The Disability Diaries With Steven Vine

Send us Fan Mail Steve and Chris talk with Amanda Lockitch. Amanda has a background in theatre, film, teaching and public speaking. She is currently the Research and Outreach Manager for the non-profit organization Disability without Poverty. They are a rather small but collaborative group, based all over Canada, comprised mainly of individuals with their own disabilities. Disability Without Pover...

Send us Fan Mail Marie LeBlanc is a Canadian artist (photographer, performance, video) and an advocate for environmental sensitivities. Marie lives with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) and Lyme disease. Her MCS makes her extremely sensitive to various exposures including: cleaning products, perfumes, electrical devices and the most devasting - mold. Her disability has forced her to live unconv...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Steve talks with John Cooper from Columbus, Georgia, who is a Physical Therapist Assistant working with the lower limb loss community. John has a particular passion for the work that he does and continues to practice his passion for the last 18 years. John talks about his grandfather, and how his recovery from brain surgery fueled John's passion to help other...

Send us Fan Mail Steve interviews Lisa Gausman, a fellow ostomate, and an amazing human being. Lisa noticed she may have had an illness in her teenaged years. Her mother decided to pursue intervention for Lisa, and she was immediately diagnosed with Crohn's disease. She had 15 abdominal surgeries after that diagnosis. She was put on some serious medication at the age of 16. Things started to...

Send us Fan Mail Steve and Chris talk with Dr. Marla Inducil, the Director of Medical Research at BC Diabetes in Vancouver. Marla's work focuses on diabetes research, but the three of us talk about various topics including: Type 1 vs. Type 2, eating, shopping and portion control. Exercise, fasting and making good choices at the grocery store. (We previous talked about this topic with Tristan...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Steve talks with Monica Gartner and Walt Lawrence about Faith, Spirituality and God. This discussion is far from preachy - but rather offering some personal perspectives on how people can find their own ways to cope with disabilities; whether it is within their own hearts, in a church, or in their own community. You may recognize Monica from a previous episode - a...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Steve talks with Mike Bolland, who has his own podcast entitled: 'We're not Stumped'. Mike's podcast serves as motivation to share survival stories, recovery journeys, and real-life success stories from the limb loss and disability community. Mike is a one handed cancer survivor and the first person with limb loss to compete on the PBA Tour (Pr...

Send us Fan Mail In this special episode, Steven welcomes Dr. Michelle Hewitt and Dr. Ricky Manhas to talk about MAID (Medical Assistance in Dying). Michelle gives her perspective as the spouse of a patient who used MAID last year. Michelle is also the Chair of the Disability without Poverty non-profit organization. Dr. Manhas gives his perspective as a Family Doctor who has guided patients who ha...

Send us Fan Mail In this special 50th episode of the podcast, Steve talks about the writing of his new book: 'Beyond Green Eyes: The Day I Died, the Life I Began'. The episode starts out with Chris reading the Prologue of the book. If you're interested in hearing more from the book - it is available to purchase on Amazon. (Hardcover, softcover or Kindle)  Beyond Green Eyes: The Day...

Send us Fan Mail Steve talks with Thomas Exler from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, who was born with a very rare congenital birth defect known as bladder exstrophy. As Tom describes it, his bladder was like a balloon on the outside of his body. He had to have this removed at the age of 4. His mother created the first ostomy group in the world for caregivers of children with this condition. Bladder exstr...

Send us Fan Mail Steve interviews Jared Taylor, from Washington state. In his younger days, Jared's life consisted mainly of construction and skiing. He decided to buckle down and pursue a career as an EMS, working as an emergency medical technician and firefighter. In 2012 he sustained an injury as a trail runner, as he loved the outdoors. While running one day, he experienced a misstep whic...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Steve talks with Dr. Ghobadi about medical screening. He has experience working in emergency medicine, medical clinics, as well as screening, diagnosing and patient care. He did his schooling and training in his home country of Iran but moved to Canada a few years ago and is continuing to pursue medicine. Steve wanted to talk about this topic, because he feels if...

