Speaker 0 00:00:00 Okay.
Speaker 0 00:01:02 Thank you for joining disability and the 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 joining in Charlene doll is my research team. Good evening, Charlene. Good evening, everyone. And Annie Harvey is my engineer. Thank you for engineering tonight, Annie, I'd like to remind you that if you like to hear more of us, of course you do. We are now podcasting. So please look up our podcasts or ask your smart speaker to play them. And you may hear lots more of us. We are growing every week. Um, thanks to Aaron for that. Uh, we also can email you out an email or each week that tells you who is coming on the shelf, and you can email
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[email protected]. Tonight. Dan McClure, Jayden is with us.
Speaker 0 00:02:03 She is a managing editor of access press. We'll be talking about access, press a paper that covers disability topics. Good evening, Jane. Hello, glad to be here. Thank you so much. Uh, I want to start out by getting a little bit of history about you and how you came to access press. Well, I, I just got my 50 year award from the Minnesota newspaper association for 50 years working in community journalism. I, and I'm not as old as that sounds. I'm 62. I started writing for papers in Iowa when I was 12 and impressive. I ended up writing for three newspapers at one newspaper. They let me work in the back shop and I could, I could be a printer's devil and meltdown type and set tight, no, no OSHA rules in that those days to keep the teenage girls out. So
Speaker 2 00:03:00 I wrote for papers in Iowa growing up, I went to Iowa state and worked on the student newspaper, the Iowa state daily, and I graduated from Iowa state in 1980. Since then I've worked for news daily and weekly and monthly newspapers in Minnesota. Since then I moved to the twin cities in 1983. Today is my 13 year anniversary at press. So we're don't have any champagne here. I'm sorry, but, um, one fun fact, I've done a lot of different kinds of writing for many years. I've done mainly local state national government, um, community issues, zoning, land use regulatory issues. But in my college days at Iowa state, I was the first woman to cover big eight football.
Speaker 0 00:03:49 Wow.
Speaker 2 00:03:51 I'm a volunteer judge for Minnesota history day with the Minnesota historical society. And a couple of years ago, I went to one of the regionals and some of the younger judges were smirking at me. And I said, okay, younger judges, what is so funny? And they said you were on a display board. And I was like, Oh no, what did I do? And I was on the display board as the first woman to cover big eight football in the 1970s. And what was funny about that was the poor student was asked by one of the judges. Well, did you call Jane Muchler? She lives in St. Paul and the student didn't so never did get to see the display board because the student States. So that's been my career. Um, as I said, today's my 13 year anniversary at, at access press. I also freelance write for St. Paul community papers doing mainly city and County government coverage for the villager and Highland based out of Highland neighborhood and for the midway Como monitor.
Speaker 0 00:04:48 Wow. Talk about writing. Okay. So how did tell, tell us a little history of access, press, how it got its start? Oh, sure.
Speaker 2 00:05:00 We'd love to, um, access press is 31 years old this year. We're the same age as the Americans with disabilities act, the newspaper was founded by a gentleman named Charlie Smith Jr. Who was quadriplegic. Um, Charlie was quite an activist. There's a great story about him and a bunch of people in wheelchairs going to the governor's office to protest and they were all arrested. And then someone figured out, well, we're not going to be able to get all these wheelchairs into any kind of accessible vehicle and take these people to jail. So they apparently all got a stern warning and were released, but Charlie wanted to organize community around disability issues. And in the pre-internet days you used phone trees. Um, you maybe distributed flyers if you had a very local issue, but Charlie wanted to start a statewide newspaper. And that's how access press was born.
Speaker 2 00:05:55 Access press began as a newspaper. And then in the 1990s transitioned to non-profit status. And that's where I met Charlie. I was working with the neighborhood and community press association in the twin cities. And we met with Charlie and a lot of us helped him get to the path of being a nonprofit newspaper. We are one of the few multi-device ability publications in the United States. There are other publications that might specialize in one disability, such as, um, hearing or visual impairments. And we're unique in that we are, we cover all kinds of disabilities and we're statewide. And we hope to keep publishing for many years to come
Speaker 0 00:06:44 Kind of like this radio show, you cover all types of disabilities. And we actually consider ourselves nation wide because anybody can hear us from anywhere. So, and we've covered many things. Not certainly don't limit ourselves to local, but I can see where a paper might. Um, in your, when I was reading up on the paper, it says, you know, you kind of talked about that you consider, um, because the paper tries to cover people who are considered, um, invisible or marginalized. Talk about what that means to you.
