The Volunteer's Voluntell, with Martin, Greg and Myurika
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In light of April being National Volunteer month in North America, we decided to shine the spotlight on three of our wonderful volunteers here at Balance for our next instalment of Living Blind. Or, as we like to call it, The Volunteer\\u2019s Voluntell! Join Naomi Hazlett\\xa0 as she sits down with Myurika Sithamparanathan, Martin Courcelles, and Greg Pickios. These three have very different responsibilities with the organization, with Myurika operating on the front lines with clients, and Martin serving behind the scenes with the board of directors. And Greg, well, has a foot in both camps.
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\\nGreg Pickios has Worked for a number of years in a marketing capacity for the internet division of various media companies. He recently went back to college to earn a Diploma as a Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy Assistant, and currently works as an OTA and PTA. Volunteering with Balance has allowed him the opportunity to marry these two passions, and improve the lives of the blind and low vision clients he works with. Additionally, He serves as the transcriber of the Living Blind podcast, and we thank him very much for his continued hard work.
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\\nMyurika Sithamparanathan immigrated to Canada when she was 10 years old, and is a recent graduate from the University of Toronto, with an honours bachelor of science degree. Her passion for helping people with various needs started from a young age, and she has volunteered at BALANCE for 2 years. In that time she has served as a tele-support counselor, a life skills assistant, the facilitator for Coffee Connections, and much more. Her passion for volunteering to help those in the\\ncommunity stems from the work her father did as a field staff in Sri Lanka, supporting displaced people and their families during the Civil war.
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\\nMartin courcelles brings over 15 years of expertise in the\\nrealm of screen reading technology, and currently works at CIBC on the accessibility team as a User Experience Accessibility consultant. As a person with lived experience having to use access technology every day, Martin explains how to improve web properties and smartphone apps to ensure accessibility for all. He\\u2019s a subject matter expert at using JAWS, NVDA and Narrator on the PC, and\\xa0Voiceover and Talkback\\xa0on smartphones.
\\nHe became a Balance client back in 1999, when he required orientation and mobility training around the city of Toronto. Wanting to give back to the community and to the organization that was there for him when he needed help, he has enjoyed his time volunteering as a member on our\\nboard of directors so much, he\\u2019s come back twice! In his downtime, Martin\\nenjoys running, hiking, tandem cycling and other outdoor activities.
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\\nLinks:
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\\nFollow Greg on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-pickios-62544315/
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\\nFollow Myurika on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/myurika-sithamparanathan-hbsc-a67034225/
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\\nSend her an email: MYURIKAS@gmail.com.
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\\nFollow Martin on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-courcelles-57271915/
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\\nAnd on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/martin.courcelles/
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\\nIF you would like to volunteer at Balance, please visit https://www.balancefba.org/volunteer-at-balance/
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\\nWhat did you think of The Volunteer\\u2019s Voluntell? Get in touch with the podcast by joining our Listeners Facebook\\ngroup, or by sending us\\nan email at LivingBlindPodcast@BalanceFBA.org.
\\nFollow Balance For Blind Adults on Facebook,
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\\nThe show notes and transcription for this podcast can be found at\\nBalanceFBA.org/Podcast.
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\\nDonate to BALANCE:\\xa0BalanceFBA.org
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