Be Prepared – Disability – Pushing Limits – March 22, 2024

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Are you ready? Ready for whatever comes at you?

No one can answer “yes” 100% of the time. But we can take steps to be prepared. And Pushing Limits is here to help.

This week, Amy SP Wilson brings a wealth of ideas about the perennial problem of strangers who are intrusive when they try to help people with disabilities. Amy SP Wilson is the CEO and founder of the Safety Positive Foundation, a nonprofit in the business of solving the personal safety needs of the blind and visually impaired community.

And, Serra Rea explains how emergency centers teamed up with local Independent Living Centers to help keep people with disabilities safe during the recent Southern California Floods. Serra Rae is the Disability Disaster Access & Resources Program Manager for the California Foundation for Independent Living Centers.

Listen up; Stay Safe; Be Prepared!

Interviewers and producers: Chelsea Lesner-Buxton, Bonnie Elliot and Dominick Trevethan.
Audio editing: Denny Daughters, Dominick Trevethan and Adrienne Lauby.
Host: Adrienne Lauby

More about Amy SP Wilson:

Amy SP Wilson’s commitment to personal safety has been a lifelong pursuit. From playfully wrestling with her cousins during her early years to becoming the first female wrestler at the Missouri School for the Blind in 1996, her passion for wrestling led her to the United States Association of Blind Athletes nationals in 1997, where she discovered Judo.

In 1998, Amy proudly represented her country in the World Championships for the Blind in Judo, as a member of the inaugural women’s Judo team of the USABA, all before graduating from high school. Amy’s eye condition, Stargardt’s, diagnosed at the age of 10, prevented her from continuing her martial arts journey.

Amy earned her first bachelor’s degree in psychology, only to become a survivor of domestic violence shortly after. This was not her first experience as a survivor, and she is deeply passionate about addressing the alarming rates of mental and emotional abuse within relationships involving individuals with disabilities.

Amy’s pursuit of knowledge led her to earn a second bachelor’s degree in social work. For the past decade, Amy has been involved in instructing and developing self-defense programs specifically designed for the blind and visually impaired. However, she found that these programs and organizations often had limited expectations for the Blind and Visually Impaired community, which did not align with her mission.

Through the establishment of the Safety Positive Foundation, Amy shares her skills and empowers her community to embrace a safety-positive lifestyle.

More about Serra Rae: While working with the County of San Bernardino in the Public Works department, Serra Rae learned a lot about wildland fires, flooding, and earthquakes. Preparing for the next emergency and working as a Emergency Communications Specialist in the FireCorps, Serra attended American Military Academy and obtained a bachelor degree in Disaster and Emergency Management with a focus on Terrorism and Geological Disasters. Later becoming certified as an Emergency Management Specialist with California Specialized Training Institute.

Serra Rae was introduced to the DDAR program while working at Rolling Start, an Independent Living Center member with CFILC. Working with the program at the center level gave her a good foundation to help the community open up the discussion of resources available to the community before, during and after an emergency or disaster event.

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