Rethinking What’s Possible: Career, Ham Radio, and Podcasting with Jessica Dail

Luisa Recchia: Welcome to Through Our Eyes, a podcast from the Pediatric Retinal Research Foundation, where we share the experiences, perspectives, and accomplishments of individuals and families affected by visual impairment. Today, we’re joined by Jessica Dail, whom many in our community may remember as a spotlight speaker at the Family Connection conference.

Jessica shares her experiences living with low vision, building a career in public transportation, and discovering connection and independence through radio. She also takes us behind the scenes of creating her own podcast and reminds us what is possible when curiosity, determination, and a willingness to try something new come together.

Here’s our conversation with Jessica.

Jessica, you were recently featured as a spotlight guest at PRRF’s Family Connection Conference, and we’re so glad to continue the conversation with you [00:01:00] today. As you’ve built a career in public transportation, became involved in amateur radio, and you’ve launched your own podcast, Rethinking Blindness.

Through all of these experiences, you’re helping challenge assumptions about what it means to live with low vision. When younger children with low vision and their families look at your life today, what do you hope they see as possible? 

Jessica Dail: Oh, my goodness. I hope they see that no matter whether you’re blind or visually impaired or fully sighted and then lose your vision later in life, you can still live a full, productive life. 

Luisa Recchia: Beautiful. But before we talk about your career, ham radio, and podcast, would you introduce yourself and share a little bit about your journey with low vision? 

Jessica Dail: [00:02:00] Yes. So as you stated, my name is Jessica Dail. I’m from Davison, Michigan, which is near Flint. I was born visually impaired. My eye condition is ROP, retinopathy of prematurity that basically means that I got too much oxygen at birth, therefore my eyes didn’t fully develop.

I was one pound, two ounces at birth

Luisa Recchia: One pound, two ounces 

Jessica Dail: Yes

I was small enough that, you know, the pockets on guys’ shirts. You’d have to hold the top of my head so I didn’t fall over, but you could literally stand me up in there, that’s how small I was.

Luisa Recchia: And today? 

Jessica Dail: Today I am 31. I hold a job as a customer service representative [00:03:00] for MTA Flint, which is our local public transit agency. I work from home. I’ve had that job for two years now, started in March of 2024, and I love it. 

Luisa Recchia: Who would have thought 31 years ago you were all of one pound and a few ounces.

Jessica Dail: And now here I am with a job, a ham radio license, and a podcast of my own actually

Luisa Recchia: So what are some of the misconceptions or misunderstandings that people have about people living with low vision or no vision? 

Jessica Dail: I think one of the big ones is that we are entirely dependent on other people, and in some cases that’s true, but not all [00:04:00] cases.

We obviously have to depend on someone else for transportation because we can’t drive, but there are other things we can do.

We can still cook, clean, do laundry, etc.

Luisa Recchia: Is there a person or an experience, or where was there maybe a turning point that helped you begin seeing yourself as capable rather than limited? 

Jessica Dail: Oh, goodness.

I don’t really know I’ve just always wanted to be independent because I have plenty of blind and visually impaired friends, and they are independent, and so they are proof that it’s possible, and I am slowly working toward that. The reason that I’m a bit behind in that area is because when I was younger, actually as [00:05:00] a baby, I had several…

There’s a different name for them now, but back in the day when I had them, they were called grand mal seizures, and I would have several a day. And as a result, I had a shunt, and I had 179 sh- shunt surgeries, and I’m actually one of three kids to ever permanently have a shunt removed In addition, I’ve also had 55 eye surgeries, and thanks to Dr. Michael Trese, I have the little bit of vision that I do. My vision is literally a pinhole, and most days are good, but it fluctuates, which can be bothersome sometimes because you [00:06:00] never know from day to day what your vision’s gonna be like.

Luisa Recchia: So what type of, uh, accommodations or technology or personal strategies, what makes the greatest difference in your daily life? Given that some days you don’t know what your vision is gonna be like. 

Jessica Dail: Definitely screen readers.

On my iPhone and other Apple devices, I use VoiceOver. On my PC, I use either JAWS or NVDA. And I’m just gonna put here, if anyone has any technical questions, reach out to me and I will either try to help you or point you in the right direction of someone who can if I cannot, because I love that.

I love helping [00:07:00] people. 

