Tony Coelho: Shares History of ADA and ADA Amendments Act

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.

And hi everyone, welcome to this show, to everyone here in America and around the world. I say around the world because we have all these new countries listening, like Australia Israel, and yes, even Saudi Arabia. We have listeners around the world, and I just want to say, as you'll hear from our guest today, one person can make a difference. So even if you're one person, you can make a difference by telling other, uh, people who speak English about this show that works to provide dignity to people living with disabilities no matter where they are. And hey, Richard Roberts, special shout out to you in Brazil. I mention him every show because I love him and he's so awesome. And he is with the U.S. State Department. And Gangyeon Cho in South Korea. And all of my friends in Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Panama, and everywhere else that I've been. State Department. So awesome. Hey, Yoshiko Dart, a special shout out to you. And hi, Mark, thank you so much for being the sponsor of this show. I can't believe it's been 21 years on the air. 21 years. Unbelievable. And I am so blessed as we are, yes, kicking off Disability Pride Month, that who else would be more powerful to start with than Tony Coelho? Tony, welcome to the show.

Thank you, Joyce. It's always a pleasure to be on with you.

Well, it's always a pleasure to have you on, and I had a request from some listeners, and that is Would you mind sharing your story all the way up to Pope John?

Uh, happy to. As a 16-year-old, I had an accident on our dairy farm when a pickup that I was in overturned into a canal. I hit my head and came out and I was fine. A year later, I was in the barn milking cows and I ended up in the feed barrel, and my brother picked me up and carried me to the house. I had just had a grand mal seizure, and he, of course, and the family were all very concerned about what had happened. Called the doctor, doctor came out And basically, uh, I could hear him but I couldn't talk. But he told my parents without telling me that he thought I had epilepsy. Um, then I went to two other doctors because my parents didn't accept that medical diagnosis. And so I went to all these doctors, they all said the same thing. So then I went to witch doctors. Reason I went to witch doctors is that my parents, being Catholic and of Portuguese ancestry— they were all four— my grandparents came in from Portugal, and my mother was more Portuguese than my grandparents. And she basically felt that she had to take me to witch doctors. So I basically went to 3 witch doctors, and each and every one of them quote-unquote failed to rid me of these passing out spells. And, you know, they would take you in a dark room, have candles on your chest and on your forehead, and they would burn— they would take hot oil and pour it on your head and your deal. The last one that I went to said, take this egg, put it in your armpit, hold it there for 30 minutes. And at the end of that, if it turns black, you've gotten rid of the evil spirits. If it doesn't, then they didn't. So after that session, I refused to go to any more witch doctors, and that started a, a cause for friction in my family. Um, then the next thing that happened was that my family, my two brothers and I, always showed cattle at these county fairs. Getting ready for the big one, my mother said that I wasn't registered. And I asked why. She said, "Well, I didn't think you were interested." Well, that was a shock to me, and it hurt bad because this was the county fair that everybody went to, all my friends and so forth, and I wasn't gonna participate. And I realized it had something to do with the witch doctors, and, um, and it stung. Um, I had trouble with that, and that, that little incident had an impact with me going through the years. Um, I then kept on going to high school, and the principal there said I should get out of, out of town, small town. So I went to college in Los Angeles with Loyola University, now Loyola Marymount University, and I intended to be a trial lawyer. That's what I was going for. I was fond of trial lawyers, and To Kill a Mockingbird's my favorite book, my favorite play, my favorite movie. So, um, I was convinced that that's where I should be. And then Kennedy got assassinated. It hit me hard, and I decided that if he could give up his life for helping others, that I should try to do the same. And so I decided to become a Catholic priest, and that was announced by the Jesuits when I made that decision. And I go through graduation, I was outstanding senior, student body president, all those good things. And so I went to the doctor for my physical, and he asked me if I ever heard the word epilepsy, and I said no. And he says, well, that's what you have. He said, I can prescribe medicine for you that'll— won't cure you, but it'll help the severity of some of the seizures and may eliminate some, and so forth. Was phenobarbital, which is one of the tougher drugs at that particular time. And so I was happy because I now had a drug to help me. He said, well, the good news is that you can't serve in the military because you're 4F with a disability, and you can't become a priest because Canon Law in 400 AD said that— was amended to say that if you have epilepsy you can't be— if you have epilepsy, you can't be a priest because you will be possessed by the devil. Well, I, you know, I knew that I couldn't be a priest then, but it really didn't bother me that much because I had so many job offers. I just realized that was another block in the road, but I could I could go on. So I had all these job offers and I started going to them, and I'd fill out the application. The word epilepsy was on each application. I checked the box. I never got an interview. And so I finally realized that it had to do with my epilepsy, the passing out spells. And I thought that God, my church, my family had all turned against me, and I became very depressed and got drunk every day. I was on this hilltop— when you're drunk, you think it's a mountain, but it was a hilltop in Griffith Park in Los Angeles. And I was drinking, uh, as I said, drunk every day by 3 o'clock in the afternoon. And the day that I was going to do the dirty deed, there was a merry-go-round at the bottom of this hill and little kids getting off and on and so forth. And I was getting ready, I heard this voice and it said, you're going to be just like those little kids. You're not going to let anything or anybody stop you from what you're wanting to do. All of a sudden I stopped, and I haven't gotten drunk since then. Um, I haven't been depressed since then. Uh, I got my mojo back.

