31st Anniversary of Signing of ADA- Part 2

Welcome to Disability Matters with your host Joyce Bender. All comments, views, and opinions expressed on the show are solely those of the host, guest, and callers. Now the host of Disability Matters, here's Joyce Bender.

Hello everyone and welcome to the show. We are selling We are celebrating Disability Pride Month. What a great month! Every year for 18 years in July, we always celebrate Disability Pride Month. Always. And for that reason, I have to send a special shout out to Yoshiko. Yoshiko Dart, we're always thinking of you and Justin during this month. A special shout-out to all my listeners around the world. Hey, China, you're really building up that listening audience, and that is awesome. So, a special shout-out to my friends from the State Department: Richard Roberts in Okinawa, Gangyong in South Korea, Venyumin in Kazakhstan, Cheryl Harris in Tunisia, and Ambassador Norland in Libya. Wow! I have some great friends and disability rights leaders. I want to tell you this Disability Pride Month is so important to me, and guess what? Next week, yes, it's Senator Tom Harkin. Isn't that awesome? And I also want to thank our sponsor, lead sponsor for years, Highmark. What a great company. HiMark is. And if you think that's great, wait till you hear who I have on the show today, because I have two friends of mine: Mary Dolan, the executive director at the FDR Memorial Legacy Committee, and well-known national— national— national disability rights leader, the CEO of Terri, is this EIN SPF Communications? It's INSOFT, right?

Yes, INSOFT Communications.

Okay, INSOFT Communications. And Terri, oh my goodness, Terri, do you remember when we met?

A very long time ago through the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities.

And, and then at the White House when I received the award for President Clinton. That's why you used to call me Queen Bee. That is—

that's right.

And you're Queen Bee number 2, and I love that.

Oh, I got awards from my mom and you got awards from the president, so there's no comparison, Joyce.

Yeah, there's always a comparison with you. I think so highly of both of you. So for our listeners, around the world, China, Australia, and by the way, even if there is one of you in Saudi Arabia, one person can make a difference. So, we'll start with you, Terry. How did you first become involved in the disability community?

Thanks, Joyce Bender. It's an honor to be here with Mary and with you today. I was in college, and my brother, Michael, is older than me. He actually became Frank Bowe's interpreter for the American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities. So he went to Cal State Northridge, which was Valley State College at the time, and took sign language. And I just fell in love with sign language, and I wanted to be an interpreter, which I'm not. I did learn sign language, but I learned a very important lesson there in that sign language interpreters are there to facilitate communication only. And while I learned a lot of very important lessons at CSUN, although you'd never know that from my grade point average, the most important lesson I learned is how to be a non-disabled ally in the disability rights movement through that interpreter training program at CSUN is that I was there to be of service to facilitate communication only. And I took that lesson with me to everything that I've done since then. Now, as far as getting into the disability community, in graduate school I was working with kids who had been abused, and I got kicked by one of them, and it sprained the cervical part of my spine., and I was wearing a neck brace. So, at the time, I went out on an audition, and the casting director looked at me, shook her head, and walked the other way, and I was furious. How could somebody who never met me make a judgment about me just because I had, at the time, a temporary disability? And so, I stormed over to the Screen Actors Guild, met with Bill Shallert, who played Patty Duke's father on The Patty Duke Show. He was the president, and Chet Migdon was the executive, and said, "This isn't fair. There are committees for women and children and seniors and minorities, and what are you going to do about it? They said, I don't know, start a committee. And this, Joyce, was 10 years before the Americans with Disabilities Act. So everybody out there, do not do the math. And we set up the Committee of Performers with Disabilities in Screen Actors Guild with Alan Tui and some other actors with disabilities. And ever since that time, I realized that The media is a powerful tool to shape attitudes about all kinds of folks that have been marginalized, and those images can either shatter that marginalization or reinforce it. So, Joyce, my whole life work has been basically revolving around disability and media.

Yeah, and if you say the word Terry, the disability community knows who you are talking about. So, um, I have one question, Terry. Why the actor that played the part of Patty Duke's father? Why did he get involved?

