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One Leg Up 7-26-24 Adaptabilty and Accessibility in Sports To Commemorate ADA34 · OneLegUpAlex Sports

0:02
Speaker 1: Here's your host, Alex Darren.
0:06
Speaker 2: Welcome inside to the Alex Garrett podcast Network. And today
0:10
Speaker 2: is ADA thirty four, thirty four years since the Americans
0:14
Speaker 2: with Disabilities Act. We'll be dropping a couple episodes today,
0:17
Speaker 2: one on sports and disability as well as the Viscardi voices.
0:23
Speaker 2: Voices of Viscardi's what I'll title that one. But here
0:26
Speaker 2: in the sports section, let's start with Anthony Fitzgerald, the
0:31
Speaker 2: mastermind behind the wheelchair softball events tonight at Eisenhower Park
0:38
Speaker 2: for ADA thirty four Americans with Disabilities Act turns thirty four,
0:43
Speaker 2: and here's how Anthony Fitzgerald is empowering not only adaptive athletes,
0:48
Speaker 2: but anybody with a disability through sports.
0:53
Speaker 3: Oh, without question, without question, it's one of our mantras.
0:58
Speaker 3: When we're at at our shed in Eisenhower Park for
1:03
Speaker 3: the wheelchair softball team, we're getting people who are recently
1:06
Speaker 3: injured trying hand cycling. In other words, our motto is
1:11
Speaker 3: we're changing lives, one adaptive sport at the time.
1:16
Speaker 4: I love that Montretina. I've one adaptive sport at a time.
1:20
Speaker 4: Adam Viscarti does an amazing job.
1:22
Speaker 5: You know.
1:22
Speaker 4: I've had Joe on before with the Wilter basketball program
1:25
Speaker 4: with all the different things they do. Are you involved
1:28
Speaker 4: with Viscardi too or are you just friends with us?
1:31
Speaker 1: Like do you do?
1:31
Speaker 4: You used to have involvement there as well?
1:34
Speaker 1: Well.
1:34
Speaker 3: I used to have a work relationship with I was
1:38
Speaker 3: the liaison to the Viscardi Center as a representative of
1:43
Speaker 3: New York State and then I was fortunate enough to
1:45
Speaker 3: be invited down for Sports Night, and I you know,
1:49
Speaker 3: I have helped out. I've helped Joe a little bit
1:51
Speaker 3: in the past. I've been a referee for basketball and
1:54
Speaker 3: things like that. But I'm a big supporter and friend
1:58
Speaker 3: of the of the Center, no.
2:00
Speaker 4: Doubt, absolutely, and I miss everybody. I love it they're
2:02
Speaker 4: able to do the hybrid. I guess they're Monday, Wednesday,
2:06
Speaker 4: you know, Thursday or something like that, which is great.
2:08
Speaker 4: I mean that's you know, you got to like these
2:11
Speaker 4: kids out of the house, right, So I'm glad they're
2:13
Speaker 4: able to do that for Viscardi in a safe way.
2:17
Speaker 4: And then yet with your work, I do want to
2:19
Speaker 4: touch on that for a minute, because you are trying
2:21
Speaker 4: to help people adapt to speech and whatnot, So you're
2:25
Speaker 4: vocational counselor if you want to talk about that for ABD.
2:28
Speaker 4: I'd love to hear your story on that too, of
2:30
Speaker 4: what you do there.
2:31
Speaker 3: Well, you know, yeah, and this ties into the bigger
2:34
Speaker 3: picture of life. Right. You want balance in your life,
2:38
Speaker 3: your work, your home life. And you know, work is
2:46
Speaker 3: not just about work. It's about having purpose, about being
2:50
Speaker 3: a productive, contributing member to society. Right, That's who we are.
2:56
Speaker 3: So I've recently just retired, and you know, I'm jokingly thinking,
3:01
Speaker 3: you know, I want to I want to become a
3:03
Speaker 3: purpose fulfillment center because there's you can help people with
3:07
Speaker 3: disabilities go to work, and that's what I do. I
3:10
Speaker 3: would prefer to help them fund their careers, but I
3:13
Speaker 3: would love to help them fund their purpose and their
3:15
Speaker 3: meaning in life. And that is a much bigger picture
3:19
Speaker 3: and encompasses you know, a lot more. And when you know,
3:23
Speaker 3: when people talk about I just want to make a
3:25
Speaker 3: living or it's my livelihood, that really demonstrates the importance
3:32
Speaker 3: of work as a part of life. So when you
3:35
Speaker 3: cut work out by studying down the economy, which I
3:38
Speaker 3: understand why and why we did it and everything else,
3:41
Speaker 3: but you're really impacting people in a very you know,
3:46
Speaker 3: severe way that can have profound long term effects.
3:50
Speaker 4: Absolutely, and I'm sure you've changed many lives as a counselor. Hey,
3:54
Speaker 4: because I also love to talk about the news, and
3:56
Speaker 4: I know you do too. You've been posting a lot
3:59
Speaker 4: about the news lead everything. I gotta ask Ammy, Cody
4:02
Speaker 4: Barrett is probably going to be confirmed today. How big
4:06
Speaker 4: of a role does is Supreme Court play in the
4:08
Speaker 4: disabled community? Do they help us at all?
4:14
Speaker 3: You know? Of course, of course they help us. You know,
4:19
Speaker 3: the ADA just had a big anniversary, right and we
4:25
Speaker 3: just you know, what do we I think we just
4:27
Speaker 3: hit thirty years, right, So yeah, the legal system is
4:32
Speaker 3: very important for defending the civil rights law, which is
4:37
Speaker 3: what a DA basically is to help people with disabilities
4:41
Speaker 3: in all aspects of their like life, right from access
4:45
Speaker 3: to you know, access to government, access to private facilities,
4:50
Speaker 3: access to employment, access to transportation. I'm proud to say
4:54
Speaker 3: that right across the street from where I lived, the
4:57
Speaker 3: Long Island Railroad station here in Florida Park is about
5:00
Speaker 3: to have two brand new elevators completed. And that makes
5:05
Speaker 3: Manhattan just a hop, skip and a jump away from me.
5:08
Speaker 4: That is so awesome. And by the way, with the ADA,
5:11
Speaker 4: I always advise people don't. I don't know. Maybe you
5:15
Speaker 4: get it, it's the term, but I don't like it.
5:17
Speaker 4: I feel like sometimes people might use it to weaponize business.
5:20
Speaker 4: I don't like that either.
5:21
Speaker 1: So there's got to be a balance.
5:22
Speaker 4: What did you say, like you.
