Disability Rap

[Editor's Note: We aired this show on July 9, 2025 as a rebroadcast of our August 2020 show. One of our guests was Mark Fenicle, the Chair of FREED's Board of Directors. We are sad to share the news that Mark passed away on August 1, 2025. The following is a statement from FREED's Executive Director, Carly Pacheco: "Mark has been involved in Independent Living since his college days. He was a steadfast leader, passionate advocate, and dear friend to FREED. His dedication to our mission and our community was unwavering, and I will certainly miss his council and support both personally and for the organization. Mark knew the value of our work and reminded us regularly where we come from, both with critical direction and reminders, as well as hilarious stories from 'the good old days.'”]In this episode of Disability Rap, we are looking back to 2020 and the 30th anniversary of the ADA. We assembled a panel of guests from across town and across the country who joined us remotely in studio for a live radio show. The discussion was so remarkable, we are bringing you the highlights to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the ADA.Our guests were FREED founding member Geeta Dardick, FREED board chair Mark Fenicle, Eddie Ytuarte from Pushing Limits Radio Collective and Ami Hyten who is now the director of the Lois Curtis Center in Topeka Kansas.Reflecting on what life was like in the days before the ADA, and the struggles that brought the law to fruition, our guests shared both personal experiences and the historical reflections that place this important legislation in context. Their hopes for the current struggles and future of disability justice are as relevant now as they were five years ago.

Last month, the US House of Representatives passed a budget reconciliation bill that proposes cutting over a trillion dollars in Federal health care spending. The program that would see the largest cuts is Medicaid, which provides health insurance to people with low income and people with disabilities. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bill, if passed into law, would cut over 800 billion dollars from Medicaid alone, resulting in nearly 11 million Americans losing Medicaid coverage. The bill also proposes cuts to the Affordable Care Act, SNAP, and to Medicare, which provides coverage to more than 61 million adults age 65 or older and almost 7 million people with disabilities under the age of 65.Meanwhile, here in California, disability rights advocates have been flocking to Sacramento in recent weeks to push back on Governor Gavin Newsom’s proposed state budget, which includes massive cuts to the In-Home Supportive Services, or IHSS, program, as well as cuts to services for people with developmental disabilities. IHSS provides in-home care for people with disabilities and older adults in California.For more on these proposed cuts at the state and Federal level, we are joined by two guests. Claudia Center is the Legal Director at the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, or DREDF, Prior to her time at DREDF, Claudia was Senior Staff Attorney in the Disability Rights Program at the ACLU.We’re also joined by Ted Jackson, the Director of Public Policy and Community Engagement at the Marin Center for Independent Living. Ted is also the Statewide Director of the Disability Organizing Network here in California.

Today, we’re joined by Dr. Xenia Barnes. After a 20 year career in education, Xenia turned her attention to social justice work and trauma research, with a particular focus on how gun violence impacts individuals and communities. Then, in 2021, she was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease that makes it difficult for the body to absorb oxygen from the air. Her essay “The Invisible Battle: Navigating the Minefield of Workplace Accommodation” was included in the recently published book, “Triumph in the Trenches: Navigating Success for Black Professionals.”Xenia Barnes is a researcher, a public speaker, and a life coach. She is the author of two books on navigating trauma: “Grieving to Heal: The Shadow Boarding Experience” and “The Recondition: A Guide to Loving Yourself Through the Trauma.” She has completed one PhD degree in Theology and is finishing up a second PhD degree in Advanced Human Behavior.

April is Autism Acceptance Month, and today we’re honoring that by spending the show talking about autism and specifically late-diagnosed autism. Autism is a broad umbrella for describing how some people think, feel, and act differently from what is considered typical or normal. We did a show in January on neurodivergence. Autism is a form of neurodivergence, and autism is a disability.Autism manifests in each person differently, but common experiences of autistic people are finding socializing challenging and/or tiring, getting overwhelmed in loud or busy spaces, having intense interests that you keep coming back to, and preferring order and routine. Some people use repeated motions or actions to calm down their nervous system and/or express joy and happiness. Some autistic people hide - or mask - their emotions in order to fit in socially. This can sometimes lead to mental illness.For more on all of this, we are joined by Kristen Hovet, the founder and creator of The Other Autism podcast. Kristen was diagnosed with autism in her 30s. Before that, she was labeled shy, gifted, intense, sensitive, reserved, but never autistic. This, unfortunately, is a common experience, especially for women and those assigned female at birth. We’ll explore why this is and what factors lead to this underdiagnosis later in the show.Kristen Hovet has a Master’s Degree in Health Studies from Athabasca University in Alberta, Canada. She’s currently a Research Communications Specialist at the British Columbia Children's Hospital Research Institute in Vancouver. 

