WBFO Disabilities Beat
The WBFO Disabilities Beat aims to promote equity and acceptance by elevating marginalized voices, holding corporations and government accountable, and combatting misinformation and stigmatization through education about the disability community.
Reports from the Disabilities Beat provide Western New York residents with essential information about the challenges facing people with disabilities and content that promotes understanding. In-depth, original, long-form reporting addresses issues relevant to people living with disabilities, their families, caregivers, community leaders, and decision-makers. Coverage also contextualizes important regional and national news to consider the unique and often-overlooked implications of economic, education, policy and environmental impacts on the disability community. Reporting will also tie disability rights to discussions about the economy (e.g., wage gaps for employees with disabilities), civic participation (e.g., accessibility of ballot machines), mobility (e.g., paratransit availability), and more.
Every Wednesday, hear 7-8 minute Disabilities Beat reports on WBFO during Morning Edition and All Things Considered.
Reports from the Disabilities Beat provide Western New York residents with essential information about the challenges facing people with disabilities and content that promotes understanding. In-depth, original, long-form reporting addresses issues relevant to people living with disabilities, their families, caregivers, community leaders, and decision-makers. Coverage also contextualizes important regional and national news to consider the unique and often-overlooked implications of economic, education, policy and environmental impacts on the disability community. Reporting will also tie disability rights to discussions about the economy (e.g., wage gaps for employees with disabilities), civic participation (e.g., accessibility of ballot machines), mobility (e.g., paratransit availability), and more.
Every Wednesday, hear 7-8 minute Disabilities Beat reports on WBFO during Morning Edition and All Things Considered.
The WBFO Disabilities Beat is funded in part by the Peter & Elizabeth Tower Foundation.
Latest from the WBFO Disabilities Beat
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A city official addressed “the concerns raised by disabled activists” at a Disability Pride ceremony, but stopped short of apologizing for what one activist called an “insulting and disrespectful” decision. -
Aside from the City's ADA Advocate, who is Deaf, representatives from the disability community did not speak until the very end of the speaking portion of the event. Nine people, not including the ADA Advocate, spoke first. -
July is Disability Pride Month and this Friday, on the 34th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act, the disability community will come together for a festival from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Canalside in Buffalo. This week on the Disabilities Beat, we feature an extended-length panel with two of the artists involved with the local Disability Pride Festival. -
This week, the Disabilities Beat continues our series "Voices of Disability Pride" with a conversation about empowerment with Alex Jusko, a local life coach and psychic. They discuss how empowerment can help anyone live an intentional life and reach their goals. -
This week, we share the first installment of a new series of profiles of leaders in the disability community, called “Voices of Disability Pride.” Each of these profiles is a chance to hear about someone’s advocacy journey, the skills that helped them succeed and what advice they have for people new to the disability community. This week we’re highlighting Michael Rogers, a prominent self-advocate in Buffalo and Regional Organizer for the Self Advocacy Association of New York State. -
Direct Support Professionals, or DSPs, did not get the cost of living increase they were asking for in this year’s budget. Advocates say wages are too low for this profession, which leads to people seeking jobs elsewhere. In today’s episode, we talk about what DSPs provide to people with disabilities and the challenges of recruiting and retaining workers. -
New York York State’s recently-passed 2024-2025 budget included $55 million so 200 new inpatient psychiatric beds can be added to state-run psychiatric hospitals, according to the Division of the Budget. On today’s episode, we share part of a conversation with disability advocates about how the state’s funding of new inpatient psychiatric beds may impact disabled people. -
One major change came at the last minute in New York State's Budget negotiations? The Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program, or CDPAP, will move from being administered by hundreds of organizations to only one. -
New York State’s recently-passed 2024-2025 budget included a lot of changes for the disability community. However, one change that did not make it through budget deliberations was the creation of “medication aides” in long term care facilities. Nursing associations were worried about the impact on recruitment and retention of nurses. But the disability community has slightly different concerns. -
For many people with disabilities, laws and funding have been instrumental in ensuring equitable access to housing, transportation and employment. On this week’s Disabilities Beat, we feature part of a recently aired one hour special on the New York State Budget, which you can hear the entirety of by clicking here. Two experts from our panel explain what we know about how the budget will impact housing, transportation and employment for New Yorkers with disabilities. -
This week on the Disabilities Beat, we’re highlighting a local organization taking a different approach to changing how we think about disability inclusion and advocacy. WBFO’s Disabilities Beat Reporter Emyle Watkins speaks with Outside the Box Associates about how they use a podcast, hiking trips, speaker talks and other forms of inclusive community engagement to challenge perceptions of disability. We also discuss what goes into starting an organization led completely by people with disabilities.
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In April, NYS passed a 2024-2025 budget that has many major changes impacting the lives of people with disabilities, chronic and mental health conditions. WBFO’s Disability Reporter Emyle Watkins sits down with an expert panel to break down the budget and how it will impact real people in an easy to understand way.
Additional WBFO Disabilities Reporting
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The closing of a prominent Buffalo pain doctor's clinic several years ago raised questions. But forgotten in the mix was what happened to his chronic pain patients, that came to him with a legitimate concern? The aftermath of Dr. Eugene Gosy's clinic closure has highlighted the challenges Americans face in getting chronic pain treatment while our country confronts the opioid epidemic. -
Governor Kathy Hochul’s Executive Budget included $1 million for Special Olympics New York. WBFO’s Disability Reporter Emyle Watkins first reported in December that the organization was asking the state for at least $1.5 million in the next budget to prevent program cuts. Watkins spoke with their CEO after the budget was released to get her reaction. -
On Tuesday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul shared her vision for New York in her State of the State address, which often previews what may be included in her budget proposal. WBFO’s Disability Reporter Emyle Watkins spoke with the head of a local disability services agency to get her reaction. -
Ahead of New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's State of the State address, one disability organization is asking the state to make a change that could rescue important programs for people with disabilities. -
Delaware North committed to a $100,000 donation to support unified sports programs in local schools. -
If you’ve ever been to a fundraiser at a restaurant, you know it’s a chance to have a great time with friends and support a cause. But for a local woman with a disability, a trip to Tully’s Good Times in Cheektowaga for a Special Olympics fundraiser, ended up being a bad time, as she was left to eat her meal off of a chair. -
One hundred years after a league we all know, the National Football League, was founded, another league launched with the hope of expanding access to football. WBFO’s Emyle Watkins shares how this new sport held a national tournament in New York State for the first time ever this October. -
Five months after WBFO published an investigation into at-its-face violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the City of Buffalo quietly welcomed its first full-time ADA coordinator. WBFO’s Disability Reporter Emyle Watkins sat down with her to learn more about her background and goals for the city. -
This back-to-school season, Walmart announced sensory hours. WBFO asked parents and neurodivergent adults if these sensory hours were helpful to their experiences. -
Summer - it is a time of year widely romanticized in books, movies and TV. Grand adventures, grand gestures, falling in love…. But how much feels really authentic, like something you could have gone through? This summer, a local author has a new book that brings a fresh and relatable take on the great summer romance novel. WBFO’s Emyle Watkins has more.
