Traipsin' Global on Wheels Podcast Hour

We are absolutely bursting with excitement to share the latest conversation on our TGOW podcast show. We welcomed the accomplished Noorain Khan recently. She is a director in the Ford foundation’s Office of the President where she oversees grantmaking from the foundation’s Reserves Fund and leads cross-foundation strategic projects and initiatives that emerge from the president’s priorities. Befor...

Devon Palermo – Adaptive Fitness Specialist and Health Inclusivity at its Finest Devon Palermo is the director and adaptive fitness specialist for Definitive Progression Ignited (DPI) Adaptive Fitness. He is the Founder and Principal director of DPI Adaptive Fitness. In their own words, DPI Adaptive Fitness is Adaptive Fitness for Everyone at ANY level of Ability. It is safe and effective programm...

Amy Currotto is a recent law graduate from the University District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law in Washington DC, where she specialized in international investment law. During her time in law school, Amy work at the World Bank at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Amy also spent time working at the United States Congress in the House of Representat...

Andy Arias advocates in the entertainment industry by creating visible pathways as an actor and stand-up comedian. As an actor, Andy has had the pleasure of working with Tom Hanks, Mark Ruffalo and Hilary Swank on projects. He is often asked to consult with producers and directors in creating greater media visibility of people with disabilities. He has also produced several small projects that hav...

She grew up in Chicago, and began studying Russian in College. In 1989 she travelled to Moscow to coordinate student exchange programs and has been living in Russia since. In 1997, together with Russian colleagues from the disability rights movement, Denise set up a Russian disability NGO, Perspektiva, to support people with disabilities to lead full, active, independent lives. As Executive Direct...

We had the honor of welcoming Denis Vasilevich onto our podcast show recently. Denis is a disability rights advocate from Minks, Belarus. He grew up with both parents that have a disability. This inspired him to devote his whole life to fighting stigma and increasing opportunities for people with disabilities, especially in the realm of providing fun and accessible recreational sports activities....

We had the amazing honor to welcome Brittany Déjean onto the TGOW podcast show recently. She is founder and CEO of AbleThrive, a platform for people with paralysis and their families. Brittany's father was paralyzed in a car accident when she was 12 years old and after seeing it's possible to live well with a disability, she dedicated her life to making it possible for others. A 2008 Harvard Unive...

We had the opportunity to host the happy Vincenzo Piscopo onto our TGOW podcast show recently. Vincenzo works as a Community and Stakeholder Relations director for The Coca-Cola Company where he manages the relationships with disability, veterans and Hispanic organizations as well as United Way and Hands-On Atlanta. Vincenzo has worked for The Coca-Cola Company for the last 23 years in different a...

I had the amazing pleasure of being introduced to Justin Pines recently. His positive attitude, love for the outdoors, and his insatiable appetite for adventure is contagious. At around 30 years old, Justin was injured on April 9, 2016 while he was skiing up in the mountains in Tahoe. To be able to bounce back to a million adaptive sports, and still love skiing (the sport that forever changes his...

Do you have the BackBones to listen to this podcast? We recently had the honor of speaking to Reveca Torres, founder and Executive Director of the non-profit, BackBones. Reveca was injured and paralyzed in a car accident at the age of 13. After completing degrees in fashion design and theater arts, Reveca simultaneously worked as a costume designer and with various organizations doing disability w...

We had the pleasure of hosting Jeff Meer on the Traipsin’ Global on Wheels podcast hour recently. Jeff is the Executive Director of the U.S. office of Humanity and Inclusion (formerly known as Handicap International). Humanity and Inclusion (HI) was awarded part of a Pulitzer Prize in 1997 for their work on the international campaign to ban landmines. Jeff comes to HI from PHI (Public Health Insti...

Kanya Sesser was born without legs but that hasn’t stopped her from learning to skateboard, model for the likes of Nike, Billabong and Rip Curl Girl, and also begin training for the 2018 Paralympics. The 26-year-old celebrity is determined to lead an ordinary life. Instead of a wheelchair, Kanya, whose motto is “No Legs, No Limits”, uses a skateboard to get around and also walks on her hands. Her...

We had the tremendous honor of interviewing Tiana Tozer earlier this week. After a career in public relations Tiana moved to Iraq to become a humanitarian aid worker. In Iraq she implemented an innovative program that taught people with disabilities how to advocate for themselves and become social change agents. In Sudan, she was the State Director in Southern Kordofan running a program to build g...

