The TRENDS podcast is a collaboration between the Community Foundation of Boulder County and KGNU. It dives deep into the community’s most pressing issues and explores the changes happening throughout Boulder County through the experiences of community members, especially those often rendered invisible by commercial media, to shed light on community challenges, solutions, and pathways forward for the county and the country.

Listen to this TRENDS podcast episode below:

This time on the TRENDS podcast, a collaboration between KGNU Community Radio and the Community Foundation of Boulder County, we take a look at the challenges facing those with a physical disability, the issues they face and the solutions that they themselves are creating.

Being visually impaired does not stop 82-year-old Oswaldo Gomez from getting up and helping others in the community who are struggling with physical disabilities.

“I’m from Cuba, a professional dancer from my country. I’m working here as a volunteer because I like to give. I’m helping people.”

Osvaldo is determined to share his talents with the community, despite his own physical challenges. Today he is teaching a Zumba class at the Applewood Living Center. Most of the people in his class are elderly, dealing with a physical disability and in wheelchairs but that doesn’t stop Oswaldo.

“The music makes you move your body. It is what I do. They move because they sit so long in the chair. They need to move, it makes them happy.  They don’t even know they move but they move.”

Osvaldo is visually impaired which can often lead to isolation. He has been able to stay connected to the local community through his volunteer work helping others with disabilities. He can stay connected to the outside world through adaptive technology.

Kim Ann Wardlow is the Executive Director at the Audio Information Network of Colorado that provides audio access to print for individuals who are blind, visually impaired, or have another condition that makes reading difficult for them.

“The seniors, if they have lost their vision later in life it’s often very difficult. They’re trying to learn many alternative techniques and ways of doing things without vision all at once. Very different from learning starting as a child and learning throughout your whole life. And that can be overwhelming in some cases. They may have other conditions that make mobility difficult. And so combining that with vision loss, it’s not unusual to see someone become isolated in their home and not getting out and about as much.”

Of course, not everyone dealing with physical disabilities is a senior. For some, it is something that comes earlier in life. This was the experience of longtime Boulder resident, Jeannine Fox.

“I’m fifty-three and I was diagnosed with MS in August of 2011 and my father actually had MS as well and was completely disabled, a quadriplegic, couldn’t move anything. So I’m familiar with the disease, unfortunately. And once I was diagnosed, I had to retire from doing real estate because my disability, disabled me.”

It takes a lot of effort for Jeannine, an avid cyclist and swimmer, to get out and about, but she does it to stay connected.

“So for longer traveling and for longer distances in town, I’m on an electric scooter, but maneuvering around town I can do on my sticks. But I move very, very slowly and the effort it takes for each step in concentrating so I don’t trip and fall means that I’m not engaging with people. And that makes me definitely feel like more of an outsider than I already feel.”

Another way Jeannine stays connected and finds a sense of purpose is through her volunteer work at Intercambio.