Christina: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Taking the Lead podcast where we empower people to be unstoppable. I'm Christina Hepner with my co-host Leslie Hoskins and Timothy. So Timothy was saying that he has a funny story for us about Glacier.
Timothy: Yes, as a guide dog, uh, person who uses a guide dog, most of us have stories that our dogs do.
Well, everybody knows that glacier's a pooper. Uh, I can take her out to the restroom and she'll, she'll do her business and we can go on our little, our, our little walk. So we were. We were walking downtown Winder here where I live, and we were crossing the street, and in the middle of the street she decided, Hey, I'm going to do one right here in the middle of the street.
Christina: She didn't,
Timothy: this is a four way stop.
Christina: Oh no.
Timothy: So I'm going, oh my gosh, I'm in the middle of traffic. What do I do? So I was bending over, get a bag out, and started bending over and a cop pulled [00:01:00] up. And he goes over his loud speaker, leave it, get out of this section, and go on.
Christina: That's so
Timothy: funny. I just waved at him and walked all the way.
I was so embarrassed. Oh no.
Christina: Oh, at least he was looking out for your safety, right? Yeah,
Leslie: that's,
Timothy: I happy to hear
Leslie: that was
Christina: what he said,
Timothy: but I thought about all those cars going through the intersection and grabbing onto that stuff.
Christina: Oh, but that is. The reality that they are still dogs. Yeah, they're still, dogs do still happen, so it's something to think about, right?
Timothy: Yep. I would've liked it a minute before or a minute after the intersection though. So,
Leslie: you know, it's, it's certainly not something that I've often taught in o and m of what happens when you talking poop. The middle of this drink, and I don't wanna say this may be a reason for a cane, but I've never had a cane pooping in the middle of this street.
But
Timothy: a cane can break in the middle of the end.
Leslie: That's true. That's true. But every, you know, if we're weighing some pros and cons, similar style and text here,
Christina: I [00:02:00] knew she one for the cane was gonna find a way to bring it all the way back.
Timothy: So of course she, that's, that's in her blood. That's,
Leslie: oh my goodness.
Christina: That is, that is a funny story. That's not what I was expecting at all.
Leslie: I think that's like such a good point though, Timothy and things that we hear from. New guide dog users of like the first time something like that happens and the embarrassment and the, the panic and the, oh my gosh, what am I gonna do?
Um, and unfortunately it does happen, right? Yeah. They're do, they're not perfect. It's rare that the situation like that happens, but it does make for a comical
Christina: Yeah. Story. But I just love that there happened to be a police officer. What God and got over the loud speaker and told you to leave it. Yeah. That makes, that makes the story.
Timothy: Yeah. I just waved on and he's just said, get outta there, boy. So I did.
Leslie: Oh my goodness.
Christina: It
Timothy: would just imagine. There, there's, there's, there's a, you know, those, those cars have cameras on it, so it's being filmed too, so.
Leslie: Oh, what? I would love to have [00:03:00] that footage.
Christina: Yes. They happen to, ever listened to this? Send it to the leader dog.
Leslie: Yeah. Just the panic of, you know, right. Your face when all this is happening and what to do. And also other drivers that are at the intersection, like witnessing what's happen,
Christina: they're like, oh no,
Leslie: what to do, how to help. 'cause people are already nervous. Oh my goodness.
Christina: See, I think it would've been funnier if the cop got out of their car and like came and picked it up.
Leslie: That would've been nice.
Christina: Yeah,
Leslie: that would've been nice. But, but
Timothy: maybe.
Leslie: Oh my gosh. Too funny. Well, thank you for sharing that and reminding us all that things like that happen to even the most seasoned teams. Yes, that can happen.
Timothy: What are you saying? I'm old.
Christina: Hey, we all
Leslie: know.
Christina: I'm just kidding.
Leslie: Listen, if you are old, I can't imagine what the rest of us are all gonna be, and especially in Christina's eyes, because I'm only five years older than her and I'm ancient.
So
Christina: yeah, that is true.
Leslie: Who knows?
Christina: I'm still young.
Leslie: Oh gosh. Oh gosh. Well, thank you for [00:04:00] sharing that, Timothy. That's really funny. And I'm glad ultimately that everybody was safe and got out of the intersection. Um, that's fantastic.