Kings Floyd – Disability Rights Advocate & Human Rights Advocate, a Writer with more than Ink on Paper. Kings Floyd is a disability rights activist, advocate and writer based in Washington, DC. She works to combine her unwavering passion for disability rights, healthcare, and mental health and wellness with intersectional communities. She graduated with a Bachelors in English Writing, with concent...

Steph Aiello – Beauty and the Disability. Cosmetology & Normalcy of Daily Activities of Persons with Disabilities As written on Bustle: “In 2010, one day before she was supposed to start cosmetology school, Steph Aiello was involved in a car crash that left her paralyzed from the waist down with limited ability to move her hands and one of her closest friends dead. She would spend the next several...

We had the honor of welcoming Senator Thomas Richard Harkin onto our TGOW podcast show this morning. Sen. Tom Harkin is from Cumming, Iowa. He is the son of a coal miner and a Slovenian immigrant. His mom immigrated to the U.S. through an arranged marriage. Sen. Harkin served 10 years in the House of Representatives and 30 years in the U.S. Senate. He is the chief co-sponsor of the Americans with...

For this episode, I had the honor of interviewing my former boss, Shantha Rau Barriga. We worked together a few years ago when I was living in New York City and interned at the Human Rights Watch. She is the founding director of the disability rights division at Human Rights Watch. She leads research and advocacy on human rights abuses against persons with disabilities worldwide. Shantha is a foun...

We recently had the absolute honor to welcome Dr. Cheri Blauwet onto our Traipsin' Global On Wheels Podcast Hour. Dr. Blauwet is a Stanford medical graduate, an assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School, an attending physician at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital director of the Kelley Adaptive Sports Research Institu...

I had a blast interviewing my superstar friend, Anastasia Somoza. She began her advocacy work in 1993, when, at the age of 9, she had the opportunity to ask President Bill Clinton to help mainstream her twin sister Alba into the New York City public school system. Anastasia is now leading the inclusion revolution as a human rights defender, speaker, and consultant. On the first night of the 2016 D...

Our ninth TGOW episode features our interview with Bruce Curtis. Bruce is an activist, dance teacher and performer who uses a wheelchair. As a disability advocate, Bruce worked for the World Institute on Disability for twenty-two years and served as International Program Director until June 2014. From 1992 to 2004, he worked in Russia and other post-Soviet countries. From 2004 to 2017, he built th...

TGOW was absolutely delighted to have hosted Dr. David Younger on the 8th episode of our podcast series. Dr. Younger was diagnosed with FacioScapuloHumeral Muscular Dystrophy (FSHD) when he was around 4, at the same time that his mother and grandmother were diagnosed. Dr. Younger is a licensed psychologist in Texas and New York with a private practice that is web and phone-based with clients from...

We have a new email! Please send your feedback and stories to: tgowpodcast@gmail.com. We really want to hear from YOU, our listeners! The world-renowned disability rights activist, Judy Heumann graced us with her presence on the Traipsin' Global on Wheels podcast series. She is a lifelong advocate for the rights of disabled people. Like me, she contracted polio at an young age. Judy began to exper...

We welcomed Kristin Duquette to our 5th TGOW podcast episode! She has worked for President Barack Obama, spoken at United Nations Headquarters, and represented the United States on the US Paralympic Swim Team. Kristin is a five-time American Paralympic Record Holder, three-time Junior National Record Holder, and the former Captain of the US Paralympic Swim Team for the 2010 Greek Open. In 2014, Kr...

I had the opportunity to chat with the joyful, warm and welcoming Ralf Hotchkiss for our fourth podcast. Ralf is an electrical engineer, physicist, inventor, and designer, as well as the co-founder of Whirlwind Wheelchair International. He was also an instructor at MIT for about a decade. Ralf became disabled when he got into a motorcycle accident during his junior year at Oberlin University. But...

Our third podcast is with Craig Blanchette, a former Paralympian in wheelchair racing. I met Craig while I was an undergraduate at the University of Oregon and doing wheelchair racing there. Craig's coach, Kevin Hansen, was also my coach at the time. Craig was born with a birth defect called Proximal femoral focal deficiency (PFFD. He was also born with the desire to compete and to get the most ou...