5:24
Speaker 3: Gotta be oh, yeah, no, of course, of course. And
5:29
Speaker 3: that's you know that that's the beauty of a universal
5:33
Speaker 3: design or a universal approach. We're not we we the
5:38
Speaker 3: disabled market or individuals disabilities. We are consumers and people
5:44
Speaker 3: want us to have access. So it's good for the economy,
5:49
Speaker 3: it's good for everyone. It's you know, it's almost an
5:53
Speaker 3: insurance policy for society because one day, either someone you
5:58
Speaker 3: know or love will be injured or you yourself will
6:00
Speaker 3: age to the point where you need more accessible a
6:05
Speaker 3: more accessible environment. Right. So yeah, but at the same time,
6:10
Speaker 3: we can't we can't, you know, excuse the pun, cut
6:14
Speaker 3: the legs out from small businesses and have them incur
6:18
Speaker 3: large expenses. But you know, the average reasonable accommodation is
6:22
Speaker 3: under like three hundred dollars, so we're not going to
6:24
Speaker 3: really put anyone out. And the demand on larger corporations
6:30
Speaker 3: is exactly mean that, it's it's commensurate with the size
6:34
Speaker 3: of the corporation. So the bigger they are, yes, the
6:37
Speaker 3: more the demands the ADA makeup on them to make
6:40
Speaker 3: everything fair and level the playing field.
6:44
Speaker 4: One other thing, and I think adaptation As I'm talking
6:47
Speaker 4: about this, I feel like we all have to work
6:50
Speaker 4: to smash stigmas because there are those that still exists
6:53
Speaker 4: out there. So I would say adapting even to the
6:57
Speaker 4: environment around you, isn't that going to help you smash
6:59
Speaker 4: stigmas because it'll help you get more involved, more with
7:02
Speaker 4: the able body community or whatnot.
7:07
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I mean, you know, when I think of stigmas,
7:12
Speaker 3: they're definitely still out there, and it's our duty and
7:16
Speaker 3: responsibility to crush them as best we cand. Words are powerful, right,
7:24
Speaker 3: I think Victor Khalisi, the Commissioner, recently wrote a good
7:28
Speaker 3: article talking about the power of words and how important
7:32
Speaker 3: it is to use the right words. So yeah, I
7:37
Speaker 3: mean amongst ourselves on the team, on the sports team,
7:42
Speaker 3: we use some kind of off color humor to make
7:46
Speaker 3: to add levity to the situation, to make us laugh
7:49
Speaker 3: a little bit at ourselves and our disabilities, which makes
7:53
Speaker 3: that cross a little easier to bear and to carry
7:55
Speaker 3: when you can laugh at it. Even if it's for
7:58
Speaker 3: a split second. So but we make sure we're careful
8:02
Speaker 3: around other people, you know, when we're around able bodied
8:05
Speaker 3: or not just disabled, not to use those kind of
8:07
Speaker 3: jokes because we don't want them to think it's okay
8:09
Speaker 3: or commonplace very true by the world be a better place.
8:18
Speaker 4: And but no, it's true, you know. And that's the
8:20
Speaker 4: thing about the community is that we joke around with
8:22
Speaker 4: each other. I think people who are on the outside
8:25
Speaker 4: looking and don't realize that or don't think, well, hey,
8:28
Speaker 4: sometimes I feel like I don't think we have humor
8:30
Speaker 4: unless we talk to them, and b it's just like
8:33
Speaker 4: they really don't know the internal of the community that
8:35
Speaker 4: we all bust each other's tops anyway.
8:37
Speaker 3: So there's it's just very therapeutic, ball breaking.
8:44
Speaker 4: I love it, Anthony Well and actually this Tiitans was
8:48
Speaker 4: another thing I talked about yesterday, is that for me,
8:51
Speaker 4: when I see someone look at me, I don't care,
8:53
Speaker 4: but I just see that it's like I gotta say
8:55
Speaker 4: hi or they're going to think I'm like just a
8:57
Speaker 4: robot on wheels. That's my mentalities. So I don't know,
9:01
Speaker 4: I just feel like saying hi to people is very important.
9:04
Speaker 4: If you have a different thing than than most people.
9:08
Speaker 4: One last thing though, one thing that people don't know
9:11
Speaker 4: about you, Anthony Fitzgerald.
9:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, you stay hi to people. I mean, right, there
9:16
Speaker 3: used to be a stereotype about New Yorkers where we
9:18
Speaker 3: were not that friendly or we don't say hi. I
9:20
Speaker 3: go out of my way to say hi to people.
9:22
Speaker 3: You're right, because sometimes they just stare at us, like,
9:25
Speaker 3: you know, wow, you're in a wheelchair, what's up? And
9:27
Speaker 3: I just smile and I say you're doing it and immediately,
9:30
Speaker 3: and I want them to know that I'm a person.
9:32
Speaker 4: You know, I'm not just some robot on wheels.
9:34
Speaker 2: I'm a person that.
9:35
Speaker 1: Talks to people, you know.
9:36
Speaker 4: So that's kind of why I do it too.
9:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, but your form of locomotion through New York City
9:41
Speaker 3: must get a lot of a lot of looks where
9:44
Speaker 3: you use your don't use your crutch tips with a
9:46
Speaker 3: rollerblade one, right?
9:48
Speaker 4: Yeah, I still do. And by the way, I've learned
9:51
Speaker 4: to actually lift up my wheel or crutches and just
9:54
Speaker 4: roll on one leg. I mean, the balancing is just fun.
9:57
Speaker 4: I don't know how I started to do that, but
9:58
Speaker 4: I just do at now for multiple blocks. Let's see
10:02
Speaker 4: my crutches and.
10:03
Speaker 3: You well, you know that's that's that, that's great training
10:06
Speaker 3: for sled hockey, and that we're gonna recruit you guys.
10:10
Speaker 4: They've been trying to get me do my listeners. They've
10:12
Speaker 4: been trying to do this for years. It's happening again.
10:14
Speaker 4: That's okay. Uh, I want to do it though, I
10:17
Speaker 4: want to.
10:17
Speaker 1: I want to.
10:18
Speaker 3: I'm bringing you in, Alex, I'm bringing you in now.
10:21
Speaker 3: As far as what you want to know, one last
10:23
Speaker 3: thing about me that's unique, Well that.
10:26
Speaker 4: Yeah, that no one knows about though, that that that
10:27
Speaker 4: you've not told that anybody, but you'd want to reveal
10:30
Speaker 4: on this podcast.
10:32
Speaker 3: Uh hm, wow, you're really hmm oh, I'm an aspiring
10:41
Speaker 3: guitar player more like a hack. How's that?
10:46
Speaker 2: Well, let us know when you're gonna play, man, and
10:48
Speaker 2: I'll come out and support that too.
10:50
Speaker 4: It's good that you have all these Uh.
10:53
Speaker 3: If you just got it something better. My my my
10:55
Speaker 3: bucket list dream is to sing the national anthem before
10:59
Speaker 3: and I own your game. There you go.
11:02
Speaker 2: That's a little bit from Anthony Fitzgerald and again tonight
11:05
Speaker 2: five thirty, the Ada Softball game will take place at
11:09
Speaker 2: Eisenhower Park. Now, how about accessibility at the ballpark or arena.
11:15
Speaker 1: Well.
