What the heck is going on at KPFA?

Pushing Limits' Members answer:

picture of Super Magawatt Grover

Eddie Ytuarte (3:34)
Adrienne Lauby (4:38)
Super Megawatt Grover* (3:39)
Mary Ratcliff, Editor of Bay View Newspaper (20-30 min interview by Kate Raphael on KPFA's Women's Magazine.

The world is in a terrible place and desperately needs the ideas, the energy, the enthusiasm, the positive spirit of the people who are on the bottom, who are fighting to rise to the top. That's where the energy is, where the ideas are, that passion needs to be heard on KPFA every hour of every day. And, there are so many people who are dying to be heard on KPFA, dying, literally dying, to be heard and can't get on the station as it is currently prioritized.
- Mary Ratcliff on KPFA's Women's Magazine, 11-22-10

*aka Shelley Berman

Rants, Stories and Lies #3

Listen

Short opinions, satire, interviews and commentaries from the disability community.

Guests: Bruce Allison, S.F. city hall reporter for POOR News Network  and author of “You’re Retarded; You’ll Never Amount to Anything”;

Photo: Bruce Allison makes a banner for a street protest.
Jon Reed on the left.

Randall Wright, of Berkeley’s Fourth Friday Disability Night Out on how visibility combats discrimination;

Two members of the Sacramento addiction
& recovery community, Hurley Merical,
Executive Director of Oak Park Outreach
& MedMark Treatment Center and
Starvel Junious of Core Medical Clinic.

Eddie Ytuarte, Adrienne Lauby and Shelley Berman of the Pushing Limits Collective with personal opinions on current problems at KPFA.

Shelley Berman hosts.

Original air date: 10-17-10

Beyond the IEP

(Individualized Educational Program)

Listen

Cynthia Molina and Christine Zimmerman, mother-advocates for students with disabilities in Oakland's Programs for Exceptional Children talks with cohosts Eddie Ytuarte and Leah Gardner. What is it in the institutional culture that helps students succeed beyond the Independent Educational Program.

With a commentary by Shelley Berman on the upcoming elections.

KPFA

Photo: Three young children face a teacher with her hands up, palms out.
Their faces reflect excitement, withdrawal & caution.
Courtesy Furman University Libraries, Special Education Resources.

Original air date: 10-29-10

Community Voices

Listen 29 min
Do candidates running for state offices have a disability rights agenda or awareness? We polled candidates for governor. The Peace and Freedom Party and Libertarian Party responded.

People in substance abuse programs showed up in numbers at Wednesday's large protest of the California budget proposals.
Photo: 28 people holding 18 boxes of letters inside the state capital building.
They brought the 4,000 letters defending the Drug Medi-Cal program, the result of a massive street mobilization by addicts from the Oasis Community Clinic in Oakland. Sacramento addicts also joined the protest.


Are you a danger to people with disabilities when you are driving? Check your habits here.

And, the ongoing mobilization against P.G. & E.'s so-called Smart Meters shuts down a warehouse in Santa Cruz County.

http://stopsmartmeters.org

Eddie Ytuarte and Adrienne Lauby host.

Photo: Gathering signatures for drug treatment programs. Three women on street corner.

Turning the Ship of State

LISTEN 28 min

Policy vs Protest. Insiders vs Outsiders.
(R to L) Sunaura Taylor, Jessica Lehman, Marianna Ruybalid surrounded by police. Photo by Jameson Ligni

We look at this centuries-old debate as it plays out for people with disabilities in California's budget debate.

The Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision ruled that people with disabilities have a right to remain in their communities, even if they need government services to do it. But, how can people with disabilities manifest the promise of Olmstead while slogging through the stagnant politics of Sacramento?



Guests:
Mary Lou Breslin, long time disability activist, senior policy analyst & co-founder of the Disability Education and Defense Fund (DREDF).

Mary Lou Breslin as a young activist

Bancroft Library Photo

Sunaura Taylor, one of 23 arrested for blocking a street in front of the state capital two weeks ago. Sunaura is a member of Communities United in Defense of Olmstead (CUIDO), the group who organized the Arnieville protest.

Adrienne Lauby and Eddie Ytuarte host.

Musicians Living with a Disability

Listen 28 min

A sampling of musicians who found success as they lived with significant disabilities. From pop star Michael Bolton and his profound deafness in one ear to a one-arm drummer with the hard rock band, Def Leppard...

Chick Webb. At a young age, he contracted spinal tuberculosis that left him with a hunchback and little use of his legs.

Rick Allen. Def Leppard drummer, one arm amputee.

Rick Allen, smiling, with one arm in the air. Photo by Matt Becker

Michael Bolton. Vocalist, deaf in one ear.

Jeff Healey. The Jeff Healey Band. Lost his sight to retinoblastoma, a rare cancer of the eyes.

