Accessible Future

Eight years ago, Jesse Noonan was coaching two brothers at a Gold Coast skatepark when their sister Matilda rolled up in her wheelchair. He got a drill out of his car, put some holes in a skateboard and bolted it under her walking frame. By the end of that session she was going down ramps.

That afternoon became Skate Advantage, Jesse's adaptive skateboarding program. He talks with Simon about the custom frame and harness his team built with a friend who fabricates hot rods and a community grant, how one skater went from bearing no weight at all to standing on his own, and why the skatepark crowd went from looking away to coming over to say hello. He also gets into the Just Roll With It festival, Matilda Wilson's pro model board, and what it would take to start a program like this in your own city.

His advice for anyone thinking about it: rig up something simple, see who shows up, and talk to people with disabilities about what they want.

ABOUT JESSE NOONAN

Jesse Noonan is a professional skateboarder and coach from the Gold Coast, Australia, and the founder of Skate Advantage. He's been skating since he was eight. Skate Advantage runs adaptive sessions with community organizations and private clients, using custom-built frames that support skaters over the board so they can ride the park, rails included. Jesse also runs Just Roll With It, an all-abilities skate festival that drew around 2,000 people this year.

🔗 Connect with Skate Advantage

Website: skateadvantage.com.au

Instagram: instagram.com/skateadvantage

Email: [email protected]

🔗 Follow Accessible Future Podcast

YouTube: youtube.com/@AccessibleFuture

Instagram: instagram.com/accessible_future

Facebook: facebook.com/people/Accessible-Future/61586380868685

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/accessible-future

Email: [email protected]

CHAPTERS

00:00 Welcome and the Flute Man story

02:01 What an accessible future looks like to Jesse

04:44 How Skate Advantage started with a walking frame

10:28 How the adaptive skate frame works

16:22 From awkward stares to proud skateboarders

19:31 Sport, therapy, or both?

21:33 Just Roll With It and Matilda's pro model board

26:15 How to start an adaptive skate program in your city

29:52 Outro

Before Cody Wills heads to the grocery store or the pub, he's already running through questions most people never think about. Can he reach what he needs? Will the bartender even see him? Is that door handle four feet up?

Cody was born with achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism. He talks with Simon about growing up as a little person in Manitoba, the planning that goes into going somewhere new, and why dignity should be at the centre of an accessible future. He also talks about working as a body double for Chucky, why strangers keep asking if he's an actor or a comedian, and what employers get wrong about hiring little people.

His advice for businesses is simple: listen to the people you serve, including the ones who can't get through your door yet.

ABOUT CODY WILLS

Cody Wills is a little person from Manitoba who was born with achondroplasia. He's been part of Little People of Manitoba since he was five or six, and a casting call through the group led to work as a body double for Chucky, plus a couple of other film gigs shot in Manitoba. He's also part of the team at MoveMobility, a Canadian manufacturer of wheelchair-accessible vehicles.

🔗 Follow Accessible Future PodcastYouTube: youtube.com/@AccessibleFutureInstagram: instagram.com/accessible_futureFacebook: facebook.com/people/Accessible-Future/61586380868685LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/accessible-futureEmail: [email protected]

In 2012, Bean Gill left an abusive marriage, watched her parents separate, and then woke up on a trip to Las Vegas with pain in her lower back. Ten minutes later she couldn't feel her legs, and was later diagnosed with transverse myelitis.

She's now a keynote speaker and co-founder of Reyu Paralysis Recovery Center, an Alberta nonprofit using activity-based therapy to help people regain function doctors told them they'd never get back. She also starred in Push, a CBC Gem docu-series about her life and nine other wheelchair users.

Simon talks with Bean about that year, why she refuses to call it something she "overcame," and why she thinks the biggest barrier disabled people face isn't physical at all.