11:15
Speaker 2: Friendly like Me is a great outlet, and we've been
11:18
Speaker 2: in contact about doing more work together. But here's our
11:21
Speaker 2: first conversation where Friendly like Me talks to me about
11:27
Speaker 2: how they are improving accessibility throughout all our stadiums and
11:32
Speaker 2: arenas across the country. You know the ADA Act, that's
11:35
Speaker 2: thirty plus years ago. We can't just rest on that
11:38
Speaker 2: from thirty years ago.
11:39
Speaker 6: We can't.
11:40
Speaker 7: We can't, and there are a lot of people, of course,
11:43
Speaker 7: you know, working to improve that, but you know, the
11:46
Speaker 7: government moves slow and enforcement doesn't exist. And that's kind
11:50
Speaker 7: of why we think that by helping to bypass that
11:55
Speaker 7: would be getting companies to want to be more accessible, right,
11:59
Speaker 7: to see that if they spend a dollar, they're going
12:01
Speaker 7: to earn five, and to start promoting that. I think
12:06
Speaker 7: Dave was saying on a game he watched last night,
12:09
Speaker 7: right right before the game, they did, you know, sixty
12:13
Speaker 7: seconds on Culture City, which has got the sensory bags
12:16
Speaker 7: and is doing such incredible work.
12:19
Speaker 6: I think that when.
12:21
Speaker 7: More businesses, when we can convince more businesses that they
12:24
Speaker 7: will make more money, it'll it'll be better than trying
12:28
Speaker 7: to work enforcement do.
12:30
Speaker 2: You guys follow renovations so like the clubs have undergone
12:33
Speaker 2: renovations at Wrigley Feel and the Yankees continue to renovate
12:38
Speaker 2: as well, and sometimes unfortunately it means taking away Ada seating,
12:42
Speaker 2: which has happened in multiple ballparks. But do you follow
12:44
Speaker 2: renovations in that kind of regard of Okay, how are
12:46
Speaker 2: they protecting Ada seating after renovations?
12:51
Speaker 6: Yeah?
12:51
Speaker 7: Actually, you know, it's interesting because because when Yankee Stadium
12:55
Speaker 7: was rebuilt in two thousand and nine, did you feel
12:58
Speaker 7: like did you feel like they lost disability seating in.
13:02
Speaker 2: That So, to be honest, I did not, and I
13:07
Speaker 2: tell you there's still a lot more. But I know
13:08
Speaker 2: over the years they've done more renovation to the stadium,
13:12
Speaker 2: which has taken away some seating, and I think they've
13:14
Speaker 2: tried to put it back elsewhere, but it has happened.
13:17
Speaker 2: It's been documented that, yes, they took away some of
13:19
Speaker 2: the seating, which which you know, all fairness, I do
13:23
Speaker 2: have a connection to the Yankee so I will say
13:26
Speaker 2: they are accessible. But when you hear that they took
13:28
Speaker 2: away a few parts, it does it's a little disheartening,
13:31
Speaker 2: you know.
13:32
Speaker 7: Yeah, Well, I think part of that is is also
13:34
Speaker 7: showing the numbers right, and if people don't even know
13:38
Speaker 7: you have accessible seating available, they may not use it.
13:41
Speaker 6: They may not you may.
13:42
Speaker 7: Not know right how important it is to you to
13:46
Speaker 7: your bottom line. And I think that's the case that
13:48
Speaker 7: we can make together, right, you know, I think part
13:51
Speaker 7: of it with the disability movement is showing up with
13:54
Speaker 7: a unified voice. You know, elements of elements of disability
14:00
Speaker 7: and accessibility movements have you know, are often pretty fragmented
14:04
Speaker 7: and and I think this is something that we can
14:06
Speaker 7: kind of all agree on. It is that we want
14:08
Speaker 7: to know before we go if we can, you know,
14:10
Speaker 7: if we can fit or get in or enjoy it.
14:14
Speaker 7: And we also want people to consider it when they're designing.
14:17
Speaker 7: I mean, what I do know about the Yankees is
14:20
Speaker 7: that they worked with the DOJ and other groups to
14:23
Speaker 7: design for fans who are disabled in that revamp, and
14:26
Speaker 7: they put together amazing They put together a really good
14:30
Speaker 7: guide for guests with disabilities that's on the website.
14:34
Speaker 6: And you know, even in that, you'll look.
14:36
Speaker 7: At the stadium and it's not clear if there are
14:39
Speaker 7: any seats that you know, with arms that come up
14:41
Speaker 7: or down. And this is an example of how accessibility
14:45
Speaker 7: is always evolving. You can't rest on the thirty year
14:48
Speaker 7: old law. Now you need to think about are there
14:52
Speaker 7: multiple ways for someone to get a ticket, voice enabled
14:55
Speaker 7: ticket machines for someone that's low vision, or you know.
15:00
Speaker 6: Putting in valley parking for people that maybe need to.
15:03
Speaker 7: Walk a little bit less, better wayfinding, especially as technology evolves.
15:08
Speaker 7: And I think that's the frustration that people with disabilities have,
15:12
Speaker 7: is that these kinds of things are taken as only
15:15
Speaker 7: when we're doing construction or only because we were told to.
15:19
Speaker 7: But it's that ongoing work that makes a place really accessible,
15:24
Speaker 7: an ongoing dissemination of information about that place to successibility
15:29
Speaker 7: is a big part of that.
15:30
Speaker 2: This section I would call Biffina and Baseball spine of
15:34
Speaker 2: Biffina and Baseball because two of my friends, Derek who
15:38
Speaker 2: has Derek's Bags and Danny Voyce have used baseball and
15:44
Speaker 2: love baseball to get through the pain of their disability
15:47
Speaker 2: and it's empowered them. We start with Danny voice, does
15:51
Speaker 2: baseball help you take your mind off the pain if you.
15:54
Speaker 8: Will in the past year or no?
16:01
Speaker 5: Yeah?
16:02
Speaker 8: Using all the metal are doing, you.
16:06
Speaker 2: Know, because they're painful to watch, but at least it's
16:08
Speaker 2: an outlet, and yeah, it is.
16:11
Speaker 8: That's why I started. That's that's why I started watching
16:15
Speaker 8: baseball a decade ago. Mister Helmie, Uh cope with what
16:22
Speaker 8: I was dealing with that at the time, And after
16:26
Speaker 8: I dealt with those issues, I was actually getting into
16:31
Speaker 8: the into the game. So I cant watching pain three
16:39
Speaker 8: watching but yeah, but in the past year or so,
16:52
Speaker 8: I haven't when it really watched a lot of Facebook,
16:57
Speaker 8: and especially this year because.
16:59
Speaker 2: Of how Danny also gets his mind off things with
17:05
Speaker 2: a lot of memes. I know, you're like a mean
17:07
Speaker 2: king over there, Danny. You love your memes, that's for sure.
17:11
Speaker 2: Yeah you can.
17:12
Speaker 8: You can make for that.
