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How Hollis Peirce Has One Leg Up For Canadians With Disabilities 3-11-25 Powered By Podmatch · OneLegUpAlex Media

0:01
Speaker 1: Here's your host, Alex Jerry.
0:07
Speaker 2: All Right, well, continuing sort of the conversation that we
0:10
Speaker 2: did last week about digestive diseases and making sure people
0:15
Speaker 2: of all kinds of disability have the right healthcare coverage. Well,
0:20
Speaker 2: my next guest is someone who is kicking ass with
0:24
Speaker 2: condeneral muscular dystrophy. Hollis Pierce, a pod match connection. Thanks
0:29
Speaker 2: for joining me today.
0:30
Speaker 1: Allis, did you have me? Alice?
0:33
Speaker 2: So tell us your story. You're on pod match, but
0:35
Speaker 2: more importantly, I see you got a master's degree. You're
0:38
Speaker 2: you're really out there in the world. Tell us your
0:40
Speaker 2: story though for those who may not know about you
0:42
Speaker 2: on the one like a networked today.
0:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I, as you said, I have a master's well,
0:50
Speaker 1: tangential musculardicity, which is a more lesser known form of moscularicity,
0:59
Speaker 1: and mine has been present since birth. I was diagnosed.
1:05
Speaker 1: That's six months old. I've never lost a day in
1:10
Speaker 1: my life. But you know, I still, as you say,
1:15
Speaker 1: I've achieved many things such as earned myself a master's
1:22
Speaker 1: degree in history at Carlton University, and now I'm a
1:28
Speaker 1: podcaster and of a speech here on top of it.
1:36
Speaker 2: So I see you're Canadian and I'm kind of curious
1:39
Speaker 2: to know how the Canadian advocacy works compared to the US.
1:42
Speaker 2: I mean, it's gotta be a kind of different system
1:44
Speaker 2: the way you can get bills passed to help those
1:47
Speaker 2: disabilities in Canada in the US, or is it pretty similar?
1:53
Speaker 1: I mean it's it's similar in some ways, it's different
1:55
Speaker 1: in others. For instance, you know, you in the United States,
2:03
Speaker 1: disabled individuals have Medicaid to help them pay the bill. Uh.
2:09
Speaker 1: And here in Ontario. I live in Ottawa, Ontario, the
2:13
Speaker 1: capital city of Canada.
2:15
Speaker 2: Nothing big there, just happened to have an election, you know,
2:18
Speaker 2: just yesterday be decided, right, Yeah, actually I was.
2:22
Speaker 1: I'm a member of the Liberal Party and I was
2:25
Speaker 1: at their convention last night and our new leader and
2:30
Speaker 1: new UH prime minister was elected.
2:33
Speaker 2: And Matt Carney off the right, you know, off topic
2:37
Speaker 2: here a little bit. But he seems to be sort
2:39
Speaker 2: of what what more politicians are which are businessman?
2:42
Speaker 3: Right?
2:42
Speaker 2: So he's coming in with that banking background, so it's
2:45
Speaker 2: very interesting. He's not he's not your average politician, it
2:48
Speaker 2: seems like, right, no, But.
2:50
Speaker 1: I mean, in in other ways, a lot of politicians
2:54
Speaker 1: here do come from other bash rounds, and we feel
3:01
Speaker 1: that Mark Charney is going to be a good leader
3:06
Speaker 1: because he has experience in the private sector as well
3:12
Speaker 1: as now the public sector, and so he can dive
3:15
Speaker 1: the country pass and through this these rough economic times.
3:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a little wild what's going on between our countries.
3:25
Speaker 2: But you know, I'm very intrigued because you got your
3:28
Speaker 2: master's degree in history and my mom just got her
3:30
Speaker 2: master's in public history last year. So I feel like,
3:33
Speaker 2: oht a connection here. But tell us about schooling if
3:37
Speaker 2: you don't mind with the general muscular distrophe from you know,
3:41
Speaker 2: when you can remember to now, has it been very
3:44
Speaker 2: accommodating to you over the years I've been to getting
3:47
Speaker 2: your masters.
3:48
Speaker 1: You know what, alex Uh, that's a combinations with me.
3:55
Speaker 1: Has I've sure had to be a driving force in
4:01
Speaker 1: my early years. For instance, in one of my elementary
4:05
Speaker 1: schools that they wanted to accept my sister, but they
4:13
Speaker 1: didn't want to accept me because they didn't want to
4:17
Speaker 1: hire an educational assistant to help me take notes and
4:22
Speaker 1: things like that, go to the bathroom, things like that,
4:26
Speaker 1: and so instead of this saying Okay, you know, we'll
4:33
Speaker 1: try another school, my mom was like, no, you're gonna
4:37
Speaker 1: take him, and I'm going to be his assistant until
4:41
Speaker 1: you hire him as an assistant. And and so my
4:46
Speaker 1: mom has often been a you know, Mama bear type.
4:52
Speaker 2: Well, my mom and I just were in DC doing
4:54
Speaker 2: advocacy work. I'm mad with those digestive diseases. So my
4:57
Speaker 2: mom they call her the Encyclopedia my health. Like, from
5:02
Speaker 2: from the day I was born to now, she's really
5:05
Speaker 2: been the one always by my side, and my dad too,
5:07
Speaker 2: But my mom's been in the operating room, she's been there,
5:10
Speaker 2: you know. So I think we can we can have
5:13
Speaker 2: that come out. Our moms are very involved with our
5:16
Speaker 2: health and they need to be.
5:17
Speaker 1: Absolutely moms are the best. Yeah, all right.
5:21
Speaker 2: I want to ask you about advocacy because here in
5:23
Speaker 2: the States we're about to have a funding situation where
5:26
Speaker 2: we might have a government shutdown again, right, and that
5:29
Speaker 2: impacts people with disabilities. And I want to know from
5:32
Speaker 2: your perspective up there in Ottawa and in Canada when
5:36
Speaker 2: there's a government shutdown possibility, are the funds as affected
5:41
Speaker 2: as they are in the United States.