Speaker 2 00:07:24 Our community of readers, um, includes many people who feel they don't have a voice. They feel they are powerless. They, they do feel marginalized. Um, they, they feel like their issues don't get the attention they deserve. And that's, that's where we come in to help bring across issues and bring, bring awareness of what those issues are. I've talked to our board, we're a nonprofit with a board. I've talked to our board about the possibility that as we position ourselves for the future, perhaps we need to be kind of a, a disability one Oh one for our readers to help them not just find resources, but to find ways to advocate and have a voice for themselves. Sometimes knowing how to do that, um, is easier said than done. Minnesota has a long history of terrific self advocates. We've lost two of them recently with Rick hardiness and cliff poets from ICI university of Minnesota. We've lost terrific self advocates, but there's always room for more, but we need to educate and bring the new generation of advocates along.
Speaker 0 00:08:39 How do you decide what kind of articles you want to put in access?
Speaker 2 00:08:46 Well, we try for a mix of articles, our retired executive director, Tim Benjamin does a column every month. Um, we have in the paper that we run, we do a people in places, section where we invite our community partners, nonprofits, businesses send an articles about accomplishments by people with disabilities. We follow what's going on pretty closely in the news. I read a lot of newspapers and follow a lot of broadcast news around the state just to see what's happening in the disability community. This time of year, we're following the legislature very, very closely. And we're also following local issues and national issues in terms of what's happening with elections and election law. We're
Speaker 0 00:09:37 Following God, what a mess
Speaker 2 00:09:39 We're following. We're fine. We just follow issues, but we follow issues always with a disability lens. Um, I I'd call out the murder of George Floyd as an example. Um, we had a history note about that and we followed that from the perspective that many people who have been injured or killed by law enforcement are people with disabilities. And there's a huge intersectionality with race and disability that seems to get ignored. Um, people forget that both of our major nonprofits in the twin cities that work on police brutality issues have their roots in incidents that involved people with disabilities. So we, we follow what's going on, I guess, in the world pretty closely. And we have that Minnesota tie and we have that disability lens.
Speaker 0 00:10:35 What are the responsibilities of a managing editor?
Speaker 2 00:10:40 Um, well, I guess, I don't know if you, you know, for those of you who do watch TV and have ever watched the super bowl and watch the commercials because they're the best part. Um, there was a commercial many years ago with a bunch of grizzled Cowboys, herding cats. And I would compare my work to that. Um, I have my hands on every word that goes into the newspaper. I'm tracking, what's going on around the state. I'm reaching out to people and saying, Hey, don't you have an award ceremony coming up. Shouldn't we get your award winners. Um, I'm checking on events so we can get them into our calendar, um, such and such group. Do you have a fundraiser coming up? That kind of thing? Um, it's like doing a giant jigsaw puzzle every month and you're just putting the pieces together. I also, um, spend time on the phone and emails, um, communicating with people about what we do, what we don't do.
Speaker 2 00:11:42 Um, I think one of the challenges we had access press and other newspapers have these days is what our new space is limited, how much space we have for news. That's really dictated by the amount of advertising sold. And with the pandemic, a lot of our advertisers have taken a hit. Um, some have had to go away. We hope they come back, but that limits the space we have. Um, I should get a t-shirt that says I have 12 pages and where some months that's what we have. We don't have a lot of space. We'd we'd like to go with more news on our website and more with our social media accounts and we're working toward that, but that is something that takes staffing and or freelancers. And that is something that takes time to get set up.
Speaker 1 00:12:31 We're going to take a short break and we'll be right back
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Speaker 1 00:13:25 <inaudible> and Mrs. Kathy I 90.3, FM Minneapolis and cafe.org. This is disability and progress. My name is Sam we're speaking with Jane McClure. Jane is a managing editor for access press Jane. How many writers do you have on staff?
Speaker 2 00:13:53 We do not have staff writers right now. Um, we really don't have as a monthly publication. We really don't have enough work for a writer to do to justify that. Right now, we work with freelancers and I have about a dozen people who are waiting in the wings for freelance assignments. We, um, get a lot of our copy from community members, community groups. I always say it's kind of a case of picking and choosing every month about what gets in and what doesn't, because we always have more copy than we have space for. But in an ideal world, I would use freelance writers more. And we hope to in the future, as the paper gets, um, recovering from the pandemic, so to speak, we prefer to work with writers who either have a disability or who understand disability. I've dealt with people who want to write for us, and yet they want to do stories that are well, what we would call a pity story or the inspirational story, like the hallmark movie, where the guy throws aside his crutches and walks into the sunset and we don't do pity.
