[Frances Nwajei]: Hi, everybody. I'm Frances Moiseau, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and ADA Coordinator for the City of Medford. I will pop on it. Over to you, Cameron.
[SPEAKER_08]: Thanks, Frances. Hi all. Cam Nab, Medford Disability Commissioner. Over to Susan.
[Susan Bibbins]: Thanks, Kim. I am Susan Bibbins. I Commissioner. And I have been on the commission forever, I think. I forget just how long I've been on the commission. But It's a good number of years and I am serving happily and gratefully. And I live in South Medford, happily and gratefully. Popcorning over to you, John.
[SPEAKER_00]: You mean me? OK. Hi, I'm John Shaib. I'm a disabled Medford resident. And I've been attending the meetings here and doing some things with the city, which is pretty exciting, and trying to become engaged with this committee. So I've got about 30 years of political experience around the Boston area and other places. And that's all. If you have questions, just ask me, OK?
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you. Thank you so much, John. So I'm going to hand it over to Nick to introduce himself, because I'm sure you've seen Nick see seeds in much of the correspondence that I've sent. But I think only Susan has met Nick.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, good evening, everyone, and thank you very much, Ms. Francis. For those of you that don't know me, my name is Nicholas Karikaringa. I am a Medford resident. I have been for 28 years, so for the majority of my life. Um, and, uh, I am the part-time dis-di-di- I'm the part-time disability specialist that goes to work with this lovely lady, Miss Frances. Um, um, so we share one, one office. So if you come in to see her, most likely you'll come in and see me too. Um, But I am also a young man with CP. I have been diagnosed with it from the age of about three months. So this is my life and my world. And so I am happy to be able to make a difference and to work with you guys. I'm looking forward to seeing what it is that all y'all do. It's funny, I've lived in, like I said, for pretty much my whole life, and yet I've never been on one of these meetings, so I'm looking forward to working with you guys. If you guys have any questions, feel free to ask. Thank you.
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you so much, Nick. I mean, it's really, really exciting for me because Nick sort of just, you know when these things just happen at the right time? It just sort of happened at the right time. I mean, I literally, as you know, it's an office of one up to here. underwater all the time, needing to be in many different areas. And, you know, in one of my days, I got a call from somebody saying they wanted to talk to me about their son. And I was like, well, what about your son? You know, and they were like, oh, a job. So I'm thinking, oh, it's a complaint. And last year, you know, we had our funds. I was able to use our funds to bring in some high school students to do some short term coverage for us. Whilst our lift went down for a full mechanical exchange, I think it was down for about 6 to 8 weeks. Right? And there was still some funding left over. And I needed two things. I needed a disability specialist, meaning somebody who could be the eyes and the ears when I can't get out, right? If I've got five meetings already, five different places that I need to be, it's very, very difficult. To go to that site visit and do that walkability tour at tough. So. Whatever I'm required and then meeting Nick. I guess Nick was referred by my friends next door to me, the voters registration folks and. Nick said that this was something that he would be interested in. He likes that project work approach. And I cannot tell you how grateful and how much of a difference it makes. I know that I email you a lot, but I have one time a month is when I get to see you, right? I don't get to have the conversations that than can I with anybody, right? I would have to wait till the fourth Wednesday of the month to see the commissioners so that I can talk to them about this crazy thing that I saw in the disability scoop that is really driving me nuts, right? Or to give them an update. But I get to do that for a good 15 hours a week with Nick and it's extremely refreshing and seeing, you know, Seeing things from the lens that Nick brings to the table. Right and having that confidence and knowing that, oh, I don't have to make that decision. By myself, it's it's very impactful. It's extremely meaningful. In addition to that, Nick is also. Big instrumental in helping in some of my work. helping to put the Black History Month event together, helping to pen some of the memos that go out on our office's behalf, researching grants, and helping me determine which ones might be safe enough for us. All right, you know, it's like a catch-22 right now. But I, for one, am definitely very grateful to have Nick join. And I think this will be helpful for us as the Disability Commission and as we continue to plan towards our events. All right, Anthony, you're up. Okay, Anthony might just be listening. So maybe what I'll do is I'll just go through. Hello, can you hear me now? Okay, we can hear you now.
[Andreottola]: I'm sorry, I was muted. No worries. Hi, I'm Anthony Andreodla. I'm a blind Metro resident. I've lived here for the most of my life. Very active in advocating for the disabled community. I've been doing it for many years. I'm a dad of a former commissioner. My daughter was on the commission for I think five or six years up until recently. Gabrielle, you all may know her or not, but I'm just interested in seeing where I might fit in serving the Method community. I've never sat on the Disability Commission, and I don't know if it's the right fit for me, but I'm going to sit in for a meeting or two to see if there's any way I might be able to help or contribute in some way. And if I can, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Thanks.