ABOUT BEAN GILL

Bean Gill is a keynote speaker, disability advocate, and co-founder of Ryu Paralysis Recovery Center, an Alberta nonprofit offering activity-based therapy for people with neurologic conditions. She's a wheelchair user and spinal cord injury survivor, and she starred in Push, a two-season CBC Gem docu-series about her life and the lives of nine other wheelchair users. She also runs a disability etiquette workshop through NAIT for health sciences students.

Website: callmebean.com

Instagram: @branzoid

TikTok: @branzoid

Watch Push: cbcgem.ca/push

🔗 Follow Accessible Future Podcast

YouTube: youtube.com/@AccessibleFuture

Instagram: instagram.com/accessible_future

Facebook: facebook.com/people/Accessible-Future/61586380868685

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/accessible-future

Email: [email protected]

CHAPTERS

00:00 Cold open: "Nobody is immune from disability"

01:20 What an accessible future looks like to Bean

02:29 Las Vegas, 2012: the ten minutes that changed her life

03:41 Misdiagnosis, the ICU, and learning to talk about it

08:30 Why Bean rejects the "overcoming" narrative

10:00 Founding Ryu Paralysis Recovery Center

12:20 The medical model vs. the social model of disability

18:34 Client stories: the ponytail, the signature, learning to walk again

29:12 Getting cast in Push

41:14 Parting advice, and where to find Bean

Claire Buchanan spent eleven seasons on defense for Canada's women's national para ice hockey team, and she now covers the sport as a broadcaster on The Neutral Zone.

In this episode she breaks down how the game actually works — two sticks, blades that look like one — why women's para hockey still isn't a Paralympic event, and what it costs the athletes who play for their country out of their own pockets.

From there the conversation turns to allyship: what it takes for non-disabled people to be genuinely useful rather than just well-meaning.

Claire talks about speaking up in the moment, why constant advocacy wears people down, and how spaces get built with good intentions but without asking disabled people what they actually need.

She also shares her advice for the next generation, and what she hopes to leave behind for the women's game.

About Claire Buchanan

Born with spina bifida, Claire Buchanan has navigated life with a disability, and finding sport gave her not only a sense of community but a sense of belonging. She has competed in wheelchair basketball at the collegiate level with the University of Alabama and was part of the national development program with Wheelchair Basketball Canada. In 2014 she made her first national team with women's para hockey. She represented Canada for 11 seasons and is a 3x World Championships silver medalist. Since 2019 she has been a broadcaster on The Neutral Zone podcast, and recently was part of the 2026 Winter Paralympics broadcast team with CBC. Storytelling and covering sport is a passion of hers, and her goal is to continue to grow para sport coverage.

Chapters

00:00 — Welcome

01:43 — Meet Claire: finding para hockey

04:24 — "I almost didn't get on the ice"

06:07 — What para ice hockey actually is

08:46 — Playing defense

11:49 — What an accessible future looks like

13:31 — Living with spina bifida

15:47 — Why it's not at the Paralympics yet

17:36 — Funding: paying to play for Canada

19:05 — Growing the game (and how to help)

21:47 — How para sport gets covered

24:56 — Covering disability: where to start

26:37 — Intentional allyship

29:48 — When good intentions miss

32:17 — Advice for the next generation

36:38 — What she wants to leave behind

38:56 — Breaking the stigma

40:23 — Where to find Claire

41:17 — Wrap-up

Connect with Claire

Instagram: @clairebuchanan10

TikTok: @canadiangamechanger

Podcast:  ⁨@neutralzonepodcast⁩ 

🔗 Follow Accessible Future Podcast

YouTube: youtube.com/@AccessibleFuture

Instagram: instagram.com/accessible_future

Facebook: facebook.com/people/Accessible-Future/61586380868685

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/accessible-future

Email: [email protected]

Ten episodes in, we stopped to look back. This one's a highlight reel: producer Jaeden steps out from behind the scenes to co-host for the first time, and he and Simon walk back through the first ten episodes of the Accessible Future Podcast to pull the lessons that stuck.