Speaker 2 00:15:11 Um, we, I always say that we're not here to inspire you. Um, we're not your show animals. We respect that there are people with disabilities who feel being inspirational is good. And having people admire you is good, but I've been in the situation with my disabilities, where I've been trying to get to the bus or going through a public building and had total strangers say, well, you inspire me. Well, if I inspire you because I can't walk very well. Um, for one thing I have to kind of wonder about that. And for another again, I'm not here for you to feel like there, but for the grace of God go, I, um, I'm not walking like she does today, but I think, I think with writers, when I work with writers, I really have to have them understand that, you know, we do coverage of disability.
Speaker 2 00:16:13 In the context of, we cover our community issues, our legislation, our issues at city halls, our issues with access, our issues with like a high profile lawsuit or something like that. But we can't cover things like we're going to the circus and looking in the freak tent because we have disabilities, but we are people. And we are people who deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Our opinions need to be valued. Our issues need to be important. So while we cover things from that disability lens, we, we try not to, you know, we, we urge the freelance writers we work with to not bring in that, that pity component. We, we had a staff member at access press who kind of wanted us to pick up on the par pop culture things and Tim Benjamin. And I would look at each other when we were working together. And our joke was because the staff member felt we should write about things like, Oh, the Mattel company has come out with a Barbie doll who is in a wheelchair and we would roll our eyes at each other and go Barbie in a wheelchair. And that kind of became the code for, we're not sure about this story. I mean, yeah. So, so again, that's, that's the lens we ask writers to work with us on and it doesn't always succeed. Um, and sometimes it does.
Speaker 0 00:17:42 How do you decide, who's going to write about what, I mean, clearly you two from freelance writers, right? Yes. We have, we have freelance
Speaker 2 00:17:55 Writers who approach us with a story. And if it's a story, that's something we haven't done before after all, we've been around 31 years and sometimes I have to say to people, well, we did a story on that group in, um, 2010 and nothing new has changed. And so we probably won't do a story again, that's especially true with our history notes, which we do with the County council on developmental disabilities. We, um, it D you know, when I'm working with writers, again, it depends the writer who can come in and tell a story and tell it well, and be fair and represent more than one side. And again, do things through a disability lens. I'll pull an example. That's coming up that we're going to be following PR well, I'll do two examples and put them together in Minneapolis. They're talking about taking the parking off of Hanapin Avenue and converting Hanapin Avenue with a transit lane and with travel lanes and bike lanes. And you wouldn't be able to park on the street in St. Paul, the city is looking at requiring developers to provide less parking when they build a new building. And while that sounds good from a bicycle and an urban planning standpoint, both of those issues raise massive red flags for people with disabilities.
Speaker 0 00:19:15 And when somebody says, well,
Speaker 2 00:19:18 They can walk a block or two, well, what if you can't walk at all? Yeah. And I say that, and you know, then you get the, Oh, the light bulb goes off.
Speaker 0 00:19:27 Right. And, um,
Speaker 2 00:19:30 So, you know, I think I work with writers who I prefer to work with writers, who again, can look at things through that disability lens and bring that disability viewpoint and also realize this is another thing that gets complicated. We're a big community of disabilities. It's a big tent, but sometimes we disagree on our own issues.
Speaker 0 00:19:54 Oh God. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:19:57 That in itself can be a challenge too, when you're doing coverage. Um, I have, uh, a poster on my wall here. I said this once and somebody put it on a poster for me that I don't have to like you people, I just have to be fair. And I honestly like the vast majority of the people I write with, brightful write about and write for, but you do have to be really fair and do balanced coverage. And example of that I can throw out is several years ago, when get up, stand up was coming in to get money for spinal cord injury research. You had a lot of people who were Paris and quads who were just like, Oh, hell no, we don't need research money. That will take away from the money for our care. So that became this huge care versus cure debate. And we addressed it by running op-ed pieces. Um, one from get up, stand up and one from people who'd been quadriplegic for a very long time. So, you know, sometimes on issues we have to not in real life, but we have to split the baby and say, these are the different side.
Speaker 1 00:21:05 Right. And, and I, I think that is a good thing. I think that is fair. And boy, do I wish they would do more of that in politics?
Speaker 2 00:21:15 Well, I'm not until you and I run for office. It's going to happen. So
Speaker 1 00:21:21 I know, I know. So how has access press change since it began?