17:13
Speaker 2: And you two have some great back and forth.
17:15
Speaker 1: So that's that's awesome.
17:17
Speaker 2: And to that point, socialization going through this is so vital.
17:23
Speaker 3: Isn't it.
17:24
Speaker 8: Oh definitely, Like I mean, I.
17:27
Speaker 2: Know Liz and you and Liz have kind of saved
17:30
Speaker 2: each other from a lot, and that's a testament to
17:33
Speaker 2: your friendship. But overall, socialization has really helped you get
17:37
Speaker 2: through a lot of this.
17:40
Speaker 6: And really have.
17:42
Speaker 8: I would great spot to you is uh and and
17:50
Speaker 8: a lot of other friends of mine and my family.
17:55
Speaker 2: Of course, we haven't done a check in since his
17:58
Speaker 2: passing really in this regard, But does Max way on
18:01
Speaker 2: your mind every day because I feel like he weighs
18:03
Speaker 2: on mind a lot, even if it's subconsciously. He's always
18:06
Speaker 2: there with us, you know, the dude.
18:09
Speaker 8: You know, Yeah, I can feel him, right, I always can.
18:15
Speaker 8: I can always feel him around me, like I said here,
18:21
Speaker 8: which is a good thing. When yeah, he was he.
18:26
Speaker 2: Will always be a character. You know, he just said this.
18:30
Speaker 2: He was one of the best storytellers. I gotta say.
18:32
Speaker 6: He just told me. And the way he would facial
18:38
Speaker 6: expressions and animation.
18:41
Speaker 1: Missed that kid, And.
18:43
Speaker 2: You know, we we live on in his memory.
18:46
Speaker 1: And I think.
18:49
Speaker 2: I think what he could also do just is to advocate, right,
18:52
Speaker 2: So he was.
18:53
Speaker 9: A big advocate, LF.
18:57
Speaker 2: And I know you and I have had our parents
18:59
Speaker 2: and things God for them sort advocating, but sometimes it's
19:02
Speaker 2: up to us too.
19:03
Speaker 1: I mean when I was in the hospital.
19:05
Speaker 2: Danny, I was walking around asking for different supplies, yeah
19:10
Speaker 2: that time. And I don't know if you found yourself
19:12
Speaker 2: advocating that way when.
19:14
Speaker 8: Oh, yeah, I have thank God for my mom because
19:20
Speaker 8: she's my biggest advocator, cater. But over the years, I
19:28
Speaker 8: uh started advocating for myself uh in the hospital setting.
19:35
Speaker 8: So now I'm used to when my mom isn't there
19:41
Speaker 8: in the hospital with me, I'm used to speaking up
19:45
Speaker 8: for myself and saying, Hey, I need this, or Hey,
19:50
Speaker 8: what's going on with whatever? What are we doing about
19:56
Speaker 8: AB and C and all that.
19:58
Speaker 2: I mean, the only way to have health is when
20:02
Speaker 2: you're involved in your own help, right.
20:03
Speaker 1: I think we've both been learning that a way.
20:07
Speaker 2: And if I could just say, I feel like some
20:11
Speaker 2: people are just letting the doctors tell them what to do.
20:15
Speaker 2: I hate to say it that way, but it just
20:16
Speaker 2: seems like they let them guide, which isn't bad, but
20:20
Speaker 2: sometimes you can ask the question. It's not bad to
20:22
Speaker 2: ask questions.
20:23
Speaker 8: Of course, we should listen to hour doctors and nurses,
20:30
Speaker 8: no nurses, because they are the ones that really take
20:33
Speaker 8: care of them. But at the same time, we know
20:40
Speaker 8: our bodies better than anyone else, so we need to
20:45
Speaker 8: speak speak up when we know there is an issue.
20:50
Speaker 2: Derek, I gotta go back to baseball though, because obviously
20:53
Speaker 2: it's your sport, it's worked out you through and it's
20:58
Speaker 2: there's such a baseball community out there.
21:00
Speaker 4: How does that help you get through something like this.
21:04
Speaker 9: Oh, it's all you can figure your step further. Baseball
21:09
Speaker 9: it has always.
21:12
Speaker 5: Gotten me through difficult things through my life, even since I.
21:19
Speaker 6: Was okay, okay.
21:23
Speaker 5: It whether you go to a game or you're watching
21:29
Speaker 5: it on TV or listening to it on the radio,
21:32
Speaker 5: for that now two and a half to two hours
21:38
Speaker 5: forty five minutes, you don't You could just watch, listen, watch,
21:45
Speaker 5: or listen to a game and you don't have to
21:48
Speaker 5: you don't have to worry. You could just forget everything
21:53
Speaker 5: that is bothering you for that for those two and
21:56
Speaker 5: a half hours.
21:58
Speaker 9: It is great. It's definitely great.
22:01
Speaker 2: You know that that we're able to bring a unique
22:04
Speaker 2: perspective to the REPBX community if you will and whatnot
22:08
Speaker 2: because as adaptive athletes or people disabilities, I feel like
22:12
Speaker 2: that brings a different perspective to these communities. So I
22:15
Speaker 2: think it's pretty cool to be able to blend your
22:17
Speaker 2: adaptability and your love of baseball and sports into one.
22:20
Speaker 6: Wouldn't you say?
22:22
Speaker 9: I agree? I I know.
22:26
Speaker 5: I sometimes they think twice about posting on Twitter.
22:38
Speaker 9: About like let's go Yankee, say let's go Yankees.
22:44
Speaker 5: On a tweet or just sharing that like if I'm
22:49
Speaker 5: at a Yankee game or something like that. But it's yeah,
22:54
Speaker 5: it's it's great to blind to blend both things well because.
22:58
Speaker 2: When you post about what you're going through right then
23:01
Speaker 2: that educates people who don't have a disability.
23:05
Speaker 10: Oh wow, okay, we.
23:06
Speaker 2: Can learn from Derek and that is such a powerful
23:08
Speaker 2: That's the best part of the platform is to be
23:10
Speaker 2: able to educate through our pages.
23:13
Speaker 5: Oh oh, I agree with you, and I know I haven't.
23:21
Speaker 9: I know I haven't.
23:24
Speaker 5: Spoken about spy spin and.
23:29
Speaker 9: And having and having it and what it's like to
23:37
Speaker 9: what's like day to day to have it.
23:40
Speaker 5: Spin and BEA awareness month is in.
23:46
Speaker 6: October, so.
23:51
Speaker 5: I use I used to be like more a private person,
23:57
Speaker 5: but I do.
23:59
Speaker 9: Plan on sharing more of what it's like.
24:06
Speaker 5: Personally to go what it's like day to day personally
24:11
Speaker 5: two have spine, what it's like to have spine befal uh,
24:18
Speaker 5: stuff like that, and going back to what I was
24:23
Speaker 5: dealing starting to deal with back in December.
24:27
Speaker 9: I have shared that a little bit as well, because
24:33
Speaker 9: I think.
