TRAINER'S EYE #68 - "Pokemon Encounters From A Wheelchair" ft. BirdmanDodd from This Week in Geek

In this Pokemon interview, we are joined by BirdmanDodd, a Pokemon Trainer from Guelph, Ontario and the co-host of This Week in Geek, who shares his experience with Pokemon from a wheelchair.

BirdmanDodd shares the transformative power of Pokémon GO in his life, revealing how the game opened doors to community engagement and connection. From PokéStops to Gym battles, he navigates the Pokémon GO landscape from the vantage point of his wheelchair, offering a glimpse into the challenges that shaped his experience.

BirdmanDodd candidly discusses the unique challenges of playing Pokémon GO from a wheelchair, he also unveils the profound change in perspective that the game has brought to his life. Pokémon GO has become more than just a game; it's offered him new friends and newfound empowerment and possibilities.

Trainer's Eye is a series where the stories are real and people still play this game. From PVP to Shiny Hunting, each person's Pokemon GO journey is unique and we dive into each journey here on As The Pokeball Turns!

Sources
Opening Song: "Forget You" by Alex_MakeMusic from Pixabay

Connect with BirdManDodd: Twitter | Website

Transcript

David Hernandez: 0:00

My name is David Hernandez, and you're listening to As the Pokeball Turns. Welcome to As the Pokeball Turns, where the stories are real and people still play this game. Our journey takes us to Guelph, a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, also known as the Royal City. Here we meet a Pokemon trainer who overnight went from being an able bodied individual to transitioning into a new chapter from a wheelchair. Despite the sudden shift, he was able to find community and a way to embrace his new life thanks to Pokemon Go. He shares insight into the unique daily challenges he faces when it comes to both daily living and accessibility with playing this game. Accessibility is a hot topic when it comes to not only Pokemon Go, but gaming as a whole. Without knowing someone personally, or hearing from reputable people first hand, it's easy to ignore or dismiss outcries of accessibility discrimination. The conversation changes from someone like me who can only really theorize or imagine life with a disability to someone who lives it daily, someone who can share from personal experience what challenges they do face and really bring merit into the discussion with accessibility and Pokemon Go. My guest is the self proclaimed prophecy foretold of a nerd who would rise up from the internet and usher in a new era of glory and stupidity. He is the co host of This Week in Geek. Here is his origin story into the world of Pokemon Go. This is Birdman Dodd. today, I'm joined by the cohost of This Week in Geek, Mike. Mike, welcome to the show.

BirdmanDod: 2:13

Hey, Dave. It is fantastic, to, be here on your podcast. I'm very glad we had a chance to connect on Twitter because I'm not calling it x, but I'm, uh, very glad that we just randomly found, each other. I've had a chance to listen to a couple of your episodes and, uh, I gotta say, you have a fantastic podcast, and I'm so glad someone is out there interviewing players. I think your hashtag is, like, fifty two weeks, fifty two guests or something like

David Hernandez: 2:38

Yes. It is. It's the highlight fifty two people within this past year, and they all come from different walks of life. That's why I like to do my podcast.

BirdmanDod: 2:45

That is fantastic, and that is such a great hook. So thank you for allowing me to be part of that hashtag.

David Hernandez: 2:53

Definitely. And I appreciate you just being able to agree to come on the show because you're gonna share a unique perspective in regards to, you know, how Pokemon GO affects you, and I look forward to diving into that. But as I said earlier, you're actually a podcast host for a different kind of podcast, to where y'all cover stuff that's geek. Pokemon's kinda geeky in a way. Right?

BirdmanDod: 3:10

Yeah. my podcast originally started back in two thousand and Seven as part of a college project way back when when podcasting was still very much in its infancy, sort of like that Leo Laporte this week in text, Amber Mack sort of thing. So my original cohost at the time And I just got together. We started doing this podcast for my local college. It Started as a radio program, we asked if we could podcast it, and they let us, and we just kept going. So I've been continuously podcasting since Two thousand and seven. As far as I understand, I'm the longest running Canadian podcast. Thousands of hours of audio. It's taken me All across the country, and into the United States. I've been on television before. I've been a journalist, I've done a lot of interesting things in regards to that. I've been on Kevin Smith's comic book men when that show is still on the air. Yeah. It's Taking me some pretty cool places, and all I gotta do is talk about Batman fighting the master chief and why Goku could Beat the crap out of Edward Cullen from the Twilight franchise. By the way, real argument I had with someone back in two thousand and nine.

David Hernandez: 4:20

Really?

BirdmanDod: 4:21

Oh my god. They're like, he's so powerful. Like, he could nuke a planet. I don't care. I love you, but you're clearly dumber than advertised it was a good time.

David Hernandez: 4:33

It reminds me of the Goku versus Superman arguments because those that's kinda usually the big ones because Superman's kinda from the former kinda superpower kinda guy. Goku's kinda more present day. People come from both sides. Now I'm more on the Superman side, to be honest, but people go on both sides defending each character in those kind of imaginary fights.

BirdmanDod: 4:50

Oh, yeah. Like, way back, when the whole death battle debacle started on the old screw attack forms, which is where some people might recognize me from, as well as I'm the screw attack guy. I remember many animated conversations on those forums about that. And I'm a Goku guy because I love Dragon Ball. But, Yeah. I've had some pretty interesting who would win in a fight debates, but I think the most interesting was probably Batman versus the master chief and Edward Cullen versus Goku, which led to hours long conversations and, Clearly, having a life is not a high priority for me. So

David Hernandez: 5:26

It's a It's a nerdy life. Right? It's like when we go to, like, who's gonna win a Pokemon battle or who's gonna win between two different Pokemon? Like, that's the fun part with that we live and love to talk about.