Today, we are joined by Emily Voorde, a former Biden Administration official and a top staffer in the Pete Buttigieg Presidential campaign. We talk with Emily about the current threats to Medicaid funding that are working their way through Congress. We also hear first-hand about the challenges people with mobility disabilities and assistive devices face when flying commercially, and we get Emily’s response to a recent lawsuit challenging rules set by the Biden Administration that aimed to make air travel safer and easier for people with disabilities. Emily Voorde is the Founder and CEO of INTO Strategies, a Disabled-led consultancy firm that assists companies, movements, and political campaigns to develop inclusive access solutions. In 2022, President Joe Biden appointed Emily to a seat on the National Council on Disability, a position she held until January of this year. Prior to joining the National Council on Disability, Emily was the Associate Director of the White House’s Office of Public Engagement under President Biden, where she served as a liaison between the Biden Administration and the disability community. During the 2020 Presidential run, she worked for Pete Buttigieg’s campaign, serving as Trip Director and “Body Woman” for Buttigieg’s husband, Chasten Buttigieg.Emily Voorde grew up in South Bend, Indiana. She was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, a genetic condition that causes her bones to be brittle and break easily. She uses a wheelchair to get around. Emily first met Pete Buttigieg when he came to speak in her high school Government class during his run for Mayor of South Bend. Emily volunteered for his mayoral campaign and then interned in his office one summer. Buttigieg has credited Emily for his interest in and awareness of disability rights.

It’s February, and Valentine’s Day is around the corner. We have a tradition here on Disability Rap of doing a show focused on love and relationships at this time of year. We’re continuing that tradition on this show with a roundtable of guests to talk about disability and polyamory.Why do a show about polyamory on Disability Rap? Well, there is actually more overlap than you might think, unless of course you are disabled and polyamorous! Last month, we did a show on neurodivergence, and there’s actually quite a bit of overlap between the neurodivergent and polyamorous communities. We’ll get into that in the show. And then in polyamory, there’s this acknowledgement that no one partner should be expected to meet all of someone’s romantic and/or sexual needs, and as people with disabilities, many of us are used to getting our needs met by multiple people. So the extension to the romantic arena isn’t that hard for some people with disabilities.For more on all of this, we’re joined by a roundtable of guests. Alyssa Gonzalez is a biology Ph.D., public speaker, and writer. She writes about biology, history, sociology and her experiences as an autistic ex-Catholic Hispanic transgender immigrant to Canada on her blog at The Perfumed Void. She also writes speculative fiction that explores social isolation, autism, gender, and trauma. Alyssa’s first book, Nonmonogamy and Neurodiversity, was included in the More Than Two Essentials series, a collection of books by Canadian authors on specific topics related to polyamory and nonmonogamy.Dr. Elisabeth “Eli” Sheff has studied sex and gender minority families for over 30 years, with a particular research interest in children of polyamorous families. She has written four books on polyamory, including The Polyamorists Next Door: Inside Multiple-Partner Relationships and Families and When Someone You Love is Polyamorous: Understanding Poly People and Relationships. Eli has appeared on CNN, NPR, and National Geographic, and has been interviewed by Vouge, BuzzFeed, and The New York Times.Leanne Yau is a British award-winning polyamory educator, writer, speaker, certified sex and relationships educator, and trainee psychosexual therapist whose work is all about non-monogamy and sex positivity. She produces educational and entertaining multimedia content about creating healthy and sustainable non-monogamous relationships, drawing from her lived experiences as a polyamorous, bisexual, neurodivergent, and Asian agender femme who has been openly non-monogamous since 2016.Katie Tastrom is a disability justice activist and writer who has worked as a lawyer, social worker, and sex worker. Her work has appeared in the anthologies Burn It Down: Feminist Manifestos for the Revolution, and Nourishing Resistance: Stories of Food, Protest, and Mutual Aid, as well as all over the internet, including Truthout, Rewire, and Rooted in Rights. She’s the author of A People’s Guide to Abolition and Disability Justice. Her 2018 article, Here Are 7 Reasons Why Polyamory Is More Difficult When You’re Disabled, appeared in Everyday Feminism.

