Episode 1: "Let me get this on camera"
Just before 5pm on Monday July 18th, 2016, a 26-year old autistic man named Arnaldo Rios Soto walked out of his North Miami home. He had a silver toy truck in his hand. Hours later, his life would be...
View ArticleAftereffect: A SWAT team, an autistic man, an American tragedy.
Only Human listeners, we're here with a new podcast series that we think will be right up your alley. Aftereffect touches on the same themes of how health intersects with our lives everyday. Give it a...
View ArticleEpisode 2: "Suck It Up, Buttercup"
The shooting left Arnaldo severely traumatized, unable to remain in the group home where Charles Kinsey had taken care of him. Shortly after, Arnaldo was involuntarily committed to a hospital psych...
View ArticleEpisode 3: “He was definitely a handful”
Since the beginning, Arnaldo's mother struggled to find adequate care for her autistic son. Her memories are often painful: the doctors who wouldn't diagnose him; the staff who punched him, drugged...
View ArticleAftereffect Ep 1: “Let me get this on camera”
Only Human listeners, we're here with a new podcast series that we think will be right up your alley. Aftereffect touches on the same themes of how health intersects with our lives everyday. Give it a...
View ArticleWhat Happened to Arnaldo?
By Aneri Pattani and Audrey QuinnArnaldo Rios Soto was filmed on a cellphone video in the summer of 2016 after he walked out of his group home in suburban North Miami and sat in the middle of a quiet...
View ArticleAftereffect Ep2: “Suck it up, buttercup”
The shooting left Arnaldo severely traumatized, unable to remain in the home where Charles Kinsey had taken care of him. The next day, he was involuntarily committed to a hospital psych ward, where...
View ArticleBonus: Introducing Aftereffect
From WNYC Studios, a new podcast called Aftereffect we thought you might enjoy. In the summer of 2016, a police shooting upended the life of Arnaldo Rios Soto, a 26-year old, non-speaking, autistic...
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Episode 4: “I Baker Act you. You Baker Acted me.”
The day of the shooting wasn't Arnaldo's first encounter with the police. In fact, they'd loomed large in his life for years before that. Even as he bounced from one group home to another, the people...
View ArticleEpisode 5: “I need to believe”
A year and a half after the shooting, there are signs of trouble at Arnaldo's new home, Carlton Palms. The staff isn't keeping an eye on him. There are unexplained injuries. His mother isn't allowed to...
View ArticleAftereffect Ep3: “He was definitely a handful”
Since the beginning, Arnaldo’s mother struggled to find adequate care for her autistic son. Her memories are often painful: the doctors who wouldn't diagnose him; the staff who punched him, drugged...
View ArticleEpisode 6: “When they don’t behave”
A cup of hot water thrown on a developmentally-disabled resident. Another kicked in the ribs. A tooth knocked out by a staff member. Carlton Palms is known for abuse and even death. So why is the state...
View ArticleAftereffect Ep4: “I Baker Act you. You Baker Acted me.”
The day of the shooting wasn't Arnaldo's first encounter with the police. In fact, they'd loomed large in his life for years before that. Even as he bounced from one group home to another, the people...
View ArticleEpisode 7: “The man behind an empire”
For decades, Carlton Palms' elusive founder, Ken Mazik, has wielded his power and influence to sway members of Congress and state legislatures into bending the rules in his favor -- from scuttling laws...
View ArticleAftereffect Ep5: “I need to believe”
A year and a half after the shooting, there are signs of trouble at Arnaldo's new home, Carlton Palms. The staff isn't keeping an eye on him. There are unexplained injuries. His mother isn't allowed to...
View ArticleThe State of Onscreen Representation for the Disabled Community
When Hollywood stars play characters with disabilities, their decisions tend to be met with a degree of skepticism. Are they committed to honoring the disabled community or are they more focused on...
