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Meet Mike

We introduce club VIBES member, Mike Milley, who recently moved to Knoxville. Mike is active in the Young Professional/College group and especially likes bike riding. Here is Mike’s story.

“I grew up near Lancaster Pennsylvania but was actually born in Korea and was adopted at 13 months of age. I love to travel and have traveled all over the country and lived in various places throughout my life. Love drew me to Knoxville last April and I followed my heart. Even though that hasn’t worked out as planned to this point, I have made some cool friends and doors of opportunity have been opened to me that I wouldn’t have necessarily had where I was living.

I am totally blind and attended public school throughout my elementary, middle and high school education. I think this was more of an adjustment to my teachers than for me as most of them had never had a blind student in their classroom before. Most of them adapted well and though there were challenges, I had some great vision teachers and O & M instructors over the years that helped me to overcome those barriers. All in all, I feel I received a solid education and the public school experience was a good one.

I am still learning about all of the services available in Knoxville for blind residents, but from what I can tell so far, it seems to compare with the services I received in Pennsylvania. I guess if I have one complaint, it would be that Knoxville doesn’t seem to be very pedestrian friendly. I’m used to lots of sidewalks and except for downtown, it seems those are limited.

I am amazed at all of the restaurant choices in Knoxville! I have had quite a cultural education since I’ve been here. What did everyone do before all these places existed? My favorite place to go is IHop primarily because its open 24 hours a day and you can get anything you want at any time of day. I like Cheddars and Stock & Barrel too.

I have really enjoyed my time with CLUB VIBES! There are quite a few resources that I’ve been able to tap into and I am an active participant in tandem biking and the Young Professionals  Group. Recently, I went on a 22.5 mile tandem bike ride near Maryville. Actually, it was originally 9 miles out and 9 miles back but my pilot Mike Marcum, a few others and myself decided to go a few miles further. I enjoyed listening to the water that we were surrounded by throughout the ride. Its truly a great thrill to have the freedom to fly down the road with a bunch of folks and, its great exercise! I was absolutely exhausted that night but it was so worth it! This was probably my third or fourth ride since I’ve joined CLUB VIBES but the first true road trip. I am ready to go again any time! Just say when and where and I’ll show up.

Ever since I can remember, I have had a love for radio. My goal was to make it a career someday. That dream became a reality in 1999 upon graduation from High School when I landed first an internship and eventually a job as the overnight DJ at a local Christian radio station in Lancaster Pennsylvania. I stayed there until the fall of 2003 and it was truly a blast! I had the opportunity to meet lots of cool people both in person and over the phone. The thing that made that job exciting was that  every day was a little different. I was getting paid to entertain people behind a mike. In my opinion, it doesn’t get much better than that. Unfortunately, technology has changed quite a bit and has made it more difficult for blind people to work in the field. I now run an internet based radio station called Hannah House radio. You can find more information about it by going to: hannah house radio

For those using screen readers, there are links that will allow you to listen to the station in your preferred media player. If you use a smart phone, you can also find the station by searching for Hannah House Radio using the TuneIn Radio app. In my spare time, I enjoy playing card games online with friends and watching sports. I am a huge baseball and football fan. In the last few years, I have been playing fantasy football and baseball. I’m not very good but it’s lots of fun!  I also enjoy listening to lots of different types of music and enjoy tracking big weather events. As far as the future goes, I am hoping that broadcast technology lends itself to screen reading technology in hopes that I can return to radio one day.”

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