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

🔗 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

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

Julie “Jules” Emeid has a diploma, an honours degree, and a master's in progress, and she still gets read as a twenty-year-old who "doesn't know anything" the moment she walks into an interview. On this episode, she breaks down what ableism at work actually looks like: the hiring bias that sits in the gap between a strong résumé and the room, the assumptions people make about disabled workers, and why so much of it goes unnoticed by the people doing it.Jules is a social worker and public speaker whose master's research focuses on ableism in the workplace. She's also funny on purpose. Humor is how she gets people to relax and actually listen. We get into the school system that tracked her into the lowest classes, the difference between visible and invisible disability, why "anyone can be disabled" should change how we design things, and the one rule she'd give every employer: don't assume, just ask.What we cover* Why Jules uses humor to disarm the awkwardness around disability* Being placed in "essential" classes in high school, and the road to a master's* Ableism in hiring: qualified on paper, judged in the room* Visible vs. invisible disability, and the double standard each carries* Why accessible design helps everyone, not only disabled people* Her rule for getting it right: don't assume, just ask👋 Guest - Julie “Jules” Emeid* Podcast: youtube.com/@rollwithit_withjules* TikTok: tiktok.com/@rollwithit_withjules* LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/julie-emeid-679b8a190/🔗 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 About the Accessible Future Podcast

The Accessible Future Podcast brings real conversations about disability, inclusion, and accessible design, centering the voices of people with lived experience and the people working to remove barriers. Subscribe so you don't miss an episode.

What if the biggest barrier to healthcare isn't the clinic, but getting there?

For more than two decades, Paul Siller has run the Rocky View Regional Handibus Society, a rural charity that gets people to the appointments, groceries, and everyday places they can't reach on their own.

In this episode of the Accessible Future Podcast, Paul and host Simon Jones reframe what accessible transportation actually means: why Paul stopped using the word "handicap," how a single bus can serve three towns in one run, and why he calls transportation a foundation of health that almost no one budgets for.

It's a grounded look at the systems behind disability, inclusion, and barrier-free communities in rural Alberta, and the people left stranded when the ride isn't there.

In this episode:

• Why "transportation barriers" works better than "disability," and what shifted when the language changed
• How one bus covers 4,500 square kilometres and 600,000 km a year on about a third of a city's budget
• The rural access gap: ten communities around Calgary, zero hospitals
• What happens to someone's independence when the ride disappears
• Making councils care, using a story instead of a statistic

🔗 Learn more about the Rocky View Regional Handibus Society, including how to support or volunteer: https://www.rockyviewbus.ca

🔗 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

If you found value in this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating on your platform. It helps more people find the show.

⏰Chapters

0:00 Welcome to the Accessible Future Podcast

1:18 Inside the Rocky View Handibus Society

5:59 What an Accessible Future Looks Like

9:20 When the Rules Ignore Accessibility

13:02 Dropping the Word "Handicap"

16:59 Barriers, Not Disability

21:17 Transportation Is a Foundation of Health

23:06 Telling the Story to Make Councils Care

25:16 What Paul Wishes People Understood

27:37 Thank You to the Drivers

#AccessibleFuture #Accessibility #DisabilityInclusion #BarrierFree #AccessibleTransportation #DisabilityRights #InclusiveCommunities #RuralTransit #DisabilityCommunity

Kelly Thibodeau builds her work around one idea: accessibility is personal.
The founder of Squarely Accessible joins Simon to talk about what inclusive design actually means online, and why so much of it comes down to a single choice, including people on purpose, or excluding them by accident.