Hold on one minute there, Tony. I have a little problem. That is, all the lines are full, so I have to let these callers on, starting with Denise Peace. Denise, are you there?

Hi, Tony. Hi, Joyce. How are you? Hello. Um, hi, Joyce. I just had to join you for a minute because I know other people are trying to get in, but Tony I wanted to tell you how much you made my life so much better since I developed epilepsy. Because the doctors couldn't find out after my head trauma in 1995 until I joined the Epilepsy Foundation board what was— how to control my seizure activity. And since then, you've helped me get a get a job with President Obama and have a significant place on the commission with President Biden. And this is all because of you and the way you gave me confidence that I had something to contribute. And as a Black woman with epilepsy, you know, there was a stigma when some of my family members heard that I had epilepsy. Because, you know, they thought— they knew I was a little— they said that was the reason that I was possessed by the devil, and that's why I sometimes took a different track in life. But I have to thank you so very much for all the things that you've done for all of us. We wouldn't be a community with endless possibilities now without you.

Thank you. I love you, Dennis. Denise, appreciate it.

Hey, Denise, sister, sister, I love you and thanks for calling in. Okay, I think we have another caller here. Rebecca Williford, are you on the line?

I am. Uh, hi Joyce, hi Tony. Hi Rebecca, welcome. Hi, this is Rebecca from Disability Rights Advocates, and with ADA and Disability Pride Month upon us, I just wanted to call in and thank you for all that you have done to move the ball forward and blaze the trails. At DRA, we're enforcing the ADA. We rely on that statute every single day in our work as we move towards a more accessible society with our impact litigation. So I just wanted to thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you've done.

Thank you. I appreciate it very much. Thank you.

And hey, Rebecca, you're a leader too with the DRA that I love so much. Thank you for calling in.

Thanks, Joyce. Thanks, Tony.

Okay. Wow. We got another call here. Eric Vaughn, are you on the line?

Hey, Joyce, it's great to hear your voice. Tony, how are you? You sound fantastic.

Thank you, Eric. Appreciate it. I feel great.

Well, somebody told me, and I'm not sure who, that you're 82 years young, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. You are the youngest inspiring leader that I think I've ever known. You've given me a new lease on life when you got me involved with the American Association of People with Disabilities. But I think about all the challenges we face around the country, around the world today, And people ask, where are the leaders? Well, the leader we have in you has been so inspiring and so impactful. And I just think it's great to be able to call you a friend, but also to thank you very much for all of your work, all of your commitment, all of your leadership, and most importantly, all of your impressive accomplishments.

Thank you, Eric. I appreciate that very much. You're a true friend. Appreciate it.

Great to hear your voice.