BirdmanDod: 5:36

Oh, yeah. Like, I fully embrace being a nerd and a dork have somehow turned it into a semi living. Like, even now, it's led to a career in the role playing game industry. It's so wild like when I think back to my adoptive parents telling me you need to get a real job. And they automatically assumed because I went to college, I would be a CEO of some computer company because they were in their sixties when they adopted me. Long story. and it was like, guys, the world Doesn't work like that. I'm not gonna be handed a multimillion dollar corporation because I took a couple of classes. So No. And it's so funny because when I recently went to school for radio, I actually went to school for television At first, I used to volunteer at my local television station in Southern Ontario. I was, a small town called Owen Sound, I used to do the Ontario, hockey league and I really started to love that. but when I went to Niagara college where I discovered radio, and I just discovered that there is a niche for it, even talk radio, there are nerdy kind of programs like that. Like, I remember growing up, I was very much into, Art Bell, who was a radio host, he would do that Coast to Coast AM, and he was like conspiracy radio. But his presentation skills were second to none, and it was a big thing for me to wanna continue in the industry, but also people like Howard Stern because I'd love that over top shock jock stuff. And when I my second year courses at Niagara, they put us into radio and television, and I have no interest being on TV, though it happens occasionally. and I remember my professor at the time saying, no one's gonna wanna see a fat guy with with flaming red hair. I had red hair that was like a Blaziken. It was that vibrant

David Hernandez: 7:24

Blaziken before Blaziken existed.

BirdmanDod: 7:26

Oh, yeah. I was so hardcore. He's like, you can't do that. I'm like, motherfucker, watch me. And he didn't like that response too much. but, yeah, it has turned into such a weird and wacky career Over the years and just understanding that you don't have to be put in this little bubble if you have that creativity and that drive to do something interesting. And if you really embrace that nerd life, you can find a way to make it work for you.

David Hernandez: 7:55

I think that's the best part about just podcast in general. I've interviewed a lot of podcast. You're not the first one. You won't be the lsat. And they all come from the same standpoint to where they wanna create something, and they wanna create something around they're passionate about. And just to hear how you just so passionate about the nerdy side of just life, and you wanted to be able to share that with the masses. It's truly inspirational, especially going on from two thousand seven to present day. That's Sixteen years. That's almost two decades.

BirdmanDod: 8:18

Yeah. My podcast is old enough to get a license. It's old enough to It's almost old enough buy a lottery ticket, and hopefully, it's kissed a girl by now. so So my podcast, it's growing up so fast.

David Hernandez: 8:33

Oh my gosh. Well, my last question regards to the podcast. You know, like I said, sixteen years, What about it kept you motivated to keep going just to do podcasting?

BirdmanDod: 8:43

honestly, it's a lot of interesting experiences and guests that I've spoken to. I've spoken to a number, number rather of voice actors, People like Sean Schemmel. I've talked with people who've worked on major movies..My big reason to stay with podcasting is I'm a very big believer in the news should always be free. I don't like the idea of having a Patreon for my podcast. Because if I've done it for sixteen years for free, I'm not gonna start charging you tomorrow. So my belief is if I can provide you entertainment and information, infotainment, if you will. I will always do that because I love to serve an audience that has supported me for this long. They followed me across multiple websites, multiple outlets and I occasionally get some really nice emails from people saying you've helped me during a Really difficult time. In fact, there was one piece of mail that I got. he said, Mike, the fact that you've stayed so enthusiastic about stuff that you love and you've never let it grind you down, That's really encouraging. If I can hear you talk about Star Wars for two hours and you never lose your enthusiasm, that's encouraging. That gives me hope that I don't have to grow up. I don't have to be this miserable person that my parents want me to be. I like to think I'm helping in my own way just by being that in what I feel to be a true and authentic representation of myself. So just always being enthusiastic and happy about life. I think that's the main reason I keep going plus Getting free stuff is kinda cool too.

David Hernandez: 10:14

This is Mike from This Week in Geek. We'll talk more about how you can connect with him later and where to check out his podcast. you focus on nerdy stuff. Focus on nerdy stuff all the way. What do you know about Pokemon? What was your first experience with the franchise?

BirdmanDod: 10:26

Okay. So this goes all the way back to high school. So and we're going nineteen nineties, folks. So News flash. I'm old as shit. So,

David Hernandez: 10:36

Amen.

BirdmanDod: 10:38

so I remember me and my best friend at the time, Ryan, He got me into the anime, and I thought it was really cool because at that time, small town Ontario, anime was not very accessible Unless you had, like, YTV. And I grew up in the stick, so I didn't have cable. I barely had satellites. My parents wouldn't watch anything but CNN and hockey. So getting the TV was a bit of a rare thing. So we started watching Pokemon together. Then he got into the cards, but he got me into the game for the Game Boy. So I bought Pokemon red, I think it was. We also started we were heavy role players at the time. So we would play Shadowrun second edition, Star Wars West End Games, D and D, which would have been a D and D at that time, and vampire the masquerade. So my buddy developed a Pokemon role playing game that he did with the original Kanto one fifty one. He started out everything, and we used to play Pokemon the RPG. It'd just be me and him because we couldn't convince anybody else to kinda play with us, but then we started getting in into the card game. But what really kicked us off is I remember I skipped school to be one of the first in line to go see Pokemon the first movie, which was me tell you. We're the oldest kids in that auditorium at that time, so we would have been, like, fifteen or sixteen. And then the other time, Toys R Us, they had a day where if you could travel to a Toys R Us and you brought your Game Boy with you, You could link cable with one of the reps at the Toys R Us store, and they would give you mew.