Because he was the president of the Screen Actors Guild at the time, and he was very smart. And he actually— the year after we started that committee in 1980, and it was the first collective bargaining agreements that included disability in the affirmative action non-discrimination clause, 10 years before the ADA. And he met Ed Roberts the year afterwards when Ed was the director of the California State Department of Rehabilitation. We were working on a project together, and Ed said something to him that stuck with him the rest of his life. He said, "They're temporarily able-bodied." So, Bill realized that, and as he grew into gosh, into aging, he realized he had acquired disabilities, and it's really a profound statement. And I know that the times that I've acquired a temporary disability, my friends tease me and say my politics have finally caught up with my body. So, it's this part of a community of all of us and a social justice movement, and he really got what we were trying to do.

Well, I just want to say, you know, Terry, you just do such awesome work. And everyone knows a couple years ago I launched the Bender Leadership Academy, helping young people with disabilities deal with bullying and prepare for work. And I just can't wait to work with you. So I just think—

I can't either. It'll be fabulous. It will be fabulous. And it's a village. We're all working together to make those changes.

Yep, it is a village. Okay, now Mary, who I knew from years ago, but really reacquainted and became buddies not that long ago. Mary, welcome to the show. How are you today?

Oh, terrific. I am so honored to be on this show. Your name, the Bender, Joyce Bender radio show, for those who don't know, I mean, this has been the staple for the community for for me to have this opportunity to be on this show is really something. So thank you so very much. And to also be here with Kerri means a great deal. So how I got involved in this wonderful work was in graduate school I studied human rights and I was looking for jobs in Washington, D.C. back in the mid-'90s, and somebody introduced me to a guy named Alan Reich. I didn't know anything about him, but I was told Alan Reich runs an organization called the National Organization on Disability. He's a very interesting fellow. He does some international work. Maybe that might intersect with your interest in human rights. And boy, did it ever. I wound up joining the National Organization on Disability in 1995 and became a staffer that stayed there for 16 years. Just absolutely fell in love with the work and felt like I was part of this very amazing unknown organization and movement— not organization, I say movement— that not enough people knew how cool it was to work in the disability movement. Since that time, my experience with the disability community has grown and deepened. I've become a parent of a child with disability. I myself have acquired disability as well as identified long overdue identification for disabilities. I became an educator of students with disabilities and now am running this organization called the Esther R. Memorial Legacy Committee, which is born out of the disability community 100%. And so, I am just absolutely thrilled to be here, especially this month, which is so important to our community.

Yes, it is. And, you know, there are a few things I just want to make sure we cover. And starting with you, Terry, would you mind telling our listeners about Lights, Camera, Access? and then my question that goes with this is, have we made progress seeing actors with disabilities playing people with disabilities in the films?