Christina: Yes.
Leslie: All right. Well, today's guest has been mentioned on this podcast many a time.
We've talked to many clients who have worked with him, but we are so excited that he is finally sitting down with us to chat.
Christina: Yes, we are so excited to welcome Lynn Gocho to the podcast. Lynn served as the director of orientation and Mobility at the Louisiana School for the visually impaired and the statewide director of o and m and visually impaired services for Louisiana until his retirement after 30 years of service.
Well, then he decided to come back and he came to Leader Dog as a guest orientation and mobility instructor in 2006. And lucky for us, he just keeps coming back.
Timothy: Yes, Lynn, it's great to have you on the podcast and I've met you, you are a character and I absolutely love being around you. Uh, so what brought you to being a, wanting to be an o and m instructor way [00:05:00] back when?
Christina: I love that intro.
Lynn: Okay. I never really knew I was gonna do that. Actually, I was an individual sports person, never got on team sports. And I realized from a young age I was being prepared for this. Had no clue. Of course, God had a plan for my life. I didn't know it's a good thing. He didn't tell me what the plan was.
But, uh, I was on a circus team for summer Catch man on trapeze. I walked tight rope. I was a gymnast, swimmer, a diver. I was director of equestrian services at a camp for a summer. I was aquatics director, uh, taught skeet at University of Southern Mississippi, and I was a cyclist. So everything I did, it was a normal thing that everyone does when they grow up.
It's just,
Leslie: well, we'd argue tightrope alone is just like ridiculous. Yeah. Same. Continue.
Lynn: Well, I was introduced to Tightrope when I did the circus and it was a blast. And so as soon as I [00:06:00] could buy the equipment, I bought the equipment and I was uh, actually, I got into the field of recreation because I thought that's a natural fit.
You know, everything I did, except the problem is in recreation, you also have to have team sports, and I thought. Team sports. That's no fun. So anyway, I had to do the team sports and I coached a girls gymnastics team with about 150 on the team, uh, from beginners all the way through to National Elite. And, uh, I set the tight rope up in the gym and taught them how to walk tight rope to help with balance bean routines.
And so at some point I came across the Dean of residential services at the Louisiana School for the visually impaired. He had an issue. He didn't know what to do with afterschool programming. Back in my day, the residential school was truly a residential school. The kids only went home for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and maybe a week or two during the summer.
Other than that, they were after school all year long. So his issue was what to do with the [00:07:00] kids after school hours. So we came across each other and he asked me, you know, what could I do? So I gave him information. Gave him some resources, told him what he needed to do. He tried all that. Three months later, he called me back and said, Lynn, I tried everything.
None of it is working. What can I do? So I said, Bobby, I don't know what else to tell you. I gave you everything I could. And he said, Lynn, would you like a job? At that time, I was superintendent of recreation for a city recreation department, and I said, I kind of have a job. But he offered me something that I really thought was great.
So. I decided to pack up and we moved the family back to Baton Rouge when I was born and raised and, um, started a recreation program. First thing I did is started horseback riding, set the tire rope up. Went about trying to get funds to buy tandem bikes so we could do bicycling and um, you know, we did scuba diving for years, uh, at the school 'cause I was also a scuba diver.
So, anyway. [00:08:00] I tried to take, I, I thought that I've never worked with visually impaired, and I told the dean, I said, look, I've never worked with visually impaired. He said, Lynn, it's easy. You know, he was right. I could take everything I learned all my life and modify it for them. And I thought that was great.
I had 'em walking tightrope, I had 'em scuba diving, I had 'em, uh, on, you know, tandem bicycles. Uh, you know, we did all kind of stuff. So anyway, the main thing is on the biking I found was something the kids really liked. So to. Cut through all the gruff. We rode bicycles from San Augustine, Florida to Houston, Texas on tandem bikes.
And the rule of the team was only blind kids can ride blind kids. I wouldn't allow, uh, a staff member to ride, so I had to set up an assessment program to make sure that according to their visual impairment, they could do okay. In the captain's seat, which is the front seat, Oke a seat in the back, and then rest is history.