David Hernandez: 12:08

I remember

BirdmanDod: 12:09

So we drove all around Southern Ontario. We went from our little town, Owen Sound, and we drove all the way to Niagara Falls. Nobody had it, So we had to drive all the way back, and we went, so we stopped in Newmarket, which is about two hours away from where we live. So we'd hit probably about ten Toys R Us's that day looking for this Mew. Nobody knew what the hell we were talking about. I guess we found the one where the one dork just happened to be working. And we got our Mew, and we were so happy. And I think there was a Pokemon tournament or something because I've got this memory where he walked away with the little Pikachu that was like a Tamagotchi. he figured out a way if he attached it to his shoe, it would get volts quicker. So he was playing Pokemon Go before it was Pokemon Go, and it was just so ridiculous. But, yeah, like, we got Into the cards and the anime super heavy. I remember him unironically cosplaying as Ash. Like, he had the vest. He had the hat and all the And he would go to school like this. I'm thinking okay. I would like to meet girls at some point, so could you please not? Um, but The worst thing he ever did, and this breaks my heart to this very day. So he had more money than sense. And we were working at a pizza place or he was, and I was just there to kinda help out and get some free pizza. one night, we were closing up the shop, and we had his Pokemon cards on a binder on the top of his car. So we're going in. We're just getting ready to leave. We leave an entire master set, not even kidding, of one fifty one on the top of his car,

David Hernandez: 13:49

my gosh.

BirdmanDod: 13:50

we drove Oh, yeah. I'm dead fucking serious because he had a hollow Charizard and all that

David Hernandez: 13:55

Oh,

BirdmanDod: 13:55

I remember pulling those with him.

David Hernandez: 13:58

ears.

BirdmanDod: 13:58

we Yeah. So sorry, pal. But, yeah, I'm hoping some kid found that and is now living a very comfortable retirement somewhere. But, yeah. That's how I got into it, and I stayed with the franchise until probably Pokemon yellow. When gen two came out, I was so lost. I'm like, I don't have the memory to memorize another hundred and fifty creatures. it was weird because I stepped away from the franchise for a number of years. Even when Nintendo would offer me The game should review. I would have other people on my podcast network, like, other cohosts or other producers work on it for me because I'm thinking, I don't know what I'm talking about. unless it's the original one fifty one, if they're not in the PokeRap, I don't know what I'm talking about. it just kinda fell out of my life up until Pokemon Let's Go Eevee. I got back in the Pokemon at a very strange time. I got sick with a diabetic infection, which unfortunately led to me to have my lower left leg amputated below the knee. literally they told me in the hospital, look. There's not an unreasonable chance that you could die tomorrow, So you should probably get your affairs in order and before that, I'd gotten into Pokemon Go. So, Fortunately, the hospital was right on top of a gym, and it was right on top of a couple of stops. So I would play that way, And it was super, super, super casual. But when I got released from the hospital after four months, I went into November. I didn't get home until February. I finally got a Nintendo Switch. Nintendo had sent me one for review when the switch came out, and I just kinda never really paid attention to it. But it wasn't until let's go Eevee came out and let's go Pikachu that I really started to get back into the franchise. Because I'm like, you know what? I don't have to grind. I don't have to think about a thousand different stat changes. It's simple. It's accessible. I'm not gonna lose my mind grinding.

David Hernandez: 15:57

it's gen one which is what you're familiar with.

BirdmanDod: 15:59

Exactly. And it's gen one. I get it. This is cool. I like it. I really wanted the Pokeball controller, but I sold that for twenty dollars because I'm fucking stupid. Um, kicking myself in the ass now. Believe me. but I really started to get back into the franchise. And then my sister, Shannon, was really into Pokemon Go, And she convinced me and my wife to start playing because, like, we had accounts from two thousand and seventeen or sixteen whenever the game launched, but we didn't really know what we were doing. And it was just a casual thing that it just kinda sat on our phones. But when Shannon moved in with us, we started going to Raid nights that were happening in our local town that we'd, like, kinda move to, which is Guelph, Ontario. And we started just doing remote raids because I couldn't get out very much in my wheelchair at that time because of the snow. I was kinda playing Pokemon Go really, really, really, really casual Up until about two thousand and twenty, that's when things took a bit of a change. I started to get a little bit more involved. I had bariatric surgery, which is the gastric bypass sleeve. I'm a pretty big guy. I'd lost a bunch of weight. I've been on a liquid diet for six months. Let me tell you. There's a special place in hell reserved for anybody who has to do that. It sucked. so I had my surgery. I'd lost a shit ton of weight. I had more freedom than I ever thought I could. So I've been in a power wheelchair for about a year or two, I was always afraid to go outside. I was like, Well, what if I wipe out? What if I'm too far from home? What if my battery dies? I remembered all the fun I had with my sister, Shannon. I started figuring out if I can travel on my own, I can bring Pokemon with me. I can play while they're at home. can do my own thing. So after I had my bariatric surgery, I just started playing, like, a lot. And that's when Mewtwo was back in raids. I must have raided, like, thirty in a weekend. Mewtwo is like my favorite legendary, and I was like, yo. This is really fun. I really wanna keep kinda playing this. it just literally snowballed from there, and I got more and more and more involved. I started meeting people. I met my first Pokemon Go group here in the city of Guelph, I made friends, and then I started learning more about the game. I wish I'd learned more sooner because I deleted hundos before I knew what the hell those were. look at my Pokedex and cry every so often, I've never deleted hundo legendary, so I'm not that stupid. but was just such a change for me because never thought of a mobile game as creating something like this because for years, I was anti mobile game. I just assumed it was all angry birds and cut the rope and fruity ninja and all this other stupid bullshit, stuff that I covered as part of my day job. I'd never considered that augmented reality to be anything. But Pokemon really changed a lot of it because, again, it had the one fifty one that I loved, and it had New Pokemon, I knew nothing about, but was willing to learn because then I started watching online content creators, people like Pokedaxi, Mystic7, trainer tips, Trainer club and all these guys. it's to the point now where me and my wife will wake up. We'll have coffee together. We start the day with a trainer club video. We'll see what Pokedaxi is up to. We'll sit there, and we'll binge a bunch of Mystic7's videos, that's just a part of our day. Like, Pokemon Go literally starts the day, it ends the day. Like, literally before we go to sleep, Don't forget to send a gift, and we will do that so we can get the interaction. In fact, as of this recording, he's literally in the other room doing all of our hundred trades right

