The Independent Life

It’s a new year, which means we’re in a new legislative session! On this episode, Jane talks about the culture and climate for the Florida 2022 Legislative Session. She provides an update on COVID, Re-districting, potential Gerrymandering, and breaks down FACIL’s legislative agenda for the year. Jane also highlights other types of legislative actions that are expected to take place, such as, chang...

Love is a spiritual condition that helps us to find meaning and purpose in our lives. Today’s dojo is a continuation of the previous dojo where Tony talks through the importance of having a mission or vision statement for ourselves, to help guide us through another new year. On this dojo, Tony talks about unconditional love for all and shares how unconditional love breaks down for him, in his life...

This week we continue the message of gratitude and sharing the independent life from the perspective of our guests within the Independent Living network. We have had the privilege of interviewing guests from all walks of life, across all age groups, with vastly different experiences, and an abundant amount of life lessons to share. We hear from leaders who have dedicated their life work towards ma...

A mission and vision statement is critical to the success of an organization. From this perspective, Tony thought about the benefits we could gain from creating a mission statement for ourselves, which gives us direction so that we can be successful in our lives. On today’s dojo, Tony shares with us his mission statement and his personal formula for achieving inner peace in his life: Awareness Cla...

A new year is upon us, with unlimited potential for how we can continue making strides towards being the best version of ourselves that we can be. On this episode, we take a look back at some of our guests’ responses to “What does the independent life mean to you?” It is through the different perspectives and countless experiences of others that we may broaden our understanding on what it means to...

2022 may be a year where we continue to see adversity and continue to be challenged. As we enter into the new year, are we thinking about the importance of preparing for what’s ahead? Are we remembering that we have everything within our capacity and control to make sure that we overcome these challenges and to be the best version of ourselves that we can be by facing these adversities?   If you h...

The American Red Cross approached the Florida Associations of Centers For Independent Living (FACIL) to learn to how they can better and more effectively communicate with people with disabilities during disasters. As we’ve discussed on previous episodes on the podcast, people with disabilities tend to be one of the more high risk populations during disasters and the folks that tend to serve people...

As we approach the end of another year and look ahead to a new year, it is an opportune occasion to reflect on time. Time always seems like it has flown by too quickly when we’re looking back to reflect but when we look forward and when we’re going through it, there never seems to be enough time. And with the pandemic, it’s common to hear that time feels warped this past nearly 2 years. When we ta...

What does the world of disability look like from the lens of family; a mother, a father, brother, sister? Kathy is a mother of two children who have disabilities, who are now young adults. She joins us on this episode to share her rich experiences in this role- what it’s like to receive an early diagnosis of autism for your 8 month old baby and what it’s like to process that information. She share...

On this special Christmas dojo, Tony reflects on having a blessed life but mostly taking the time to remain aware and acknowledge that there are those who are not as fortunate- not just around the holidays, but year round. He reflects through various events throughout the years where he’s gotten the opportunity lend a hand, give his time, and simply just be in presence with those whom we can share...

Debra Saenz was born and raised in Gadsden County Florida, where she still resides today. She has been an L.P.N. for over 30 years and has worked in retail pharmacies, hospitals, pediatrician offices and the WIC program. Today, she is employed by the State of Florida in the Title V program as a Family Leader providing a family voice with stakeholders in the Big Bend area. She is the proud mother o...

New Year Resolutions are easy to make but hard to keep. What can we do to be a better person and work towards being the best version of ourselves possible? On this dojo, Tony dives into the steps and various ways methods we can implement when we attempt to make a behavioral or habitual change in our lives. The How starts with ‘The Why’. Why are we doing what we’re doing? Ask yourself, “Why am I ch...

Carolyn Grawi is the team leader of the Center for Independent Living of Northwest Florida. She has a deep sense of commitment to our region’s nonprofit sector. She continuously works for the betterment of the community and has served nonprofits at all levels in program, fundraising, executive and leadership and has a breadth of perspective and experience. Since 1987, Carolyn has been engaged in a...