24:38
Speaker 5: Not to sound full of my full of myself, but
24:41
Speaker 5: uh there had I have posted on Twitter saying like, oh,
24:45
Speaker 5: please be pro health because I don't want anybody going
24:53
Speaker 5: through what I went through, because I think like for
25:01
Speaker 5: a while I was beating myself up in the hospital
25:07
Speaker 5: and then in nursing home, and then when I got
25:11
Speaker 5: back home here, I was beating myself up because uh,
25:16
Speaker 5: the wound that I had on my heel on that
25:21
Speaker 5: last here that the plushing bacteria got in somehow. If
25:29
Speaker 5: I got that treated soon, I feel like if I
25:32
Speaker 5: got that treated sooner, I wouldn't be going through what
25:37
Speaker 5: I'm going through. What I went through and what I'm
25:40
Speaker 5: still going through by At the same time, I feel
25:43
Speaker 5: like I should in a way, if I have the
25:47
Speaker 5: platform that I have on Twitter and through the business,
25:51
Speaker 5: I have to like warm like to warn people and
25:56
Speaker 5: to kind of plead with people, take care of your
26:00
Speaker 5: take care of yourselves, because I don't want people to
26:04
Speaker 5: go through what I've gone through.
26:08
Speaker 2: And if I.
26:10
Speaker 5: Could just add it's I saw yesterday, I forget the
26:14
Speaker 5: golfer's name.
26:15
Speaker 9: I think the guy's name Jean Ram.
26:17
Speaker 5: I saw that he had to pull out of the
26:19
Speaker 5: US Open, I think because he had an infected foot,
26:24
Speaker 5: and then like right away I saw that.
26:29
Speaker 9: Once I saw that, I felt like I needed to
26:33
Speaker 9: say something like.
26:34
Speaker 5: Oh, please be pro health and just share a little
26:38
Speaker 5: bit of what I went through.
26:40
Speaker 2: Also wanted to play this for You with Jacob Barras.
26:44
Speaker 2: Also wanted to air this for eighty eight a Jacob
26:47
Speaker 2: Bereinger talking about not only being really an influencer in
26:51
Speaker 2: the REPBX community, but also how he's adapted to do
26:55
Speaker 2: his own challenges in life. Jacob, I see that you
26:57
Speaker 2: have the Twitter and know Jacob Beak, so you like
27:02
Speaker 2: to talk. I could tell would you ever do a podcast?
27:04
Speaker 2: I mean, would you ever host one? Would you ever
27:06
Speaker 2: want to incorporate your fan base through that as well?
27:10
Speaker 11: Well, you know Jacob speaks it as a funny story
27:13
Speaker 11: behind it. But as far as podcasting, I know inside
27:16
Speaker 11: the Diamonds, they they've been kicking around the ideal idea
27:19
Speaker 11: of putting out a podcast a couple times a week,
27:21
Speaker 11: and I told them like, I'm not sure if I
27:23
Speaker 11: would host it, but I'd be happy to come on
27:24
Speaker 11: and join and give some you know, an analyst perspective
27:28
Speaker 11: or whatever, or a Yankee fan's perspective on things. I'm
27:31
Speaker 11: always happy to hop one and do that. The handle
27:34
Speaker 11: actually came from me being a public speaker, but just
27:37
Speaker 11: through my cancer survivorship story, and I've done a lot
27:41
Speaker 11: of stuff with that, so just getting in front of
27:43
Speaker 11: people telling my story, supporting different charity organizations. So whenever
27:48
Speaker 11: I first started my Twitter account, it wasn't even going
27:50
Speaker 11: to be a Yankee account. It was about me and
27:53
Speaker 11: my public speaking and the PM was because it was
27:57
Speaker 11: my job title at the time as a product man.
28:00
Speaker 11: But I've kept it because now I just keep it
28:02
Speaker 11: because I'm an insomniac. So it's just stuck throughout all
28:05
Speaker 11: that time.
28:06
Speaker 2: Well, tell us about that story, because obviously maybe people
28:09
Speaker 2: might glance at your profile and see that, but maybe
28:12
Speaker 2: they don't know the whole story.
28:13
Speaker 1: So tell us about it.
28:14
Speaker 2: If you don't mind.
28:15
Speaker 1: Are you talking about the case?
28:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I've had family members with I mean,
28:21
Speaker 2: we've all had been impacted. But here you are surviving,
28:24
Speaker 2: and tell us about your survival story.
28:26
Speaker 11: Yeah, you know, I could go into this for a
28:28
Speaker 11: long time. So I'll give you the I'll give you
28:30
Speaker 11: the cliff notes version. But well, so I'm going to
28:33
Speaker 11: be sixteen years out coming out in May. So I
28:36
Speaker 11: was eleven years old in two thousand and seven. I
28:40
Speaker 11: was diagnosed on Halloween of that year. Was stage four
28:43
Speaker 11: Burket's lamphoma. So it was an extremely rare form of
28:49
Speaker 11: the disease, and you know, the prospects weren't good. The
28:53
Speaker 11: prognosis wasn't very good, especially for me. So they did
28:56
Speaker 11: a bit of an experimental treatment, gave me some experimental
28:58
Speaker 11: drugs with a hit it's hard as they could, and
29:01
Speaker 11: then by May of two.
29:03
Speaker 1: Thousand and eight, I was cancer free.
29:07
Speaker 11: And just to avoid going into all the gory, crazy
29:11
Speaker 11: details of all that, I've always thought that, you know,
29:15
Speaker 11: you think of a cancer diagnosis and you think of
29:17
Speaker 11: something bad, you think of it as being a curse.
29:20
Speaker 1: You know why am I cursed with this? Well, I had.
29:23
Speaker 11: Never thought of it that way, because at eleven years old,
29:26
Speaker 11: I was young enough to think that, hey, you know,
29:28
Speaker 11: I'm going to be okay, but old enough to know
29:30
Speaker 11: what was going on. And for me, I just I
29:35
Speaker 11: never thought I was a curse. Now, at this stage
29:38
Speaker 11: in my life, I just think it was kind of
29:40
Speaker 11: a blessing because without me going through that experience, I
29:43
Speaker 11: wouldn't have met the people I have been able to
29:46
Speaker 11: have a platform to talk about my experience. I wouldn't
29:50
Speaker 11: have the opportunity to be so connected with these charities
29:52
Speaker 11: that I'm involved with and have.
29:55
Speaker 1: The perspectives that I have.
29:57
Speaker 11: So, you know, because whenever I was I was going
30:03
Speaker 11: through it, I came out. But there's still the ancillary
30:05
Speaker 11: effects of treatment, you know. I mean, now that I'm
30:07
Speaker 11: out of treatment, I have an immune system disorder that
30:10
Speaker 11: I have to, you know, basically give myself an artificial
30:13
Speaker 11: I mean globwin infusion every four weeks or so, just
30:17
Speaker 11: so I don't have to live in a bubble like
30:18
Speaker 11: a bubble boy.