What stood out most was how much the ideas rhyme. These guests never met and never compared notes, and they kept arriving at the same place. Beth Deer describes an accessible future through a kids' movie, where every door is built for every animal and no one is left out. Jenel Shaw makes the case that access already helps everyone, from longer crossing times to the ramp that works just as well for a stroller. There's airlines that damage wheelchairs on roughly one in four flights while building climate-controlled stalls for racehorses. There's the shift from "I'm so sorry" to "congratulations" when a family gets a diagnosis. And running under all of it: the biggest barrier people name isn't a staircase, it's attitude.

Coming from the accessible transportation world ourselves, sitting down with advocates, accessibility professionals, and people with lived experience has reset how we see the whole thing. It was never just about a building or a van.

In this episode:

• Why an accessible future is one where nobody has to ask
• Universal design, and how building for the margins helps everyone
• The business case: disabled people are already your audience
• Compliance vs. culture, and why meeting code isn't the finish line
• "Don't assume, just ask" — the barrier that lives in how we treat each other

🔗 Follow Accessible Future Podcast

YouTube: youtube.com/@AccessibleFuture

Instagram: instagram.com/accessible_future

Facebook: facebook.com/people/Accessible-Future/61586380868685

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/accessible-future

Email: [email protected]

⏰Chapters

0:00 — Intro: 10 episodes in

0:59 — An accessible future, built for everyone (Beth)

2:52 — Accessibility already helps everyone (Jenel)

5:48 — Universal design (Jules)

9:07 — The business case for access (Kelly)

12:53 — Compliance vs. culture (Peter)

15:54 — More than a ramp (L'Arche)

18:39 — The airline double standard (Peter)

21:12 — Transportation is like a sidewalk (Paul)

24:06 — Removing transit barriers (Luke)

27:41 — How we think about disability (Jubilee)

29:17 — The biggest barrier is attitude (Jenel)

30:59 — Don't assume, just ask (Jules)

32:56 — From "I'm sorry" to "congratulations" (Jubilee)

34:55 — How strangers react (Chrissy)

37:30 — Understanding and kindness (Beth)

38:58 — Outro: it's all connected, and what's ahead

What does it take to make the arts open to d/Deaf and disabled people? Jenel Shaw, executive director of Arts AccessAbility Network Manitoba (AANM), joins Simon to explain how her organization is doing it — starting with an accessibility audit that the disability community designed itself.

Jenel walks through why AANM skipped the usual panel of doctors, therapists, and architects and asked disabled artists and audiences what they actually needed. The result is a 174-point audit that covers the whole venue experience, from the parking lot to backstage, published in a free public database so patrons can check a space before they go. She also gets into the anti-ableism workshop that grew out of the audits, the move to audit digital access — including the five-minute ticket timer that locks people out — and why knowing how a venue isn't accessible matters more than being told that it is.

It's a practical, clear-eyed conversation about treating disabled people as the experts on their own access, and what changes once you do.

👋Guest Info

Arts AccessAbility Network Manitoba: https://aanm.ca

Free accessibility audit database: https://aanm.ca/accessibility-audit-database/

Anti-ableism workshop for the arts: https://aanm.ca/anti-ableism-workshop-for-the-arts/

"Disability Gains" — AANM's forthcoming book featuring 34 d/Deaf and disabled writers

Current Exhibit: https://aanm.ca/exhibitions/

Contact AANM: [email protected] · 204-336-2366

🔗 Follow Accessible Future Podcast

YouTube: youtube.com/@AccessibleFuture

Instagram: instagram.com/accessible_future

Facebook: facebook.com/people/Accessible-Future/61586380868685

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/accessible-future

Email: [email protected]