David Hernandez: 19:42

Oh, wow. It's really

BirdmanDod: 19:44

the interview. Oh, yeah. Like, it is such a thing. Like, Even tonight, while I was playing Pokemon cards, I had my, auto catcher going, and this little kid walked up to me. He saw me in my Pokemon hat. He saw my auto catcher. And this kid walks up to me. He's like, Are you a professional Pokemon Go player? I'm thinking, oh, kid. You're so freaking hardcore. If I you a legendary right now, I would. I'm the most engaged with the Pokemon franchise than I've ever been in my entire life like, it's so rewarding, and I've met so many cool people. There's a girl, you've probably seen her on Reddit. She and her boyfriend created the real life Pokestop, and she also crochets. And she made my wife a life size Meowth. We have a life size Litton, and we have something else life size. Think like like a Tora

David Hernandez: 20:36

She's very talented. Yes. I

BirdmanDod: 20:38

Oh my god. She's phenomenal, and

David Hernandez: 20:41

boyfriend's like real steal or something like that. Can't remember her

BirdmanDod: 20:43

yeah. Yeah. Nikki. So, yeah, Nick and Chris are amazing. In fact, because I used to write for the local newspaper here, the Guelph Mercury Tribune. One of the first stories that I wrote was about Pokemon and just talking about how it opens up all these new worlds for people and how it's so accessible. And the fact that a town like Guelph, which is a university town, because we have the University of Guelph here, otherwise known in Canada as Moo Yuk, because we have a top shelf veterinary program. there's a lot of students that come through this town. There's a lot of new people coming into our local Discord talking about Pokemon. And recently, I promoted to be a mod and admin on there, And I've met, again, some wonderful people like, this blew me away. So this year, Go Fest Global was awesome, I really want to do something special. So I don't have a crap ton of money, but I make enough to support myself, and, I know how to hustle. So I decided I wanna give back to my community because they've been so good to me. So I went out and I bought a bunch of Pokemon cards. I bought some stuff to give away. I bought, like, a Pokemon backpack. I bought probably about two hundred bucks worth of stuff, Give or take. So on the back of my wheelchair, I got these two incubator backpacks that the Pokemon Center was on because I got them free when I bought, a jacket. So I filled them with Pikachu cookies, and I had another bag on the side of my wheelchair that had prizes. I had drove around this huge park where Go Fest was happening, which also happened to be Rib Fest here in Guelph, which is this celebration of ribs because food. and I said, okay, kids. If you can answer three out of five trivia questions correctly, you get a prize. So I was just randomly handing out stuff for two days over the course of Go Fest, and it made me so much more involved in this game. I even applied to be a Niantic ambassador, like, for Go because this game is awesome, and I've never experienced anything like this. And it's so different from the other video game communities I've been a part of. Like, I used to play Call of duty pretty seriously, not to the point where I had a clan tag or anything like that. I do, it's ironic. But with Go, It was so different from anything I've ever expected. Just the fact that there were little kids coming out with their parents to play. People talking gen one to whatever the current gen is, but there are a number of people in my Wednesday night raid group who are in their fifties and sixties that play with And their accounts are top tier. In fact, we rely on our one friend, Marilyn, like, hey. You got level fifty counters. Guess what? You're, uh, going first. Um, and she would do some incredible things, and we would trade stuff like, if it wasn't for my group of people that I hang out, I would not have a complete pokedex because part of being disabled means I'm not going to Hawaii anytime soon, nor am I going to go to Egypt to get Sigilyth or I'm not gonna be able to get all these regional Pokemon Unless I have people trade them to me, one of the best trades I got was a lucky ninety six, Hawlucha. When in the hell am I ever gonna be able to travel to Mexico? Because traveling while disabled is incredibly difficult. It's incredibly expensive. In fact, you'd be surprised how many wheelchairs destroyed by airlines every year. So the fact of traveling to any of these GoFests terrifies me, but I wanna go, like, when there's the one in New York. I seriously thought about it, but I have to think about how am I gonna get my kind of wheelchair there? How am I gonna go to the bathroom? How am I gonna manage these other things? Because there's so many things that creep into the disabled experience you really have to think about. Like, even when I go out and play Pokemon Go for, like, six, seven hours at a time, I have to plan out, okay, how's my chair gonna charge? Where can I go? Are there many hills? Is this terrain safe? Like, I love to off road with my wheelchair, and I've gotten myself into a few situations where it's troublesome. I've even had somebody try to jump me a couple of months ago because they thought, hey. He's in a wheelchair. He's an easy target. proved him wrong, but you would be surprised that, a chair presents so many different challenges, but As a Go player, it's also opened up a number of things. I have the platinum metal for hatching eggs. That's two thousand eggs and that's from me driving around. Because my chair on a good day, I can get about twenty five kilometers on it. I just drive across town because I wanna just run my incense, run my auto catcher. That was a game changer. Getting my first auto catcher was a dual catch mon. So me and my wife could be both connected to the same device when we drove around in the car, but when I got my own auto catcher and I could literally just explore and do my own thing, it opened up so many possibilities where I really want to explore my town where I wasn't constantly looking at my, like, phone screen and just seeing my Pokedex fill up, seeing my stardust gains go through the roof,

David Hernandez: 25:50

know, your story as I was listening, your story is interesting because you're not the first person who, fell out of, Pokemon from gen one. A lot of people, they're nostalgic for gen one. There is no one fifty one. The OGs. Right? What's interesting more about your story is that what brought you back into the Pokemon franchise Is that you know, we still have all these new Pokemon around, but you still have the old ones too. And for you to be as just as dedicated to the community now With you not even had as much attachment to allow the new Pokemon post gen two to present day, which would be, I think, gen is really remarkable. What is it about Pokemon GO that catch you engaged in spite of you not having as much as your familiar Pokemon from the first

BirdmanDod: 26:27

I think the fact that the skill Ceiling is so variable. Like, I don't have to be a master of PVP. I don't have to have the most shinies. don't even have to have a complete Pokedex. I can choose how I engage with the experience. For example, my way of playing, I'm a shiny hunter. Freaking hardcore, but I also love hundos. If I can get a purified hundo, I'll take it unless it's a shadow of Tyranitar. Because if I purified that, you can just punch me in the face right now, um, which I had a ninety six shadow. I'm never purifying that from my cold dead

David Hernandez: 27:03

Now would you do for a shundo though?

