KPFA - Pushing Limits

Sometimes, we take accessible buildings for granted; but they aren’t always accessible for people living with disabilities and our rights aren’t always granted. 

Every now and then we have to make some noise, show up and be counted, prepare for a smack down…

So it was at the California Building Standards Commission last week.  Couldn’t make it to Sacramento?  Didn’t really understand the issues?  Wondering what happened?

We’ve condensed two days of testimony and cliff hanger votes into 30 jam-packed minutes with 12 of the advocates who made the trip and stood up for your access rights.  They are Ana Acton, Barry Atwood, Vanessa Proe, Nicole Sykes, Connie Arnold, Tim Thimesch, Dawn Anderson, HolLynn D’Lil, Russell Rollings, Kristen Ansel, and Dolores Tejada.

Produced and Edited by Sheela Gunn-Cushman with production help from Adrienne Lauby and Shelley Berman.

For more details and to follow this issue:

Complete Hearing:

Disability Organizing Network  https://disabilityorganizing.net

HolLynn D’Lil:  [email protected]

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Labeled a difficult child and unable to connect with other human beings, Madelaine Kelly made a cry-for-help suicide attempt before she was twelve.  Today she has a loving family, a successful business and a globe-trotting life style.   

Shelley Berman and Adrienne Lauby talk with Madelaine Kelly.

Here’s a preview:

I started to run when I was basically five years old.

I went to school very early because my Mom didn’t know what to do with me, so they put me in school when I was five.  And I was really, really tiny.  I was always really tiny.  And I just heard, ‘There’s a cross country race,” and I entered it.  And I came so far last.

Here’s this little tiny thing coming. . .little tiny thing coming. . .here she comes. . .and everyone clapped and cheered for me.    And I thought, “I like that.  That’s attention I like.  So I think I’ll do more of that running thing.”

Now, I spent the next probably 25 years being in the middle of the pack… [But] when I went and got diagnosed at 40, the therapist said that athleticism — running especially because I could do it anywhere, anyhow, anytime.    I didn’t need equipment, I didn’t need anybody else — saved my life — like, literally, saved my life.

The post Madelaine Kelly: Living with Attention Deficit Hyper Activity appeared first on KPFA.

Executive Director Catherine Kudlick of the Paul Longmore Institute at San Francisco State University is our guest. The Institute was named after one of the more prominent contemporary historians/scholars in the disability community.

Part think-tank, part cultural center, the Longmore Institute introduces new ideas about disability and disabled people.  The work at the intersection of disability history, the arts, education, and policy, pairing SF State students and faculty with various local communities.

Host and producer Eddie Ytuarte will speak with Catherine Kudlick about the role/importance disability studies in the university as they entire a wide-ranging conversation.

The post Catherine Kudlick and the Paul Longmore Institute on Disability appeared first on KPFA.

Due to 12 years of budget cuts, people with developmental disabilities are taking care of aging parents by themselves, dying alone in single occupancy residences (SROs), and facing a host of other problems.  They rallied in six locations across California early this winter to fight for themselves and each other. They rallied to the cry of a “10% increase.”

Dana Hale, Mike Keener, Juanita Chapple, Shira Leeder and Tim Hornbecker attended the Berkeley protest.   Sheela Gunn-Cushman was on hand to talk to them.

For people with developmental disabilities the past decade has been a story of disaster.  The state budget to fund the agencies and individuals who care for us was sliced and diced; individual services and programs disappeared, never to return.

This year, with a projected surplus of 1 – 2.5 billion dollars in the California budget, we are determined to recoup some of that funding.  We’re stepping up our lobbying effort with new strategies and determination.

California’s budget season begins in ten days or less.  We say we are fighting for our lives and are tired of it.  We say we aren’t going to take it any more.  We say they’ve cut us to the bone and it is time to rebuild the programs that keep us alive.  

Will it be different this year?  Only if you, individually and collectively, do something about it.