5:43
Speaker 1: Uh? No, they're not as effected here because health share
5:49
Speaker 1: here is a published thing and we have free health
5:57
Speaker 1: share essentially, Uh, it's always available. And what is more
6:06
Speaker 1: difficult is here in Ontario because health share here is
6:14
Speaker 1: mainly rooted in a provincial center, and so Ontario has
6:24
Speaker 1: what they can.
6:25
Speaker 2: That's true, Canada is made up a province, is not
6:28
Speaker 2: so much. The states that you guys are all province based.
6:31
Speaker 1: Right, exactly exactly, and health and education are ran by
6:35
Speaker 1: the provinces. And so in Ontario we have what's called
6:41
Speaker 1: the Ontario Disabilities Support Program, and so they assist you
6:47
Speaker 1: in helping you to pay for major medical equipment stuff
6:52
Speaker 1: as your real share, like for instance, they pay for
6:56
Speaker 1: seventy of my electric share three five years. And but
7:05
Speaker 1: the issue is that, for instance, I have a fare
7:10
Speaker 1: that uses hydraulists to tilt back and forth. But when
7:15
Speaker 1: you have that complex of it chair, they say, okay,
7:19
Speaker 1: well we'll pay for it, but you mean to get
7:22
Speaker 1: it from this specific vendor, and you know, and when
7:28
Speaker 1: that specific vendor has to deal with so many different people,
7:35
Speaker 1: it causes wait times to be forever, and it tastes
7:43
Speaker 1: probably close through a year and a half and two
7:45
Speaker 1: years to finally fit under your chair.
7:50
Speaker 2: You know, you're doing advocacy work, right, And I found
7:53
Speaker 2: I'm sort of in the middle here. Maybe you are too.
7:56
Speaker 2: You want to do advocacy work for those generations after
7:58
Speaker 2: you and just and be in the community. But then
8:02
Speaker 2: selfishly we can help you too. I guess there's a
8:04
Speaker 2: benefit to that, right, But I feel like we both
8:06
Speaker 2: come in it as Hey, we want to take our
8:08
Speaker 2: experiences and share it to make other lives better and
8:11
Speaker 2: if we get help too, even better. Right, But our
8:14
Speaker 2: main books and others.
8:16
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, Alex, as you believe agree, And like every
8:21
Speaker 1: year I do the walk for Muscular Districty, and you
8:28
Speaker 1: know I've been their ambassador before, and you know, I
8:34
Speaker 1: find that they are a fantastic charity that benefits those
8:40
Speaker 1: of muscular districte And also I am right now. I'm
8:48
Speaker 1: living in a complice chair unit of the hospital, a
8:53
Speaker 1: long term MPLAST chair, and I participate in many professional
9:02
Speaker 1: committees here and I serve as a patient representative because
9:07
Speaker 1: I feel that the patients need to have there Chris
9:11
Speaker 1: Bector heard and understood by the professionals here that are
9:19
Speaker 1: running the hospital.
9:22
Speaker 2: All right, I gotta ask you this because I see
9:23
Speaker 2: you were just awarded the Meritorious Service Medal Award winner,
9:28
Speaker 2: and because you're so humble. You wouldn't think that because
9:31
Speaker 2: we haven't touched on that yet. But here we are.
9:33
Speaker 2: You are a winner of this award. What was that
9:37
Speaker 2: like to be recognized for I guess that point you're
9:39
Speaker 2: thirty five, thirty six years of service you know in
9:42
Speaker 2: the community, if you will.
9:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was, yeah, I was. It was twice surprising.
9:50
Speaker 1: Absolutely it was. I received a phone call one morning
9:57
Speaker 1: during a therapy appointment and I have said, can I
10:01
Speaker 1: get you to show me back later today? And they're
10:04
Speaker 1: like absolutely, it's very news. And I had no idea
10:08
Speaker 1: what they were talking about. And so when they told me,
10:12
Speaker 1: I was father g asted. You know, I've I've done
10:17
Speaker 1: some things to help my community, but it was never
10:25
Speaker 1: in hopes of being recognized on a DRAN scale like this.
10:32
Speaker 1: I am so humbled by this it. I am so
10:36
Speaker 1: honored to receive this type of award. But I never
10:40
Speaker 1: I never asked for this type of recognition.
10:44
Speaker 2: All right, Well, we've got a little fast here in
10:46
Speaker 2: the out on set, so let's take it back a bit.
10:49
Speaker 2: Tell us about your childhood and what life was like
10:52
Speaker 2: and how you're able to and I know we hate
10:54
Speaker 2: that term, as we've overcome, like how you're able to
10:57
Speaker 2: you know, push through is my term because I like
10:59
Speaker 2: to I pushed through this. How are you ever pushed
11:01
Speaker 2: through all these challenges when you were younger and and
11:04
Speaker 2: did you have a big, a great support system.
11:06
Speaker 1: Absolutely? I absolutely had a great supployed system as grew
11:12
Speaker 1: up in a loving family and I you know, in
11:18
Speaker 1: my childhood, as I said to you earlier, you know,
11:23
Speaker 1: education was a bit of a bit of a challenge
11:28
Speaker 1: with schools not wanting me sometimes and also you know,
11:35
Speaker 1: a common cold for me with my disability, it would
11:39
Speaker 1: take me a month or two to recover from, uh
11:45
Speaker 1: rather than just a leash or two. So I missed uh.
11:50
Speaker 1: You know when I was in your when I was
11:52
Speaker 1: in high school, I had I missed. I was not
11:55
Speaker 1: in attendance about fifty percent of the time. But I
11:59
Speaker 1: still managed to be on the honor level because I
12:03
Speaker 1: still managed to. I wanted to stay where.
12:07
Speaker 2: For those may not know, back then, they didn't have
12:09
Speaker 2: the smart technology where you could literally do your work
12:12
Speaker 2: from home, so that had to be a bit of a.