BirdmanDod: 27:05

No. Not

David Hernandez: 27:06

for not for a Wow. You're dedicated.

BirdmanDod: 27:09

percent damage, man. I'm taking that all

David Hernandez: 27:11

Fair enough. Fair enough.

BirdmanDod: 27:12

and, yeah, like, I love to raid. I love being able to help the community around me do raids. Like, I made this new friend recently. his name's Mark, he doesn't get a chance to go out and play a whole lot. But me and my wife, Our accounts are so powerful. We can carry him through raids so he can do that. So that's what I love about my experience. Like, I love raiding. I love helping people. Now it sucks that they've nerfed the remote raid system, but that's a an accessibility issue, I feel. But I love the rating community and just the fact that I can learn all these new things. Like, I've got some Pokemon from gens two and or from three and four that are some of my favorites like treecko is one of my absolute favorites now. Like, I love Sceptile. and just, you know, things like Teddiursa and Larvitar and Greninja recently became one of my favorites, not because he destroys an ultra league, he looks really freaking cool. like, there's just so many new Pokemon now that I'm just I'm engaged. There's so many cool designs. Like, I remember actually, I can tell you, Dave, the moment I fell out of the Pokemon franchise. it's from a movie I reviewed recently, because I saw it in theaters when I was a kid, but it didn't really click with me. So I saw Pokemon the third movie where there's Entei. And I saw it, and when the unknowns came out, I was like, that's a Pokemon. Really? That's stupid. I'm out. And Yet, when I rewatch those movies for my podcast, we reviewed the first three Pokemon movies with my cohost Ken I'm thinking, okay. I get it now. The Pokemon franchise has changed a lot since I was a kid. I saw through the eyes of a child. Now that I'm older And I can appreciate some of these designs. I still think the unknowns are a little goofy looking except unknown shiny exclamation mark I'm really looking for. there are some really cool designs out there, and I'm thinking, you know what? It isn't about how goofy it looks because Each Pokemon is somebody's favorite. And for me, I really started thinking about this the other day. Like, what is my favorite? And I've got but to say, It's never about power. There's this wonderful Instagram account that I follow, and I wish I could remember what it is. But it shows the Pokemon in their starter form and their evolved form. And there was one where it was a Munchlax and a Snorlax. it just shows this kid having this munchlax tug on his shirt. then when he evolves the Snorlax is giving him this big hug. Or there's a Treecko who's sitting there reading a book, and then when he's Sceptile, he's got his tail all wrapped around his trainer and their best buddies. And there's this other one, and this really made me love the game more or the franchise as a whole. It's a kid on a subway, and he hands his phone to a squirrel. And the squirrel is playing on his phone. And when I saw that, I started thinking, I don't want Pokemon because I want them be these brutal attack monsters like the modern version of cockfighting. I want Pokemon that I could That could be cute and cuddly. The idea of having an Eevee crawl up and sleep with you in your bed is astounding. Having A purloin as a buddy having a Persian, a Sprigatito or something like a Pawmi. the idea of having the most mundane Pokemon for the most mundane reasons really intrigues me like, I think that's where it always goes back to me is I think of Pokemon as friends first and foremost because I'm a very big animal person. one of the things I had on my show is I used to have a little black cat named doctor Wylie, And he was my best friend in the entire world. If there ever was a Pokemon, that was him. He was like this little purloin that always hung around on My shoulder. I love that connection to animals. And since I'm indigenous, my spirit animal is the fox. In Ojibwe, that word is. And when I look at some of the pieces I've seen of Vulpix and Ninetales, I start to connect with the franchise on a different level. I've even seen some Pokemon like Natu and Zatu, which I think have indigenous influence to them as well, and even seeing some of the Pokemon that may be more regionally represented like Sigilyph, like I said, which came out of Egypt and Greece. I see how it ties to those regions too. I love to think about the franchise in very unique and unusual ways. Like, what does this represent? How does this work? And I have some very interesting thoughts about Gengar, Gastly, and the concept of death in Pokemon. but I don't know. There's something about the franchise. There's so much There's so many more layers to it that it's more than just monsters kicking the crap out of each other, and it's a franchise that I really hope they do more with because I think detective Pikachu open the door for what could be accomplished. And I know there's like a Japanese series is that focuses on it too. It's like a live action Pokemon series, but it's like a play or something. I don't know. I just I'm so intrigued by the possibilities of this franchise, and it's drawn me in not unlike Star Wars and Star Trek where there's so much lore. And if you wanna dig for it, there's more there for you. it's so incredibly intriguing that I think it's more than just a simple video game and just simple stat blocks, and that's what I really appreciate about it.

David Hernandez: 32:32

You mentioned earlier how, you know, you're connected with different communities or you have been in the past, but you said Pokemon's different. What is it about the Pokemon community that's different compared to your prior experiences in other, mediums, say, like Smash Brothers?

