PITTSBURGH — Would you tell a room full of strangers about your illness or disability?
Pittsburgh comedian Brian Gray has started speaking openly on stage about his struggle with crippling migraines. But it took a while to share his story–with his partners on stage, coworkers, and even to wrap his head around it himself.
“I can never be a traditional actor or a comedian living the life on the road and all that that comes with it because of–of this way that I am,” Gray says. “ A lot of times that just gets me depressed.”
He says that when teaching or acting, he has to make backup plans. The nature of improv comedy as a team production is helpful.
“I don’t make a whole cast responsible for understudying me…for shows that I have to miss,” he says.
Our “Look Who’s Here!” podcast host Mark Steidl and Point Park University student Nicole Paxinos spoke with Gray, who’s taught improv in Austin and New Orleans. He is the Education Director of the Pittsburgh Comedy Festival. He also serves as a teacher and New Artist Ambassador with Arcade Comedy Theater, where he performs.
Gray says he admires other performers with disabilities, such as local comedian Gab Bonesso, who talks about her struggles with mental health, and national performer Josh Blue, who has cerebral palsy.
These performers and performances can connect us as human beings, Gray says, and allow us all to laugh with them.
But Gray says it’s important for improvisers to be aware of the physical and emotional limitations of their partners.
“Having conversations about what makes us ourselves, as opposed to sort of hiding those things as we sometimes are taught or socialized to do, really makes this work special,” he says in the interview with Steidl and Paxinos.
Gray says getting to a point as a performer where he can integrate his physical limitation has been a journey, but it’s better than “shaking my fist in the air, which is what I did for many years.”
In this podcast episode, Gray also compares notes with Steidl and Paxinos about how network TV shows portray disability. ABC’s “The Good Doctor” and Netflix’s “Atypical” incorporate characters who have autism spectrum disorder. “Speechless” was recently cancelled, but featured a character with cerebral palsy who used a communication device (similar to that used by Stephen Hawking, the machine typically reads aloud the user’s typed words). In Speechless, the teen with cerebral palsy hired a person to read from the device, which is rarely the case in reality. Gray and Steidl agreed that authenticity should be the next phase of inclusion–hiring actors who have the disabilities portrayed, and showing the disabilities more accurately.
This piece, and companion video were produced in collaboration with the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University as part of our Abilities Media Project. The work is funded by The FISA Foundation and an anonymous foundation.
What’s the most effective way for veterans to share their stories so that the public can understand the realities of war?
A recent roundtable that included news reporters and veterans considered how news reporting on veterans and war, books, podcasts and poetry can communicate veteran stories. The conversation was filmed at the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University.
Do you tune out American #veterans who are killed, maimed, and broken?. This recorded conversation confronts how, where, and whether we learn about warriors.
Author Carmen Gentile has worked on podcasts with Veteran’s Breakfast Club, which include Longest War: The Post-9/11 Veterans Podcast. The Veterans Breakfast Club also holds events for veterans to tell their stories. The events attract hundreds of people who want to listen. The club’s surveys show that 95% of veterans attending reported “a healing benefit” from storytelling events.
Gentile wrote “Blindsided By The Taliban,” about his experience reporting, and being injured in Afghanistan. He is also an Editor-at-Large for Pittsburgh’s Postindustrial Media.
The Veterans Breakfast Club, he says, seeks “to tell the stories of veterans going all the way back to World War II and the Global War on Terror veterans to talk about their experiences and to try to share those not just within their community, but to get outside that community, outside that veteran bubble, to let people know that this very small percentage of a warrior class that we have in America is also an integral part of society.”
CBS Producer and Military Veterans in Journalism founder Russell Midori stressed the importance of media outlets seeking out veterans for their teams.
“Honestly, these veterans who don’t go to work in journalism because it’s too hard to break into the industry–they end up getting great jobs all over the place and they get paid much better,” Midori said. “This is a diversity issue that that companies–that companies should be looking at and how they can improve their own diversity perspectives. And I think it starts with even them just saying, ‘How many veterans work on your staff? We don’t–nobody even says that. We don’t have any data for that.”
During the discussion, Quil Lawrence, author and National Public Radio war correspondent, touched on the notions of the now decades-long American wars and the effects they’re having on the world at large.
“What do we owe these people whose country we invaded and occupied, or what do we owe our own soldiers? Lawrence said. “And do our citizens have an idea about why we’re there, what the mission is, when we will have met that goal?”
Veteran Sean Tyler told the group about using poetry to convey some of his trials after his time as an active duty soldier.
Detail of poem by Sean Tyler: “There’s blood, there’s blood on the floor. I can’t take much more. Who knows what I’ll see when I walk through that door? Because there’s blood, there’s blood on the floor. The screaming and crying. I watched my friends dying. Sights I can’t erase. Where the fuck is his face? He’s losing blood. His legs are gone. Till his last breath. It won’t be too long.”
This event was part of The All-Abilities Media Project, a collaboration between Unabridged Press and the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University in downtown Pittsburgh. The work is supported by the FISA Foundation.
PITTSBURGH_“It’s the power of not yet,” special education teacher’s aide Michelle Steiner told about 50 people gathered at the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University.
“Just because somebody isn’t doing it now, doesn’t mean they are never going to be able to do it,” Steiner said. As a teacher in Butler, Steiner has taught this lesson to her students.
Steiner’s words were informed by Carol Dweck, a psychologist who popularized research about motivation, and why people do, or don’t, succeed.
Steiner was one of 10 speakers who participated in the Dis/Ability Show & Tell: A Community Symposium in October. She talked about her personal journey, which led her to educating a new generation of people with disabilities. Steiner has a learning disability, and eventually felt empowered to ask for accommodations, despite her fears of stigma. She earned an associate degree from community college, and a bachelor’s degree from Slippery Rock University, where she made the Dean’s List.
Throughout the afternoon symposium, the speakers presented videos, photos, and a dramatic reading of a personal essay to share their experiences. Speakers included:
Emily Harnett, a theatre student in Point Park’s Conservatory program, shared her experiences of living with a physical disability, and working in a physically demanding field. Harnett read a spoken word piece she wrote about her diagnosis with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and her fear of not being able to perform on stage.
Tirzah DeCaria, co-founder of Creative Citizen Studios, strives to break down boundaries through art. She connects her group of artists, who have intellectual and developmental disabilities, with the broader arts community. She talked about the visual arts classes and workshops that her organization holds for people with disabilities.
Jade Steele. Photo: Joseph Smith/Benevolent Photos.
An education student at Point Park, Jade Steele, presented information about the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards (IBCCES) and Certified Autism Centers. These are organizations where “at least 80 percent of staff training is defined in the field of autism and is committed to ongoing training and autism,” Steele said. Kennywood Park, where Steele works, is newly certified She said being certified helps both people with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and businesses, which see an increase in revenue when they become more inclusive. Steele, diagnosed with both ADHD and autism, shared her dream to educate students with disabilities.
Point Park student Regan Tischler was diagnosed with narcolepsy and cataplexy in her senior year of high school. Cataplexy, Tischler says, is a loss of muscle control with high emotion, such as laughter. She jokingly described it as it appearing to be intoxicated. She also explained that narcolepsy isn’t randomly passing out in public. It’s living with the knowledge that sometimes, “you will feel like you haven’t slept in like three days,” she said. Other symptoms include lucid dreaming, sleep paralysis, and hallucinations, in more extreme cases.
Alicia DiGiorgi, Head of Production at the Pittsburgh Playhouse and one of the founders of the Pittsburgh Playhouse Accessibility and Inclusion Committee, spoke about the production she worked on under Bricolage Theatre Company, which led to the creation of the committee. She was inspired by the experiences she had with Bricolage, which has its own mission of inclusivity, and was able to get the funding and support needed to offer more accessible programming and services at the Playhouse. While it has been a huge undertaking, DiGiorgi said all of the work has been worth it. “I believe with an open mind, positive outlook, willingness to learn, a little bit of patience, and the proper support system, we can teach our future theatre makers how important it is to include everyone in the adventure [of theatre,]” she said.
The afternoon ended with an on-stage interview by WESA-FM’s Bill O’Driscoll, who spoke with Point Park alumnus Brian Rutherford. Rutherford is a former Walt Disney World Entertainment costuming manager. At 38, Rutherford suffered four strokes, causing him to lose his eyesight. In a discussion with O’Driscoll, Rutherford talked about his current position as a costume stitcher with the Blind & Vision Rehabilitation Services of Pittsburgh. He also serves as an audio description coordinator and a consultant to theatres in Pittsburgh. Rutherford says he wishes to see younger people from the blind community in the wings, on stage, and in the audience. He said, “I want to have young people realize the arts can be an accessible thing.”
90.5FM WESA Reporter Bill ODriscoll. Photo: Joseph Smith/Benevolent Photos.
Center for Media Innovation graduate assistant Stacey Federoff and Unabridged Press’ Jennifer Szweda Jordan. Unabridged Press’ Look Who’s Here! founding host Erin Gannon, (who has Down syndrome), and Jordan (who has bipolar depression) also spoke about the beginnings of the All-Abilities Media Project–the work of this effort constitutes most of Unabridged Press’ work in the last few years and can be found throughout this website.
The symposium was inspired by a previous Halloween Symposium held at the center, later dubbed, “Decomposium.”
“At that event, students and staff shared research, choreography about ghosts, and short horror films. I thought, ‘Let’s do a symposium about disability–a kind of show and tell about disability,’” Jordan said. “So, it’s an incredible privilege to have been part of making this happen.”
Rianne Lindsey, who wrote this piece and appears in a video above as a participant in the symposium is a theatre student at Point Park. She spoke about the future of inclusion of people with disabilities in theater.
The Dis/Ability Show & Tell was made possible with help from Point Park graduate assistant Stacey Federoff, the school’s Center for Inclusive Excellence, and funders, including the FISA Foundation.
Photo of a man dressed as judge who has various symbols representing the legal field, along with the rainbow infinity symbol representing the autism spectrum. Photo Illustration: Alex Collinger.
PITTSBURGH_Detention guards didn’t know why some incarcerated kids were biting and pinching their own arms and legs, pulling at their ears, and otherwise mutilating themselves. The youths were autistic.
“When we went in, it was just very apparent,” says psychologist Tammy Hughes. “But because (officers) hadn’t had the training, because they didn’t know what autism looked like, it was misunderstood.”
People with autism spectrum disorder [ASD] are seven times more likely than peers to be either crime victims–or suspected or actual perpetrators.
Listen to Hughes’ conversation with students at Joey Travolta/Arts for Autism Film Camp by pressing the red button with the white arrow.
Hughes trains police, judges, lawyers, and guards to recognize and address autism. She reminds people that autism is not synonymous with violence. This article is drawn from those conversations. Her training materials have been presented to over a thousand judges. But work remains.
It starts on the streets, sometimes in surprising ways. Hughes describes a case in Ohio, in which a young male with an affinity for blankets entered a house to check out a neighbor’s blankets.
“In some window there was a blanket over a chair,” she says. “The door was open. He went in and was touching the blankets. Now, the people there were home and it did scare them. Quite seriously. But it was breaking and entering technically, but his motive for breaking and entering is not the same motive as you would see for somebody trying to steal…he didn’t steal anything.”
Yet the act was illegal and Hughes says that it isn’t just law enforcement that needs to be trained, but individuals with autism as well. This person, she says, needed to be able to answer the question, “How do I get my needs met in a way that’s not illegal?”
A single run-in with the police, even as a juvenile, can be enough to disrupt a person’s life. With a criminal record comes social stigma, barriers to housing and employment, and even longterm health problems. And studies show that the criminal justice system–from policing, to the courts, to correctional facilities–isn’t set up to address, consider, or even recognize ASD among youth.
Additionally, children can be charged and convicted as adults in court, depending on the details of the case. Hughes knows of kids as young as 14 who have been tried as adults in Allegheny County. Add immaturity on top of disability, and the outcome can be disturbing.
“My whole job is to keep kids out of jail and in school,” says Tammy Hughes, a Duquesne University professor in the Department of Counseling, Psychology and Special Education. “A lot of the screenings in juvenile justice really only look at psychiatric problems and not at developmental disabilities.”
Take, for example, a routine traffic stop. Loud sirens, flashing lights, and a uniformed officer are frightening for most anyone. For those with ASD, it can feel especially overwhelming.
Similarly, a police pat-down could cause an autistic person to flee or lash out. Suddenly a speeding ticket may escalate to a charge of resisting arrest or assault, all because the individual can’t negotiate the interaction and the police officer lacks the training to recognize autistic behavior.
“They look very criminal when they really are not,” Hughes says.
This miscommunication can also extend into the courtroom, says Hughes. A juvenile offender may appear to a courtroom and judge as angry, aggressive or lacking remorse.
“You can’t punish a child with a disability for a symptom, a trait of their disability” in a school setting, says Hughes, “but there’s no equal partner to that in juvenile justice.”
This article is based on conversations with C.S. Wyatt, host of The Autistic Me podcast, and Amanda Alcorn and Evan Koepfinger, students at Evolve Coaching’s Joey Travolta/Arts for Autism Film Camp.Click below for full audio and transcripts.
The All-Abilities Media Project is a collaboration between Unabridged Press and the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University in downtown Pittsburgh. The author, Brian Conway is a freelance reporter. His environmental reporting was awarded in the Society of Professional Journalists’ Keystone Chapter Spotlight contest. His work has been published in Motherboard, October, and the Chicago Tribune. @BrianConwayyyyy
PITTSBURGH_A campaign in the city’s university center–Oakland–is making one of the city’s most vibrant neighborhoods one of its most accessible.
“Why do we have establishments that aren’t accessible? What could we be doing different?” says Georgia Petropoulos, Executive Director of the Oakland Business Improvement District and founding member of Oakland for All. “We have a group of dedicated individuals from the world of business, from the world of universities and hospitals, nonprofits, advocacy, meeting monthly and strategizing, ‘Well, how do we do this?’”
Sushi Fuku owner Ting Yen spent over $14,000 to regrade a public sidewalk for customers who use wheelchairs–about half was reimbursed through state funding. Photo: Nick Tommarello.
Many business owners think they’re not required to comply with the ADA because their buildings predate the act’s passage 30 years ago–a false assumption. Informed by Oakland for All, OBID points business owners toward funding to mitigate the cost of upgrades, connects them with architects who can make compliance modifications, and reminds businesses that people with wheelchairs have money to spend on food.
Petropoulos says the program came about after meetings with local accessibility advocates. One of those advocates is Alisa Grishman. Along with Josie Badger, she interviews Petropoulos and business owner Ting Yen in the first segment of the Around the World in ADA podcast.
“[They] came to us and said, ‘You know, there’s actually some establishments that we can’t get into, and we’d love to work with you and figure out how we can make this change,’” Petropoulos says.
One of the first business owners on board was Ting Yen, owner of Oakland restaurant group Sushi Fuku. A University of Pittsburgh graduate, Yen came to the United States from Taiwan in 1991, and now lives in Oakland. He says he always thought his building was accessible–since he says that is what his architect told him. But while it was compliant inside, the business lacked a ramp to bridge the single step from the sidewalk.
Yen spent a little over $14,000 to regrade the sidewalk. About half of that amount was reimbursed by OBID from state funding. And he’s also installed a new automatic door push button. The previous one was higher up on the ramp, where people in wheelchairs would have to wait on a slope for the door to open. The new button allows the door to be opened by the time a person travels up the ramp. Yen’s building is now fully accessible.
The Ramp Crawl encourages people with disabilities to show up en masse at accessible bars with their able-bodied peers in Pittsburgh’s Oakland. There’s a special effort on this day to ensure access for those using wheelchairs. Photo: Oakland Business Improvement District
Oakland for All’s most successful event is its annual Ramp Crawl. Just like any bar crawl, the event invites people to eat and drink at Oakland’s accessible bars–with a particular focus on participation by people in wheelchairs. And wheelchair users do show up en masse.
The benefits of accessibility can extend beyond having more potential customers, Petropoulos and Yen agree.
“It just feels good to be in the community,” says Yen, “to help to contribute to the community, and to do what I can as a business owner.”
Unabridged Press produces The Around the World in ADA podcast in collaboration with the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University in downtown Pittsburgh. It’s part of the All-Abilities Media Project supported by the FISA Foundation.
