S3 QOAR Episode 3 News From The Past Month (Feb.2023)

Description of Image: Black background On the left is an African American female with a white off the shoulder shirt in a wheelchair. Then Queens On A Roll in Gray Letters with a purple outline with a crown on the Q. The word Roll looks like a wheelchair and the word podcast in Gray Letters with a purple outline in all four corners

In this episode I sit down with my ride/die/bestie Luis yet again for the first time this year!  To discuss news going on in the ably different community and our perspectives on it for the month of Feb. You don't want to miss it! Come Roll with Us!

Links to Stories:

Denied from a Job due to disability: https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2023/02/14/teacher-assistant-didnt-get-job-cerebral-palsy-feds/30246/

Books: https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2023/02/03/childrens-books-honored-for-disability-representation/30226/

Lego: https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2023/02/24/new-lego-sets-feature-characters-with-a-range-of-disabilities/30256/

City Council: https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2023/02/20/city-council-candidate-crawl-debate-stage-lack-wheelchair-access/30252/

Transcript

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Hey, everyone on and welcome back

to Queens On A Roll podcast!

This is Latavia here.

And before we get into today's episode, it is

time for (Roll Call Sound Effect)

so I would like to thank Mr.

Eric Green and Shontae Usman for their

donations to Queens On A Roll podcast.

Please keep it coming!

I so greatly appreciate the support!

Thank you so much!

(Cheering Sound Effect)

So guess who I have back with me?

My very best friend, Luis. Hey, guys. How's it going?

How's it going, Luis? How are you?

Pretty good, pretty good.

Glad to be back.

I am so glad you're back.

So it's been a while since we

did news from the past month. Are you ready?

I am ready. All right.

Let's roll!

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All right, our first story is about a

woman from Pennsylvania described as a qualified job

candidate for a preschool teacher assistant.

She had passed several stages of the hiring process

successfully, but when time came, she was told that

they had chosen to pursue another candidate.

So she was confused.

She called the company that same

day that she got that email.

Apparently, she was not hired because of

limitations due to her having Cerebral Palsy. What?

Yes.

They discriminated against her

because of her disability.

That is crazy. I know.

She had to sue because I would

have sued it definitely so the US.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has

filed a disability discrimination lawsuit

against this Pennsylvania employer.

But before that, she followed up the phone call

with an email asking the company to look past

her disability or reconsider her for another job opening.

Did the company get back to her?

No, they did not.

(Boo Sound Effect)

That definitely sucks.

It definitely does.

We should not be discriminated.

We should be solely judged on our skill,

not our physical limitations or anything like that.

I definitely agree.

And this is one of the reasons why it's

definitely difficult to even find a job or even

be considered for employment, because as I said before,

people who are ably bodied, they often look at

people who are ably different as a liability.

So it just makes life very difficult for us. Yes.

So the EEOC did sue the company

and said that they violated the ADA,

which prohibits disability discrimination and requires employers

to provide reasonable accommodations to individuals with

disabilities unless it would cause undue hardship,

which in this process it would not.

But as a result of the lawsuit, the company

had to pay her $100,000 in back pay and

damages, and the company is also now required to

adopt new policies and procedures and provide ADA compliance

training and now periodically report to the EEOC.

So that is great that they're being forced to do this.

I mean, I think it should be

done to every company by now.

It's 2023 and I'm happy she received the compensation

and they're making the changes now, but I'm pretty

sure all she wanted was just a job.

Like nine times out of ten, all we want is

to be productive members of society and be seen as

that because we are productive members of society.

So I'm pretty sure at the end of the day, even

though the compensation is good and they are making changes now

because of what transpired, all she wanted was a job.

Definitely.

I agree with you 100%.

I myself am in that particular situation.

All I want is a job.

So I understand what she wants.

Multiple people with disabilities.

All we want is like Latavia said,

to be productive people for the community you know and just work.

Well said,

Well said!

(Delayed Beat Sound Effect)

Well, on a lighter note, there are children

books being honored for their disability representation.

So every few years, the American Library

Association names three winners and four honorees

of books that showcase disability representation.

So they did that this past month

in February, and there's different age ranges.

So for the young children's category, which is for

ages up to eight, the winners were Listen: How

Evelyn Glennie, a deaf girl, changed Percussion, which is

a book about a girl who perseveres to become

an award winning musician despite losing her hearing.

The honor book was called in the Blue, which

explores a family's experience with depression in the middle

grades, which is ages nine to 13.

It was a book called Wild Oak,

which is about a girl who stutters.

The honor book was called Honestly Elliot, about a

boy with ADHD who's struggling to find his way,

and Hummingbird, which centers on a girl who doesn't

let brutal bone disease keep her from adventures.

In the teen category, it was the book The Words We

Keep, which was about a story of a girl who turns

art and poetry into helping her cope with her anxiety.