Thanks, Joyce Bender. Yeah, it has been a very long journey. Lights, Camera, Access is a project that we launched for the 25th anniversary 20th, sorry, anniversary for the Americans with Disabilities with Kathy Martinez, who was then Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Office of Disability Employment Policy, and Secretary Hilda Solis at the Television Academy Diversity Committee. And the objective was to build on the legacy of the Media Access Office that Lorraine Arbus, Fern Field, and Norman Lear set up after the successful Media Access Awards in 1978. And I had the honor of being the founding executive as executive director to develop an office and day-to-day operations and strategies to be the liaison between the entertainment industry and the disability community to increase employment. And the second objective was to improve disability portrayal. And we did talent showcases and media advocacy when there were casting that was not reaching out to actors with disabilities or those who are deaf.. We did training and technical assistance and script consultation, really brought together the community of people with disabilities and the entertainment and media industries and the unions. So, LCA started out as regional events before the pandemic. Now it's a 6-month offering online on Zoom that is anchored between the ReelAbilities Film Festival New York in the spring and the ReelAbilities Film Festival Los Angeles in the fall. So, it's a 6-month program, and we have basic workshops on networking, self-identification, leveraging your disability to sharpen your competitive edge. The second year, we have 3 activities that are really foundational in building a career. It's the Disability Expression Café with Steve Allen of Polis works and peer mentoring works, a studio café with JD Michaels of Michaels Adams, and the LCA pitch tank with Derek Shields of ForwardWorks Consulting and the National Disability Mentoring Coalition. We also have master classes taught by industry executives all over the industry. We're describing the industry as television, documentaries, advertising, theater, news, interactive, including video games. Then we also are developing an ambassador program for the third and fourth-year participants. Participants have access to employment and internship opportunities with CBS News, Women's eNews, Facebook, Diverse Production Assistance Program, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and others that are in development. Also, the opportunity to work with Danny Woodburn and I on ADA Lead On Productions, Productions. And another shout-out to Yoshiko. When we were doing ADA 30, it was supposed to be at the Kennedy Center before the pandemic. So, we met with Betty Siegel, their accessibility director, and Marcy Roth, and Jude— Maggie Roffey and Larry Roffey to make sure that it was accessible. It's a wonderful venue. And then we put ADA 30 online, and we had over 120,000 impressions. It won the audience Honors Award, yeah, for the Shorty Awards. And we just submitted it for an award because we wanted to raise awareness, and it won the Audience Award. So we were so successful. Yeah, it's amazing with our investors. It was a variety show, Marlee Matlin, Ali Stroker, Maysoon Zayed, Emmanuel Kelly, just lots and lots of talent. Shannon DeVito, a lot of people, CJ Jones. I mean, we go on and on, and we were so successful with our investors, Joyce Bender, with AT&T and Google and Wells Fargo and the Kessler Foundation, Mitsubishi Foundation, Easterseals Disability Film Challenge, the Foundation for Global Sports Development, and now ViacomCBS, Facebook, Sony Pictures, and also Comcast NBCUniversal. So we did 4 shows, and the second one was National Disability Employment Awareness Month with our coordinating producer, Maysoon Zaid, and Danny and I. And then the third one was Black Future Month with JD Michaels and Keith Jones, who founded Crip-Hop Nation and just won an Emmy for Raising Phoenix. Those were the executive producers. And now our fourth show is going to be ADA 31: Celebrize, celebrate and recognize non-apparent disabilities. And Joseph Fernandez will be our consulting producer on that. So Look forward, everybody, to Joyce Bender's message within that show, which will be MC'd by Nina G and Mean Dave. And we look at non-apparent disabilities and how important that is in telling those stories through entertainment, through comedy, through dance, through poems, through rap, through animation. And so, they are designed to educate, entertain, and empower. And we're always looking for new talent.. And we are working closely with other organizations that also have the same objective. And there has been an increase. When you think about Crip Camp and you think about CODA, which is going to be launching on Apple TV, and there's a lot of wonderful programming out there and organizations that support that. And it's important to note that there are disability-led organizations that authentic disability leaders doing this, whether it's Nick Novicki at Easterseals Disability Film Challenge, Jim LeBrecht or Deah Muhammad with Forward Works— I'm sorry, Forward Docs with documentary filmmakers, Deaf Film Camp, Inclusion Films with Joey Tribolta, 1 in 4 Connection with Caitlin Yang, and the Inevitable Foundation for Writers with Disabilities. There are lots and lots of organizations now that are authentically connected with the disability community to help with this. And not only in front of the camera, Joyce, but behind the camera as well. In the writer's room, there's only 1% of writers with disabilities in the writer's room. And corporations are getting involved, too. Several years ago, Verizon Media connected with Getty Images to create the Disability Connection, where focus groups we conducted with the National Disability Leadership Alliance to deconstruct stereotypic stock photos. And there are lots of good activities going on to be involved with. So thank you so much for asking about that.

How about, are you seeing actors with disabilities playing in the roles roles of actors with disabilities?