Go Around the World in ADAs (Americans with Disabilities Act) with us on December 5!
See highlights of 2019 media including: Dining with a Disability, Dynamic Kayaking, and one Drummer Drumming. And then–dance with us a bit, and get your minute of fame as we record readings of the ADA to use in a future video. The ADA turns 30 next year!
This event takes pm at the GRW Theater in the University Center of Point Park University at , downtown Pittsburgh. Reserve seats here!
Brought to you by the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University and Unabridged Press with support from the FISA Foundation and other anonymous donors.
Arts reporter Bill O’Driscoll. Image: Joseph Smith/Benevolent Photos
PITTSBURGH_Ballet fans with vision impairments touched poseable dolls and even dancers themselves before performances to get a better sense of what would happen on stage.
“They would let the sight-impaired folks…know what the different positions of the dancers were,” says 90.5 FM WESA’s Bill O’Driscoll, a longtime arts reporter says in a recent interview. “So when they heard the audio descriptions and they would say the ballerina would make a certain move, they would be able to picture it better in their heads.”
This pre-show opportunity for blind patrons took place several years ago. But O’Driscoll says it was one of the best examples he’s seen of making theater accessible.
“It was really moving, and it was a really an inventive, creative way, I thought, to help new audiences experience the art form,” O’Driscoll says. O’Driscoll says cultural offerings are becoming more accessible throughout the city.
O’Driscoll shares this and other stories in a wide-ranging interview with Darrel Pullie and Joseph Smith–the two participate in the Unabridged Press’ All-Abilities Media Project held at Evolve Coaching’s Joey Travolta/Arts for Autism Film Camp and at the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University.
Since Pullie and Smith are aspiring filmmakers, they ask O’Driscoll about Hollywood films being made in Pittsburgh and the impact on the city’s film community. O’Driscoll mentions some of the best-known projects filmed here were the Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead in the 1960s.
“The way it impacts the film community obviously is it creates jobs, it creates opportunities for people …crew especially,” O’Driscoll says. ”When you’re watching a movie you’re only thinking generally of the actors, maybe the director, but really behind the scenes there’s these big crews of people.
Co-interviewer Darrel Pullie at the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University.
Image: Joseph Smith/Benevolent Photos
Dogma was shot in 1999 in Pittsburgh. More recently, The Dark Knight Rises and other films brought opportunities for aspiring local filmmakers. Aside from the actors and directors, the shoots offered work for videographers and editors who were able to practice their craft behind the scenes. O’Driscoll never worked on films professionally but he did try his hand as a film student in order to prepare for his beat.
In addition to working for the Pittsburgh City Paper, O’Driscoll freelanced for The Nation and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette after graduating from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. O’Driscoll covered hard news started in the early ’90s. Later, he wrote freelance film reviews for the Pittsburgh City Paper until 2003.
“A guy that I knew was the editor of Pittsburgh City Paper and they had a staff movie reviewer position,” O’Driscoll says. “The previous person left and he asked me if I wanted to do it. I didn’t really have that much experience writing about the arts but I said, ‘Sure!’”
The editor position introduced O’Driscoll–and his readers–to literature, dance and the theater arts. In February 2018, O’Driscoll transitioned from print to radio. He admits the new technology and style of writing have been challenging.
“I found just by repetition and working on projects and keeping at it… It becomes intuitive and a lot like muscle memory after a while,” says O’Driscoll. “You write for the ear rather than the eye.”
Even though this may be a dream job for some, O’Driscoll admits that it is not the easiest. He says there aren’t a lot of full-time gigs available. Many online outlets are staffed by stringers. O’Driscoll says that freelancing offers many reporters experience and opportunities.
“It’s a lot of fun,” O’Driscoll says. “There’s a lot going on in Pittsburgh and I’ve been very fortunate to make a living doing that for a decade and a half.”
This article was written by Jennifer Szweda Jordan and Point Park University broadcast production student Brianna McCall. The interview and writing were supported by a grant from the FISA Foundation supporting people with disabilities in southwestern Pennsylvania.
PITTSBURGH_We’re working to enable people with disabilities to host podcasts, work in newsrooms, and serve in marketing, and other media-related roles.
“While 2020 marks 30 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act, people with disabilities are mostly absent from prominent roles in journalism and related fields,” says Unabridged Press’ Jennifer Szweda Jordan, winner of ACHIEVA’s 2018 Yvonne Zanos Excellence in Media Award.
Through free workshops, people with disabilities are invited to learn the art of interviewing and podcast technology from seasoned pros at the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University. It’s part of our All-Abilities Media Project.
Workshop participants Jim Shirley and Darah Thompson practice interviewing at the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University in downtown Pittsburgh.
Workshops can be scheduled for individuals and small groups through December 2020. Contact or . Workshop applicants can submit information at this link.
This effort builds on the success of our program Look Who’s Here! in which hosts Erin Gannon, and Mark Steidl, won Press Club of Western Pennsylvania’s Golden Quill Awards.
Interviews will be published to educate the community and inspire dialogue via Unabridged Press, and other news outlets in Pittsburgh, as well as at public events like this one on Oct. 22. Participant work may also be submitted for journalism awards.
These workshops are generously supported by FISA Foundation. The mission of FISA is to build a culture of respect and improve the quality of life for three populations in southwestern Pennsylvania: women, girls and people with disabilities.
LISTEN! PRESS THE WHITE ARROW IN THE ORANGE CIRCLE AT TOP LEFT.
When James Coke was in his twenties, playing soccer suddenly made his left leg weak. Even walking became so painf, doctors confirmed what Coke suspected–he had Multiple sclerosis.
The diagnosis enhanced Coke’s passion for cooking, and for encouraging others to get in the kitchen for improved health. He branded himself “The Disabled Chef” and started blogging. The name “The Disabled Chef” was partly a play on words because of statistics that while the average person is not disabled, they are unable to cook more than six dishes from scratch. On the site, you’ll find recipes for low-cost meals like Pumpkin Soup and Spaghetti Bolognese.
“I’m not saying cooking has cured me from primary progressive Multiple Sclerosis (Ppms), it hasn’t–that’s confined me to a wheelchair,” Coke writes on his website. “But 20 years on from diagnosis, I’m still punching above my weight, holding the line and fueling my body the home-cooked way.”
In an interview, Coke dished on his mom’s cooking, climate change, and medical marijuana. He spoke with Darah Thompson–who is curator of The Sweet Remedies online bakery based in Pittsburgh.
Since Thompson’s focus is desserts–most of which contain spirits like Hennessy in cinnamon buns–she asked Coke about his preferred sweets. One favorite is his wife’s blueberry baked cheesecake. They even add clotted cream, which, he half-jokingly adds, could cause a heart attack. His website also has a list of other treats.
And while American pies are more often considered dessert, that’s not the case across the pond. Coke says his mother cooked lots of savory English pies.
The vegetable curry that appears on The Disabled Chef website.
“There’s a couple recipes on my website for steak and ale pie, and she used to make a lovely, lovely pork pie,” he says. “She used to make great crumbles.”
Yet Coke doesn’t eat as much pork pie as he used to. His colorful curry vegetable recipe (pictured) is one way he tries to reduce the use of foods that may be less of a drag of the planet. Exotic dishes and spices like curry inspire him.
“In society, we eat too much meat. I think we all have the opportunity to change,” Coke says. “The world is getting immersed by Co2, much of which is due to farm animals’ flatulence, so this dish is not only nice and healthy but good for your carbon footprint.”
In his writing and videos, Coke also discusses universal kitchen design. His adjustable stovetop cranks up or down to accommodate his height seated in a wheelchair and that of his wife, who sautees while standing up.
Coke grew up eating local produce and eating fresh vegetables from his home garden that his parents would prepare. He still likes supporting local markets and maintaining a balanced diet. That doesn’t mean he’s not a fan of desserts.
James Coke. Image Provided.
Besides writing about cooking, Coke’s a vocal advocate for medical marijuana. His writing on the subject is published in The Guardian.
Coke says America is “light years ahead of where we are in the U.K.” in legalizing medical marijuana.” He says the only licensed cannabis drug in his home country is very expensive.
“It’s the one thing that is really good for my body,” Coke says of marijuana. “My spasms are better at night, I can sleep a lot better… it gives me more of an appetite.”
Although Coke doesn’t use cannabis in his cooking, he says he might try it. A new muffin recipe might even be featured on his website.
Sweet Remedies curator Darah Thompson is based in Pittsburgh.
The Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University in downtown Pittsburgh enables us to train people with disabilities in media and to publish their work. Free workshops are supported by The FISA Foundation.
EDS NOTE: POST UPDATED SEPT. 4 WITH AUDIO INTERVIEW
Three-hundred people with disabilities have had an entre to acting and filmmaking with the help of Australian writer/director Genevieve Clay-Smith, cofounder of Bus Stop Films. She’ll be in Pittsburgh speaking and teaching during Film Pittsburgh’s ReelAbilities Film Festival (details below).
Here’s Look Who’s Here! host Erin Gannon’s interview with Clay-Smith.
Genevieve Clay-Smith recently left her role as CEO of Bus Stop Films and is working on her first inclusive feature film.
EG: How did you get started in inclusive filmmaking?
GC-S: It started back when I was still at university and was making a documentary for an organisation called Down Syndrome NSW, the peak advocacy body for people with Down syndrome and their families in my state of New South Wales. I became very aware of the different barriers to inclusion that people with disability faced in society and just how easy it was to remove some of those barriers through being inclusive.
One of the participants I was filming in the documentary was Gerard O’Dwyer, a man with Down syndrome, and his dream was to be an actor. As a budding filmmaker, I knew how difficult it was going to be for Gerard because when I looked at our film, television and advertising landscape I saw there was no representation of people with disability on screen or even behind the camera, or any pathways to getting included in a writers room or in production. I started to become aware of how exclusive the film industry is, and how unfair that is. We’re an industry of stories and if we’re not including everyone in the stories, what message does that send society? People from diverse cultural backgrounds and people with disability are less than everyone else?
Gerard O’Dwyer in The Interviewer.
Gerard and I made a film together called Be My Brother, and we made it inclusively with a crew comprised of people with and without disability. That film went on to win a major award in Australia and the win was the catalyst to continue with inclusive filmmaking, which for me means inclusion in all aspects of the filmmaking process.
EG: Why is it important to include people with disabilities in your work?
GC-S: One in five people in Australia has disability. Yet so many people have never met someone with a disability and have never engaged with a person with disability. Also disability is part of humanity, any one of us may experience disability at any point in our lives. I want to live in a world where no matter what–I will be included. We have a really deeply-rooted issue of segregation in society.
EG: Why do you think it’s difficult for people to understand people with disabilities or people who are different?
Storytelling is one of the most significant ways to change attitudes, which is why it’s so important to have all kinds of diverse people on screen so that we as a society can be more understanding of the barriers our marginalised community groups face, so we can be active in removing those barriers. I have often thought, is the inequality faced by people with disability in society a result of the lack of representation of their stories in film, television and the media generally? We are simply not hearing or seeing authentic stories, we are not aware of a large portion of our community who are entitled to equal rights. Filmmaking can shed a light on this.
I think it’s difficult for people to engage with someone who is different from themselves because of fear, people are often afraid of the unknown and so instead of pushing in, they push away.
EG: When I’m on the bus I like looking at people and wondering what they’re thinking about. That’s similar to Ben in Shakespeare in Tokyo. How are you able to see the world through the eyes of people with disabilities to create characters like him?
I have very close friendships with people with disability, the actor who plays Ben is Gerard who I mentioned earlier –we made Be My Brother together. I’ve been working with Gerry for over 10 years. Gerard and I are incredibly close and the character of Ben is heavily influenced by Gerard. I think there is a lot of co-creation in my work, giving room to the actor with disability to bring their own lived experience to the role which makes it far richer than what I could just think up in my mind.
EG: How do you find actors with disabilities for your films?
GC-S: I put call-outs on social media, I see shows and other films that might feature characters or actors with disability, I go to advocacy events and I am generally part of the community. I am a believer that we should be just casting people with disability in general roles that might have no storyline associated with disability–that is called incidental casting. I am also a believer in authentic casting–if there is a character with disability, it should be played by a person with disability.
EG: How do you think we can make things better for people with disabilities?
GC-S: People with disability are incredible advocates for themselves, we need to listen to them carefully and actively and work with people with disability to ensure that access and inclusion is at the forefront of everyone’s mind.
EG: What’s your next project after leaving Bus Stop Films? [Clay-Smith recently stepped down from her role as CEO.]
GC-S: I am working on my first inclusive feature film Baby Cat, it currently has investment from Screen Australia and we are about to assemble a table read for audience feedback, so I’m very excited about that!
Film Pittsburgh welcomes Clay-Smith to town for the following:
The Art of Inclusive Filmmaking, a TED-style talk Sept. 3, 7-9 pm at the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University downtown. Unabridged Press cohosts. Tickets: $5.
ReelAbilities opening night: shorts by Bus Stop Films, Q$A with Clay-Smith, catered reception. Sept. 4, 7pm, SouthSide Works Cinema. Tickets: $15 students, $25 all others.
Free film noir workshop for people with intellectual disabilities 18+ on Sept. 6 at 1pm, Friendship Circle. Limited space available.
Erin Gannon, founding host of Look Who’s Here! in the podcast studio of the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University in downtown Pittsburgh.
“Without an eternal vigilance, without constantly challenging the status quo …We will go back to what we did before.”
These are the words of Bob Nelkin, retired CEO of the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania. He said this as he reflected on his life’s work, in an interview conducted by disability rights advocate and healthcare ethicist Josie Badger, DHEC.
From a young age, Nelkin advocated for people with disabilities–first as a student, then professionally for 50 years. His efforts directly contributed to the progress that society has made toward being inclusive.
Nelkin has often been a voice challenging and questioning how people with disabilities are treated and what opportunities they are offered in life. In the 1970s, Nelkin started an inclusive recreation program for children with disabilities who had been excluded from public education. Later, he was part of introducing the first group home to the Pittsburgh region and talking to community members who were opposed to or ‘on the fence’ about the group home.
Also in the 1970s, Nelkin led parents of people with intellectual disabilities on visits to mental institutions. They would demand to be let inside the most hidden parts of institutions. Nelkin recounted seeing cages the medical staff built in the institution to house people deemed unmanageable. Officials at Polk State Center used the word “playpens” to describe the same devices, even though they held adults.
These mistakes and mistreatments were revealed to the public via journalists. Nelkin cites the impact of news reports in the Pittsburgh Press by Delores Frederick and the Post-Gazette’s Henry Pierce. Pierce, for example, wrote of a University of Pennsylvania doctor who was testing meningitis vaccines on institutionalized youngsters. Many of the news clippings and letters Nelkin kept from this era are available online on history sites.
“Journalism played a central role,” Nelkin says. “Without the embarrassment of the officials about what was happening on their watch, we might be back where we were in the 1960s in the early 1970s. It was that ability to confront people with the truth. Journalism at its best does that.”
An almost complete reversal of the practice of institutionalization took place in the years that followed. Very few of these facilities remain open today. Some families of those with disabilities and health professionals do still favor the institutional model. There are those who say home settings are typically unable to support, for example, people who some call “medically fragile”–a term not without controversy.
These images are from the campaign Badger manages for the United Way to create access to work for people with disabilities. It’s a social media self-advocacy campaign powered by young Pennsylvanians with disabilities, who post selfie images along with the #IWanttoWork hashtag printed on a card available online.
Josie Badger at left, leads the United Way campaign #IWantToWork. She’s pictured with disability rights advocate Josh Stranix, and PA Sen. Bob Mensch ,who was a lead sponsor of the Employment First legislation Badger and others sought. Photo: Twitter @IWantToWorkPA
As the 30th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act approaches, Nelkin points out there is still great disparity in employment. Badger said that only 38 percent of working-age Americans with disabilities are employed–compared to 75 percent of those without disabilities.
Under Nelkin’s leadership and with help from Badger, that has been a focus of the United Way. Badger has managed United Way’s viral #IWantToWork campaign–which aims to ensure work opportunities for all people with disabilities.
“What’s missing,” Nelkin said, “is seeing people with disabilities as a great asset–as people who have a great amount to contribute to society.”
