Traipsin' Global on Wheels Podcast Hour

Steve Bartlett has been a Mayor, US Congressman, Board Member, CEO, and disability independence advocate. His specific areas of expertise include disability policy, financial services, financial education and many other areas. He is Chairman of the Board of RespectAbility Inc, a large and fast growing non-profit forcefully advocating for independence and respect for persons with disabilities. Prin...

August 23, 2012. That was the day it all changed for Curtis McGrath. A combat engineer with the Australian army who had been deployed to Afghanistan a couple of months earlier, McGrath stepped on an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) while patrolling the Taliban-infested region. It detonated, taking both his legs with it. Eighteen months after this fateful day, Curtis was crowned World Champion at...

Erik Erik has an undergraduate degree in business administration and extensive experience in North Africa. Erik has also worked for the Norwegian Association of the Disabled. As an owner, he is using this combination of experience and training to grow Morocco Accessible Travel Consultants. Part of this involves networking with Moroccan service providers to improve the Morocco travel experience. He...

Dana was raised in Granbury, Texas and found great swimming success at a young age under Coach Ron Forrest at the Fort Worth Area Swim Team. At 12 years old she was the youngest swimmer competing at the 2000 US Olympic Trials. In college, under Coach Teri McKeever, Dana won four national titles and played a key role in bringing the University of California Golden Bears their first NCAA national te...

El Gibbs is the Director, Media, and Communications at People with Disability Australia, the national disability rights organization. PWDA is run by and for people with disabilities, and El is a proud disabled person. She is also an award-winning writer, focusing on disability and other social issues, and spends too much time on Twitter

Dr. Dinesh Palipana – Medical Care from the Wheelchair: Point of View of a Doctor with a Disability Dr. Dinesh Palipana was the first quadriplegic medical intern in Queensland, and the second person to graduate medical school with quadriplegia in Australia. Dinesh earned a Bachelor of Laws (LLB), prior to completing his Doctor of Medicine (MD) at the Griffith University. He has completed an Advanc...

We had such a stimulating and informative conversation with Miles O’Brien this morning. Miles is a broadcast news journalist specializing in science, technology, and aerospace. He is the science correspondent for the PBS NewsHour, a producer and director for the PBS science documentary series NOVA, and a correspondent for the PBS documentary series FRONTLINE. For nearly 17 years in the news busine...

Christina Ryan is the CEO and Founder of the Disability Leadership Institute. She has been an active leader in the Australian disability community for over 20 years. Christina pioneered the use of mainstream forums by women with disabilities at the United Nations, and now mentors and teaches effective use of the UN for rights activists globally, while working as a leadership coach for people with...

Just a moment ago, we had the amazing honor of welcoming Senator Maggie Hassan, the junior Senator of New Hampshire to our podcast show. She was a New Hampshire state Senator, then a governor for a couple of terms, and then from there she became a U.S. Senator in 2016 representing the Granite State from the nation’s capital. She is also the proud parent of her son, Ben, who happens to have cerebra...

Judy Woodruff -- An Anchor, for NBC and for her Son with a Disability Broadcast journalist Judy Woodruff is the anchor and managing editor of the PBS NewsHour. She has covered politics and other news for more than four decades at NBC, CNN and PBS. Judy served as White House correspondent for NBC News from 1977 to 1982, followed by one year as chief Washington correspondent for NBC’s Today Show. Sh...

Ms. Catalina Devandas Aguilar of Costa Rica is a lawyer by training and a human rights advocate. She took office as the first Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 1 December 2014. She has worked extensively on disability rights and inclusive development for the past 20 years, including with the World Bank, the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs, a...

Dr. Jennifer Smith-Merry is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Sydney. Jen is the Director of the Centre for Disability Research and Policy (CDRP). Jen also leads the Mental Health and Disability research in the Faculty. Jen has a Ph. D. in policy from the University of Queensland (2005) and her academic research has focused on policy and service developm...

