Speaker 0 00:00:00 <inaudible>
Speaker 1 00:00:56 Thank you for joining disability and progress, where we bring you insights into ideas about and discussions on disability topics. My name is Sam. I'm the host of the show. Thanks so much for tuning in Andy. Harvey is my engineer. Thanks for engineering, Annie and Charlene dolls. My research woman. Thank you for doing what you do. Charlene tonight. We have, um, a couple of great guests, son, Mark Knutson. Is that, did I say that right, Mark? Nope. Sorry Mark.
Speaker 2 00:01:28 I answered it. I answered a bolt, so it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 00:01:31 And Charlie bras and they will be talking about their show, um, disability landscape, right? That is correct. And on your YouTube channel, the disability channel Minnesota. So thanks so much for joining me. I appreciate you guys for doing that in this interesting time of, um, of virtual microphones. So, so why don't you start out. Thank you for having us. You're welcome. Why don't you start out a little bit by at least giving some history on you guys and actually how you, I, I, I know one of you has a disability, right? Do both of you
Speaker 2 00:02:16 Both, both, both disabled. Yes.
Speaker 1 00:02:19 A little bit about yourselves and how you got your disability,
Speaker 2 00:02:23 Mark. Go ahead. Okay. Um, well, my disability is congenital. So, um, from, from birth and that it's, uh, uh, uh, a fairly rare one. In fact, growing up in, in the twin cities and, and going to school with disabled, you know, other disabled kids and doing a lot of wheelchair sports. I never, never met anyone else with my disability. It was like 25 years old. I, I went for a weightlifting tournament and, um, a guy there, me and
Speaker 3 00:03:00 Basically my disability affects the lower half of me. My legs are crossed and they're small in size, so they don't move. So it's pretty obvious when you see it, you're like, Oh yeah, that's that's, you know, the guy said, Oh yeah, that's my disability. My disability is pretty, pretty rare, but grew up in the twin cities. Um, what a high school there in, in Minneapolis at Marshall U, which is closed now. And that's where me and Charlie, Charlie went to school there. That's and that's how we met. And that, so why don't you talk about your background a little bit, Charlie? Um, am I, disability is I was born with a congenital birth defects also, uh, deform legs. So at age five I had both legs amputated just above the knee. So, um, you know, I've been, you know, half the person for all, pretty much all my life.
Speaker 3 00:03:59 And, uh, you know, people kind of wonder how you get along that way. And you know, it's second nature for Mark and myself, as opposed to somebody who, you know, uh, has an accident later on in life and have to adjust to a disability. So, you know, Hey, cause I always tell people, you know, if they ask me how I'm doing something, I says, I just have lots of practice. Um, and Mark did right. We, we both went to high school together at Marshall university in Minneapolis and, uh, we were both Paquette. We both played adapted for Rockies.
Speaker 1 00:04:35 Ah, there's another show. I sense. Um, so, um, do either of you do prosthetics or are you both just wheelchair?
Speaker 3 00:04:48 Um, for myself, I did prosthetics till I was about 13 years old and found them to be a really large pain in the rear. So we, you know, with, with my parents' permission, we said, you know, enough is enough. And, um, you actually for a good portion of my, uh, life up until I was about 30 and, you know, got fat, get home, gained all my weight. I used, uh, used to walk around on my hands, wheelchair wheelchair to go shopping that kind of thing. But you know, around the house, it was, you know, freewheeling and on the hands. Cool. Yeah. For, for, for me, the, um, being my legs were still there. Um, at an early age, they asked my parents, um, you know, to be fitted with prosthetics, they were going to have to amputate the legs and being, it was quite a few years ago. I won't say when, but let's just say quite a few years ago. Um, my parents really didn't want to take cause with, with the surgery,
Speaker 2 00:05:59 They're going to be dealing with the spinal cord and all that. Yeah. Mom and dad just said, now, you know, he's, he's getting around is, you know, good, you know, good as it is. And what's interesting is also that Charlie and I actually grew up just a couple miles apart. So I don't know if Charlie ever heard, but sometimes I always, always hear from people, Hey Mark, there's another one like you over this part is South Minneapolis. We're kind of like stunt doubles to one another. Yeah. My, uh, my mode of transportation neighborhood was a skateboard. So, you know, sit down with skateboard just for penalize. I think that's how we got the reputation.
Speaker 1 00:06:46 Yeah. And of course prosthetics have changed so much during the years. I remember when I was growing up, I actually had a teacher's aide who had a prosthetic leg and she used to call it her wooden leg. I don't know if it really was or not. I had to ask her that, but, um, I know they've changed a lot.