This story was made possible by our All-Abilities media partnership with the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University in downtown Pittsburgh. The partnership’s work is supported by the generosity of the FISA Foundation.
What’s your war story? What questions do you have about life after military service? How do you convey these stories and questions?
Veterans with disabilities are invited to join our award-winning effort to better integrate people of varying physical and intellectual abilities in news and feature podcast media. We call our work the All-Abilities Media Project.
DAV podcasts have covered its 30-year-old Winter Sports Clinic and the legal status of Agent Orange Exposure.
The Center for Media Innovation (CMI) at Point Park University and Unabridged Press’ free podcast workshop for veterans with disabilities takes place Saturday, Aug. 10, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Lunch is included. The CMI is in downtown Pittsburgh, at , on the corner of Third Avenue. Please apply at the link here by midnight July 31.
“As the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act approaches, I hope more veterans with disabilities will take this opportunity to get involved in the public conversation about topics that can impact their quality of life,” says Jennifer Szweda Jordan, founder of Unabridged Press.
Military veterans are vastly underrepresented in newsrooms, according to the organization Military Veterans in Journalism. Only 1.1 percent of media workers are post-9/11 military veterans, the group says.
The Veterans Breakfast Club podcasts, including “Longest War,” are hosted by Nick Grimes, who served in the Army from 2004-2011.
The program will include:
How to access and use professional and consumer recording and editing equipment.
How podcasting can become a professional skill–or even a job.
A panel of guests will discuss information related to veterans with disabilities.
Participants will be prepared for a recorded interview within the workshop.
Participants will participate in a podcast-style interview during the workshop.
Some people may worry about getting their voices out in the public sphere. We’ll share information on the latest internet safety tips for veterans with disabilities.
Participants will also have the opportunity to talk one-on-one with an acclaimed national veterans affairs reporter in the fall, as well as joining in other networking opportunities.
The Center for Media Innovation’s Podcast Studio. Photo: Chris Sichi.
Our previous media mentees have won multiple Golden Quill Awards from the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania, and their work has been broadcast on Pittsburgh’s top news radio station, 90.5 WESA.
“Music!” Rob Snow shouts, echoing an audience member’s response to his request for an improv skit topic. Then he turns to three young adults with Down syndrome, points to one and says “Go!”
“Rap!” Nick Doyle responds first.
“Country!” says Dani Chase.
“I was gonna say country, too,” Chris Bean says. He gets a laugh from the crowd gathered at the National Down Syndrome Congress in Pittsburgh.
First round’s on Rob Snow! The founder of Stand Up for Downs led two men in a skit about toasting with imaginary cocktails they selected–the so-called drinks included a Bloody Mary. Click the triangle to hear Marisa Niwa’s interview with Snow. Photo: J.S. Jordan
For Snow, who started Stand Up for Downs, the comedy exercise is not just fun and games.
“Improv can be this missing link to creating more and more jobs for those with special needs,” he told Look Who’s Here! correspondent Marisa Niwa in an interview. “It teaches things like voice projection and eye contact. It teaches problem-solving and quick thinking, teamwork and focus. Those are all amazing skills that help people get new and bigger and better jobs.”
It’s been almost 30 years since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the integration of people with disabilities into public education. Yet unemployment remains double that of the rest of the populations. The job landscape remains relatively narrow for people with disabilities. Advancement opportunities are unlikely.
Rob Snow, at left, tells Marisa Niwa about his comedy skills organization Stand Up for Downs, which serves people with Down syndrome. They spoke at the National Down Syndrome Congress in Pittsburgh. Photo: Nick Tommarello.
Snow trained in comedy at The Second City Theater in Chicago–the famed institution that launched many a Saturday Night Live Career. He got involved in what he calls the Down syndrome community after his son, Henry, was born with Down syndrome. Snow says it’s crucial to expand the job field for people with Down syndrome in part because this population is living longer.
“The dream is to create the program and for it to be adopted not just for people with Down syndrome but all special needs,” Snow says, “We can go from these ‘four Fs’ that they say–which is flowers, filth, factory and food for people with special needs, those types of jobs, to where we could grow bigger jobs. We could be leaders and creators and innovators and builders and team members.”
Snow offered case studies of how the students that he calls the Improvaneers are developing their skills and finding new jobs. Chase, for example, works at the amusement park Cedar Point, where she plays in a Peanuts character performance. She and Snow credit improv for helping her land the job.
Alisa Grishman, who heads Access Mob, at left, talks about her experiences with disabilities. Photo: Mia Trang Patterson, Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University.
April is “blue hell month,” for one woman who has autism spectrum disorder. It’s been deemed “Autism Awareness Month” by one camp of autism advocates. That camp encourages people to “light it up blue” to celebrate. Instead, the woman said, she and others witness an onslaught of media they consider “inspiration porn”–images and stories portraying people with disabilities unwittingly as motivational figures.
“Disability is part of human life. It’s normal.”
– Alisa Grishman, Access Mob
Disability advocates and supporters shared this and other frustrations about media coverage at a listening session called “Speak Your Truth About Disability” in Pittsburgh’s North Side. This event was hosted by Unabridged Press and Storyburgh and sponsored by the Pittsburgh Bridge Media Partnership. Journalists from PublicSource and Northside Chronicle attended as well. Access Mob Pittsburgh also partnered by bringing its constituents to the discussion. Artist Emily Marko documented the conversation graphically (click image below to see in detail).
Alisa Grishman, who heads Access Mob, discussed ways to better communicate with the media. Grishman said that the February death of Pittsburgh’s longtime Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator Richard Meritzer has resulted in a loss of information for the disability community. Grishman is working to rebuild Meritzer’s email list. Another outcome of the session was the idea that the disability community could create a database of subject matter experts for reporters to consult in news stories. One man who came to the event in support of his wife, who has a disability, said that journalists could even consult the list if a story has nothing to do with disability, in order to ensure inclusion of people who are typically excluded.
Another woman with autism criticized the demeanor of TV news hosts reporting on autism: “There’s this great sigh,” she said, then newscasters say, “And he’s autistic.”
Click image above to enlarge and see how artist Emily Marko captured ideas from the event.
Besides inspiration porn, other frustrations for people with disabilities were hardships accessing medical care, including marijuana now legal in Pennsylvania and other states. One group discussed topical events like the Tree of Life shooting. They said news coverage focused on the shooter’s mental illness more than on his white supremacism. They said that while bullying is sometimes blamed for mass shootings, people with disabilities are often bullied, but rarely perpetrators of violent crime.
Grishman summed up why journalists should be sure to include people with disabilities.
“Disability is a part of human life,” said Grishman. “It’s normal.”
PITTSBURGH_For the second year in a row, our Look Who’s Here! founding host Erin Gannon won a Golden Quill award for audio journalism from the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania.
The judges described ‘A Wonderful Life:’ Raising a Child with Down syndrome” as “moving and insightful.” In the audio podcast episode, Gannon interviewed her parents, Nancy and Dr. Bob Gannon. The episode was recognized in the lifestyle category. The piece was edited by Shalace Moore for Unabridged Press. Erin received the award at press club’s awards dinner at the Rivers Casino on May 29. (She is pictured with her mother below.)
Erin Gannon’s life mirrors a significant era in inclusion. She was in the first generation of people with disabilities mainstreamed in public schools. In the decades before Gannon was born, doctors had recommended people with Down syndrome leave their families and go to institutions where they received little or no education. That practice of segregation was becoming less common and Gannon’s parents wouldn’t hear of it.
“We would never tell you that you couldn’t learn something,” Nancy told Erin in the interview. “You’d have to figure that out for yourself eventually—that there were some things you would not be able to do, like driving a car.”
When Erin was born, Nancy reached out to a Sister of St. Joseph who was teaching kids with Down syndrome at St. Bernard’s Catholic School in Mt. Lebanon. This allayed Nancy’s fears as a new mom of a child with special needs.
Early on, Erin attended a Montessori School. She earned a high school degree, and now works part-time in communications at ACHIEVA and volunteers weekly at South Hills Interfaith Movement. She lives in a home with her two best friends, a home managed by Emmaus Community of Pittsburgh. Throughout her life, Erin has studied performing arts and has been a medalist with Special Olympics. She is on the board of PA Connecting Communities.
“You have pretty much fulfilled all the dreams we had for you–in fact you exceeded them,” Bob Gannon said in the interview. “You’ve amazed us at some of the things you’ve accomplished–some of the places you’ve taken us. Like Special Olympics–going to Ireland to play in the World Games.”
The Quill award was bittersweet because Dr. Gannon died in December, after the publication of the interview.
At Pittsburgh’s Inclusive Innovation Summit in March, Look Who’s Here! host Mark Steidl participated in Unabridged Press’ panel about inclusion in media. He wrote this talk for the event.
Hello. My name is Mark Steidl and I am a featured host of Look Who’s Here! Look Who’s Here covers a broad variety of topics that are important to the disability community as a whole. However, before I tell you about the specific topics that our project has covered, let me tell you a little about me and my background in inclusive media.
I am 23 years old, a student at Community College of Allegheny County, majoring in social work foundations. As you can see, I use a wheelchair and a communication device to talk. I use this equipment because I have cerebral palsy, which means that I have a damaged connection between my brain and my muscles. I operate my communication device with the two switches that are positioned at either side of my head. The communication device also enables me to use a computer.
“THE THINGS I DO EVERY DAY WOULD HAVE BEEN IMPOSSIBLE EVEN 20 YEARS AGO.”
People often wonder how I do things without the use of my hands. Well, since I am unable to use my hands to hold a book or paper, I do most things in a digital format. It does take me longer to do my work than it takes for most people. Thank goodness for technology. The things I do every day would have been impossible even 20 years ago.
I am an advocate for myself and for other people with disabilities. My work on Look Who’s Here is part of that advocacy because the topics I cover usually involved policy, programs and unique ways of looking at disability.
The topics I have covered include The Woodlands Foundation, which is a nonprofit recreational organization dedicated to enriching the lives of people with disabilities, accessibility and sensory-friendly performances sponsored by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, the importance of Medicaid for people with disabilities, and the issues facing siblings of children and adults with disabilities.
Erin Gannon, left, is founding host of Look Who’s Here! Speaking in the center is former intern Shalace Moore. Mark Steidl is at right. Photo: Tina Calabro
Just the fact that I am a person with a significant disability doing the interview is a kind of advocacy and definitely raises awareness among those who see the interview. Because my disability is visible, people are likely to underestimate me and not see the person and professional that I am. Like many people with disabilities, I have to challenge misperceptions each and every day.
Media is a great way to do that. As a proud Pittsburgher who has always had an interest in the media profession, I have had several local role models who have helped me understand the power of media. In addition to Jennifer [Szweda Jordan], I have learned a lot from Larry Berger, host of the Saturday Light Brigade, who helped me experience how to produce for radio. Chris Fennimore of WQED and Adil Mansoor, of Dreams of Hope: Queer Youth Arts, have also been a big influence.
The opportunity to participate in Look Who’s Here! has taken my interest in disability to a new level. Working with other individuals with disabilities like founding host Erin Gannon, has given me a sense of Pittsburgh pride, especially today. Thank you so much.
On April 4, people with disabilities are invited to speak freely to journalists about their top news coverage priorities.
Storyburgh and Unabridged Press are co-hosting the event with sponsorship from the Bridge Pittsburgh Media Partnership at the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University. News partners include PublicSource and the Northside Chronicle.
“As a disabled woman, I am frequently troubled by the language used to describe disability in the media,” says Alisa Grishman, founder of the event’s community partner, Access Mob Pittsburgh. “Terms like ‘wheelchair-bound’ and ‘no longer suffering’ still abound, and this forum will be an opportunity for journalists to learn how to better serve our community.”
One in five people have a disability in America and anyone can become temporarily or permanently disabled at any time in their life.
“Speak Your Truth About Disability” will take place 6:30-8:30 pm at Riverview Presbyterian Church, , 15214, in Pittsburgh’s North Side. The roundtable conversations are off-the-record. Those who wish to have their stories documented will be invited to speak on record at the end of the event. Illustrator Emily Marko will capture story themes.
Recognizing that many people with disabilities face transit barriers, participation is welcome online via zoom web or phone call. Register to attend in person or remotely at Eventbrite.
Christianity has a mixed history when it comes to the environment, with Biblical interpretations ranging from utter dominance to strict conservation. Many Catholic women’s religious communities tend to take a maternal approach.
“Any land is a holy place,” says Sr. Sally Witt, of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Baden. “The land forms us and we form the land.”
At Standup Sisters: Green Habits 2 on March 11, Unabridged Press premiered short films of Catholic sisters exploring the healing power of nature. The event was live-streamed on Facebook from the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University and is now available on YouTube (above).
Witt, a historian of Catholic sisters (pictured above) offered context about what’s often called eco-spirituality or eco-justice in women’s communities. Her community in Baden, an Ohio River town in Pennsylvania, is on an 80-acre campus. The Motherhouse grounds are home to beehives, chickens, and organic community gardens that fuel its EarthTones Ministry. The sisters sell honey and related natural products, and donate produce and eggs to the local poor. Sr. Witt’s community has spoken out against a new ethane cracker being built nearby that will process gas into plastic.
“I understand the sense of, ‘Yes, we wanted those skies to be smoky because that meant we were getting paid, and I understand where people were coming from in that,” Witt says. “At the same time, it’s a whole long-range thing. Yes, skies are smoky and that means money is coming in, or yes, we’re starting a new cracker plant and so that will create jobs in a place where jobs are certainly needed. And yet, you’re ruining peoples health in the process.”
At the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University, guests asked about the tension between the tradition of extraction in Pennsylvania and conservationist values. Photo: Cole D’Alicandro
Energy reporter Reid Frazier joined the conversation, offering his view on the challenges faced by anyone seeking environmental change.
“What are the hurdles to a different kind of environmental vision for our society? I think a lot of that has to do with who has power in our society and who controls capital. And he or she who controls that seems to very often get their way in our society,” Frazier says. “Our state has sort of been set up to maximally extract whatever we can to feed it to the broader economy. Today it’s not steel so much anymore, it’s natural gas. And eventually it’s going to be plastic and chemicals. That is sort of the regime we’ve inherited…. Obviously in the last 40-50 years we’ve gotten a lot of environmental laws on the books, but I would see those as brakes on the accelerating train of capitalism.”
Frazier asked Witt how she squares the Biblical interpretation of domination of the environment with her community’s values.
“We’ve gone with the domination and look where it’s gotten us,” said Sr. Witt. “So we’re trying to look at creation. You’re very correct not everyone is looking at it in the same way. But those of us I guess you would call ‘green sisters’ and many of our friends, neighbors are looking at this. And you know what? It really isn’t just another way of doing things. It’s really basically, ‘What is creation about?’ ‘What is God calling us to?’ It really is a spiritual exercise.”
Energy reporter Reid Frazier, Sr. Sally Witt and Jennifer Szweda Jordan watch Sr. Agnes Therese Davis’ story during the Standup Sisters broadcast at the Center for Media Innovation. Photo: Cole D’Alicandro
Sr. Witt welcomed the audience to join the Sisters of St. Joseph for an Earth Day celebration on April 13 in Baden. Visitors can explore nature trails, see community gardens and chickens, and learn how honeybees help sustain the Motherhouse ecosystem . Live music, food truck fare, and interactive exhibits are part of the mix. Reid Frazier’s work can be found at the Trump on Earth podcast, The Allegheny Front, and StateImpact Pennsylvania.
PITTSBURGH_ As a changing climate, plastics in oceans, and food waste threaten people and planet, some Catholic sisters are working to raise awareness and reverse trends. Standup Sisters: Green Habits 2 on March 11, features several short films, and expert interviews, about women who preach what’s been called a “green gospel.”
“Catholic sisters have been de facto conservationists in America for centuries. They’ve tended farms to feed themselves and the poor,” says Jennifer Szweda Jordan, producer of Standup Sisters–a project of Unabridged Press. “Many sisters still promote environmental stewardship in their lives and ministries.”
This event will be held at the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University at 7 pm Monday, March 11. It’s free with registration at Eventbrite, and will be live-streamed through Unabridged Press’ Facebook page and available after the event on YouTube. This is the fourth annual iteration of Standup Sisters, held during National Catholic Sisters Week and Women’s History Month.