Speaker 2 00:21:30 There's a lot of changes. Um, I would say one is the writing has gotten more professional. I think when Charlie started the paper, he was very much an advocate and most of the journalism was advocacy. Journalism. Very, very shame on you, public officials. And today we tend to keep the opinion pieces on the opinion page and then cover news in the rest of the paper. Advocacy. Journalism is certainly important and it certainly has its place, but you also have to think about how five Oh one C3, nonprofit newspapers like ours are regulated. We can't be politically partisan. We can't endorse candidates. Another change with access press over the years is a lot more use of photos. We have covered more disabilities. We've added sections. We two sections I've added as managing editor, working with Tim Benjamin people in places is a very popular section. And again, it's what it sounds like.
Speaker 2 00:22:41 It's stories about people in interesting places, disability focused around the state of Minnesota. We also do regional news. We gather news from around the state that people can read. And then we'll include a tagline on each short story that says free press of man's keto or Rochester post-fall attends. So people can go to that newspaper and look for more of the story. We've organized the calendars more, we've separated out the arts and entertainment type things, the fun stuff, the fundraising galas, et cetera. We've separated those from here's the conference on autism, or here's the Minnesota star program with its new COVID policies. We've separated those out. We've continued some things we've always run radio talking book, which I think has a really important service. We do, uh, a feature from time to time called around the dial and we have disability and progress and other shows and podcasts in that.
Speaker 2 00:23:47 So people can connect with other disability news. So we've changed the paper a lot in terms of design and how we organize news. I think we've made it easier for people to read. I think, um, we've also, you know, we've made improvements to the design. When the paper started there really desktop publishing was in its infancy and some of the original issues are just pages and pages of copy without a single photo. One thing people might not know is our directory of organizations, which we now print quarterly, um, that used to be on every issue. And that used to be a free service. Now it's a, a directory with a nominal fee. You're in print four times a year, and you're online 24 seven, 365 days a year. So we've made a number of changes. And I think, I think we've, we've had to change. And I think like other publications we will continue to change with the times. Newspapers have been through a lot in recent years.
Speaker 0 00:24:54 I wanted to talk about that too, because newspapers as a hard, you know, print copy is, has dwindled. Um, how has this affected you guys? And you still come out with an actual paper,
Speaker 2 00:25:11 Come out with a paper that is also published online. We are always going to have a constituency that wants a print paper. And as we look at the future, will we likely do more online and have maybe fewer print copies that is likely, but that's something we have to talk about with our community, with our advertising partners. Again, there's still people who want to print paper, our board chair, Joel Ulan. And I recently met with the state council for the centers for independent living. And I was really struck by the stories of how many parts of Minnesota have, have poor to no internet access to this day. And the digital divide really affects rural areas. And if you're a person with a disability in a rural area and you can't get around, you don't have Metro mobility, you don't have the advantages we have in the Metro areas. You are really isolated and access press. You're mailed copy once a month, maybe you're only, and one of your best sources of information. So I think there will always be papers and print. We have found around the region that papers that have just dropped their print edition and gone totally online. That's not sustainable either because you always have some advertisers who will want a print paper. And the balancing act we will have at access press is how do you, how do you balance that? How, where do the resources go?
Speaker 0 00:26:48 Gotcha. Is this only a twin cities paper, or do you reach out across the borders at all?
Speaker 2 00:26:54 We are a statewide paper. Although most of our circulation is in the twin cities, Metro 13 County Metro area. We are a statewide paper. It's interesting because with email, I get press releases from all over the country and I'm having to say, well, if it's not a Minnesota focus, we're not terribly interested. As we do more online, we can share more of that information because we'll have, you know, the capacity to do that. But, um, all news is tip O'Neill once said, all politics is local. And at our level we say, all news is statewide because that's what we cover. And we cover a lot of the statewide news in our regional news section.
Speaker 0 00:27:44 Have you thought about like, kind of reaching out to our sister States and, um, maybe including them at all as far as, what do you think that would help the papers? As far as more people reading it?
Speaker 2 00:27:58 A lot of people read us online and I think, you know, going beyond Minnesota would mean looking at our resources and looking at, you know, how we, how we allocate my time, how we'd allocate any other freelancer or future staff time. I think with Minnesota, it feels like every month I'm having to leave out something. So it would be really, I'd feel really hard pressed to do more with say Wisconsin or the Dakotas or Iowa. When we have so much news here we should be doing.