12:13
Speaker 1: Challenge, right it was. It was a dreat challenge absolutely,
12:17
Speaker 1: and you know, doing homework was a very physical dreaming
12:25
Speaker 1: process for me, and it probably you know, doing my
12:29
Speaker 1: work at home. They probably kept me from uh saving
12:34
Speaker 1: energy and getting through the illnesses and surgeries more than
12:43
Speaker 1: just cheaping up with school. But I wanted to keep
12:46
Speaker 1: them with school because I knew I wanted to succeed
12:49
Speaker 1: and I wanted to drive the university. And I was
12:52
Speaker 1: successful in doing so, and I managed to get to university.
12:58
Speaker 1: I still they a bit as challenges. I was put
13:03
Speaker 1: on academic uh academic warning at one point, but it
13:11
Speaker 1: wasn't because of my poetrads. It was because I had
13:17
Speaker 1: uh not received the test books in in a sure
13:22
Speaker 1: X format for me to read, and so I would
13:28
Speaker 1: be weaked behind in the readings. And uh so I
13:33
Speaker 1: finally found a way to get through that. And that
13:37
Speaker 1: Were you.
13:38
Speaker 2: In a public school setting or a private school setting.
13:40
Speaker 1: At that time? At that time, yes, I was in
13:43
Speaker 1: the as at the university level at.
13:45
Speaker 2: The university y yes, yes, yeah.
13:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was doing my undergrad and uh.
13:51
Speaker 2: And by the way, colleges are very I don't want
13:53
Speaker 2: to say the word stingy when it comes to a combinations,
13:55
Speaker 2: but they're very tough. Sometimes I've heard stories.
13:58
Speaker 1: They are they are. I was fortunate enough that I
14:03
Speaker 1: live in the city where the most accessible university in
14:08
Speaker 1: the country is and that is primarily based on physical
14:15
Speaker 1: accessibility because all of his buildings are linked together in
14:22
Speaker 1: through an underground tunnel system, and so you'll see students
14:27
Speaker 1: who live on campus in pajama pants in their classes
14:33
Speaker 1: because they haven't been outside months.
14:36
Speaker 2: And I want to ask you about the accessibility from
14:39
Speaker 2: growing up to now and as part of your work
14:43
Speaker 2: about making sure not only Ottawa but all the provinces
14:46
Speaker 2: are accessible, Like have you seen Ottawa change over the years?
14:51
Speaker 1: Yeah? Absolutely. Like a friend of mine is one of
14:58
Speaker 1: the main supporters of a group called stock Yep and
15:04
Speaker 1: they are a wonderful you know group that builds little
15:12
Speaker 1: one step ramps so that all of those buildings that
15:17
Speaker 1: are that this little one step into the store are
15:23
Speaker 1: become accessible. Yeah. Absolutely, And.
15:29
Speaker 2: Your Western geography life, because obviously here it's all kind
15:33
Speaker 2: of hilly at times, and there are some buildings that
15:35
Speaker 2: are just still not accessible in twenty twenty five. And
15:38
Speaker 2: I feel like that's why you started the podcast about
15:41
Speaker 2: twenty first century disability, because here in the twenty first century,
15:44
Speaker 2: there are still places that have steps only or that
15:48
Speaker 2: don't have elevator. It must drive you crazy, Hollis.
15:51
Speaker 1: Oh, it does, it absolutely does. And my master's degree
15:57
Speaker 1: I did, I thesis was all about academic accessibility in
16:04
Speaker 1: the post secondary level. And so what I did was
16:09
Speaker 1: I took a case study of Charlton and I did
16:15
Speaker 1: a full, full physical accessibility audit of the entire campus.
16:21
Speaker 1: And I was able to do that a bit more
16:24
Speaker 1: successfully because I was I had experience with it earlier
16:29
Speaker 1: on because I had been hired by Blues Fest which
16:34
Speaker 1: is a music festival here as well as the Avawa
16:38
Speaker 1: Folk Festival to do physical audits of the festivals and
16:46
Speaker 1: report back to them and give them reviews on how
16:51
Speaker 1: disabled individuals are finding the accessibility in their festivals and
16:59
Speaker 1: so so cool. So what I did was I said,
17:04
Speaker 1: I have told them, well, I mean, I can tell
17:06
Speaker 1: you in terms of the successibility for me, but if
17:12
Speaker 1: you really want to full fledged vision of the accessibility,
17:19
Speaker 1: you need to help me hire a team of differently
17:26
Speaker 1: disabled individuals who can all report that to me their experiences,
17:32
Speaker 1: and then I shouldn't make a full report to you.
17:36
Speaker 1: And that's exactly what we did. We did what we
17:38
Speaker 1: call it was the A team. So we had deaf individuals,
17:42
Speaker 1: we had individuals with who were hard of hearing, we
17:46
Speaker 1: had autistic individuals, And yeah.
17:52
Speaker 2: What was your when you're growing up? It sounds like
17:55
Speaker 2: you're a very social guy, right, you're doing these different things.
17:58
Speaker 2: Was it easy to be sociable when you were a kid,
18:01
Speaker 2: and did you find that you were able to fit
18:03
Speaker 2: in with I don't want to say the regular kids,
18:06
Speaker 2: but yeah, the regular kid Were you able to fit in? Uh?
18:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know what, Alex, I at times I felt
18:14
Speaker 1: like I was At times I felt challenged because because
18:20
Speaker 1: of physical imitations, you know, I shouldn't jo to a
18:23
Speaker 1: lot of my friend's birthday parties and I shouldn't uh.
18:29
Speaker 1: And also, yeah, my family moved around a lot, so
18:33
Speaker 1: I didn't have any uh, you know, long term friends
18:37
Speaker 1: throughout trade school because I found like, if I had
18:43
Speaker 1: grown up in the same city, I would have probably
18:47
Speaker 1: developed more serious friendships early on and then have them
18:53
Speaker 1: yet to know me and stay up and be my
18:56
Speaker 1: friend throughout my uh you know, my childhood. But so
19:02
Speaker 1: that was a bit of a disadvantage but at certain
19:05
Speaker 1: but in many ways, I wouldn't have trained my experiences
19:10
Speaker 1: either way. So I did experience a bit of bullying. Absolutely.
19:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, I want to know about your your you know,
19:18
Speaker 2: getting your first power chair, because I'm sure that was fun.
