The primary focus of this podcast episode is to illuminate the multifaceted narratives within the disability community, specifically through the lens of our esteemed guest, Renee Rojo. We delve into the profound impact of community engagement and advocacy for individuals with disabilities, highlighting Renee's extensive volunteer work and his commitment to fostering inclusivity. Throughout our conversation, we explore the myriad challenges faced by individuals with disabilities, emphasizing the importance of understanding and communication. As we recount personal experiences and insights, it becomes evident that the journey toward empowerment is not solely individual but a collective endeavor. This episode serves as a poignant reminder of the necessity for compassion and action in creating a more equitable society for all.

In this episode of Walk and Roll Live, we sit down with Riverside advocate Rene Rojo, whose journey is a powerful example of turning lived experience into meaningful change.

From his early days growing up in Riverside to studying public speaking and communications, Rene discovered the power of his voice — and he’s been using it ever since.

As a long-time representative and Board of Trustees member with Inland Regional Center, Rene brings a unique and essential perspective: he serves not only as a leader, but also as a client. For over 14 years, he has helped shape programs, advocate for resources, and push for improvements that directly impact individuals with disabilities and their families.

But his work doesn’t stop there.

Rene is deeply rooted in the community — organizing autism awareness events, suicide prevention initiatives, toy drives, car shows, and more — all driven by a passion to give back and uplift others.

In this conversation, we explore:

• The importance of representation in leadership
• Turning challenges into purpose
• Building stronger communities through service
• And why using your voice can change lives

This is a story about impact, heart, and the power of showing up for others. Walk and Roll Live

The following is a productions original series.

Hello and welcome to Walk and Roll Live.

I'm Doug Vincent, joined by Addie Rich.

Our podcast is dedicated to amplifying the voices of the disability community.

I'm a polio survivor and Addie have Cey, you are.

Hey, how you doing?

Good.

How you doing?

How was Easter yesterday?

I was just going to ask you the same thing.

It was good.

It was good.

Yeah, it was good.

You went and saw family, right?

Yeah, went and saw family.

It's a tradition going back to my aunt and uncle who used to do it.

You know, my.

My mom was one of seven girls, so we like, we kind of.

There was one aunt that we went to Thanksgiving, you know, one aunt that we went to Christmas, one, yeah, we went to Easter, all those things.

So, you know, her kids now have taken it up.

Actually.

It kind of rotated a little bit amongst their kids, but now it's kind of fallen over under my cousin Leonard, for gosh.

Probably.

Well, Natalie was young.

Yeah.

So probably 30 years.

So he's got a ranch outside of Hanford, California, and years ago he got a. I guess you call a drainage pipe.

I don't know if you've seen the big concrete ones.

Yes.

Yeah, they're in sections, so it's about maybe at least four feet across.

And so he dug a hole in his yard and.

And put that in there, you know, up and down.

Okay.

And then we used to.

It's as.

As we get older and of course every family has this, you know, people get older, they have kids of their own, they have to go to in laws, all those things.

But really in its.

In its prime, we used to get together with all the cousins on a Saturday night and, you know, other family members of theirs and friends of theirs.

So there'd be 30, 40, 50 people out there, you know, with a big bonfire going in that pit, you know, and getting it all ready to, you know, stoke up the coals and, you know, and then over the course of the evening, we'd have something to eat.

We, you know, we'd have some beverages, we would.

And then they'd pack all the meat.

So, you know, at first it was just for us, but then it kind of got around, you know, amongst family and friends that, you know, he had this big pit.

So there'll be like 12, 15 things go in there, you know, pork and chicken and ham and.

And, yeah, turkey and all that stuff.

Then he pulls it out at, you know, in the morning, the next morning, and then we all gather and in the old Days it was.

The ants were still around and.

Yeah.

And you know, they would all come on the next day.

So it was more of a family oriented thing on Sunday.

Yeah.

So it was, it was fun.

So.

But it's great to go back and, and catch up with everybody and hang out.

It's a beautiful day.

Beautiful day.

Everything was good.

Yeah.

So that's awesome.

And I saw you posted on a social about.

Was it Holiday Inn that their, their bathroom was awesome.

Yeah.

Yeah.

They had everything placed right.

You know, instead of having the, you know, the.

Sometimes there's a bench in there.

So if you're transferring, you know, in.

People that are in a wheelchair know this, you transfer onto the bench and sometimes they'll have the soap.

And nowadays you probably experience this.

