KPFA - Pushing Limits

Black and brown people have always been present in the disability movement and

At the same time, movements for racial equality and disability rights overlap and inform

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Curious about the Ed Roberts Campus? Ever stepped inside and felt a bit intimidated? We know how you feel. . .

This week, Pushing Limit’s Shelley Berman, reveals the secrets of this edifice that touts itself as a national and international model building, one which is dedicated to disability rights and universal access. Listen in on Friday, June 20 at 2:30 pm on KPFA 94.1 fm or at KPFA.org. Shelley will adventure through the hallway maze as she talks to the California Telephone Access Program, Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program (BORP), Center for Accessible Technology (CforAT), Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF), World Institute on Disability (WID), and the Ala Costa Center�s Adult Transition Program. Links to all these organizational websites can be found on our website; www.pushinglimits.org.

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Whether you ride the rails or roll on the wheels, getting where you need to go takes constant effort. Today we focus on transportation problems for people with disabilities. The issues are universal but the devilish details reside in the bay area of California. If you gotta go, you gotta go, but where’s the restroom? Is it open, accessible? And the latest problem, are the BART cars of the future a giant leap backward for people with disabilities? We talk to Peter Mendoza, community organizer at Independent Living Resource Center of San Francisco, about the progress for people with or lack of it since the transit protests of the late 1970s. With an interview with Linda (Ant Buddy) Picton, a Sonoma County activist bus rider. Both are long time public transit users and all-round activists. Sheela Gunn-Cushman and AdrienneLauby host.

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A program of disabled Latino musicians and musicians from the Americans.  Is that really a blind Puerto Rican blues artist performing a song using the Tuva throat singing technique?  And what well know artist–progressive activist began his eventual path as a performer because he joined the military because of the difficulties his disability while in high school?   Also a bit about Paul Lopez, Jerry Garcia, and naturally Jose Feliciano.   Eddie Ytuarte and Josh Elwood co host.

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IAyumi Hamasake, Donna Williams, Evelyn Glennie, Liyana with Prudence Mabhena, Mandy Harvey and The Great Britain Paraorchestra.

Donna Williams is autistic and darn proud of it.  Artistic ability exudes from her pores.   We play her song,  “All Be Happy; A Gothic Autism Story.”   Donna’s ground-breaking books, Nobody, Nowhere and Somebody Somewhere were among the first attempts by autistic people to put words to their own experience.  She’s also an accomplished artist and teacher.

Three-time Grammy Award winner, Dame Evelyn Glennie lives with profound deafness.  She is the first person in musical history to successfully create and sustain a full-time career as a solo percussionist.  We play her horsing around with Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street.

Prudence Mabhena is the lead vocalist for Liyana, a Zimbabwe band entirely made of people with disabilities.  She lives with arthrogryphosis and uses a wheel chair.  Her personal story, Music by Prudence, was made into an Oscar-winning film.  We play Liyana’s song, Sugar Rhythms.

In 2008, Ayumi Hamasaki, the Japanese Princess of Pop announced that she had lost her hearing in her left ear.  She had been diagnosed with Ménière’s Disease in 2006.  We play her untitled song, called simply, for her, which she wrote after finding out that a close friend had died suddenly.  The lyrics talk about a long road traveled alone.

Mandy Harvey entered the Music Education program at Colorado State University. During her freshman year she lost her hearing and left the university.  Though her hearing loss is profound (110 decibels in each ear) her timing, pitch and passion are perfect.  We play the title song of her first album, the jazz classic Smile.

Last but not least, the Great Britain Paraorchestra, the world’s first professional ensemble for disabled musicians.  This 26 piece orchestra was founded in 2012.  One of their aims is, “To increase the profile and visibility of disabled musicians on the world stage.”

We join them in that effort.

This program produced and hosted by Shelley Berman.

MUSIC PLAYED:

Ayumi Hamasake;

Donna Williams;

Evelyn Glennie;

Liyana;

Mandy Harvey;

The Great Britain Paraorchestra;

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Brooke was doing well, living with her multiple personality disorder.

Theodore “Teddy” Berman was in middle school when his life-long aversion to cookies and cake became excruciating stomach aches and his body stopped growing.  Luckily, he ran into someone living with celiac disease and discovered the

They tell their recovery stories to Adrienne Lauby.  With thanks to Sheela Gunn-Cushman for editing assistance.

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Pushing Limits present a discussion on relationship of the bible and Cristianity.  How does the bible
portray disability.  Are we cursed, evil, or perhaps something special about us attributed
our disability.  Scholar Amos Yong and Lillibeth Navarro, director of an independent living center
in Los Angeles give us their views on how disability fits in to the Christian bible and thought.  Hosted
by Eddie Ytuarte and Adrienne Lauby.

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Pushing Limits presents the first ever Disability Prom Day celebration.  Listen to who got nominated for disability royalty.

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A two-hour special on the theme of disability history in the United States.  Included are an interview with historian Kim Nielsen, the voice of Helen Keller. the history of blind activism in the U.S. and a feature on a group of students with disabilities who go to the schools and teach history from their own disability perspective. Plus short historical recollections of the remarkable things we have done.   Produced by Eddie Ytuarte, Adrienne Lauby and Sheela Gunn Cushman.

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