The main goal for the podcast in 2022 is to make International Day For People With Disabilities have more impact.
Find out what Peta has been working on to achieve this goal.
If you want to be a part of the working group, please email Peta here
Listen to the previous episode about the goal for 2022, here
Connect with Peta:
Instagram @petahooke
The website: www.icantstandpodcast.com
Email: icantstandpodcast@gmail.com
Episode Transcript:
Peta [00:00:02] Hello and welcome to the I Can't Stand Podcast, the podcast answering your questions on what life is like when you have a disability. My name is Peta and I'm your host. I have cerebral palsy and I love to answer your questions.
[00:00:20] This week is an update on how everything is going on may achieving the main goal for this podcast for 2022. If you would like to ask me a question for a future episode of the podcast, there are three ways you can get in contact with me. One. You can message me on my Instagram. My handle is @petahooke spelt PETAHOOKE. You can send me an email. My email is icantstandpodcast@gmail.com, or you can contact me through my website icantstandpodcast.com. OK. Without any further ado, let's get into it.
[00:01:18] You may or may not know my major goal for the podcast this year is to do with International Day for People with Disabilities. Last year, I was privileged enough to work with Jen, the label, which is an adaptive clothing company to celebrate International Day for people with disability and as a part of that role, I went out to illustrate the inaccessibility of bricks and mortar stores. And how mainstream clothing labels, both in the fashion and in their physical environment is pretty inaccessible to people with disabilities. As a part of that experience, when I put my phone down, I realised that International Day for People with Disabilities was almost non-existent in the real world. Your social media really is dependent on who you follow, your feed reflects who you follow. But I truly believe that International Day for People with Disabilities is very siloed. It's very dependent on you following certain people that illustrate the importance of this day. If you don't follow people with disabilities, you probably don't even realise that it's International Day for people with disabilities. I walked into many stores and there was no signage, no celebration. It was just a normal Friday. And that, to me, isn't right.
[00:03:09] I believe that regardless of whether you have a disability or not, many people want to better understand. Many people want to celebrate people with disabilities, but they are not given the opportunity to or they don't know how. As a part of that, my goal for this year is to make International Day for people with disabilities have more impact. What's happened since I published my first episode? Well, very excitingly, a number of my followers on Instagram and listeners to this very podcast have offered to help. I have a group of about 30 people that are on a mailing list on a Facebook group or who attend Zoom meetings. So I can ensure that I'm thinking about all and everyone when it comes to International Day for people with disabilities. I was fully prepared for this to just be me and possibly my best girlfriend and my parents, and that was sort of it. But thankfully, many of you have offered to help. Whether that be in a small way by answering a survey or two. Or attending Zoom meetings. It is all been really, really helpful. Because this is certainly not my expertise. I am not an events organiser. I'm just trying to make a difference and make some impact for the day.
[00:04:53] So based on my meetings with a number of my followers. We've agreed on the following. Firstly, whatever this event is. It mustn't be tokenistic. It must allow for everybody to participate. Whether that be on the basis of ability or physical location, I don't want this event to be exclusive. The group and I have come up with some fantastic ideas. And while these haven't been decided, I would love your feedback or if you think you have a great idea. Please let me know. So the idea is that we've come up with in no particular order. To do a silent disco where we all made physically as a group. We make a bit of a spectacle of ourselves. And we have a breakfast afterwards to celebrate. And allows for people to find an event happening in a location close by to them, which is quite a big undertaking. It also is to be conducted in public, so people who are passing by can ask questions to better understand why we are celebrating on the morning or on the day. Not to mention, it does allow for people with disabilities and people without disabilities to celebrate together and enjoy the day. And there's lots of opportunities to share content on social media, whether that be through photos or reels. I think it could go really well.