19:20
Speaker 2: You're a little kid, your first chair, and it probably
19:23
Speaker 2: changed your life because you went from manual to power
19:25
Speaker 2: and boy, that's independence right there.
19:28
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely. My mom and I still to this day
19:32
Speaker 1: always talk about the time that I left the room
19:37
Speaker 1: without her for the first time, and it was, uh,
19:43
Speaker 1: it was a series into the both of us, and uh,
19:47
Speaker 1: I remember, you know, I used to always pretend I
19:50
Speaker 1: was Batman. He was my favorite superhero, and so I
19:55
Speaker 1: started when I was in my new electric chair. I
20:00
Speaker 1: would you running around the house pretending I was Batman.
20:05
Speaker 1: But then I would get into the dark and dining
20:08
Speaker 1: room and I'd be scared because I'd be alone and
20:13
Speaker 1: I didn't alone without my mom. And so by the
20:18
Speaker 1: time I made it back to the kitchen, I actually
20:20
Speaker 1: asked her, Mom, isn't Zilker chasing me? Because I was
20:25
Speaker 1: seriously gid But oh my god, yeah, that was just
20:29
Speaker 1: how how is all?
20:31
Speaker 3: My imagination was the well, you know, you didn't get
20:34
Speaker 3: to become a medal of you know, a medal award
20:38
Speaker 3: winner or you know you've been honored throughout Cannon over
20:41
Speaker 3: the years.
20:42
Speaker 2: Actually, I'm reading in two thousand and eight you got
20:44
Speaker 2: the Outawa Celebration of People Award. You wouldn't be able
20:47
Speaker 2: to do all that without the great sports sysm of
20:50
Speaker 2: like teachers. And I'm sure I want to ask you
20:52
Speaker 2: about speech because the trait obviously is part of your life.
20:57
Speaker 2: But talk about the speech aspect of things if you
20:59
Speaker 2: don't mind.
21:00
Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely, you're right. I love to talk. Uh And
21:05
Speaker 1: my sisters can't stand my stories because they would go
21:09
Speaker 1: on and on and on. But uh, yeah, and as
21:14
Speaker 1: a heavier treak is quite a recent thing for me.
21:21
Speaker 1: I only got it back in two thousand and one
21:25
Speaker 1: and uh and so for a long time, in my
21:30
Speaker 1: early months of having it, I didn't think that I
21:34
Speaker 1: would ever talk again. And then they, the respiratory therapists
21:40
Speaker 1: or told me that I would and I was amazed.
21:43
Speaker 1: And so now I still love to give gest lectures.
21:48
Speaker 1: She's like it. When I was in my drag or degree,
21:51
Speaker 1: I had the opportunity to give a couple of gest
21:54
Speaker 1: lectures and I absolutely loved it. And because that was
22:00
Speaker 1: always my dream was to be a professor in university,
22:05
Speaker 1: but I did.
22:06
Speaker 2: I tubes down my throat when I was a little
22:08
Speaker 2: little baby, and I feel like seeing those images inspire
22:11
Speaker 2: me to have a voice. And I feel like through
22:13
Speaker 2: these podcasts, we're finding our voice even more now.
22:17
Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely, And I think that was exactly it, right,
22:21
Speaker 1: Like I as soon as I got my voice back,
22:26
Speaker 1: I wanted to uh advocate even more and made my
22:33
Speaker 1: voice heard. And as you say, uh podcasting has been
22:39
Speaker 1: an amazing way for the two of us to do that.
22:43
Speaker 2: Have you found this podcast open doors for you this
22:45
Speaker 2: twenty first century disability? Like, do you have the cover
22:48
Speaker 2: events through your podcast?
22:50
Speaker 1: Absolutely?
22:51
Speaker 2: Absolutely fun events you've been able to cover through through
22:54
Speaker 2: the podcast? Tell us some fun events you've been able
22:58
Speaker 2: to cover on your show.
23:01
Speaker 1: Oh well, I mean, uh one time, you know when
23:06
Speaker 1: I went because I only began my podcast in twenty
23:12
Speaker 1: twenty three, but I had it was already getting joying
23:20
Speaker 1: for about a year and I start asked if I
23:24
Speaker 1: asked the Muscular District Association if I could have a
23:29
Speaker 1: live episode at their at their annual walk, and I
23:35
Speaker 1: did that last year. It was it went great. You know,
23:40
Speaker 1: they welcomed me with open arms and I'm really looking
23:45
Speaker 1: forward to what comes next.
23:48
Speaker 2: I'm glad you mention MDA because I had been Formlet
23:51
Speaker 2: you go to the telethon in Seacaucus, New Jersey when
23:54
Speaker 2: Jerry Lewis used to do it, And I don't hope
23:56
Speaker 2: you guys were able to see that up in Canada
23:59
Speaker 2: when it was on. But Jerry Lewis what a what
24:02
Speaker 2: an advocate for those of MDA.
24:05
Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely yeah, Jerry Lewis was definitely wanted to make
24:12
Speaker 1: most of their discit well known and and his Edwards went,
24:22
Speaker 1: you know, went to dreat deal for us.
24:27
Speaker 2: They raised millions of dollars for the for those MDA.
24:30
Speaker 2: It was pretty amazing.
24:31
Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely well.
24:34
Speaker 2: You know, I got to ask you this because my
24:35
Speaker 2: friend a long time from from kindergarten actually passed at
24:39
Speaker 2: the age of twenty two. She just got her high
24:42
Speaker 2: school degree. She was with us, but she'd been sick
24:44
Speaker 2: for a while. Her name was Hillary Bernstein. She passed
24:48
Speaker 2: from m DA at a very early age, you know,
24:50
Speaker 2: twenty three. But are there medical advances that are extending
24:54
Speaker 2: live spans of m DA, you know, those of MDA.