BirdmanDod: 32:44

Everybody wants to help you and in fact, two really good examples of this. So when I first started getting in the Pokemon Go, I was really afraid to approach these people I saw playing at a park. Like, hey I'm this weird big guy in a wheelchair who's in his forties. This is gonna seem a little bit weird, but I'm just gonna go up and say hi. I said, hey, guys. My name is Mike. I think you're playing Pokemon. Can I join you? Like, yeah. Sure. And I just found them really welcoming. And as I started getting more comfortable, they would answer my questions. They would give me suggestions. They would trade with me, and I started developing a real friendship. So I found that community incredibly welcoming. Like, it was just so wholesome, and it didn't matter what I looked like. It didn't matter what where I came from. We were all there to kick the crap out of Mewtwo, and that's what mattered. We were all there to have a freaking blast and Even this last year, just before, fall kinda rolled up on us, we had all our Pokemon Go group come to my house for a barbecue. There was, like, probably, like, twenty five of us, And it was just so awesome, plus meeting so many people in the park over the course of giving out all those prizes. That's a wholesome welcoming community you don't get elsewhere. Maybe in the role playing game community at a convention, you might get Some people that are really excited to teach you d and d, though not always. And then the other experience, We have a comic book store here in Guelph known as The Dragon. And between three PM and six PM on Wednesday nights, So really close to raid, which sucks. they have cards, and I haven't played the cards since the nineties. I have no idea what I'm doing. My only experience with the card games of late has been Mystic Rips channel, but I really got excited about it. So I bought myself a binder collection of one fifty one, and I started buying packs every so often. I buy, like, a pack every time I go out for lunch or if I go out for something. So probably couple packs a week, but usually about twenty bucks or so I'd spend. So I started doing this, and I approached them last week. I said, hey, guys. I have all these cards. I don't know what I'm doing. Will you teach me to play? these guys came out, this kid named Owen, Cyrus and Trey another person whose name I didn't get. they sat down, and they helped me build a deck, which is an Alakazam EX, it eats people alive, and they helped me develop a modified Greninja battle deck, which was really, really, really fun to play with too. So down at the dragon, they have it set up. So if you play three games, you get a pack of cards. If you play four games, you get to pick out of this huge binder. the kid that taught me, Owen, he's the one who taught me primarily how to play and played two games with me. and then, everybody got their card packs, myself included. Everybody got an awesome hit except for him. So I got my hit, and I'm like, hey, man. You taught me how to play, this is yours now. And I gave him a Reggie VMAX or something, And this kid was, like, stunned. And I'm just so surprised at how welcoming the card community is like I said, I'm a pretty imposing person, but I'm always super friendly. And these people have no reason to be nice to me, But they are and it was just such heartwarming thing like, literally, it's like coming home after so long. Like, I remember how happy Pokemon made me when I was in high school and how much I love that experience and now to experience that in my forties that isn't playing Dungeons and Dragons or isn't playing Star Trek adventures or something like that. It's something I did not expect.

David Hernandez: 36:19

And from my experience too, like, it's not just within Pokemon, TCD, Pokemon Go. It's from my experience, I've been in Pokemon the entire time. They're always willing to help. And my theory again, I'm not a expert by any means, and this is unfortunately beyond my realm of what I can cover on this podcast. My theory, though, has always been that Pokemon, for some reason, brings out that childlike, innocence because a lot of us engaged with Pokemon back when we were younger. I know you engaged in more of the teenage years, but even as a teenager, you know, it's not like when you become an adult, You're still trying to figure stuff out as a teenager, and I think part of that is probably what helps bring out the childlike willingness to help other people because it doesn't have that... I don't wanna say Call of Duty. The other games are old for older people, but a lot of them usually engage it at a much older level, and they're more competitive compared to, say, like, the Pokemon franchise in my opinion.

BirdmanDod: 37:07

Yeah, totally, it's just one of those things where we're all there to cooperate. We understand That we're dealing with a franchise that doesn't need big, you know, machine guns. We're it doesn't need to be, like, brutal Edgelord dark whatever. We're just there to have a good time and it's not something I expected from a modern video game like this. But I'm so impressed that it came out to be such a welcoming experience that seems almost Universal. And just the fact that I'm connecting with people of all age ranges, that's astounding. I never thought that would happen from a mobile game of all things.

David Hernandez: 38:57

you talk about how you got your leg amputated back in twenty seventeen, and, obviously, I would imagine your life changed after that. Like, for example, I loved how you talked about how you have to think about, you know, is terrain good to, ride your wheelchair on? You know, is there gonna be hills? Is there gonna be bumps? That's stuff that a lot of people like myself, we never would think about. What are other things that maybe we miss, particularly especially with Pokemon Go that are a barrier and struggle for you?

