Eight years ago, Jesse Noonan was coaching two brothers at a Gold Coast skatepark when their sister Matilda rolled up in her wheelchair. He got a drill out of his car, put some holes in a skateboard and bolted it under her walking frame. By the end of that session she was going down ramps.

That afternoon became Skate Advantage, Jesse's adaptive skateboarding program. He talks with Simon about the custom frame and harness his team built with a friend who fabricates hot rods and a community grant, how one skater went from bearing no weight at all to standing on his own, and why the skatepark crowd went from looking away to coming over to say hello. He also gets into the Just Roll With It festival, Matilda Wilson's pro model board, and what it would take to start a program like this in your own city.

His advice for anyone thinking about it: rig up something simple, see who shows up, and talk to people with disabilities about what they want.

ABOUT JESSE NOONAN

Jesse Noonan is a professional skateboarder and coach from the Gold Coast, Australia, and the founder of Skate Advantage. He's been skating since he was eight. Skate Advantage runs adaptive sessions with community organizations and private clients, using custom-built frames that support skaters over the board so they can ride the park, rails included. Jesse also runs Just Roll With It, an all-abilities skate festival that drew around 2,000 people this year.

🔗 Connect with Skate Advantage

Website: skateadvantage.com.au

Instagram: instagram.com/skateadvantage

Email: hello@skateadvantage.com.au

🔗 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 Welcome and the Flute Man story

02:01 What an accessible future looks like to Jesse

04:44 How Skate Advantage started with a walking frame

10:28 How the adaptive skate frame works

16:22 From awkward stares to proud skateboarders

19:31 Sport, therapy, or both?

21:33 Just Roll With It and Matilda's pro model board

26:15 How to start an adaptive skate program in your city

29:52 Outro

Before Cody Wills heads to the grocery store or the pub, he's already running through questions most people never think about. Can he reach what he needs? Will the bartender even see him? Is that door handle four feet up?

Cody was born with achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism. He talks with Simon about growing up as a little person in Manitoba, the planning that goes into going somewhere new, and why dignity should be at the centre of an accessible future. He also talks about working as a body double for Chucky, why strangers keep asking if he's an actor or a comedian, and what employers get wrong about hiring little people.

His advice for businesses is simple: listen to the people you serve, including the ones who can't get through your door yet.

ABOUT CODY WILLS

Cody Wills is a little person from Manitoba who was born with achondroplasia. He's been part of Little People of Manitoba since he was five or six, and a casting call through the group led to work as a body double for Chucky, plus a couple of other film gigs shot in Manitoba. He's also part of the team at MoveMobility, a Canadian manufacturer of wheelchair-accessible vehicles.

🔗 Follow Accessible Future PodcastYouTube: youtube.com/@AccessibleFutureInstagram: instagram.com/accessible_futureFacebook: facebook.com/people/Accessible-Future/61586380868685LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/accessible-futureEmail: accessiblefuturepod@gmail.com

In 2012, Bean Gill left an abusive marriage, watched her parents separate, and then woke up on a trip to Las Vegas with pain in her lower back. Ten minutes later she couldn't feel her legs, and was later diagnosed with transverse myelitis.

She's now a keynote speaker and co-founder of Reyu Paralysis Recovery Center, an Alberta nonprofit using activity-based therapy to help people regain function doctors told them they'd never get back. She also starred in Push, a CBC Gem docu-series about her life and nine other wheelchair users.

Simon talks with Bean about that year, why she refuses to call it something she "overcame," and why she thinks the biggest barrier disabled people face isn't physical at all.

ABOUT BEAN GILL

Bean Gill is a keynote speaker, disability advocate, and co-founder of Ryu Paralysis Recovery Center, an Alberta nonprofit offering activity-based therapy for people with neurologic conditions. She's a wheelchair user and spinal cord injury survivor, and she starred in Push, a two-season CBC Gem docu-series about her life and the lives of nine other wheelchair users. She also runs a disability etiquette workshop through NAIT for health sciences students.

Website: callmebean.com

Instagram: @branzoid

TikTok: @branzoid

Watch Push: cbcgem.ca/push

🔗 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 Cold open: "Nobody is immune from disability"

01:20 What an accessible future looks like to Bean

02:29 Las Vegas, 2012: the ten minutes that changed her life

03:41 Misdiagnosis, the ICU, and learning to talk about it

08:30 Why Bean rejects the "overcoming" narrative

10:00 Founding Ryu Paralysis Recovery Center

12:20 The medical model vs. the social model of disability

18:34 Client stories: the ponytail, the signature, learning to walk again

29:12 Getting cast in Push

41:14 Parting advice, and where to find Bean