Derek Pavaricini, autistic prodigy, Pianist.

Susannah McCorkle Jazz & pop vocalist who killed herself because of her mental illness.

Leah Gardner and Eddie Ytuarte spin the tunes and talk about the artists.

Arnieville Protest of CA Budget Cuts

Listen (28 min)

At the
Arnieville Tent City
people with disabilities
and seniors engage
in a living protest
against the continued
cuts in California's
human services.

Two weeks long
and counting...

Photo of Bruce Allison and Jon Reed
by Helen Walsh, Diverse Disability Media

Guests: Marg Hall and Jana Overbo from Arnieville,
Scott Graves from the California Budget Project

Hosts: Eddie Ytuarte and Leah Gardner

Photo: Large banner reads "Our Homes Not Nursing Homes!"

original air date: 7-2-10

Berkeley's Emergency Services for People with Disabilities

Listen 28 min
It's tax-payer supported & wildly innovative.
It gets people out of trouble. It saves lives.

It's also a nice chunk of money in a community where money is as scarce as a trouble-free wheelchair.









We talk to Bonnie MacFadyen, Executive Director of Easy Does It (EDI) and Yomi Wronge, Executive Director of the Center for Independent Living (CIL) in Berkeley. Both have made proposals for the almost-a-million dollar city contract.





Eddie Ytuarte &
Adrienne Lauby host.


Ayanna Keeton, EDI Services Coordinator.


Other photos: Electric wheelchair abandoned at curb, an emergency attendant helps a man to eat and wheelchair repair shop. All courtesy EDI
Original Air Date: June 18, 2010

When Home Is (or could be) an Institution

Listen

A discussion of the film, Far from Home,
with director Elissa Moon showing at Berkeley's Superfest.
Saturday, June 5, 2:10 pm
Gaia Arts Center, 2120 Allston Way @ Shattuck,
Berkeley, CA,

A documentary focused on the political and personal realities of living in San Francisco's Laguna Honda, the largest nursing home in the U.S. Laguna Honda houses thousands of people living with severe physical disabilities.

Plus, coverage of the ArnieVille Sleep Out, a protest of California's proposed budget cuts, cuts that could leave many seniors and persons with disabilities homeless or institutionalized. With Syndy Sharp, Hannah Jo Karpilow, Thomas & Nicholas McMullan, & Marissa Shaw.

After a cold night, ArnieVille residents soak in some rays.
Photo: Dan McMullan

We've all heard the adage, home sweet home.
It's that place we long for when we've been away where we seek rest, recreation and a break from the outside world.
(Nicholas & Thomas McMullan, photo by their dad, Dan)
Leah Gardner and Eddie Ytuarte ask the question:

"What does home mean for people who live with disabilities?"

Original Air Date: June 4, 2010

Intersexuality

Listen 29 min

Caster Semenya photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Olympic runner, Caster Semenya, showed up to race in Stellenbosch, South Africa, this week and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) wouldn't let her run because she is alleged to be an intersex person.

Hida Viloria, the spokesperson for human rights from Organisation Intersex International (OII). and

photo courtesy Hida Viloria

Curtis Hinkle,
the organization's founder, join us to talk about their petition in support of Semenya and bring us some of the complexity behind these news headlines.

Organisation Intersex International believes that intersex is not primarily a medical condition. They say intersex children should not be subjected to surgery and hormones without their consent -- unless there is a critical need.

With active affiliates in six continents, OII creates community and activist support across cultural and language barriers.
Eddie Ytuarte and Adrienne Lauby host this mind-expanding discussion.

The Reckoned and the Reckoning

Listen 28 min.

Drawing by Neil Marcus

We celebrate Winter Solstice,
the day the earth turns back to the light.

George Louie

one of the plaintiffs in the Contra Costa pedestrian access lawsuit,
speaks frankly about his role
in this controversial case.

In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) activists

Tom Ross
Carman Rivera-Hendrickson
Kenneth C. Johnson
Cheryl Powell Smith

Plus,
Shelley Berman, Eddie Ytuarte, Leah Gardner, and Adrienne Lauby
send out year-end honors,
raspberries to the inexcusable,
blueberries to the indestructible.

Janus (or Ianus), the Roman god of gates, doorways, beginnings and endings

Get In The Game

Listen 28 min.

Who says a one-armed man can't pitch a no-hitter or
shoot for the net in a Division I college basketball game?

photo by Neil Marcus

Who says a deaf man can't wield the bat
in a major league baseball game?

And who says disabled kids
don't make good athletes?

A discussion of possibility,
triumph -- and kids.

Guests:
Commentator Gary Gray, who covers disabled athletes at BlackAthlete.com and on his internet radio program, Gray Leopard Cove.
U.S. Adaptive Ski Team

Doug Pringle, President of the Far West chapter of Disabled Sports USA

Hosted by Eddie Ytuarte and Leah Gardner.