[00:06:54] The other big idea. Is to do a 24 hour Zoom event or something along those lines. I know the app Clubhouse can have the capability to do that, but to be honest, I don't know much about Clubhouse. I'm much more familiar with Instagram or Zoom. So if we could do a twenty four hour Zoom or a 24 hour live on Instagram, have a number of guests to come, in particular hours of those 24 hours to celebrate and spread the message of the day. Now, those obvious benefits of doing this are ad lib. That is, of course, accessibility. You don't have to be in a particular physical location, and it doesn't cost you anything to participate. Because as we all know, when we look at the petrol prices right now, to even go to the next suburb is now quite expensive. Now, my main hesitation with this is it is living online, the very thing that I wanted to counteract when I first started this idea. But maybe I move to offline as we go forward, maybe next year or the year after. There are obvious benefits to going online. As I said, it's accessible. It has low barrier costs, and many people understand the concept of it. It doesn't require physical help as much. And I don't have to panic to think that no one's going to turn up to a physical location because if we do it on Zoom or do it on Instagram. There's more opportunities for people to participate. There's also more opportunity to educate and share the message. If I try and pull some strings and get some people with blue ticks on Instagram to get involved, I know the message could be spread quite effectively, which is another thing that I'm really passionate about. The other great thing about having it on Zoom or on Instagram. It readily allows us to share disabled people's voices, content, art and skill. It allows them to have a voice and feel sane and connected with other people who understand and value them.
[00:09:40] The other big idea, which is probably. Putting way too much on my plate, but the other big idea. Is to somehow get businesses or brands involved on the day. Have an education piece or an encouragement for them to employ disabled people or to allow people to better access the service or product. Now, I don't know what sort of businesses that could be, but that would certainly bring a lot of attention, and I think it would bring a lot of impact to people and possibly encourage other businesses to do the same going forward. That sort of idea also relies on me gaining other disabled voices to help me. Because I'm not an expert when it comes to disability employment. Apart from having a lived experience and speaking to many people with disabilities on the subject, it is not my area of expertise. So I'd probably have to gain more support from more disabled people and make sure that they have the capacity and want to do this to. When it comes to engaging businesses and brands, I am so motivated by the sort of impact that that could have. But I'm also very aware of the event or day looking tokenistic.
[00:11:26] We all see when brands jump on the bandwagon of a certain movement. And, you know, we all see it for what it is. It's. It's not authentic. And basically, it feels like a cash grab or a way for a business to feel like they're being socially responsible when in reality they're just slapping like a rainbow flag on a product. And there's no policy or commitment behind that product. I do not want that to happen. If we partnered with a business or brand for international aid for people with disability, it could also possibly allow for other disabled people to share their art or content. I can't imagine how great it would be to say and like, I haven't approached this brand that I'm about to say. But say, like a Target or Kmart, if they bought out a tote bag, that tote bag was appropriate for people who are able-bodied and people who use wheelchairs and on the front over a number of tote bags would display, say, disabled people's art. On the back would be International Day for people with disability, and like if I'm really going crazy, I'd love to have the @icantstandpodcast on the back listed as well. It would promote disabled people's art, make the greater public, realise that disabled people do and can produce beautiful art. And it would give further exposure for International Day for people with disability.
[00:13:23] If you've been sitting here thinking, Gee, Peta, they sound okay, but I have a better idea. Please let me know. I am all ears. I've spoken to the Association International Day for people with disability. They're completely on board with what I am trying to do through this podcast. We have free rein as far as what we can do, and they're willing to promote and support us in any way they can when we decide what we're going to do as a community. I'm really relying on you to give me an indication of which idea you prefer. They all have their limitations. They all have their downfalls. They all have their challenges. But at the same time, they all would create great impact and allow for International Day for people with disabilities to be better promoted and understood by the wider community.
[00:14:33] I'm not sure when there'll be a next update on this process, if you don't hear me talking about it. It doesn't mean I'm not working on it. I am feverishly working in the background to try and make this happen. I haven't thought it's too hard. Even though it feels really hard right now. I am still super motivated for this to be done. Once we understand what it is, we're going to go with. I am then going to try and pull every string I can pull every person with a profile I can to see how they can help us on the day.
[00:15:21] So there we are. Thank you for listening to this week's episode. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, can I encourage you to leave a rating and review or send me a message and let me know how you think I'm going with International Day for people with disability? If you need more context on why I'm doing this and why I think it's important, I'll link the first episode about this day in the description. Until next week, guys have a good one by.