Hotels have them like somehow secured to the wall.

Yes.

You know, they're normally too high and.

Like, so you can't reach them.

Yeah.

Head thing.

They have the wand at the other side.

Yeah.

Or they leave it too high.

So there's been more than one occasion I've had to call the front desk.

You have someone come in or, you know, move the, the shower head down.

So.

Yeah.

So that one was perfect.

So I thought I would give kudos to.

I was like, Doug is clapping.

Like I do.

Follow your social media for one and two.

Doug is super happy.

Yeah.

I roll in.

Look at the shower.

It's okay.

It's a roll in.

Is everything in the right place?

Yeah.

So, yeah.

The crowd erupts.

That's really nice.

I wasn't sure if you had gone to the Central coast.

I mean, I know you have cousins kind of everywhere.

Yeah.

And there's still some there definitely.

And some, you know, came over from there.

So.

Yeah.

Nice.

We got to see them.

I'm trying to think.

There was something else I wanted to do.

Oh.

At the Veterans Village, we did a whole Easter thing last Thursday as well.

And it was great.

You know, we did hamburgers, hot dogs and had Easter baskets for all the kids there in the village, all that.

So it was, it was great.

And it's, you know, we've done these kinds of things a few times and you know, the turnout has been hit and miss sometimes, but we had a nice turnout and I, I want to, I want to give a shout out to Al, who is the.

There's an organization that helps the veterans there, you know, find all the benefits that they have available.

Right.

So since he's been there, he started having like a coffee and donuts thing in the common area once a month.

Different Things like that.

So I think it's really built a sense of community, and I think that's why now people are comfortable coming around and hanging out with each other more than they ever have been.

So, I mean, that's amazing.

Go out.

Because we always talk about community is a huge deal.

Right.

And I mean, we've heard more than once where people are former soldiers, former military.

Well, you never.

I feel like saying former is a fake out because you're never.

Yeah, exactly.

Once you get there.

Yeah.

So, but because there is the closeness in the community and everything, and then you come home and you're no longer with like your group that you went through Helen back and like, so.

But community is so big in.

In helping people re.

Acclimate or acclimatize, whatever you want to call it, but also understanding stuff that none of us understand because we didn't do that.

Right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You can maybe empathize a little bit, but yeah, fully understand until you've been there.

Yeah.

Yes.

And they, you know, it's so fun to watch all the different branches give each other a hard time when they come down to the pantry.

Bonding.

It's bonding.

What about your Easter?

How was it?

So I didn't really do a lot, but I do want to shout out my nephew, who is 16.

Well, okay, he's gonna be 17, I think.

Yeah, he's gonna be 17.

But he played the Easter bunny at my sister's new job.

They did like a Easter thing for people that came to like the brunch and stuff.

And my nephew was a freaking champ and was the Easter Bunny.

My sister told me ahead of time that they were gonna do this, and the person that was supposed to do it had bailed out.

And so she was like, I'm gonna try to get do it.

And then she's like, worse come to worse, I'll do it.

So later in the day yesterday, I get pictures of the Easter bunny and I sent back to my sister, okay, is that you or is that my nephew?

Right?

And she's like, nope, it's your nephew.

So apparently he made it almost two hours in the costume with like tons of kids hugging him and waving and taking pictures.

And I mean, you know, if you know a 17 year old boy, yes, that's really their jam.

But I will tell you that my nephew is one of the most compassionate, like two smaller children.

I told her.

I was like, he should work in like a daycare or something because he does have, have such a big heart for kids.

He's a Big dude, too.

He's a big dude.

So he's in a whole suit that you, you would.

You didn't know if he was in there or your sister.

Yeah.

And he, I, you know, that made my heart burn first because, hey, he's doing it for my sister.

Like, who wants to do it?

He's doing it because he supports his mom and he knew that, like, this event was really important to her in her new job to, like, show she's got it and she can do it.

And the fact that, like, you know, he just did it and enjoyed the kids and she said kids were coming up to him and like, thanking him for the Easter basket and all this.

And he was just being so happy about it and like, so I just wanted the chance to shout him out.

And although I did nothing Easter related, like this auntie could cry over the man he's becoming to do.

To do something selfless.

So.

Well, you know, we had a mascot at the radio station I worked at and the kids that did it then, you know, because a lot of times the people that worked in promotions were high school, maybe college, and if they could spend 15 minutes in that thing, they come out and they'd be drenched.

So if he spent two hours in there, wow.