Yes, they are. There's been some great research showing the uptick. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, at the urging of Anita Hollander, who's the co-chair of the SAG-AFTRA Committee for Performers with Disabilities, DANI, she's encouraged them to include disability. USC, the Inclusion Project, with Dr. Stacy Smith. Lorraine Arbus, who co-founded the Media Access Office, was responsible for helping them include disability in their annual surveys. And, of course, the Ruderman Family Foundation, Danny did the first white paper in 2016 that showed that 95% of disabled characters were portrayed by non-disabled actors, which is unacceptable. A year later, we did a white paper on a TV challenge which challenged over 151 series and pilots over 38 delivery platforms— network, cable, and streaming— to at least audition performers with disabilities. And now that is happening. And Dominick Evans has been doing 2 years of research, which is extraordinary. Dom is is a disability rights leader, disabled filmmaker, gamer, and the Crip Crusader. And his research has shown that NBCUniversal is now taking the lead over CBS on characters with disabilities and authentic casting and storylines. And so there's a lot of activity now, which is wonderful. And everybody is starting to realize this, and of course the Easterseals The ReelAbility Film Challenge and Superfest all contribute to the narrative of disabled people and deaf people owning that narrative in front of and behind the camera.

Wow. Well, let's hope that continues on. Let's hope that. Now, Mary, Mary Dolan, I want you to talk about the FDR Legacy Memorial. And when you talk about it, I'd also like you to talk about how it was not appropriate for the disability community and that horrible story you told me. Oh my goodness, about the tidal basin. So first, about the FDR Legacy Memorial. Wow, this is such an Awesome. It's awesome. And before we go any further, what is the website for your committee?

Sure. It is www.fdr— as in Franklin D. Roosevelt— so it's fdrmemoriallegacy.com. Even though we really are an org, but I don't know, I just chose com. So don't read too much into that. But I— this is— I'm absolutely passionate about speaking about this, and I just do want to thank Terri for everything that she has done for so very long, because it's that type of work that she's been doing for so very long, and you, Joyce, as well, that has made this work possible. So back in 1995, I mentioned that I was a young staffer, and had the good fortune of joining the National Organization on Disability, and little did I know I was going to go on this wild ride of this, you know, what looked like a very polite organization devoted to improving participation of people with disabilities in all aspects of life. But we got involved in probably one of the, you know, nastiest, most bitter, dirty Washington political mudslides slinging fights that probably has ever been. So from 1995 to 2001, NOD, National Organization on Disability, but a coalition of 52 disability organizations across the country, as well as all of those leaders, some of whom that Joyce mentioned at the top of the show, Justin Dart, Yotiko Dart, Evan Kemp, Mick County, so many were there with us during the fight. What was the fight? When the FDR Memorial was being designed and built, there was to be no depiction of the former president as a wheelchair user. The disability community spoke out and said, "Hey, you know, we really think it's time for this to change." And this was about— this was 5 years after the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, so it kind of seemed like, Aren't we past this of hiding disability? So there was a big tug of war about this. And long story short, it took 6 years for our community to prevail to have a statue added. When the memorial was dedicated, there still was no depiction of FDR, and that was in 1997. There was a depiction of FDR, but not as a disabled person. Disabled person. But we got the agreement just before the dedication on May 2nd, 1997. But here's the catch. Watch out for what you might ask for, because Congress and the FDR Memorial Commission and others and the Park Service said, "OK, fine. You guys win. You can have your statue, but if you want it, you pay for it." So next part of the campaign was to raise the money for the statue, which was very much a community effort, and from small donations of $1, $5, $10, to $6-figure and $7-figure gifts, obviously, that made this all happen. And so we all went on our merry little way, declared victory, had a nice ceremony in January 10th, 2001, President Clinton dedicated the FDR wheelchair statue and that prologue room in which it sits. And we all went on our lives, and we always said, ah, you know, at some point we should write the history of what we did, because man, that was pretty epic. You know, but things happen in life. You move on, people die, you change jobs, blah, blah, blah. And here we were about 2 years ago, 20 years later, And one of my other former bosses who also led this fight, Mike DeLand, passed. And it brought a number of us to start talking again, including Mike's widow, Jane DeLand, and I, and Jim Dixon. And Jim Dixon, famed veteran disability community organizer, very much at the heart of this fight as well. And we said, well, gosh darn it, it's time for us to write our history. And then we went down to the FDR Memorial, and we saw that the fountains weren't working, and we heard that the lights were not working at night, and we saw shrubs overgrown, crowding over the beautiful artwork. I saw rubbish. I saw flooding. And in the bookstore, I didn't see any mention of the disability community's efforts. And I said, "Oh dear. We're going to have to do much more than just write our story. We need to become the friends group for the FDR Memorial in order to protect our disability history and make sure that what was done, that those efforts, that sacrifice, that this piece of our history is memorialized and that everybody who walks through— yeah, we're going to learn They're going to learn that FDR had a disability, but it's important for them to also know that they weren't going to know that unless people rose up and fought and sacrificed. And it didn't happen in a day or a month. It took 6 years. And it took another 25 years for us to make sure that the information about that fight was put into the bookstore and into the lesson plans, and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Compounding all of this, though, with starting up this organization, we found out that the tidal basin on which the FDR Memorial sits, as well as the Jefferson Memorial and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Memorial, that the tidal basin is crumbling, and that is subjecting those memorials to flooding. And that makes a lot of the areas nearby it not passable. So there is now a beginning discussion of how to save the tidal basin, what to do with that body of water, but also what do you do with those memorials that are at risk because of these rising tides. The Park Service, National Park Service, along with some cooperating organizations such as the Trust for the National Mall and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, with funding from the American Express Foundation, did what's called the Tidal Basin Ideas Lab, not a competition, but to generate ideas about, "Well, what are we going to do with this? We've got these nation's treasures, and if we do nothing, they are going to crumble and flood." And so, they came up with a couple of different designs. To just start the conversation. I'd encourage folks to look into that because it is a public comment period. It's— and this is our nation's backyard. So, we have a vested interest, of course, in preserving the FDR Memorial in all of its glory and enhancing it and enhancing the story of it and the storytelling about it, as well as as all the other memorials. So that is something that is part and parcel now of our work. And in closing, I'd say, you know, we have a focus on 3 things: education, which is making sure that our story is told and that of other non-represented narratives or lesser-known narratives of the FDR and Eleanor story. Number 2 is inclusion, to make sure that that FDR memorial is the best in practice in accessibility Inclusion for all people. And number 3, preservation. Preserving our story, preserving the history, preserving the FDR Memorial.