30:19
Speaker 1: But it's it's just adapting, right, I mean, it's just adapting.
30:25
Speaker 2: I have that feature called adapting with alex Care because personally,
30:30
Speaker 2: I was born with one leg and I never felt
30:33
Speaker 2: any effects of that. And I just think, you know,
30:35
Speaker 2: we got to hear stories like yours to inspire others that, hey,
30:37
Speaker 2: you know what, they can get through it too. Wouldn't
30:40
Speaker 2: you agree like that that's why you did public speaking.
30:42
Speaker 11: I'm sure, yeah, you know that that was really a
30:45
Speaker 11: big part of it, And a lot of that was
30:47
Speaker 11: just about connecting with people with people. I mean, it's
30:50
Speaker 11: funny because whenever you have a disability, or if you
30:53
Speaker 11: have a cancer diagnosis, you kind of form your own
30:56
Speaker 11: tight knit group with people that are like you, and
30:59
Speaker 11: it was fun. It was just great to hear their
31:02
Speaker 11: hear their stories too, because I would always have other
31:04
Speaker 11: people speaking. We would kind of have a whole big
31:08
Speaker 11: seminar or something, and other people would be speaking and
31:10
Speaker 11: learning from their experiences too, because no experience.
31:12
Speaker 1: Is the same.
31:14
Speaker 11: Uh yeah, So it's it's always great to be able
31:17
Speaker 11: to share that perspective, connect with people and really motivate
31:22
Speaker 11: people to try and make a difference, because that's one
31:24
Speaker 11: thing about cancer.
31:25
Speaker 1: It affects everybody.
31:26
Speaker 11: Everybody has either had it or know somebody that has its,
31:30
Speaker 11: related to somebody that has it, and it's, uh, you know,
31:34
Speaker 11: something that people definitely want to.
31:36
Speaker 1: Give a positive impact for.
31:38
Speaker 11: So if I can inspire people, if I can just
31:41
Speaker 11: motivate them to be a better version of themselves, they
31:44
Speaker 11: I've done my job and I'm happy with that.
31:47
Speaker 2: Even Mike Vikara, who we just talked to of the
31:49
Speaker 2: New York Post, has had to adapt to having one leg.
31:52
Speaker 1: Up on sports all right.
31:55
Speaker 2: Well, one of my one of our one of my
31:57
Speaker 2: friends and colleagues who helps me do the show every week,
32:01
Speaker 2: Lou Turminello, actually brought this to my attention that I
32:03
Speaker 2: researched it. This is also an adaptability podcast because you've
32:07
Speaker 2: had to adapt to something that makes you have one
32:11
Speaker 2: leg up on sports. See it's all synchronistic here, Mike,
32:14
Speaker 2: and I know you've got public with it better. Yeah,
32:17
Speaker 2: share your story with me about how you have one
32:21
Speaker 2: leg and you had an amputation and then you're back
32:23
Speaker 2: on the golf course.
32:24
Speaker 1: Tell us your story a little bit.
32:26
Speaker 10: Yeah, happy to do that, Alex. Look, I I play
32:30
Speaker 10: played basketball most of my life. Sprained my ankle, both ankles,
32:34
Speaker 10: probably thirty forty times my day. There was those of things,
32:37
Speaker 10: going to rehab or going to you know, you know,
32:39
Speaker 10: physical therapy or anything. You know, you just there's MICEI
32:43
Speaker 10: on it and probably played earlier than you shoul because
32:45
Speaker 10: you wanted to play, and that helped waken it. Over time,
32:49
Speaker 10: I developed hype two diabetes, which you know makes your
32:51
Speaker 10: feet vulnerable. That didn't help, and then about two years
32:55
Speaker 10: ago I started to get sunuceptible to infections not ultimately
33:00
Speaker 10: would cause my ankle to develop a condition called charco,
33:04
Speaker 10: which basically along the short is that your ankle disappears,
33:08
Speaker 10: your your bone disintegrates, your ligatings go away, you know,
33:11
Speaker 10: and it can be reversed if he catched early enough.
33:13
Speaker 10: But but, but but that didn't happen with me. Basically,
33:16
Speaker 10: I had I had, I had no ankle on my
33:17
Speaker 10: left foot, and you know, I tried scraping around on
33:23
Speaker 10: very heavy walking boots. It was not comfortable. And ultimately,
33:27
Speaker 10: my pediet just put it in my mind that this
33:29
Speaker 10: might be somebody that I wanted to do down the road.
33:31
Speaker 10: And then that decision was made for me because I
33:33
Speaker 10: got a really bad infection in that leg August twenty
33:36
Speaker 10: twenty two, so I had it removed in August twenty two.
33:42
Speaker 10: The next day, my doctor said, you know what what
33:44
Speaker 10: what's what's what's what's your one goal? What do you
33:46
Speaker 10: want to what do you want to focus on your recovery?
33:48
Speaker 10: I said, I'd like to I like to play golf again.
33:49
Speaker 10: He said, I didn't you probably do that by the
33:51
Speaker 10: let's say.
33:51
Speaker 3: Next June.
33:53
Speaker 10: And sure enough, after you know, spending a lot of
33:55
Speaker 10: time with some wonderful people at Kessler Rehabilitation Center, I
34:00
Speaker 10: uh in North Jersey, I uh, you know a year later, uh,
34:05
Speaker 10: in June, I went out and I shot I played
34:08
Speaker 10: nine holes, maybe take twenty shots, and it was pretty
34:11
Speaker 10: glorious and uh and look, I'm up and around now.
34:14
Speaker 10: I'm able to pretty much have my life back to
34:16
Speaker 10: where it was, probably in a better spot than it
34:18
Speaker 10: was the last couple of years before the amputation. I
34:21
Speaker 10: love talking about it to people who are maybe in
34:25
Speaker 10: the position where they might have to consider it. I'm
34:28
Speaker 10: very open to talking to people who just are curious
34:30
Speaker 10: about it, are fascinated by it. Certainly, you know, I'm
34:34
Speaker 10: interested in our discussion here because, you know, because you've
34:39
Speaker 10: been able to have to to to succeed and prosper
34:42
Speaker 10: uh with with with the challenges you were given. So
34:46
Speaker 10: it's look, I mean, it's I mean, I don't want
34:49
Speaker 10: to speak for you, but I guess if you asked me,
34:51
Speaker 10: yes or no, would you like to have two legs?
34:52
Speaker 10: I probably answered yes because it's just you know, it's
34:55
Speaker 10: it's it's uh, I don't know, I just would, But
34:59
Speaker 10: you know, I've I've also learned that this isn't so
35:02
Speaker 10: bad either.
35:02
Speaker 5: I can get around.
35:03
Speaker 10: I can figure things out.
35:05
Speaker 3: You know.
35:05
Speaker 10: If I'm not gonna ever run that ten k that
35:08
Speaker 10: I never was going to run anyway, so I'll live
35:10
Speaker 10: with that. But I can play golf. I can you
35:12
Speaker 10: walk into press boxes again. I can do you know
35:15
Speaker 10: again on my life back for the most part.