We started practicing and start [00:09:00] doing cross country riding. So after a while I realized I can teach 'em all this, but if I can't teach 'em how to get from where they live to the actual activity, I'm spinning my wheels. So a grant came available for me to get into o and m, and I took advantage of the grant, got into o and m, and realized that's where I was being led to all my life.
And I have a story like it goes back when I was three, but I won't tell it because he told me we have a time factor. Yes. But, uh, anyway, that's how I ended up getting into o and m and then I realized that o and m was really well, was supposed to be, and I had this ability to analyze individuals that are using certain things and tweaking it and modifying it.
And, uh, I've realized that was kind of easy to do and so I've stuck with it ever since. Yeah,
Leslie: and you've been able to use your creativeness in every aspect of o and m and have continued to do it and, and really believing that people are [00:10:00] unstoppable and can do anything. But you have such a creative mind, and this is a great unique profession for an outlet.
And I know we wanna talk about a lot of things, but one of the ways in which you've impacted the field, which Lynn is a big name in the field of OM, and if you're an OM specialist, you have most likely ran into Lynn at some sort of a conference or joined one of his educational sessions or read his book, or maybe have even used a product that was inspired, uh, and or invented or created by Lynn.
And so part of that is really. The cane, right? Like you are the cane guy in the fields of orientation and mobility. And tell us about that. Like how did you get into cane repair and becoming the cane doctor?
Lynn: Well, before I became the cane doctor, uh, the main thing I did is I would always go and watch the students when they didn't think I was watching them.
Uh, it started with the AMDs. And
Leslie: what
Christina: is an amd I was gonna say, I don't know what an amm D is.
Lynn: An [00:11:00] adaptive mobility device or an alternative mobility device? Depends on how you define it. It's for an individual that can't maintain frontal um, safety. Mm-hmm. You know, they either don't scan their cane correctly or they let the cane drift to one side or the other.
Which means it's an accident waiting to happen. So in the transition period you can make an a MD that they hold in front of them, that gives them that automatic frontal protection. And uh, when they're ready to use a cane, then you take that away, give them the cane. The problem was. An A MD does not have any generalization skills from using the A MD, which is a rectangle made out a PVC pipe to a cane.
So that was the first thing I had to do. I had to figure out a way, because I would watch them on stairs. They would take the cane and uh, the A MD and put it over their shoulder, give it to a teacher, hold it out to the left. They had no frontal protection. So the first thing I did is I added what I call a balance extension.
Uh, a piece of PVC pipe coming down from the, the [00:12:00] middle, that would give them a good, balanced position. And with that, they could lock in the stairs and click up each stair, which is exactly the same skill you would use with a cane. So then I made for one individual, two of them, one for the school, one for home.
So after holiday purity came back and said, how was it? He said, well, my mom and dad wouldn't let me use it. I said, why? And they said, we have a small car, and that's a big bulky thing. So then I went on the hunt, okay, need to do something else. So then I developed a way to make a 50 50 fold a MD never been done before.
I sat in the back in my garage with sandpaper and half inch, uh, Dow rod, and just started Sandy and listening to music until I could fit it in one end. And then I sanded more until the other end slipped in and out really good. Then I used a 12 inch drill bit and drilled through the middle of it, and I used elastic cord, like same way you do a cane and I.
Uh, you just slip that cord all the way through and there, therefore you [00:13:00] have a 50 50 fold a MD And it just so happens Ambu Tech was at one of my sessions and liked it, and so we worked about six or seven months with the engineers to, we came up with what they were happy with and what I was happy with.
So that's the folded a MD that Amtech now sells. The next thing I did is I, I hated bidding over working with small kids 'cause. It really hurt my back. And so I came up with the Tandem bar made out of, again, Dow Rod. Again, Amtech saw it and I worked with them. And now the Tandem Bar is what they, what they sell.
So the next thing is cane repair. I went to conference after conference trying to find someone that could show me how to restrain folding canes, how to repair folding canes. There was nothing, I mean, there was some out there, but you know, there were, were not quite what I was looking for. So then began the multi-year search.
How do I do all this? And I just started working at it and you know, wouldn't stop [00:14:00] and just ended up being able to do it. And I'll never forget one of the conferences I went to, I actually got a canvas that said LJ, the can doc out GOC ta. Uh, because, uh, you know, I didn't have time to go back eat my doctor.