He was committed.

Yeah.

Yeah, he's committed.

Good for him.

I'm just so impressed.

There are certain things that, like, that are unsaid that make you so proud of a human, and that is one for me.

Good for him.

Go, buddy, go.

A walk and roll live shout out.

Yeah.

All right.

Well, a thank you to Bobby Rohan and Roberto Soto for coming on last week and helping us with the Abilities Expo and telling that story and kind of giving people the flavor.

Don't miss it next year or if you've never been.

Yeah, you got to check it out.

All right.

Yes.

And then Renee Rojo is our guest this week and we're going to learn all about what he does.

He's a busy guy.

I met him, you know, just briefly one night we went.

I went to Medieval Times.

Medieval Times?

Yeah.

Medieval Times.

Yeah.

Sit next to him.

And, you know, he was telling me about some of the things that he was doing.

I said, you got to come on the show.

And, you know, when he came on and did the interview, it was even more than I imagined.

He's just, you know, and you know what?

I love it because he really is active and.

But he.

Because I tell people all the time that are.

That are doing some events and I said, well, send me the information.

I'll you know, we'll talk about it, we'll put it on the, on the website.

And he's the one that has listen to me.

And he does it.

I'm always, yeah, I'm getting stuff so I can help their organization and their fundraisers and whatever they're doing.

So Renee is coming up next.

First, though, we're going to hear a word from Aghyar Professional Training.

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From the AGYAR Professional Training Studios, you're listening to Walk and Roll Live.

Disability Stories.

There's been so many glories.

We've seen incredible changes.

Beach with beautiful ranges.

Doug.

Yeah.

Doug, yeah.

Addy 2:82.

It's another Tuesday and we're going to do it.

Tell another disability story.

A walk and roll.

Our story.

Everyone's listening.

Always very soothing.

Doug, yeah.

Doug, yeah.

Attitude, attitude.

Everyone's here so let's tell another tale.

Gather round.

Learn what it will entail.

Walk and roll.

Life.

Disability stories.

Dog.

Yeah.

Attitude.

And we'll never forget about you.

Today.

New day, new guest.

Let's say.

That is right.

And it drops every Tuesday at 3pm Pacific Time or you can catch it anytime on the platform of your choice.

This week we have what I would really have to characterize as a leader in our community.

And we're going to let him kind of briefly introduce himself before we get into the rest of his story.

Yeah.

My name is Renee Rojo.

I'm from Riverside, California.

I was born with cerebral palsy.

All right.

Like my co host, Ms. Addy.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So you guys can relate.

Well, glad to have you here.

My directory, since people all say we know each other.

That's right.

I should ask that question.

You guys know each other?

Well, welcome, Renee.

Thank you for joining us here at Walk and Roll Live.

So we like to always kind of start, you know, rewind, start at the beginning and just kind of get a feel for what Renee is all about.

Your Riverside guy through and through.

Take us back.

What was young Renee like growing up?

What were you were all about?

Oh, well, I was all about just, you know, going.

Going to.

Going to events, church events, like helping out my mom with the food ministry and.

And always giving back to our church and whether it was.

And helping my mom in the front office or doing the food drives for the church.

And along with growing up as well, I competed in many different types of sports for people with disabilities like myself.

So I did.

I was an athlete for Special Olympics for a number of years.

And then after.

Shortly after that, I ended up becoming a coach for the Riverside Special Olympics team.

And then I. I coach the.

Our basketball team.

And they were undefeated for about 16 years.

And they were lost to a game or say game or say games for at least 16 years.

They were together and they were always winning and accomplishing their goal.

And owner state games.

Well, they had good coaching.

Yeah.

Along with my other coaches that we had.

They were tremendous working, working with us and then different athletes that had various disabilities, so.

And you know, obviously, you know, they were able to understand what we were trying to get across to and treat them.

Well, you have a long history then of doing volunteer work.

So you started that young with your mom, and it just carried through, huh?

Yeah, carried through.

And.

And then eventually I ended up starting my own business which is promoting like community outreach events.

And also along with community outreach events, I promote concerts too.

So from time to time, I woke up my friends and family with conjure tickets.

Whether it's R B, hip hop, or, you know, the different genre of music.

Whatever, whatever.

I can earn a little side money.

Yeah, yeah.

And.

And make a good end speed as far as my living situation.

Amazing.

I. I do that.

And then I also help out with like, giving back during the month of December, like toy drives, you know, in November, we do turkey.