Speaker 0 00:28:40 So let's talk about that. Can you tell us about one of the top stories that will be in the paper this month
Speaker 2 00:28:48 Or the June issue? We're going to have stories about the legislature and this, I wouldn't call it a do nothing session, but it seems like with the pandemic, it's been a real challenge to get some of the legislation through the disability groups. We network through the Minnesota consortium for citizens with disabilities. We track what the council and disability and other specialized advocacy groups are doing. And it feels like it's really been a mixed bag, this session with what gets through and what doesn't we're likely to not have. I mean, last year was kind of Groundhog day with the legislature. We kept him, Oh, there's another special session. Oh, there's another special. And so I don't think we're going to see, but we're, we're covering the legislature. We continue to cover the COVID-19 pandemic. I was just out at the state fairgrounds, looking at how that is set up council on disability and state emergency management officials were showing us what they did to make accommodations because not every vaccination site is a CA is as accessible as we would like.
Speaker 2 00:30:07 And they don't always have the accommodations. You might not have anybody there who is proficient in ASL, for example. So we're looking at that. Um, we have another, we keep losing our giants in the community because we're all getting to that age. Um, if you've ever heard of a man named Jim Christie, um, he passed away recently. He was one of the fathers of adaptive sports in Minnesota. Minnesota has one of the oldest and largest adapted prep sports programs in the United States, which is pretty remarkable. There's bowling, there's floor hockey, um, there's baseball and youth compete at the state track and field meet every year. That'll be held later this month. And Mr. Christie was one of the pioneers of that. If you were a young person with a disability before he and others came along in the, in the Minneapolis schools, you didn't have the options to play sports. So that's coming up and we're on the advertising end. We're working with Metro transit to, we're trying to get, they're trying to get the information out for bus writers who live with visual disabilities about services and how do you services. So we're working on that as well. That's more of an advertorial, but that's something that's really important too. And again, because we're access press, we can be a platform for that. So yes, next weekend I'll be hurting the cats and careful eye on the legislature for what comes out of that.
Speaker 0 00:31:54 Um, how has doing your interviewing and whatnot changed during the COVID pandemic?
Speaker 2 00:32:04 I haven't been to the Capitol in more than a year, and that is really weird. I, you know, used to kind of trot in and out of there, go to the, or limp, depending on my disabilities. One of the disabilities, I have pretty severe arthritis and, um, I wouldn't be the first kid picked for the foot races. Let's put it that way. Um, haven't been to the Capitol or any of the city halls or the federal court, or anywhere for more than a year, watching everything online has its definite advantages and disadvantages. Um, I'm seeing a real need in a lot of places for closed captioning. I don't need it, but I'm assuming others do. I think, you know, I've always worked the phones as they call it as a reporter. Um, keep doing that, keep using email zoom, Microsoft teams, but it's incredibly isolating.
Speaker 2 00:32:57 We shut down our office. Last October, we were at Capitol Ridge, which is a combination hotel office building near the state Capitol. And we'd been there for several years, but when our lease was up, we shut down our office and went to virtual office just because, well, for one thing, I have disabilities, my board members have disabilities and we have been meeting via zoom and we'll continue likely to meet via zoom. And it just didn't make sense for us to have an office at this time. Will we have an office in the future? That's likely, but we've, we've, it's just, it's kind of been a sea change. I mean, I think my house cats, sweet PM, scratch. Look at me on the morning and say, well, when are you going to the office? Well, that's not happening guys. Sorry.
Speaker 0 00:33:48 You know, it's interesting that you bring that up because I think this is kind of a bittersweet thing. Um, I think more people are not only working from home obviously are discovering that the work they did can be done successfully from home there for also allowing more people with disabilities to work, exactly. Being able to do that. But the other thing is though, um, it's, it almost seems like it might be more isolating for people with disabilities. What is your take on that?
Speaker 2 00:34:23 It's definitely a double-edged sword. Sam it's for me, I'm somebody who much, as I am crabby about them. Sometimes I do miss people and I do miss. I do miss, you know, being actually physically present at a meeting, I do need accommodations. And if anybody from the St Paul city council staff is listening and the mayor's office, it's really annoying when you sit behind me in the council chambers and talk because you throw off my hearing, um, he'll fix that. You're welcome. Um, you know, and at the same time working at home for me on some level has been easier just because, uh, I do have mobility issues and, um, it is, it's easier to on what I refer to as bad knee and back days, it's easier for me to be home writing than, you know, going through the comedy of trying to put on clothes that aren't, you know, nightgowns and bathrobes and heading out to a meeting. So it's D there's definitely pros and cons. It really I've heard from members of our community. Who've been working at home and they hate it. They really want to be around people again. And yet there's others who say, this is the only way I can work. So I think how all of us work has changed. And I don't know if we're ever going to get that genie totally back into the bottle.