24:58
Speaker 1: Absolutely well, Al, I'm sorry for your loss. I myself
25:04
Speaker 1: have lost another friends because, uh, because when I was
25:09
Speaker 1: a kid. I had a support group of about fourteen
25:14
Speaker 1: boys and we all had m D and we all
25:16
Speaker 1: went to camp together. And uh, and now there's still
25:21
Speaker 1: only a few of us around. So I absolutely can
25:26
Speaker 1: empathize with your loss. But absolutely there is all kinds
25:31
Speaker 1: of different technologies that are now and like advancing our
25:39
Speaker 1: our lifespan. For instance, my best friend before he passed away,
25:45
Speaker 1: he had a like, uh a heart. Uh you know,
25:52
Speaker 1: he had a Oh the leard is cheap in me
25:56
Speaker 1: right now, but uh, he had a mechanism put in
26:00
Speaker 1: to his heart.
26:01
Speaker 2: To keep it almost like a pacemaker, right.
26:04
Speaker 1: Yes, that's it, a peacemaker. Yeah, he had a peacemaker
26:08
Speaker 1: put in. And uh, you know, had I not been
26:14
Speaker 1: alive in the twenty first century, I wouldn't have been
26:17
Speaker 1: able to drive right now in my late thirties as
26:22
Speaker 1: I am right now, had it not been full of
26:25
Speaker 1: this grace.
26:28
Speaker 2: And by the way, your love of history has led
26:31
Speaker 2: you to this podcast, I believe so have you been
26:32
Speaker 2: studying the way people with disabilities have been there, I say,
26:36
Speaker 2: treated over the centuries?
26:38
Speaker 1: Here? Absolutely. I in my graduate degree I taved for
26:46
Speaker 1: a class called Madness in Modern Times and what it
26:53
Speaker 1: was about if the class itself was about how mental
26:58
Speaker 1: health was created in the early late eighteenth and early
27:06
Speaker 1: nineteenth century, and so I I definitely found that fascinating
27:15
Speaker 1: and I think that was a major influence on making
27:19
Speaker 1: me interested in advancing even further in the history study.
27:28
Speaker 1: And during your podcast related to history and disability.
27:34
Speaker 2: In your studies, did you ever come across a man
27:37
Speaker 2: named doctor Henry Viscardi. He was a champion here on
27:40
Speaker 2: Long Island for those kitchen disabilities and also veterans of
27:44
Speaker 2: World War Two that came back disabled. He helped create
27:48
Speaker 2: a resource center for them to get jobs when they
27:50
Speaker 2: came back for more. I don't know if you've ever
27:52
Speaker 2: crossed the path that name in your studies.
27:54
Speaker 1: But no, no, I hadn't. That's fascinating.
27:57
Speaker 2: So right now they have one hundred of kids K
28:01
Speaker 2: through twelve, multiple kinds of disibilities, and I was a
28:04
Speaker 2: proud graduate there. So I'll sing him for on that
28:07
Speaker 2: because I love you to maybe do a report on
28:09
Speaker 2: that too, for your Canadian friends who may not know.
28:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, please do, please do all you eving.
28:16
Speaker 2: And that at least be my next question. You say
28:18
Speaker 2: you've been speaking across Canada, did you ever come across
28:21
Speaker 2: the border to speak at the United States.
28:24
Speaker 1: That I had not yet.
28:25
Speaker 2: No, And have you been to the US? Like it's
28:27
Speaker 2: traveling difficult for you?
28:29
Speaker 1: You know what as a as a young kid and
28:33
Speaker 1: in my teens, I traveled to the United States every year.
28:39
Speaker 1: Every year it was my family's vacation spots. We're in
28:44
Speaker 1: the United States. We always generally speaking, we went to
28:50
Speaker 1: a major city that had a Major League baseball team.
28:54
Speaker 1: We had a huge baseball fan and w a yoga
28:59
Speaker 1: baseball game week and then the next week we would
29:03
Speaker 1: go to a beach somewhere.
29:06
Speaker 2: And did you find it amazingly the differences between accessibility
29:10
Speaker 2: in Canada versus the US? Did you notice that at
29:12
Speaker 2: a young age?
29:14
Speaker 1: Absolutely? Yeah, And uh, for a long time I found
29:22
Speaker 1: the US to be way more physically accessible thanks to
29:26
Speaker 1: things like the Ada for instance. And also, you know,
29:30
Speaker 1: you guys have had a disabled president of the United States.
29:35
Speaker 2: Yes, we didn't want to be known as that, so
29:37
Speaker 2: he covered him telling a coat. That's true, FDR.
29:42
Speaker 1: But you know, in reality, that was at a time
29:46
Speaker 1: when you know, disability was shown and considered to be
29:51
Speaker 1: a weakness.
29:54
Speaker 2: All right, Well, you mentioned the Ada, so I've got
29:56
Speaker 2: to ask this, does Canada have a brawl outstanding, you know,
30:01
Speaker 2: country wide law like that?
30:03
Speaker 1: They did not, We did not. We all know.
30:06
Speaker 2: Is that part of your advocacy to get something like
30:08
Speaker 2: that established in Canada?
30:10
Speaker 1: Absolutely? Absolutely and it But again, because healthcare is more
30:18
Speaker 1: a provincial thing, different provinces are uh sort of aiming
30:26
Speaker 1: to have their different laws paths uh that are similar
30:33
Speaker 1: to the A, D A and a lot of For instance, Uh,
30:39
Speaker 1: the Canadian government mandated that all of their all of
30:45
Speaker 1: the governmental buildings be accessible by twenty twenty five, and
30:53
Speaker 1: uh they have that that role, uh to a certain extent.
30:59
Speaker 1: And then and you know Ontario they also wanted a
31:03
Speaker 1: number of more things to be accessible by twenty twenty five.
31:07
Speaker 1: But you know, you know how original goals are constantly
31:13
Speaker 1: pushed back as Yeah.
31:15
Speaker 2: So would you say Ottawa? And I'm not sure of
31:19
Speaker 2: the constitution equivalent up there? But are there amendments? Are
31:23
Speaker 2: there kind of laws that do help? I mean you
31:25
Speaker 2: mentioned a little while ago, but go into that a
31:27
Speaker 2: little more bet on mind.
31:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, Otawa is a very tricky place because it
31:35
Speaker 1: is in Ontario and it is the capital city of Canada.