I just thought I'd dub myself a doctor.
Christina: Oh yeah.
Lynn: And so it was easier. It was so cheap. It was, so, it, it only cost me $25 to get a canvas, send LJ the cane doctor. And, and that was easy. So Doctor stands for doing anything, any, uh, doing. And he
Christina: we're not sure what it stands
Leslie: for. Right. This's always a thing to know about Lynn is he has so many acronyms.
Lynn: All
Leslie: acronym. Yeah. Yeah.
Lynn: Doing one's Cajun thing anywhere. That's what DR stands for. Now. The advanced degree is Dota deal. ETAA. That means doing ones Cajun thing anywhere, anytime.
Leslie: Okay. Yeah. And
Lynn: that's [00:15:00] important.
So that's the dance degree.
Leslie: Yes.
Lynn: And uh, all that was cheap, you know, $25. There
Leslie: you
Lynn: go. You get canvas and I'm a doctor.
Leslie: That's, that is so incredible.
Timothy: So I, I, I've known you've been doing this for a very long time, not a very long time, but quite a while time. What has been the biggest thing you've seen that's blown you away in o and m since you started?
Lynn: Well, I've realized in o and M that you have several types of individuals. You have your individuals that are happy with the status quo. We need those, you know, those are your foot soldiers. That go into the schools, go into the organizations and they're more of a by the book kind of individual. And those are very important to have.
And then you have those like me that I'm not happy with the status quo. Uh, I never forget when Leslie was assigned to me as the intern. One of the things she. Said is, she was by the book until she got paired with me and I told her, I said, Leslie, I don't think I've even read the book much less. I took my box [00:16:00] and burned it up, had a weenie roast and threw the ashes in the air because I didn't wanna be in the box.
And, and that gave me that option to always look at things in the state of what if. I never took status quo. I looked at something and said, what if I did this? What if I did that? And step by step I ended up doing the book on cane repair and uh, you know, design and modification. And, uh, that's the history and that's how I ended up.
And I love being in the field. Love the way I impact people.
Timothy: Mm-hmm.
Lynn: And the, uh, the clients still teach me. I had a recent client that taught me a diagonal cane technique. Cradle in your arm is called. It's called the Beauty Queen Diagonal Cale, uh, cradle Technique. And because she couldn't hold the cane straight out, it was a little bit heavy, so she cradled it in her arm and I said, what is that?
She said, it's the beauty Queen diagonal technique. I said, okay, now we have to have something for a guy. And I remember when I was teaching, uh, skeet. That, you know, you would cradle [00:17:00] the stock of your barrel in your arm. And so her and her, uh, family were rubic hunters. I said, call your family. Tell 'em we need something.
I can't teach a guy the beauty queen diagonal cane technique. So she came back with cradle. So for the guys, it's the diagonal cradle technique. So you rested in your arm, you know, and that's only if you have enough vision that you can see your surface area, but you need your cane to identify yourself in case you need.
Assistance.
Leslie: See, and that's why he's the doctor. Yeah. 'cause none of this is in the book. Just, you know, I did read the book and had to study the book and then was paired with Lynn my, my first ever experience teaching somebody who's blind or low vision was here at Leader Dog. I matched with Lynn. I've just worked with an instructor at Western Michigan University who wrote the book.
So that was all I knew.
Christina: Oh my gosh.
Leslie: Then I got here and everything I did, Lynn was like, why? And like, I, that's what I learned. That's how you're supposed to do it. And he's like, yeah, but what about this way? What about that? I was like, oh my, who, who knew you could do these things?
Christina: And [00:18:00] all these words that Lynn comes up with?
Leslie: Oh yeah. I mean,
Christina: like. I don't, I can't even keep 'em straight.
Leslie: What's there's, you have acronyms for so many things. Yeah. So like for going upstairs, they have to be safe and I can't remember up or down stairs. What does that stand for?
Lynn: Uh, so many. I'm trying to think of,
Leslie: he's like, I don't even
Lynn: know
Leslie: other than just being safe, of course.
