WXXI Move to Include

Hero Elementary: Looking Super /Schmubble Trouble • WXXI-TV

When a self-flying cape escapes from the store selling it, Sparks’ Crew teams up with the famous hero, Hail Caesar, to search for it. But, it isn’t easy, since the cape is very good at hiding. It will take super observation skills to find it.

Hero Elementary: Looking Super /Schmubble Trouble airs Tuesday, January 25 at 1 p.m. on WXXI-TV

Then in the second half of the episode, Benny has a case of the “Schmubbles,” a bubble cold that causes bubbles to shoot out of his hands uncontrollably. When AJ, Lucita, and Sara get caught in Schmubble Bubbles, they must make their way through Citytown inside of bubbles they can’t pop.

This children’s program is presented as part of Dialogue on Disability, a partnership between WXXI and Al Sigl Community of Agencies – in conjunction with the Herman and Margaret Schwartz Community Series. Dialogue on Disability is supported by the Fred L. Emerson Foundation with additional support from The Golisano Foundation. The weeklong initiative runs January 22 through January 28, 2024.

WXXI and Al Sigl have been hosting Dialogue on Disability since 2005. In 2014, with the support of businessman and philanthropist Tom Golisano and the Golisano Foundation, Move to Include™ was formed. This initiative enables WXXI to present and develop programming that promotes inclusion year round.

American Masters – Oliver Sacks: His Own Life • On-Demand

Filmmaker Ric Burns tells the inspirational story of the famed neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks.

The two-hour film explores the life and work of the legendary neurologist and storyteller as he shares intimate details of his battles with drug addiction, homophobia, and a medical establishment that embraced his work only decades after the fact. Drawing on these profoundly moving reflections, American Masters—Oliver Sacks: His Own Lifealso features nearly two dozen deeply revealing and personal interviews with family members, colleagues, patients and close friends, including Jonathan Miller, Robert Silvers, Temple Grandin, Christof Koch, Robert Krulwich, Lawrence Weschler, Atul Gawande, Roberto Calasso, Paul Theroux, Isabelle Rapin, Bill Hayes, Kate Edgar, Mark Homonoff, Jonathan Sacks, Steve Silberman, Shane Fistell, and Lowell Handler, among others.

This program is presented as part of Dialogue on Disability, a partnership between WXXI and Al Sigl Community of Agencies – in conjunction with the Herman and Margaret Schwartz Community Series. Dialogue on Disability is supported by the Fred L. Emerson Foundation with additional support from The Golisano Foundation. The weeklong initiative runs January 22 through January 28, 2024.

Photo: Oliver writing on porch, 2015 • Courtesy of Bill Hayes

POV: Fire Through Dry Grass • On-Demand

In Fire Through Dry Grass, these young, Black and brown disabled artists document their lives on lockdown during COVID, their rhymes underscoring the danger and imprisonment they feel. In the face of institutional neglect, they refuse to be abused, confined, and erased.

Photo: Reality Poets Vince, Jay, Tito, Pete, and Var • Credit: Elias Williams

Move to Include: Celebrating Abilities • WXXI Classical

Learn about seven artists with disabilities and their artistic works.

Move to Include: Celebrating Abilities is available on-demand at WXXIClassical.org.

WXXI Classical presents vignettes that highlight the following musicians and composers:

Valerie Capers African American pianist & composer who is blind
Evelyn Glennie Scottish percussionist who is deaf
David Helfgott Australian pianist who lives with schizoaffective disorder
Molly Joyce American composer, educator and performer who has an impaired left hand due to an automobile accident
Maurice Ravel French composer believed to have what today we know as Alzheimer’s disease
John Rutter British composer and conductor who experiences post-viral fatigue syndrome
Nick van Bloss British pianist diagnosed with non-swearing Tourette Syndrome

Dr. Jason Noble, Conductor with Essential Tremor
Pianist Jonathan Biss who experiences performance anxiety
Ana Karneza, singer and actress with physical deformity
Matthew Mack, hard of hearing cellist and mathematician
Joshua Mhoon, pianist born brain dead
Tobias Picker, American composer with non-swearing Tourette’s
Thomas Quasthoff, German-born bass-baritone with thalidomide deformity

Connections with Evan Dawson • WXXI News

Throughout the week, Evan Dawson will host several conversations with guests who provide expert and personal insights about policies, programs, and community issues related to disabilities.

Connections with Evan Dawson airs weekdays from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. on WXXI News.