31:43
Speaker 1: And in addition, it is right along the border to
31:49
Speaker 1: another province. Like right now I'm looking out my window
31:54
Speaker 1: and I can see Quebec. Oh, they're across the other
31:58
Speaker 1: side of the river. So you constantly have you know,
32:03
Speaker 1: different Like we've got three levels of police in the city.
32:10
Speaker 1: We've got the municipal police, we've got the provincial police,
32:13
Speaker 1: and we've got the RCMP is the National police. And
32:17
Speaker 1: then we've got different levels of transportation. So we've got
32:22
Speaker 1: Allawa city buses and then we've also got Gato City
32:27
Speaker 1: buses that come across into ot Wah.
32:32
Speaker 2: I gotta ask you this, This is fascinating because I'm
32:35
Speaker 2: feeling like we're hearing the different dynamic of the states
32:38
Speaker 2: versus can't you know? And Ken, I have a couple
32:40
Speaker 2: of things about current events as well before I wrap up.
32:43
Speaker 2: But you know, Canadians are generally known as the nice
32:46
Speaker 2: guys in North Korea. You know, you're all very friendly
32:48
Speaker 2: and all that, But when it comes to the disabled community,
32:51
Speaker 2: does that friendliness reflect on the disabled community or do
32:55
Speaker 2: you find that sometimes you get the sneers and the snickers, Like,
32:58
Speaker 2: do you find any of that?
32:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you know, whatsmism is a real thing, Alex
33:05
Speaker 1: and uh there is definitely even though you're right, we
33:10
Speaker 1: are a very very polite, very politically correct UH country
33:18
Speaker 1: and we are known to say sorry a lot, and
33:22
Speaker 1: but we definitely still have our pitfalls when it comes
33:29
Speaker 1: to uh eiving those with disability or seeing even seeing
33:36
Speaker 1: people with disability on an even level. And as an
33:42
Speaker 1: adult with a disability, I sort of my primary way
33:48
Speaker 1: of getting past UH is just uh uh this is
33:55
Speaker 1: confront it head on. So like you know, when you're
33:58
Speaker 1: with somebody else, it's not the same and uh, you know,
34:03
Speaker 1: you're coming up to a table to register for an event,
34:07
Speaker 1: for instance, like I did yesterday. I had my attendant
34:12
Speaker 1: with me, who was a fully abled body's not disabled man,
34:16
Speaker 1: and myself and so what I would do is I
34:20
Speaker 1: go up to the table and I just start talking.
34:23
Speaker 1: And I just started talking, Hey, you know my name
34:25
Speaker 1: so and so I'm here to register full of this event.
34:30
Speaker 1: Here is my ticket.
34:32
Speaker 2: True, because a lot of people would look at your
34:33
Speaker 2: and say, well, what do you speak on his behalf
34:36
Speaker 2: type of.
34:36
Speaker 1: Thing exactly exactly. They signed to him for me instead
34:40
Speaker 1: of me. Yeah.
34:42
Speaker 2: You know, my fiance is in power wheelchair, so she's
34:45
Speaker 2: very vocal about what she needs which is which is great.
34:48
Speaker 2: And yeah, it makes my life less uncomfortable because I'm
34:51
Speaker 2: not like, well, turn to her, you know what I mean.
34:53
Speaker 2: So there is that benefit to having, you know, being
34:58
Speaker 2: able to be talkative and and and that's something I
35:00
Speaker 2: think you're inspiring other people with disability. I know we
35:03
Speaker 2: hate the word inspiring, but in this context, what I'm
35:06
Speaker 2: saying is you're probably helping some people have a voice
35:09
Speaker 2: up there that may not have, that may not break
35:12
Speaker 2: out of their shell. But here you are saying, yes,
35:14
Speaker 2: you can break out of that shell.
35:16
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Yeah. And I love seeing new individuals who are
35:25
Speaker 1: breaking out of their own shell. And for instance, I
35:29
Speaker 1: play power Hackey.
35:31
Speaker 2: I was going to say, you're an adaptive athlete. Talk
35:33
Speaker 2: about that for a minute.
35:35
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well I started playing power Hackey back when I
35:39
Speaker 1: was living in Chaldari as a kid. And then I
35:44
Speaker 1: came to Ottawa and Ottawah didn't have a league that
35:52
Speaker 1: was made. So after about a decade or so trying,
35:59
Speaker 1: I got drew my friends together and we made our
36:02
Speaker 1: own league. And so now we play power Hashey and
36:09
Speaker 1: it is in a way of playing Hashey in a
36:14
Speaker 1: power wheels chair. It's not on ice it's ball hashey
36:19
Speaker 1: in a gym and as hard as as hard as
36:24
Speaker 1: it is to show up your hand, it is a
36:27
Speaker 1: full contact sport in many ways.
36:30
Speaker 2: Well here and here at Biscardi, we would play and
36:33
Speaker 2: they'd attach the stick to the chair and then the
36:37
Speaker 2: chairs would collide at times, so I'm I'm used to
36:39
Speaker 2: that and it was fun. And they would use a
36:41
Speaker 2: whiffle ball or an actual you know, rubber puck one
36:45
Speaker 2: of the others, so it was.
36:47
Speaker 1: Fun as well. Well.
36:49
Speaker 2: One of the one of the famous Islanders, Raddick Martinez,
36:51
Speaker 2: came to our school for an alumni event and seeing
36:55
Speaker 2: him navigate in the chair. As you know, he's a
36:57
Speaker 2: prolific player, so to see him have to adapt to
36:59
Speaker 2: play lang in the chair was very interesting, you know,
37:01
Speaker 2: seeing these guys have to do that and then that experience,
37:05
Speaker 2: it is quite interesting to get their feedback on it
37:07
Speaker 2: because it's not easy. I mean it does it looks
37:10
Speaker 2: easy because you guys are very skilled, but it's not easy,
37:13
Speaker 2: I mean exactly.
37:14
Speaker 1: But in the end, you know, if I was able body,
37:17
Speaker 1: I don't have had to spend years and years when
37:19
Speaker 1: he had a state at that level too, right, It
37:22
Speaker 1: just it Jos both the same ways. Uh.