Hi, Eric. Thanks, Joyce. Hi, Joyce.

How are you?

Hey, Eric, my partner, my buddy. Thank you for calling. Thank you, Eric.

You're the best, Joyce.

Thank you. Okay, sorry I interrupted you there, Tony, but you know, my producer is telling me the lines were full, so I had to take the call. I think you were saying that at this point in time you were told you couldn't be a priest but you felt there were other things you could do. However, when you went to apply for a job, you were rejected and you knew it was because of your epilepsy.

That's right. And I was saying about my desire to commit suicide. So I went through that, but then after I got my mojo back, which I was talking about, I had an opportunity based on a priest friend of mine at Loyola to live with Bob Hope and his family. A lot of your listeners aren't as old as me, so Bob Hope was at that time the most famous comedian on television and around the world, and I lived with his family for a year. Basically, he told me one day as we were traveling, he said, "You are having trouble because you think disability can only be practiced in a church. True disability is practiced in sports, entertainment, business, government, but where you belong is in politics." I had never thought of that. I had been active in student government, but that's not really politics on the big scene. And thought about it and wrote a letter to my congressman who I didn't know. He was looking for somebody young. I got the job, went to work for him, worked for him for 13 years. I realized during that period of time that when I was trying to get him to do certain things on disabilities that we didn't have our basic civil rights and all these attempts were unsuccessful, it couldn't go anywhere. So when I ran, when he retired, I ran for his seat and won easily. I told my constituents at the time that I, on agriculture and water issues, which are critical to Central Valley of California, that I would do everything that was needed for them. When it came down to other issues, I would help solve problems and so forth, but that on certain issues, I wanted the right to be the advocate and to educate them as to why. I was very open about my epilepsy and very open about my concern on disability rights. And after a period of time, I started thinking about writing legislation to do this. At the same time, Justice Justin Dart and others were traveling around the country and educating people that it was important for all of us to come together. If you had epilepsy, you're working on epilepsy. If you had cancer, you're working on cancer. If you had a heart condition, you work— And people weren't working together totally as a community. And that's what Justin was doing, going around the country, getting people to think that way. The reason I bring that up is that a lot of people take credit for the ADA and what happened during that period of time. And if you didn't have the grassroots coming together, we would have never got the ADA through the Congress. In the Senate, we had Ted Kennedy, we had Bob Dole, we had Tom Harkin, we have Orrin Hatch, two Republicans and two Democrats who were able to push the legislation together. Will Wyker, who was the first one who introduced it, got defeated. In the election before the bill came back. And so you had these 4 people lead an effort and it was basically fairly easy to get it through the Senate. On the House side, I had leadership that basically thought the ADA was too broad, too aggressive, and that we should split it up and so forth. But I was elected to leadership the same way they were, and I said no. And when I left the Congress, I asked Steny Hoyer from Maryland, to take the lead, and he did, and did a tremendous job in coming up with a strategy and so forth. Steve Bartlett helped organize the Republicans at my request to do Newt Gingrich. And then, of course, it gets adopted. It's been the law of the land, as we discussed, for 34 years. It didn't solve all our problems because the ADA is a civil rights bill. And some people said, "Why didn't you include employment?" Well, it's a civil rights bill. And basically, what it does is it gets a piece of paper that needs to be enforced. And I stress a piece of paper, because if there isn't an administration that wants to enforce it, it doesn't happen. So, when you're going to vote for president, always remember that the president appoints the attorney general. The attorney general appoints the the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. And that is what's critical, is getting somebody who understands civil rights and aggressive and enforces civil rights. Christine Clark, who is the current Deputy Attorney General for Civil Rights, does a tremendous job enforcing the law. Practically every day, there's something that she's filed on in regards to people not complying with the ADA. So it's really exciting to see that. And Joyce, as you know, 5 of the last 6 presidents, I've talked to them about a certain issue. And that was, I'd say, I know of a community that wants to pay taxes, contrary to everybody who doesn't want to pay taxes and so forth. I said, this group wants to pay taxes, and that's those of us with disabilities. And the reason is that means we have a job if we're paying taxes. That means we have a right to own or buy a— rent a home or a car or whatever. We have a right to succeed, but I really mean a right to fail and an opportunity to succeed. But if you don't give us the right to fail, we'll never have the opportunity to succeed. And that was my mantra and still is, is to convince folks. And what you do, Joyce, by going to CEOs and convincing them that those of us with disabilities should have the right, just like anybody else, to fail. And that means that we can come through, and Joyce has placed a lot of people, as you know, with a lot of different corporations, and they're all doing extremely well, Joyce. So I, I appreciate— so many other people appreciate what you do in that regard. And that's what we want. The current administration just made the internet accessible to people with disabilities, those with hearing, sight, or physical impairments. They did not have access to the internet for all these years. I believe it was covered by the ADA, but we couldn't make that happen. But finally, under this administration, that has occurred. During the pandemic, these three groups didn't have access to the internet because there was no other way that they could do it. So they had to go to others in order during the pandemic to order food, do finances, whatever it took to communicate with people because we were all isolated. But they couldn't do that. They had to have somebody else do it for them. Now that does not happen. Now the administration has a rule that the internet needs to be accessible. So, a lot has happened over the years in regards to healthcare. People in wheelchairs didn't get health exams when they would go to a doctor and so forth. Now, it's required. The beds have to be accessible and the exams have to be accessible. And so, I can go on and on about different things like airplanes, the lavatories have to be accessible. But I could go on and on about all the different things that have happened, and we're making progress. Jobs are not as aggressive as I'd like to see, but we're making progress there as well.

