On this episode, comedian Mean Dave shares how comedy led him to discover his addiction recovery is protected by the ADA, and how he’s bringing disability awareness to 12-step programs, helping people understand meetings as the “ramp” that gets recovering addicts up to the “curb” of a manageable life.

Mean Dave, who is a fixture in comedy clubs around the San Francisco Bay Area. He is in his tenth year of addiction recovery. In October, Mean Dave MC’d the Comedians with Disabilities Act when FREED brought that comedy troupe to Grass Valley for a fundraiser at The Center for the Arts. Mean Dave has also opened for Josh Blue, Jay Mohr, Judy Tenuta, and Big Jay Oakerson, and has toured many universities across the United States.

Today we're joined by Caleb Dardick, author of the new memoir, "The Adventures of Superfreak: My Childhood on the Hippie Trail" which tells the story of how his parents, FREED founders Sam and Geeta Dardick, "dropped out" and took their three young kids on a 20,000 mile road trip before eventually homesteading in North San Juan and joining the Independent Living Movement.

Caleb Dardick was raised by activist parents with disabilities in the heart of the American counterculture. Caleb’s career has included public service, community engagement, environmental advocacy, and disability-related projects, including roles with the Berkeley Mayor’s Office, UC Berkeley, the Ed Roberts Campus, SYRCL, and Nevada County government. A graduate of UC Santa Cruz, Caleb is also a leadership coach and storyteller. Stay tuned to hear more about the "The Adventures of Superfreak: My Childhood on the Hippie Trail", a story about building community, living with a disability, and inheriting a generation's idealism.

Join us for a great chat with Allie Wheelz about all things gaming accessibility. From physical tools of access to the friendships in the game that changed the course of her life, this months episode teaches us all about the world of videogames and the community made along the way.

Our guest today is Allie Williams, but you might know her as her as Allie Wheelz, content creator and disability advocate, public speaker and gamer from Oklahoma. Living with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) type 2, Allie has long used her platforms to challenge stereotypes, sharing her life as a disabled adult and fostering honest conversations about inclusion and representation. She holds two college degrees and has performed on Broadway, giving her a unique perspective that combines advocacy, entertainment, and lived experience.

It’s peak fire season, and today we’re talking emergency preparation and climate change. Our guests today are April Dawson-Rawlings and Russell Dawson-Rawlings. Both long-time disability advocates, April is currently studying at McGeorge School of Law and she serves as the executive director of the California Commission on Disability Access (CCDA). This role involves collaborating with stakeholders in business, disability advocacy, and local and state government to increase business accessibility and reduce litigation. April is passionate about working with communities to find common ground on complex issues. She was born with Spina Bifida and is a wheelchair user, road trip enthusiast and kayaker.

Russell currently serves as the California Foundation of Independent Living Centers Communications and Strategic Partnerships Manager. He brings a wealth of experience to the role, both as a wheels on the ground community organizer with Disability Organizing Group For Initiating Total Equality, and Occupy Sacramento as well as leadership positions with disability related advisory groups and the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness. Russell believes Disability community leaders must be at the forefront of a progressive society, because barriers to access are also barriers to progress. Passionate about accessible transformational justice for all people, Russell also knows the transformational power of humor and performs stand up and improv comedy in his spare time.

Guest hosting today is Brian Snyder, FREED’s Emergency Preparedness Specialist, with a round table discussion on the realities of climate change, and how they impact the disability community. Brian has been with FREED since 2018 and has had multiple roles, with extensive experience in emergency preparedness and response during snowstorms, wildfires, and public safety power shut off events. Brian also brings a wealth of media experience to the show, as a graduate of UCLA’s school of theatre, film and television, he has worked in the entertainment industry and produced two episodes of the American Unity Project focused on Peace Literacy, and his own podcast. Brian has Usher syndrome, a rare genetic condition resulting in blindness and moderate hearing loss.

We’re joined by Scott Martin, host of the Life’s a Road Trip podcast and author of the new book, Play From Your Heart, which takes us through his journey of accepting his disability after surviving life-threatening illnesses and having to have both of his hands and feet amputated.

Scott is an award-winning soccer coach, educator, and advocate within the disability community. With an advanced national coaching license and more than 30 years of experience coaching select youth, high school, and college athletes, he has earned four Coach of the Year titles and guided multiple teams to state championships. He was a soccer coach and teacher before his illness and amputations. His new book, Play From Your Heart, released yesterday, chronicles his journey to return to the field with his new disability.

As summer draws near, it means hot weather and long days, but it also means the season for Power soccer. Power soccer is a competitive team sport in which players maneuver power wheelchairs equipped with a specialized metal footguard. Two teams of four players each, use their wheelchairs and these footguards to move an oversized soccer ball around a basketball court. The rules of power soccer are similar to traditional soccer, and the team that scores the most number of points after two twenty-minute halves wins the game.

For more, we’re joined by two guests, Tyler Czapkay is a current player of power soccer, and Julie Fuller is a former power soccer coach. And our own co-host, Alexa Guerrero, played power soccer from 2009 to 2018.

April is Brain Injury Awareness Month. According to the Brain Injury Association of America, 1 in 60 Americans are living with a permanent brain injury, and 2.8 million traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs, occur every year in the United States alone.

On today’s show, we are joined by Carl Magruder. In August, 2023, he was doing what he loved to do: ride his motorcycle. He got into an accident and, as he says, ”bonked my head.” That ”bonk” resulted in an extended hospital stay and a medically induced coma to give his brain time to heal. He was in the hospital for just over a month and then continued his healing process at home.

Carl Magruder is a Bay Area native. He earned a Master’s of Divinity degree from Pacific School of Religion and followed his calling to become a hospice chaplain. Prior to his accident in 2023, Carl was a home-based palliative care chaplain in Humboldt County and then served as a chaplain at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. Carl is an Advanced Practice Board Certified Chaplain with the Spiritual Care Association, and is endorsed by the Religious Society of Friends.

March is Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a long-term disease that causes breakdown of the protective covering of nerves in the brain and spinal cord. This breakdown in the protective covering makes it harder for messages from the brain to travel to other parts of the body. MS affects each person who has it differently, and the severity of the symptoms varies widely. People with MS may have chronic fatigue, have trouble seeing, feel numbness, or have difficulty walking. There is no cure, but treatments can help reduce symptoms and slow the progression of the condition.

We’re joined today by two guests who have multiple sclerosis. Kelley Hartman is a retired occupational therapist, joining us from outside of Denver, Colorado. And from Steuben, Maine, Mary Pancoast is with us. Mary is an artist and retired Montessori teacher. Kelley and Mary share with us their experiences of life with multiple sclerosis and the physical, mental, and financial realities - from retirement to relocation and rearranging life priorities.