Mitch Jeserich from a video by Sandy Sanders
Once more around the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol Building – this time through the eyes of disability.
The uprising threatened particular individuals in a building with a lot of history. Some of those individuals live with disability and some of that history is intertwined with accessibility struggles and successes.
Mitch Jeserich worked in and around the Capitol Building for several years as a wheelchair-using reporter. He joins us for a description of the physical structure of that edifice and some stories about what it was like for him to be inside the building.
Today we integrate some of the events of our nation into our disability routines. We’re nine days from an attempted coup at the Capital Building in D.C. as the pandemic rages and vaccine hope arises. Three callers living with disability contribute to the program.
Graphic by Gerd Altmann/Pixabay
One of our elder listeners with a severe disability, Mylene, speaks of her problem getting vaccinated. Ed, another listener, brings his experience in living with depression and working for candidates in Georgia. Ed talks about his disappointment that people allowed the victory in Georgia to be overshadowed by the doom and gloom of the Capital take-over.
Lydia Nunez
Less than 1% of U.S. residents live in nursing homes , yet between 30-40% percent of all COVID-19 deaths have occurred in these institutions. One hundred thousand people have died due to the coronavirus in various types of nursing homes. These shocking numbers are raising big questions. And the biggest question is, will these deaths galvanize big changes in the care of disabled and older people? For decades, our guest, disability activist Lydia Nunez, has sounded the alarm about ongoing nursing home abuse and the conditions that gave rise to this pandemic tragedy. Even before COVID, over 80% of nursing homes had infection control deficiencies and were rife with abuse and neglect. And it comes as no surprise that the biggest offenders are nursing homes caring for residents of color.