Resources:
Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program (BORP)
www.borp.org
Activities for youth include wheelchair basketball, power soccer, track and field and hand cycling.
For adults, they have the same sports plus goalball.
BORP's outings and adventures program offers hiking, skiing and other outdoor expeditions.

Tandems Across the Bay is composed of a number of volunteers with tandem bicycles. They offer excursions on weekends and some holidays. These trips often start in San Francisco in the Fisherman's Wharf area. For more info, e-mail tandemsacrossthebay@gmail.com.

The Bay Area Association of Disabled Sailors (BAADS)
They meet every Sunday at noon from Pier 40 in Sf.
www.baads.org

Disability Rights California

Disability Rights California Logo

Listen (28 min)

Do non-profits operate
under too narrow
a charge?

Are they just plain
too conservative?

Catherine Blakemore

Eddie Ytuarte and Leah Gardner puts these questions to Catherine Blakemore, the executive director of one of the highest funded disability non-profits focused on California issues, Disability Rights California (DRC) -- It's also one of the most successful.

Service Cuts -- Will You Stand With Us?

Listen. 29 min
Original air date: Friday, Oct 16, 2:30 pm

KPFA, 94.1 fm

Critical cuts and unannounced home visits have begun for people with disabilities who rely on California’s In Home Support Services (IHSS).

Pushing Limits talks to Bobby Bogan. Executive Director of Seniors Organizing Seniors.

graphic by Soujaboy

Bogan sees both fear and courage as the State of California implements massive cuts.

On November 1st, 130 thousand people will be reduced or axed from the IHSS program. Over 450 thousand people face unannounced home visits and routine fingerprinting. Seniors, people living with AIDS and the developmentally disabled community face similar and overlapping slashes to programs they depend on.

Bobby Bogan’s San Franciso organization based in the South of Market area, Seniors Organizing Seniors, deals with the effect of these cuts first hand.

He joins Pushing Limits producers, Eddie Ytuarte, Adrienne Lauby and Nick Feldman.

Tune in to hear:

--stories of resistance,

--stories of community self-help, and

--advice about appealing individual cuts.

Beyond the Devastation

Stop Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's new line-item veto budget cuts. Contact Speaker Karen Bass and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and urge them to call legislators back to Sacramento to override the cuts

Download this Program 26 min
Evan LeVang and John B. Kelly talk about
what California's people with disabilities
can do to stop the slide toward death and
nursing homes.

Disability rights activists regroup after passage of a criminal California budget that devastated IHSS, Medi-Cal, Cal-Works, cities, regional centers, AIDS programs and more.

John Kelly works with Neighborhood
Access Group (NAG), a grass-roots
organization dedicated to improving
street-level access in Boston. His
writing has appeared in the Boston
Globe, Counter Punch, and the Ragged Edge.



Evan LeVang is Executive Director of Independent Living
Services of Northern California. He is also the founder
of DOGFITE, Disability Organizing Group for Initiating
Total Equality, ”an advocacy group which includes universal
health care, tax justice, immigrant rights and no offensive
military spending among it's goals.

Hosted by Adrienne Lauby and Eddie Ytuarte

photo by John B. Kelly
No Room on this Sidewalk for You!
Neighborhood Access Group

dog cartoon courtesy of D.O.G.F.I.T.E.

Inter-Dependence Day

Painting by Patricia Waters

Listen to entire program, 28 min.

Listen to Patricia Waters, 5 min
Listen to Concetta DeLuca, 5 min.

As the nation heads into the
Fourth of July weekend,
Pushing Limits interviews
people pushing for
independence
for people with disabilities.
Blane Beckwith, local
representative of ADAPT,
is in the studio.

Blaine Beckwith

Plus, Patricia Waters and
Concetta DeLuca tell personal
stories of passionate lives
in these difficult times.
Interviews by Adrienne Lauby.

ADAPT fights "so people with disabilities can live in the community with real supports instead of being locked away in nursing homes and other institutions."

Eddie Ytuarte & John Healy host.

Vision Loss Resource Center

listen to this program

Pushing Limits sheds light on the Vision Loss Resource Center with guests, Jessie Lorenz and Amber Dipietra.




What issues are affecting
people in the blind
and low vision community?

Amber Di Prieta

Jessie Lorenz
&
Amber DiPrieta

of the
San Francisco Lighthouse
for the Blind
discuss coalition building
in the face of state budget cuts,
accessibility to the internet,
and their new free advice service
(888-400-8933)
with hosts
Adrienne Lauby and Eddie Ytuarte.

Jessie Lorenz
with Olympic Torch

San Francisco Lighthouse
(415) 431-1481