Put your ear to the ground, find out the name of your state senator or representative and call them on the phone.  Get involved with a local group fighting for money for the services that support you.  Go to Sacramento and, if that is too hard, work from home.  The legislators get pressure from the wealthy and able-bodied about their budget priorities.  They need to hear from us too.

If you can’t find a local group, contact Tim Hornbecker at the Arc of Alameda (510) 394-9282, [email protected].   You can reach Shira Leeder here, [email protected].

Co-produced, edited and hosted by Sheela Gunn-Cushman & Adrienne Lauby.

The post Happy New Year’s Budget Season appeared first on KPFA.

Highlights from Corbett Joan O’Toole’s reading from her new memoir, Fading Scars: My Queer Disability History.    Partial transcript available here.

Arriving in Berkeley among the first wave of people with disabilities, Corbett O’Toole experienced the creation of the west coast Independent Living Movement first hand.  In this book, she brings those early days to life. 

But that’s just the beginning.  With her signature intelligence and humor, she takes us through the major issues of our disabled lives.  From violence to crip dancing, O’Toole’s analysis is often surprising and always illuminating.

Published by Autonomous Press, a new press devoted to disability, O’Toole’s book establishes the life-saving necessity for the disability rights movement as it points out the many places we have yet to go.

Edited from a live reading at the Ed Roberts Center in Berkeley,  this program includes O’Toole’s history of the ground-breaking 504 sit-in, including the little known history of Black Panther support.  O’Toole also explains how she approached the problem of writing for people who don’t like to read due to their disabilities — while also writing a book for people who love to read.

O’Toole mentions learning some details of “plain language” from Self Advocates for Becoming Empowered.  This article by Elizabeth “Ibby” Grace explains why it is important in academia.

Find our more about Corbett O’Toole here.

This program produced and hosted by Adrienne Lauby.  Sheela Gunn-Cushman and Shelley Berman provided audio editing.

The post Fading Scars: My Queer Disability History appeared first on KPFA.

Oh, the dreaded holidays…have to find time to clean the doggone house…but…

What if you didn’t have a house to clean? What if you were homeless, not only for the holidays, but everyday?   Meet Charlene Love—formerly homeless, on the fringe, disabled, and an activist.

We usually don’t think of homeless people as part of the disability community but in Sonoma County, just for one example, nearly two-thirds (63%) of the homeless reported one or more health issues in 2015.  Over a third live with psychiatric or emotional limitations. Many others live with drug and alcohol addictions. And, 30% of the homeless, almost a third, live with a physical disability.   It is not uncommon to find wheelchair users in shelters or even in outdoor encampments.

In progressive Berkeley, the City Council has just instituted new laws against the homeless. Part of the law requires all homeless people to keep themselves and their possessions within a 2-foot square. On the other side of the bay in San Francisco, the homeless are being disappeared altogether to clean up for the big super bowl party…got taxpayer money for parties, but not for social welfare.

Often homeless people have a complex mix of severe physical and emotional disabilities. Chronic diseases, such as hypertension, asthma and diabetes, are hard to manage under stressful circumstances. Acute problems such as infections, injuries, and pneumonia are difficult to heal when there is no place to rest and recuperate.

According to National Health Care for the Homeless, homeless people are 10-20 times more likely to suffer disabling health conditions than other low-income people.

It’s clear that the disability community needs to claim and become advocates with our homeless members.  We are a community of poverty and, like all poor people, are at risk for homelessness as the gap between rich and poor increasingly widens.

Shelley Berman and Adrienne Lauby produce and host.

The post Charlene Love: Disabled and Homeless appeared first on KPFA.

The term ‘inspiration porn’ has hit social media with great energy.

Inspiration porn is a cultural phenomenon. It appeals to the goody-two-shoes segment of society who feel warm and fuzzy when the able-bodied world does something for people with disabilities.

