KPFA - Pushing Limits

Marty Omoto watches the inner workings of the Sacramento governmental structure as an advocate/reporter, particularly as it affects people with disabilities. He advises and reports on this through his California Disability-Senior Community Action Network (CDCAN), an e-mail list that now serves 65,000 subscribers.

Eddie Ytuarte, host of this Friday’s Pushing Limits radio program sometimes sees things from the “outside.”

The two discuss the results of the recent elections and Marty reports on the Sacramento machinery stuff most relevant to the disability community.

In the next year, the disability community can look forward to consistent alerts about important upcoming legislative meetings, the results of relevant action and the status of bills from Marty Omoto and CDCAN.

To add your name to the CDCAN email list, email Marty Omoto: [email protected]

CDCAN also represents the “California Person-Centered Advocacy Partnership.”

The post Sacramento Politics and Disability with Marty Omoto appeared first on KPFA.

Accessibility, lower fares, affordable housing, safety, broken escalators, over-surveillance… it’s all on the table in the last days of a hot election race.

William Walker is a candidate for the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) board to represent San Francisco’s eighth district. We ask his opinion on BART’s current service to people with disabilities, as well as his plans to serve our community should he be elected.

Eddie Ytuarte and Sheela Gunn-Cushman host.

Walker spent four years as a student of Urban Studies and Demography at UC Berkeley.  He served as student body president at City College of San Francisco where he fought for a reduced fare program for all City College students.  He also has extensive hands-on experience in public transit, having worked for SFMTA, 511 Bay Area, SamTrans and Los Angeles Metro/MTA.

Full disclosure: William Walker worked at KPFA as a volunteer, a staff member and a board of directors member between 2001-2006. During that time, he occasionally filled-in as a board operator for “Pushing Limits”.

The post Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) with William Walker appeared first on KPFA.

Jonathan Lyens is a blind user of BART, the Bay Area Rapid Transit system, and a former financial analyst in the San Francisco Mayor’s Budget Office.  He believes the BART system needs more accountability and transparency.

As a candidate for the BART Board in District 8, he is promising open clean bathrooms, working elevators and escalators and a host of other improvements.

Sheela Gunn-Cushman and Adrienne Lauby talk to Jonathan about how our beloved and beleaguered mass transit system does and does not serve people with disabilities.

Lyens’ Opponants are:

The post The Bay Area Rapid Transit System (BART) with Jonathan Lyens appeared first on KPFA.

If you’re finding a determination for resistance, a rage to protect vulnerable humans, or wishing for the joy of community strength; maybe it’s time for some direct action.

Stephanie Thomas, a long-time organizer with ADAPT, the disability movement’s direct action arm, joins us to explain how ADAPT actions organize some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the U.S. to stand tall for our rights and our lives.

Remember the photos of disabled people being dragged out of wheelchairs by security guards as they protested proposed cuts to Obama Care a year ago. That ADAPT action put a terrifying attack on our health care back on the Congressional shelf.

Listen in for the skinny on it all.

And… because every protest needs a good tee shirt, we’ll be offering protest gear for the winter season for those who support KPFA by becoming a new or continuing member. Call 510 848-5732 or 800-439-5732 during the show.

Mark Romoser, Shelley Berman, Josh Elwood and Adrienne Lauby join Stephanie Thomas for stories of triumph and accessibility.

The post Direct Action Disability Style with Stephanie Thomas of ADAPT appeared first on KPFA.