35:17
Speaker 2: Next, well, you know, we gotta we gotta link up
35:19
Speaker 2: at a game. Tell me what games you're going to,
35:21
Speaker 2: and I'd love to meet up because this would be
35:23
Speaker 2: a great to talk with you in person too. And
35:26
Speaker 2: I'll teach you a roll of blade.
35:27
Speaker 9: How about that?
35:27
Speaker 1: That would be pretty cool.
35:30
Speaker 2: You mentioned prosthetics, by the way, so tell us about
35:32
Speaker 2: that where you fitted for The fitting process is always
35:35
Speaker 2: kind of weird because I got to do the casting
35:36
Speaker 2: and all that and everything. Tell us about the process
35:39
Speaker 2: for getting the prosthetic.
35:40
Speaker 10: Yeah, I mean so right right there, toward the end
35:42
Speaker 10: of my first stay in rehab, which was nineteen days long,
35:46
Speaker 10: they fit me for a temporary prosthetic, which is what
35:50
Speaker 10: I was going to learn to walk on. And I
35:53
Speaker 10: got that about six weeks later. It was grosser a
35:57
Speaker 10: couple of first and I couldn't take more than three
36:00
Speaker 10: of the time. At first, I feeling I was gonna
36:02
Speaker 10: go over sideways. But you know, you adjust, You learn
36:07
Speaker 10: after you first have your leg amputated, your leg they need,
36:10
Speaker 10: they need your stump to shrink to be able to
36:13
Speaker 10: fit into a permanent prosthetic, and that's what happened to
36:16
Speaker 10: happen to me. I was on the temporary one for
36:20
Speaker 10: a battle about nine ten months, and once the residual
36:26
Speaker 10: limb got to the size they figured it would be
36:28
Speaker 10: the standard size for the rest of my life. I
36:31
Speaker 10: got fitted for a permanent one. This one has kind
36:34
Speaker 10: of an electronic ankle, so my gate's a little more natural.
36:37
Speaker 10: And yeah, I've had that since then. Efvecta on Sunday.
36:42
Speaker 10: It'll be a year that I have.
36:43
Speaker 2: The happy anniversary, right so, and you're back on the
36:48
Speaker 2: golf course. I know that's a huge deal for you
36:50
Speaker 2: as well.
36:51
Speaker 3: It is luck.
36:52
Speaker 10: I mean, I wasn't that good to begin with at
36:55
Speaker 10: my peak when I was, you know, in my early forties,
36:57
Speaker 10: maybe I was a twelve or thirteen. You know, by
37:00
Speaker 10: the time I was done, it was probably a twenty.
37:02
Speaker 3: Now.
37:02
Speaker 10: Of course, I don't care what handicaps. I'm not going
37:04
Speaker 10: into the sand trap, I'm not going onto elevated greens,
37:07
Speaker 10: I'm not going on to elevated t's. I'm just gonna
37:09
Speaker 10: try it to the ball and have a good day
37:10
Speaker 10: with my friends. I mean, I mean, I don't care
37:13
Speaker 10: my scores. I just care that to keep the ball
37:14
Speaker 10: in the air. And the fact of the matter is
37:16
Speaker 10: that you know, in a lot of ways, believe or not,
37:18
Speaker 10: I want to hurt the ball nearly as far as
37:20
Speaker 10: I used to do, but I had it straight as
37:22
Speaker 10: a pin. You know where it's going, and you know
37:26
Speaker 10: every time that I end up there, I can knock
37:29
Speaker 10: the ball forward one hundred and forty hundred and sixty
37:30
Speaker 10: yards till they take the clubs out of my hands.
37:35
Speaker 2: Speaking of amputees, let's catch up with Mary Johnson. She
37:38
Speaker 2: was on just not too long ago, and we talked
37:41
Speaker 2: about her running career as an amputee.
37:45
Speaker 8: You've been a.
37:45
Speaker 2: Running your whole life, and that's what I want to
37:46
Speaker 2: talk about, because you've ever been running, and now since
37:50
Speaker 2: you've lost your leg, you contind to run. So tell
37:52
Speaker 2: us about the adaptation running with two versus the one.
37:55
Speaker 2: And when you did lose a leg, where you were
37:57
Speaker 2: you wouldn't be able to run again type of thing.
38:01
Speaker 12: Sure, So when I woke up, I you know, I
38:05
Speaker 12: had no leg. I also lost half of my hand
38:08
Speaker 12: and it took me a few months to even be
38:11
Speaker 12: able to walk again. And the doctors showed me that
38:15
Speaker 12: I wouldn't run, which was not an acceptable answer for me.
38:20
Speaker 12: I'm not someone who takes a no. I just knew
38:24
Speaker 12: that wasn't.
38:24
Speaker 6: The right answer.
38:25
Speaker 12: So I went out right away to find a way
38:30
Speaker 12: that I could run because I knew I was going
38:33
Speaker 12: to run again. And I think that's true really about
38:37
Speaker 12: anything in life. Anyone who's listening to this. If you
38:40
Speaker 12: want to run a half marathon, you can do it, anyone.
38:44
Speaker 12: If you set your mind to do something, you can
38:46
Speaker 12: do it. And so I set my mind to that
38:49
Speaker 12: I was going to run. I didn't know I was
38:52
Speaker 12: going to run a half marathon or a marathon one day,
38:55
Speaker 12: but and.
38:57
Speaker 2: You did run a marathon.
38:57
Speaker 6: Tell us about that experience. Not yet signed up for
39:00
Speaker 6: this November. That'll be my first one here, and we're.
39:03
Speaker 2: Gonna have to have you back home. Maybe even cover
39:05
Speaker 2: on the I mean on the course or something like that.
39:08
Speaker 2: That'd be cool to cover your journey on the marathon course.
39:12
Speaker 2: That would be pretty fun. We'll have to go to
39:13
Speaker 2: talk about that off air, but on the air, tell
39:16
Speaker 2: us about how you did lose your like because I
39:18
Speaker 2: did post our picture from Fort Washington, we got a
39:21
Speaker 2: lot of good reactions to tell people who might have
39:23
Speaker 2: seen the picture how you lost your leg if you
39:26
Speaker 2: don't mind.
39:28
Speaker 12: Sure, I was a pedestrian walking and I got it
39:33
Speaker 12: by a train, So it was a traumatic accident. A
39:38
Speaker 12: lot of my friends were amputees. Some might be from cancer,
39:40
Speaker 12: some might be congenital they're born that way. Some people
39:44
Speaker 12: are accidents, car accidents, motorcycles, trains. So my accident happened
39:48
Speaker 12: when I was twenty three years old, which makes it
39:51
Speaker 12: a little bit harder to learn how to walk and
39:53
Speaker 12: run when you're already an adult. Everything's easier when you're
39:58
Speaker 12: a kid to learn. But just because something is harder
40:01
Speaker 12: doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. And so I took
40:05
Speaker 12: on the challenge of learning how to run, and even
40:09
Speaker 12: I hurt my head in the accident, I had a
40:11
Speaker 12: traumatic brain injury, but I took on the challenge of
40:14
Speaker 12: going back to school because I wanted to just keep
40:17
Speaker 12: making myself stronger.