Turkey giveaways for the city of Riverside.

So I help out with a number of different nonprofit organizations, whether it's suicide prevention events and so on, and.

And always trying to sponsor events where.

Wherever my hand is needed and give back to the community.

Very nice.

Yeah, Renee's a busy guy.

We can tell he's somewhere where there's a lot going on here, but we'll get through it, so.

And I think we'll get into more depth with your volunteer work a little bit later.

But I think Eddie's got a question.

Yeah.

So I. I was just curious.

Obviously we know kind of what you grew into in Special Olympics and things, but as a younger person, have you always used A chair.

Like, how did your CP affect you?

Because we often talk about how cerebral palsy is different for each person.

For me, it's not in my speec.

In the right side of my body.

It's in depth perception and the ability to drive.

Not drive.

How about for you?

Same.

Same here.

I've always had.

I've always had to depend on my wheelchair and.

And obviously can't drive and.

And thank you so much.

Obviously, my stronger side.

My song is.

My stronger side is my left side.

And the weakest side is my right side.

So, you know, and then obviously the.

The signals in my brain can't transfer to the right body parts to tell it where it needs to.

What it needs to do.

Well, what I needed to do within that time frame or whether it's getting up in the morning or, you know, so on and so on.

Right.

We know the life.

It's a.

It's a one brain, two brain.

Really?

Yeah.

I always say the right side doesn't get the memo until later.

And then it's like, oh, shoot, I forgot to appear.

But, you know, we deal.

Right.

It's humor that helps us.

But yeah, I'm just curious because I don't use my chair all the time.

I swap between a walker and a wheelchair.

So I wasn't sure if wheels was the way you go or.

Oh, I have a walker too.

But I. I also need.

With the walker, I need a.

Somehow with an assistance with that.

So I always depend on the chair more, if anything.

Yes.

Makes you more free, more independent, more free.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It does slow you down, that's for sure.

Definitely.

You know that.

Yeah, obviously.

And so as you were going through school, elementary and middle school, on through high school, did you get involved with any leadership organizations at school?

Yeah, well.

Well, in high school, I was.

I was involved in.

With a lot of the clubs and the AVID program where we did.

And we went to seminars to learn how to speak in front of people and do a lot of motivational speaking.

And then I carry on over to college, which was Riverside.

I went to Riverside Community College and I got my communications degree and obviously was able to get that degree and achieve that.

And it helped me create my promoting business and doing what I do now to get back and sponsor many events in the community.

And also being on the board of trustees for people with disabilities like myself over at Inland Regional center and being an advocate and whether it's negotiated the contracts or whatever the agency entails as board members for us to do, we do it yeah.

So do you know what drew you to that field of public speaking and communications?

Yeah, that I think that contributes to a lot of me being a board member for Inland Regional center, and along with doing my community advocate work and whether it's promoting events or just doing work with the Autism Society for the Inland Empire Region.

Sounds like there's two or three of you.

Right, Right.

How did you, how did you, Renee, though, get to a place where you were like, okay, I want to speak up for people that are like me, because sometimes there are a lot of us that are just kind of sit back and say, okay, I'm just, I'm.

Life is tough enough trying to figure out how to do this in a different body.

I'm gonna, you know, do for me.

But what really kind of gave you the, the oomph to say, I'm gonna, I'm gonna speak up and speak out, even if it's not the easiest thing to do?

Well, for me, it was just, I, I, I, I had seen so many people in a new within a need and a voice to, to speak up for themselves and whether, whether they mean, they mean, they meant they might have been thinking of what they wanted to say, but they couldn't get it out verbally.

So since I had the means and the voice to do so, I would always, whether it was, whether I was in a doctor's appointment and I, I had run into somebody that had a disability like mine and, and they needed help communicating.

I was always willing to give a hand and help the parent or the person or whatever, speak on behalf of them and try to figure out what they needed as far as their needs went.

Yeah.

So you have a heart for service, service of others, and you could look at someone else and understand.

Like, do you think that came from, like, being involved in church with your mom or do you think that was just.

Oh, yeah, most definitely that that's part of it too.

But I also have a sister that had a speech impairment, and she had a speech impairment problem.

And so when I was able to figure out on how she communicated, I was able to understand her in my own way along with the family.

So it made it easy for me to understand her as opposed to other people that may not be able to understand her, whether it was her sign language or just literally voicing it or, you know, just.