Speaker 2 00:07:09 Well, I, I can attest that. Yes. The ones I had were actually a wood and composite and so they, they weighed probably 10 to 15 pounds, which made them quite uncomfortable to use.
Speaker 1 00:07:23 Huh. Well, fast forward, many years you guys decided to start a show on disabilities. Um, what made you decide to do that?
Speaker 2 00:07:38 Um, well, uh, I was, um, I was working, I maybe you've heard of it, but I was working in the background as a camera person on another community access. So, um, disability viewpoints with, with Mark Hughes. And so I was working behind the scenes on that and, um, I knew Charlie was involved, um, doing community access, um, you know, programming. And so I, I reached out to him because I had seen about five years ago, there was a YouTube channel out there called the disability channel and it's up in Canada. So I'd like to say we had the original ideal, but I'll admit, um, we're just copycats. But, um, I approached Charlie. Um, I originally was thinking or doing a podcast, but with Charlie's, um, connection with community access over there, we got talking and I just, you know, I told Charlie, why don't we start like a YouTube channel and basically, you know, called disability channel Minnesota.
Speaker 2 00:08:52 And then I'm also have a show van. So we put all of our interviews out on our channel and then what Charlie does is he'll take the interviews and then he packages them into a half hour show. And then that half hour show, which is disability landscape, um, we put that out on community access. So right now it's being played up in, on the community access system of, of CCX media, which is Brooklyn park and the surrounding areas. And a few months ago we got on, um, MCN sex. I don't know if you've heard of the Minnesota community network channel six, they MC on six they're on all the twin cities, cable access, I mean cable system. So in the twin cities, you have 14 different cable systems and whatever cable system you're on. If you turn to channel six, everyone sees the same channel six. So if you, if you're in the twin cities, our shows on Tuesday nights at, um, at, at six o'clock on, on MCN six, uh, that's kind of how this, um, this grew in that. Charlie, why don't you say a little bit about some of the stuff you were doing, you know, with community access and producing because Charlie was doing quite a bit of producing and directing before this.
Speaker 3 00:10:30 Yeah. Um, I was a, uh, a well kind of a studio rat there, uh, a lot of, uh, directing for various programs. I had my own program, um, that we did it, it kind of, uh, was difficult getting guests because I was running out of people to talk to, uh, we were highlighting, um, different adapted sports within the twin cities, uh, and people that participate in them. So kind of give people an idea of what kind of activities were out there. So when Mark came to me with this, his idea, you know, we decided to kind of broaden that goal. You know, let's tell people about the awesome folks out here that are persons with disabilities that are out in the community, doing things for the community and, you know, having a great time doing it. And so that's, that was kind of the, uh, the way we wanted to get, uh, get the show directed.
Speaker 1 00:11:26 What did you, you came up with the name disability landscape. So what does that mean to you? How did you come up with that?
Speaker 3 00:11:34 Um, I would have to say it would be, you know, the, the broad view of what's available for persons with disabilities and things they can do and things they are doing. So it's, you know, the broad landscape of what, um, people are, are doing with
Speaker 2 00:11:54 And for their community.
Speaker 1 00:11:57 And then when you started the YouTube channel, um, has, has that been a challenge? Has there been challenges to that?
Speaker 2 00:12:08 Well, Mark, uh, you wanna, you want to talk about our subscription level yet and, uh, I, we're trying to bolster that. Yeah. You know, it's, it's, it's interesting because, um, we have, you know, with, with you too, you can, um, subscribe to a channel and, you know, that's one of the key things that they kind of rate as far as social media is concerned. So we don't have a lot of subscribers. So, you know, in time, I'm sure we'll, you know, we'll, we'll get more subscribers. You know, we, we do get people, um, viewing, actually viewing the videos and pretty much the way they're finding the videos. Um, I'm pretty sure is because we have a Facebook page for the channel disability channel, Minnesota, there's a Facebook page. So people can go to Facebook and look up our page and enlight get. And so whenever we have a new video, we put out onto the channel, we always put it on, uh, on our Facebook page.
Speaker 2 00:13:19 So then I think what happens is people see it on Facebook and then they view it from there. So they can click on that. Right. They click on that. It counts as a view, but, but yet they're, they're not, uh, uh, subscribers. So we're, we're, we're scratching both of our heads and trying to figure out how to get more subscribers in that the Facebook page we have over 700 or so, uh, black followers, whereas the, um, you know, that's legging on the YouTube page. So we're, we're trying to figure out how to get a, you're not translate one to the other.
Speaker 1 00:13:59 Right. Um, I'm wondering guys talk about the different guests that you've had on, um, your Chanel besides us,
Speaker 2 00:14:10 Right? Oh, exactly. Yeah. You're, you're the top ones. Of course.
