# Sideways with Stephen

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/aaron-s-opinion-2998888/sideways-with-stephen
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/aaron-s-opinion-2998888/sideways-with-stephen.md
Podcast: [Aaron’s Opinion](https://stenobird.com/podcast/aaron-s-opinion-2998888)
Published: 2026-07-21T15:01:01+00:00
Episode link: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/sideways-with-stephen--73079835
Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/73079835/imported_e34be6f0_6568_4fc0_a1a9_21b5fbecb58e.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/aaron-s-opinion-2998888/episodes/sideways-with-stephen
Duration seconds: 5730

## Resource

Aaron, thank you for your interest in Sideways Innovations, LLC. My name is Stephen Poirier, alias Blind Yoda. I noticed at a very young age that I could not see well but my teachers thought I was simply lazy. When I told them I could not see through the cloud on the chalkboard, they did not understand. This was confusing to me and my family since I knew I had a problem. I saw many specialists without results. Though I was able to participate in sports, my academic abilities were very limited. When I turned 14 years old, I was finally diagnosed with Juvenile Macular Degeneration which is now known as Stargardt disease. At this point I was declared legally blind. Music became my only focus, mainly drumming. At 22 years of age I finally had to accept my blindness and attended the Carroll Center for the Blind. During one of my mobility trainings, a man taking a right hand turn hit my blind mobility cane, knocking it out of my hand. He stopped and said, “I did not see you”. I replied, “If I had a light saber you would have seen me and I would have cut your car in half!” Hence, the concept of the Light Sword was born! Fast forward 40 or so years later, I created the Light Sword Blind Mobility Cane out of a modified light saber. Today, my focus is to bring vision to the sighted, enabling them to better see the blind community at night in a cool and stylish way. Looking forward to talking with you! Stephen Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/aaron-s-opinion--5920599/support .

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## Transcript

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