Kelly shares the story of watching her mom's world shrink as technology moved on without her, the business case most organizations overlook, and where to start when accessibility feels too big to tackle.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Why Kelly says accessibility is personal, and the story behind Squarely Accessible
• What an accessible future looks like when everyone can do the everyday things — applying for a job, filing taxes, catching up with friends
• The difference between being intentionally included and accidentally excluded
• Why 80% of disabilities are invisible, and what that means for the content we publish
• The numbers brands miss: 1.3 billion people worldwide, and the customers lost to barriers
• "Do you want it, or do you need it?" — moving past compliance to actually caring
• Small starts, why there's no such thing as "100% done," and how to begin anyway
• Masking at work, and building workplaces where people don't have to hide who they are
• "Nothing about us without us": working with disabled people, not just for them
  👋 Guest - Kelly Thibodeau, Squarely Accessible

Website: squarelyaccessible.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kthibodeau

Level It Up: levelitupmb.ca

🔗 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

If you found value in this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating on your platform. It helps more people find the show.
⏰Chapters0:00 Intro1:28 What an accessible future looks like4:07 Her mom, and why accessibility is personal8:10 Inside Squarely Accessible12:03 Want it vs. need it: beyond compliance17:48 Training, invisible disabilities & the business case24:25 Neuroinclusion, autism employment & a final word32:33 Wrap-up

Julie “Jules” Emeid has a diploma, an honours degree, and a master's in progress, and she still gets read as a twenty-year-old who "doesn't know anything" the moment she walks into an interview. On this episode, she breaks down what ableism at work actually looks like: the hiring bias that sits in the gap between a strong résumé and the room, the assumptions people make about disabled workers, and why so much of it goes unnoticed by the people doing it.

Jules is a social worker and public speaker whose master's research focuses on ableism in the workplace. She's also funny on purpose. Humor is how she gets people to relax and actually listen. We get into the school system that tracked her into the lowest classes, the difference between visible and invisible disability, why "anyone can be disabled" should change how we design things, and the one rule she'd give every employer: don't assume, just ask.

What we cover

• Why Jules uses humor to disarm the awkwardness around disability
• Being placed in "essential" classes in high school, and the road to a master's
• Ableism in hiring: qualified on paper, judged in the room
• Visible vs. invisible disability, and the double standard each carries
• Why accessible design helps everyone, not only disabled people
• Her rule for getting it right: don't assume, just ask

👋 Guest - Julie “Jules” Emeid

• Podcast: youtube.com/@rollwithit_withjules
• TikTok: tiktok.com/@rollwithit_withjules
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/julie-emeid-679b8a190/
  

🔗 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

About the Accessible Future Podcast
The Accessible Future Podcast brings real conversations about disability, inclusion, and accessible design, centering the voices of people with lived experience and the people working to remove barriers. Subscribe so you don't miss an episode.

Chrissy Sadowski spent years caring for her mother, who has MS, without anyone calling it caregiving. She was a teenager seeking help who was told no. She was a young adult who grew up in a house full of unknowns and ambulance visits and learned to move on.

It wasn't until she was 38 years old, sitting in a room with the Young Caregivers Association, that it clicked. She had been a young caregiver the whole time.

Now Chrissy works for the YCA. Canada's only dedicated young caregiver organization and she's using everything she lived through to build the support system that didn't exist when she needed it.

She's also living with MS herself, navigating a condition that was invisible for 15 years before her right leg started to change.

In this episode, Chrissy talks about what it actually means to be a young caregiver, including why a five-year-old reading to their sibling so a parent can shower counts, and what the healthcare system keeps getting wrong.

She shares the story of her son Darius going missing last summer, how first responders initially responded, and how that incident turned into police training and a vulnerable persons registry coming to Niagara Region.

She also talks about group home wait lists, the gap in respite care, and what she'd say to every parent, educator, and healthcare professional who still doesn't know this population exists.

👋 Guest - Chrissy Sadowski

Instagram - instagram.com/freshprincesschris/

YCA - youngcaregivers.ca

🔗 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

If you found value in this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating on your platform. It helps more people find the show.

⏰Chapters

0:00 Intro

1:29 What is the Young Caregivers Association?

11:01 What does an accessible future look like?

14:29 Growing up a young caregiver — without knowing it

19:07 Living with MS — from invisible to mobility aid

22:03 How disability changes the way the world treats you

27:13 Sharing the reality of MS on social media

30:04 Advocating for people with intellectual disabilities

33:03 Darius goes missing — and a registry gets built

37:12 One thing every listener should understand

39:15 Where to find Chrissy and YCA

40:33 Simon's closing thoughts