Sr. Lyn Szymkiewicz, of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Baden, is featured in one segment. She’s a beekeeper, and the brainchild behind her community’s Earth Tones Ministry that procures eggs and harvests vegetables for food pantries, and produces honey.
Event includes live in-studio conversations with:
Sr. Sally Witt, a Sister of St. Joseph of Baden and author of A Hidden Spirit: The History of the Sisters of the Holy Spirit of the Diocese of Pittsburgh.
Reid Frazier, co-host of the Trump on Earth podcast, produced in Pittsburgh by The Allegheny Front (airing on 90.5 FM-WESA) and reporter for StateImpact Pennsylvania.
Sr. Lyn Szymkiewicz, of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Baden, at the beehives she tends. Photo: J.S. Jordan.
Point Park University, in downtown Pittsburgh, offers degrees in environmental studies and environmental journalism. This event is supported by National Catholic Sisters Week, which takes .
Billy Hartung’s danced and acted on stages and screens from Pittsburgh to Broadway and back. His career began at the Center for Theater Arts–a performing arts school he now runs. He’s still acting around town, and at home, he plays a lead role as a husband and father of six.
Our Look Who’s Here! host Erin Gannon is known for her dancing–on the bus, while walking to work, and anywhere else fun music is playing. She, too, started her performing career at the Center for Theater Arts.
So it was only natural these two would come together for our first Dashboard Jam episode of Look Who’s Here!
We reached out to Awesome Pittsburgh for funding. The central message of our pitch: People with disabilities often have the same human curiosity and joy in music and good conversation that connects us all, whether or not we identify as having a disability. The Awesome Pittsburgh folks said “Yes!” to our idea.
Our All-Abilities cast and crew and got to work. That crew includes Virtual Homey’s Matthew Torti on cameras and editing and ALVA Media’s Alex Collinger (a Joey Travolta Film Camp grad). We premiered the completed video on Jan. 30–a frigid day in our home base of Pittsburgh. We hoped it would warm our audience up!
We also have an audio-described version below for the visually impaired, or anyone who can benefit from an additional description.
UPDATE: Limited openings available! If you’re interested, please apply ASAP.
PITTSBURGH_People with disabilities are invited to workshops teaching the art of news interviewing, and podcast and video technology–workshops led by seasoned pros and supported by skilled journalism students at the stunning Point Park University Center for Media Innovation.
By hosting these workshops, as well as events, Unabridged Press and the Center for Media Innovation support greater diversity in the public conversation about inclusion in education, work, and public safety. The workshops lead up to the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 2020.
Inclusion advocate Chaz Kellem is captured on camera by Point Park University’s Claire Costello
This effort builds on the success of Look Who’s Here! All-Abilities Media, in which hosts Erin Gannon, and Mark Steidl, won Golden Quill Awards in 2018 from the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania.
“I’ve heard from many others who want to try podcasting to share the opportunities they’ve experienced–as well as to learn and circulate new information,” says Ms. Jordan. “I’ve also heard from professionals who want to help mentor participants with this groundbreaking project, including the author of the best-selling Miracle in the Andes Vince Rause! And the Center for Media Innovation is the best possible hub to bring everyone together.”
Image: MLB Player Neil Walker during interview with Erin Gannon at Point Park University’s Center for Media Innovation.
At the first session, participants will be interviewed and learn to interview. The interviews will be recorded and edited by Point Park students. Participants will also select someone in the community they will interview in the second session. Examples include special education advocates and employment transition specialists. These interviews will also be recorded and edited. Interviews will be published to educate the community and inspire dialogue via Unabridged Press channels, and other news outlets in Pittsburgh, as well as at a public event in late 2019. Participant work may also be submitted for journalism awards.
These workshops are generously supported by FISA Foundation. The mission of FISA is to build a culture of respect and improve the quality of life for three populations in southwestern Pennsylvania: women, girls and people with disabilities.
Interested participants for this or future workshops can apply at this link. Application deadline for March workshops is midnight Feb. 14. Workshop fee is $75 per person for two sessions. Through the generosity of the FISA Foundation, subsidies are available if cost is a barrier. For more information, email
She was in a coma for more than a decade. And, yet, she gave birth–obviously raped months before.
The victim went into labor in the last days of 2018 in Arizona. Evidently no one had noticed the woman was pregnant before that time. Police are now investigating the crime that took place in a private nursing facility, called Hacienda Healthcare, in Phoenix.
If it sounds so bizarre that it might be what’s now called “fake news,” but, sadly, it’s not. People who are compromised mentally and physically are at great risk for abuse.
In fact, one group, people with intellectual disabilities are sexually assaulted more than seven times as much as those without disabilities, according to a 2017 NPR news investigation drawn from previously unpublished U.S. Justice Department data. This rate of intimate assault against people who have issues like Down syndrome is a little-known sidebar in the age of #MeToo. These numbers don’t even count abuses in group homes.
And yet, many of us bypass this kind of news. It may not sink in because we can’t relate.
U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Ashley Bell.
“We do not value the lives of people with disabilities the way we value our own lives,” said Joe Shapiro, the longtime NPR disabilities reporter who led the investigation, and who recently spoke in Pittsburgh.
If you’re not convinced by Justice Department data, or NPR, let me add my voice to the chorus. I’m a longtime caregiver of adults with intellectual disabilities, and I can tell you that abuse is real–sexual, financial, physical, and emotional.
Sometimes it makes headlines. In 2016 in Pittsburgh, ACCESS van driver Daniel Burrelli was sentenced to 6 to 16 years in prison for repeatedly raping a passenger who had Down syndrome.
“I am a man,” Burrelli said in an affidavit. “I have physical needs.”
Abuse is certainly not happening daily to all of the people I work with, but for many, it will happen at some point in their lives. Repercussions can last many years, particularly for those who cannot verbalize what has happened to them.
The threats expand and morph. These days, those of us who care for people with intellectual disabilities must be aware of more opportunities to engage with the world that also come with risks–like social media. Many people with intellectual disabilities have mobile devices and Facebookaccounts, and they may not see the harm in inviting a new online friend to the house. Some people with intellectual disabilities use Uber or Lyft, and some we could never imagine doing so safely.
Each time I learn of a new abuse, it’s a wakeup call. It infuriates me, and also makes me up my game to ensure I’m doing my best to help keep vulnerable people safe. The nearest I’ve been at the time of a potential abuse was when a man was obviously leering and standing too close–and then closer–to one of my charges while we were at a Rex Theater concert. The guy was pounding beers and seemed like bad news. I danced myself between them, and stayed there all night.
I’m certainly not perfect in my caregiving. Once I waited longer than I should have to question or report scratches on a person’s skin after that person visited someone. It didn’t turn out to be an issue, but a wise friend reminded me to ask myself if I was being neglectful. It’s a tough word–neglect–to hear applied to yourself. But hyper-vigilance is called for when caring for vulnerable people.
Naturally we all want people with disabilities to have as much engagement in the world as possible. And, of course, that comes with risks. There seems to be a media fascination lately with championing opportunities for sexual relationships among people with disabilities. Friends have asked me–often with a giggle that I read as a little salacious–if the people I care for have sex or date.
Some do. Some don’t. But for those of us who are closest to them–when we know someone can’t read the danger signals, well, we dance between them and possible harm.
Many won’t get this opportunity to walk with people with disabilities through these subtle or more obvious risks. But what many of us can do is to start paying attention to vulnerable people and the issues they face. We might even do this for selfish reasons. Most of us will have a disability if we live long enough. You or someone you love will likely end up relying on caregivers who come to the job with their own mix of goodness and vice. It only makes sense as a society to advocate utmost vigilance now in caring for people who cannot fully care for themselves.
A good place to start paying attention is by listening to Shapiro’s series on sex abuse of people with intellectual disabilities. It’s called Abused and Betrayed and features voices of people who were victimized. It won the National Center for Disability Journalism’s highest honor last year–first place in the Ruderman Awards for Excellence in Reporting on Disability. In fact, all the award winners warrant attention.
Here at Unabridged Press, we believe our project, Look Who’s Here! All-Abilities Media, will be a driving force in helping people with disabilities make their voices more prominent in the public conversation about their own welfare–which is really the welfare of us all. Please visit often as we share interviews about education, work, arts, health, public safety and more.
If you are a person with a disability who’s been abused, or want to learn more, here is one good resource.
PITTSBURGH_Disabilities services provider ACHIEVA on Tuesday honored Unabridged Press and producer Jennifer Szweda Jordan with its Yvonne Zanos Excellence in Media Award for, in ACHIEVA’s words, “commitment in reporting issues that are important to people with disabilities and their families.”
The Unabridged Press project Look Who’s Here! All-Abilities Media equips people with disabilities to report on issues that impact their lives.
Ms. Jordan expresses thanks to the following:
ACHIEVA for this honor.
Look Who’s Here! founding host Erin Gannon and host and producer Mark Steidl, as well as other intrepid souls taking up the mic and asking questions.
Emmaus Community of Pittsburgh’s Executive Director Karen Jacobsen, all the hardworking Direct Support Professionals and everybody in between at this family-style living organization.
Maryann Januszkiewicz Jordan, for driving the production car during filmings, and endless support over many months.
Pete Jordan for inspiring a love of media, music, and production, and Deborah L. Jordan.
Danelle Ardell, for being the first sustaining contributor to Unabridged Press.
Faustyna and David and Annmarie Fatula, and Cecilia Januszkiewicz and Al Figinski for their endless support.
Kara Holsopple, host of The Allegheny Front, for her example and words of encouragement.
Emily Lippert, whose lifelong speech therapy career is an inspiration and a source of information!
Tina Calabro, the first winner of this award, for sharing her wisdom from decades of work in disability journalism.
Point Park University Center for Media Innovation Director Andrew Conte and Development Director Kristin DeLuca.
WorkHardPGH coworking consultants, colleagues and friends Josh Lucas, Ryan Haggerty, Brian Conway.
For friendship and support: Phyllis Barber, Jenny Briggs, Sister Rhonda Miska, Rosemarie Perla, Amy Matz and Dominic Necciai, executive coach Rosemarie Perla, Tina Tolomeo Plaskonos, the Prevost family (especially Goddaughter Keira), Lisa Rotunda, and Mike Hren.
The FISA Foundation, particularly program officer Shani Lasin and board member Cheryl Kubelick, for helping advance the next phase of work–workshops at Point Park University for people with disabilities. Click here to join our email list to receive updates about this and other forthcoming work.
PITTSBURGH_President George H.W. Bush was an unlikely advocate to have signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law in 1990, longtime NPR disabilities reporter Joe Shapiro said on Tuesday.
As the former President’s body was lying in state in Washington, D.C., his legacy to the millions of Americans with disabilities was recalled by Shapiro, who spoke at Temple University’s Institute on Disabilities fall lecture series in Pittsburgh.
“The Reagan-Bush team campaigned on getting rid of red tape, bureaucracy, regulations,” Shapiro said. “The main targets were the Speci, which was a precursor to the Americans with Disability Act.”
President George H. W. Bush signs the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 into law. Pictured (left to right): Evan Kemp, Rev Harold Wilke, Pres. Bush, Sandra Parrino, Justin Dart.
Many factors turned the tide, all having to do with personal connections. The White House was flooded with handwritten letters from people with disabilities, and the existing laws stayed in place.
Bush’s own life had been touched by disability. One son had a significant learning disability, a fact that fueled First Lady Barbara Bush’s emphasis on reading, Shapiro said. Bush’s daughter died of leukemia and an uncle contracted polio.
“Disability affects all of us,” Shapiro said. “We’re all just one banana peel away from joining the ranks of the disabled.”
Yet in many settings, disabilities rights were primarily championed by liberal Democrats like the Kennedys. But there were politicians on either side touched by disabilities. Former Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh, a significant advocate of people with disabilities may have played a role in influencing Bush’s evolution on disabilities regulations.
Other connections in Bush’s inner circle also helped fuel a change of heart on disabilities law.
Shapiro said that C. Boyden Gray, President Bush’s counsel, got to be friends with the late Evan Kemp, a lawyer, wheelchair user, and brilliant bridge player. Gray, Shapiro said, saw that Kemp was prevented from getting to his house to play bridge, as well as many other social opportunities. Gray, a tobacco heir with a southern drawl, told Kemp that he’d often been judged as a bigot because of his southern background. Shapiro said Gray identified with Kemp as a man who was immediately judged based on his use of a wheelchair. Kemp became the chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
So it was that ADA was signed July 26, 1990. The civil rights law prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public.
Kemp sat at Bush’s side during the signing. The audience was the largest in American history for a signing ceremony. And it almost didn’t happen.
Many politicians in the House didn’t support the law, which was opposed by many business owners that would have to spend money on ramps and other accessible features.
So, Shapiro said, the opponents “argued it’s too hot, these poor people would be fainting, they’re too frail.”
Longtime NPR disabilities reporter Joe Shapiro with Nicole Koester, Program Manager, of the Arizona State University’s National Center on Disability and Journalism.
After Shapiro reported on this excuse, an embarrassed White House planned the ceremony outdoors.
“Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down,” Bush said in the ceremony to a roar of cheers.
Bush probably didn’t think much at the time about how much accessibility would help him later in life, Shapiro said.
As he aged, Bush did not hide his use of a wheelchair from the press and public as his predecessor President Franklin D. Roosevelt had. Bush used the ramps that the ADA required. He even had a service dog, which lied at his casket this week.
And yet, Shapiro said, Bush, a war veteran, simultaneously projected an image of himself as a “macho” man–skydiving into his golden years. Shapiro suggested that this reflects a modern image of understanding of disability he heard from a disability advocate–that there’s no shame in having a disability, in using the tools needed to enable one’s self, and that the only real tragedy is when there is a lack of opportunity.
ACHIEVA and Awesome Pittsburgh have just announced awards for our program Look Who’s Here! All-Abilities Media.
ACHIEVA, Pittsburgh’s renowned disabilities service provider, has honored
Logo design by Elizabeth Hunter, Point Park University.
Unabridged Press and founder Jennifer Szweda Jordan with their 2018 Yvonne Zanos Excellence in Media award, for what the agency described as “extraordinary efforts on behalf of people with disabilities and their families.”
“We’re humbled that ACHIEVA chose us for this award named for late KDKA-TV consumer reporter Yvonne Zanos,” says Unabridged Press founder Jennifer Szweda Jordan. “Ms. Zanos was a model of service in her journalism, volunteer work for ACHIEVA, and rallying turkey donations for the hungry. Our work also aims to provide a public service, advancing diversity and inclusion in media, with a particular focus on people with disabilities.”
Previous winners of ACHIEVA’s Excellence in Media awards include HBO’s Vice News, which in 2017 reported on ACHIEVA clients who rely on Medicaid to work and thrive.
Erin Gannon in the podcast studio at Point Park University Center for Media Innovation
The Look Who’s Here! series of audio and video interviews began in 2017. Founding host Erin Gannon, who met Jordan through Emmaus Community of Pittsburgh, received support from Unabridged Press to conduct interviews at Point Park University’s Center for Media Innovation and at locations around Pittsburgh. Gannon received a Press Club of Western Pennsylvania Golden Quill award for her interview with recently retired ACHIEVA CEO Marsha Blanco about Blanco’s many years of advocacy, and her personal history with closing institutions that housed people with disabilities and mental illnesses.
“I think it’s totally awesome,” Gannon said of Look Who’s Here! “It’s a new experience and I love trying new things.”
Jordan’s also coached other interviewers for the program, including CCAC student Mark Steidl, who also won a Golden Quill in the student features podcast category.
Actress Ann Talman leans over Mark Steidl’s wheelchair. They are in front of a backdrop for the ReelAbilities Film Festival in Pittsburgh. Photo: ReelAbilities Film Festival.
In other award news, the Awesome Pittsburgh trustees generously granted $1,000 toward the production of a video episode of Look Who’s Here! Gannon will interview a musician in the style of carpool karaoke—an interview and singalong format popularized by UK Late Late Show Host James Corden.
“Our carpool karaoke video episode will demonstrate that people with disabilities often have the same human curiosity and joy in music and good conversation that connects us all, whether or not we identify as having a disability,” says Jordan.
The Awesome grant includes a stipend for an individual with autism to work as a production assistant.