Tony’s signature sign-off for each episode -onward and upward- serves as a message to always aim for improvement; moving towards a better version of ourselves and recognizing that we’re all a constant work in progress. With the New Year on the horizon, now is a greater time than ever to reflect where we’ve been, assess what went well, and review what could we improve upon? Join Tony on this brain...

Since 2007, Kristen Griffis has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Elder Options, located in Gainesville, Florida. Under her direction, Elder Options administers an array of programs and services designed to benefit older adults, persons living with disabilities and their caregivers. Ms. Griffis was raised in Lakeland, Florida and moved to the Gainesville area in early 2000 where she began h...

Jane Johnson joins us today on a special dojo to talk about CIL Day at the Capitol, advocating for policies supporting people with disabilities. Planned months in advance, the purpose of CIL Day serves as an opportunity for CILs to come to The Capitol, to meet with legislators and present awards of appreciation to the members who supported CIL issues last year. Jane catches us up on how CIL Day we...

Happy Thanksgiving! On this special holiday episode, we are joined by staff at Center For Independent Living North Central Florida - many of whom have previously been a guest on the podcast - to share what they are grateful for in their lives. Thanksgiving Day is the perfect time to remind one another of the many reasons there are to be grateful. The holiday season is more than the festivities; it...

As we enter into the holiday season and a week primarily centered around gratitude, Tony takes this time to peel back the layers of how we approach gratitude, while keeping a balance with allowing ourselves to feel the tough emotions that come with every day life. Steps to gratitude: Recognition: what are we grateful for and what could we be grateful for; think about what blindspots you may have i...

Consuelo Kreider, PhD, OTR/L is a Clinical Assistant Professor where she teaches in the Doctor of Occupational Therapy program. Her clinical expertise is in community-based occupational therapy working with individuals and families with neurodevelopmental and psychosocial challenges. Dr. Kreider has received funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health for inv...

On this Disability Dojo, Tony talks about the journey and process of happiness. He explores how the obstacles in life is the way towards happiness and how we learn values and virtues by going through the obstacles. Through this process, we are exploring the meaning of life and can we be happy as we’re going through these experiences, knowing that this process is giving birth to all that we need to...

Kevin McDaniel, Editor-in-Chief for Accessibility.com , is an ADA Coordinator and Certified Accessibility Professional, and has served in numerous roles as an advocate for persons with disabilities, including Disabled Services Division Chief, 508 Compliance Officer, and Accessibility Project Manager, and continues to serve on numerous boards and commissions that advocate for persons with disabilit...

On today’s dojo, Tony dives into virtue. The stoics regard virtue through Summum Bonum- the pursuit of the highest good, which are: courage, justice, temperance, and wisdom. Tony takes us through an exercise where he shares a few stoic ideas for listeners to consider to use to have a better life.   References: Summum Bonum: The Pursuit of the Highest Good   Amor Fati: The Formula for Human Greatne...

Brian Johnson Chief is the Program Operator at the Center for Independent Living of Broward Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Brian has been involved in the disability advocacy field for the last 20+ years providing assistance to individuals with disabilities who are trying to become more independent in their community and access services that they are entitled to, and may not even be aware exist. Brian ha...

On this dojo episode, Tony gets into Philosophy, specifically stoic philosophy, as he feels stoicism is an ideal philosophy for disability. We all have philosophy and a philosophical way of seeing life. In the first few episodes of the Disability Dojo series, Tony spent an episode each asking, Who Am I?, Why Are We Here?, Why Am I Here? These questions allowed him to dive into and reflect on his p...

Patrick Dodds has been the Director of the Continuum of Care (CoC) for the United Way of North Central Florida and the North Central Florida Alliance for the Homeless and Hungry since July 2020. Prior to joining the United Way Patrick was an attorney in private practice covering the areas of real estate and property law, contract law, and non-profit law. His work with the UWNCFL and the NCFAHH foc...