“Top of the morning to ya,” says friend and boyfriend of co-hosts and siblings Brian and Kerry.

We’re here on Outlook this week with visiting guest hosts Barry and his guide dog Oyster, fresh from their journey all the way from Ireland.

From acquiring a pet passport to a fit-to-fly letter, Barry shares with us the process for travel with a guide dog and both of them are with us for the next few months on air.

Alongside talk of travel with a guide dog, we touch on last week’s Canadian federal budget announcement about the proposed Canada Disability Benefit, long promised by the Liberal government, but now the news is out that what they are offering is far less than was expected and what would put people with disabilities above the poverty line. So now Canadians with disabilities are not happy and not having it, speaking up where possible and we here are joining the chorus of voices, in a marginalised group often overlooked.

In the second part of the show, we speak with Rebecca Singh of Superior Description Services, who we’ve had on the show last year to learn about what Superior Description does and since then what co-host Kerry has been working on as accessibility consultant.

This time Rebecca is back to share with us all about next month’s Junior Festival, for children five to twelve, on the campus of the Harbour Front Centre in Toronto. Junior is an arts and creativity festival for young people, running during the weekend of May 18th to the 20th. Sunday, May 19th is set aside as Enhanced Accessibility Day for children with disabilities, blindness and all kinds. There will be offerings such as touch tours, sighted guides if needed, and plenty of audio description available on site and online at the Harbourfront Centre website, described by Rebecca and reviewed by Kerry as consultant.

Singh also shares with us another upcoming arts and creativity event she’s working on, including podcasts as supplements to the in-person events, this June in the GTA and around Toronto, known as Luminato.

So if you’re in the area in the coming months, for either one, check out the festivals and events on offer by going to their websites, contacting them by phone, or by email at the links, number, or email address below:

harbourfrontcentre.com/junior

416-973-4600

[email protected]

https://www.luminatofestival.com

https://superiordescription.com

Listen to Rebecca Singh’s previous Outlook appearance:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/outlook-2023-03-06-international-womens-day-with/id1527876739?i=1000603364184