AT Banter Podcast

AT Banter runs on a rhythm it has clearly earned over hundreds of episodes. Someone says the show name. Someone else insists there were two banters, not one. The cowbell gets played, then reviewed for resonance and follow-through, and a lesson is jokingly offered. Only then does the mission statement arrive: a podcast that talks with advocates and members of the disability community to educate and inspire better conversation about disability. Rob Minow anchors the introductions with mock grandeur, handing out titles like master of disaster and elder statesman. Ryan Fleury handles the cowbell. Lis Malone and Steve Barkley round out the panel when schedules cooperate, which is not every week — Episode 453 is just two of them, joking that everyone else is in Costa Rica. The interviews are where the show does its real work. A Dolphin Computer Access conversation covers magnification that zooms to where the fingers are, roughly 26 preset color schemes including options for color blindness, color replacement for shades a user cannot see, advanced tracking so the cursor never gets lost, and multi-monitor support framed explicitly around workplace need. Episode 456 brings Lynn Jensen on travel, and the practical detail is striking: assistance to the airline kiosk and all the way to boarding, services that vary by airport because some are run by airlines and some by third parties, and a widespread assumption that no such help exists. Episode 452 talks canes with AmbuTech during White Cane Week, including ruggedized models from the States, cheap-looking imports, and 3D-printed tips sold as Canadian or AmbuTech tips that the manufacturer can identify at a glance. Episode 455 examines a product built on AI, and whether wrapping a model in gates and guardrails pays off when the next model release resets everything. Episode 453 puts Betty Noble and Albert Uell together to talk across generations. Episode 454 welcomes John Grimes back, from meningitis to a best-seller — after a long cold-open argument about whether toothbrush bristles should be softened before use. That balance is the show. It never performs solemnity about disability, and it never treats the technical detail as too dry to sit with. Questions stay in plain language, examples stay concrete, and a policy or product point always gets returned to what it changes on an ordinary day. The show is presented by Canadian Assistive Technology, a Vancouver-based provider of low vision, blindness, physical access, and augmentative communication products, and each episode closes with their details. It is a niche show that has never sounded like a niche show.