⏰Chapters

00:00 Intro

01:22 Meet Jenel Shaw & finding her community at AANM

03:10 What Arts AccessAbility Network Manitoba does

05:18 What an accessible future looks like

06:16 Why disabled people are the real experts on access

07:36 Inside the 174-point accessibility audit

10:52 The biggest barrier, and why transparency matters

14:42 Winning the Manitoba Accessibility Award & the gallery

16:46 Taking the audit digital

18:20 Who gets left out — and creative fixes

21:40 Where organizations should start

23:25 Why accessibility helps everyone

25:36 Inside the anti-ableism workshop

29:56 Beyond the arts, and one thing to start today

32:43 Where the work goes next & where to find AANM

34:59 Outro

#AccessibleFuturePodcast #Accessibility #DisabilityCommunity #DisabilityRights #Inclusion #BarrierFree #DisabilityArts #AccessibleArts #Winnipeg #Manitoba

Julie “Jules” Emeid has a diploma, an honours degree, and a master's in progress, and she still gets read as a twenty-year-old who "doesn't know anything" the moment she walks into an interview. On this episode, she breaks down what ableism at work actually looks like: the hiring bias that sits in the gap between a strong résumé and the room, the assumptions people make about disabled workers, and why so much of it goes unnoticed by the people doing it.Jules is a social worker and public speaker whose master's research focuses on ableism in the workplace. She's also funny on purpose. Humor is how she gets people to relax and actually listen. We get into the school system that tracked her into the lowest classes, the difference between visible and invisible disability, why "anyone can be disabled" should change how we design things, and the one rule she'd give every employer: don't assume, just ask.What we cover* Why Jules uses humor to disarm the awkwardness around disability* Being placed in "essential" classes in high school, and the road to a master's* Ableism in hiring: qualified on paper, judged in the room* Visible vs. invisible disability, and the double standard each carries* Why accessible design helps everyone, not only disabled people* Her rule for getting it right: don't assume, just ask👋 Guest - Julie “Jules” Emeid* Podcast: youtube.com/@rollwithit_withjules* TikTok: tiktok.com/@rollwithit_withjules* LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/julie-emeid-679b8a190/🔗 Follow Accessible Future PodcastYouTube: youtube.com/@AccessibleFutureInstagram: instagram.com/accessible_futureFacebook: facebook.com/people/Accessible-Future/61586380868685LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/accessible-futureEmail: [email protected] About the Accessible Future Podcast

The Accessible Future Podcast brings real conversations about disability, inclusion, and accessible design, centering the voices of people with lived experience and the people working to remove barriers. Subscribe so you don't miss an episode.

What if the biggest barrier to healthcare isn't the clinic, but getting there?

For more than two decades, Paul Siller has run the Rocky View Regional Handibus Society, a rural charity that gets people to the appointments, groceries, and everyday places they can't reach on their own.

In this episode of the Accessible Future Podcast, Paul and host Simon Jones reframe what accessible transportation actually means: why Paul stopped using the word "handicap," how a single bus can serve three towns in one run, and why he calls transportation a foundation of health that almost no one budgets for.

It's a grounded look at the systems behind disability, inclusion, and barrier-free communities in rural Alberta, and the people left stranded when the ride isn't there.

In this episode:

• Why "transportation barriers" works better than "disability," and what shifted when the language changed
• How one bus covers 4,500 square kilometres and 600,000 km a year on about a third of a city's budget
• The rural access gap: ten communities around Calgary, zero hospitals
• What happens to someone's independence when the ride disappears
• Making councils care, using a story instead of a statistic

🔗 Learn more about the Rocky View Regional Handibus Society, including how to support or volunteer: https://www.rockyviewbus.ca

🔗 Follow Accessible Future Podcast

 YouTube: youtube.com/@AccessibleFuture

Instagram: instagram.com/accessible_future

Facebook: facebook.com/people/Accessible-Future/61586380868685

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/accessible-future

Email: [email protected]

If you found value in this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating on your platform. It helps more people find the show.

