Author: Carl Sigmond

A Valentine’s Day Special

It’s February, and Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. So, we decided to mark this time of year by inviting Dan and Viola Dwyer on the show. They are a married couple, and we invited them on Disability Rap to talk about their marriage and common misconceptions about people with disabilities in relationships.

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Read More “Disability Rap – February 1, 2021”

Hospitalization During the Coronavirus Pandemic

On today’s show, we look at one disabled person’s experience being admitted into a hospital here in California this fall. His name is John Pixley. He was admitted into the hospital for four days this past October for something totally unrelated to the coronavirus. Despite prior assurances to the contrary, the hospital refused to allow his personal care attendants to be with him in the hospital. The reason given was Covid-19. John describes the experience as “unbearable, almost torturous,” and “inhumane.”

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Read More “Disability Rap – January 4, 2021”

Election Reflection

On today’s show, we look back at the November election, and how easily, or not, people with disabilities were able to cast our ballots here in California. We also look forward and hear some of the voting advocacy work in the pipeline for the coming year.

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Read More “Disability Rap – December 7, 2020”

An Election Eve Special!

This Monday, November 2, on Disability Rap, an Election Eve Special! Rebecca Cokley of the Center for American Progress Action Fund talks to us about the disabled community’s increasing political power in the United States. She also tells us about her own journey growing up in a multigenerational disabled family. We then hear both Presidential campaigns’ speeches to the Disability & Election Virtual Summit, where they present their disability platforms. We end the show with an announcement about Medicare’s Open Enrollment period, which continues through December 7.

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Read More “Disability Rap – November 2, 2020”

Special Broadcast: Nevada County’s Education Workshop for Voters with Disabilities

On today’s show, we bring you extended excerpts of Nevada County’s Education Workshop for Voters with Disabilities. This workshop took place via Zoom this past Friday, October 16, and was open to the public. The workshop was hosted by Jaime Melugin from the Nevada County Elections Department. She was joined by our co-host, Carl Sigmond, who is FREED’s Disability Community Advocate, Mark Fenicle, Chair of the FREED Board of Directors, and Paul Spencer and Jason Connor from Disability Rights California.

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Special Broadcast: Part II of Disproportional Effects of the Coronavirus Pandemic on People with Disabilities

Last week, we brought you part one of our conversation on the disproportional effects the coronavirus pandemic is having on people with disabilities and older adults. This week, we are bringing you part two. We spoke with Monet Clark, a healer and eco-feminist performance based video and photographic artist right here in Nevada City, Meg O’Connell, Founder and CEO of Global Disability Inclusion, Dr. Leonard Abbeduto, Director of the MIND Institute at UC Davis, and Denny Chan, a Senior Staff Attorney at Justice in Aging. We recorded this conversation on September 21, right as we reached the grim milestone of 200,000 deaths from Covid-19 here in the United States. We started part two of the conversation by asking Denny to talk about the crisis standard of care guidelines here in California.

This is Part II of this conversation. Click here to listen to Part I.

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Part I of Disproportional Effects of the Coronavirus Pandemic on People with Disabilities

As the number of coronavirus cases in the US tops 6.8 million and the number of deaths from Covid-19 tops 200,000, we spend today’s show looking at the disproportionate effects the pandemic is having on older adults and people with disabilities. We’ve all heard the harrowing stories in the media about some of the early coronavirus hotspots being nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, but we wanted to go deeper. According to the CDC, 94% of people who died from Covid-19 in the US had at least one other health condition or contributing cause of death. What does that mean for the disability community and for older adults?

This is Part I of this conversation. Part II will be released next Monday.

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Read More “Disability Rap – October 5, 2020”

June Isaacson Kailes

Ana Acton interviews leading disability policy consultant June Isaacson Kailes on disaster preparedness and other issues facing the disability community.

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June Isaacson Kailes

Ana Acton and Brian Snyder interview leading disability policy consultant June Isaacson Kailes on disaster preparedness and other issues facing the disability community.

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