Well, Tony, I have this mentor called Tony Coelho who has helped me my entire career. So, Thank you. And I see we have several callers on the line. Perry Jude Radesik, are you on the line?

Hi, Joyce, I am. Thanks for letting me get on the line. Appreciate that.

Well, you are, you are also my newscaster, so of course I would like you on the line. But go ahead, Perry, go ahead.

Congressman, you have made— and I think you were just talking about it this segment— significant contributions to American politics. It hasn't just been disability, but to politics in general, and, and how you work across the aisle to accomplish your goals, your goals for the American public, including the disability community. So thank you for that. Thank you for leading in a bipartisan way, especially advocacy, the bipartisan advocacy you were able to develop for the Americans with Disabilities Act and the ADA Amendments Act.

Thank you, Congressman. Thank you very much. It's sweet of you. I appreciate that.

Hey, Perry, I have so many people on the line. I will talk to you next week.

Sounds good.

Bye-bye. Okay, you're the best. Head of the CEO of Disability Rights of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Disability Rights Network. Okay, we have Jill on the line. Jill, are you there?

Hello, and thank you for the opportunity to call in and say thank you, Tony Coelho. Um, you know, not only do— are you one of the major reasons why we have the Americans with Disabilities Act, But you also, you created the Disability:IN movement. You brought business to the table. And I thank you for that. I think you never ever miss an opportunity to educate all of us. I, you know, was on the phone with you recently and you were raising the issue around AI. And, you know, I just thank you. I thank you for the opportunity to learn from you and to continue to push issues and drive inclusion for everyone.

It's so great to hear your voice. Yes, and love you. It's true, Tony. Jill talks about this all the time, that you, uh, really because of you, so came Disability:IN, uh, and I was right there with you on the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities. And Jill, You rock, man. You have taken disability and, oh my goodness, I remember when there were 20 people. Now there's like 700 companies in the United States, but it's around the world, and you have so many people that come that sometimes they can't get in. I love you, and thank you for calling in.

Thank you. We're just scratching the surface, so We're gonna, we're gonna keep moving, Tony.

I love it. Thank you, Jill.

Jill is so awesome. I mean, she really is. She is so awesome. Oh, she is great. She is doing a great job. Um, Tony, how long did that—

Yes, I have a comment. Um, you know, I know I'm 82, but this sounds like a eulogy at some service that I've passed. I'm still alive. I'm still very aggressive. I think it's wonderful having all these people call in, but I intend to stay around for another 10 years, God willing.