Speaker 2 00:14:17 Um, we we've had an actual, you know, wide variety of guests. Um, we've had people from, um, megaphone council for independent living and the disability hub to come out and talk about those services. Uh, we've had people from the arts community, uh, the Guthrie theater that mixed blood theater, um, and also they hadn't been, they hadn't been theater trust as well. And, um, Mark drew on to extrapolate on that. We just know, well, yeah, you know, we've also talked to, um, uh, can-do canines and, um, um, and I try to think of another one that we've done is that, um, one of the things that, one of the things that we're also, we will, we're trying to do what are one of our goals is because being where disability channel Minnesota, we want to try to reach out throughout the state, just not the twin cities.
Speaker 2 00:15:20 So one of the things that we are in the process of doing is we are finding other individuals with disabilities to be contributors to the show. And what we mean by that are people that are willing to set up and actually do interviews for our channel. And we've got one lady who, um, who's a little person and she has a blog that she covers about theater and the arts. And so we can, we call her our theater and our arts reporter basically. Right. So it's kinda nice because she was the one that was able to come up with the interview with the Guthrie theater, um, the mixed blood theater and the, you know, head up in theater trusts. And right now, um, in the next month or so, we've, we now have about, we, we've got a person that, um, who's going to be contributor out of Southern Minnesota in Austin.
Speaker 2 00:16:32 So he's going to cover the Rochester and Mankato area, you know, talking to individuals or organizations. We've got someone who's going to cover, you know, the Duluth area. And by having people in those areas, doing the stories, um, we've been able to connect with the Rochester community access TV, and also Duluth community access. So disability landscape will also be, um, shown up in rock walls. We'll be up in Duluth and also be shown down in Rochester. So as we branch out and find these contributors, we're able to get on their community community access systems. Where do you do the show from?
Speaker 3 00:17:21 We, uh, taped the programs, uh, primarily at, uh, CCX studios in Brooklyn park, Minnesota. Um, I've been a member there for over five years and, you know, it's a great facility. They offer a great opportunity, even with the COVID restrictions that are currently going on, and we all know how those are. Uh, they, they make the facility really clean, really safe and, you know, we're able to get in there and actually, um, you know, take up to three or four programs per month. And w we'll do a few that are, uh, strictly zoom. And like we're doing here tonight, uh, where we'll, uh, get together with the guests and tape it through zoom and, you know, uh, package it up and put it on TV.
Speaker 1 00:18:12 Has it, has it been difficult to do the visual plus the audio
Speaker 3 00:18:19 Can be,
Speaker 1 00:18:22 I'm sorry, it's all Mark. Isn't it.
Speaker 3 00:18:27 I better answer it because Charlie will get best. The only reason I say Charlie's the technical, he's the technical person, so you're right. It is tricky because when we do the zoom at the studio, we have to bring it to the control room, to the studio and then back out of the studio to the guests on zoom. So yeah, it's a lot of pushing buttons and, and, and plugging things. And so it, it does get tricky, right. Shirley very much. So if there are, there are some challenges, we've had our first year of issues, but we're, and each time out is a, a education. So we, we figured out how to do things better the next time.
Speaker 1 00:19:12 So now how long have you been doing this show?
Speaker 3 00:19:16 Uh, we began in Jan, uh, July of last summer. Um, you know, right after the studio, uh, started allowing people back in, um, we have produced, uh, 25 programs already that are out on YouTube and, uh, we have two or three more, uh, ready to be edited and added. And, you know, we're producing programs every month. So, you know, we, we produce at least one program a week.
Speaker 1 00:19:42 It just makes me smile. I'm so glad to see you guys out here, but you guys are babies. Come here. How many programs we've done? I'm like, well, I'm glad there's someone else out here now. Um, what, what's been some of your favorite moments doing this stuff? Um,
Speaker 3 00:20:02 I I'll start I'll, I'll say one of them is, uh, you've had the opportunity to, um, interview an actress who is, um, wheelchair, wheelchair, user. She's a paraplegic from an accident she's based in the Denver area. And we've had actually the opportunity twice now to speak to her. And she's just dynamite. You can ask her a question and she'll take up 10 minutes, Phil, uh, talking about it, which makes our job that much easier.
Speaker 1 00:20:32 Exactly.