And I also have, I also had another sister that was disabled and had this room fuzzy like I had, but she was blind.

But she could hear you, but she couldn't see you.

She could hear You.

But she can see you.

Yeah.

So you've been surrounded by a lot of different versions of those of us in different containers, which, which makes you a strong advocate for it because you don't get thrown by a difference.

You just say, okay, how can I help?

And it sounds like that is the heart of you as a human.

So bravo.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know, just tell me I'll fall in one.

And that's.

That's pretty much it for me.

And, and wherever I.

Wherever I can be of service and give.

How about.

And be that voice and advocate for that person, I'm all in.

You know, even for people that can communicate, you know, just your example, I think, and the knowledge that you can share with them, that they can speak up, you know, there are things that you can ask for.

You know, life isn't just surviving.

You know, we want to enjoy life, and that comes through adaptive sports and recreation and arts and culture and, you know, all of those different things.

So I'm sure you've helped many others as well.

So in participating in all these programs for people with disabilities, how did that shape your life?

You know, how do you think it's affected you?

It.

It's.

It's a shit.

It's.

It's affected my life and shaped my life in so many ways because I, I'm not even.

Not only have I been recognized or.

And so many people reaching out to me, whether it's via social media or just word of mouth and wanting to get to know me because they hear all such.

All the great things that I'm doing for the community or being a board member for Inland Regional center or just being an advocate for even possibilities, you know, and, and just.

And just, Just.

Just being.

Being the voice that a lot of us people with disabilities don't.

Don't.

That may not have a voice.

I'm that extra voice that.

Yeah.

Kind of boost their voice.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And you.

You.

You mentioned one word.

In their partnership, there's so much of that is.

Is not only you partnering with people, but I imagine you put two other people together that align, you know, with your philosophies probably, and, you know, they would be a good fit.

So you introduce them as well, I imagine.

Oh, yeah, definitely.

It goes hand in hand and, and you know, you're.

You're gonna, you're gonna find people that are with it and are.

And people that are not with it.

Yeah.

Artists.

If they're interested in it, then.

Then that's okay.

If they're not, then so be It, I mean, whatever floats your boat, then that's, that's you.

And I'm not gonna push anyone to do what I do, but if they want to, I'm willing to teach them and, and help them learn and guide them.

And, you know, that's amazing.

You know, give them the necessary resources to get involved with all that.

That's awesome.

We need guides like you.

We call those people guides in the world that are like, here you go, let me show you.

It's, you know what it is, and that's a compliment to you because being selfless, people can do things, but they do things for recognition or they do things because they want this, that or the other.

So to see someone like you, that does it purely out of being selfless and like, wants truly to grow the community for people to benefit that may not get the benefit if they can't speak up.

Like, I'm.

I'm so super impressed to sit here with you and I feel like I needed to say that.

So I know we're not done, but it feels like a necessary comment.

Thank you so much.

It really means a lot.

It's a tremendous blessing to give back to so many with disabilities like myself and yourself and, and many others.

As you know, Doug as well.

And you know, I don't look for any acclimats or any achievements for it.

I, I do it out of the kindness of my heart and I do it for people like my sister that's no longer here that had the disability and my other sister that was also had a disability as well.

And may they rest in peace, they're in heaven.

And I do it on behalf of their name and my family members that are, that are autistic, that have, you know, that are on the spectrum of autism.

And that's why I help the Autism Society for the Inland Empire region create programs and events and to monitoring events because I have relative things that benefit from it along with many others.

Yeah, I wanted to ask you about that.

With the Inland Regional center, you've been a trustee for 14 years or did you start as a trustee or, or how did that come about?

Did you, did you work your way up or.

Yes, I ended up waking.

Working my way up.

I ended up at a day program and one of the job developers got.

One of the.

One of the job developer guys that were there at my program called their ability counts.

His name was Wayne Skinner.

Saw.

Saw the potential and how.

While I spoke and how intelligent I was, he saw the potential in me.

And.

So at the application aid, you would succeed and elevate the board of trustees for Inland Region center over there in so many ways should do it.

And I. I took his word for it, and he helped me get to the interview process and, you know, and he brought me back to the program.

And then within maybe, maybe a day or two, they called me up and said, welcome to the board of trustees.

Nice.

Congratulations in just listening to you and, and love to learn everything about what you do for our community and your life.

But I'm just curious, you know, you mentioned there that sometimes, you know, people underestimate somebody with a disability because of the disability without really, you know, learning about, you know, what our capabilities are.