“Until this point, Look Who’s Here! has been a volunteer labor of love for all of us,” says Jordan. “This grant represents one step toward growing new and meaningful paid work opportunities for people with disabilities.”
Unabridged Press intern Shalace Moore talked with Erin recently about her work, scary movies, and more.
Meet Erin Gannon. She just won a Press Club of Western Pennsylvania Golden Quill public affairs podcast reporting award for hosting Unabridged Press’ Look Who’s Here! She’s worked over a decade serving people with disabilities, won a bronze Special Olympics medal for golfing in Ireland. She also happens to have Down Syndrome.
SHALACE: Let me say first thank you for taking the time to do this interview.
ERIN: No problem.
SHALACE: How did you come up with the title Look Who’s Here!?
ERIN: Because every time somebody walks in (the group home) where I live–it’s like a revolving door. I always say “Look Who’s Here!” So we kept that name and I am the first host.
SHALACE: I heard that you always wanted to work on radio. Where did that love come from? Why not TV?
ERIN: That’s what I started out with, listening to a lot of music and I wondered, “How did we put it together?” The music and podcast.
SHALACE: What music do you listen to?
ERIN: I listen to country.
SHALACE: Kenny Chesney was just here. There were so many people there. Were you one of them?
ERIN. No.
SHALACE: Probably for the best. They can get a little crazy. So, how many interviews have you done so far?
ERIN: I did four.
SHALACE: Yes. I heard the one you did with Marsha Blanco, then CEO of ACHIEVA. I heard about ACHIEVA before but never knew what it really was. I soon found out through the interview that it is an organization that helps people with disabilities live a full and sustainable life. You also work at ACHIEVA. What do you do?
ERIN: I am an administrative assistant. I do a little bit of everything.
SHALACE: You’re pretty much the glue that keeps everything together.
ERIN: Yea (laughter)
SHALACE: How long have you been working at ACHIEVA?
ERIN: Twelve years.
SHALACE: That’s a long time.
ERIN: Yes. I started off working with the kids there and then they became too much for me. So they moved me upstairs and had me doing office work.
SHALACE: Yes, kids can be overwhelming. I have around ten nephews and nieces.
ERIN: Try thirteen. And I just became a great aunt to two twin boys.
SHALACE: Congratulations.
ERIN: Thank you.
SHALACE: Now when I first met you at the Golden Quill Awards, I notice that you had an entourage.
ERIN: No! (laughs) That was my family. My mother and father and sisters and brothers.
SHALACE: Are you the oldest or the youngest?
ERIN: Youngest. My brothers and sisters were born in different countries because my father was in the Navy.
SHALACE: They all came out to support you. How did you feel when your name was called?
ERIN: I never dreamed of it! When they played the audio of me and Marsha and when they announced the winner–I’d thought I was just a finalist! I really did. I was in tears. I never dreamed of winning the Golden Quill Award!
SHALACE: Well, you deserved it. The interview was very informative and it helped spread awareness about how people with disabilities were treated in the past. With you spreading the word, it allows others to go out and do more research. Speaking of research, how do you prepare for an interview?
ERIN: I pick someone I want to interview and prepare notes and I do research on the person.
SHALACE: Why Marsha Blanco?
ERIN: I knew her almost my whole life. I went to a preschool program here at ACHIEVA. And she knew me. She knew me for a long time.
SHALACE: So it was an easier interview for you then? How do you handle interviewing someone who doesn’t have experience with talking or working with people with disabilities?
ERIN: I don’t understand.
SHALACE: Well, everyone goes through hurdles growing up. Did you have any bullies or people who didn’t know how to talk to you because you have Down Syndrome?
ERIN: There was a girl I went to school with who pulled my hair and called me names. She wasn’t nice but for the most part, I wasn’t bullied. Well, there’s another kind of bullying.
SHALACE: Like what?
ERIN: When someone talks down to you.
SHALACE: What is some advice you can give to someone with a disability who is not a child and yet someone is talking to them like they are one?
ERIN: Say, “Hey! I don’t like to be talked to that way. Don’t talk to me like I am a child or treat me badly.” We don’t appreciate it. Stand up for yourself, tell them and if they continue then go and get someone. A person. An adult.
SHALACE: So say something and if that doesn’t work then go get someone to help.
ERIN: Yes. When they’re talking to you, it depends on the tone. Either speak up or just walk away.
SHALACE: I know that some people, me included, haven’t had experience with interacting with people with disabilities so I find myself talking to them like a child so I don’t offend them when in fact…
ERIN: You are.
SHALACE: Yes and that is not my intention. It’s a miscommunication and it can be difficult on both ends.
ERIN: Yeah, so I would tell them to speak up and let them know that this is not the right way to talk to me.
SHALACE: I really admire how your podcast touches on topics that many don’t have the nerve to talk about. Like your interview with Marsha. She talked about going to see her grandmother in an institution…
ERIN: Yes.
SHALACE: So changing to the subject, what do you do in your free time? What do you like to watch?
ERIN: I like comedies and scary movies.
SHALACE: Do you like the ones with the blood and guts too?
ERIN: Yeah, sometimes it freaks me out but I don’t believe it because I know it is not real. But my favorite movie is The Ring. Every year my great aunt and I would out on Halloween to a scary movie and then out to dinner but we kind of don’t do that anymore (laughs) we just go out to dinner instead.
SHALACE: Anything else you do?
ERIN: I now play golf for fun instead of for the Special Olympics.
SHALACE: You play golf?
ERIN: Yes and I played in North Carolina and Ireland. But I’m taking a big break from it because it was getting too much with work. Now I just swim for the Speci years I’ve been competing in the Special Olympics.
SHALACE: Wow. that’s impressive. What’s your favorite style?
ERIN: Freestyle.
SHALACE: Is there any project that you want to do in the near future?
ERIN: Well I have a favorite country singer. Reba McEntire. My dream is to meet her.
SHALACE: Well with the radio and the podcast it shouldn’t be long before that happens. There’s gotta be a way.
ERIN: (Laughter)
SHALACE: I love her show!
ERIN: Yes, and the theme song “I’m a Survivor” is a great song.
Sr. Megan Rice is unfailingly polite for a woman who has been called one of the biggest threats to our national security.
When I press her for an interview at 7:15 am before she departs from Pittsburgh for Washington, D.C., she’s agreeable. When I arrive 25 minutes late and hurriedly attempt to scout out locations for our chat in the Sisters of Mercy convent where she’s staying, she’s still patient with me. She gently coaxes me to cool my jets (my words) near the chapel. She even wants me to ask the desk attendant in the lobby if it’s OK if I interview her in their outdoor courtyard. She’s patient, she’s tolerant and she’s the same person who used bolt cutters to break and enter into the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, TN. You can tell she’d never do that if she didn’t absolutely believe the destructive power of our nuclear weapons stockpile was inherently immoral and illegal by many standards.
In July 2012, the octogenarian joined two other peace activists in breaking and entering into the Y-12, the birthplace of the atomic bomb and a manufacturing facility for nuclear weapons components. Their remarkably easy entry with bolt cutters is documented in the film The Nuns, The Priests and The Bombs.
This year, in Unabridged Press’ Standup Sisters: Green Habits series, we’ve been sharing the stories of Catholic sisters whose ministry includes environmental work. In an interview with Sr. Megan, she talks about how her concern for the environment, and all living beings, led to her anti-nuke campaign. For World Environment Day, we present this conversation.
Erin Gannon had stiff professional competition but walked away with a win.
PITTSBURGH_We’re honored the Western Pennsylvania Press Club gave its prestigious Golden Quill awards to two podcasts from our project Look Who’s Here! All-Abilities Media on May 24, 2018 at the Rivers Casino.
The judges said they had a new understanding about people with disabilities from founding host Erin Gannon’s interview (reposted below). The press club honored her with the “public affairs/community service, radio and podcasts” award. In the winning interview, Erin spoke with longtime advocate for people with disabilities and retired ACHIEVA CEO Marsha Blanco.
Look Who’s Here! host/producer Mark Steidl was honored for his interview with actress Ann Talman, who produced Woody’s Order! a one-woman-play-turned-film about her relationship with her late brother, who had cerebral palsy. Mark, a student at Community College of Allegheny County, was recognized in the student competition for “feature: audio and podcasts.”
Meet Mark Steidl. He’s a determined young man halfway through getting an associates degree in social work. And he just won a Western Pennsylvania Press Club Golden Quill Award for an audio podcast episode in which he interviews actress Ann Talman. It’s part of Unabridged Press’ project Look Who’s Here! All-Abilities Media.
Actress Ann Talman poses with Mark Steidl at the ReelAbilities Film Festival in Pittsburgh. Photo: ReelAbilities Film Festival.
The winning podcast gave a closer look at Talman’s one woman-play about her relationship with her late brother Woody. The play was turned into a movie of the same name–Woody’s Order! The movie was part of the touring ReelAbilites Film Festival.
Mark has his foot in many doors. He’s a board member of Children’s Hospital Advisory Network for Guidance and Empowerment (CHANGE). He’s volunteered at the Woodlands Foundation, a camp for people with disabilities. And he now volunteers with Disability Options Network Independent Living Center.
He’s a student at Community College of Allegheny County, where he’s part of the student government. Mark also participates in the Gender & Sexuality Alliance (GSA). Beginning his journey into this world with cerebral palsy and overcoming obstacles many others don’t have to, Mark is taking on the world one interview at a time and showing that he is more than just a great-looking guy in a wheelchair.
Unabridged Press intern Shalace Moore sat down with Mark to learn more about him.
SHALACE: What is your motivation to be an interviewer for Look Who’s Here!?
MARK: My love for getting to know other people stories is partly due to my interest in history. I’m not talking about taking a history class, but going through old newspapers, seeing plays that take ’s or going to a history museum.
SHALACE: We now get news from websites and clips from YouTube and online forums. How do you connect with the younger generation being that most are into social media than reading newspapers? Is it easier to obtain an audience this way?
MARK: I am 23 and I use Facebook all the time to connect with my friends.
SHALACE: It is an honor to be nominated for an award, especially one in journalism. How did you feel when you got the news?
MARK: It was such an honor to get this nomination. When I first did this episode of our podcast, [our producer] Jennifer and I were struggling with the audio on her phone. So, when I got the news I was overjoyed.
SHALACE: You did an interview with local comedian Brian Gray. You yourself are a funny guy. Who is your favorite comedian?
MARK: It’s hard to pick a favorite comedian but I would choose Roseanne Barr. Roseanne is never afraid to tell it like it is, just like me.
UPDATED June 8, 2018: After Roseanne Barr’s racist tweet that led to her firing from the ABC network, Mark wished to add the following: “Racism is not what I stand for. After Roseanne’s comment, I am disappointed. However, I am not sorry for liking Roseanne’s show. I would like to apologize on behalf of our podcast if I have offended any of our fans. Our show will always be dedicated to having a nonjudgmental attitude “
SHALACE: In your spare time you like to see musicals. I too enjoy musicals, one of my favorites being Chicago. What is your favorite?
MARK: Mamma Mia 2.
SHALACE: Is there one are you looking forward to seeing?
MARK: Hamilton.
SHALACE: I heard it is coming to Pittsburgh next year. Will you let me know where to get tickets?
MARK: Yes.
SHALACE: You are a proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community; can you talk a little more about that and what intersectionality means?
MARK: I’m out and proud. It is more natural to assume [I’m] heterosexual.
SHALACE: How do you handle it when people assume that?
MARK: I correct them.
SHALACE: Do you have a certain agenda or group of people you want to work with since you are with the #IWANTTOTWORK campaign?
MARK: I am attending classes at CCAC I am over halfway with an associates degree in social work. I would like to get my bachelor’s degree and obtain a case management position and work with people with disabilities.
SHALACE: I want to go off script a moment. You haven’t eaten anything in your life. You have a feeding tube. Do you want to try food?
MARK: I tried to but because of swallowing being uncoordinated it would go down the wrong way and I would choke on it. So after time I didn’t want to try anymore.
SHALACE: How do you deal with the aromas of food?
MARK: It is agony (laughs).
SHALACE: Have you seen the show Speechless?
MARK: Yes.
SHALACE: Do you find it funny?
MARK: No.
SHALACE: Is it offensive?
MARK: It is exaggerated. There is no reason to have someone to be speaking when the device can do it itself.
SHALACE: You have this Tobii Dynavox device that speaks for you. This system is elaborate. How did you get used to working this?
MARK: I started using a device when I was four years old. I would string letters together to hear them. By doing that I taught myself to read.
SHALACE: And you also work for Tobii Dynavox?
MARK: Yes, two hours a week writing “how to” and FAQ segments.
SHALACE: I notice that some words can be misconstrued by the tone of the voice being used. I have an auto text in my car so when I’m driving it automatically sends the text “I’m Driving” which people assume that it’s me and I’m being short with them.
MARK: Don’t you hate that?
SHALACE: Yes, I do. I am glad that I am not alone.
Erin Gannon in the podcast studio at Point Park University Center for Media Innovation. Erin works for ACHIEVA and calls Look Who’s Here! her “side hustle.”
The founding host of our program Look Who’s Here! All-Abilities Media, Erin Gannon, as well as arts and entertainment host Mark Steidl, are both finalists for Western Pennsylvania Press Club Golden Quill awards.
“Erin and Mark are driving forces behind this program, and I’m thrilled to see their hard work recognized,” says Jennifer Szweda Jordan, founder of Unabridged Press and executive producer of Look Who’s Here! “This is just the beginning.”
As the only finalist in the student podcast features category, Mark, who studies psychology at Community College of Allegheny County, is already the de facto winner.
The press club is recognizing Mark for his interview with Ann Talman, an actress who created a one-woman play about her relationship with her late brother, Woody, who had cerebral palsy. Mark, too, has cerebral palsy, and uses his DynaVox machine to communicate.
Mark Steidl, a CCAC student, is also a host for Look Who’s Here!
The judges recognized Erin for her interview, She Set Them Free: Retiring Exec’s Role in Improving Life for Disabled. In this piece, Erin speaks with Marsha Blanco, recently retired CEO of ACHIEVA, and lifelong advocate for individuals with disabilities. Erin is an employee of ACHIEVA’s early intervention department.
Unabridged Press is grateful for the support of Emmaus Community of Pittsburgh in this project. Erin and Jennifer met through Emmaus. Erin lives in an Emmaus group home, and Jennifer works as a direct support professional for Emmaus. Look Who’s Here! got its start when Erin heard that Jennifer worked in radio, and said “That’s what I want to do.” We are also grateful for the partnership of Andrew Conte and Point Park University’s Center for Media Innovation, where many of our video episodes are filmed. Our family, friends, and professional associates have also been instrumental in our success!
Click here for the full list of award finalists and information about how to celebrate the best of journalism in our area and support its perpetuity. Congratulations to all of our friends in the media!
Sloppy dog kisses, dandelions and stargazing in the American West shaped Sr. Elise Mora. She had a tough upbringing as an orphan. She lived with six different families, often wondering why no one wanted to keep her, and why people abused animals. But connecting with pets and the outdoors led to her lifetime of environmental advocacy as a Sister of St. Francis of the Providence of God.
Sr. Elise (left) works the crowd after Standup Sisters: Green Habits. Photo: Ryan Haggerty/Work Hard Digital Services
“Being a Franciscan turned out to be a perfect fit for me,” Sr. Elise says. “St. Francis loved all of creation: He spoke of Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Brother Wind, Sister Water, Brother Wolf. And he especially loved the poor.”
Sr. Elise was one of five Catholic sisters who shared personal and professional stories of care for creation at Standup Sisters: Green Habits. Unabridged Press produced the March Thomas More Church in Bethel Park, Penn. About 250 school children and 125 adults attended to celebrate the first day of National Catholic Sisters Week, Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day.
Standup Sisters: Green Habits was inspired in part by Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment, called Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home. “Laudato Si'” means “Praise be to you,” and borrows from the words of the Canticle of Creation, aprayer by 12th-century Italian, St. Francis of Assisi.
“I urgently appeal, then, for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet,” the pope said in the 2015 document. “We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all.”
Standup Sisters: Green Habits hopes to advance that new dialogue, through the stories that will be released in audio and video formats in the coming months. If you wish to receive notification when we have new stories and news to share, please add your e-mail address in the box below and click “subscribe.”