Speaker 3 00:20:34 How about you Mark? Well, you know, for me, um, what, what, one of the fun things that we're doing that we, you know, we were fortunate and lucky to be able to do is, um, I don't know
Speaker 2 00:20:48 If any of you listen to, um, Ks 95, there used to be the, the moon and Stacey Sean. Yeah. And, um, moon retired just over a year ago because he's got em ass. Ah, yeah. Yeah. So that's kind of why he retired. And what's interesting is the producer of the, um, moon and Stacey show. Um, I know through stand-up cheap, she's a standup comedian and I try to be a standup comedian. I go and I do, I do open mikes, but anyways, I, I reached out to her and I said, do you think, um, you know, do you think moon would, you know, be interested in doing an interview with us? And we, we, we interviewed moon and, um, he really, you know, he really enjoyed it and, and he says, let's keep doing this. So, um, every other week we, um, we, we, we call his episodes, um, zooming with moon. So every other week we, we touch base with them and it's fun to hear, um, you know, all the, the behind the scenes of radio broadcasting and all the, all the stations he's, he's been, I'm sure you ladies have had a far Easter time and radio than he has because, uh, he has told us some hair raising tails.
Speaker 1 00:22:21 We have our own.
Speaker 2 00:22:25 So that's been, yeah, that's been fun to establish that, um, you know, that connection with w with him and that. So
Speaker 1 00:22:34 Yeah, my, my favorites are when you get the people on and they give you a one word and then they stop and then you're like, Oh, this is going to episode.
Speaker 2 00:22:46 Yeah. I was a director for a program that, uh, spoke to local authors and she always scheduled an hour for the program. But once the interview started, I could tell you exactly how long that interview would be based on how a person was talking. And, you know, it, it's terrible when you sit in there going, we're not going to get 15 minutes out of this person.
Speaker 1 00:23:14 We have been there, done that. Do you, um, do you feel like having a show on disability topics? Um, I mean, does this, do you feel like this in some way will improve the world or society? How, if so,
Speaker 2 00:23:33 Ooh, that's a deep question, but I have to be on my paper. I didn't think it would be an essay question tonight. Um, you know, in our own small way, because we
Speaker 3 00:23:46 Are exposing people to, um, some of the opportunities that are out there, you know, like we're talking about the Guthrie theater and, you know, they, they were great to tell us of all the opportunities they have both for, um, disabled actors and also for the, the audience in all the ways that they have made, um, the programming available to everyone with descriptive, uh, service to hands-on, uh, for visually impaired people, they would allow certain performances for the members to come on the stage and get a cocktail feel of the, uh, of the stage of the set. So, yep. And, and, you know, I think I had no idea that exists, so it's broadening what we know and can also bring it to everybody else out there. Yeah. Cause you know, a lot of times all of us with our, with our disabilities, we get so pigeonhole or focused on our, on our disabilities.
Speaker 3 00:24:56 And then when you start, uh, and, and it's fun because like Charlie's saying, you know, we're meeting D you know, different people with their different challenges ad. Yeah. So it's very, you know, it's, it's, it's interesting to see, and we're hoping too that, um, you know, people might see something that they don't know that's out there that, you know, can exist for them, you know, gives, you know, basically we're just hoping someone will, will see something they don't know and we'll lease, um, go out there and, and try it and, and, and, and see if they at least like it or not. So
Speaker 1 00:25:36 I do want to make sure I mentioned their YouTube channel, which is disability channel Minnesota. Correct?
Speaker 3 00:25:42 That is correct. Thank you.
Speaker 1 00:25:44 Um, so I, I wonder, you know, you touched on it a little bit, but there's always the idea of kind of what, I mean, we, we kind of go through this here too, and it's the idea of what do you want somebody who doesn't have a disability to take away from your show? Right. Because the show really, I mean, we realize that there are people with disabilities that listened to the show probably, um, ones that have completely different disabilities in the topics that we're talking about, but there's also people who listen or maybe watch your show who, um, don't have a disability, at least you hope that's the draw as well. Right. Would be, I mean, what do you want them to take away from the show?
Speaker 3 00:26:34 Um, I think that, that they will learn that just, uh, disabled people are all around them for free, you know, whether they realize it or not, and that the roles that they can fulfill in life, you know, from being, you know, we're not all sitting at home playing X-Box or something like that. We are active working people that, um, have fulfilling lives and, you know, there's a blind spot to that. And pardon the pun, um, when it comes to, uh, people recognizing others with disabilities and how they are, uh, active in society.
Speaker 1 00:27:21 Um, yes, I think so too. Um, I, I guess too, I, I mean, I hope that it educates them with the different types of disabilities. Cause I, I don't know about you guys, but I have so often met people that who've said I've never met anybody with a disability and I laugh and I say, have, they've just never told you
Speaker 3 00:27:48 Exactly as people don't
Speaker 1 00:27:51 Often realize that there are, um, hidden disabilities as well, that most people don't talk about or try to reveal because of the stigma of what they feel
Speaker 3 00:28:06 Exactly. No. Um, yeah, we we've, we talk about hidden disabilities. Uh semi-frequently but you know, we, we know they're out there and having people be aware of them is, you know, uh, on top of my other disabilities, I'm a dialysis patient, which is in itself is its own disability.