Speaker 0 00:35:51 Um, like for me, it would be almost opposite. I value going out and like eating breakfast with my friends or meeting with my friends, but I don't want to work with people, even though I do work with people, I want them from, you know, to be from a far, you know, I, I liked the idea of not having to sit by somebody or I do like the idea of not having to hear office gossip. I'll hear it sooner or later anyway. So, you know, might as well,
Speaker 2 00:36:20 It pros and cons, there are definite pros and cons to the changes in how we work now. And it's, it's very different. And I think the pandemic, if nothing else, let's hope it's opened some more doors for people in our community.
Speaker 0 00:36:34 And I do like the idea of not having to deal with all this transit stuff, even though I know part of it will come back. But, um, you know, I like having the ability to get from point a to point B there, but boy, I think people with disabilities really do pay in more ways than one having to deal with shared transit. Um, you know,
Speaker 2 00:36:59 Yes, transit transit is definitely a pro and con I live where I live in St. Paul, because I want good bus service. I want to be able to get to the airline bus easily. I want to be able to get to Greenline light rail yet at the same time, transit can be an adventure and not a fun one. Um, my, at the risk of probably let's, let's hope none of my high school coaches are listening, but sometimes on the green line, when I'd be coming home from a meeting, somebody would be smoking marijuana and I'd come home with a contact high, um, which in my case with compromised immune system allergies and adult onset asthma, you know, for a day or two and make me less valuable. I mean, it's fun to think of the managing editor being, Hey man, but it does definitely have an impact.
Speaker 2 00:37:55 That's not good. I think for people with disabilities and I'll be real Frank about this. Sometimes some of the behavior on transit is really intimidating and it's, it's definitely a mixed bag. I, like I said, I live where I live. I moved a couple of years ago to a different apartment and I tried to make the choice based a lot on would I have to drive because I don't always like to drive and I live in the city, so I don't always have to drive, but transit, I'm glad that Metro transit is doing more for people with visual impairments. I think that will be, that will draw a lot of interest in our paper and on our website. And yes, you can read our website if, you know, with different software programs, if you have visual disabilities. But I think, yeah, I think that with transit, there's always a ways to go years ago. Part of the history of access press was taking on what was then the MPC when there was no paratransit and there were not lifts to get you on the bus or there weren't on all the buses,
Speaker 0 00:39:07 Very different. Now, are there disability topics that you feel you should expand more into?
Speaker 2 00:39:16 I think we need to look at more of a range of disabilities and we need to not be driven by the disabilities of the staff. We there's so many disabilities and it's challenging to cover them all even a few times a year. But I think as we bring in resources and hire staff at access press, I think we need to reach out to some of the disability groups we haven't been hearing from. And part of that might be a function of the pandemic cause people just hunkering down, not, you know, one thing I've missed about the legislative session is going to the Mendota cafeteria and then going to the CCD meeting. Um, but every, you know, the Tuesdays at the Capitol, but I think, I don't know, I don't want to call it any specific disabilities here, but I think there's several groups that we need to get back in touch with.
Speaker 2 00:40:18 I think we need to get in touch with some of the advocacy groups that are kind of umbrella groups like arm and more, and get back on the radar of those groups. We need to keep talking to statewide groups. Um, Joel and I had a very good talk with the statewide council for centers with independent living. And we need to keep reaching out and working, especially with the umbrella groups where we can reach a lot of people at once. I think one thing we should do more of is disabilities as they affect children. And that's kind of a hard thing to cover because it's so different. I mean, when you look at children on the spectrum, for example, it's just, you know, you could take a whole city and everybody's experienced with, with being on the autism spectrum or like myself, an adult with Asperger's, everything is very, very different and you can't really, you can't really pick out a type and say, well, this is what it's like, right? It's not that way for everybody
Speaker 0 00:41:23 Can readers suggest topics for you to cover.
Speaker 2 00:41:27 They can, they can, they can email me. And we often get people who want to write about their particular disability. And that's something we're needing to talk about with the board because there's pros and while there's pros and cons to everything, but pros and cons to that, um, I have people who might want to write a column. We don't give columns just because we haven't had great experience with people writing personal columns other than our retired executive director, but you get people. One of my disabilities is mental illness. I've lived with clinical depression for a very long time. And it's hard. It's something that I'll be Frank. I've probably missed professional opportunities over. I've had people say, well, your writing is as good as the daily papers. And I'm like, well, they'd never hire me, boys and girls because I'm disabled. And that's how it is.