TGOW recently had the pleasure of interviewing John A. Lancaster. John retired as the Executive Director of the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL), the oldest disability grassroots organization run by and for people with disabilities. John served as the Treasurer of the Board of Trustees for Handicap International Federation (HI) and serves on the Board of Directors of Handicap Internat...

Right before the holidays, TGOW had the pleasure of interviewing another former boss of mine, Susan Sygall. She is as badass as they come and such a wonderful role model to me. Susan is the CEO and co-founder of Mobility International USA, a wheelchair rider, author, lecturer, and a passionate disability rights activist. She has edited and authored several publications to advance the rights of per...

Born in Guatemala, her academic qualifications include: a pre-graduate degree in Mathematics, a graduate degree in Chemistry, Post-graduate degrees in Social Management and in Gender Studies, and a M.A. in Human Rights. Silvia joined the International Disability Alliance (IDA) Secretariat in July 2017 and is leading the work of the Secretariat in relation with the UN Treaty Bodies in order to main...

Dana Bolles began her 24-year career with NASA in Florida, at the world’s only spaceport, the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). The first 13 years of her career were spent in regulatory compliance, from payload safety to environmental protection, and she worked at 3 different NASA centers: Kennedy Space Center, Goddard Space Flight Center, and Ames Research Center. Dana’s diverse work experience has giv...

Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo is the Global Disability Advisor for the World Bank Group. As Disability Advisor, she supports operational teams across the institution to ensure that Bank policies, programs and projects are disability inclusive. In 2011 as a well-respected human rights lawyer in disability and child rights advocate, she was appointed by President Obama to led USAID’s work on disability i...

Dr. Piers Gooding – A Renowned Research Fellow specializing in Disability Law & Mental Health Dr. Piers Gooding is a Research Fellow at the Melbourne Social Equity Institute and the University of Melbourne Law School. His work focuses on disability law and mental health politics. He is the author of 'A New Era for Mental Health Law and Policy: Supported Decision-Making and the UN Convention on the...

Born profoundly deaf, Commissioner Alastair McEwin demonstrated from a young age a determination that would see him seek opportunities that would progress his desire to advocate for people with disability. For over 25 years now, Commissioner McEwin has worked across the private, government and non-government sectors, having held roles such as management consultant with Accenture, Manager of the Au...

Karen L. Braitmayer, FAIA is the founder and managing principal of Studio Pacifica. She provides the unusual combination of personal experience as a registered Architect and a member of the disabled community. She has made accessibility consulting and design services her focus area since 1990. She provides consulting services to local governments, school districts, architects, engineers, companies...

We are so happy we had the honor ot interview Jill Moore yesterday. She works with the Landscape Structures team to aid in product development and promote the importance of inclusive play. During her college career at the University of Illinois, Jill competed on two occasions representing the United States on the world stage in Track and Field doing wheelchair racing. Through an active life, Jill...

We had the tremendous honor of welcoming Grace Jun onto our show this morning. She is the Executive Director of Open Style Lab (OSL) and Assistant Professor at the School of Fashion in Parsons School of Design, the New School, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate students. Grace's work has received nation-wide attention and has been featured at the White House Fashion Show Celebrating Incl...

Eric Lipp, Founder and Executive Director of the Open Doors Organization started the organization after personally experiencing the restrictions that people with disabilities face in everyday life. This experience was the catalyst in encouraging Eric to found the Open Doors Organization (ODO). ODO works as Part 382 US Air Carrier Access Act experts across the globe, working with over 40 foreign ca...

Lucy Jones is the founder and CEO of FFORA. She worked as a “Social Innovator” at Eileen Fisher in collaboration with the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) and studied Fashion Design at Parsons School of Design, winning the prestigious Womenswear Designer of the Year Award in 2015. She has since earned several accolades including the Kering ‘Empowering Imagination’ Award and was named...

We recently had the pleasure of welcoming the fabulous Debra Ruh to our TGOW podcast show. She is the CEO of Ruh Global Communications (RGC), a technology, strategic communications, and digital marketing firm helping corporations strategically include people with disabilities. The firm allows organizations to connect with and integrate the community of people with disabilities, their families, and...