So do you run into that a lot throughout your life where people just kind of assume some things?

Unfortunately, I do.

You know, definitely when I was very younger, I would have, you know, parents, the kids ask me questions or look at me a certain way or weird because they never.

They have probably have never seen someone with a disability like mine.

And they were, they were.

They would ask, I would hear them, I would overhear them and say, why is that guy in a wheelchair?

Why is he like that?

Or why can't he walk?

You know, And I.

And I.

And I would have taken time and say, excuse me, I would love to.

Let me.

Let me give you the opportunity.

And I.

And I wouldn't shy away from it.

Yeah.

If people.

If people ask me, then I would welcome it and, And I would share my story and.

And so they can better understand me and many other people with my disability, whether it's autism, cerebral palsy, all the, all the.

All different types of disabilities.

I was all open and learning and.

And teaching other folks.

That's why I got so involved with, whether it was my community work or eminent center for being a board of trustees, because I've always had a passion and wanting to give back to some.

So many people that give back to me, whether it's involving people with disabilities, our community outreach work, our just giving back, doing toy jobs, being a sponsor for many events that were in these for families like myself.

Yeah, that's.

That.

That's why I'll.

That's why I always continue to do it, because that's my passion.

I enjoy, you know, being a voice and being a leader and an advocate for people with disabilities like myself and you guys as well, in truly blessed and honored to have that opportunity and being able to use my voice for good and, And.

And give back in so many ways.

It sounds like, you know, a lot of that started in your School years where, like you say, you took the initiative to educate people, and I imagine that that kind of turned into some lifelong relationships.

And, you know, you communicated to people that just because I like my.

My co host here says, you know, you come in a different container, you're still a whole person.

You know, you still have a personality, sense of humor.

You can get angry, mad, cry, whatever it is, you're still just like them in their container.

So.

Oh, yeah, yeah, we.

We all have.

We all have our little container, our box that we're in, and.

But it's okay to break out of the show and, and explore and not be afraid and wanting to let people know about your disbelief because there were so many people growing up that that would run into me asking me whether it was little young kids or are their parents wanting to know how I got into a wheelchair, and so on and so on.

So, you know, at one point I said to myself, maybe I can use this for good.

Let me.

Yeah, let's figure out how I can do this.

But in a positive life.

Yeah.

How do you turn.

Okay, so you just kind of hit on it, doing it in a positive light.

How do you turn someone who is rude or insensitive into somebody?

Like, how do you answer them?

Not correctly, necessarily, but that is always a challenge for me.

Like, how do you kind of.

You have five minutes with them to kind of give them the opportunity to see there's a different mindset.

Like, are there tools and tips that you might give somebody who's not as used to talking to others as we are, how to do that or, like, how to make a comfortable, you know, an uncomfortable situation more comfortable?

I think you and I are kind of born with it, but I feel like it's also our job to kind of be like, it's okay to acknowledge something's awkward.

Yeah, no, you know, and.

And it comes just.

And it comes just naturally for me.

And, and there.

There's many tips and trades to, to the method and, and this and, and, you know, whether it's through life or just a life experience in general, you know, and, And.

And obviously you.

You tips on.

On approaching people with it, with going about it the right way and not having them be being.

Chatting away from it and they're getting upset because we're telling them how it may be, but in a nice, you know, respectful way to where they're not gonna get thrown away or try shy away from it or upset.

Yeah.

Do you have a.

Do you have a particular technique?

Mine is humor, so I'm wondering if we, we as a community tend to lean on humor or is there kind of a different way that you, you go about it.

Humor is one way, but for me there, it's just right here.

Yeah.

Humor is one way, but another way that I deal with it, I. Yeah,.

I don't know, Ray.

Yeah, another way that I deal with it is just, it's just taking the time to show them the different programs that, that helped me throughout the years.

So I, I have a little like a little charting system on how.

And, and show them.

Okay.

These are the keys and this is how I, I tend.

What I tend to lean on and what I don't.

You lean on it.

Because this, this suggests me to do it this way, but this should just not need to do it this way, you know, so there's always tips and methods and resources out there.

You just have to do your research and be willing and wanting to learn that for sure.

Yeah.

Well, that, that leads me right into what I was going to ask about is, you know, you've been in this landscape of the community, the disabled community for a long time now, and.

Yeah.

What are your thoughts on what agencies maybe could do differently or better in, in dealing with our needs?

