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A Valid Podcast

A Valid Podcast Season 4: Employment Among People with Intellectual Disabilities and/or Autism

Illustration contains outlines of two peoples' heads facing each other as if in conversation. There are frames around each one. The words A Valid Podcast and the microphone AAM logo are also in the image.

A Valid Podcast Season 4 is all about jobs among people with intellectual disabilities and/or autism.

Maria Palmer hosts this season, and Jessie Henry is the lead reporter.

You can find all episodes of A Valid Podcast at Apple Podcasts and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

Transcripts for the podcasts are here: bit.ly/AVPS4Transcripts

 

Movers and Shakers Step Up by 10/31/23

Can you volunteer to advance our world’s understanding of intellectual disabilities and/or autism? All-Abilities Media’s Movers and Shakers Task Force is accepting new members. Together we’re building an unprecedented audience for our award-winning, inclusively produced videos and podcasts. 

AAM provides media free to the public thanks to the nonprofit fiscal sponsorship of New Sun Rising, and is managed by Unabridged Press, LLC. 

Task force members will work 4-8 hours monthly until July 12, 2024. Members build plans for AAM activities and resources needed to address key questions in the following areas. Click here to nominate yourself or someone else. 

Production and Podcafe: How do we select impactful media topics and formats, and execute work ethically? 

Marketing: How will we break through to our audience via AAM channels and/or networks? 

Development and Partnerships: What customers, funding partners and other partnerships help us achieve our mission?

Finance: How can we accurately project, and track income and expenses? 

Administration: How will we recruit, retain and build AAM’s talent?  

Integration and Accessibility: Connect our focus areas so we’re all on the same page. 9

Key Dates:

Oct. 31, 2023:     Nomination Deadline

Nov. 14, 2023:    Task Force Members Announced

Nov.-Dec. TBD:  Orientation

July 12, 2024:     Task Force Completion

Contact: Jennifer Szweda Jordan, All-Abilities Media Director, info@allabilitiesmedia.org, 412-200-2017.

Sept. 7-13: ReelAbilities Film Festival 2023

Film Pittsburgh’s 11th annual ReelAbilities Pittsburgh runs September 7 – 13, 2023, at the Pittsburgh Playhouse with some films streaming online. The opening night movie is about a young single mother whose plans to return to school take a turn when her son is to be placed in a special needs school. It’s the award-winning Polish film called “Backwards.”

Film Pittsburgh says it “brings people together to explore and celebrate the lives and experiences of people living with disabilities and shows how we are all more alike than we are different.”

Films are presented with open captions or subtitles, audio description, ASL interpretation, and other accommodations. This event also includes Q&As with visiting filmmakers, an art exhibit, and inclusive receptions.

All-Abilities Media is a media sponsor of the festival. The festival is co-sponsored by Point Park University.

Loving Our Minds: Mental Health for HS and College Youth

High school and college students: let us help you love your wonderful minds. Did you know there’s more than one type of therapy? Art, music, and even something called EMDR–involving moving your eyes with a therapist’s guidance to treat trauma. Learn about types of therapy, community advocates working for your well-being, and  hear from young people sharing their experiences of mental illness and addiction. It’s all happening at Loving Our Minds, an event at Point Park University taking place on Tuesday, September 20 from 9 a.m. to 3:15 pm.

This is an All-Abilities Media event at the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University. It’s made possible by the Staunton Farm Foundation. All-Abilities Media is a collaboration with Unabridged Press bringing together people with and without disabilities to produce podcasts and events.

For those interested in supporting this event, presenter spots and sponsorships for this event are still available! Contact: 412-339-0748, contact@unabridgedpress.com.

Podcast Skills Opportunity for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities and/or Autism

June 30, 2022
Adults with intellectual/developmental disabilities and/or autism are invited to build community through a podcast-style online party facilitated  by All-Abilities Media.  Friday Night Mics! is where everyone gets to be a host and a guest. The last week of each month at 7 pm, collegiate and professional journalists facilitate this chill but meaningful hour together.
Point Park University Center for Media Innovation hosts the party on Zoom and Unabridged Press facilitates through our collaborative project All-Abilities Media. Sign up here!