Speaker 2 00:42:24 But I've had people who want to write about mental illness in the context of Madness's genius. And I respect that for some people that's a valid viewpoint, but for others that's really offensive because a mental illness shouldn't keep us from jobs and other opportunities that you couldn't keep us from relationships. It shouldn't keep us from a lot of things. So, you know, I'm, you know, I'm trying to get through the day like everybody else, I don't want to be pigeonholed as, Oh, here's the wisdom spouting crazies. So, so there's real pros and cons to people with writing about their own disability. And again, the disability experience, even if we have the same disability is so different from person to person. And that's the real challenge. Um, you know, there's always the story about, you know, people think it's great. People think it's terrible. So, so that's the thing too.
Speaker 2 00:43:27 We'd certainly take suggestions. We are careful with things that people submit. I encourage people. If they feel strongly about an issue, write something for me as a commentary and sign your name for a commentary. I love commentaries. I think people telling their stories are really powerful in the, especially in the context of here's legislation that affects my life or here's a policy change and it's terrible, or where the hell are the curb cuts. And I think those stories sometimes are much more powerful than a news story. Those kinds of first person stories can really resonate with people. People who have the same disability and face the same issue are like, yeah, that's me. Or somebody can say, Hey, I didn't know that I learned something new.
Speaker 2 00:44:27 Um, how people can retail best these days is email me Jane at access, press all one word.org. We do have the access press phone ringing into my home. Please don't call late at night because squeak, scratch and sweet pea, the cats. Um, I just almost named squeak the third cat who recently went recently, went to kitty heaven, but they don't like to get up late at night when I'm answering the phone and neither do I, but the best way I check email a lot and I'm on the computer a lot. So
[email protected] is the best way to reach me. And the other thing, if people are interested in sending something to the paper, and this is what every editor says, we could all, we could sing it and well, not me, but some of us could kick in a chorus line while we sing it, read the paper before you send us something, know what a newspaper is, know who our audience is. I can't tell you how many press releases I get. And sometimes I sit there and I think the internet is the devil because I am hacking through the undergrowth of lots of emails that have nothing to do with my readership.
Speaker 2 00:45:40 And it's really I'll say to somebody, well, your event is very nice, but what are your accommodations? And then what are accommodations? And it's just like, Oh, Holy hell people, do I really have to explain in this day and age what an accommodation
Speaker 0 00:45:57 We deal with the same deal about when somebody wants to be on the show. Yeah. Is your topic about disabilities? Oh, right.
Speaker 2 00:46:08 Well, it could be, you know, and then they've got some weird roundabout, you know?
Speaker 0 00:46:12 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Been there. Yeah. I know it was our show. You know, we kind of interview people and they're gone, you know, after that interview, um, you really have to make a, an extensive effort to bring people back. Um, later, if you want more, is it easier to do follow-up in your situation?
Speaker 2 00:46:41 It usually, yes. It usually is just because most stories are not just one story. If that makes any sense, issues can drag on for a very long time. And again, I started doing this when I was 12 I'm 62 now. And I learned from some really good editors. And the best advice I got when I was a teenager was from an editor who said, you really have to be persistent. And I guess maybe that's the story of disability lives is we really just have to be persistent in anything. We do, you know, meeting our basic needs, having our civil rights and in our case, being journalists and getting the stories. Right. Really? Um, it's but it's hard. I mean, because we are small media and I think sometimes we are regarded as lesser media because we are a small media. Um, I used to joke that, you know, we were the slow kids, but I think we do a very good paper and I think we do very good work, but sometimes, sometimes that's not recognized.
Speaker 2 00:47:43 I sit at meetings and have groups and I'm talking to you, I'm in CCD. And I will have people say, Oh, we should call Chris at the star Tribune. And it's like, you who Jane McClair here. Um, yeah, we've been you're welcome. So yeah, you do have, we, we, we do have to really be persistent as disability focused journalists and journalists with disabilities to keep, keep after people. How do you advertise your paper? Well, that's a good question. We're looking at ways to do that right now. Um, we promote ourselves on social media. We in the, you know, long ago, pre pandemic days, we used to attend events. We have board members who historically have been pretty active in the community. We're looking right now at more ways to get the word out. And we're talking with these two wonderful consultants from score. It may sound odd for a newspaper on a news organization to say, we need to promote ourselves, but we do. And we need to make more people aware of us and who we are and what we do. And yet we need to do that on the very limited budget that news news organizations have.
Speaker 0 00:49:00 You do have advertisement in your paper. How do you choose what to have? Is it based on what people with disabilities might be interested in or do you just say, Hey, you're willing to buy some tight spots in our paper. We'll take it.
