Dave Steele, award-winning poet, author, public speaker, singer, and advocate for the blind, joins the program to share his story and journey. He also reads some of his poetry on-air! Don't miss this moving special holiday episode. 

Crystal C. Rivera, Program Officer for Special Projects at the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection’s Office of Financial Empowerment, joins the program to discuss the importance of financial empowerment for persons with disabilities. Discover why self-advocacy and empowerment are the first steps to achieving true independence, and shares details about EmpoweredNYC, a public/private initiative that offers free, tailored and confidential one-on one financial counseling to New Yorkers with disabilities and their families.

This episode features an interview with Rosemary Musachio, Chief Accessibility Officer at Ruh Global Impact, and LaMondre Pough, Chief Sustainability Officer at Ruh Global Impact, as they share their personal and professional perspective on caregiving. You'll hear powerful stories from Lamondre and Rosemary about their good and not-so-good experiences with caregivers and some of the systemic changes that need to happen in order to improve the quality of caregiving for persons with disabilities. LaMondre also reveals a new media initiative that will highlight and amplify diverse voices. 

In this special episode, Debra Ruh is interviewed by her producer, Doug Foresta, as she discusses the importance of including the community of persons with disabilities in the conversation about artificial intelligence. Discover some of the ways in which A.I. will impact job development, the economy, and even the criminal justice system. 

Rebecca Palpant Shimkets returns to the program to discuss the work that she is doing around reducing the stigma of mental illness particularly for cancer survivors, and addresses myths and misconceptions about cancer survivorship. Discover some of the unique challenges that cancer survivors face when it comes to mental health, and why additional support is needed for survivors after they have completed cancer treatments. 

Debra is joined by Tim Danks, Vice-President of Risk Management and Partner Relations at Huawei Technologies. Discover the challenges and opportunities that come along with emerging 5G technologies, how Huawei is creating a global supply chain, and the need to work collaboratively and cooperatively on developing standards for critical infrastructure. 

Debra is joined by Tim Danks, Vice-President of Risk Management and Partner Relations at Huawei Technologies. Discover the challenges and opportunities that come along with emerging 5G technologies, how Huawei is creating a global supply chain, and the need to work collaboratively and cooperatively on developing standards for critical infrastructure. 

Debra is joined by Tim Danks, Vice-President of Risk Management and Partner Relations at Huawei Technologies. Discover the challenges and opportunities that come along with emerging 5G technologies, how Huawei is creating a global supply chain, and the need to work collaboratively and cooperatively on developing standards for critical infrastructure. 

This episode features an interview with Margaux Joffe, an award-winning producer and Associate Director of Accessibility & Inclusion at Verizon Media, a Global Media Company with brands such as Yahoo, AOL, Tumblr Huffpost, TechCrunch and MAKERS. Margaux discusses the Kaleidoscope Society, a community that she founded for women with ADHD. 

Jonathan Thurston, Head of Accessibility, Director of Product Management at Pearson, joins the program to discuss the work that Pearson has done to create accessible education resources. Discover industry trends, as well as challenges and opportunities when it comes to creating content and finding partners. 

Kunal Mahajan, Vice President, Leveraged Finance / Financial Sponsors at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, joins the program. As a child growing up, Kunal began stuttering at the age of three and continued to stutter throughout his life. Kunal shares his journey of spending much of his life feeling insecure about his stutter and struggling to gain acceptance. Kunal shares tips about what to keep in mind when speaking to someone with a stutter, and lessons he has learned from his own journey. 

Nick Corby, Director at Equal International, joins the program to discuss his experience co-creating the Disability Consultant's Group, and what led him to create the group. Nick shares his thoughts on the challenges and opportunities facing those doing disability inclusion work, and the benefits of creating a community of practice. 

Most recently, Dr. Vanderheiden initiated and co-leads an international effort to create a Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure (GPII) that focuses on lowering the cost to develop, deploy and support access technologies and to make special access features available on demand, anywhere, any time, on any device. 

This episode features an interview with Shaholly Ayers , Model, Activist, Brand Ambassador for Global Disability Inclusion, and Meg O'Connell, CEO and Founder, Global Disability Inclusion. Shaholly shares her story of breaking into the modeling industry as a person with a visible disability, and the work that she is doing to change the way that society views and perceives persons with disabilities. Meg shares her thoughts on the work her company is doing to break down the barriers of exclusion. 

This episode features an interview with Caroline Casey. Caroline is the founder of The Valuable 500, BINC, Kanchi and the O2 Ability Awards, and is also an international speaker and adventurer. A social entrepreneur, Caroline set up The Aisling Foundation (known today as Kanchi) in 2000, with the aim of changing the way people think about disability. 

In this episode, Caroline discusses the importance of accountability for leaders and the need for leaders to tackle disability inclusion in every organization. She also reveals her own journey towards becoming a business disability inclusion  advocate. 

This episode features an interview with Samanta Bullock, Activist, Ambassador, Model & Influencer. 

Dedicated to inclusivity and with a background in fashion, Samanta is actively seeking to improve the presence of minorities in the media, with personal projects and collaborative campaigns geared towards raising awareness. 

Sam has been a paraplegic wheelchair user since 1992, after being struck by a bullet in Brazil as a teenager. Undeterred by her obstacle, the model and sportswoman continued to work in fashion, fronting brand campaigns, featuring in magazines and modelling collections on the catwalk. 

Samanta discusses some of the unique challenges of inclusive fashion design, as well as the challenges and opportunities of her work in general. 

This episode features an interview with Karen Tamley, Commissioner for the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD) under the Mayor of Chicago. Discover the ways in which we can use technology and data to make cities more inclusive and accessible to all. 

In this episode, Debra Ruh is joined by her producer, Doug Foresta, as they discuss the connection between climate change, climate action, and disability inclusion. Discover the connection between climate action and inclusion, and the important role that we all need to play in creating positive change. 

In the second part of this two-part series, Debra continues the conversation with Doug Foresta about the impact of technological and social disruption. They discuss trends as well as what organizations can do to stay ahead of the curve. 

This episode features an interview with Ileana Rodriguez. Ileana was born and raised in Matanzas, Cuba where she was diagnosed at the age of 13 with a malformation of the spine that left her paralyzed from the waist down. In the year 2000 she moved to United States with her family looking for better medical treatments than those offered in Cuba.

Ileana shares her story of going to college and eventually pursuing her passion of swimming and participating in the London Paralympic Games in 2012. 

Today Ileana is the founder of I Design Access, LLC, a design and accessibility consultancy for architects and clients that see inclusion and accessibility at the core of their business.

In the first part of a 2-part conversation, Debra is joined by her producer, Doug Foresta, as they discuss the impact of disruption on the conversation about accessibility. Discover some of the positives and negatives of disruption and how companies are adapting to change. 

Alexander Hauerslev Jensen, CCO of Be My Eyes joins the program. Be My Eyes is a free mobile app designed to bring sight to the blind and visually impaired. With the press of a button, the app establishes a live video connection between blind and visually impaired users and sighted volunteers and company representatives. With over 2.2 million users across 150 countries, Be My Eyes has grown to become the largest online community for the blind and visually impaired.

Jeff Wissel, Co-Lead of the Fidelity Office of Customer Accessibility at Fidelity Investments, joins the program to discuss the impact that Fidelity Enable Employee Resource Group has had for helping employees with disabilities to find their inner voice. He also shares takeaways and lessons learned from his experiences so far. 

This episode features an interview with Frances West, an internationally recognized thought leader, keynote speaker, strategy advisor and women-in-technology executive. Discover what it takes to integrate technology and humanity.