⏰Chapters

0:00 Welcome to the Accessible Future Podcast

1:18 Inside the Rocky View Handibus Society

5:59 What an Accessible Future Looks Like

9:20 When the Rules Ignore Accessibility

13:02 Dropping the Word "Handicap"

16:59 Barriers, Not Disability

21:17 Transportation Is a Foundation of Health

23:06 Telling the Story to Make Councils Care

25:16 What Paul Wishes People Understood

27:37 Thank You to the Drivers

#AccessibleFuture #Accessibility #DisabilityInclusion #BarrierFree #AccessibleTransportation #DisabilityRights #InclusiveCommunities #RuralTransit #DisabilityCommunity

Kelly Thibodeau builds her work around one idea: accessibility is personal.
The founder of Squarely Accessible joins Simon to talk about what inclusive design actually means online, and why so much of it comes down to a single choice, including people on purpose, or excluding them by accident.

Kelly shares the story of watching her mom's world shrink as technology moved on without her, the business case most organizations overlook, and where to start when accessibility feels too big to tackle.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Why Kelly says accessibility is personal, and the story behind Squarely Accessible
• What an accessible future looks like when everyone can do the everyday things — applying for a job, filing taxes, catching up with friends
• The difference between being intentionally included and accidentally excluded
• Why 80% of disabilities are invisible, and what that means for the content we publish
• The numbers brands miss: 1.3 billion people worldwide, and the customers lost to barriers
• "Do you want it, or do you need it?" — moving past compliance to actually caring
• Small starts, why there's no such thing as "100% done," and how to begin anyway
• Masking at work, and building workplaces where people don't have to hide who they are
• "Nothing about us without us": working with disabled people, not just for them
  👋 Guest - Kelly Thibodeau, Squarely Accessible

Website: squarelyaccessible.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kthibodeau

Level It Up: levelitupmb.ca

🔗 Follow Accessible Future Podcast

 YouTube: youtube.com/@AccessibleFuture

Instagram: instagram.com/accessible_future

Facebook: facebook.com/people/Accessible-Future/61586380868685

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/accessible-future

Email: [email protected]

If you found value in this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating on your platform. It helps more people find the show.
⏰Chapters0:00 Intro1:28 What an accessible future looks like4:07 Her mom, and why accessibility is personal8:10 Inside Squarely Accessible12:03 Want it vs. need it: beyond compliance17:48 Training, invisible disabilities & the business case24:25 Neuroinclusion, autism employment & a final word32:33 Wrap-up

Julie “Jules” Emeid has a diploma, an honours degree, and a master's in progress, and she still gets read as a twenty-year-old who "doesn't know anything" the moment she walks into an interview. On this episode, she breaks down what ableism at work actually looks like: the hiring bias that sits in the gap between a strong résumé and the room, the assumptions people make about disabled workers, and why so much of it goes unnoticed by the people doing it.

Jules is a social worker and public speaker whose master's research focuses on ableism in the workplace. She's also funny on purpose. Humor is how she gets people to relax and actually listen. We get into the school system that tracked her into the lowest classes, the difference between visible and invisible disability, why "anyone can be disabled" should change how we design things, and the one rule she'd give every employer: don't assume, just ask.

What we cover

• Why Jules uses humor to disarm the awkwardness around disability
• Being placed in "essential" classes in high school, and the road to a master's
• Ableism in hiring: qualified on paper, judged in the room
• Visible vs. invisible disability, and the double standard each carries
• Why accessible design helps everyone, not only disabled people
• Her rule for getting it right: don't assume, just ask

👋 Guest - Julie “Jules” Emeid

• Podcast: youtube.com/@rollwithit_withjules
• TikTok: tiktok.com/@rollwithit_withjules
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/julie-emeid-679b8a190/
  

🔗 Follow Accessible Future Podcast

YouTube: youtube.com/@AccessibleFuture

Instagram: instagram.com/accessible_future

Facebook: facebook.com/people/Accessible-Future/61586380868685

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/accessible-future

Email: [email protected]

About the Accessible Future Podcast
The Accessible Future Podcast brings real conversations about disability, inclusion, and accessible design, centering the voices of people with lived experience and the people working to remove barriers. Subscribe so you don't miss an episode.