But there's
Lynn: like, well one of the things, uh, not on stairs, but on street crossings I'll talk about came position and visibility or kissing cousins. Okay.
Leslie: Okay. You were getting down to that one.
Lynn: You know, because you, you have to have those in order to be able to relate to students and to clients so that you can talk about why would I do this versus the other thing.
Mm-hmm. And going up and down stairs also learned from an intern that. You can actually fold a section of your cane down instead of tilting the cane forward to click up each step. Never thought about that. And she taught me that and I told her, I'm never gonna mention her name because this is my design.
Leslie: [00:19:00] Or 'cause you don't remember it. But we'll into that. Another design.
Lynn: Well, it could, it could be that also. But you know, I'm not gonna say that one way or the other. Uh, but anyway, I try to come up with different things. Uh, you know, one thing is like, uh, slow down the search around, get turned around. Uh, you know, you, you know, once you get your path.
And then I talk about anchoring. Anchoring is a big thing. So that you know where you start from so you can get back to where you finish. And the stairs. Golly. Let's you know,
Leslie: I know E was efficiency. I
Lynn: know. Oh, okay. Well if you're talking about that, yeah, it's, it's case. I didn't know you were talking about that.
Okay. Sorry.
Leslie: Dang it. Safe case. I was close.
Lynn: Yeah. So case, CASE stands for consistent, accurate, safe, and efficient. So when you're doing pain skills, uh, you know, you can modify it when I'm there if you want to, but it's gotta meet the case. Mm-hmm. Now the thing about case is E. Can be a helium balloon, it can kind of float away.
And for that, if you're going up or down stairs and you put two feet on each stairs, it's not efficient. But if it [00:20:00] reduces your anxiety and you feel okay, then it still meets consistent, accurate, and safe. So the helium balloon of E floats away when you're doing a route. If you go slow, it's not efficient, but for you if it's safe and accurate and consistent.
I'm okay with that. When you're crossing the street, E is a granite block locked in the case. There's no getting rid of that, so there's no, yeah, you know, there's no lack of efficiency on crossing the street. You have to meet the entire case. So that's the acronym I use. You know, when I'm, you know, letting people modify things, so I do let 'em modify.
I have no set rule. I have so many different modifications that I use.
Christina: Yeah. And Lynn, I think you really help people think outside of the box. And with those acronyms, I'm sure that clients are remembering them more versus those sometimes big names that are used in the o and m field that I know When I first started here at Leader Dog, I was like, what does that mean?
Um, so you've. Fun.
Leslie: It's interesting, [00:21:00] uh, throughout the years, Lynn has worked with so many students, obviously, families, colleagues, interns, practicum students, all of the above, um, and continues to have an impact on the field overall. But Lynn, we've talked just in general about your wisdom and your knowledge and all of these things and experience, but how did you come to Leader Dog and then you've maintained this relationship with Leader Dog, even though you've had such a career in Louisiana and in the broader field.
Lynn: As you're aware when you work for a school system even it was the state school. We had a week off for Thanksgiving, two weeks off for Easter, have to have a week off for Mardi Gras. And then we had a week off for, uh, two weeks off for Christmas, a week off for Mardi Gras, week off for Easter. And then we had summers off.
And summers were kind of optional. We could do camps and stuff, but, uh, somehow Rod Heline came across me. Still don't know how, but, but he did. And he told Erica, you know, back, you know, 22 years ago that I came across this guy. If we need another [00:22:00] guy to help out some, I think he, he might be good. I will never forget the first time I came.
Erica shadowed me and I was wondering, okay, what am I doing wrong? Because I was working with my client and Erica was like a helicopter hoverer following me. So later on, Erica and I talked about it. We laughed. She said, Lynn. Rod told me to follow you to make sure you know what you're doing. And she said, I'll learn real quick that you know what you're doing.
And I laughed and I said, well, I knew you were back there and I was wondering, am I doing something wrong?
Leslie: Oh my gosh. And then you've been working as a contingent OM ever since, so. Like you come up a couple weeks out of the year and,
Lynn: oh, no, I come up a lot more than that. Uh, I retired in 2013 mm-hmm. On May 31st, and my wife said I never did retire.
Leslie: Mm-hmm.
