Things are a bit upside down on this episode. Our producer, Jack Rosen, is one of the guests this time, so David Card is a guest host (he's guesting as a host, Jack is guesting as a guest). They are joined by Monica Wiley (also a guest) and Michelle Bishop (still a host) to discuss "Accessing Democracy" a documentary short directed by Jack and staring Monica focused on voters with disabilities. The documentary was produced by NDRN and created in partnership with Disability Rights New York.



Register for the world premiere of Accessing Democracy: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAuc-ugqzksGNBHggVvDOiyio-S29EWgca5#/registration



Full transcript available at: https://www.ndrn.org/resource/ndr-sep24/



 

Michelle Bishop:

I'm so sorry you didn't get that part.

Jack Rosen:

I wish I did, but I mean, David Hutt would've made us censored anyway, so it's fine and let's just move on.

Jack Rosen:

We're doing things very backwards this time, which is why I'm kicking us off. I'm actually the guest this week along with Monica. Michelle is the only permanent host present, and David Card is subbing in as a guest host because I don't think I can interview myself, though if we do some more experimental podcasts in the future, maybe that's something we'll explore. With that, I guess I will throw it back to Michelle since I'm a guest and I'm not supposed to be doing the intro.

Michelle Bishop:

The only thing I heard in all of that is that Jack is not a host on the podcast.

Jack Rosen:

Damn it.

Michelle Bishop:

Victory is mine. All right, so this month we're actually going to be talking about Accessing Democracy, a brand new short documentary that if NDRN does say so ourselves, is amazing and groundbreaking and about to change the world to make you cry all at the same time. With that said, our guests, would you like to introduce yourselves?

David Card:

Hi everyone. I'm David Card. I'm NDRN's Deputy Executive Director for External Relations, which means I oversee our communications department. I am super excited to be a co-host today. I've been secretly very jealous of everybody who gets to be part of the podcast, so I feel like I'm the weekend host on the Today Show, who gets to fill in for one of the regular hosts during the week. This is really exciting for me.

Monica Wiley:

Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here today. I am Monica Wiley, the Voter Engagement Specialist at the National Disability Rights Network in the voter department. I had the great pleasure of working on this project with Mr. Jack Rosen as we interviewed quite a few of amazing voters from our community. This project was something that was very, very important, very much needed, and also had some fun moments at times, but definitely a pleasure to be here and to talk about this today.

Jack Rosen:

I am Jack Rosen. Normally I am the producer and a co-host of National Disability Radio, but today I'm here as a guest. I served as director of Accessing Democracy. It was really a privilege to get to work on this project, and I'm glad that NDRN was willing to take the chance on a first-time filmmaker and invest in me and Monica going across the country to interview voters with disabilities.

David Card:

Could you tell us a little bit more about this project and what its message is?

Jack Rosen:

It's a documentary short focused on voters in our community and the power of our votes and the issues that we wish those seeking office were addressing. Close to a year ago, we were trying to come up with ways to get our community excited about the upcoming presidential election. Marlene Sallo, our executive director,