Luisa Recchia: Oh, and we love that about you. So I know it’s early in the episode, but tell our audience, ’cause I know there’s young adults and there’s parents out there that are listening to this podcast today, and where can they reach out to you?

‘Cause that’s where most of them find themselves not knowing what they don’t know or, or how early they should start or… So how can they reach out to you, Jessica? 

Jessica Dail: Sure. So you can reach me by email at jldail13@outlook.com.

I’m also on Facebook, so you can just search my name. 

I actually didn’t mention this yet, and it’s fairly new.

I don’t even know if you’ve checked it out yet, but you can, and certainly bookmark it because it’s [00:08:00] being updated often. I actually, back in May, launched a website of my own that’s more of like a portfolio, but that has tech articles on it, JessicaDail.com

And my contact information, including my phone number, is on the Contact Us page. 

Luisa Recchia: Beautiful. So you talk about work. Tell us about what drew you to that particular career and, and it sounds like you really love it.

What does your work involve and what makes it so meaningful to you? 

Jessica Dail: So my work involves taking calls from clients. The company that I work for has tons of clients. I don’t even know how many, probably hundreds, and I take calls from them about [00:09:00] scheduling trips to the store or the doctor or any sort of thing I’ve even seen our vehicles in my own community.

One place that’s common is my church. I have somebody that actually sings in the church choir with me that I have personally talked to as part of my day job.

Luisa Recchia: Wonderful. So is your job or your responsibility connecting someone who needs a ride with the driver? Is that what you’re doing? 

Jessica Dail: So my responsibility is to connect people with the right department. We have several different departments within the company that allow for [00:10:00] scheduling rides. We have Your Ride, which will literally come to your house and pick you up and take you anywhere within Genesee County.

Then we have Rides to Wellness, which is for, like, doctor appointments and stuff. And if people have certain insurances, their insurance may cover those rides

Luisa Recchia: So a young person with low vision who’s beginning to explore their career options, what advice would you give them?

Jessica Dail: I would say

Do something you’re passionate about. What are you passionate about that you think would make a meaningful career? Do that. 

Luisa Recchia: Take us to ham radio.

Jessica Dail: So when I was 14, my mom and I took a [00:11:00] class that was run through my high school. It actually took place at my high school, funnily enough, and it was just literally for information purposes, to let people know, “Hey, this is what ham radio is. Here’s what it’s all about.”

I will say you do have to be licensed. You cannot transmit or talk unless you have a license. This was not a class for that. This was just to give information. And we took the class together, and for several years I was like, “Okay, I don’t know what I’m gonna do with this or if I’m gonna do anything with it.”

And then fast-forward to 2020, [00:12:00] specifically January of that year. I was listening to ACB Media, and I’ll provide the URL for that in a second so you can put it in the show notes along with this podcast. And I heard a bunch of people talking, and I can’t remember exactly what it was about now, but I was fascinated.

And

I’m actually good friends with a number of those people today. And somehow I got on the phone with this gentleman named John from Arizona, and he got his license

A long time ago. I think he said Over 50 years. I know definitely [00:13:00] over 40 years. It’s been a very long time. But he loves it. And he and I got to talking about it and he was willing to be my Elmer, which is basically the person who teaches you about ham radio, and he did. It is because of him that I have my technician license, which is your first level license.

You have to go in order. The three license levels are technician, general, and extra. There used to be more than that, but they got rid of the others, so now there’s only three. And you don’t necessarily have to upgrade if you don’t want to. It’s up to each individual person. I do. In fact, as I speak, I’m [00:14:00] slowly in the process of studying for my general.

Luisa Recchia: Wow. Good luck with that. We’ll be sending prayers and good vibes your way for that one. For those who are not familiar, real quickly, tell us about ham radio. What is it? Why does it require licensing?

Jessica Dail: So ham radio is a communication system that allows people all around the world to talk.

It’s primarily used in emergencies, although not exclusively.

You may have seen on the news when wildfires have broken out or floods have happened. They haven’t explicitly said it, but I guarantee you that ham radio operators were [00:15:00] involved in those efforts of saving those people in some way, shape, or form.

Even if you’re not a licensed ham operator, you can still be of help in an emergency because you could be the one that calls for help

I have friends all over the world. I’ve got friends in Australia, the UK, New Zealand, Canada, the US.