“Here’s a free sports event… get your picture taken with a star athlete. . . have your photo circulated around facebook because you look like a cute puppy.  I’ll “like” that.”

Does this help or hurt our community? What’s your feeling when a video of a kid with a prosthetic leg swinging a baseball bat pops up in your phone?  Do you feel different when you realize a couple million people have shared it?

Eddie Ytuarte and Adrienne Lauby talk to each other and callers about inspiration porn.

Here’s a thoughtful post on this topic from the blog,  The not so simple (love) life of a disabled Mum.  Maith an cailin includes many visual images of people with disabilities so you can figure out for yourself what fits the label of Inspirational Porn.  (Apologies: Her images are not described for screen readers.)

The post Inspiration Porn appeared first on KPFA.

We speak with Arlene Moore who simply can’t be knocked down without getting up again.

Lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, scoliosis, stroke…who cares? Arlene rises to the challenge and, with the love of her husband Gary Moore, finds the strength of mind and character to live life to its fullest.

It’s the day before Halloween and we have skeleton photos for you.

And the engraved crystal award Arlene got from starting pitcher Kyle Kendrick and the Philadelphia Phillies.  It reads “Phillies Favorite Teacher, Arlene Moore, presented by Kyle Kendrick,” and is signed by Kyle.

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Autonomous Press author Corbett Joan OToole shares stories from her book.  Event is wheelchair accessible. Text copies of the reading available. For other access needs including ASL and CART, please email Emily BEFORE Nov. 2nd.

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This week an NPR investigation revealed that since January 2009, the Army has “separated” 22 thousand soldiers with mental health problems or traumatic brain injuries for “misconduct” after they came back from Iraq and Afghanistan.  As a result, many of have not received retirement and health care benefits.

All this happened after members of Congress wanted to make sure the military was not putting people out that have service-related medical issues. Congress said the military has a responsibility to get Vets the care they need. And yet, 22 thousand disabled war veterans have been kicked out and denied benefits.  Read more here.

The post Love, Laughter, Learning & Lupus appeared first on KPFA.

How to find housing — and survive the process.  Sheela Gunn-Cushman offers Housing 101, a program that takes us through everything from mental attitude to directions for setting up application and documentation files.  A half-hour of practical, specific and well-thought-out information for those who need extremely low income housing in the bay area of California.

Sheela’s Affordable Housing Resource List, 2015

(Modify these templates and letters to fit your individual situation)

The Information You’ll Need In Your Application File.

Questions About A Property

Questions About a Property (with Section 8 Voucher)

Follow up Letter to Unresponsive Project Manager

Sample Cover Letter – Electronic Application

Sample Letter: Update and Continued Interest

Sheela’s Housing Saga  (Sheela Gunn-Cushman’s personal story of a successful housing search) (30 min)

Check back again:  More information posted soon.

Sheela Gunn-Cushman produced and hosts both this program and these materials.

The post The Extremely-Low Income Housing Search appeared first on KPFA.

First published in 1999, the groundbreaking Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness and Liberation is essential to the history and future of disability politics. Eli Clare’s revelatory writing about his experiences as a white disabled genderqueer activist/writer established him as one of the leading writers on the intersections of queerness and disability and permanently changed the landscape of disability politics and queer liberation.  We interview Eli as the book is republished with a new introduction by Aurora Levins Morales.

Loneliness and Its Opposite documents how two countries generally imagined to be progressive engage with the private realm of desire and sexuality for people with disabilities in very different ways. Denmark and Sweden are both liberal welfare states, but they diverge dramatically in these issues. In Denmark, the erotic lives of people with disabilities are acknowledged and facilitated. In Sweden, they are denied and blocked.

We ask co-author Don Kulick, why these differences exist, and how do both facilitation and hindrance play out in practice?

This is a fund drive program with Josh Elwood, Sheela Gunn-Cushman and Adrienne Lauby hosting.  Adrienne Lauby produces the program.

Click Here to Donate to KPFA Today

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