Lynn: Um, you know, because I, I love doing what I do. And so there are some years that I was up here, like probably 10 weeks, you know, during the year I was up here two weeks about. Two months ago, then I was up here two weeks, about a month [00:23:00] ago, and now I'm, I'm up here this week. Uh, I just love it. I mean, this is my home away from home.
I love coming up here and, you know, lead a dog fits my personality perfectly. I don't have to restrict myself. I can be who I am and, uh, I love coming up here.
Timothy: How does that cold weather affect you? I know you come from the Louisiana and you gotta go up there in January or February. I know that's gotta bother you a little bit.
Lynn: Well, Saturday before I came up here was 75 and I did a 10 mile bike ride before I came up. But you do have equipment in the basement. The elliptical. I like using it. But I love it in the summer because in Louisiana they can't spell bike path much less know what it's, they'll, they'll get a measuring tape and measure 36 inches from the ditch, draw a line and put figures of a bicycle and say, voila, bicycle trail.
So I ask them, where's the button to push the force field so that cars can't meander into your path? And of course there was none. Yeah. So when I started coming up [00:24:00] here and they let me use a bike. You know, I discovered all these paths, you know, the Clinton Trail and the, uh, the Paint Creek Trail and the apple, the orchard trail.
Christina: Yeah. That we have an orchard right up the rodeo.
Lynn: Love all those. So when I come up here, I go out and I ride, bike all over the place. So I, I really enjoy, it's just one of those quirky things I do. I just love riding bicycle. I don't know, it's just.
Christina: Yeah, I mean, Lynn, it sounds like you've done a laundry list of activities, though.
I biking. It seems pretty normal at this point.
Leslie: Yeah, and I'll say he actually gets so easy, like tandem biking. I know you've done, I don't even know how many miles probably of tandem biking, but Lynn and I once tried to, oh,
Christina: I would love to see this.
Lynn: Oh no. You know, she was yelling the whole. Time. Lynn, slow down.
I think we hit 30 or 40 miles an hour and I said, Leslie, this is fun. No, it's not. We're going too
Leslie: fast. No, it was terrifying and awful. I tried [00:25:00] being the front person, the back person, not, not good at. Did you have a helmet on?
Christina: At least I hope.
Leslie: I'm sure we
Lynn: did. Yes, of course we had helmets because you know, at 40 miles an hour, if you wreck, you do need a helmet to protect your head.
Christina: I can't even, I would love to have
Leslie: seen. It's not, it's not for me. Yeah. I'll tell you that. Yeah. It's, we've never gone again since, and I think that speaks value.
Christina: I can just picture Leslie just screaming.
Leslie: Yeah. But we have had so many fun times. Lynn has joined us for, I don't know how many camps, and I know you.
I love to talk about camp, but it is so much fun. I've actually seen Lynn and Barry, Barry Stafford, who's actually on campus right now too, ride a tandem bike up and down the hallways here.
Christina: Oh.
Leslie: And you know, waving to campers. I mean, just camp is such a fun and unique experience. Yes. And as instructors, when you're going on 90 hours a week, you start to get a little loopy and crazy and do some fun stuff, but.
Um,
Lynn: throughout the years, years, one of the things I enjoyed was the tandem biking with the campers. Mm-hmm. Uh, it was, is it Metro Park that we go to? Yeah.
Leslie: Stony [00:26:00] Creeky Creek.
Lynn: Mm-hmm. Stony Creek because it's six miles around the park and there are some camps that I went around the park maybe six times or seven times and loved it.
Uh, just love, love being on a bike. It's just one of those weird things.
Leslie: There's so many things. Is there anything el, I mean, like you've had so many highlights throughout your career and you're continuing to do so. I know we have a big conference coming up the end of this year. Uh, so, uh, well, I'll ask you two questions as I know we're getting to the end here already.
One, is there like one big highlight or achievement in your career that really, really stands out as like. Such a huge thing. And then two, I do wanna give you an opportunity to talk about Soma Swma a little bit and do a little promo for it. Okay. 'cause we have some other o and m specialists who listen.