Well, guess what? I only have one other person with all these calls, and guess what? It was a TV star, and he's not 82. So You are in good standing. And by the way, everyone, don't get this 82 baloney wrong, okay? This man is 82, running 82 miles an hour, and I would put him up against people 30 years younger because he never retired. He has never retired. He has been an advocate the whole time. And Tony, you know I am your tormentor. So I'm going to take all the calls that come in because it's Disability Pride Month and the author of the ADA, I let everyone know you were going to be on. And as you can see, you are very popular. As a matter of fact, we have Colleen from the Epilepsy Association. On hold, who, by the way, Tony, you'll love this. She want— you are the king of fundraising. And Colleen, who is behind the Mardi Gras, the Epilepsy Walk, and just a little fireball, she said, okay, you're doing such a great job, Joyce. And she bought me tennis shoes with money, with dollars all over it. That— those are my money shoes. But see, Tony doesn't need those. He just He's just on it. Colleen, it's great to hear from you.

Hello, hello, Tony.

Hello, Joyce Bender.

Hello, Colleen.

I am calling on behalf of the Epilepsy Association of Western and Central Pennsylvania to just thank Tony, to celebrate Tony, and thank him for everything that he has done for the epilepsy community and for all people with disabilities. Thank you so much. This is, this is a celebration.

This is not a eulogy. This is a celebration.

You tell them, Colleen.

You tell them. Colleen, thank you so much for calling in, and it won't be long. We'll start planning for next year's Mardi Gras. So Colleen, thank you. I love you.

I love you, Joyce Bender. We are so lucky to have both of you on our team.

Well, thank you. I love you too. Hey, Tony, I just realized something. You know, I send out press releases, I do all of this, but this time I said, oh, I'm going to send this just to the disability rights community and some other people. Wow, I should have done that. Too bad I just figured it out 21 years later.

That's sweet.

Yeah, look at the calls. Of course, I have got everywhere that we are celebrating Disability Pride Month and that I want people to celebrate people now, whether it's Jill Houghton or Colleen or whomever it is. How about if we celebrate now? Celebrate now, because you know, Tony, with everything going on, we've got to get people together, united.

That's exactly right.

We've got— in community, that's what we have.

We're powerful if we all work together. We're a huge community, uh, if we work together. And we did on the ADA, we did on the ADA Amendments Act, we've done it in regards to to the accessibility to the internet. So, we just need to do more of that and be aggressive and not worry about what other people say or think. We should do what we think is right and be aggressive about it.

And I think you're forgetting one other thing, Tony. You are the author of the Americans with Disabilities Act. I just want to tell everyone, I wrote about this today. Do you know that 100, 181 countries, because of the ADA, were inspired to create civil rights laws? And Tony, even I, who I feel I know the most about you, well, other than your partner, but Tony, even I didn't know it had grown that long. Large. And I'm wondering, think about that, Tony. One man, one decision that you made. What the heck, what impact that had. I mean, it's unbelievable what you have done. But yes, we have callers on the line. Maria, are you on the line?

Hi, Joyce. I was just calling to wish Tony a very happy birthday and to tell him thank you for the ADA, you know, Joyce Bender, I am so, so grateful to know you as a person. I'm so grateful that you helped start AAPD, where I now work as the president and CEO. And, you know, your vision for really building the power of the cross-disability movement has changed so many lives, including mine. So, just thank you for everything, and happy birthday. I hope that you have many, many, many more birthdays. But, as someone who knows how hard you continue to work, I do hope you get to take a little bit of a break soon.

Thank you, Maria. I love you. That's very sweet of you. I want to make sure that the listeners know that I worked with Bob Dole. In regards to setting up the AAPD. Bob, as everybody knows, was as committed to disabilities as I've ever been. And so you have taken AAPD to greater strength, and that's fabulous. I've been involved, as you know, for so many years in AAPD, and we struggled a lot during that period of time. Getting money and getting people involved and engaged. And you've turned that all around, and it's fabulous to see what you've done. And, you know, I love you and appreciate you for what you've done.

