KPFA - Pushing Limits

Life is full of inconveniences, and it’s up to us as individuals to respond to those inconveniences. That’s how Victor McConnell looks at life anyways. Despite being born and orphaned in Russia without his entire left arm and shoulder, he is a successful IT consultant, photographer, and musician.

On today’s program, we learn what it’s like to experience life without an arm. Plus, we get a taste of Victor’s optimism and spunk. Don’t miss the finale—where Victor lets his music do the talking.

This interview has been edited from an episode of The Disability Myth. If you would like to hear the longer program, check out the podcast, The Disability Myth.

This program is hosted and produced by Dominick Trevethan.

Relevant Resources:

The post One-Handing Life – Pushing Limits – December 20, 2024 appeared first on KPFA.

A half-hour radio show providing critical coverage of disability issues and bringing the insight of the grassroots disability movement to the general public.

The post Pushing Limits – December 13, 2024 appeared first on KPFA.

A half-hour radio show providing critical coverage of disability issues and bringing the insight of the grassroots disability movement to the general public.

The post Pushing Limits – December 6, 2024 appeared first on KPFA.

Self-advocacy by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities has become a big part of the disability movement’s approach to this part of our community. Essentially it means that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities can and should be supported to speak for themselves, help make policy, serve on boards, and more.

Sadly, too often organizations use the term “Self Advocate” simply to get grants or “street cred”. Today’s guest, Brittanie Hernandez-Wilson, helped make Self-Advocacy more than a “buzz word” when she was the Equity and Justice Director, at the ARC Minnesota. Hear her explain what it takes to transform disability organizations into places that are truly representative of and accountable to the communities they serve.

This program was produced by Jacob Lesner-Buxton, hosted by Shelley Berman, and edited by Denny Daughters and Dominick Trevethan.

The post Beyond the Buzzword: Self-Advocacy in Action appeared first on KPFA.

Did you know some of the most iconic musicians in history lived with disabilities? Beethoven composed masterpieces despite losing his hearing. Stevie Wonder, blind from infancy, redefined soul music. Rick Allen of Def Leppard turned a tragedy into triumph, playing the drums with one arm after a car accident.

Accordingly, this Friday, November 22, Pushing Limits brings you a unique musical journey spotlighting incredible artists from the 1960s to the early 2000s. Explore how their creativity and resilience shaped their music—and the world.

Host Denny Daughters dives into his rich collection to share hits from artists living with blindness, dyslexia, Stiff Person Syndrome, and amputation and more. Whether you’re a lifelong music lover or simply curious, this half-hour promises unforgettable tunes.

This show was hosted, edited, and produced by Denny Daughters.

But wait, there’s more!

For an uncut version of this program, alongside the programs predecessor, visit this episode of The Flashback Podcast.

The post Musicians With All Types Of Disabilities – Pushing Limits – November 22, 2024 appeared first on KPFA.

You may be fortunate enough to live somewhere where strong advocacy by tenant groups has taken away a landlord’s ability to throw you out of your home for any reason whatsoever.  It’s called “Just Cause Protection.” Sonoma County and Antioch recently adopted Just Cause ordinances and Alameda County has had Just Cause protection for many years.

But, even with this protection, evictions still happen. Someday you may be the person who wakes up to a three-day eviction notice tacked to your door.

If that happens, we want you to be prepared. That’s why, today, we’re covering the procedure known as an Unlawful Detainer. That’s another piece of paper that may land on your door. This one offers you a day in court after you get a 3-day eviction notice.

Our guest, Erin Neff, is an expert in these court hearings. They have defended families at risk of eviction from some of the worst landlords in New York City. They are an experienced attorney in housing law in support of the disability community, and they work for the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, known as DREDF.

Erin Neff will explain what it means for a person with a disability to have their day in court. And, we’ll also spend some time exploring the legal situation for someone with a Section 8 voucher.

This program is hosted and produced by Eddie Ytuarte.

As a Senior Staff Attorney at DREDF, Erin Nguyen Neff primarily focuses on civil rights cases, impact litigation, and policy advocacy for people with disabilities. They began their career as a tenant lawyer for the Legal Aid Society in Brooklyn. Erin has also worked at California Rural Legal Assistance and the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, where she was the Lead Policy Attorney for their Housing Program. With housing rights and policy as a predominant focus throughout Erin’s career, they believe housing is a human right – and the decommodification of housing is necessary to uphold that right.