Lynn: Well, I think one of the things, one of our biking trips, we ended up in Destin and the, uh, the director of the Destin, or I guess, uh, I don't know what they call the guy that owns the manager of the hotel Sure. Was a big sports guy. And when I told him what I was doing when I was trying to [00:27:00] get funding to go, he said, wait a minute, Lynn, what are you doing?
And this is with blind kids. Mm-hmm. I said, yes. So he said, don't worry about when you get out, take care of it. We went deep sea fishing. Caught almost 300 pounds of fish. Oh my gosh. Whoa. And the people filet the fish, put it in hot ice. And when we got back to school that Friday, what the supper was, the fish that we caught, gosh.
In our deep sea fishing. Oh my. And the kids got to go sailing and they got to actually use the helm. And uh, I mean that's, you know, the things I did with the kids, they still talk about and they remember.
Timothy: Yeah.
Lynn: You know, all the things we did. So the conference coming up December 5th to eighth, 2026. It's the Soma SW International o and m Conference.
Last time I put these two regions together was back in 1997. Nine. Uh, yes. 1997 we did a Swma SOMA conference in New Orleans.
Leslie: And real quick, what does SOMA and SWMA stand for? Yeah, for anybody who's not in the ONM profession.
Lynn: Okay. SOMA is Southeast Orientation Mobility Association. SWMA is Southwest [00:28:00] Orientation Mobility Association.
SWMA is the four Corners area, and Soma is kind of the southeast corner of, uh, Louisiana. And those two have never been put together again until I put it together in 1997. I decided I wanna do a repeat. And so we're doing it again December, 2026. December 5th through eighth, uh, at the Astro Crown Plaza.
It's the corner of Bourbon Street and Canal Street, Timothy.
Timothy: Yeah, I know where that's at.
Christina: So, Lynn, it doesn't sound like you ever actually retired. It sounds like you're doing more now.
Leslie: Mm-hmm.
Lynn: As long as I can do it, I wanna do it. 'cause I love it. Yeah, I don't, I've been doing this for 45 years. I don't see any reason to stop now.
Christina: Right.
Leslie: Yeah. There was a time not too long ago when Lynn was like, I don't think I'm gonna renew my certification to stay a certified orientation mobility specialist. We're like, okay, sure. Not one person thought he was gonna let that lapse. Are you kidding me?
Lynn: So I did recertify my next [00:29:00] certification period.
I will be 80 years old if I wanna recertify for another five years. And I say no, but. I don't know. I'm, I'll change it. I'm gonna say we'll see.
Leslie: Yeah, exactly.
Timothy: There's still to
Leslie: be done.
Timothy: Lynn is light on his feet. When I was up there last, he was there and I was in there washing my clothes and drying, and he'd come down the hallway, not once, but twice, and scared the tar outta me.
So now knowing that he was a tightrope walker in the circus, I know why now. Yeah.
Leslie: Yeah. I, I mean, Erica talks about she visited your home at one point, I think, and saw Erica. I did a conference
Lynn: in Louisiana and Erica's the last one here that was actually on my road at that time. Harold was her supervisor.
I'll never forget Harold called Erica. Erica handed me the phone and Harold said, Lynn, if you break it, it's yours. Because all the ON M team, were all were working on walking on the tightrope.
Leslie: Oh my gosh. Well, I'm glad I came after that time. I don't feel like I wasn't successful on a tandem bike. I certainly wasn't gonna be six.
On a or [00:30:00] a tight rope. Well, I know there are many other stories that we could certainly dive into as you've had such a lengthy career and continue to do so. But Lynn, thank you so much for joining us finally, and sharing a little bit about yourself.
Lynn: Well, thank you very much. I really enjoyed it.
Leslie: And thank you so much to our listeners for listening to the Taking the Lead podcast.
I'm Leslie Hoskins with host Timothy Kyo and Christina Hepner. We hope you enjoyed listening to Lynn's story and the impact he continues to have on Leader Dog, the o and m field and clients around the world. Join us next time as we continue to dive into the world of blindness.
Christina: And if you'd like to learn more about applying to our free services at Leader Dog, you can head to leader dog.org or call us at (888) 777-5332.
Don't forget you can reach us at taking the lead@leaderdog.org with any questions or ideas. If you like today's podcast, make sure to hit subscribe and check us out wherever podcast stream.