Luisa Recchia: And I suspect you have many memorable conversations with these- Oh, uh … some of these connections. 

Jessica Dail: Oh, absolutely. 

Luisa Recchia: Yeah.

Jessica Dail: In fact, a good number of my ham friends have been guests on my podcast. 

Luisa Recchia: Beautiful. Take us to Rethinking Blindness. Tell us about what inspired you to create that. 

Jessica Dail: Sure. So it actually started out under a [00:16:00] different name.

It started out under the name Visionary Voices, so for the first few episodes that’s what you’ll hear. Don’t worry, it’s still the same podcast. We just rebranded as of episode 13. 

Luisa Recchia: What did it take to move from thinking about creating a podcast to actually releasing your first episode?

Most people get stuck between those two.

Jessica Dail: Yeah, that’s, that’s a really big thing in podcasting is finding guests, especially if you’re doing it with somebody. In fact, shout-out to my guest of episode one. His name is Greg Lindberg, and he has a podcast of his own that our listeners here may enjoy entitled Eyes Free Sports.

Luisa Recchia: Were there any challenges involved in, um All things [00:17:00] podcasts, whether it’s the recording, the editing, the publishing, promoting the show 

Jessica Dail: The hardest part for me was editing, and I say was because part of the app that I told you about earlier, Backpack Studio, is that it has an inbuilt AI that’s part of the Backpack Live subscription, which is $11.99 a month.

But what that allows you to do is you could actually take this podcast and put it into that, and then you could tell it, “Remove the silence,” so that people don’t hear where we hesitated in between sentences or anything. I mean, it’s pretty amazing, and it will do [00:18:00] it. Mm. ‘Cause I’ve done it. It works

Luisa Recchia: What have you learned about yourself through the podcast process? 

Jessica Dail: I think it’s made me more confident because I realize that I’m being recorded, and so it helps boost your confidence knowing you’re being recorded and it’s just, it is. It’s a huge confidence boost. 

Luisa Recchia: Well, I imagine even just building something that’s your own. 

Jessica Dail: Absolutely. That in and of itself is a huge confidence boost. Being able to go around and tell your parents, your friends, whomever, “Hey, listen to this podcast that I created.”

I do have a friend who was in episode six of my podcast

[00:19:00] that sometimes serves as my editor. He actually was my editor up until I started using Backpack Studio, and he’s still willing to do stuff for me if I need him to

Luisa Recchia: Sounds like you have a wonderful community surrounding you. Now you participated in PRRF’s Family Connection Conference and I wanna thank you for that. What was that experience like for you? Do you mind sharing with our audience? 

Jessica Dail: Oh, my goodness.

It was a blast. I loved it. The Family Connection Conference allowed me to reconnect with old friends, meet new people- Connect with the parents of my friends. I mean, it was, it was wonderful.

Luisa Recchia: Thank you. I know, uh, we appreciate having you there and, uh, all the connections that were made, uh, [00:20:00] because of you. 

You’ve gone through a lot. What would you say to a young person with low vision who’s worried that their diagnosis will determine their future?

Jessica Dail: I would say don’t let anything stop you. You do whatever you want that inspires you. Even though it never came to fruition, my childhood dream was to be a meteorologist because I just thought it would be cool. 

Luisa Recchia: Hmm.

A meteorologist. So interesting.

What would you say to an employer who may be hesitant to hire someone who’s blind or visually impaired?

Jessica Dail: I would say hire us anyway and watch what we’re capable of because that’s honestly the thing that I think stops them is [00:21:00] they’re afraid to hire us because they don’t know what we’re capable of, or they don’t know if or how we can do said job given the fact that we’re visually impaired.

Luisa Recchia: You’ve accomplished so much in such a short amount of time really. What part of your story are you still writing? 

Jessica Dail: Oh my goodness. To be honest, all of it. Every day is new. Every day is like a new page. It’s still in process, but I’m actually working on a book. 

Luisa Recchia: Oh, congratulations. 

Jessica Dail: Thank you. I’ve been working on it for a while now, and my mom keeps telling me that I should get it written and release it so that I can do something similar to what Jennifer Rothschild [00:22:00] does, and I love her.