40:19
Speaker 2: Not only did you go back to school, you went
40:21
Speaker 2: to Saint John's University Law School. Now we'll get into
40:24
Speaker 2: that in a minute, because I love Saint John's campus,
40:26
Speaker 2: and that's where it is right that it's on the campus.
40:28
Speaker 2: Saint John's great place in Utopia, Queen's but nadjustin now
40:32
Speaker 2: that going back to school and how accepting were you
40:35
Speaker 2: by your peers after all that?
40:37
Speaker 1: Were they just so supportive and whatnot?
40:40
Speaker 5: Uh?
40:41
Speaker 12: Yes, actually my first but I did first.
40:48
Speaker 6: I have my background. Ber was before I went back
40:51
Speaker 6: to school.
40:51
Speaker 12: I went back to teaching, and behind me is a
40:53
Speaker 12: little picture of my classroom.
40:55
Speaker 6: I was teaching fifth grade.
40:57
Speaker 12: And that is the best because kids won't lie to
41:01
Speaker 12: you if they ask you what's up, and they don't
41:04
Speaker 12: mean any harm when you just look different. And it
41:09
Speaker 12: is kind of very therapeutic to be able to explain, yes,
41:13
Speaker 12: my leg is different, but isn't it cool that I
41:16
Speaker 12: use this prosthetic leg and it helps me to walk
41:18
Speaker 12: and it helps me to run, and so that.
41:23
Speaker 2: I've gone through many prosthetics, and of course the prosthetic
41:26
Speaker 2: drew me all because I've gone through many of them
41:28
Speaker 2: as a kid, not so much of an adult because the
41:31
Speaker 2: rollblade just kind of sufficed, you know. That was That's
41:34
Speaker 2: the way I've been since eight years old, role playing around.
41:36
Speaker 2: But for you, how was the fitting? Was it uncomfortable
41:39
Speaker 2: at times? How many did you go through to get
41:41
Speaker 2: it right for your running? For your what do you
41:43
Speaker 2: have different prosthetics.
41:47
Speaker 12: I have one for walking and one for running. I'm
41:50
Speaker 12: thinking a lot every time I would gain or lose
41:55
Speaker 12: a little bit of weight or things would change, a
41:58
Speaker 12: lot of fitting to get.
42:01
Speaker 6: To get things.
42:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so.
42:03
Speaker 2: Now you're teaching that that is just so cool. And
42:05
Speaker 2: you went to you went to law school. Tell us
42:07
Speaker 2: about that experience as well.
42:09
Speaker 6: I'm gonna graduate in a few weeks, So that's cool. Congratulations,
42:15
Speaker 6: Thank you.
42:16
Speaker 12: It's been difficult, but the Saint John's community is really fantastic.
42:22
Speaker 12: There were a lot of New Yorkers here, there's.
42:23
Speaker 6: A lot of locals and I'm a New Yorker born.
42:27
Speaker 12: And raised, so it's just it's a really strong community.
42:33
Speaker 2: And last, but not least, it is the Olympics. So
42:35
Speaker 2: why not talk with lou Terminello about what he thinks
42:39
Speaker 2: of the Paralympics as well as where people with disabilities
42:42
Speaker 2: and sports can continue to grow.
42:45
Speaker 9: Lude.
42:45
Speaker 2: Thanks for your insight on all of this, and uh,
42:49
Speaker 2: you know, it is a DA anniversary day tomorrow and
42:52
Speaker 2: eighty eight week this week. Shout out to Jim Abbott,
42:55
Speaker 2: who of course threw that no hitter with one arm.
42:58
Speaker 2: And you know, I I often hope more people with disabilities.
43:01
Speaker 2: I know the guy in Seattle had played one arm
43:05
Speaker 2: as well. I mean, there's there's some strategy made, but
43:08
Speaker 2: maybe we can get more pro athletes who have a
43:11
Speaker 2: disability in the mix.
43:12
Speaker 1: What do you think.
43:13
Speaker 13: Well, I think with obviously technology and equipment to help
43:24
Speaker 13: athletes who have say an arm that's not as developed
43:30
Speaker 13: that they're born with, you know, no hand or things
43:34
Speaker 13: like that, I think you'll see more handicapped type athletes,
43:39
Speaker 13: disabled athletes in Major League Baseball. I will, And not
43:43
Speaker 13: that I would give him an advantage, it would just
43:45
Speaker 13: be part of you know, just like just like somebody
43:48
Speaker 13: wears a helmet, just like somebody who gets his teeth
43:52
Speaker 13: mission and some guys wear a mouth broughts and guys don't.
43:55
Speaker 1: So I think you're gonna see more.
43:56
Speaker 13: You could see more of that in the future, and
43:59
Speaker 13: that's great.
44:04
Speaker 3: Now.
44:05
Speaker 2: I mentioned Jim Abbott to lou Terminelo, and I remember
44:08
Speaker 2: I got to catch up with McQueen's college. So a
44:11
Speaker 2: little bonus for you here on the Alex Garrett podcast
44:14
Speaker 2: Network AD eight Day talking with Jim Abbott, the manager
44:17
Speaker 2: of the new hitter for the Yankees, about throwing the
44:21
Speaker 2: no hitter with yes, just one.
44:23
Speaker 4: R yes about it really quickly, and how you overcame
44:27
Speaker 4: university and became a move.
44:28
Speaker 14: Food pitcher and lay league pat Well, I grew up differently.
44:31
Speaker 14: I grew up in flipfishing, and somebody say that was adversity.
44:35
Speaker 1: I grew up missing my right hand, but you know,
44:37
Speaker 1: I had great people around.
44:38
Speaker 3: Me who hoped me.
44:39
Speaker 14: Learn how to play, and ultimately I played in the
44:41
Speaker 14: Major League.
44:42
Speaker 1: And of course, no, forget the no hitter and stuff
44:44
Speaker 1: like that really quick, queen. I'm sure people still talking.
44:47
Speaker 5: They do.
44:48
Speaker 1: It's amazing.
44:48
Speaker 14: You know, it's just a game that came out of
44:50
Speaker 14: the blue. September fourth, nineteen ninety three. He went out
44:53
Speaker 14: there a Yankee Stadium and in nine innings, twenty seven
44:56
Speaker 14: outs later, they didn't have a hit.
44:58
Speaker 2: It changed your life. A sound c for everything, as
45:01
Speaker 2: one Ryan Pagano might say, Thanks for listening today's special
45:05
Speaker 2: on the Americans with Disabilities Act turning thirty four. We'll
45:08
Speaker 2: have more to come on the Alex Garrett Podcast Network.