Dialogue on Disability episodes include:

On Monday, January 22 at 1 p.m., Evan previews the docuseries Inside Our Autistic Minds with local young people. In the two-part series that will air on WXXI-TV, host Chris Packham – who has autism – helps other people with autism demonstrate how their minds work. In the program, Packham says, “I think that the wider world still doesn’t understand what it means to be autistic. And this is a problem for those of us who already feel excluded, different, like we don’t fit it….I felt completely misunderstood; like no one understood what was going on inside my head.” Connections’ guests include artists, musicians, and creators who help us see the world – and their art – through their eyes.

On Wednesday, January 24 at 1 p.m., Courtney Davis is our guest. When Courtney became ill with a rare condition, she learned almost overnight what the disability community has to contend with. One of the challenges was simply convincing her property manager to remove snow from sidewalks and walkways. During this conversation, she talks about the sometimes overlooked daily obstacles, and how to advocate for change.

Thursday, January 25 at 1 p.m. – Recently on Connections, Evan talked with a local teenager who said, “A lot of people base me off my epilepsy, like…he’s that one epileptic kid. That’s what I’m known as at my school. I just want to be known as a person, not that one epileptic kid.” Award-winning multimedia journalist Emyle Watkins has a passion for helping to break down the kinds of stigma and stereotypes experienced by that local teen. Watkins identifies as disabled and neurodivergent. She covers the disability community for WBFO in Buffalo and leads training sessions for communities across the country. She joins Connections for a conversation about language, so-called “inspiration porn,” and how to help all people become more inclusive communicators. Click here to listen to the episode with the local teenager Geoffrey Batterby, who talks about living with epilepsy.

These episodes of Connections are presented as part of Dialogue on Disability, a partnership between WXXI and Al Sigl Community of Agencies – in conjunction with the Herman and Margaret Schwartz Community Series. Dialogue on Disability is supported by the Fred L. Emerson Foundation with additional support from The Golisano Foundation. The weeklong initiative runs January 22 through January 28, 2024.

Photo: Evan Dawson • Provided by WXXI

The Inclusion Desk • WXXI News

The Inclusion Desk is a multi-platform reporting effort by WXXI News to inform and transform attitudes and behavior about inclusion.

Read the latest stories.

Stories featured this week are part of Dialogue on Disability, a partnership between WXXI and Al Sigl Community of Agencies – in conjunction with the Herman and Margaret Schwartz Community Series. Dialogue on Disability is supported by the Fred L. Emerson Foundation with additional support from The Golisano Foundation. The weeklong initiative runs January 22 through January 28, 2024.

Illustration: Shutterstock

My Disability Roadmap: On-Demand

“Nobody tells you how to be an adult, let alone an adult with a disability.”– Samuel Habib

Samuel Habib, 21, wants to date, leave home, go to college. But he drives a 350-poundwheelchair, uses a communication device, and can have a seizure at any moment. Determined to find his path forward, he seeks out guidance from America’s mostrebellious disability activists. Will they empower him to launch the bold adult life he craves?

Film Synopsis: Samuel Habib is a 21-year-old community college student with cerebral palsy and epilepsy, living in Concord, New Hampshire. For his entire K-12 education, he was included in regular classes, learning alongside non-disabled peers. He attended high school prom, played sports, got his high school diploma, and he’s pursuing a degree at a local community college. He’s interested in journalism and film as a career. But for Samuel and millions of other young adults with disabilities, the path beyond public school and into adulthood is a precarious maze. It’s difficult to meet new people and impossible to get his 350-pound wheelchair inside his friends’ homes and cars. He thrives on connection, but with his labored speech and use of a communication device, he can’t keep up with his fast-talking friends and family. He can have a seizure at any moment and requires 24/7 support, yet he wants to get married and have children someday. How to even start dating? “I want to figure out how to follow my dreams,” he says. “But no one tells you how to be an adult, let alone an adult with a disability.” Samuel is struggling to navigate the ableist bias of the physical and social environment. But he’s determined to avoid the statistical realities for most adults with disabilities: unemployed, isolated, and living with their families—or in institutional settings. He decides to travel to meet some badass adults with disabilities and make a film that charts how they built full adult lives—as a roadmap for himself and others

Also available at NYTimes Op-Docs My Disability Roadmap

Elsa Sjunneson: DeafBlind fencer, hiker, published author: On-Demand

This short film is an extended look at some of the themes explored in American Masters – Becoming Helen Keller, and hopes to provide an updated representation of modern DeafBlind role models today. Elsa Sjunneson is a DeafBlind professor and media critic, skilled fencer and hiker, and published author who has written for Marvel Comics. She is a Hugo Award and Aurora Award winner.

Audio Description & ASL

Extended Audio Description