Speaker 1 00:28:28 And
Speaker 3 00:28:28 So, but that that's so getting from them because they don't see, you know, I'm not dragging a dialysis machine down. Right. So it's not recognized, but you know, and they, you know, mental health issues, things like that, they're all hidden disabilities, but you know, people just aren't aware of them and we're kind of hope, you know, hopefully show people that all these people exist in your world. You just don't know it.
Speaker 1 00:28:56 Right. So you guys, um, growing up with your disabilities, you, they were not hitting you. There is no way to hide them.
Speaker 3 00:29:06 Oh no, no. That was, we could stay at a desk all day.
Speaker 1 00:29:11 What was that like for you guys talk a little bit about what that was like dealing with people and, and your classmates and teachers and things like that.
Speaker 3 00:29:22 You know, the, for the most part, we at Marshall university was considered integrated school, whereas, you know, a large portion of the Minneapolis disabled population went there. So, you know, it was kind of a testing ground for the able-bodied students, as we considered them to learn about people with disabilities to accept them, be around them on a regular basis. Um, you know, my favorite thing still is, you know, dealing with kids, you know, kids are curious, they're going to come up, they're going to ask questions and, you know, sometimes, you know, you can play with them a little bit, you know, educate them when, you know, their parents are often the one trying to drag them away. It's like, no, let them learn. Let the kids learn. Um, you know, I do have, uh, a minor mean streak though, once in a while, um, one, one time in a, in a, uh, a target store, a little boy came up to me and said, you know, very, you know, I don't think it was curiosity was just kind of gone, you know, a little mean-spirited go, where are your legs? Well, I looked down and go, Oh my God,
Speaker 4 00:30:35 Go on
Speaker 3 00:30:38 The little boy, ran away to his parents going, mommy. Didn't like her gone. You know, most of the time I use it as a teaching experience, but you know, some days you just have the mood
Speaker 2 00:30:52 For me, one of the, um, one of the, uh, you know, uh, hilarious moments and, and comforting moment really for me was I I've got two kids or they're adults now, but they're still kids 26 and 22. And when my daughter was about seven or eight years old, I had promised her, you know, we'd go buy a doll. And so we, we were at the mall going through the mall to the store to get her doll. And my daughter's the type she's very focused once you, you know, when you say you're going to go get it, she wants to go and get that doll, that type of thing. So what was interesting is, as we were going to go, as we're going through the store through the mall, um, as usual, uh, kids stopped and asked, uh, you know, what happened to you? My daughter, knowing that I have a tendency to talk and it could take some time. Hmm. When the kid asks that before I could even start talking, she looked at the kid, he was born that way. Okay, come on.
Speaker 4 00:32:02 What's cool.
Speaker 2 00:32:06 I'm going to start talking because it was going to be cutting into time for her to go get that, that also, she just, it was just so comforting because me, both of my kids just got, you know, they got used to the question and in fact, they, in a strange way, they kind of enjoyed it. Cause they were always curious to see, let's see what kind of mood dads today, you know, is he in a talkative mood or is he just going to kind of ignore? Cause sometimes you just ignore them because you know, you, you want to get some place and you don't want to talk to every kid. But
Speaker 3 00:32:41 That moment, that one time when my daughter just looked at that kid, he was born that way. Come on dad.
Speaker 1 00:32:49 Yeah. I try to always go kind of by the premise of, you know, it's fear that instills, you know, meanness and teasing and people and kids, right. Knowledge once they understand, um, they're more like humans to everyone.
Speaker 3 00:33:08 Yeah. And you know, some, it oftentimes it's more about teaching their parents than it is the kids,
Speaker 1 00:33:16 Because the kids
Speaker 3 00:33:16 Are naturally curious and you know, it's good for them.
Speaker 1 00:33:21 So what do you guys do outside of doing your show?
Speaker 3 00:33:27 Well, until the lockdown ends not much, but, um, I personally, I operate a, uh, an adapted sports program for adults with disabilities that, um, we've been going strong now for 25 years. It's called we love to play. And, um, you know, we, we play, I don't know if you're familiar, but minister, state high school league sponsors adapted sports for kids in high school. Uh, they play floor hockey, soccer and softball. Well, I found that a great number of these kids wanting to continue playing after they get out of high school. So I give them that opportunity.
Speaker 1 00:34:08 Cool. And how, um, how old do you, do you a coach tell?
Speaker 3 00:34:17 Well, we have kids, uh, actually from probably 15, 16 all the way up to 67.