Neurodivergence is the recognition that not all brains work the same way. It’s a broad spectrum of brain behavior that’s outside of what’s considered standard or “normal.” Today on the show, we explore neurodivergence with two guests who recognized their neurodivergence as adults. They share how this revelation has changed their understanding of their upbringing, their relationships, their work, and their daily lives.Amanda Kennon is an American Sign Language Interpreter who lives in the Philadelphia suburbs. She, who has a neurodivergent child, was inspired to embark on her own journey of self-discovery about how neurodivergence has impacted her personally and in her professional life. She is currently working on research on neurodiversity in the interpreting profession along with her friend and colleague Dr. Laura Polhemus. Their ongoing research includes the experiences of neurodivergent interpreters and consumers. Amanda and her colleague Laura presented at the 2023 Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf Conference, April 2024 Registry for the Deaf Neurodiversity Webinar Series, and 2024 Conference for Interpreters Trainers.John Leimgruber grew up in the mid-west in the 1980’s. He turned his developing interest in computers into a master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering. He now lives in Philadelphia where he enjoys exploring his interests including computer gaming, mysticisms, polyamory, and psychology. While not professionally diagnosed, John identifies with late diagnosed Autism.

On this episode, comedian Mean Dave shares how comedy led him to discover his addiction recovery is protected by the ADA, and how he’s bringing disability awareness to 12-step programs, helping people understand meetings as the “ramp” that gets recovering addicts up to the “curb” of a manageable life.Mean Dave, who is a fixture in comedy clubs around the San Francisco Bay Area. He is in his tenth year of addiction recovery. In October, Mean Dave MC’d the Comedians with Disabilities Act when FREED brought that comedy troupe to Grass Valley for a fundraiser at The Center for the Arts. Mean Dave has also opened for Josh Blue, Jay Mohr, Judy Tenuta, and Big Jay Oakerson, and has toured many universities across the United States.

Today, we are joined by Jared Wikofsky. He is an independent artist and a comic creator. Jared has self-published and produced over 200 pages of comic work. Recently, Jared received a grant from Upstate Creative Corps. This led to his comic book, FALLING. The book delves into a life altering diagnosis and the long-lasting effects of that diagnosis. Jared also runs and edits a podcast entitled PLAYING WITH MADNESS PODCAST. It is a comedy/horror show airing on all the major podcast platforms.

October is National Disability Employment Month, and we’re celebrating with two guests who have cerebral palsy and found fulfilling careers (and even a second career) while overcoming barriers both before and after the Americans with Disabilities Act. We talk with David Clark and Whittier Mikkelsen about their experiences in the workforce, challenges and misconceptions they had to confront and overcome about their disabilities, and how their disabilities have helped to shape their lives and careers.David Clark is a computer programmer and systems engineer based in the Boston area. Growing up in Connecticut in the ‘70s and ‘80s, David was quickly identified as a candidate for inclusive education at a time when this wasn’t the norm. He excelled in school and went on to The University of California, Berkeley, receiving a BA in Cognitive Science & Rhetoric. Through his career, he has built vast experience with online application development and server administration. David currently works as a Systems Designer in the Digital Research Applications team at Mass General Brigham.Whittier Mikkelsen was an emergency room clinical psychologist. When chronic pain forced her to move away from this career and slow down, she took the opportunity to look deeply within herself and at the natural world. Through this, she reconnected with her passion for photography and artmaking. Whittier’s art has been shown at the Stirling Art Gallery in Dunedin, Florida, The Dunedin Fine Arts Center, The Art Lofts in St Petersburg, Florida, and at local cafes. You can see some of Whittier's photographs on her website.