A Valid Podcast wins Press Club Golden Quill Award!

Updated June 30, 2022

The third season of All-Abilities Media and Unabridged Press’ A Valid Podcast won an Excellence in Audio Journalism award from the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania. The series features people with intellectual disabilities sharing their joy and challenges in relationships. It explores how we support and where we fail to support adults with intellectual disabilities.

“In the past, we’ve institutionalized people with intellectual disabilities–keeping them sheltered and hidden,” says All-Abilities Media Project Manager Jennifer Szweda Jordan and Unabridged Press publisher. “We now have a more inclusive world. But this season of A Valid Podcast demonstrates that we have a lot of work to do in preparing people with intellectual disabilities to navigate relationships whether they’re in love, seeking it out, grieving for loved ones or just getting through the day.”

The podcast includes seven episodes and explores dating, marriage, the single life, and community. Each episode looks at where people with intellectual disabilities have advanced in society as well as where support is still needed.

“When somebody receives the right support in the right environment, amazing things can happen,” says Monica Ruiz, whose adult daughter, Adriana Quinones has an intellectual disability. The two are featured on the first episode.

The podcast is co-produced with the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University. It’s available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and others. Images and transcripts appear on PublicSource.

A Valid Podcast cover art and some music were created by people with intellectual disabilities. Editorial commentary and advising was also provided by individuals with intellectual disabilities.

The Golden Quill Awards have recognized global excellence in strategic communication for more than four decades.

Remembering people with disabilities who were killed

March 1, 2021

(Trigger warning: descriptions of murder and abuse to children with disabilities)

People with disabilities who were killed by trusted caregivers are honored each March 1 at Disability Day of Mourning events around the world. Inspired by these vigils, James Shirley is working with All-Abilities Media to produce a film about lives lost to murder.

Shirley has more than one reason that he’s passionate about pushing his proposed film forward.

He knew two children who were killed by their mother because they were autistic. Laurel Schlemmer drowned Luke, 3, and his brother Daniel, 6. Around the same time, Shirley was coming to terms with an autism diagnosis in his 30s. 

He’d seen the Schlemmer boys before, when they were just kids among the families sharing pancakes and juice.

The serene memory stood in stark relief to their deaths.

It led Shirley to participate in a local Disability Day of Mourning–one of many such events annually on March 1 to commemorate the killings of people with disabilities.

He says he hopes the film “will encourage and comfort people in the disabled world who deal with this and have a positive reception from nondisabled people.”

“It’s work that should have been done years ago,” Shirley says, “and there isn’t a better time to do it than now, especially with COVID, which has exposed inequities in the health care system.”

The film Shirley is developing is receiving educational support from the All-Abilities Media Project–a joint effort between the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University and Unabridged Press. The FISA Foundation is funding a portion of the documentary’s research and planning stages this year. If you’re able to financially support the film effort, the All-Abilities Media Project accepts donations from individuals and groups. 

If you believe a person with a disability is in danger or being abused call:

Childline: 1-800-932-0313

Adult Protective Services: 1-800-490-8505

October 30, 2020

We’re thrilled to share that in October 2020, the FISA Foundation for the second time invested in All-Abilities Media. The Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University just received a $20,000 grant from the FISA Foundation to strengthen the skills of 15 individuals with disabilities in media work!

In other news, if you’re reading this, you know that we have a brand new website! It was designed by Remy Davison, whose previous work includes the ADA at 30: Accessibility in Pittsburgh website from PublicSource and Unabridged Press. On both sites, Davison worked one-on-one with people with disabilities who provided input about site design and content.

Finally, we got to spread the word about our work thanks to the City of Pittsburgh-Allegheny County Task Force on Disabilities. The group invited All-Abilities Media director Jennifer Szweda Jordan to speak about the project at its October meeting. You can check out the presentation at this YouTube link at the 51-minute mark.