Speaker 2 00:49:15 It's a little bit of both. We tend to reach out to disability, focused businesses and organizations. We tend to look for advertisers who would provide goods and services that our readers would want, but we need more advertisers. I always say, if you care about our excess press and if you enjoy what we do, thank our advertisers, because they're the ones who bring you the paper every month. A lot of the grant funding for newspapers has really dried up. We're going to have to be creative and bring in partners to get funding in the future. So for now we rely a lot on advertisers. And if you know a business that you think should be in our paper, I'll tell your listeners, you know, talk to them, talk us up and say, Hey, have you thought about this newspaper? It would be a good place to reach people with disabilities.
Speaker 2 00:50:08 Newspapers have to be careful with advertising policies on not accepting an advertisement because that can get you down kind of a slippery legal slope. We, um, a lot of, a lot of papers will not take an ad of a product is illegal. Of course, some newspapers will not take an ad. And if it has offensive language, we're revising and updating our advertising policies right now. And we wouldn't, we would want to talk to an advertiser before rejecting the law. Right. But we, we would, we would be a little hesitant with advertisers who didn't use what we consider to be people first language and language and images that treat people with disabilities, with sensitivity and with dignity. Most of all.
Speaker 0 00:51:02 Hmm. Yeah. Um, so are you familiar, I guess I'm curious to know is, um, how many other States do you know of that has a statewide paper, like access press,
Speaker 2 00:51:19 As far as we know, nobody does. Wow. And we do hear from people every once in a while who want to ask, you know, ask us about the paper we did documentary and you were in at Sam called the real story several years ago, that's gone around the country. That, that taught me a valuable lesson. All these people were clamoring to be in the documentary and I'm just like, Oh, heck you know, I don't care. You know, Jerry Smith from ICI at U of M I'm like, yeah, come on Jerry. Yeah, sure. Film me, nothing I say will be in this documentary. And then I was the first person talking in the documentary and I kind of heard about it from our, some of our then board members, because I hadn't learned makeup and I hadn't dressed for the occasion and was probably lucky that day if I'd combed my hair. I think, I think when the real story got out, that really kind of gave us some, a little bit of a national platform. It was shown at some film festivals and we did here. You know, we did hear that we are kind of unique, a unique publication because there really isn't anything like us.
Speaker 0 00:52:26 I do want to encourage my listeners since I have an email that goes out and they are from everywhere. And I want to say, if you know of a statewide paper that does, that is all dis on disability topics, disability issues, please let me know. So I can pass this onto Jane. What do you see for the future of, for access press?
Speaker 2 00:52:53 Well, that's a good question. We're in the process. If anybody goes to the Minnesota council on non-profits job board, we will be hiring a new part-time executive director. We will be hiring for somebody to sell advertising. And in the future, we'll be hiring a business manager. I see us bringing back our staff levels, which were kind of on pause during the pandemic. I see us doing more online, although I don't think we're ever going to totally discard our print products. A print product is important to a lot of people. I see us continuing do what we do and advancing the civil rights of people with disabilities through news and information. I would hope someday. I would hope someday. There's not a need for a disability newspaper. I would hope the so-called major media would cover disability with the same lens that we do, but that's probably as likely as you and I getting on our unicorns and riding down the streets, you know, that has always been a disappointment for me that they don't do that.
Speaker 2 00:53:58 All I know it goes back to that lesser thing. Doesn't it? The lesser or the invisible woman in the wheelchair, who's shoveling all her neighbors walks. Hooray. Yeah. Um, can we can't talk about monetary price, but can you please tell people how they can get a subscription? That's $30 a year for a subscription and you can email
[email protected], and we can get you the details on how to subscribe. You can also donate and provide a subscription for a low income person who cannot afford the newspaper. Excellent. Um, well, Dan, I just want to thank you very much for coming on. It's been great. And, um, what, when if somebody wants to get an ad or anything and does a paper, when do they have to have it to you? My deadline is always the 15th of the month. Okay. How is the 15th? All right. Well, that sounds good. And I think, um, unless there's anything you'd like to leave us with, um, I just want to say thank you so much. It's a pleasure to talk to a kindred spirit about disability, journalism, and I'll come in. Unlike the people who disappear on you, Sam I'll come back. Excellent. We appreciate that. Thank you so much. Thank you. This has been disability and progress. The views expressed on this show are not necessarily those of cafe or its board of directors.
Speaker 1 00:55:28 My name is Sam. I'm the host of this show. Charlene doll is my research team. Andy Harvey has been my engineer. We've been speaking with Jane <inaudible>. Jane was the managing editor is the managing editor of access press. This is KPI 90.3, FM Minneapolis and KPI dot R org. If you want to be in my emailing list, you may email
[email protected]. Thanks so much for listening night.