Next month, FREED will be bringing The Comedians with Disabilities Act to downtown Grass Valley for a night of laughter, entertainment, and reflections on being disabled in our ablest society. The Comedians with Disabilities Act is a collection of comedians who have disabilities, both seen and unseen, who bring forth the humor they find in their lived experiences as disabled people.  The Comedians with Disabilities Act will be performing on October 16 at 7 p.m. at The Center for the Arts in downtown Grass Valley as a fundraiser for FREED. Click here for more information and to purchase tickets to the show! Today on Disability Rap, we speak with Nina G, a comedian who performs with The Comedians with Disabilities Act and one of the comedians who will be in the Grass Valley show. Nina is an author who has written three books, including Once Upon an Accommodation: A Book About Learning Disabilities, and she just recently debuted at #1 on two major streaming sites with her solo comedy album, Stutterer Interrupted. Nina has been an advocate for people with disabilities for over 20 years. She has been on many talk shows, radio broadcasts and podcasts. 

Last month, we marked the 34th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The ADA granted equal rights and equal protection to people with disabilities in the United States. Today, we wanted to celebrate the anniversary of the ADA by looking back and looking forward at all the work that still needs to be done to make a truly inclusive world for all people, regardless of ability.We’re joined by two guests. Beck Levin is a Systems Change Advocate at the Dayle McIntosh Center, which is the independent living center in Anaheim, California. Rebecca Donabed is also with us. Rebecca is a Community Organizer with Resources for Independence Central Valley, the independent living center in Visalia, California.

Our guest today, Philip Brubaker, notes that there’s unfortunately a real stigma around mental illness, and that needs to change. Philip is an internationally known and recognized filmmaker and videographic essayist. He also has bipolar disorder. In his most recent film, “How To Explain Your Mental Illness to Stanley Kubrick,” Philip tackles head on the often negative depictions of mental illness in Twentieth Century cinematography. In this deeply personal film, he juxtaposes his own journey with bipolar disorder with images from iconic films that show characters with mental illness as violent and suicidal. In the film, Philip challenges a manifestation of Stanley Kubrick to confront the way Kubrick portrayed mental illness and the effects those portrayals had on society.  This is not Philip’s first film on the subject of mental illness. His 2009 documentary, “Brushes With Life: Art, Artists and Mental Illness,” won multiple awards and was aired on public television. His work has been featured in the Adelio Ferrero Film Festival, the Mental Filmness Festival in Chicago, and the FILMADRID Festival in Madrid, Spain. 

We’re joined today by Nicole Luongo, an advocate, author, and public speaker who has Cerebral Palsy. In 2019, Nicole started The Go Green for CP campaign to raise awareness for cerebral palsy in this country and around the world. Through her leadership, the campaign succeeded in getting at least one building or landmark in almost every state lit up in green on National Cerebral Palsy Awareness Day on March 25th and on World CP Day on October 6th. In 2021, she launched a campaign to have the White House light up in Green annually on March 25th. She also created the social media campaign What CP Looks Like.Nicole is the author of Naked Desires, a book of poetry that chronicles her quest and challenges to find true love. She is a fitness enthusiast and has encouraged others to enjoy fitness and get moving, reshaping our notion of what fitness looks like.

Today, we are joined by two outdoor enthusiasts and avid hikers, Chris Layne and Daniel Wilson. Both Chris and Daniel are wheelchair users. They work with support teams and use specialized equipment to hike trails that are anything but wheelchair accessible. Chris has hiked up Mt. Elbert, the highest peak in the Colorado Rockies. It’s over 14,000 feet. Daniel has traversed rugged trails in the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site.Chris acquired her disability after a fall while hiking in her home state of Colorado in 2016, when a spinal cord injury left her paralyzed from the chest down. She went on to win the Ms. Wheelchair Colorado title in 2020, and she is both an active athlete and advocate for accessibility and inclusion in the outdoors and everywhere else.Daniel became paralyzed after complications from spinal surgery following a fall down an escalator. After recovering, he became active in the British charity organization Sportability, which supports paralyzed athletes’ participation in sports – from archery and quad biking, to tennis and flying light aircraft. Now an experienced adaptive hiker, he competed in the Race The Sun fundraiser in the Lake District National Park.We recorded our interview with Chris and Daniel in March, as Daniel was preparing to hike the West Highland Way trail in Scotland. Just this week, Daniel successfully completed that trail, along with ten support volunteers from around the world. Daniel is the first person in a wheelchair known to have successfully completed this historic 96-mile trail. He made the trek as a fundraiser for BackUp, a UK organization supporting people with spinal cord injuries.