survivor of domestic violence shortly thereafter. This was not her first experience as a survivor, and it is one of the primary reasons why she advocates for self-empowerment. Amy is deeply passionate about addressing the alarming rates of mental and emotional abuse within relationships involving individuals with disabilities.

Amy's pursuit of knowledge led her to earn a second bachelor's degree in social work, providing her with valuable insights into developing systems within the Safety Positive Foundation. She consistently puts her education into practice, utilizing her expertise to make a difference.

For the past decade, Amy has been involved in instructing and developing self-defense programs specifically designed for the blind and visually impaired. However, she found that these programs and organizations often had limited expectations for the BVI community, which did not align with her mission. Amy firmly believes that low expectations act as barriers, and she advocates for the BVI community to have unlimited choices when it comes to personal safety.

Amy has dedicated her life to making this mission a reality for her community. She actively engages with the BVI community in various capacities, striving to enhance their lives as much as possible. Through the establishment of the Safety Positive Foundation, Amy shares her skills and empowers her community to embrace a safety-positive lifestyle.

Ways to connect with Amy:

Amy’s digital business card link https://linqapp.com/ Book a meeting with me https://bit.ly/3LOviXT

Website www.safetypositivefdn.org Facebook https://bit.ly/4fvKMO4 YouTube https://bit.ly/4d5FQy2 TikTok h