Speaker 1 00:34:24 Excellent. Excellent. I may be looking off that
Speaker 3 00:34:29 We have a great time.
Speaker 1 00:34:31 Uh, that's really cool. So adaptive, I presume you mean like it's an all wheelchair thing or is it different types of disabilities in there?
Speaker 3 00:34:40 It is a wide variety of disabilities from cognitive disabilities to people with severe cerebral palsy. Um, you know, the rules are written as such to kind of level the playing field for everybody. Um, nobody's, you know, out, out running somebody else it, and it's been a, uh, a real fun experience because you see these kids come out that, um, that are real timid. They don't know what they're doing. You get them on the hockey floor and they score a goal and it's the first one they've ever scored in their life. And they're just so excited and you're excited for them. And that's part of the thrill of what we do. And how about you Mark for me? Um, I, um, why I like to, I, I, I go to the rec center. I live in Jordan, just Southwest of Shakopee. So I like to go work out every day and that, um, before all this COVID I also up
Speaker 2 00:35:38 And like I mentioned a little bit doing standup. I'd like to go out and I would do, um, open mikes and, and comedy comedy shows that obviously all my comedy is, is, is, is based on my disability. But being when, when someone first sees me, they assume I'm an amputee. Cause it's really hard to see my, my legs on that. So a lot of my jokes are based off of, I don't have any legs. I just, you know, my comedy stuff is based on that. So when people come and watch my comedy who know me and know I have these small legs afterwards, they go, Oh, Marquis or liar, you got legs. Like what happens at the comedy club stays at the comedy club.
Speaker 1 00:36:30 I w I wonder if you could give me some thoughts on your insight, as far as you know, we, we have so many things now, um, with people with disabilities, I mean, you have sports, you have education, you have theoretically employment, um, all these different facets that people without disabilities do as well. Where are we in the playing field? Are we anywhere near? Um, I mean, seems like we, as, as far as we presume we've come there feels like there's still a ways to go. Where do you guys feel like we are
Speaker 2 00:37:12 There? You're you're right. There is. I mean, we have come a long way. I mean, you know, Mark and I are old enough now that we were, you know, adults with the ADA was passed and, you know, we seen the changes, but there's still, I don't want to say prejudice, but unawareness people with disabilities and what they're capable of. And that's an education thing. That's not, you know, building a ramp or, or getting, you know, access to a building. That's actually changing the perceptions of people and how they see disability. Yeah. Cause like what, uh, this one time when I was, I was working, I was doing, um, working as a computer programmer in that. And, uh, what was interesting is the people that I will work, that I was working with, they all had the opportunity to go get training and they all selected to go to California for their training.
Speaker 2 00:38:19 And when it came time for me to go for training, my boss said, okay, Mark, we're going to send you to Chicago. And I'm like, what the heck did I do all? I don't recall saying anything or pissing boss off. Why am I going to Chicago? I, I couldn't understand it. But as he was talking, he goes, yeah, Mark, we're going to send you to Chicago. Then you can drive your car. And then I'm in here again. I'm like, God, why did I really piss them off? It was like, why am I having to drive to Chicago? But I then put two and two together. And I'm like, Oh, he doesn't realize you can rent rental cars can have had controls put in. He did, he didn't understand that. And I just, I, you know, I said, Hey, Ernie, or all the name right there, Ernie.
Speaker 2 00:39:14 But I said, Ernie, you can, um, you don't Hertz and all the major car rentals, you just tell them, you need hand controls and they'll, they'll put them in for you. He goes, really? I go, yeah, we, I can rent a car with hand controls. He says, Oh, you want to go to California? That I said, yeah, I want to go there. So, so yeah, you're always having in the back of your mind being, you know, making sure that you're awaring your coworkers or your bosses, that, you know, these opportunities, you know, like driving or getting a rental car, um, you, you, you can do otherwise for me, I'm stuck in Chicago, nothing against Chicago, but in the winter time I wanted California. So
Speaker 1 00:40:03 Do you feel, um, I know when I was growing up, um, you know, I remember having jobs when I was a teenager and there probably wasn't as many disability rules or laws put into place. I mean, you, you hoped that people didn't discriminate, you know, they did all the time, but I often remember going in and giving a good interview or convincing the person, Hey, I know I can do this job. This is what I have to do. So how about it? And they would give you, I had often gotten a chance. Not that I never got discriminated again. I certainly did, but I had always held a job during high school and my college days. And I feel like now I see so many people with disabilities, like in my area of disability, that don't work. Um, and they, I, it's interesting now because I think we have more, um, rules or laws to protect people theoretically with disability and employment. I'm wondering, do you ever think that that hurts, um, employing people with disabilities that people get scared or that, um, there's any other aspects to that?
