Queens On A Roll
Queens On A Roll
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/
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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!
(Instrumental Music)
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
And we are rolling out!
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