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you so much, Anthony, you know, I think it's great that people want to be committed to cause, especially a cause within, you know, for their community. So, I certainly welcome you and I'm sure the other commissioners do as well to sit on and hang out for a couple of meetings. I do believe that that is what John has done for the past 3 meetings now, if I'm correct and John will be letting me know. Soon, if this is an avenue that John would like to pursue, it's always it's always a fine balance, right? You know, we all have our passions and our dreams, but we're governed by ordinance and we try to work within the ordinance with our small, but mighty crew to help support the needs of as many as possible. And it's what folks don't understand is commissioners. Receive a tremendous amount of information from me. This is also 1 of the commissions that there is no stipend attached. You know, and if you're like, a, you'll get a random email from me that says, can you call me? You know, and it's because I need to run something by somebody quickly. So I'm just, you know, throwing that out there in case there are people that think like, oh, it's just a once a month and we get together. No, there's a lot that's a lot happening behind the scenes that folks don't get to see. All right, we have Kate on with us, which is doing welcome and introductions, Kate.
[Kate Ryan]: Hi, I'm sorry, I'm wearing a mask because my PCA is here. I'm Kate. I've applied for the commission over a year ago. I never heard back. I have emailed you. I have called you. I've never heard anything. So I showed up to see, like, what's going on. And I only assume that my fact that I'm more interested in the civil rights than, like, raising awareness, like, might dissuade people, but, like, they opened the new library three years ago. The makerspace isn't accessible, and they're jerks about it to the point where I've given up on using it.
[Frances Nwajei]: And okay, can I just pause you for a minute only because we were doing welcome and introductions and then we can circle back so that that way I can actually take notes because if you're talking about something that's not in the agenda, it almost seems as if you are filing a complaint or you're asking us to look into something.
[Kate Ryan]: No, I'm giving an example of things that I noticed around Medford that need to be changed. OK, can we do that when we get to the patient? Anyway, I've been an advocate for many years. I have a professional and educational background in it, all the fancy degrees and stuff. And yeah, I live in West Medford and I have many, many multiple disabilities, none of which I actually recommend. Especially, yeah. OK.
[Frances Nwajei]: All right, thank you so much, Kate. All right, disability fear update. Oh my gosh, it was like playing volley trying to find who was responsible for booking this all-inclusive playground. And finally yesterday, the day before the meeting, I got it sorted out. So, I went with the May 10th date. Remember we said May 10th or May 17th. So, I went with the May 10th date. The 11 to 2 timeframe, and I made a mistake when I said the Andrews, it's actually the. That is right that is right adjacent to the. to the playground, you would go through the cafeteria. It's all one level. So I booked that as well for two reasons. In case we end up having inclement weather and we have to move everything inside, there's plenty of space, it's all on one floor. And if we don't have inclement weather, we can do some, the cafeteria area is big enough to cordon off and have different opportunities to help meet as many needs as possible. And when I say the cafeteria area, just keep in mind that all those tables that you see and everything, they fold up and they move out of the way. So we're really talking about a huge surface area, plenty of parking and everything. So are we ready team? Susan, Nick, Kim, are we ready? Are you ready to remember? Oh, goodness gracious. Here we go. So that was that update that I wanted to give you and I wanted to also share with you the participants, not the people that were invited, right? Those that participated, the vendors that were actually on site, and then go through the big list with you of people that were spoken to and everything. Because I kept a master list all the way from June, just before you went on holiday, to September when you came back from holiday. Is that right? really asking primarily Susan and Cam.
[SPEAKER_08]: That sounds good. Should we, I just don't know, John, Kate, Anthony, have you heard of the Disability Fair? Is it worth a short recap of what the event is?
[Kate Ryan]: I know what it is, and it's about awareness, right?
[SPEAKER_08]: I think awareness is a part. My understanding, Kate, is the secondary goal is to connect folks with potential supports. So like different vendors will be there to, you know, connect with Medford citizens that might be interested in their services.
[Frances Nwajei]: And also making sure people are aware, especially people with disabilities are aware of like most recent, whether it's changes, whether it's MBTA offerings, whether it's Uber things, getting as many disability focused people in the same space as possible to actually talk about the different things that are in place.
[Kate Ryan]: are you going to be talking about the eugenicist policies of the current national administration?
[Frances Nwajei]: I don't believe that that will be on the agenda. But right now, I'm just asking the commissioners if I can share the list to show who came before because we are already at February. But the good thing is that the groundwork has already been done. Now I have to find it. I have a question.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, John. How many people were at the last one? What kind of groups attend? And did you say it was going to be at the high school?
[Frances Nwajei]: So John, what I can tell you is that if I remember correctly, it was 20 something vendors that were present, right? I don't remember so much about how many people because I was, the timing was kind of off, right? It was scheduled for October. The commission goes on holiday. June is the last meeting. So July and August, I had to, get as much pushed in and done as possible to hand over in September to say, hey, listen, it was the first one that was done in the time frame that I have been here as far as what happened before. I don't have information on that. Okay. It was pretty well, can I say? Yeah, go ahead.
[Andreottola]: This is Anthony. We're talking about the one that was at West Medford two years ago, is that correct? Yes, yes. I thought it was pretty well attended. There were a number of people there. I was there and the crowd was a pretty good size. There were a lot of, some people with disabilities, some just neighborhood. folks, people interested in learning about disabilities, politicians, you know, civic leaders, state rep was there, the mayor. It was pretty good. I thought it went very well. And I thought it was one of the better events the city had put on. I think Francis did a great job with it, you know. And my daughter was there, too, so I'm a little biased. But I thought it was a great success.