“You only need one towel.” That’s one of Sr. Elise’s favorite practical tips for environmental conservation. Photo: J.Szweda Jordan
It’s easy to sign up for Standup Sisters! You can get your tickets right here.
Join us for inspiring stories from women who get their hands dirty! The event includes a reception and a special green gift for all attendees. Celebrate International Womens’ Day, and National Catholic Sisters Week with us.
Sr. Lyn Szymkiewicz. Photo from the Federation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph.
Standup Sisters is sponsored in part by National Catholic Sisters Week, the Paulist Fathers, and individuals like you. To contribute to this nonprofit, click here.
PITTSBURGH__Catholic sisters are a passionate and powerful, if little known, force in the conservation movement. On March 8, five sisters share their inspiring and joyful stories–from raising bees to dining on donated roadkill–at the free public event Standup Sisters: Green Habits.
Sr. Rejane Cytacki, a Sister of Charity of Leavenworth, directs the Racine Dominicans Eco-Justice Center.
“Decades before Pope Francis published Laudato Si: On Care For Our Common Home in 2015, sisters were harvesting solar and wind power,” says Jennifer Szweda Jordan, a longtime environmental journalist and producer of Standup Sisters. “I’m thrilled to help share the stories of these dedicated and delightful women from western Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Wisconsin.”
This event is part of National Catholic Sisters Week and International Women’s Day. St. Thomas More Church is hosting Standup Sisters: Green Habits and a post-story reception, in its Family Life Center at . The event begins promptly at 7 pm and ends at 9 pm. Michelle Kardos, music minister for the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill, will play the piano.
The following women will share their stories:
Sister Rejane Cytacki, a Sister of Charity of Leavenworth (KS) and director of the Racine (WI) Dominicans’ Eco-Justice Center.
Sister Elise Mora, of the Franciscan Sisters of the Providence of God, has woven environmental lessons into her Spanish teaching. She jokes that people might run when they see her coming because of her varied practical suggestions to save resources.
Sister Barbara O’Donnell, of the Sisters of the Humility of Mary, is the driving force behind the Villa Maria Education and Spirituality Center. As an educator with youth and adults, she focuses on spirituality and ecological sustainability.
Sister Lyn Szymkiewicz, Director of Grounds & Eco-Projects at Sisters of St. Joseph of Baden. Sr. Lyn is a certified beekeeper and the “co-star” of a book written by a child she influenced, “Barbee the Bee Visits Sr. Lyn’s Beehives.”
Sister Agnes Therese Davis, of the Franciscan Sisters T.O.R. of Penance of the Sorrowful Mother. Sister Agnes works in the convent kitchen, where she goes to great lengths to prevent food waste by serving her sisters roadkill, beef hearts, and whatever else is donated to the community.
Please register here to ensure enough delicious food for all at the reception.Standup Sisters event and podcast series is in its third year. A podcast featuring last year’s event is here.
Standup Sisters is supported by National Catholic Sisters Week and The Paulist Fathers, as well as individuals Danelle Ardell, Jenny Briggs, Annmarie Fatula, Mike Hren, Maryann Jordan, Emily Lippert, Sue Freeman, Rosemarie Perla, and anonymous donors. To support Standup Sisters, visit our fiscal sponsor New Sun Rising or inquire about sponsorship packages by contacting .
Look Who’s Here! All-Abilities Media is a groundbreaking new project from Unabridged Press.
It provides news and features for and about the disabilities community, with significant reporting, production and planning conducted by people who have disabilities.
So far the team’s covered Medicaid, fitness training for people with special needs, an accessible fall festival, and more. All of our content has been released on our Facebook page.
The founding host of Look Who’s Here! is Erin Gannon, who lives in a group home run by Emmaus Community of Pittsburgh. Emmaus serves people with intellectual disabilities. Gannon has Down Syndrome. Emmaus is where Gannon met Unabridged Press producer and founder Jennifer Szweda Jordan, who has a parallel career as a direct support caregiver.
“I heard you’re on the radio, and you’re a writer,” Gannon said to Jordan one day. “That’s one of my dreams.”
Jordan has reported for The Associated Press, NPR, Pittsburgh’s 90.5 WESA and The Allegheny Front environmental news program, and was eager to show Gannon the ropes.
“Look Who’s Here!” is the phrase that Gannon often uses to enthusiastically greet people. And the words also represent a coming out of sorts, a new way of looking at people with disabilities–as agents of their own stories.
Gannon and Jordan attended podcast workshops at Point Park University’s Center for Media Innovation, and practiced reporting skills at home and in the office with the support of Emmaus. In the summer of 2017, the first Look Who’s Here! video episode was filmed. Gannon interviewed her person years, Dee Barker, of Better Body Image. Gannon was Barker’s first client who had special needs.
“Once we started working with you,” Barker told Gannon on the episode, “that opened the gates for others with special needs or disabilities just like you to come in and be mainstreamed into regular exercise.”
Mark Steidl with Jess Solomon, director of programs at the Woodlands, and Jennifer Szweda Jordan with recording gear. Photo courtesy of Woodlands.
Look Who’s Here! has also attracted a second host/anchor, 22-year-old college student Mark Steidl. Steidl uses a DynaVox device to speak (similar to the famed physicist Stephen Hawking). That’s because Steidl has what’s known as spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy. Communication is in Steidl’s blood–his mother, Tina Calabro, is a longtime columnist about disabilities for the Post-Gazette and she now runs a blog about disabilities.
Steidl brings his interest and experience in arts, and a mischievous sense of humor to Look Who’s Here!
“Can it be fun?” is Steidl’s frequent question in developing program content. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
In coming weeks, interviews from Look Who’s Here! will include conversations with Marsha Blanco, a disabilities advocate for over 40 years, who’s retiring from ACHIEVA, one of the largest disabilities service providers in Pittsburgh. We’ll also find out how The Nutcracker and the musical Wicked will become more accessible in special performances for people with autism. Stay tuned!
Look Who’s Here! All-Abilities Media, and the Unabridged Press project Standup Sisters are both fiscally sponsored by New Sun Rising–a 501(C)(3) empowering leaders in the Pittsburgh area. As such, donations are eligible in most cases to be tax-deductible. Visit New Sun Rising to support Look Who’s Here! All-Abilities Media!
Five dynamic women share personal stories of their lives spent teaching, feeding, and learning from people from around the world.
Each Catholic sister spoke at the Standup Sisters: Border Crossings event, held at La Roche College. The audio is now available for each story by clicking on the images below.
“We are lucky,” said Sister Nelida Naveros Cordova. “And we all at the same time have the responsibility to help those in need. I invite you to find ways how we can reach those in need.”
Sister Betty Sundry, a Sister of Divine Providence, is a social justice legend in Pittsburgh. Here, she talks about the event that sparked her interest in righting wrongs.
Rhonda Miska (who becomes a sister this month with the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters) shares her story of a holy walk with Nicaraguan villagers.
Sister Nelida Naveros Cordova, a Sister of Divine Providence, remembers seeing poverty for the first time, and describes her work mobilizing students to help people in need.
Sr. Janice Vanderneck, a Sister of St. Joseph, speaks of her early crush on Latino culture and her work today helping migrants from Mexico living in Pittsburgh.
Sister Mary Lou Palas, of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill, was a small-town Pennsylvania girl who traveled around the U.S. to teach. When she was 70-something, she packed her bags and moved to Korea for another adventure.
There were heartbreaking stories of the end of innocence, and the harrowing lives of the poor around the world. There were funny tales about convent pranks. And there was sweet piano music asking, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
Standup Sisters: Border Crossings, a storytelling event held at La Roche College on March 14, featured Catholic sisters whose lives began in towns in Pennsylvania and Peru. They went on to serve the poor in the Amazon and every corner of the world over decades, and still today.
“One of the most pressing issues of our time is how we support our neighbors in need here and abroad to become the best they can be,” said Standup Sisters producer Jennifer Szweda Jordan. “The women who spoke at Standup Sisters have lived with the most vulnerable people within and outside of our borders. Their stories provide a more holistic view of the challenges and the joys of being one human family.”
Audio recordings of this event will be made available in the coming weeks. Now available is a video from the youngest member of the “Standup Sister” crew. Rhonda Miska is not yet a sister. She’s going through the steps in that process with the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters, based in Wisconsin. She is what’s known as a “candidate” for religious life, and she writes for U.S. Catholic, America magazine, and is part of the network Catholic Women Preach.
In Miska’s story, she answers the question: What’s it like to walk in an unknown land, on a mountain, in the dark, wearing flip flops? The Nicaraguans who invited her on an age-old religious procession taught Miska a lot about what it means to fall, and what it means to catch one another–a metaphor for being a global community.
Get ready for an inspiring evening of courageous women’s stories, emceed by KDKA’s Lynne Hayes-Freeland.
Unabridged Press, La Roche College and the Sisters of Divine Providence present Standup Sisters: Border Crossings. The event brings four Catholic sisters, and one “sister-in-training” to the stage at La Roche College from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, March 14. The Standup Sisters will share their stories of the places and people they serve around the world, including people they serve who’ve crossed borders to live in the U.S.
Sr. Mary Lou Palas, in the center, with fellow Sisters of Charity in Korea
“While America is now wrestling with its immigration policy, sisters have been the ‘boots on the ground’ of foreign and domestic aid for centuries,” says Jennifer Szweda Jordan, producer of Standup Sisters. “These women will share true personal encounters of the risks and rewards of serving God and global neighbors.”
This event is part of National Catholic Sisters Week, a series of events celebrating sisters’ accomplishments. La Roche College is generously hosting this FREE event, which includes a reception, in the elegant College Square of its Zappala College Center. The address is , .
The Standup Sisters represent the following congregations: Sisters of Divine Providence, whose motherhouse is adjacent to the La Roche campus; Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill; Sisters of St. Joseph-Baden; Sinsinawa (Wisc.) Dominicans.
Please register here to ensure there is enough delicious food for all at the reception.
The world will be a better place, says Sister Rosemarie Nassif, when people are aware of, and support the work of Catholic sisters.
Sister Heather Stiverson helps tutor primarily Yemeni immigrants who lost factory jobs in Detroit. Photo: SisterToAll campaign
“The global sisterhood is a very powerful network and it hasn’t yet been fully unleashed,” Nassif says. “Unleashing that network can bring such tremendous positive realities to our entire world.”
“We’re committed here to assure that (the sisters) network has a life, and a life that can continue to change the lives of the millions across our globe whose lives are so precious and yet so vulnerable,” says Nassif.
The Hilton Foundation is the legacy of its namesake, the late hotel founder, whose affection for sisters began when he was taught by the Sisters of Loreto. The foundation spends $17 million dollars a year funding sisters’ work to help the poor around the world. So the foundation wanted to learn more about what people think about Catholic sisters, and how Catholic churchwomen can build their brand.
“We believe that how people perceive sisters–no matter if they’re Catholic, or Jewish or Muslim or Hindu–kind of ingrains a dynamic in the culture that can influence how our works and prayers can be received, can be in some way emulated,” says Nassif.
The research found that most people–73 percent–like Catholic sisters, without having very accurate ideas about what most sisters do today. For example, many people don’t think sisters’ work impacts non-Catholics. But Nassif says that’s simply false.
“The truth is that sisters serve all,” she says. “No matter the religion, the ethnicity, the socio-economic status–although they do prefer the poor. And we feel that correcting that false perception among all people is very important not only to sisters–it’s very important to our nation.”
The research firm Anderson Robbins conducted about 15-hundred interviews about sisters.
“These women are trailblazers, risk-takers and pioneers,” says Anderson Robbins’ CEO Jennifer Robbins. “These are words that could be used to describe them 100 years ago and still today.”
Robbins isn’t Catholic and hadn’t done a study on any Catholic issues previously. She says she was “just amazed by what type of role these women played in our country’s history. …It was everything from work to help disadvantaged and poor to talking about how they were the first nurses on Navy ships. How a Catholic sister helped invent the first incubator for babies.”
Robbins says the people she spoke with at focus groups were also surprised.
“In some of these groups, after all was said and done, people wanted me to keep sharing information about these women. There was a real appetite for more detailed information,” Robbins says. “It was like like I blew their minds.”
The survey found a third of all Americans want to learn more about Catholic Sisters. The researcher says more knowledge may help those considering life as sisters to encounter a little less friction at home. Forty-three percent of people who answered the survey said that if they had a daughter considering the sisterhood, they’d support her completely. But 13 percent would urge her to re-consider and six percent would strongly oppose the decision.
“While these people think Catholic sisters are wonderful and doing great work, to the extent they know about sisters, they think that entering religious life is synonymous with giving up your dreams,” Robbins says. “That’s also not the case. Catholic sisters are physicians, social workers, engineers. This misperception about who they are and what they do really is kind of clouding people’s judgments about Catholic sisters and the opportunities one might have in religious life.”
The foundation has kicked off a public awareness campaign developed in tandem with the research. It’s called Sister to All and it highlights the work of Catholic churchwomen. The first group of sisters the campaign is showing off includes a sister teaching Muslim immigrants from Yemen to learn English, a sister who works with prostitutes on the street, and one who works to find shelter for homeless people.
“What we want to do is present a more accurate image of sisters today,” Nassif says. To learn more about the research and campaign, listen to the audio interviews embedded in this post, and go to SisterToAll.org.
This is part of Unabridged Press’ Standup Sisters project, sharing the work and stories of sisters in live events and podcasts. Standup Sisters received a minigrant earlier this year from the Hilton Foundation. To learn more, contact .
A little peace on earth! Pittsburghers celebrating the International Day of Peace walked flags from many nations from St. Mary of the Mount Catholic Church down along the city’s scenic Grandview Avenue on Wednesday, Sept. 21. The annual event in Pittsburgh has long been co-organized by Sister Barb Finch (pictured right, in purple), a Sister of St. Joseph. Sister Barb is a frequent visitor at all of Pittsburgh’s Peace and Justice activities!
“The International Day of Peace was established in 1981 by the United Nations General Assembly,” according to the organization’s website. “Two decades later, in 2001, the General Assembly unanimously voted to designate the Day as a period of non-violence and cease-fire. The United Nations invites all nations and people to honour a cessation of hostilities during the Day, and to otherwise commemorate the Day through education and public awareness on issues related to peace.”
Afterward, the names of 122 people murdered in Allegheny County in the last year were read. A candle was lit for each and those gathered stated, “We remember,” once each line of candles was lit.
Speakers from several different spiritual traditions spoke about peace and some shared pieces of rituals. A Hindu man chanted “Om, Shanti, Shanti, Shanti,” and explained that the first “Shanti” or “peace” is for peace in the world, the next is for peace between people, and the third is for interior peace. A Christian pastor offered peace by inviting a Muslim woman and Jewish rabbi to come to the altar, where he clasped their hands in his. In turn, the women carried that same embrace of peace to those in the pews of the Catholic church, a gesture that meant peace is carried from the altar to the outside world. The Rabbi shared a Midrash–interpretive story about reconcilation. Zen Buddhists led congregants in grounding themselves to the earth. Baha’i representatives discussed the tenets of their tradition in relation to peace. A Unitarian Universalist speaker read from Martin Luther King, Jr.
Organizers also shared other upcoming interfaith events–a birthday celebration will be held for Mahatma Gandhi Sunday, Oct. 2, 2-5pm, in the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium. The event will include tea and conversations, cultural performances and a panel discussion with authors and educators. For more information, call .
The Standup Sisters project recognizes women of faith by offering them a platform to share their stories. In this post, Unabridged Press’ founder shares a story of a sister who she looked up to.
Monica Sheeran was my first nun friend. She called me her “young friend,” and she was my sage. What sealed the deal, from the first meeting, was her laugh.
Sister Monica Sheeran and the author, in 2001.
We met one night after a joy-filled Catholic Worker Mass and meal in Albany, New York. The petite white-haired sister introduced herself and flashed her welcoming smile to me and another friend of mine. After my friend teased Monica for something, the sister responded in kind with a playful light whack with a rolled newspaper at my friend’s shoulder. Sister Monica gave us a wicked laugh that had all of us giggling. And I felt that great happy spark of a new friendship.
A letter Sister Monica wrote me years later offers a taste of her humor, and her delight with technology: “I have got quite skilled in scanning photos…One good thing about photos scanned, they hide the blemishes!!”