If I were, if I would have to bring a few things that we can do differently, it's just, it's just, I would say how we, how we would better think, think things out better for us and just, just remember that we're all in, in a wheelchair for a reason and there's always a need for our voice and, and just not to be afraid to, or be shied away from always being willing to teach somebody that may.

Meaning your help.

Yeah.

Maybe do a little more listening, right?

Yeah, yeah, more.

More listening and just having more patience along the way.

Now, when you were a job coach, that, that's a challenge, isn't it?

Because you're not only trying to get them together with an employer and create that relationship, but you have hurdles of preconceived notions that the employer has about somebody with a disability.

So you kind of have to get over that hurdle first before you even start talking about the job.

Right.

Definitely.

Okay.

Thank you.

Yeah, you definitely.

You know, and that's, and that's the key with that.

You know, it's just getting over those hoarder, getting over the horror, those horror hurdles.

And, you know, being willing to, you know, being one of the, being a client and one of the job developers, along with my assistant, job developer, Wayne Skinner, we would have to go in there and brainstorm and what works for people with all types of different disabilities.

So we would have to look at their abilities and some of their disabilities that they weren't able to do certain things.

So we would have to go and review certain tasks that they were able to, certain tasks that they were not able to.

So I would always put their considerations and the conversations I would have with them into consideration too,.

You know, where meeting and learning about a very confident guy.

We can tell.

But are there, there moments when you've had to overcome discouragement?

Oh, yes.

I, I mean there's, there's been plenty of incidences where I've had to come over, become being discouraged and you know, I, I've had situations where, for example, like transportation issues might have an impact with that.

Yeah.

Being that, being that I'm in a wheelchair.

So I would always have, you know, have to always sacrifice, whether it was going to a certain family event or a fun activity or whether it's going out function with a friend and you know, because I didn't have the means of the transportation to get to the, get to point A to point B.

So I, you know, and obviously having my disabilities, you would have, you would wake up with the aches and pains and, and, and just asking yourself, why Lord?

Why me?

Why are you putting me in this position?

But I would always have to remind myself say, okay, the Lord has you like this for a reason.

Let's, let's, let's look at the next.

Let's not, not look at the negative.

Let's look toward the positive.

Yeah.

You know, and go from there.

But I can, I can a hundred thousand million percent relate to the transportation thing of your brain is ready to go.

You really want to be with everybody.

You want to be quote unquote normal.

And then like you can't find a taxi that can take a chair that you can't even like going to conferences that are coming up, it makes of a lot.

I'm already anxious because I'm like, am I going to find a taxi that will take my chair?

Or like, how is this going to work?

And so I, that is the bane of my existence.

And same goes for me, you know, and it's all about budgeting and finding the right transport and financially being able to afford it, whether it's through a program that can assist you or you providing with your own means of your own funding or your own, you know, you know, you know, things like that.

So it, it all, you know, it all.

Sometimes it, you feel like it falls all on you.

But we always have to remember we have friends or family that are willing to help out.

But we, we as people with disabilities like ourselves, we don't want to always depend on our family.

So we always try to do it before we ask or do it ourselves.

And you gotta spread it out.

MacGyver, Indiana Jones, Lara Croft, all those things.

Yeah, yeah.

You know, so you guys can relate.

You know where I'm going with that, so.

Yeah, exactly.

So, yeah, so let's spend a little time before we run out of time and talking about.

You've got some events coming up, right?

Yes, I, I, matter of fact, I might.

I'm actually helping out with a partial event out in Marino Valley, California.

I'm, I'm actually one of the sponsors for a youth academy out in Marina Valley, California.

And I'm going to be giving back to whether this youth academy needs sports equipment, whether they need money for, they're the books and, and, and school supplies.

Whatever the academy needs, that's what I'm gonna help out and provide them some funding, whether it's for school or just the academy alone to get them sports equipment or whatever the academy assistant needs and whatever, whatever they do, that's what I'm going to be sponsoring and I'm gonna help provide that form along with our other sponsors that we have gonna help out in, in any other way and in, in any way that I can help, that's what I'm going to help out with.

All right.

They're up on our website on our events page, so check them out there.

Yes, definitely, for sure.

And like I said, I, I, I'm, I'm helping out the autism awareness event on April 18th as well.

And, and, and it's based on the community and it's a, it's a car show as well, a lowrider event and we're gonna have vendors and whether it's, you know, cotton candy machine, popcorn food vendors, we'll have merchandise vendor and you know, just, just different resource spenders for people with autism, whether it's children or adults, things along those lines and in nature.

