Episodes

We hear from disability community leaders Ana Acton and Kim Rutledge about how their unique stories led them self-acceptance, #DisabilityPride and a lifetime of advocacy.

Today, we're joined by Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Andi Mudryk, the first openly transgender person in California history to be appointed by a governor to a seat on the California bench.

The increased availability of affordable technology is creating greater access for Californians with speech disabilities through the Voice Options program.

We're joined by UC Davis researcher Prashanth Venkataram as we continue to explore the state of public transit accessibility around town and across the nation. Are self-driving cars the future of paratransit? Tune in to find out!

Calls to expand Long Term Services and Supports (LTSS) are growing in California, and the U.S. In this episode, In Home Support Services (IHSS) recipients, providers, and advocates talk about why expanding LTSS is critical to independent living.

As mask mandates and Covid-19 precautions are being relaxed, we look who is being left behind as the U.S. races to return to “normal.” What are immunocompromised people experiencing at this stage of the pandemic and what are they are calling for now?

In this episode we look at the intersection of disability and climate change, discussing the disproportional impacts extreme weather can have on people with disabilities and older adults.

On this episode, we hear from Dan and Viola Dwyer, creators of The Ginchiest. They discuss the pros and cons of transportation for people with disabilities, and share their experiences with public and commercial transit, and wheelchair accessible vans.

We spend this show with Amee Medeiros of Neighborhood Center of the Arts, a nonprofit supporting people with disabilities to make and sell art. Learn how Neighborhood Center has supported artists through the pandemic and their vision for the future.

With the Build Back Better package in negotiation phase, we talk with Rebecca Cokley, of the Ford Foundation. She provides analysis on how some of the proposed elements of Build Back Better would greatly improve the lives of people with disabilities

On this show we honor National Disability Employment Month, and celebrate the passage of SB639, ending sub-minimum wage for workers with developmental disabilities in California.

September is the height of fire season here in Northern California. We’re talking emergency preparedness, evacuation planning, and preparing for Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS). Learn how our community can stay prepared and safe.

Check out highlights from FREED’s Our Community: An Aging & Disability Conference, which we hosted with Agency on Aging \ Area 4 in July 2021. At the conference, we focused on local implementation of Governor Gavin Newsom's Master Plan for Aging.

We’re joined by Andy Imparato, Executive Director of Disability Rights California, the federally funded legal services agency that serves Californians with disabilities of all ages with a wide array of advocacy services.

Former host Ana Acton joins us to talk about her time at FREED, and her new role at the California Department of Rehabilitation. Plus the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund update us on vaccination efforts in the disability community.

Dan Okenfuss, Public Policy Manager at the California Foundation for Independent Living Centers joins us to discuss his extensive career in politics, his leadership in Little People of America and how their adoption program helped him start a family.

To mark International Transgender Day of Visibility, Andi Mudryk, Chief Deputy Director of the California Department of Rehabilitation, who recently came out as trans talks with us about growing up in a disabled family and accepting her gender identity.

Studies show that people disabilities are up to 3x more likely to die from Covid-19. But early vaccine access was only granted in the wake of a massive mobilization campaign by people with disabilities. And even that prioritization was delayed.

Love is ON the air tonight as we speak with Dan and Viola Dwyer, a married couple who are both people with disabilities. They talk about their marriage and the common misconceptions about disabled people in relationships.

We look at one disabled person's experience being hospitalized. Admitted for 4 days (unrelated to COVID-19), the hospital refused to allow personal care attendants to support the patient. He described it as "unbearable, almost torturous," and "inhumane."

On today's show, we look back at the November election, and how easily, or not, people with disabilities were able to cast our ballots here in California. We also look forward and hear some of the voting advocacy work in the pipeline for the coming year.

Rebecca Cokley of the Center for American Progress Action Fund talks to us about the disabled community’s increasing political power in the United States. We then hear both Presidential campaigns’ speeches to the Disability & Election Virtual Summit.

We bring you extended excerpts of Nevada County’s Education Workshop for Voters with Disabilities. This public workshop on Zoom was hosted by Jaime Melugin along with disability community advocates from FREED and Disability Rights California.

Continuing the conversation on the disproportional effects of COVID-19 on people with disabilities and older adults. As we reach the grim milestone of 200k deaths here in the U.S., we talk about the crisis standard of care guidelines here in California.