I learned quickly from Sister Monica that life as a Catholic sister left room for a little irreverence, and for a lot of joy. She was the woman who taught me that, “It’s better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission.” She used this passage when she occasionally drove through yellow lights. In her gentle British accent, she’d say, “Hello, Amber,” and give a Queen’s wave to the changing light as she passed.
Sister Monica and I weren’t always laughing. We both frequently considered how we could help with the difficult problems in the world–though she did more to that end than me. For decades, Sister Monica was a missionary in Kenya and the Philippines, teaching orphan children how to read, write, and put on plays. She was in the religious order based in England known as the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of St. Joseph. A shared interest in speaking out against injustices is how we found ourselves at the Catholic Worker that night, praying for prisoners, the homeless, the drug-addicted, the lost.
Though Sister Monica was a bit more than 40 years older than me, using the word “sister” to address her felt true as any biological kinship. We shared an easy, deep give-and-take in discussing the news of the day, movies, art, dancing, writing, and love. Despite her years of experience, she never pulled rank.
For a while, Sister Monica and I saw each other at least weekly at Sunday Mass. We’d sit together and sing together. At the end, we’d exchange a big manila envelope with notes we’d written each other during the week, usually attached to clippings of inspiring articles we’d read. Monica also put her poetry in these envelopes. At the time we met, I was writing and editing for The Associated Press. Sister Monica challenged me to more creative writing projects. She would instruct me to go through my writing line-by-line with a pencil crossing out the unnecessary words. Given my high opinion of my work at the time, I found it a little insulting. But if you knew Monica, you listened. Her kindness commanded it.
Without saying so, Monica also taught me how to sit and shut up. That is, she introduced me to the form of quiet contemplative prayer known as centering. It was something I greatly needed then, and now. Sometimes she sat with me in a parked car with the windows down near a little pond and closed our eyes and sat quietly, before walking around the water. Or she’d visit me in my apartment and we’d sit on my couch and do our centering prayer. Often had some wonderful spiritual insights she’d share with me after the quiet time. I typically had NO big thoughts, but that didn’t matter. It didn’t matter that her prayer life was much deeper than my own. We were friends and you accept your friends where they are. You learn from each other. She taught me to pray, and I taught her how to set up an e-mail account.
The friend who first met Sister Monica with me often said, “I need a Monica,” or “I want a sister-friend.” I dismissed my friend and told her to go out and look for one, but the truth is, sisters aren’t that easy to find. And you have to find a retired one to have time for such an intimate friendship. But I hope that sisters do reach out to lay people like me. Because her laugh, our friendship opened a door to a great spiritual flowering in me. Later, I was able to return the favor and ignite spiritual development in her. After I’d returned from a weeklong silent retreat, Monica wrote:
“Your reflections on Christ, comparing your retreat to a honeymoon, very very deeply moving. They inspire me. I will take them with me as I go for my retreat-cum-holiday…I will try to make it a very belated honeymoon with Christ!!”
Eventually, both Sister Monica and I moved from Albany. As sisters do when age makes work more difficult, she returned to her home. Once I was able to visit her in England. I got to stay at the convent with Sister Monica and her sister. One night we visited an Islamic mosque for an interfaith peace gathering. And during my visit, we went to Mass at the convent and quietly did our centering prayer.
Later, friendship became more challenging. Monica had various illnesses that made it hard for her to look at a computer screen, much less write. So I called. I felt uncomfortable speaking of my full and active life when she was practically bedridden, but she wanted to hear all about it. She was a very good listener. She wanted me to experience true joy–what she defined as the hallmark of finding one’s calling.
I knew that one day I would phone her and she would no longer be able to talk. I had made a point of calling her the day after Christmas for sever, I had a feeling that she may not be around anymore. I Googled her name, and found an obituary online. Actually it was something she’d written, a reflection of her life. Monica did like to write–and it was clear she wanted to have the last words.
She wrote in the third person: “Monica learned to laugh at herself; to be very serious about what really mattered, yet not solemn, by God’s grace.”
And then there was my favorite part of her final words…
“At my death, I bequeath any part of my spirit to anyone who wants it!”
It was perfectly Sister Monica. And I wanted my share of her inheritance. I imagined myself reaching into the air and snatching up a piece of her now limitless spirit. I took a walk just as we did during my winter visit to England, together imagining the daffodils and other flowers of spring that would come soon–all “higgeldy-piggeldy,” as she said. And I laughed and loved the thought that now, she’d always be laughing with me, closer than we’d ever been.
All too often in pop culture, nuns are portrayed as silly or strict–think of the windup toy sister with the ruler and angry face. But many Catholic sisters today are women of exemplary courage, faith, and charity.
Standup Sisters is Unabridged Press’ effort to highlight the contributions of these extraordinary women by giving them a stage to tell their stories. Catholic women have been instrumental in forming founder Jennifer Szweda Jordan’s interest in documenting stories about the environment, social justice, and spirituality.
“In every area where social progress is desperately needed–human trafficking, immigration, homelessness–sisters are working creatively to help those in need,” says Jordan. “While some girls or young women may hear the sisters’ stories and be inspired to lives of service as sisters, perhaps other listeners will be inspired to start a garden, or to reach out to a refugee family.”
Following the success of public storytelling events like The Moth, Standup Sisters’ launched with a live event. The kickoff took place in March, at St. Sylvester’s Church in Pittsburgh. Most of the audience of 125 people were children from the church–many said they had never met a sister. With the support of a grant from National Catholic Sisters Week funded by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, we commissioned the design of a logo, and gave out temporary tattoos so the event audience could walk away with a conversation piece and keep the Standup Sisters story going.
The Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill were featured in this event, which was recorded and distributed online. All four episodes are found on this page.
“We rarely toot our own horns,” Sister Barbara Einloth told Pittsburgh Post-Gazette religion writer Peter Smith, who covered the project. “That might be a good thing and humble, but it doesn’t help people know who we are and what we do. This is an opportunity for people to get to know who we are.”
Unabridged Press is seeking funding and partnerships to continue Standup Sisters. To find out more about how to help continue this important work, contact or .
The storyteller sisters are:
Sister Rosemary Donley, PhD. She holds Duquesne University’s Jacques Laval Chair for Social Justice for Vulnerable Populations in the School of Nursing. She was named a living legend by the Academy of Nursing in 2009.
Sister Barbara Einloth. She’s one of five women leading the U.S. Province of the Sisters of Charity, giving particular attention to issues of social justice.
Sister Mary Clark. Clark is a longtime English teacher, Hospice and parish minister.
Sister Barbara Boss. She heads the Seton Center, providing innovative child and adult care, and performing arts programming. Boss has doubled as a beautician for her sisters every Saturday for the last 30 years.
In recognition of Islam’s holy days of Ramadan, Unabridged Press offers a recorded conversation with Muslim convert Christine Mohamed. It’s part of an occasional series about everyday faith called Spirited Conversations. Please click the SoundCloud player to listen to this unusual story of an American woman who grew up Catholic and who now worships at the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh.
Christine Mohamed, at the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh. Photo: J.S. Jordan.
When Pittsburgher Christine Mohamed converted to Islam several years ago, her Catholic mom was embarrassed to be seen with her daughter, who now dressed in headscarves and long skirts. Mohamed’s dad, a Desert Storm vet, was quick to accept his daughter’s choice. But, all told, Mohamed walked a tough road. She lost friends.
“When I first converted, it was not a pretty sight,” Mohamed says.
Study and prayer drew Mohamed, an advertising professional, to Islam. It was an emotional time. Her decision probably couldn’t have come at a more challenging time to be Muslim in America. After all, the faith has been a source of confusion and fear for many in the U.S. in these days after 9/11, Boko Haram, ISIS, and now the mass shooting in Orlando. Mohamed says those who have been so violent aren’t even really following Islam. So part of Mohamed’s life’s work now is helping converts like her through the transition, and helping the public understand her brand of faith.
“You just have to…make sure that the education is out there and available to people, so next time they see something like this, they say, ‘Oh yeah, that’s definitely not Islam. That’s like, psychopaths,’ and be able to tell the difference,” Mohamed says.
Mohamed sometimes responds to bad press involving Muslims in simple ways–by helping out at a soup kitchen, for example.
“I just try to change the perception by going out to make sure I do something good in my faith,” she says. Going out of my way to be kind and courteous, so people can say, ‘Hey, yeah, I met a Muslim once and she was really nice.'” At the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh, where Mohamed worships, the outreach group she’s part of offers interfaith potlucks, campus lectures, school presentations, church and synagogue discussion meetings.
The outreach is working, at least in Mohamed’s own life. These days Mohamed’s mom has accepted her daughter’s practices and even attends the Islamic Center’s picnics. Mohamed married a Muslim man and they’re raising their children in the faith.
Even after the deadly shooting took place at the hands of Muslim Omar Mateen at a gay dance club in Orlando, Mohamed–characteristically–saw an opening for public conversation.
“The Orlando massacre is absolutely horrible,” Mohamed says, and yet, “It has opened the doorway to many questions concerning homosexuality and Islam. Heck, it has opened the doors in all faiths that typically are not approving of that lifestyle. We are all human beings, it’s sad that some feel certain lives don’t matter.”
Please listen to the recorded audio to hear Mohamed speak about more challenges and blessings of her conversion–the difficulties she had with a more segregated relationship with men, the surprisingly tight sisterhood of women in her faith, and more.
With less than a shoestring budget–something more like a thread–Unabridged Press produced an event and podcasts that brought media attention to women who’ve dedicated their lives to health care, education, and social equity–Catholic sisters. It was a great year-one accomplishment for Unabridged Press, a media outlet dedicated to creating a more just and sustainable world through sharing people’s stories.
Click image to see Post-Gazette coverage of Unabridged Press’ Standup Sisters.
Once a year, Unabridged Press reports on what it has accomplished in meeting its goals of serving people, the planet, and profit. This is that report.
Unabridged Press was established as a limited liability company in 2015, after Jennifer Szweda Jordan stepped away from a long tenure reporting and editing environmental news at The Allegheny Front. Fueled by the ethos and skills honed from work at The Allegheny Front, Associated Press, and family-owned newspapers, Jordan sought to create a storytelling-focused media company to celebrate the stories and histories of people who don’t often make the cover of magazines–the elderly, the disabled, churchwomen, and so on. Another coverage goal is to explore topics that are typically not covered–like religion. Unabridged Press can be seen as a social justice press with high professional journalistic standards, and a frequently playful approach.
With the support of financial gifts from family and friends, Jordan contracted with Pittsburgh attorney Eric Davis in early 2015. He’s the local legal leader in the formation of social enterprises. These types of enterprises are committed to measuring success in ways other than financial profit. Davis included language and structure to help Unabridged Press to stay true to its purpose. In the future, Unabridged Press hopes to become officially B-Corp Certified once its size and income grows.
WorkHardPGH features art by former Steeler Baron Batch.
WorkHardPGH, the site Unabridged Press has resided in since mid-2015 has a mission that is largely consistent with Unabridged Press. WorkHardPGH is made up mainly of media professionals (film, audio, etc). And it has a greater mission of helping rebuild Main Street economies in a way that is inclusive–of minorities, of small business owners, of an ex-con janitor seeking a second chance. Because WorkHardPGH membership includes equipment rental, Unabridged Press is able to share equipment instead of purchasing it–naturally providing an environmental benefit. Unabridged Press has contracted with other new small business owners at WorkHardPGH for professional media services. In this way and through desk space rental, Unabridged Press has contributed financially to the communal economy at WorkHardPGH, and to Allentown (a neighborhood of Pittsburgh).
In keeping with its social and environmental objectives, Unabridged Press has operated out of two coworking startup incubators (StartUptown and WorkHardPGH), both located in
PA First Lady Frances Wolf chatted with business owners Alayna Frankenberry (c) and Jennifer Szweda Jordan (R) when she and Gov. Wolf visited WorkHardPGH. Photo: Ryan Haggerty Media.
distressed urban locations. These sites were selected expressly because their missions align in social and environmental benefits. At both sites, all amenities are easily accessible by foot, bicycle or public transit–and Unabridged Press’ founder, and contractors use these methods to maintain a connection with the community, save money and live lightly on the land. In keeping with the commitment to the local economy, Unabridged Press contracts with local startup Fort Pitt Web Shop, based at StartUptown, for web services. Unabridged Press has worked with the mission-aligned peer mentoring group Mashup U., which assists local business owners–and students–navigating the innovation economy.
Unabridged Press’ efforts to collect stories was turned into this article in the City Paper.
The media topics Unabridged Press focused on in its first year included seniors in Pittsburgh’s South Side. As the South Side Market House building celebrated its centennial last year, Unabridged Press was the first media outlet to take note, and the only outlet to report in-depth on the seniors, bringing together three media professionals–Jordan, Heather McClain, and Reid Carter–for a day to capture the stories of those who grew up using the community center. Each senior interviewed received a CD of their professional interview to share with their loved ones–a gift like that given to participants of the national StoryCorps oral history project. Articles about this event, written by Jordan from material she gathered with colleagues, were published in the City Paper, and the South Pittsburgh Reporter. Another project completed by Unabridged Press was Standup Sisters–a free community event and podcasts that highlighted the work of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill–who have been at the forefront of healthcare, education, and caring for the poor in our region since 1870. As in most male-dominated churches, women do not typically take center stage–the inaugural Standup Sisters event and podcast series moved the dial just a bit. This content was partly funded by, and distributed in partnership with, the organization National Catholic Sisters Week. The effort won excellent coverage in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
While building Unabridged Press, Jordan continued to publish in other press outlets to support herself as well as to carry out the mission of covering regional people who are not in the media spotlight. This included profiles of three female leaders of the late-20th century–now seniors, they were South Pittsburgh’s old guard–shepherding the communities through significant changes and devoting countless hours to the community. One took ownership of the South Pittsburgh Reporter in her 40s–an inspiration to Unabridged Press as a woman-owned business.
Longtime South Pittsburgh Reporter publisher and editor Roberta Smith. Click image to read about her.
Benefit reports also highlight the challenges in meeting goals. For Jordan’s work founding and producing content for Unabridged Press, she has received no financial compensation, which is not sustainable, although often seen in the first three years of startups. Jordan is grateful to work weekends offering support to developmentally disabled adults with Emmaus Community of Pittsburgh, social work that fuels the development of Unabridged Press–and keeps Jordan focused on the lives and stories of unsung people. In 2016, Unabridged Press will launch a fundraising campaign to continue the Standup Sisters project and to also finance similar projects. Unabridged Press also is working to highlight stories of small-scale farmers.
Unabridged Press is grateful to the family and friends who covered many expenses so that a company can be created. And volunteers who helped at every step. We’re pleased with 2015’s achievements and we look forward to telling more underreported stories in the coming year, always with an eye to benefitting the environment and people. __ This report was overseen by Dominic Necciai, benefit director for Unabridged Press. He’s an investments advisor and heads WYEP’s Community Advisory Board. And he’s studying media marketing in Point Park University’s masters program.
Getting back to nature within the city–visiting this parklet just down the street from WorkHardPGH suggests a big picture view of the stories in our future.
Why do bad things happen to good people? It’s one of those fundamental questions in religion. Sister Barbara Einloth found herself faced with her version of this question. In this episode of Standup Sisters, she shares the answer that came to her in her pleading with God.
Sister Barbara is one of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill.
She serves the United States Province of the Sisters of Charity as part of a five-woman leadership team, giving particular attention to direction on issues of mission integration, ministry, and social justice.
Sister Barbara told this story at the inaugural Standup Sisters event in St. Sylvester Church in Brentwood, Pennsylvania. Standup Sisters was funded by a National Catholic Sisters Week mini-grant and inspired by their 2014 event SisterStories, which was developed with The Moth Radio Hour.
The music by Bach in this episode was performed by cellist Jeanne Tupper.
Sisters formally commit to be part of their religious orders in a sequence of ceremonies. But they informally commit to remain sisters day after day. Even when leaving seems like a better idea. How do they do it? Sister Mary Clark, of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill has this story about a moment of truth. Her talk was part of the Standup Sisters event, produced by @JeniferPossible and Unabridged Press.