And I do too, Maria. We are so lucky to have you as the CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities. You too are a rock star, and you have done a fabulous job. Hey, Maria, tell Tony one thing before you go. Do you remember the first time you were on this show?

I do.

And how long had you worked? Yes, it was her first week, and I said, "Mariah, I am going to have you on my show." I am not kidding you. Maybe 4 days she had been there. Do you remember that?

Mm-hmm.

Yep.

Yep.

I do. And, um, and it has been— it has been a great time to continue being on your show, Joyce, after, you know, now it will be 5 years later this month.

Oh my goodness, wow, time goes quickly. Well, so everyone knows, as I told you about Jill Holland when she called in, Maria has zoomed AAPD. I mean, it has grown so much. And Tony, you remember— I still remember you being on the phone saying to everyone, we either make something happen or AAPD will be gone.

Remember that? That's absolutely right. And I think AAPD was so critical to our growth as a community. The whole purpose of ADA— AAPD was to make sure that we were cross-disability and we got all the different disability groups to work together on a lot of the issues that are critical to our community. I particularly appreciate Maria's— your involvement in the whole QWALS fight, which basically was a fight where people were saying that if you're 75 and you have a disability, you have no longer any value. And it was something that was in the medical care for a long time, that attitude. One of those New York Times Sunday magazine articles said that 75 and older, that's the end of support. So, you have what you've done to grow AAPD and becoming a critical organization for the White House and for all our different organizations has been fabulous. So, I love you and thank you for it.

Well, I love you too, and thank you for all those kind words. Joyce, as I came on, I heard you mentioning the kind of global reach of the ADA, and I just wanted to note, because I'm not sure how many people realize this, but the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which passed last year and was begun to be implemented this year, was modeled after the Americans with Disabilities Act. So when, you know, people are pregnant, they can get accommodations at work and not worry about losing their jobs. And I just— I think that the ADA is such a powerful tool because its applications are so wide-reaching, even beyond disability.

I agree with that. And the fact that it's— now part of the law in over 100 different countries is really amazing. They're all not like the ADA or specifically like the ADA. They all have variation of the ADA, but the most important part of that is all these countries recognize that those of us with disabilities have a right to be involved, engaged, and to fail or succeed just like anybody else. That's what's significant about it.

Thank you. And one last thing, Maria, we have a— speaking of Disability Pride Month, we have a gala celebration coming up. When is that, Maria?

That is on the evening of July 25th. It's our celebration of the 34th anniversary of the signing of the ADA. It's our ADA celebration, and it is the Evening of July 25th, in person, Washington, D.C., and also streamable online.

Okay, aapd.com. I'm gonna be there, and I hope I'm gonna see you there. Thanks for calling in, Maria.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Bye-bye. Okay, let's see here with my little list. Marcy Roth, are you on hold?

I sure am.

Hi, Marcy.

Hi there, Joyce. Hey there, Tony. So glad to join you all. Hey there. Happy birthday and happy ADA 34.

Right, right. That's amazing, right, Marcy?

Oh, it's truly amazing. I love being on with both of you because I'm remembering, Tony, so much your leadership as we were working so hard to get this done. You know, the other day I was talking with somebody and remembering the fluorescent postcards. Do you remember that incredible flood?

I sure do. I sure do.

I forgot about that. I sure do.

Right?

Yes. We were sent— you know, back in the day, you know, the way that you would reach your members was to, you know, send them letters and send them postcards. You know, yes, we could call, but, you know, it costs money. And, you know, young disabled people didn't have a lot of money. And so, we would have these just massive gatherings where we would take fluorescent paper, turn it into postcards, and try and make our case for passage of the ADA. And I remember that you commented about how you were flooded with those. More importantly, the folks who needed to get on board were flooded with those.

That's exactly right.

I missed out on this, Tony. I missed out. I wish someone had one of these fluorescent postcards somewhere. I would love to see that. By the way, Marcy is the CEO of the World Institute on Disability, which I am so proud to be on that board. And if you go to wid— w-i-d— .org, you can read about WID and make a donation.