Wow. I have to tell you something. I felt the fireworks going off when you were telling me some of this. Oh, terrible. I mean, oh, when you're describing the rubbish, the how it was, and then this tidal basin Wow, disability rights community, we got a lot of work to do and support Mary. We've got to get on. And Mary, I am honored to be on your advisory committee. And with that, we're a little—

you know, it was such an important day. Oh, sorry.

No, go ahead, go ahead.

No, I was saying that I was there that day and it was so— it was a lightning rod for the disability community. And Mary got God bless you and Mike Delaine's wife and everybody at NOD that Carol Glaser is there now heading it up for this fight that was so important. You know, after that long fight, the front page of the Washington Post above the fold line, for those of you that remember paper, it's somewhere between the rock and the chisel and the iPad, was a 3-column photo of Kyle Glozier sitting next to the FDR Memorial. Kyle in his wheelchair is one of the youngest members of ADAPT at the time, and that picture said it all on the front page of the Washington Post. Everybody wanted to celebrate, but there's only a few people that did, actually did the work. So thank you so much for doing that, Mary.

Well, thank you. It's an honor.

You are a great leader, Mary. You are. Yeah, that's a good job. Hey, I know a little bit behind, but on the half hour we have our news break because once again, where can you go to hear what's going on every week in the disability world or anything that impacts us? And we are so lucky to have as our anchor Perry Jude Radesik, the CEO of Disability Rights PA. Perry, are you with us?

Yes, Joyce, I am.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, how are you?

I'm fine, thank you.

So what do you have for us today on advocacy matters?