So.

Very good, very good.

And I'm sure more to come as we get closer to the holidays.

Keep them coming, you know, keep sending me the flyers and, and I'll get them up on our events page and do what we can to get the word out.

I, I guess we gotta, we always wrap up with this, you know, just your, your vision for the future, you know, whatever it is, maybe better disability advocacy in our community or partnerships, those kinds of things.

What do you think My, my vision and for the future is.

Is just basically I'm wanting to open up more programs for people with disabilities, whether it's like day programs or a group home service.

But I also, in order to afford that I have assistance like inland regionals who are involved and get, you know, ask for grants from different foundations, our non profits to help fund those, those programs and you know, and use my voice to, to create more for people like myself and, and you guys and whether it's getting, getting wheelchair equipment, ramps, sports equipment, you name it, I'm.

And the day programs would be that I would open up would be just getting the different participants like myself out there, whether it's going to the gym or having a job coach assist them and learning on what they wouldn't.

What they would be doing for the day or you know, just having fun recreation time or just, just learning about different job.

Job opportunities, whether it's life, life skills or vocational, vocational training programs and, and et cetera, et cetera.

Awesome.

Well, it sounds like you're going to be a busy dude.

Yeah.

Sounds like a lot of people are going to benefit from you and that's not surprising from hearing your story so far.

So we, we look forward to following it.

I'm not a betting man, but I'm betting on you.

Thank you.

Yeah, you know, you know, with my motivation and my drive, I believe that if we want to achieve, if we want to achieve anything, we can do it.

And we just got to believe in ourselves and get it done.

Each week on Walk and Roll Live, we share honest and open stories of.

People living with a disability.

I was excited to show my family just how much better of a skier I got to be.

So we went up on December 30th.

Then the next morning, I woke up.

10 Out of 10 pain, chest, back, head.

I slowly lost all feeling from my feet all the way up to my.

Chest that I was paralyzed, essentially.

I didn't understand what was happening.

All I knew is that something scary was going on.

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You're listening to Walk and Roll Live Disability Stories.

There you go, another one of your CP cohorts.

I'm sure you love that interview.

Let me count the ways.

I love this interview because you, you kind of alluded to this earlier when you talked about how he's faithful, sending you resources and stuff.

You can tell like the passion in him.

The whole time we're interviewing, he's just on fire for what he's doing.

And he has a mission that is very driven by selflessness, which, for me, I will sit through these things, stories all day for the rest of my life.

When you see somebody like that, who.

It's not about them, it's not about recognition.

It's.

I have a power to do something, and I'm gonna do it.

Yeah.

And I. I'm gonna do it on behalf of others.

And, you know, the fact that he, like, talks about his siblings were ill and some of them passed, and he kind of does them and.

And does it in memory of them.

Yeah.

Which is amazing, too, because I feel like having disabilities, it sounds weird, but it's like we, like, people think we're not compassionate about others with disabilities because people are compassionate to us.

It sounds like a weird comment, but it's true.

Yeah, it's true sometimes.

Good guy.

Good guy.

Glad we found him.

So, you know, look on the events page and you'll find some of his events are up there right now.

I think there's a couple of car shows coming up, so check them out.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Alrighty.

Next week.

Did I write it down?

I thought I wrote it down.

Dan Fernandez.

Yes, Dan Fernandez.

He was one of those people.

I was talking, you know, we were sitting in the waiting room at United Access the Services, my van, and got to talking with him, and, you know, pretty soon I got to say, hey, I got a podcast.

Want to go on?

So.

Right.

Doug is waiting for that segue and every life.

Yeah.

Oh, you should have heard me at Easter with all my cousins handed out stickers.

And, hey, if you listen to my.

Podcast, I'm the Easter Bunny of stickers.

Darn it.

I've tried not to overdo it.

So, you know, as soon as I start seeing people run, when I show up, then I'll know I've probably gone too far.

But you're welcome.

Yeah, I'm gonna keep trying.

Alrighty.

Well, thank you for listening.

We appreciate you so much.

Thank you, Addie.

Always.

You know, you're a.

You're a light.

You bring a light to rock and roll live.

Thank you.

And I am your host, Doug Vincent, along with the light, Addie Rich from the Agyard Professional Training Studio.

This has been Walk and Roll Live Disability Stories.

Life Limitless.

Life.

The best.

Walk in life.

In the last.