Latest / OneLegUpAlex Media / OneLegUpAlex Examines Different Abilities vs. Disabilities 7-27-26

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OneLegUpAlex Examines Different Abilities vs. Disabilities 7-27-26 · OneLegUpAlex Media

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, so it's the day after eighty a thirty six,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: and you know, one of my themes that I try
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: to do here at one the up Alex Media is
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: say this just because an anniversary, a specific holiday, a
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: specific moment where we honor is come and gone, doesn't
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: mean we stopped the conversation. In fact, I always think
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: the day after something like the anniversary Americans with Disabilities Act,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: which doctor Viscardi had a major role, and I want
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: to draw attention to the museum, the Disability Museum at
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: the Viscardi School, transferred down from Buffalo and installed in Albertson,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: and that low brick building in Albertson, Long Island, with
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: of course doctor Viscardi's office replica as the centerpiece. I
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: love that. I love that a lot. But they had
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: some pretty cool U collections on display when we were there.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: In June, my mom and I went to visit the
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: museum and they had an old school prosthetic arm and
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: leg and I thought this is so cool. I got
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: to post this. Remind me to post that later today,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: by the way, But yeah, I want you to consider
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: the museum disability history. There's a free mention. They're not
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: promoted asking me to do this for money. There's a
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: free mention because I believe in the work they're doing.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: And hopefully we'll have the director Natalie on in the
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: coming days to talk more about the museum disability history,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: because you want to start at the epicenter of a
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: place where it's not just eighty a day that the
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: conversation goes to. No. No, the museum is year round,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: The events are year round, the exhibits are year round.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Disability history and different ability history is honored year round.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: I've been leaning towards saying the word different abilities. I
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: don't know if you noticed that last night or earlier
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: this morning on the show, because we're all differently able. Now,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: some might say the naming of that is too controversial. No,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: we're disabled, we're not differently able. But you think of
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: the mindset, yes, for the act of more accessibility. I
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: do believe the word disability is important to say, hey,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: we need access for those disabilities. I don't disagree with
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: their at all, but it's okay to admit we're also abilities,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: even if it's different. It's okay to admit we have
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: different abilities that aren't necessarily disabling. I mean at fan Accest,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: pitching there, doing the kick and everything I'd like to show,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: even though I struggled on some of the things, that
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: I have different abilities and an adaptive athlete, and I
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: do it again next year. And I understand the wording
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: disability versus different ability. I understand it because for all
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: rites and purposes, to fight for more access, to fight
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: for people with disabilities, you need to use that term.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: But a mindset shift could say, we're also people with
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: different abilities, and I love talking in that mindset of
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: being differently abled, not disabled. In fact, Viscardi Student Council
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: and Basketball sold a shirt that said disabled with the
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: crossed out, disability with the discross out, because we have ability.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Sure they're different abilities, but we have ability, and so
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: if we can fight for those disabilities, we can also
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: encourage those with disabilities that they are able, that they
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: have ability, that they're not disabled entirely, that they are
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: differently able, that they have their abilities that maybe they
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: haven't seen yet, they haven't reached yet, they haven't felt yet,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: but they can reach that they can tap into that
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: different ability while fighting for access. As someone with the disability,
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: I believe both can be the same. Both things can
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: be true. I believe you can fight for your right
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: as a disabled American, as an American disabilities, but I
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: also believe that your mindset while you're fighting for that
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: should be you know why, I'm fighting for it because
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: I'm able to get here and there, but I want
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: to get there. But I have the ability to get
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: where I need to go, maybe a little differently the most,
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: but I have the ability to get there. I have
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: the ability to adapt and get there. So in his
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Americans Disabilities Act, that will never change. That sad law.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: It's a beautiful law that got passed by President George H. W. Bush.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: Doctor Viscardi was very, very very instrumental in that law,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: extremely instrumental in that. But I don't think he ever
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: really saw himself with a disability. I thought he saw
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: himself and everybody around him with abilities. That's why he
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: formed Abilities Inc. Back in nineteen fifty two. You know,
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: it ended up in a human resources and all that,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: but ended up being ability because the center saw the
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: abilities of those who are differently abled, who are disabled.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: But changing vocabulary can help live out life as someone
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: with a different ability, as someone with a disability. Changing
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: the narrative or changing the verbiage could show the world,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: you know what. I may I am disabled, but in
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: my mind, I'm differently abled. I can do things. And
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: I love what Sherry said about that. You know, and
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: I I you get her line right, She'll text me
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: that I know that. But we all just want to
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: be given a chance to do things, the right things,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: and to be able to be out and about. And
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: the ADA Act plays a role in that because it
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: does require a lot more accessibility. And I understand that
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: fight for accessibility doesn't end. That's why we bring on
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: people to talk about their lives and why more accessibility
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: is needed and adaptability is needed. But our core, most
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: of the people I know, are able to get around
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: and do things and live their life and be everywhere
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: anywhere because we put our minds to it. And that
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: is so crucial to inspire others to put their minds
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: to it, to not think of themselves as disabled but
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: differently abled, to think of themselves not as a disadvantage
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: but at a different advantage, and most importantly, to think
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: of themselves having one leg up on life. I know
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: that's a controversial thing to talk about because everybody thinks
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: that the term disability should be the norm. But as
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: I was competing and my mom was saying, you know,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: you're showing your different abilities, it hit home. It hit
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: home that we are all differently abled and as a
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: community society sees as people with disabilities, but we don't
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: have to see ourselves as that. We could see ourselves
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: as someone with a different ability and most importantly, someone
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: with ability. So yes, the ADA day is come and gone,
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: and how fast it went. But maybe for year thirty seven,
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: while we honor the Americans with Disabilities Act, we honor
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: it because we know we have ability and are differently
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: abled to achieve different things. We just need some support
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: in that accessibility realm, a lot of support, But we
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: need that support because we're able to get around, and
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: that first ability to get around is what sets us
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: apart from like the stigma. It smashes the stigma, doesn't it.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: I mean, for God's sakes, they were telling me the
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: l r R the half air was only certain times
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: because well, guess what, Uh, we didn't think you guys
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: were out and about for more than just leisure and
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: doctor appointments. We didn't know you were working, is what
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: was the impression. I was getting but yes, people with
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: disabilities work also, But yes, people with disabilities live their
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: lives also, they about their life with their different abilities.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: So it's a it's a it's a it's a debate
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: do we just do we label ourselves disabled or differently abled.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: I'm going to start labeling those who I know that
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: are go getters that go out and do things as
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: differently abled because they have abilities. Hm. They might take
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: a little longer to get one point point A to
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: point B, but they get there. But they get there
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: because they're a because they know their ability to get there.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Different abilities opens up the door mentally to realize you're
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: not just in a power chair or in a wheelchair,
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: or on crutches or on a walker, but you are
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: able to be more than that, to be more than that,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: more than the chair that you're in, more than the
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: crutches you use, more than the walker you walk on,
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: more than the power chair you zoom around in. You're
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: the person controlling it all, and you were given the
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: ability to, you learned the ability to. Hence why we're
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: not just a group of people disabilities. We're a group
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: of people with different abilities, a group of people with
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: different abilities and That's my message at one leg A
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: Ballex Media. As now we head to year thirty seven,
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: may we remember and remind ourselves that we have abilities
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: and aren't just people with disabilities,