Standup Sisters is a media project highlighting the contributions of Catholic churchwomen by giving them a microphone to tell their stories.
The music by Bach in this episode was performed by Cellist Jeanne Tupper. This Standup Sisters event took place in St. Sylvester Church in Brentwood, Pennsylvania. Photo of Sr. Mary Clark by Ryan Haggerty, Haggerty Media.
What’s changed 30 years after the Americans with Disabilities Act promised access to education, the workplace, shopping, and more (religious institutions got themselves out of the law)? That’s what our newest series explores.
The Around the World in ADA podcast is hosted by disability advocates Josie Badger and Alisa Grishman. It’s part of the All-Abilities Media Project produced by Unabridged Press and the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University with support from the FISA Foundation. We’re gearing up for the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 2020.
Recording the first episodes of the Around the World in ADA podcast: from left, Josie Badger, Ting Yen, Georgia Petropoulos, and Alisa Grishman.
Josie and Alisa are experts about how life works–and doesn’t–for the 20 percent of Americans with disabilities, due to their lived experience as well as 24-7 involvement in education and action at the local and national levels. Watch Josie’s TEDx Pittsburgh talk here, and read about Alisa here.
After an antisemitic assassin murdered 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, the story of Cecil and David Rosenthal spread. The brothers both had intellectual disabilities and were as much a part of the congregation and the neighborhood as anyone. The belonging they experienced is exactly what happens every day at The Friendship Circle, started by Rabbi Mordy and Rivkee Rudolph. Rabbi Rudolph answered Jim Shirley’s questions about the nonprofit, located in the same neighborhood as the shooting. Their conversation is part of the All-Abilities Media Project. The transcript, and more about the project, are below.
SHIRLEY: [00:00:00] Thanks for speaking with me today. Can you just start off by telling a little bit about yourself? [00:00:05][5.6]
RUDOLPH: [00:00:06] Sure. Thank you. Thank you for having me, Jim. So my wife Rivkee and I start– founded The Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh in 2006. We came at it from a unique perspective we like to say in that my wife was a preschool teacher at the time and I was a newly ordained rabbi. And we’re both from Pittsburgh. We have–grew up Orthodox here. And to us, there was a lot of need for a program like The Friendship Circle in Pittsburgh. It’s a model that we’d seen in other cities. We’re free to kind of it’s our own our own independent organization. But because that was the–because that was the case, it gave us the freedom to be able to do it the way we wanted to do it, essentially. And we had seen, again, seen the model, knew–known that there was a need, particularly in the Jewish community, to create programming for people with disabilities. And now The Friendship Circle extended well beyond just the Jewish community. But at the time that was the perspective we came at it from. And we founded it then…and it really was what spoke to us was was, as I was saying earlier, how it’s really about enhancing an entire community. It’s not just about helping people with disabilities, so to speak. It’s about making an entire community better, regardless of whether a person has or does not have a disability. And what was what we found, what we what we saw as the uniqueness to us was that we really didn’t have any real previous exposure to people with disabilities. It wasn’t like we grew up with a close friend or relative who had a disability that really touched us or affected us. And to us it felt like we grew up with this–the mantra of love for your fellow man and that was such a basic tenet was in Judaism. And at the same time, the people we knew growing up are really just all people who are a lot like us–certainly superficially. And so to be able to go beyond that social circle was something we felt like was was a mission of ours in a way. [00:02:13][126.6]
SHIRLEY: [00:02:14] All right. Thank you for that. Can you just describe briefly how does Judaism fit into the Squirrel Hill community? [00:02:21][7.2]
Photo: The Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh.
RUDOLPH: [00:02:22] It’s hard to, I guess, fully define that. But what I will say is that Squirrel Hill is just known as being the center of the Jewish community, even though in somewhat recent history the Jewish community is extended out into some of the suburbs. But regardless, the the Jewish community has always been in Squirrel Hill. It’s it’s special for a number of reasons one being that it’s it’s always been the Jewish community and even though there are other communities, whether it’s the Hill or East Liberty that have kind of gone had their ups and downs in terms of Jewish life in those those neighborhoods and communities–Squirrel Hill, it’s always been here. And the other thing that I always say is interesting about Squirrel Hill is how it doesn’t just have one denomination of Judaism that they say they say about it in general about folks with, you know, from from a certain, ah–when you talk about their financial ability that someone could grow up pretty modestly in Squirrel Hill, make millions and millions of dollars and buy a house down the street because it’s like that. And I would say so from the Jewish community perspective as well, and that someone could be Reform and then decide to become Orthodox. Or or vice versa and buy a house down the street. And it’s really not… Whereas in many other cities, the Jewish communities, oftentimes the Orthodox communities in one neighborhood and the more Reform or more secular community is in another neighborhood. You don’t find that in Pittsburgh to be the case as much. [00:04:02][100.1]
SHIRLEY: [00:04:04] Yeah, it’s special. So what opportunities are on your calendar right now at Friendship Circle? [00:04:10][6.4]
RUDOLPH: [00:04:11] I’d say every opportunity really is on the calendar. We have everything from holiday events, cooking programs, Shabbat dinners that everyone is obviously welcome to a dance club or a yoga event. We do a boys night sports league. We have bowling parties and bowling in my bowling club in the South Hills. And then we do a number of events for moms and dads, programs for moms of our members or dads of our members to get together and socialize. And then there are also opportunities for folks to understand the mission of Friendship Circle in the background of what it’s all about and realize how the way we would like to portray this is, as I say, as it as a community organization is not necessarily something that would have always been the case. And that, you know, not that long ago, people disabilities were much more marginalized than they are today. And how, yes Friendship Circle does seem like it could be a normal thing, but we have to make sure that we take those steps to ensure that it stays that way and that society has progressed a lot recently. But not that long ago, we had these kinds of state institutions and such that that we need to make sure never to go back to. [00:05:28][77.1]
SHIRLEY: [00:05:30] Right. My next question is, can you say more about how Friendship Circle specifically helps people to grow, to contribute and belong. [00:05:40][9.9]
RUDOLPH: [00:05:41] So because as I said earlier, we try to–we don’t have the model of volunteers helping kids or members or special friends, so to speak, that they do in other places and other organizations. But everyone is a member. It really allows for everyone to gain tremendously from the organization. And no one sees themselves as as as clients. No one sees themselves as projects, as cases. All things that most of us don’t want to be. We want to be able to to be contributing members of society and valued. And so because of that, it allows for people to to maximize their their experiences here and realize that that these aren’t just volunteer opportunities where you go for an hour and you help some unfortunate person, but you’re going to come here and the reason why we’re not charging you or charging your member a fee, which is a philosophy of ours, that we don’t charge anyone for any of our activities–the reason we do that is because we can’t really put a number on on the amount that you’ll gain from this experience. [00:06:47][65.7]
SHIRLEY: [00:06:48] Aright–a follow up question. Are you or your organization involved in any social action related to disability? [00:06:57][9.2]
RUDOLPH: [00:06:59] How do you mean by social action? [00:06:59][0.8]
SHIRLEY: [00:07:00] Civil rights–you know, like petitioning local government. [00:07:03][3.3]
RUDOLPH: [00:07:04] Right. So. So we don’t. I’d say we don’t necessarily get involved directly in in terms of that type of of of like lobbying or whatever. What we do do is is part of that training that I’m talking about. And giving folks the background of what Friendship Circle is about is encourage everyone to be an advocate. We do a training track to many of our teens about advocacy, about things that are near and dear to them. For many of them, it relates to disability rights, for many of them, it relates to mental health awareness. It’s just about teaching the the this next generation of teens, of young people that if there’s something that they’re passionate about, they they don’t have the luxury to sit back and just watch it. But to really get involved and do something about it to whatever degree that means, whether that means, as many of our teens were involved in the vigil right after the shooting in October, just just, you know, roll your sleeves up and do something. If you if you see a need for something, do it. [00:08:02][58.1]
SHIRLEY: [00:08:03] Now, can you tell us about the Rosenthals connection to The Friendship Circle? Maybe share an anecdote or two [00:08:09][6.5]
RUDOLPH: [00:08:11] So I didn’t really know David well. I’d met him, but I don’t really I didn’t really know him well and see. So I did. Cecil had come around to some of our programs and signed up and wanted to volunteer. And it was what was interesting was to us was how he always he always wanted to help out. And he was always very outgoing and came to some of our young adult programs, but really wanted to help more. So wanted to come to some of our programs for for kids. And I really wish I would say that that Cecil and David were more involved in Friendship Circle surely. But what was interesting was how they really didn’t need something like Friendship Circle. And they were kind of the the outliers of their day because so many of their peers, so many adults who may have had disabilities and were of the same age range would have been in an institution and would have been somewhere not involved in the community, and isolated and not having friends. And they weren’t in that at all. And they really felt a sense of belonging in our community. They were part of our community. And that was what really kind of made that was the lesson that we’d like to take, certainly as an organization from from their lives. [00:09:25][74.1]
SHIRLEY: [00:09:28] Yeah. The next question that is going to be asked related to that is how is the community here at Friendship Circle celebrated their legacy? [00:09:39][10.3]
RUDOLPH: [00:09:40] So that’s that’s a lot of it. I mean, I would say a lot of it is this sense. And there was a number of… There was an article written about it shortly after their passing about how we’ve moved from acceptance of people with disabilities into integration, into inclusion, which is kind of the common phrase used today. But we now need to move into another level which is belonging, and how it’s it’s not enough to take the action to include someone in the community whatever aspect of the community we are doing so in. But to do–to move now to the next level and making sure that everyone really feels a sense of belonging. And we’re not making special accommodations to include them, but that they naturally should–should belong. So we try to promote to our our young people as much as possible about the need for for universal design and things like that. What we’ve done this year, actually a new bit of a new initiative for us is ensuring that we have more of a presence in greater community events, because obviously, like I said, we have a number of standalone activities that we provide. But those are all a means to an end, really a means to be able to allow for our members to be part of the greater community. And at a typical Rosh Hashanah event, let’s say that happens as much as we have our own pre-Rosh Hashanah event at a typical Rosh Hashahah event or at services, we should do our best. And obviously we’d like to think that we’ve we’ve made some inroads in this–but to make sure that everyone’s welcome all throughout the community and not just welcome, but really, truly belongs. [00:11:11][90.9]
SHIRLEY: [00:11:13] Thank you. And how did Jews include people with disabilities in general, and why is this important to Jews? And could you speak about autism specifically? [00:11:26][13.3]
RUDOLPH: [00:11:29] I’d say it’s hard to specifically delineate autism, but I’ll speak about–well, I’ll share one anecdote on autism and relating to people with disabilities. People with disabilities should and could be included completely within the Jewish community. And the idea of of of inclusion in general, of of a committee of a community, the idea of a congregation, which is really what the importance of what a Jewish community is. And when we talk about conversion, for example, a large part of conversion is living within a Jewish community. You know, the rituals are important, but the community aspect, an element of what of what of what Judaism is is of just tremendous importance. So if we’re going to be a community, a community needs to be inclusive and needs to make sure that that we make room not not not even make room, that we are available and that we are open and that we include those regardless of their of their differences or disabilities. I will say that I saw a clip of a bit of an interview and it wasn’t quite an interview it was an interaction between a parent and of a child with autism and …Sharabi (name unconfirmed) And … Sharabi’s a mentor of mine and was a lot of the inspiration for the founding of Friendship Circle. And the interaction with these parents who came to the rabbi and asked for a blessing for their son who has autism. And the rabbi’s response was that perhaps how he interacts with his peers may be different and may be something that’s, you know, it it it obviously causes these differences, which is what you know, which is what we know, what you may call autism. But regarding how he interacts with God almighty, that is not that there is no difference. And so, therefore, we need to ensure that he has that that he is treated as such and he is a part of the community as such. [00:13:31][121.9]
SHIRLEY: [00:13:32] This year’s marking the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. And what does that read for you here at Friendship Circle? [00:13:43][10.9]
RUDOLPH: [00:13:45] The 30th year or the American American with Disabilities Act in general. [00:13:48][2.6]
SHIRLEY: [00:13:49] Like this is a landmark. Yeah. Thirty years. What has that meant for you? [00:13:53][4.0]
RUDOLPH: [00:13:53] So first of all, I’ll say that it feels like 25th year was yesterday. So it means the time is flying. That’s that’s number one. But number two is really this is a lot of what we’ve been taking some time to study has been how the impact that something like the ADA has had on society stemmed largely from the history of wars and veterans and how you had people who didn’t–didn’t necessarily know what it was like to have a disability and suddenly they came back from a war and they did. And that, in turn, caused them to stand up for themselves and say, no, I’m not going to not go into that restaurant anymore because there is no wheelchair ramp. I’m gonna figure out how to get in there. Those were the stories that led to the ADA. So for us, what it means is that that that the mandate, if you will, of not resting on our laurels and not saying, ‘Oh, we’ll just because we do something a certain way, you know…’ For many families, for example, who have a child with a disability or for someone who himself or herself has a disability, you kind of resort to ‘Well, this is just how it is and what we have to realize is that if that person would have known that they–he or she would be accepted in these circles and suddenly the change this this this shocking change happens that now suddenly you’re no longer accepted in this setting, they would have never been OK with it. But because sometimes it’s just ‘This is this is just the way it always has been and the way it always will be,’ they they they resort to that. But what we have to realize certainly to us as an organization is that everyone who who who is given the opportunity to belong, we would like to do so. They just sometimes aren’t–aren’t aren’t familiar with it, and that’s that’s our fault, our collective fault as a community. So we need to do our best to make sure it’s not the case. [00:15:54][121.3]
SHIRLEY: [00:15:56] What are your aspirations for greater inclusion at Friendship Circle and beyond Friendship Circle? [00:16:05][8.8]
RUDOLPH: [00:16:07] When I spoke recently to someone who asked me who was a very data-driven organization he’s part of. It’s a foundation and we were discussing potential funding and he said, what is your saturation point as an organization? If it were about involving people with disabilities, in Friendship Circle I could say, ‘You know, they’re X amount of people wotj disabilities in the community. And I want this percentage of them to be part of Friendship Circle.’ But that’s really not what it’s about. As much as that number grows, as much as our membership does grow and our programs grow. It’s really about ensuring that the entire community becomes more inclusive. And I had the pleasure of several months ago of being out for lunch where a mom came up to me and said how she has a son who has a disability and is no longer a current member at Friendship Circle. He had been several years ago, but is no longer part of Friendship Circle. And she said, ‘I have to tell you that what you’re doing in this community has been absolutely tremendous for my son.’ And she said, ‘Yeah, I know he doesn’t come to programs and he’s not as involved,’ she said, ‘but the way that young people look at him is totally different than they used to.’ And to me, that’s a realization of what our mission is all about. So it’s about the community as a whole being a more inclusive and a better one. And it’s it’s really hard to say … at what point we say, OK, we’ve done it because there’s always just so much more to do. [00:17:35][87.7]
SHIRLEY: [00:17:36] Okay. Thank you. Before I close the interview, I just want to make a comment of my own–you can respond if you want. But last year when I started my conversion to Judaism, as well as getting involved with the autism community, I found this Web site called realsocialskills.org And it has a lot of articles about interacting with people who are disabled, particularly autistic. And it also had a number of articles about Judaism and Jewish culture. And I just thought that was interesting. There was that intersection of Judaism and autism. And yet it seems from my reading of the Old Testament, the Jews would, like, take care to protect those with disabilities, like ‘Curse, like the one who puts a stumbling block for the blind…’ You know, from recent history of the Holocaust, my understanding is that disabled people were placed in the camps alongside Jews. Seems to me that connection, both Biblically and historically that Jews have had with disabled people… [00:18:54][78.0]
RUDOLPH: [00:18:55] There is definitely that unfortunate–for better or for worse, when there are marginalized populations. The Jews end up being part of them. And that’s there’s definitely a familiarity with that. [00:19:04][9.2]
SHIRLEY: [00:19:05] OK. Well, this has been Jim Shirley here at Friendship Circle with Rabbi Rudolph. And yeah, thank you for your time. [00:19:15][10.4]
RUDOLPH: [00:19:16] Thank you. [00:19:16][0.0]
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Afterward, the names of 122 people murdered in Allegheny County in the last year were read. A candle was lit for each and those gathered stated, “We remember,” once each line of candles was lit.