Speaker 2 00:41:19 You know, I, I would almost tend to believe that that, um, you'll almost sometimes wonder if they're a little skeptical about taking, hiring someone with, with, uh, with a disability, because they're afraid that it might cause they might screw up somehow and, and, and cause a problem or, or something like that. I mean, for me, I was, I mean, I, I, I was fortunate because, uh, um, I went to Brown Institute, took some computer programming, but my first job was at Honeywell and my dad worked there. So he at least, you know, he, he at least got me in the door. Um, you know, I still had to prove myself, but it did help because you know, all you need is that chance a lot of times to prove yourself, but you're right with everything going on, someone might be hesitant about giving someone that chance because of the fact, you know, they're, they're afraid, Oh gosh, I might screw up or something might happen is a really worth taking, taking that risk.
Speaker 2 00:42:34 And as I see it, it's one of the things I think that kind of scares some employers up is the term reasonable accommodation there. They're not sure what that means. And they think, you know, they're going to dig deep in the pocket, do you know, make everything picture perfect for a person with disability, where is for a lot of us, it's just, you know, raise a desk, Gideon, something like that, you know, make it a comfortable for a wheelchair to get through it, but they get scared off by what they think they might have to do to make it accessible for you.
Speaker 1 00:43:15 What do you guys see for the future of disability landscape?
Speaker 2 00:43:22 What, I mean, for me, kind of what we had mentioned is that, um, we're starting to get, um, other contributors, um, onto the, onto the channel and part of the PA part of the show. So we'd really like to kind of get it out there more. How did outstate, like in the, you know, we'd like to get a connection in St. Cloud, if there's anyone who hears this in St. Cloud, I'm going to reach out to us. But yeah. So we'd really like to get, we've got someone in Duluth and Rochester, but we'd like to get other parts like Mankato and, and honestly, we're not sure what the future is for this. W w we're just seeing where it takes us to some extent. Yeah. Um, again, I want to echo Mark there. We want to, you know, it's just the only channel Minnesota is the YouTube channel. We want to reach all of Minnesota, everybody, you know, from international falls to Worthington, you know, and just kind of get people involved to know what is out there for them to do,
Speaker 3 00:44:32 To see, to be a part of and just, you know, become involved. And that is also where we're talking in getting the contributors. We want people who, you know, are living in, in small town, Minnesota with a disability to tell us what their life is like and what they're doing to, you know, move beyond it.
Speaker 1 00:44:56 Um, and are either of you still involved with, um, disability, viewpoints? Oh, you know, is that still going on?
Speaker 3 00:45:05 Yeah, it's, it's still going on, not at this, not at this time, because right now with disability viewpoints, um, with the limited number of people, third, doing it all through all through zoom. So I was like a camera operator. So, um, those are not, you know, aren't, aren't are needed at, at this time.
Speaker 1 00:45:27 Yeah. And do you feel like these types of shows, I mean, do you think they will be more popular? I know there's this whole thing that goes back and forth with internet, you know, radio, TV, YouTube. Um, and I think there's enough out there for everyone, but I think, um, there's always that thing as how do you keep people involved? And for, I would think for YouTube, you know, a lot of the kids are involved in that and maybe part of the deal is to figure out what hooks them and get them involved with disability topics and whatnot, because they have disabilities too. You know, it's not like there's a cutoff at 25 or whatever a new generation does not have a disability anymore. That's simply,
Speaker 3 00:46:25 Yeah. That, that, that's not the case. And, um, yeah, YouTube is a big platform and it's, it's getting attracting the viewers that you want to see or you think you want to reach. And, um, the problem is there's a lot of competition and a lot of people out there, you know, we're learning as we go along, um, what we need to do to, um, make people interested in what we, what our product is.
Speaker 1 00:47:00 Hm. So if you had, um, do you have any advice to give to anybody who is considering trying to start a show or trying to get involved with this type of thing?
Speaker 3 00:47:21 No, just, I just, um, yeah, it, it, it, you know, go out there and do it, especially nowadays because,
Speaker 2 00:47:30 Uh, you know, zoom is solved. Um, you know, zoom is not going to disappear. I mean, it will disappear somewhat when COVID is God, but still, um, zoom is going to be, be out there. And when we're, when we've been talking to these individuals who are going to be contributors, um, you know, we, we told them, um, you know, we're going to handle the zoom part of it. We just want you to, you know, make the connections and they will do the interview. And then, um, one of us will join them because with disability landscape, both Charlie, as you know, both Charlie and I are, um, you know, asking the question and we, we like the two people approach. Cause then we kind of make it more into a way, um, a conversation. Oh yeah. Okay. Yeah. Conversational type type thing. So yeah, it, it just said, you, you see so many programs are here, you know, radio programs that they're talking at you and not talking with you, it's not a conversation. They're just telling you their, your, their opinion. I want people to, you know, talk back and forth.
