Claire Buchanan spent eleven seasons on defense for Canada's women's national para ice hockey team, and she now covers the sport as a broadcaster on The Neutral Zone.

In this episode she breaks down how the game actually works — two sticks, blades that look like one — why women's para hockey still isn't a Paralympic event, and what it costs the athletes who play for their country out of their own pockets.

From there the conversation turns to allyship: what it takes for non-disabled people to be genuinely useful rather than just well-meaning.

Claire talks about speaking up in the moment, why constant advocacy wears people down, and how spaces get built with good intentions but without asking disabled people what they actually need.

She also shares her advice for the next generation, and what she hopes to leave behind for the women's game.

About Claire Buchanan

Born with spina bifida, Claire Buchanan has navigated life with a disability, and finding sport gave her not only a sense of community but a sense of belonging. She has competed in wheelchair basketball at the collegiate level with the University of Alabama and was part of the national development program with Wheelchair Basketball Canada. In 2014 she made her first national team with women's para hockey. She represented Canada for 11 seasons and is a 3x World Championships silver medalist. Since 2019 she has been a broadcaster on The Neutral Zone podcast, and recently was part of the 2026 Winter Paralympics broadcast team with CBC. Storytelling and covering sport is a passion of hers, and her goal is to continue to grow para sport coverage.

Chapters

00:00 — Welcome

01:43 — Meet Claire: finding para hockey

04:24 — "I almost didn't get on the ice"

06:07 — What para ice hockey actually is

08:46 — Playing defense

11:49 — What an accessible future looks like

13:31 — Living with spina bifida

15:47 — Why it's not at the Paralympics yet

17:36 — Funding: paying to play for Canada

19:05 — Growing the game (and how to help)

21:47 — How para sport gets covered

24:56 — Covering disability: where to start

26:37 — Intentional allyship

29:48 — When good intentions miss

32:17 — Advice for the next generation

36:38 — What she wants to leave behind

38:56 — Breaking the stigma

40:23 — Where to find Claire

41:17 — Wrap-up

Connect with Claire

Instagram: @clairebuchanan10

TikTok: @canadiangamechanger

Podcast: ⁨@neutralzonepodcast⁩

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Email: accessiblefuturepod@gmail.com

Ten episodes in, we stopped to look back. This one's a highlight reel: producer Jaeden steps out from behind the scenes to co-host for the first time, and he and Simon walk back through the first ten episodes of the Accessible Future Podcast to pull the lessons that stuck.

What stood out most was how much the ideas rhyme. These guests never met and never compared notes, and they kept arriving at the same place. Beth Deer describes an accessible future through a kids' movie, where every door is built for every animal and no one is left out. Jenel Shaw makes the case that access already helps everyone, from longer crossing times to the ramp that works just as well for a stroller. There's airlines that damage wheelchairs on roughly one in four flights while building climate-controlled stalls for racehorses. There's the shift from "I'm so sorry" to "congratulations" when a family gets a diagnosis. And running under all of it: the biggest barrier people name isn't a staircase, it's attitude.

Coming from the accessible transportation world ourselves, sitting down with advocates, accessibility professionals, and people with lived experience has reset how we see the whole thing. It was never just about a building or a van.

In this episode:

• Why an accessible future is one where nobody has to ask
• Universal design, and how building for the margins helps everyone
• The business case: disabled people are already your audience
• Compliance vs. culture, and why meeting code isn't the finish line
• "Don't assume, just ask" — the barrier that lives in how we treat each other

🔗 Follow Accessible Future Podcast

YouTube: youtube.com/@AccessibleFuture

Instagram: instagram.com/accessible_future

Facebook: facebook.com/people/Accessible-Future/61586380868685

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/accessible-future

Email: accessiblefuturepod@gmail.com

⏰Chapters

0:00 — Intro: 10 episodes in

0:59 — An accessible future, built for everyone (Beth)

2:52 — Accessibility already helps everyone (Jenel)

5:48 — Universal design (Jules)

9:07 — The business case for access (Kelly)

12:53 — Compliance vs. culture (Peter)

15:54 — More than a ramp (L'Arche)

18:39 — The airline double standard (Peter)

21:12 — Transportation is like a sidewalk (Paul)

24:06 — Removing transit barriers (Luke)

27:41 — How we think about disability (Jubilee)

29:17 — The biggest barrier is attitude (Jenel)

30:59 — Don't assume, just ask (Jules)

32:56 — From "I'm sorry" to "congratulations" (Jubilee)

34:55 — How strangers react (Chrissy)

37:30 — Understanding and kindness (Beth)

38:58 — Outro: it's all connected, and what's ahead

What does it take to make the arts open to d/Deaf and disabled people? Jenel Shaw, executive director of Arts AccessAbility Network Manitoba (AANM), joins Simon to explain how her organization is doing it — starting with an accessibility audit that the disability community designed itself.

Jenel walks through why AANM skipped the usual panel of doctors, therapists, and architects and asked disabled artists and audiences what they actually needed. The result is a 174-point audit that covers the whole venue experience, from the parking lot to backstage, published in a free public database so patrons can check a space before they go. She also gets into the anti-ableism workshop that grew out of the audits, the move to audit digital access — including the five-minute ticket timer that locks people out — and why knowing how a venue isn't accessible matters more than being told that it is.

It's a practical, clear-eyed conversation about treating disabled people as the experts on their own access, and what changes once you do.

👋Guest Info

Arts AccessAbility Network Manitoba: https://aanm.ca

Free accessibility audit database: https://aanm.ca/accessibility-audit-database/

Anti-ableism workshop for the arts: https://aanm.ca/anti-ableism-workshop-for-the-arts/

"Disability Gains" — AANM's forthcoming book featuring 34 d/Deaf and disabled writers

Current Exhibit: https://aanm.ca/exhibitions/

Contact AANM: info@aanm.ca · 204-336-2366

🔗 Follow Accessible Future Podcast

YouTube: youtube.com/@AccessibleFuture

Instagram: instagram.com/accessible_future

Facebook: facebook.com/people/Accessible-Future/61586380868685

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/accessible-future

Email: accessiblefuturepod@gmail.com

⏰Chapters

00:00 Intro

01:22 Meet Jenel Shaw & finding her community at AANM

03:10 What Arts AccessAbility Network Manitoba does

05:18 What an accessible future looks like

06:16 Why disabled people are the real experts on access

07:36 Inside the 174-point accessibility audit

10:52 The biggest barrier, and why transparency matters

14:42 Winning the Manitoba Accessibility Award & the gallery

16:46 Taking the audit digital

18:20 Who gets left out — and creative fixes

21:40 Where organizations should start

23:25 Why accessibility helps everyone

25:36 Inside the anti-ableism workshop

29:56 Beyond the arts, and one thing to start today

32:43 Where the work goes next & where to find AANM

34:59 Outro

#AccessibleFuturePodcast #Accessibility #DisabilityCommunity #DisabilityRights #Inclusion #BarrierFree #DisabilityArts #AccessibleArts #Winnipeg #Manitoba