Thank you, Joyce. We love having you on the board. We love your leadership. And yeah, please, uh, please do come find out what we're up to at wid.org.

I want to say something about you, Marcy, and that is that during the Clinton administration, the Obama administration, Hillary Clinton's effort, and then of course with the Biden campaign, we put together— you were a significant part of it— put together a team after the elections in order to make sure that the administration would employ people with disabilities. And when we first started, very few people got in the administration. Janet Reno became Attorney General. She had a disability. But we would get one here, two there, whatever. And now there are a lot of different individuals in very significant roles in the federal government. And that was an effort that we started way back then. And it takes a lot of work and spent a lot of days and time to find the individuals and then to promote and aggressively promote and convince the incoming administration to hire those of us with disabilities. But I appreciate all your effort and time during that period.

Well, I appreciate your leadership. And yes, we spent many, many long hours, long days Long weeks, you know, pushing, pushing, pushing, and heaven knows we have lots more pushing to do. But, you know, the reality is that, you know, with leaders like you, Tony, so many of us have been willing and have been, you know, found our courage to assume a leadership role. It's because we follow your leadership. It's because you've made it so possible for so many of us to see ourselves as having the power and the pride, right, to make the kinds of contributions that really do change the world.

I appreciate that very much. All the work that you were involved in has helped make that difference. I was a vehicle, but you and so many others really helped to make all these things that we did accomplish possible. And I can remember so many different things that we did together, and I love you for it and loved your support and involvement.

I love you too, and we are not done. We have more work to do than ever.

Joyce says that I'm 82. Actually, I keep telling people I'm 28. Why not?

Oh yeah, well, you act like you're 28. Yeah, he makes me nervous all the time. He does the things he does, it makes me nervous. But Marcy, thank you for calling in.

Oh, you bet. Thank you, Joyce. I love you. I love you, Tony. Lead on. And we got to stick together, never give up, never give in.

That's exactly right. Thank you, Marcia.

Yeah, Tony, you've got to stop riding these electrifying roller coasters. You make me so nervous. He loves roller coasters, but you should see these roller coasters. I mean, you would never get me ever, ever, ever on only a baby roller coaster that maybe is only 6 feet up. No way. So he does a lot of things like that. He's like a wild man. But anyway, we have, uh, other callers on the line. Gerald, are you on?

I am here, Joyce.

Hi, Gerald.

Hello, and hi, Tony. Happy Disability Pride Month. Yes, it is. That's great. Thank you for being on the call. Oh, thank you. I just wanted to call in and thank you so much for everything you you've done. I can confidently say I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for you, Tony. You know, I was born in 1990 on Friday the 13th in July, exactly 13 days before the ADA was signed into law. So 13 is a very lucky number for me, and I was lucky enough to be born into the benefit Bender family via my dad, who Joyce placed, and working in this company now after my internship here for 17 years and proudly being a person with a disability in this fight for the employment, the competitive employment of people with disabilities, leading our team for Joyce to do that work. And I've been so influenced by you and have so much passion for this. Because of you. And none of that would have happened if it wasn't for you getting the ADA into law, for supporting Joyce Bender, and the opportunity my dad got to work, and what all of that meant for me, my family, and now what I get to give to others. And it just means the world to me. And I just thank you for that, Tony. Thank you, Gerald. It's very nice of you. I appreciate it very much. Love Thank you. Love you too.

Thanks, Gerald. Um, okay, we may only be able to take one, maybe at the most two more callers, but we have saved one of the best for last, and that would be Holly O'Donnell. We're so happy to hear from you, Holly.

Hi Joyce, hi Tony, how are you?

Hi Holly. Great, great, great, great to hear from you. I'll make some comments later about how long we've known each other.

