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.
Latest from the WBFO Disabilities Beat
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Over the past decade, a local activist has fought for New York State to expand its paratransit system beyond the federal minimum distance it can go. Stephanie Speaker's own experiences with paratransit, the point-to-point public transportation system for people with disabilities, not being able to reach where she needs to go has galvanized her to secure funding and potential legislation that could expand the system. This week, WBFO's Emyle Watkins shares an interview with Speaker from 2023 about her work and why she wants to see paratransit go farther.
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Soon New York State will finalize its 2025 budget, which always impacts programs and services utilized by New Yorkers with disabilities. One of those programs is Special Olympics, an organization that provides a variety of free opportunities for athletes of all ages with disabilities. On this week's Disabilities Beat, we speak with Special Olympics New York CEO, Stacey Hengsterman. She joined us back in December for an exclusive interview to share that they will face cuts if the state doesn't increase their funding, which they claim has remained stagnant at $1.5 million over the past 20 years.
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Jasmine Harris, a law professor and disability rights legal scholar from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, explains in a conversation with WBFO’s Disability Reporter Emyle Watkins how local laws like the recently vetoed Erie County Language Access Act can interact with federal disability laws, like the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
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On this episode of the Disabilities Beat, Emyle Watkins speaks with Erie County’s newest Family Court Judge, the honorable Shannon Filbert, about her perspective as a judge with a disability on what people with disabilities should know about family court. We break down some misconceptions about family court, the role disability can play in custody hearings and where the family court system could improve.
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On this episode of the Disabilities Beat, Emyle Watkins speaks with Kevin Smith, the director of Mental Health Peer Connection, about how peer-led services are helping to bridge a treatment gap. We also learn about their Renewal Center, which offers a peer-led alternative to a psychiatric emergency room.
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This episode kicks off WBFO’s new weekly Disabilities Beat segment. But as we create a new space for stories from the disability community to be shared, how can you, the listener, interact with this segment? What can you expect to learn? Disabilities Beat Reporter Emyle Watkins asked some of our sources what you can expect and we break down what ableism is.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Delaware North committed to a $100,000 donation to support unified sports programs in local schools.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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This back-to-school season, Walmart announced sensory hours. WBFO asked parents and neurodivergent adults if these sensory hours were helpful to their experiences.
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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.