The honor book was Breathe and Countback From Ten,

which is about a teen who has hip dysplasia.

So the winners of these awards

received $5,000 and a frame plaque.

So I think this was pretty cool.

Yeah, I'm definitely glad that these books

and their authors are getting recognized and

we need more things like this, more

disability representation in books, movies, shows.

Yeah, I definitely agree.

And you know both of us should read one of these

books and then we should do a book review episode

Yeah, I'm definitely down for that.

I'm definitely down for that.

So stay tuned okay, guys, so buckle up and get ready

(Stair Climbing Sound Effect)

Okay guys, so buckle up and get ready

for this one, because this one had me like, what?

Are you kidding me?

I could never (Buckle Up & Get Ready Sound Effect) 

So there was a city council candidate who had to crawl

on the debate stage due to lack of wheelchair access.

Denver City Councilman Chris Hines couldn't maneuver his wheelchair

on stage at Cleo Parker Robinson Dance School when

he was going for a debate on that stage

cause they did not have a ramp.

Can you believe it?

That is extremely reprehensible.

I can't believe something like that happened.

No, but wait, it gets better.

So he had to participate in this debate,

because if he did not participate in this

debate, he had to forfeit $125,000 in campaign

financing from Denver's Fair Elections Fund.

So you know what he had to do?

He had to get out of his wheelchair and

crawl on that stage to do the debate.

I can't imagine how humiliating that was for him. Right?

Exactly!

That is so demoralizing!

I could never I don't care how much money you paid me.

I could never crawl on stage just to do something.

And I'm sorry, he was in his suit.

So can you imagine him in his suit getting

ready for a debate and crawling on the stage?

That is wild.

Imagine him just dragging himself.

Who knows if that stage is even clean?

But that's not even the point.

There should have been accommodations.

Like, it should have never gotten to that point.

It really shouldn't have.

And so here's what the event organizer said.

We thought we could lift Hines up out

of his wheelchair and put him on stage.

Now he has an electric wheelchair.

Now, if some of you do not

know, electric wheelchairs weigh a lot.

So there was no way in the world they were

going to be able to lift the chair on stage.

And then they wanna say that the

fault is on Hines because he did not

inform them that he needed accommodations.

News flash.

He doesn't have to inform you that he

needed accommodations because a ramp is something that

you are supposed to have, according to the

ADA, because they are a public facility.

So it's even more absurd to me.

It's ridiculous.

It's disgusting that they made him do this.

I'm lost for words.

And apparently what makes it even more worse is

that he's a prominent advocate for accessibility in Denver.

So he's well known.

So they should have known better than to do this.

I mean, it's crazy.

And the only reason why he would have been

fined $125,000 is because in 2018, Denver voters approved

that if they're going to receive public funding for

their campaigns, then they have to participate in public

debate in order to receive the money.

So because of that law that they enacted back in 2018,

is the reason why he had to do it, because if

he did not do it, then he would have been fine.

So he was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

And I think what he did was very courageous, I

guess, because I don't think I coulda done it.

I think I would have said find an alternative.

And after the end of the

ordeal, they did find an alternative.

They actually allowed him to do the

debate in the front of the stage.

Why they didn't think of that idea in

the first place is beyond me.

So they thought of this idea after he crawled on stage?

After he crawled on stage, they thought of the idea.

So I think it's just absurd.

It definitely is.

I mean, it's not like he just showed up out of nowhere.

I'm sure this is an event that was planned already.

You knew the candidates that were coming,

so you knew that he was supposed

to get accommodations in the first place.

That is not his fault.

And shout out to Councilman Chris Hines for

always still advocating for us, because even after

this ordeal, he wanted to make it known

so that people would still be aware that

people with disabilities or who are ably different

still go through these things every single day.

And in 2023, he finds it unacceptable.

And I am with you.

I find it unacceptable.

So please continue to advocate for us.

Please continue to get out there

and let your voice be heard.

I think what you did was remarkable. Definitely.

I definitely applaud you for that.

(Cheering Sound Effect)

All right, Luis, are we ending

the show on a good note?

Please tell me we're ending on a good note.

We definitely are.

Who Loves Legos. I do! I do! Me too. Love building them.

And now people with disabilities are

being represented by Legos as well.

So apparently in their Lego Friends collection,

they are now including characters with down

syndrome, with limb differences, anxiety, vertiligo, and

even a dog with a wheelchair.

So I think that is remarkable that they're

representing us and little kids could play with

characters that they find in common.

Yeah, I think that's awesome.

Way to go Lego for that,

I really do think that's awesome.

You know, they've had characters of people in

wheelchair, so it's nice to see that they're

branching out and trying to include everyone.

But I'm curious to see how they

would represent anxiety disorders through a Lego.

Yeah, I did find that interesting.

I don't know exactly how that is going to look.