I’ve actually seen her before. Funny story is she, much to my surprise, does not read braille, and I learned this because she came to my church. So I got to go on stage with her and Christian artist Laura Story, who I absolutely love, and I read my question. Because I had brailled my question, because if it were me, that’s what I would expect people to do, because they know that I don’t read print, so how else would I read the question?

So I found that shocking that she doesn’t read braille, but there are blind and visually impaired people that don’t.

And if you don’t now and you [00:23:00] can and are able, definitely 100% recommend learning braille because you may need it at some point.

I actually forgot to say this too, but when I was younger they didn’t want to teach me braille because I had some vision, and I still do.

But they did. Finally in fourth grade, my mom convinced them to. So because of that, I know braille today. And I use braille a lot. I love it. I honestly don’t know what I would do without it.

Luisa Recchia: I’ve heard that from some folks that, um, better to learn it and not need it than to, not learn it and find out that you do need it. So to our listening audience and our parents out there with your young adults, uh, you know, if we can encourage them to learn braille, it’s, it’s like a second language, right?

If you learn when you’re [00:24:00] young it’s not so difficult when you get older. 

Jessica Dail: The younger, the better. Yes. Teach them, like, when they start reading, like when they’re- 

Luisa Recchia: Mm-hmm … 

Jessica Dail: I don’t know, toddlers, two, three maybe. As soon as you realize that they can start reading, try to teach them braille. The younger the better.

Luisa Recchia: So Jessica, when you came to the Family Connection Conference, I believe you were heading towards an event and you were gonna sing. Can you tell us a little bit about that event? It was exciting. 

Jessica Dail: Yes. So the event is called SongSight, and it was started by American Idol alumni Scott McIntyre.

He was on season eight, if you wanna go Google that. He is totally blind, and he [00:25:00] started, I keep wanting to call it a camp, but that’s not the right word for it, an event for people who are blind or visually impaired that are passionate about music. And it’s an entire weekend from Friday to Sunday, where you get to learn about different instruments, write songs, sing. He even helps you sing in front of him and the other participants, and then he, like, gently critiques you on how you did and gives you tips to make it better. So it’s just a really wonderful opportunity. And you can only ever go once. This actually, funnily enough, was my very first time applying. You do have to apply, and [00:26:00] I got chosen on my first try.

So that’s a miracle.

I, of course, took my mom, and it was fabulous. I would recommend it to anyone who is passionate about music. Their website, if I haven’t mentioned it already, is songsightretreat.com. 

Luisa Recchia: So is Jessica working on a song these days? 

Jessica Dail: Not right now, but I would like to.

Luisa Recchia: Beautiful.

Jessica Dail: I have friends that have written songs, so that inspires me.

Luisa Recchia: So where can listeners find Rethinking Blindness, and how do they follow your work? 

Jessica Dail: Absolutely. So you can find Rethinking Blindness anywhere you get podcasts, and I actually have a Facebook group. My website again is jessicadail.com. [00:27:00] My contact information, including my phone number, is on that page. Have a YouTube channel. I’m on TikTok. You name it, I’m probably there. I’m on Instagram.

Luisa Recchia: But Jessica, your story reminds us that living with low vision is not one single experience or one narrow path. You’ve built a meaningful career, discovered a worldwide community through ham radio, and created a platform that gives others the opportunity to share their stories in their own voices. Uh, we’re actually rooting for you here at PRRF for your continued professional success, personal fulfillment, and joy.

I wanna thank you for sharing your voice, for challenging assumptions, and for being such a valued part of the PRRF community. From our heart to yours, I wanna thank you.

Jessica Dail: Thank you so much. And before we [00:28:00] go, I just want to let any fellow hams or potentially interested hams that may be listening know that if you hear KE8UPE, Kilo Echo 8 Uniform Papa Echo, on air, that is me. And as we say in ham radio, 73.

Luisa Recchia: Jessica, thank you for sharing your story so openly with us. Your journey is a wonderful reminder that living with low vision does not define what someone can accomplish, and that new interests can lead to unexpected opportunities, meaningful connections, and even an entirely new platform for helping others.

We are cheering you on as you continue building your career, growing your podcast, and finding new ways to use your voice. To our listeners, thank you for joining us for another episode of Through Our [00:29:00] Eyes. If Jessica’s story inspired you, please share this episode with someone who may need to hear it.

Until next time, keep listening, learning, and seeing the world through one another’s eyes.