View ArticleEpisode 8: “They call him Cheese”
One day in February, a group of staff packed up Arnaldo's belongings, moved him out of Carlton Palms and into a three-bedroom house in a suburban neighborhood. On its face, it's the type of setting...
View ArticleAftereffect Ep6: “When they don't behave”
A cup of hot water thrown on a developmentally-disabled resident. Another kicked in the ribs. A tooth knocked out by a staff member. Carlton Palms had a dark history long before Arnaldo arrived. So why...
View ArticleAftereffect Ep7: “The man behind an empire”
For decades, Carlton Palms' elusive founder, Ken Mazik, has wielded his power and influence to sway members of Congress and state legislatures into bending the rules in his favor, from scuttling laws...
View ArticleAftereffect Ep8: “They call him Cheese”
One day in February, a group of staff packed up Arnaldo's belongings, moved him out of Carlton Palms and into a three-bedroom house in a suburban neighborhood. On its face, it's the type of setting...
View ArticleNew Jersey Unprepared to Close Troubled Group Homes
Since WNYC's reporting on Bellwether Behavioral Health aired, New Jersey's Department of Human Services, which oversees disability services in the state, has not agreed to an interview. But...
View ArticleFilmmakers with Disabilities
Emmy Award-winning director Jon Alpert and filmmakers Jonathan Novick, Benjamin Rosloff, and Donna Cappella discuss the U.S. theatrical premiere of All For One: Media Enabled Musketeers. The film...
View ArticleInside Tehran, America's Forgotten Border, Unruly Women
Thomas Erdbrink discusses how private life in Iran can often be at odds with its conservative clerics and leaders. Porter Fox discusses exploring 4,000 miles of the North American border between Maine...
View ArticleMarried, Paralyzed and Moving On
Two years ago, Hiroki Takeuchi was paralyzed from the waist down in a cycling accident. It was just weeks after he and his wife, Rachel Swidenbank, got married. When we first spoke in early 2017,...
View ArticleNew Jersey says Goodbye to Troubled Group Home Company
Bellwether Behavioral Health, a for-profit disability care company that previously lost its licenses in Delaware and Florida, has now lost its relationship with New Jersey's Department of Human...
View ArticleWhy Disabled Workers Can Get Paid Less Than Minimum Wage
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 61 million adults, 1 in 4 people in this country, are living with a disability. There are many overt ways that public policy has not...
View ArticleJoe Biden's Comments on Stuttering Takes on a National Conversation
In the last Democratic debate, Joe Biden talked about mentoring a boy with a speech impediment much like his own. Reaction to this — including Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s mocking Twitter comments, and a...
View ArticleNew York's Sometimes-Accessible Public Transportation
Shumita Basu WNYC reporter, host and producer, talks about WNYC's/Gothamist's We the Commuters reporting on accessibility in the NYC transit system. Plus Claire Perlman, a researcher for ProPublica's...
View ArticleA New Documentary Explores How to Make Art While Blind
This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of Americans with Disabilities Act—a landmark of civil-rights law that has not fully gotten its due. Twenty-six per cent of people in this country are...
View ArticleIf You Build It...
The White House is sending troops into cities with the stated goal of protecting monuments. On this week's On The Media, a look at the clash over memorials going back to the American revolution. Plus,...
View Article412- Where Do We Go From Here?
There have been many waves of panic and resistance to new people moving into the public sphere and needing accommodation. And a focus of that panic has often been… public bathrooms. The debate about...
View ArticleNational Politics; COVID-19 in India and Israel; NYC Students With...
Coming up on today's show:Amber Phillips, Washington Post political reporter and author for The Fix, and Errol Louis, political anchor of Spectrum NY1 News, host of Inside City Hall, Daily News...
View ArticleAlice Wong On Ruckuses, Rage And Medicaid
The disability rights activist talks with me about facing discrimination as a teenager, managing her finances, and planning for her and her parents' futures. Follow our show on Twitter, Facebook and...