Send us Fan Mail Linda Siegel is a retired professor from the University of British Columbia, who taught educational psychology. In this episode, Linda talks with Steve about dyslexia because she feels this is a very important condition to talk about. Her quote is from a 10 year old boy with dyslexia, which Linda elaborates more in her conversation with Steven. Linda did a lot of research about ch...

Send us Fan Mail Steven interviews Evan Starnes who was born totally blind. Evan lives in the Denver, Colorado area, works for the non-profit organization 'Aftersight' and produces and hosts a technology podcast called Blind Level Tech. (And he doesn't mind being called Nerdy Evan). He had a white cane in his hand by the time that he was 3 years old. When you listen to the episode,...

Send us Fan Mail Erez is an amputee; right leg below the knee - by choice.  Instead of asking himself - Why me or Why did this happen; Erez found a beautiful gift wrapped up in some terrible circumstances. A former elite commando and survivor of three near-death experiences, including a car crash, a heart attack, and a life-changing medical decision to amputate his leg- Erez’s journey from surviva...

Send us Fan Mail Steve and Chris talk with Emily and David. Emily Price is the Program Coordinator at CVS (Community Ventures Society) a non-profit organization in Port Moody, British Columbia. The mission of CVS is as follows (from their website): 'To open doors to opportunities for children and adults with developmental disabilities and their families so that they live the life they choose....

Send us Fan Mail Jeff Tiessen is a 45+ years double-arm amputee, Canadian Paralympic gold medalist and world record holder. He is the publisher of 'Thrive' magazine - Living Well with Limb Loss, an award winning journalist with over 1,000 published features to his credit, and multiple recipient of numerous disability related and sports awards. He's an educator, advocate and sought a...

Send us Fan Mail Kent was born with poor vision. He was active in sports as a young person, in spite of his vision issues. As time went on, his vision continually lessened. He had to change career paths a few times because of his vision. He was considered legally blind by the time he was in his 30's. He eventually started to work for the CNIB (Canadian Institute for the Blind) and started a p...

Send us Fan Mail Steve and Chris talk with Kari Krogh, PhD Psychology and the founder of Eco Wisdom. Kari's quote from meditation teacher, Tara Brach, has a special meaning for people with disabilities who experience social and systemic barriers (outside the personal body) that shape our experience of living with disability. Within the EcoWisdom Community where accessibility in forest bathing...

Send us Fan Mail Prior to having ostomy surgery, Janet spent more time in the hospital than out of it. Crohn’s disease had been ravaging her entire digestive system and had necessitated multiple bowel resections. It finally reached a point in 1996 when Janet was in her early twenties and 31 weeks pregnant that the doctors declared that she had reached a point where ostomy surgery was her only opti...

Send us Fan Mail Steve interviews former mayor of Vancouver Sam Sullivan, in an open discussion that gets quite candid. Sam talks about his former political life and his current life with his foundation: The Disability Foundation.   Sam broke his neck in a 1978 skiing accident, aged 19. He found himself tetraplegic, unable to dress or feed himself, let alone continue playing active sports or makin...

Send us Fan Mail Chantal was born with no vision, grew up in Quebec, and moved to British Columbia as a child and she learned how to live with her disability. Chantal loves her involvement and responsibility as she engages with the CCB (Canadian Council of the Blind) BC/Yukon Division. The Canadian Council for the Blind (CCB) is a national organization dedicated to improving the quality of life fo...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, the last guest on our show (Walter Lawrence from GF Strong), interviews Steve! Walt asks Steve some very intimate questions about Steve's recovery, outlook, goals and his future. Walt's experience as a mentor and counsellor at GF Strong, makes him a very curious and straightforward interviewer. Steve shows his vulnerability as he reflects on his life pos...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Steve talks with Walt Lawrence from GF Strong rehabilitation hospital. When he was 17 years old, he took a dive in shallow water off a seawall, hit the bottom and broke his neck. Walt instantly because a quadriplegic. In the hospital in Kelowna, he was hooked up to a ventilator, and he could not speak. He remained positive that he was going to get through this. Wa...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Steve talks with Zafira Nanji who is a caregiver on many different levels. Besides her son who is neurodivergent, which can be an exploding controversy in some circles; Zafira has also had challenges with her parents' health, their passing, and her own grief. She is a doula, a human resources manager and an author of children's books. Her motto is '...