Disability Rap KVMR-FM

Hospitals don’t generally sue patients for trespassing, but that is what happened to Alexis Ratcliff. Alexis is 18 years old and has lived in a hospital in Winston-Salem, North Carolina since she was 13. Last year, the hospital sued Alexis for trespassing to try and force her to move out. Alexis wants to leave the hospital, too, just not where the hospital wanted her to go. Alexis wants to live in her own home with support from caregivers. She wants to live close to family and friends. The hospital, Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, wanted to transfer Alexis to a nursing home in another state. Alexis, who won a full academic scholarship to a nearby college and started classes there this fall, is saying no.
On today’s episode of Disability Rap, we speak with Alexis Ratcliff. Alexis is a quadriplegic who uses a wheelchair to get around and a ventilator to help her breathe. She acquired her disability as a result of a car accident when she was 18 months old. We are also joined by Lisa Nesbitt. Lisa is a Supervising Attorney at Disability Rights North Carolina, and she’s part of the team working on Alexis’s case.

In honor of National Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month this March, FREED Center for Independent Living partnered with the California Department of Rehabilitation to host a live recording of the Disability Rap radio show and podcast. The show featured a panel discussion focusing on the transition from youth to adulthood for people with cerebral palsy. Our panelists shared their stories of growing up with CP and the choices, obstacles, and opportunities they faced as they entered the workforce. The panel was moderated by Ana Acton, former Executive Director of FREED and Host of Disability Rap, now the Deputy Director of the Independent Living and Community Access Division at the California Department of Rehabilitation.
Click here to watch the recording of the show.
Special thanks to Ana Acton and the California Department of Rehabilitation for their partnership in hosting this event with FREED!

On this Valentine’s Day, we’re joined once again by Dan and Viola Dwyer, creators of the YouTube channel The Ginchiest, for a conversation about what makes their relationship work, how they’d like to see disability and relationships portrayed in popular culture, and what still needs to be done for greater media representation and disability marriage equality.
When Dan was nine, he acquired a traumatic brain injury caused by a hit and run accident. Dan attended Widener Memorial School in Philadelphia with other children with disabilities. He then studied at Edinboro University, where he studied Political Science and pursued a career in government.
Viola was born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), a genetic neuromuscular disease. She also attended Widener Memorial School in Philadelphia. Viola attended Johns Hopkins University where she studied Entrepreneurship and International Relations and pursued a career in financial services. After working in different roles in the financial services industry, Viola decided to return to school and earned an MBA from Duke University.

In honor of National Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month this March, FREED Center for Independent Living is partnering with the California Department of Rehabilitation to host a live recording of the Disability Rap radio show and podcast. The show will feature a panel discussion focusing on the transition from youth to adulthood for people with cerebral palsy. Our panelists will share their stories of growing up with CP and the choices, obstacles, and opportunities they faced as they entered the workforce. The panel will be moderated by Ana Acton, former Executive Director of FREED and Host of Disability Rap, now the Deputy Director of the Independent Living and Community Access Division at the California Department of Rehabilitation.
For more information and to register, go to https://www.disabilityrap.org/disability-rap-2024-03-live.

Today, we’re joined by Dr. Michael Alexander, retired Chief of Rehabilitation Services at the A.I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware. Dr. Alexander has a long history at duPont, starting when he first set foot in the hospital as a patient at age 12 after contracting polio. As a teenager, he spent summers as an inpatient at the duPont Hospital, forming relationships and community with other children with disabilities and with the doctors and nurses working there. With encouragement from the lead physician at duPont, he decided to go to medical school at the University of Virginia and enter the emerging field of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. After practicing in Ohio and Pennsylvania, Dr. Alexander returned to duPont, now the Nemours Children’s Hospital, as the Chief of Rehabilitative Medicine in 1986. He retired in 2013.
Dr. Alexander is a leader in the field of pediatric rehabilitation. While at duPont Hospital, he pioneered family-centered care, bringing families of children with disabilities into the discussions and planning of their medical care and rehab. He facilitated the transition at duPont from mostly providing inpatient care to focusing on outpatients, providing children with disabilities and diseases the care and supports they need to live at home and participate fully in their community.

Today, we continue our coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic and the long-term impacts of SARS-CoV-2 on people’s health and everyday lives. We speak with two contributors to a new anthology by and for the Long Covid community.
We in the disability community know that the pandemic is far from behind us in the United States. Although the numbers have significantly decreased from 2020 and 2021, people are still getting sick from the virus and some still need to be hospitalized.
Although most people who contract SARS-CoV-2 fully recover, some people continue experiencing symptoms long after their initial Covid illness. A new anthology out last month explores the wide-ranging and often debilitating impacts long Covid can have on people’s lives. The Long COVID Reader is a collection of stories, essays, and poems from 45 long-haulers, as they call themselves.
The collection draws works from established writers and poets such as Pato Hebert, Emily Pinkerton, Morgan Stevens, and Nina Storey, as well as from people in other professions. The book reflects broad demographics, diverse skill sets, underrepresented voices, and those with little writing experience. We’re joined by two guests. Mary Ladd is the long-hauler publisher, founding editor, which published The Long COVID Reader. She has written for the San Francisco Chronicle, Playboy Health, and Wildfire Magazine. She’s based in the Bay Area.
Jessica B. Sokol is also with us. Jessica believes Covid-19 hit her in February 2020. She survived intubation on a ventilator. Her first book, For Better and Worse, was published in 2016. Her stories are featured in Dorothy Parker’s Ashes, Music Museum of New England, Forbes Library, and Valley Love Letters project in Northampton, Massachusetts. Her essay, Three Years and Counting, is included in The Long COVID Reader.
Click here to watch the book launch event from Green Apple Books.