View Article[Unedited] Gaelynn Lea with Krista Tippett
Gaelynn Lea’s voice and violin land like a balm — an offering of both clarity and gladness that can still be mustered in this midwinter, this upended Christmas season. She first came to the attention...
View ArticleGaelynn Lea’s Voice and Violin
Gaelynn Lea’s voice and violin land like a balm — an offering of both clarity and gladness that can still be mustered in this midwinter, this upended Christmas season. She first came to the attention...
View ArticleThe World, Remade
With vaccinations underway, we’re edging closer and closer to the end of the pandemic. This week, On The Media looks at how the pandemic has shaped what’s possible for the future — from the built...
View ArticleA Former Pro Climber On Enduring Chronic Illness
Former pro rock climber Mason Earle's career ended in 2018, when he was diagnosed with the chronic illness ME/CFS. He now spends most of his time in bed, and in a series of three phone calls, he...
View ArticleFederal Assistance for Disability Keep Many in Poverty—Are Increases Coming...
For years, activists have been calling for stronger federal assistance for people with disabilities. People with disabilities are more vulnerable to poverty. Data from the last decade show that a...
View ArticleWhat is Disability Pride Month?
New York City became the first jurisdiction to officially observe Disability Pride Month in July 2015 to honor the 25th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Since then,...
View ArticleCovid And Disabilities, Alzheimer’s And Inflammation, Ultrasonic Sound. Sept...
New Policies Emerge In The Wake Of Climate-Connected DisastersThis week, people across the United States continued to be reminded of the results of a shifting climate—with people in the Gulf states...
View ArticleThe Helen Keller Exorcism
Fantasy writer Elsa Sjunneson has been haunted by Helen Keller for nearly her entire life. Like Helen, Elsa is Deafblind, and growing up she was constantly compared to her. But for a million different...
View ArticleThe Helen Keller Exorcism
The fantasy writer Elsa Sjunneson has been haunted by Helen Keller for nearly her entire life. Elsa is Deafblind, and growing up, she couldn’t escape the constant comparisons. Then, a year ago, an...
View Article"There’s Never a Perfect Time to Say, 'I’m Blind'"
Back in 2021, we asked you to tell us about the hard conversations you were struggling to have in honor of the release of my book, Let's Talk About Hard Things. One of the people I talked to was a...
View ArticleHow Expanding Voting Accessibility Helps All Voters
There are still a lot of barriers to voting, and when we’re thinking about access to voting, it should be easier for every voter to cast a ballot. According to the CDC, about 1 in 4 adults in the U.S....
View ArticleImproving Care For Disabled Patients, Transistor Anniversary, Whale Strikes....
Medicine Is Failing Disabled Patients. Meet The Doctors Pushing For Change“More than sixty-one million Americans have disabilities, and increasing evidence documents that they experience health care...
View ArticleThe Kinetic Movements of Kinetic Light
Kinetic Light, a disability art collective, performed a duet calledUnder Momentum at Lincoln Center in February. The performance shows the joys of continuous motion, the allure of speed, and the...
View ArticleKate Bowler on Shame, Productivity, and Living with Chronic Pain
Kate Bowler has always worked extremely hard. As the daughter of two academics growing up in Canada, she preferred books to sports, and liked talking and thinking about the nuances of her faith. “I...
View ArticleAlice Wong On Medicaid, Rage, and “Good Care”
Anna first talked with disability rights activist Alice Wong in 2020 about self-advocacy, as well as how she manages money, Medicaid, and her and her parents' futures. But after a health crisis, Alice...
View ArticleMatthew Sanford – The Body's Grace
A wondrous, buried treasure from the 20-year On Being archive, with renowned yoga teacher Matthew Sanford. Be prepared, as you listen to what follows, to take in subtleties and gracefulness you've...
View ArticleSara Hendren — Our Bodies, Aliveness, and the Built World
Our built world is designed around something called "normal," and yet every single one of our bodies is mysterious, and constantly adapting for better or worse — and always, always changing. This is a...
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