BirdmanDod: 39:20

Well, basically, can I get to a certain pokestop? Can I get close enough? Can I get close enough to that gym to spin stuff like that? can I get across that field? If there happens to be a stop or a raid in the middle of an inaccessible area, Can I get to it? Because it's not just, you know, is my battery gonna run out. Is the terrain good? I remember one time, I was coming back from the park, and the winter had just really kinda broken. It was springtime, but there was still ice on the sidewalks but not a lot. I got stuck in less than an inch of ice and I had to have a friend of mine who was a city counselor Come bail me out. So you have to think about terrain, you have to think about, can you get close to something? battery power is always a major concern. How close are you to bathrooms? One of the things people don't think about is in a wheelchair, you have to have turning radius to go to the bathroom. Can you even transfer from your chair? Because some people do what's known as pivot where you literally put down your limb, if you have them, or a leg, if you can use it, and you put your weight on that to slide onto the toilet or whatever. Some people don't have that ability, so you have to do a slide transfer. That means you're carrying another piece of equipment with you or if you drop your phone, what do you do? one of the things how I play Pokemon Go now is I have this adaptive arm device which attaches to my chair, and it's literally It's an arm per wheelchair, and it's a motorcycle rig that secures my phone and that's something I never thought about two years ago when playing the game. I never thought about using accessibility aids like that. And it's just it's weird little things that you don't think about and Since Niantic rolled back some of the changes for, like, COVID, getting to Pokestops is a little bit harder and if you can't get outside to play, Incense are next to useless one spawn every five minutes. Well, you just threw that dollar down a hole or when I was really sick and I couldn't leave the house because I was housebound for a while. Yay. I can do five remote raids and not get any XL candy, that sounds cool! I'll tell you one thing, and I don't wanna name the person specifically, but a fairly prominent content creator made a joke during the summer, and they joked about how do you hatch eggs, for example. And he's got this number one hack, and he's like, use your own two feet. And some people in the thread were like, In fact, majority of them were. But another guy is like, hey, man. you know there are people with neuropathy and mobility issues. That's not funny. even me, I enjoy the good dark humor. Hell, I was there when South Park started back in nineteen ninety seven or whatever year it was. So I can appreciate a good dark joke now and again. But I even said to this prominent person like, hey. A little insensitive. I get you. I feel you. And then somebody in that thread had the nerve and the gall to say, Well, the game is called Pokemon Go. If you can't go, maybe you don't belong here. And I've heard that a couple of different times. And that's the only time the Pokemon Go community has never seemed particularly welcoming because there seems to be this backlash against Accessibility, thinking it's an easy mode. Accessibility is not an easy mode. It just means more people can play. one of the things that I think people need to understand and about disability and it's gonna be a hard thing to hear, so listen up. You are one bad day away from becoming disabled. you could fall in the shower. You could randomly have any number of different things happen to you, And your life changes forever. On November twenty fourth, I thought I was gonna walk again. November twenty sixth proved that wrong. And as our population ages and changes, Accessibility across multiple fronts is gonna become a thing. you think of games like The Last of Us. People who are completely color blind and blind can complete that game. I think one of the best players for Mortal Kombat is completely blind., and I wish Niantic would just listen to its player base to make people happy because Heartwarming story. There's a kid I go to hockey with now. His name is Chiruk, and he has cerebral palsy and he plays Pokemon GO because he saw me playing He uses a auto catcher like we do. My wife has got him set up. He doesn't know much about the Pokemon world or the franchise as a whole because he just wasn't born at the right time. I think he's, like, twenty five or something. So it's just it wasn't in his wheelhouse, plus he is from, overseas somewhere in Europe. And He's involved in it because he sees the fun we're having, so the fact that I'm bringing disabled players into this game, That's really cool, and I hope Niantic actually pays attention to the disabled population because I think we can make a better game for all of us if we're willing to have those open dialogues and it's not just a lot of finger pointing.

David Hernandez: 44:14

Well, from your standpoint, how accessible is Pokemon Go in your opinion?

BirdmanDod: 44:19

I think for the most part, it's pretty accessible. Obviously, there are some things I would change. I wish there was less of a reliance on the curveball system mostly because like my friend, Sharuk, with his physical disability, I don't know how he's ever going to throw that, that's why he relies on The auto catcher. I wish there was an option to change some of those challenges for something else. so that's a manual dexterity problem. can you solve that with software? Yes. But then people would claim it's a easy mode, which it's not, some people need That accessibility. I think I would probably add incense would spawn a little bit quicker, which I'm pretty sure that's something that they nerfed as well, Just in case someone isn't moving around so much that they can still play. I would maybe open up the nomination system for pokestops to be a little less stringent as long as nobody's abusing it. But then again, that's like asking water to not be wet. Yeah. Because I've seen some weird things get through the nomination process through the Niantic Wayfarer System or whatever it's called. think there's some room for improvement, but I think with the right accessibility consultants and working with the disabled community, I think Niantic could really accomplish some real kinda good here and open up an entirely new section of the player base that may not be served right now.

David Hernandez: 45:41

Yeah, for sure, and Like I said, people who have disabilities and, like I said, I'm not one of those people. I'll be the first to admit it. they struggle with things that, Like, stuff you mentioned, like, I never would have thought, having enough of the angle to be able to get on the toilet would be an issue. I never would have thought that. But for you, that's a real struggle.

BirdmanDod: 45:59

like, it's just a lot of little things, but one thing I will say about Pokemon GO, It changed a lot how I viewed my disability. Pokemon Go gave me my freedom back. I was afraid to go travel. I was afraid to go explore But the fact that I literally took a line from the Pokemon theme song, I will travel far and wide. I took that to heart because I wanted to see places I'd never seen before. I wanted to find the beautiful places in my community to not just take pictures, to share time with my wife, but to play and grind. Like, I found so many cool parks in this city so much so that I joined, my city's, accessibility advisory council to make sure the park systems are more accessible for children so people can get out there and do more. Any public park, that's a place to play. Those are always nests for whatever, that's how I got my hundo Houndoom, my hundo Rhyperior. It's places like that. And if the park wasn't accessible, I wouldn't have been able to kinda get there. So I want other kids and other adults to have this wonderfully open experience. So Pokemon Go changed a lot of how I view the world, And I'm really glad it changed me for the better, and I'm really hoping more people will give this game a chance. There's so many fun things this game can open, and I'm so glad it changed my perspective on life. It's really helped with my mental health struggles too and it has just been a wonderful shining beacon of what a community can be, I could not be more grateful for it.

David Hernandez: 47:33

to add on to what you said, like, you didn't let it beat you, now how many people did let him beat him? Right? Because you're one of maybe few who not to discredit what you said, but you're one of the people who kinda found power into it. Not everybody can do that and there's people who don't have a voice, who are literally sitting at home thinking this is the end this is as good as it gets. There's no more left my life and whatnot.