Well, Joyce, there's an important deadline coming up for parents of students with disabilities and the students themselves, and that deadline is fast approaching. It's July 15th. 15th. Here in Pennsylvania, you know, we all knew COVID-19 remote learning could have caused some disruptions and learning losses for K-12 students. So in response, Pennsylvania's Governor Tom Wolf recently signed legislation that will allow an additional school year for students aging out of special education. So this law This law will enable students with disabilities who turn 21 during the 20-21 school year to attend this upcoming school year, which is the 21-22 school year. Now, the bill made clear that all IDEA provisions apply to students if they choose to attend school for an additional year. The bill also made clear that if a student chooses to attend an additional year of school, it does not replace that student's ability to pursue compensatory education for any gaps or losses that may have occurred during this past school year. So the law goes further. It also allows any K-12 student to repeat their 2020 2020-2021 school year. That was this past school year. So parents can make this decision for students if they're under the age of 18. Any student over the age of 18 can make this decision themselves if they want to repeat the school year. So this extra year of eligibility only applies to this upcoming school year. So advocacy matters. The deadline to notify your school if you you want your child to have this additional school year is July 15th. That's just in, in 2 more days. Now, at disabilityrightsPA.org, if you click on our Advocacy Matters segment for today, we have the additional guidance by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. So we have those links, and we also have links to more information about grade retention. If parents want to explore that issue themselves. You can also call Disability Rights PA if you have any questions about your decision or want additional information or legal advice about this optional year of education. If you want to call us, our number is 800-692-7443. So parents should carefully consider consider whether to retain their child in their grade for the upcoming school year, Joyce.

Oh, that is so important. Uh, Perri, would you mind repeating the number and the website again?

Yes, we're at disabilityrightspa.org, and if you have questions about your decision for the next school year, call us at 800- 692-7443.

And when you go to that website, there is a page, Advocacy Matters, with all this information, which I think is phenomenal. And Perry, thank you so much. We'll look forward to talking to you again. Sorry for the disruption.

No problem.

Thank you, Joyce Bender.

Bye-bye. Wow, that's important. I hope that everyone here in Pennsylvania is, you know, really gets on that because that is really an important thing. So listen, both of you, before the show ends, I have to talk about Alec Fraser. I have to talk about it. Um, we'll start with you, Terry. How did you know our beloved Alec, who not that long ago passed away? And then, Mary, you can talk about what you did with the memorial service. So we'll start with you, Terry.

Thanks, Joyce. Yeah, it's really sad, a life cut short. Alec was a force of nature. I first met Alec when he was an intern at AAPD, and you you tell this wonderful story, Joyce, about of all the AAPD interns when you were chair of the board, Alec was the only one who reached out to you consecutively and stayed in touch and worked through the network. And so, that was a testament to who Alec was.

And yeah, and I told all of them, it's important to keep in touch with me. And yeah, there you go. Okay, go ahead.

Sorry. The only one. So I'd stayed in touch with Alec and noticed on a Facebook posting that he was moving to Washington, D.C. And it was right at the time in November of 2016 when Maria Town, who's now the CEO of APD, and Leah Katz-Hernandez were working at the White House. And they were very interested in hosting Lights, Camera, Access, and they did. So we invited Alec, one, because of his interest in media, and two, knowing that J.D. Michaels, who at the time was an executive with Casey Adams over at BBDO Worldwide, the world's largest advertising firm, had already been working with Marvel. And Alec's thesis in college was on the first autistic superhero. So knowing that— of Alec's interest in superheroes and his writing ability, and J.D. and his creative residency program, invited Alec to the White House, and they met and they communicated. And Alec went up to— they were on Skype or Zoom or whatever they were doing at the time. Alec went up to New York to show some writing samples to Judy and Casey, and JD was blown away by his ability as a writer and said, did you ever think of writing a book? And Alec said in college, his advisor, when Alec asked how he could monetize his writing and love of writing, the advisor laughed at him. So Alec had never really thought about it because that was— that was awful experience that Alec had in addition to being bullied as a kid. And so JD helped Alec create a book, Vinnie Vidi Autism, which is 275 pages on Amazon, and Alec was launched as an author. Now, Alec You know, Alec, he didn't stop there. He started doing podcasts. He started writing for The Flickering Myth. He started to take his love of, um, science fiction and animation and superheroes to Comic-Con. And there's like 1,500 or 2,000 people that apply to New York Comic-Con to do a panel. Alec got into the panel with Liz Pritchard, who was one of his mentees, So he always referred to Joyce as Mama Joyce, and Alec learned the receiving end of mentoring from you, Joyce, so we have you to thank for that. And Alec went on to mentor young writers with disabilities, including Liz, who is a beautiful graphic designer and artist herself and editor, and he went on to pay it forward. And it's so important those of lessons learned in youth, and you were such a great mentor to Alec that he ended up where he was in his life and his determination to make a difference in the world. And I can't thank you enough for all of us that knew Alec, and that memorial, Mary, that you put together was just beautiful and fitting. Alec's dad spoke. JD Michaels spoke, and Alec and JD and I went on to be inducted into the National Disability Mentoring Hall of Fame as a mentoring circle, which is something people hadn't considered beforehand, is how each member of this mentoring team support and learn and teach each other. So there were a lot of lessons learned, and he is missed, but Mary, thank you so much for honoring Alec with that beautiful memorial service that you organized.

