Beth Deer is a reporter and podcast host for AMI, Canada's accessible media broadcaster, and shares life as a blind person with her followers under @the_blind_girlie. She was born with optic nerve hypoplasia and lost the functional vision she grew up with at 13 following a surgery that went wrong.

In this episode: her Zootopia theory of what an accessible world actually looks like, the difference between navigating with a white cane versus a guide dog, the story of her guide dogs, and why the kindness of strangers is both the biggest barrier and the best thing about being blind.
👉 In This Episode

• What optic nerve hypoplasia actually is, and why Beth's level of vision confused specialists for years

• The surgery at 13 that changed everything

• Her Zootopia theory of accessibility: what a world looks like when it's built for everyone from the start

• The difference between travelling with a white cane and a guide dog, and what that gap reveals about how society sees disability

• Patronus: the guide dog who loved crowds, hated fetch, and whose illness brought vets across North America together rooting for him

• The 18 months without a guide dog. What independence actually means for day-to-day life and mental health

• Parenting while blind: What's genuinely hard, and what isn't

• Why the biggest barrier in Beth's life isn't a broken curb or a missing ramp

👋 Guest - Beth Deer

Instagram: instagram.com/the_blind_girlieTikTok: tiktok.com/@the_blind_girlie

AMI Reflections Podcast: https://www.amiplus.ca/Reflections

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Email: accessiblefuturepod@gmail.com

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⏰Chapters

0:00 Introduction

0:56 Beth's Background — From England to Canada

3:34 Losing Her Sight — Optic Nerve Hypoplasia

8:20 What an Accessible Future Looks Like

10:43 What a Guide Dog Actually Does

15:54 What People Get Wrong About Blindness

18:28 Patronus, Churro, and the Guide Dog Journey

31:07 How Society Views Disability

33:25 Parenting While Blind

35:59 One Thing Every Listener Should Know

36:55 Outro