BirdmanDod: 47:51

Oh, hundred percent. Like, you would be surprised how many people have let this happen, and there's even a part of this that I haven't really spoken about when it comes to my indigenous background. I'm what's known as a sixties scoop survivor translation, the Canadian government illegally adopted me out to a family that wasn't my own. I grew away and apart from my culture. So on top of being disabled, I have that intergenerational trauma as well. I should be the most depressed person on the planet, now On paper, I am. I'm bipolar. I suffer from that depression all the time, and I've never been afraid of talking about that struggle. But not everybody has the same happy go lucky perspective on life. And you're right. It does beat people. Mental health is a struggle, and there are many factors that can lead to addiction and substance abuse. And, unfortunately, sometimes it doesn't go the way that they want it to, and it's game over for lack of a better description there. But the more we can open the world up to make things more accessible to make it seem like there is hope. That's the one thing that has always kept me going that there is hope. In a game like Pokemon, At the end of the day, it's about wanting to be better. It's about wanting to explore and know yourself like the journey of Ash and Pikachu, That's a journey of friendship, and that's a very positive thing to take away from it. These games, like I was telling you earlier, you choose how you want to engage. Do you wanna be a shiny hunter? Do you wanna be a PVP expert? Or do you just wanna collect them all? You can choose how you wanna do it. so, like, I'm not saying this game is the be all to end all to everybody's solutions, and disability and trauma from other sources can very be a thing. But it's finding ways to deal with your trauma, be it through a mental health professional or through a healthy outlet. This is my healthy outlet. Like, I do this, and I collect transformers, and I play Dungeons and Dragons. All this considered, I'm I'm a pretty harmless dork, and it's a lot better than going to a substance abuse problem. So this is how I choose to engage with it.

David Hernandez: 49:53

One thing I was wondering, and this is probably the last question I have in regards to accessibility. In what way has your community helped you feel more involved?

BirdmanDod: 50:01

Honestly, they let me run the Facebook group. They let me run the Discord. They let me lead the charge when it comes to information. I'm known as oh, yeah. That's Mike. That's the stats guy. So whenever a raid starts, I'm like, okay, guys. The hundo is Seven forty three, nonweather boosted. weather boosted, it's x x y, whatever. Here are your counters. Line up. Let's go. And I'll literally take control of a group like, Okay. You're in raid one. You're in raid two. Stand back. Wait. Don't mega evolve. You want this candy, you get that. And it's like commanding troops on a field, but they let me work that because they trust me. They let me work with them. And if somebody has a superior knowledge, I easily pass off that, like, chain of command to someone who knows better than me because we've all built that trust up within each other. the thing that they've really done to encourage me is if I get stuck. if my wheelchair can't do something, they'll push me or, you know, they'll help me get unstuck. One of the best things that they do is we play with this family and this little kid named Jacob is this Absolute ray of sunshine. sometimes I'll take him for rides on my wheelchair, and we zipped around Go Fest like that. he was basically my Pikachu. He rode on my back, and it was such a fun time. But the fact that The mom and dad trusted me enough with their kid to have that kind of an adventure. Again, wholesome, innocent, And it made for a pretty funny TikTok video. I like the fact that my community has placed trust in me. They have their faith in me, and I like the fact that for the most part, all of us are friends. If I've got a problem, I can talk with them. If I have something that I'm confused about, I can ask about it. There's never any judgment. There's been very little drama in our group. Everybody's there to have a good time. And I like the fact that I can make friends in my forties, and it doesn't feel awkward or weird. I can connect with all different ranges of people, and we're all there to do the same thing.

David Hernandez: 52:02

Well, Mike, you've been a wonderful guest. I do have one last question before we close this taco stand.

BirdmanDod: 52:08

Alright. Hit me up.

David Hernandez: 52:10

you talked about how you really have affection for animals. if you could have six Pokemon inside your house as pets, which six would you pick?

BirdmanDod: 52:18

Uh, let me see. I would love an Eevee for sure, a Volpix, providing it doesn't use flamethrower in the house.. Growlithe would be a lot of fun. Pawmi, furret. I honestly want, like, a Persian, a shiny Persian.

David Hernandez: 52:35

A shiny Persian.

BirdmanDod: 52:36

Yeah. Because it'll be a big, dark boy, and I can pet his tummy and play with his murder mittens. It'd be awesome.

David Hernandez: 52:45

Well, Mike, that is the interview. Thank you for coming on the show. Before you do go, if people wanna connect with you, if they wanna check out your podcast, Where can they go, by all means, please plug away.

BirdmanDod: 52:54

Alright. Cool. So if if you wanna find me on social media, you can follow me@BirdManDot. That is Twitter, Instagram, And TikTok, you wanna follow the podcast, ThisWeekinGeek.Net. We are available across all major podcasters. Um, you can also find me over At weeklyspookies.Com, right, I occasionally contribute stories. My most recent story was episode two twenty three, Carolyn Quinn vampire hunter. I am also going to be a published author rather soon, so you'll see my book of in indigenous poetry available. That'll be available, I think, December first. So I should have more information available at birdman dot on Twitter and across all my socials. And, occasionally, you can hear me across Canadian radio because it's about that time I'm right. Talk video games and other nerdy crap, so I'm always around.

David Hernandez: 53:43

Cool beans, and I'll make sure to include links to everything that he said in the description of today's episode.

BirdmanDod: 53:48

Alright, guys. And as I'm fond of saying whenever I sign off My podcast, I've been Mike the Birdman saying, be excellent to each other.

David Hernandez: 53:56

Thank you for listening to As the Pokeball Turns. If you want to support the show, consider becoming a patron by either clicking the link in the description or going to patreon. com slash as the pokeball turns. Now here's a sneak peek for the next episode of As the Pokeball Turns.

54:11

I always, like, fit in all these Pokey puns, like, when Mawiles were spawning in the wild, I was like, oh, it's in the Mawild, wow. It's been a Mawile. Yeah, I say that, yeah. If I see a Sveal and I click on it, I'll be like, oh, it's no big Sveal. And then sometimes it'll be extra, extra large, and I'm like, that is a big Sveal, yeah. I don't know. Well, okay, whenever I see a Marill, I'm always like, wow, Marill Streep is such a talented actress. She can play any role, like, even a Pokemon.