Headshot of Joe with white cane. Joe is wearing a button-up shirt, is in focus with the background blurred behind him.

Joe is an enthusiastic expert on disability inclusion, accessibility in the entertainment industry, blindness, disability employment, and television production.

About Joe

Joe has been the lead for accessibility and inclusion for one of the largest productions in the world. He assesses accommodations for actors and background performers of all disabilities to assure access. He recruits actors with disabilities for productions around the world through his network and connections. He has advised some of the biggest filmmakers and streaming services. He combines creativity with his management experience in his roles. Joe has managed a government bureau, departments in film production, a web program, granted programs and services and hundreds of staff. He instructed in blindness services in New Jersey, Florida and around the United States. He has consulted on services for people who are blind or low vision in the United States, Canada and abroad. Joe did in his undergraduate work at East Carolina University in Public Relations and Media. His graduate work at Florida State University was in the Visual Disabilities Program: Teaching Children who are Blind or Visually Impaired, Orientation and Mobility, and a specialty in Transition from School to Work or Postsecondary. He brings his personal experiences as a person who is blind and from the thousands of people who are blind, low vision, or with other disabilities that he has instructed into his work in film and television.

Services

Joe is able to move to new communities or cities, embed himself in their blindness community, recruit local performers, connect with resources and continue these relationships. He also excels with interviews with journalists and podcast interviews.

Joe Strechay has been an essential member of our producing team since day one – he has not only provided invaluable advisement and feedback on our inclusivity and accessibility efforts but has gone above and beyond to support every member of our cast and crew. Joe helped to craft and put into practice a movement training program that was vital to the creation of the characters and world of SEE and he has been an endless source of information, advice, and positivity for our actors, directors, writers and crew. We value his input as a producer and he is a crucial member of the team.”

Jenno Topping, President of Film and Television at Chernin Entertainment

Television and Film

Joe is versatile and provides many services, in the broad realm of Television and Film. These services include but are not limited to:

  • Consulting on scripts and script development around characters who are blind or have low vision.
  • Reviewing scripts with notes and follow-up meetings.
  • Assisting with the recruitment and casting of actors who are blind or low vision.
  • Creating lists of blindness ideas or details to be added to scripts or during blocking.
  • Consulting on television and film accessibility for studio, preparation, and filming.
  • Consulting on public relations and messaging related to film projects with blindness.
  • Assisting with media training for performers, producers, and public relations team around projects involving blindness.
  • Advising Art Departments, Production Designers, Set Decorators and Prop Masters.
  • Advising Producers and Directors on specific details for filming.
  • Assisting directors and actors in blocking scenes.
  • Supervising and advising on the creation of movements of background performers.
  • Creating processes for inclusion and accessibility within production from recruitment to casting to preparation to filming.
  • Speaking engagements.

Speaking and Workshops

Joe has provided hundreds of workshops to teenagers and young adults who are blind, low vision or have other disabilities. Joe has also provided countless professional development sessions for professionals working in blindness-related fields. Here are just some of the topics in which Joe has expertise, on which he has spoken, and would love to share again:

  • From a Video Store to a Producer who is Blind
  • My Employment Lessons
  • Addressing the Elephant in the Room
  • Mentorship to Opportunity and Employment
  • Taking Control of Your Employment Journey
  • Getting Job Ready
  • Learning Disability to Blindness Success

Open to other topics, check out Joe Strechay’s YouTube Channel!

Media

A snapshot of Joe Strechay’s work.

Photo Gallery:

Charlie Cox and Joe Strechay standing next to each other in front of an American Foundation for the Blind backdrop. They are wearing suits and bow ties and smiling at the camera.
Courtesy of the American Foundation for the Blind. 
Joe is standing with Jason Momoa (Actor), Kai Owens, and Cash Owens off of set in a studio near Vancouver. They are all smiling.
Joe with Hera Hilmar (Actor), on the set of SEE Season 1, in British Columbia. They are outside with mountains in the background. Hera, who plays Maghra, is wearing beige wool shawl. Joe is wearing a black rain coat.
Joe Strechay on the set of SEE Season 1, reading the Payan Knotted Constitution in the Council Room. The Constitution consists of many long thick ropes hanging from the ceiling with several knots on each strand. Joe is wearing a black jacket.
Joe with Jessica Harper (Actor) dressed as Cora, her character in SEE. They on set and are standing in field on Strawberry Island, in British Columbia. There are mountains in the background.
Joe with Jason Momoa (Actor), standing next to film trailers, on Jason's last day of filming for SEE Season 1. There are mountains and large trees in the background. Jason is wearing a black Adidas sweater and holding up the hang-loose sign. Joe is standing beside him in a white button up and a tan jacket. Both men are smiling.
Joe with Franz Drameh (Actor), on the set of SEE Season 1 in British Columbia. Franz has dreadlocks and is dressed as his character Boots, wearing a hand-stitched brown leather coat. Joe is wearing a black jacket and a blue button up dress shirt. They are standing outside and the sun is setting.
Joe is standing in front of a lake in Golden Ears, British Columbia. There are mountains in the background and the sun is setting. Joe is smiling and wearing a black jacket with blue jeans.
Joe standing in the original House of Enlightenment, a set of SEE Season 1. The room is aged and dimly lit. There is a large wooden table with books and a Perkins Brailler on it. Joe is smiling, wearing a black t-shirt with the Apple logo on it, and blue jeans.

Visual Media:

Apple TV+ Stars, Creators Preview New Series at Variety Collaborations Event, Variety (10/25/2019)

Blog post by Joe about work with Charlie Cox

Podcasts:

CEO Stories: Joe Strechay, Producer, Apple TV+ See,

Representation in the Media, Change Makers: A Podcast from APH (09/03/2020)

Written Media:

’See’: The Apocalyptic Apple TV+ Drama Sets the Standard for Inclusivity, IndieWire (09/03/2019)

Meet the blindness consultant ensuring Apple TV Plus show See respects accessibility, CNET (06/08/2020)

Voices in the Entertainment World from a Blindness Perspective: Join Joe Strechay, Satauna Howery, Stephen Letnes, Bree Klauser and Roy Samuelson for a Roundtable Rouser, Blind Abilities

Insider Tips for Getting the Most from Vocational Rehabilitation, American Foundation for the Blind

Interview: Joe Strechay, Blindness Consultant on Daredevil, A Place to Hang Your Cape (05/01/2015)

An article about my work with Charlie, featured in over 80 newspapers.

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