I know I wanted to call in to say thank you for all your work when you were the Majority Whip and working with so many people that, you know, we both have known forever. And then how special it was for me to come to the Bazelon Center 6 years ago, and now I get to work with you. And I love that this is a multigenerational partnership to help people live full lives, like we've been trying to do for so long. And it's just awesome to be able to work with you and know all the connections that we have for so many years with your girls and I don't know, it just— I mean, I texted you this weekend that picture, so I think that says it all.

Well, I just need to make a comment, Holly. I've known Holly since she was a little girl, right? Holly's father and mother were great friends of mine, and Holly's father, when I was in the Congress, was my spiritual leader. I mean, he was absolutely amazing. He helped me in so many different ways. I also remember, Holly, that you and Kirk and your mother and your brother, the four of you went on vacation with us and so forth with my family. The one time we were at Disney was all in our rain jackets or whatever they're called and so forth. But we've had so much fun together as a family. So I love the fact that you you're are now head of Bazelon Center and participating for helping those of us with disabilities. Your brother with a disability, your family friend, me, with a disability, and so forth. So your involvement in regards to mental health means a lot to me for a lot of my loved ones that have mental health issues. And so I thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you do and the impact that you're having. At the Kuelow Disability Center, we are focused on mental health as well. And so you've had an impact, and I love you for it.

Holly, do you remember when we first met Holly? Yes, at that dinner. Yeah, that dinner, right?

No, the first time I met you was on Capitol Hill.

It was very brief. Wow. Oh, you have a better memory than me. I don't know, it probably stands out in my mind because Wonder Woman came to our table. Remember that? Wonder Woman? Well, I want to say about—

Yes, I absolutely do. That was the opening of the Coelho Center.

Yep. Well, talk about very powerful women. Holly has taken the Baselon Center from, again, the way AAPD was at one time, all the way forward and has really grown the organization to make it very successful. And I just love Holly so much, but more than that, her daughter. Do you want to tell Tony why? Why do I love Sloane so much?

Because Sloane loves Pittsburgh.

That's right. You make sure you tell her I mentioned her on here today. Make sure you tell her. I will. All right, Holly, have a great day.

I will. All right, thank you.

Thank you, Holly.

Okay, I have a message for you now that I'm supposed to read. Ready for this one? You won't be surprised. By this person saying this, okay, the message is from Paula. It says, Tony, I can't wait to come down and see you so I can leave with Bob and dump you off with Joyce Bender.

Tell her that I'm happy that she would dump you and I together. That, that would be a pleasure. I'm looking forward to it.

What happens? I go see Tony, we go, we sit down at this nice bench, and that's the last I see them. But I love it. I love it because I get Tony all to myself. My favorite thing in the world. And I'll tell Paula. I will tell her. She's not here, but I'll make sure I tell her that you said that's a good thing. Um, well, Tony, Tony, do you know I can't take any more callers? As Becky Ogle used to say, time's up. But time is not up for you, Tony. What message would you like to give to our listeners as we celebrate Disability Pride Month?

Gotta remember that It takes a village, as Hillary would say, in order to make a difference for those of us with disabilities. We're a very large community. We're working together on a lot of different issues. But it only takes one person to make a difference, one person that will listen, one person that will help in regards to an individual with a disability. And so I would hope that all your listeners would understand that the role they play in regards to making sure that our disability community is active, aggressive, and successful. That's what it's all about. And hopefully, as we keep moving along, we keep growing, we keep bringing more and more people with disabilities into our family to openly talk about their disability, to try to get rid of the stigma that's involved with what people think about those of us with disabilities. I was just with an individual last night that was— who is having trouble with the stigma in regards to her disability. And so it's something that we all need to work on and be aggressive about, and we'll succeed. We definitely will succeed, and I'm determined to— devote my every hour of my day to try to make that happen.

And may I say, he does. Well, what a great way to kick off Disability Pride Month. We end every show with a quote, and although he said it, I don't care, it's one of my favorite quotes. Give us the right to be fired, said Congressman Tony Coelho And in the words of Mary Brooker, which today was her birthday, remember, when you go out today, choose joy. It's so much better. Talk to you all next week.

Thank you, Joyce Bender.

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