37:26
Speaker 2: You know, I gotta ask you this. We are in
37:29
Speaker 2: and I was gonna ask about transable people that want
37:31
Speaker 2: to chop off with them to become the same auditf
37:34
Speaker 2: you cover any of that on your podcast or not,
37:35
Speaker 2: but I find that movement kind of disturbing. But anyway,
37:39
Speaker 2: the trade wars are they affecting medical supplies in Canada
37:44
Speaker 2: right now? Have you noticed that?
37:45
Speaker 1: Yeah? Absolutely, they are. Absolutely they are. For instance, I
37:53
Speaker 1: don't know if you can, Yeah, I'm very sure you
37:55
Speaker 1: can see my nest right now. My vent join in
37:58
Speaker 1: my neck has a little turchioise thing inside my tube
38:04
Speaker 1: inside right before my nest, and that is what's called
38:08
Speaker 1: a speaking valve, and so it lets air in, but
38:14
Speaker 1: it doesn't let air out. So when I breathe out,
38:19
Speaker 1: it forces the air to go pass up and past
38:24
Speaker 1: my vocal cords, so it allows me to talk. And
38:30
Speaker 1: these little valves are made in the United States and
38:35
Speaker 1: they no longer your ship to Canada. And so there
38:41
Speaker 1: is a respiratory therapist here in Ottawa that is now
38:46
Speaker 1: making starting to make his own version of them. And
38:52
Speaker 1: I was fortunate enough to be his his Jimmy page
39:00
Speaker 1: if I yeah, you know in trojations. Yeah, and so
39:04
Speaker 1: we are experiencing a bit of difficulty with those things,
39:09
Speaker 1: but we are finding different ways of making of you know,
39:14
Speaker 1: getting over it.
39:16
Speaker 2: Did you find Trudeau to be an include inclusive PM
39:19
Speaker 2: or will well Matt mc cartney listened to the table
39:22
Speaker 2: commun anymore?
39:23
Speaker 1: Do you think? I think Trudeau was a very intrusive PM.
39:30
Speaker 1: But uh, you know, I mean the future is always better, uh,
39:35
Speaker 1: you know as uh, the future, you know, advances more
39:40
Speaker 1: and more. You know, different things become more well known,
39:45
Speaker 1: and so I think Mark Carney will bring about even
39:49
Speaker 1: junior change as well.
39:52
Speaker 2: I've got a couple of stories for you because my
39:53
Speaker 2: dad took me up to you mentioned baseball. Took me
39:56
Speaker 2: up to the north to Toronto for the first World
40:01
Speaker 2: Series game played outside the States, when the Blue Jays
40:04
Speaker 2: played the Braves in ninety two. I was about one
40:07
Speaker 2: year old and I had all the suctioning and everything,
40:10
Speaker 2: but he took me across the border to watch the game.
40:14
Speaker 2: And then in Ottawa when they had the World Cup
40:16
Speaker 2: in ninety six, I was there and I don't know
40:20
Speaker 2: if you remember this, but they used to have this
40:21
Speaker 2: blindfolded guy trying to chase the bag of money on
40:25
Speaker 2: the ice at intermission. That freaked me out. So I
40:28
Speaker 2: saw it in Montreal. I saw this guy in Montreal.
40:30
Speaker 2: I freaked out. In Ottawa. I'm on the counter at
40:33
Speaker 2: the Beverett, you know, refreshment stand. What do I see
40:37
Speaker 2: on the screen the guy in the blindfold, and I'm
40:39
Speaker 2: freaking out of Ottawa. But you know, I would love
40:41
Speaker 2: to get back up there. I love your jersey. I
40:43
Speaker 2: love the team's jersey up they're the Senators. But the
40:46
Speaker 2: fact that you're more baseball is more interesting as hockey
40:49
Speaker 2: is the sport up there. So I had to become baseball.
40:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, well you know what I mean. I just wanned
40:56
Speaker 1: baseball to be a magical sport. It's I find that, uh,
41:02
Speaker 1: you know, hockey and football and basketball, you know those
41:07
Speaker 1: type of sports. Uh, at the end of the game,
41:11
Speaker 1: it is the big guy who is responsible for showann
41:17
Speaker 1: jowels me on the ice and things like that. But
41:20
Speaker 1: I find baseball is where the magic, the true magic happens,
41:25
Speaker 1: when the unexpected happens.
41:29
Speaker 2: And they're obviously dooing for the Blue Jays, right because
41:32
Speaker 2: it's all in the same province there.
41:34
Speaker 1: It's the same provis I personally despised. It is. I
41:39
Speaker 1: hate all Toronto teams, so but uh, it's mainly mainly
41:45
Speaker 1: that is from the impact that you know, I had
41:49
Speaker 1: ever lived in Toronto, and uh, Toronto sort of flaims
41:55
Speaker 1: to be the capital of Canada because of all this
42:01
Speaker 1: population and money, and the city of Toronto was a
42:05
Speaker 1: fantastic city. But I just don't appreciate its sport seems so.
42:09
Speaker 1: I've always been a New York Mets fan.
42:12
Speaker 2: No way, I'm talking to a New York Met fan
42:14
Speaker 2: in Ottawa, you know. And Soto, by the way, the
42:18
Speaker 2: Mets looking better shape than the Yanks right now.
42:20
Speaker 1: I had to say absolutely, yeah, And I was just
42:23
Speaker 1: like you were in the final of the World Series
42:27
Speaker 1: in Toronto in ninety two. I had the opportunity to
42:31
Speaker 1: Joe to the deciding game of the World Series back
42:35
Speaker 1: in two thousand and one when it was between the Mets.
42:39
Speaker 2: And Yankees five years ago in two thousand Yeah. Yeah,
42:45
Speaker 2: so you were at Chase Stadium that night.
42:47
Speaker 1: I was at Face Stadium that night.
42:49
Speaker 2: Absolutely, that's pretty special. Well, there's a lot I can
42:53
Speaker 2: unpack about my baseball history, but I wanted to focus
42:56
Speaker 2: on you because what you're doing as an advocate, as
42:59
Speaker 2: an ambassador, and as a podcaster, wrapped all in one.