Speaker 1 00:48:51 So as far as in the disability world or genre, what, what do you guys see as things that you feel that your show can help improve on
Speaker 2 00:49:07 Connections? You know, connecting people, whatever really comes down to is connecting people with, um, the services and organizations, um, that, that are out there for, for, for people. Because I think a lot of folks, you know, the younger folks, just, um, you know, they don't realize, I mean, obviously they have it set up a little bit better now. Cause they've, they've got the internet where, you know, when we were growing up, it was basically, you know, the newspaper and the Ana and word of mouth, that type of, that type of thing. But, um, yeah, the connections.
Speaker 1 00:49:49 Are there any other things that you feel you want people to know about your show are, um, what you're doing?
Speaker 2 00:49:55 Like, you know, like when you said, if there's other people out there that want to do, um, you know, something like that, that we are doing. Um, part of the thing with, with, you know, we, we look at disability channel Minnesota, let like a channel kind of like your, your channel for WC seal, your, your, you know, your channel 11 care where, um, if someone out there who wants to put together a show, um, you know, we'd love to put it on our channel, you know, for you to, um, with a YouTube channel. Um, what we do is we end up creating, um, uh, what it's called a playlist. So if someone comes to us and they go, Hey, I got these videos, I just kind of want to make, we would take all their videos and give them their own, their own playlist. So example disability landscape.
Speaker 2 00:50:57 We have a playlist of all the, the interviews. Um, one of the other we call them shows that we're trying to do is, is one week called disco, paids, disability, escapades, where, um, and we've talked to a couple of people and, and really, that's just kind of a story talking to different individuals with disabilities and just talking about the different, um, kind of their stories or scenarios that they've, they've run into. It's not to be complaining type thing, but just the strange, I mean, I'm sure both of you have had those moments too, because of your disability. And you're like, really this just, you know,
Speaker 3 00:51:42 We want to explore the, the funny thing that happened to you as a person with disability that, you know, often maybe related to the disability, or just in general, and, you know, it's a way of sharing stories to make people laugh.
Speaker 2 00:51:58 Can they not be funny at that time with it happened to you, but looking back, you're like, really?
Speaker 1 00:52:05 Yeah. We've all got them, I think. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well guys, do you want to share how people can contact you and also what's going to be on your next program?
Speaker 3 00:52:18 Well, um, coming up, we are going to be, uh, putting out well a re interview with a gentleman named Peter Winslow. He has a disability, he is a trombone player, uh, which is interesting because it uses a prosthetic to help, uh, play the trombone. And, uh, he'll be coming up here in the next week or so. Um, you know, we've got a lot of things in the hopper right now.
Speaker 2 00:52:44 Well, with Peter too, with Peter, he, he, the reason we reached out to him, the main reason we reached out to him is he's a, uh, report or broadcast for a community access system out in Stillwater Valley access TV. So he's going to be, uh, um, a contributor to, or our, um, our channel also because he's already in the media world. Then what else do we, we, we just did some other interviews, Charlie.
Speaker 3 00:53:14 Well, we, uh, spoke to Reagan recently and, uh, we'll be putting that back up there. Reagan Lenten is there, our actress friend from, uh, Colorado. And, uh, she's always a guest to talk to. So we'll be bringing her back up, but, uh, you know, if they want to reach us, our email address is disability channel
[email protected].
Speaker 1 00:53:36 Do you want to give that once more, please?
Speaker 3 00:53:39 It's disability channel M
[email protected]. All right. Well, I go to our Facebook page and message or to our Facebook pages, disability channel, Minnesota, and you can message us there.
Speaker 1 00:53:56 Excellent. Thank you so much for being on. I really appreciate that. Um, it's been fun. Happy you guys. This has been disability and progress. So views expressed on the shore are not necessarily those of cafe or its board of directors. My name is Sam. I'm the host of this show, Annie Harvey, engineers, shelling dolls, my research team. You can be on our emailing list by emailing
[email protected] and find out what is coming up from week to week. Or if you have ideas, share those there too. And you can hear us by going to <inaudible> dot org slash disability and progress, or download the app from your great app store on your smartphone. And you can carry us with you. This has been KPI 90.3, FM, Minneapolis and fear bi.org. Tonight, we were speaking with Martin Newson and Charlie bros talking about their program disability, Lam speed on their YouTube channel disability channel, Minnesota. Thanks for joining me. Good night.