And it was—

thank you so much.

I loved Alec. I did. I, I— he, he just— oh, I just loved him. Mary, what did that event mean to you? So you all know Mary organized this absolutely beautiful virtual memorial service for Alex. So, Mary, what did that mean to you?

Oh, thank you. Well, I had a lot of help, especially from you, Terri, to also fill in the other parts of Alex's life that I didn't have contact with. Well, for us, for me, for the FDR Memorial Committee, we're a new organization, and Alex was one of our— you know, he was with us very early on, and And I've never run an organization before, and one of my own passed unexpectedly. And not only was it a professional loss, but it was a personal loss. I met— I did something really different. I made a friend during COVID I ate out with Alec twice during COVID I did not eat out with anybody else. I just knew I had to meet this person. We luckily lived near each other. He was, of course, very respectful with COVID protocols, and I remember eating my chicken sandwich with my goggles on, and intermittently we would take our masks off and eat, and so it was quite the scene, but it was— he was an engaging young man, very, very smart. I learned so much from him, and I just— and I enjoyed talking to him. And whenever I spoke to him by phone, we would connect every month or so, he would always have to remind me that he needed to go, because I was just like, "Well, another thing, and what about that thing you said?" And so, it was— what it meant was I just knew we had to do right by our guy, by our friend, by our colleague, and by somebody who I felt was the embodiment of everything that we've been working for in this community. Here is a brilliant young man who has so much to offer and has disability and has made such a mark, has utilized all— so many of the programs that have been long, long fought for—the AAPD internship. He sat on the Education Subcommittee for the National Council on Independent Living and plus worked with Terry and really used up all of those wonderful resources and made a difference. And that's why what was dreamt of 20, 30 years ago when these programs were being set up. And I'll say he was the first person to come to me and say, "The FDR Memorial is the monument for the disability rights movement." And I said, "Oh my gosh, I'm going to fall off my chair because, you know, hopefully my former bosses up in heaven," are hearing that and smiling widely because that's what it was all about.

Well, I tell you what, you— it was beautiful. It was beautiful. Yeah. And this is the thing about all of us, we all came together to honor him, which just shows you, you don't have to be a senator, you don't have to be the CEO of a disability rights community, You just have to be fighting the fight for disability rights and be such an awesome person. And before we end our show today, and thank you so much, Terry and Mary, you are both so awesome, uh, and we all thank you for everything you do and we love you. But we end every show with a quote, and today that quote is is, civil rights are not a guarantee of the good life, but an equal opportunity and responsibility to participate in producing the good life for oneself and all. Government alone cannot implement the ADA. This is a responsibility of all Americans, said Justin Dart Jr. This is Joyce Bender, America's Voice, where disability matters, at voiceamerica.com. See you next week. Talk to you next week with Senator Tom Harkin. Talk to you then.

Voice America would like to thank you for tuning in. Please join us next Tuesday at 11 AM Pacific Time and 2 PM Eastern Time for another installment of Disability Matters, right here on the Voice America Variety Channel. We are the leader in live internet talk radio. VoiceAmerica.com.