I'm going to actually look into it to see

how they represent anxiety in a Lego character.

Yeah, I definitely wanna  check that out.

Apparently Lego Friends is a collection of

more detailed and realistic looking Lego characters,

so it should look really cool. Awesome. Awesome.

Shout out to Lego for that.

Thank you so much.

(Cheering Sound Effect)

All right, guys, that is all the

stories we have for you today.

All these stories were brought

to you by disabilitiescoop.com.

I love this site.

Because it just keeps us up to date on all

the things that's happening in the ably different community.

And I think it's a great site.

If you would like to check out the stories,

there is going to be a link in the

comments and on my YouTube channel where you can

check out all the stories we talked about today.

So before we get into today's quote of the episode,

I have a few things I would like to say.

March is Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month. Woohoo.

So if you know anyone that has been diagnosed with

Cerebral Palsy, please wear green to show your support.

And if you can, please donate money to any

organizations that support programs for children or adults with

Cerebral Palsy or organizations that fund research for children

and adults with Cerebral Palsy, such as Cure cp, United

Cerebral Palsy and the Cerebral Palsy Foundation.

And it is also Women's History Month. Woohoo!

Who runs the world? Girls and in honor

of Women's History Month, I'm going to highlight,

in my opinion, some prominent women in history.

First up is Ms.

Judy Heumann. Ms.

Heumann was an American disabilities rights advocate who

was born on December 18, 1947 in Philadelphia

and grew up in Brooklyn, New York.

At 18 months old, she contracted polio

and spent three months in an iron

loan and unfortunately became wheelchair bound.

When her mother tried to enroll her

in kindergarten, the principal said she could

not attend, calling her a fire hazard.

However, she did not let that stop her.

She went on to obtain her degree in public health

and went on to pursue a career in teaching.

It was her desire to become a teacher that led

her to become a prominent advocate for disabilities rights.

In 1970, she tried to become a New York City teacher.

She passed every requirement and test and was

denied a position due to her physical limitations.

She sued the city and later won, becoming

New York City's first teacher in a wheelchair.

But her advocacy didn't stop there.

In 1972, Miss Heumann and a small

group of DIA demonstrators shut down rush

hour traffic on Madison Avenue outside President

Richard Nixon's reelection campaign headquarters.

They wanted to call attention to Nixon's veto

of the Rehabilitation Act of 1972, which expanded

programs to help people with disabilities.

In 1973, Nixon did sign the Rehabilitation

Act, which added milestone language to prevent

discrimination against people with disabilities.

But the Nixon and Ford Administration

did not write the rules required

to make that antidiscrimination language operative.

So when the Carter Administration entered the White

House, Ms. Heumann emerged as the leader of

the sit in that occupied the federal building.

And ultimately, Heumann and the protesters forced

the Carter Administration to implement Section 504

of the Rehabilitation Act, which specified that

no government agency or even a private

business that accepted federal funds could discriminate

against someone on the basis of disability.

Later on in her life, Ms.

Heumann worked for the Clinton and Obama

administration to fight for disability rights internationally.

Unfortunately, Ms.

Heumann passed away on March 4 of this year, but

she will forever be known as a trailblazer and for

her dedication to advocating and fighting for disability rights.

And I for one am always gonna

be forever grateful for her contributions

to the ably different community.

(Cheering Sound Effect)

(Instrumental Music)

Now, you know, it's time for the quote of the episode.

Luis, you wanna take it away? Definitely. All right.

So the quote is, inclusivity means not just we're

allowed to be there, but we are valued.

And I think that holds true especially to this episode.

We are not defined by

our disabilities or our wheelchairs.

Yeah, I definitely agree.

For me, it's truly important that we not

only say we're going to be inclusive or

diversified, but we actually act on it. Right.

So I appreciate what Lego's doing.

I think it's a great thing, but I

would just like to see it more with

companies and businesses and different organizations.

Let's stop talking about it and actually be about it.

Definitely.You know

They say actions speak louder than words. Yeah.

And it rings true for inclusion.

So that's all we have for you today, folks!

Thank you so much for listening!

I really appreciate all of you!

Thank you, Luis, for coming on.

I'm glad to be back.

Hoping to be back soon again.

Hope you guys enjoyed the episode.

Yeah, it's definitely been a minute.

Everybody's been missing you, Luis.

So thank you for coming back on.

So thank you guys.

Thank you so much.

If you would like to donate to Queens On

A Roll podcast, I have a patreon account.

There's four tiers up there for you to choose from.

Check us out on the YouTube channel, Instagram,

Facebook page, and all of our streaming services

continue to download and run the numbers up.

Thank you guys again so much!

If you have any questions for me

or Luis or any of my guests,

you can reach me at queensonaroll. podcast@gmail.com.

Again, the email is queensonaroll. podcast@gmail.com.

Thank you guys so much1

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