They completed their undergraduate degree in psychology at George Mason University and their law degree at the American University, Washington College of Law, where they were an editor for the Journal of Gender, Social Policy, and the Law. Erin is licensed to practice law in both the state of New York and California.

The post Eviction: Your Day in Court – Pushing Limits – November 15, 2024 appeared first on KPFA.

When you think of professional athletes, some of the names that come to mind may include the likes of LeBron James, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Tom Brady. However, athletes living with disabilities can be just as impressive as their able-bodied counterparts, yet they don’t seem to get the same level of attention. So in an effort to change this, on today’s program we are talking with a national power soccer champion.

Ulices Arreola is a twenty-year-old who starts at wing for the LA Galaxy Power Soccer Club. Last year, he was invited to join the national team in Indiana, where him and his team went on to win the tournament. Accordingly, this program explores the state of the sport of power soccer, what it’s like to go to nationals, as well as address the stigma that differentiates adaptive sports from more typical sports. GOOOOOOOOAL!

This program was produced and hosted by Dominick Trevethan.

Relevant Resources

If you’d like to learn more about power soccer or even find a team near you, you can do so here

And be sure to follow LA Galaxy P.S.C. on Instagram

The post Power Soccer Programming – Pushing Limits – November 8, 2024 appeared first on KPFA.

The rise of right-wing power in the U.S. is the culmination of a 50 year plan to seize the reins of government power in the U.S. It has succeeded in the Supreme Court and, who knows, could take the Presidency and both House and Senate at Tuesday’s election. As the plan becomes actualized, the Heritage Foundation has gifted us with the next step – a plan for a radical restructuring of our legal and regulatory bodies written in a document called Project 2025.

Unless you are inclined to policy wonky-ness, it’s hard to tell how the Project 2025 changes could affect people with disabilities.  Fortunately for us, our guest for this program has the knowledge and experience to translate these bureaucratic maneuvers into the devilish details that are set to make our lives much more difficult.

Claudia Center is the Legal Director of Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF). She litigates cases that increase civil rights and civil liberties for persons with disabilities, and represents the disability community in legislative, policy, amicus, and appellate work.

Project 2025 lays out drastic cuts to Medi-Caid (MediCal), the end of equity in K-12 schooling for disabled kids, less eligible injuries for Veteran services, and so much more.

Halloween will be over by the time this program airs but it’s not too late to be very scared.

Want to know more?  Our community members are working to make it easy for you:

1. Claudia Center’s analysis with page numbers in the Project 2025 document.so you can read what it says yourself.

Produced and hosted by Adrienne Lauby. Audio Editing by Adrienne Lauby and Denny Daughters. Production assistance by Tina Pinedo.

The post Project 2025 & Disabled People – Pushing Limits – November 1, 2024 appeared first on KPFA.

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This Saturday, the longest running disability film festival in the world begins. Whether online or in person, you’re sure to see diverse, unabashed and engaging cinema.

In the two decades of Pushing Limits, we’ve watched the ethos of disability organizing from the 1970s be embraced by a new generation of disabled cultural workers and organizations. Superfest’s parent, the Longmore Institute at S.F. State, with its new disability cultural center is one keeper of these flames.

Our guest this week, Dr. Emily Beitiks, interim director for the Longmore Institute, has seen these happy developments close and personal. Eddie Ytuarte hosts.

SUPERFEST

Superfest Disability Film Festival is coming October 17-20, and whether you are joining in person in the Bay Area or online anywhere in the world, you need to be a part of it! Superfest is the longest running disability film festival in the world. Since 1970, it has celebrated cinema that portrays disability through a diverse, unabashed and engaging lens, and we can’t wait to come together as a community to take in this much-loved disability cultural event for its 38th festival, hybrid for the second year, with new levels of access.

EMILY BEITIKS:

Emily Beitiks received a Ph.D. in American Studies with a focus in Disability Studies at the University of Minnesota. She has served as adjunct faculty at five universities, centering disability studies in her curriculum.

From 2012 to the present, she has worked at the Longmore Institute on Disability at San Francisco State University, serving as Interim Director for three years. While there, she developed her praxis as a scholar-activist of disability to promote creative forms of access for the arts and generate spaces that promote disability culture, serving as project director for a touring exhibition “Patient No More,” and serving as co-director of Superfest Disability Film Festival.

She exists in this world because her mother’s sudden disability diagnosis prompted her to have a child, and her first-hand experiences of disability have grown throughout her 20 years of experience working in the disability community.

The post Superfest & The Longmore Institute – Pushing Limits – October 18, 2024 appeared first on KPFA.