43:03
Speaker 2: I feel like you're doing great work and you'll continue
43:06
Speaker 2: to And I was gonna say this, what is you?
43:10
Speaker 2: What is your goal for the future. You're thirty six now,
43:12
Speaker 2: so what's the next steps for you? How are you
43:15
Speaker 2: going to grow this podcast? Do you have any exciting
43:16
Speaker 2: guests you're welcoming on?
43:19
Speaker 1: Yeah? Absolutely, I have a few guests lined up in
43:23
Speaker 1: the future. A friend of mine is a very well
43:28
Speaker 1: known disability advocate named Andrew Jerza. He's my next He's
43:33
Speaker 1: my next lined up guest, and that episode should be
43:39
Speaker 1: released on Thursday. I'm hobing and but then I'm actually,
43:47
Speaker 1: like you said, pod match is an amazing thing. So
43:51
Speaker 1: I've managed to meet some amazing people like yourself through
43:55
Speaker 1: pod Match and I've been able to be a guest
44:02
Speaker 1: on different podcasts because of it. And I've also been
44:06
Speaker 1: meeting some amazing people to be on my podcast.
44:09
Speaker 2: Well, maybe we'll collaborate on yours too. I'd love to
44:11
Speaker 2: jump on and talk with you about twenty percent love
44:14
Speaker 2: the concept. One last thing though, I feel like you
44:17
Speaker 2: are not your unique, but you're also a little more
44:23
Speaker 2: outgoing than some of the community to talk about this earlier.
44:25
Speaker 2: But what I'm trying to say is you don't let
44:28
Speaker 2: yourself stay in that disability box. You say, let's expand
44:31
Speaker 2: from that. Let's go out and be amongst the able
44:33
Speaker 2: body of people. And I feel like that mess has
44:36
Speaker 2: to be heard and told more. That we should all
44:39
Speaker 2: be you know, coabative, not all in our different spaces
44:42
Speaker 2: or different boxes.
44:43
Speaker 1: You know absolutely well. And you know what I was like,
44:48
Speaker 1: you're a long time. As a kid, I was very
44:51
Speaker 1: timid and scared to talk to people. But you know
44:56
Speaker 1: what as a as a've and that and that sort
45:01
Speaker 1: of timidness was even with me in my university years.
45:05
Speaker 1: But now that I'm an adult, I started realized, you
45:08
Speaker 1: know what, like everybody is different in so many ways
45:12
Speaker 1: that you know, we together we can make a beautiful mosaic.
45:20
Speaker 1: And you know, and also, eventually everybody in this planet
45:26
Speaker 1: is going to be disabled, whether it is her temporary
45:31
Speaker 1: time or whether it's suddenly by age or something like that.
45:38
Speaker 1: And that's the one thing people always forget about, is
45:43
Speaker 1: as a disability. As of my milorarity, disability is always
45:47
Speaker 1: the most forgotten, but it is the only minority that
45:51
Speaker 1: every single person on this planet will be a member
45:54
Speaker 1: of at one point in time in their lifespan.
45:57
Speaker 2: And I always say I start adapting with Alex Scarrett
46:01
Speaker 2: feature of the One Leg Up Network, because every minute,
46:04
Speaker 2: every hour, someone could become paralyzed. You know, it's just
46:08
Speaker 2: this reality people have to adapt to becoming disabled. I'm
46:11
Speaker 2: wanted a platform where I could We're on folks like
46:13
Speaker 2: you say, no, it's okay, You've got this, just keep
46:17
Speaker 2: going right.
46:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, And I sort of share that same message, right.
46:24
Speaker 1: I always say that my twentieth century disability is a
46:27
Speaker 1: part of what I call thrive productions. And uh because
46:34
Speaker 1: when I was diagnosed as a kid, my parents were
46:39
Speaker 1: told that I would have an inability to thrive. And
46:44
Speaker 1: so I've always said, you know what, no matter who
46:48
Speaker 1: you are or what your situation is, you can thrive
46:53
Speaker 1: in any way. And you know, thriving for some people
47:00
Speaker 1: might be considered not so, you know, not might be
47:06
Speaker 1: at a different level than other people. But a man,
47:10
Speaker 1: anybody can thrive in their own way.
47:13
Speaker 2: I love that. Well, Hollis, I can go on for hours,
47:16
Speaker 2: but I wanted this to be an introductory show and
47:18
Speaker 2: then we'll have you on, as you know, even through
47:22
Speaker 2: these tough times that we're dealing with as countries. I
47:26
Speaker 2: want people to know that the Canadians and Americans who
47:28
Speaker 2: love each other no matter what the trade war says.
47:30
Speaker 1: Right, absolutely, absolutely.
47:33
Speaker 2: All right, Hollis, thanks for joining me, and good luck
47:36
Speaker 2: with everything up there, and we'll have you back on
47:38
Speaker 2: maybe toward to our Ada. I'd love to get you
47:40
Speaker 2: back on.
47:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you so much, Alic, And it's been a
47:43
Speaker 1: pleasure to be a guest on your podcast and Cheep
47:47
Speaker 1: doing what you're doing.
47:49
Speaker 2: Name to you. And this interview was powered by pod Match.
47:51
Speaker 2: Thanks to them for connecting Hollis Pierson. I And what's
47:54
Speaker 2: the website by.
47:55
Speaker 1: The way, My website is www dot twenty firth century
48:01
Speaker 1: and it's two one stcentury dot com.
48:06
Speaker 2: I wonder if people think about podcasting accessibility, right, because
48:09
Speaker 2: sometimes you love the visual so much, but we forget
48:11
Speaker 2: about the audio because some may not be able to
48:13
Speaker 2: see or you know, something like that. Son's going to
48:15
Speaker 2: get the wording out there.
48:17
Speaker 1: Also, exactly exactly, and pod match is definitely helping us
48:23
Speaker 1: do all of that.
48:24
Speaker 2: Amen. Well, thanks so much, Hollin, and we'll talk to
48:27
Speaker 2: you soon.
48:28
Speaker 1: All right. Thanks Elise,