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you so much, Anthony. You helped to jog my memory. That's right. It was not last year. It was definitely two years ago. And I just remembered, I reached out to the library because we bought the film. Oh, my gosh. What was the film that we shot?
[Andreottola]: There was Melanie McLaughlin that did a presentation in, I believe, a film. She was a school committee member.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah, there was a film that we showed. It will come to me in a minute, and I have it on the flyer, so I can share with you, Kim. It escaped my mind. I just sort of assumed everybody knew. I realized that you actually don't even know what that flyer looked like at that time. But we did have a video viewing, and the library was very kind enough to purchase the licensed version for us so that we could show it. All right, here's what I'm going to do. I am going to... You know, you do these things, you run the risk of showing the wrong thing. Yes. Shit. Does everybody see that? Oh.
[SPEAKER_08]: Yes, we're documenting Saturday, October 7, 2023.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah, it says my screen has paused. Great. Somebody show me something. You can all see it, but I can't see it anymore. Try this again.
[Susan Bibbins]: He can't see it. I can't see it.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah, I just took it down because it told me that my screen was paused and then. OK, yeah. So we did it, this year we're saying 11 to two, so that's three hours. Last year we did it for four hours. Confirmed attendees were the Arc of Massachusetts, Meg and Phoebe Kane, Armstrong Ambulance was present, Cara of Best Buddies was present. I had Chapters Coffee Cart provide refreshments on site that people could purchase. They were present. The members of the Disabled Persons Protection Committee, there was a whole group of them that were there. Some of them were focused on sexual assault cases and some, the typical reporting that occurs, but they were present as well. Easterseals, Jeff from Triangle was there. I worked with the Massachusetts Developmental Disabilities Council, different agency. Sounds like Department of Developmental Services, two different agencies. So if you recall during that time, there was still a lot of talk about how the pandemic affected people with respiratory situations and people were still very nervous. So they confirmed that they would host a COVID vaccine clinic during that time. Unfortunately, the batches of vaccine that was supposed to be released got pushed back two weeks. So we couldn't have it on that day, but they did make good. I think we had another event. I think we did something quick on an evening and they were able to provide the vaccines. And if I'm not mistaken, it was about 40 something people that got vaccinated that evening. let's say Medford Family Network, the fire department was there, public schools, school department was there, police department was present, rec was not present, but Murrow's Wakefield, Tufts Medical, there, Playful Pelican was there, Triangle Inc. was there, Tufts University was there. Waypoint was present, right? And the Walnut Street Center was there. So these were the people that confirmed the attendance and actually came. Now, I'm going to show you. the giant Excel spreadsheet because there were so many other people. And what I did was I was just typing in my correspondence with them and things that they said so that if we came to this time, we could look and we could say, hey, remember you said you could help us dance? But you know what I mean? Because I'm not going to remember all this. I thought this event was last year. It was two years ago. All right, so let me pull that one up. Here we are. Okay. So, these are all the people that I reached out to. Boston Dance Alliance was referred to me by Jamie Robinson of Deaf Infinitely. So I would call one group and then they would refer me to other groups. So at least we have like contact information. Like I said, it was just a very raw organic list. And then we had other partners like mass commission for the blind. They sent they sent information and materials and I, I recently put the last set of information out. So, some of our state providers. that could not be on site actually participated by making sure that they got resource materials to me. And one of the things that MCB did that I loved was, you know, they sent me duplicate materials, right? What may be considered your typical size and what is also considered your large print size. So that was nice because I've been able to use those materials here at City Hall. Yeah, mass office and disability, they sent brochures as well.
[Susan Bibbins]: I've got a line on the ride at the T. Okay. I can't remember and I need to lay hands on the contact information. Okay.
[Frances Nwajei]: I think that would be lovely.
[Susan Bibbins]: But they do travel training, both individually and in groups for kids all the way up to seniors. They do, RTAG does child training and mapping and a whole bunch of other stuff. They said that the ride at the T said that they would be happy to come out if we had a fair.
[Frances Nwajei]: So, dude, that is absolutely wonderful. And whenever you have a chance, you can email me the information and I will add it to this list. I, you know, I think it just it makes it easier for us to know who participated before because we can go right back to them. If you want me to, I can send a mass email on your behalf to all of them. Right. Right. Yeah. And then go back to the ones that Um, weren't able to participate or that, you know, we weren't able to connect. No, that that is great, especially now with so many changes that are. that are happening. Like, one minute I was really rejoicing that Uber would now, you know, accept service animals, but then on the other hand, as I was reading the thing, it still felt like the drivers could opt out. Mm-hmm. I was actually speaking with colleague Shanine Pelequin, and it's just like, but it's the law. It's transportation. Like, everybody... Yeah. It's...
[Susan Bibbins]: Yeah. So much happening. It doesn't feel like a gain.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah. Yeah. It feels like a chickeny gain, right? Like, okay, we're going to make you think that you've got something, but you really don't have anything. Right. So I'm just making the note that May 10th is the fair, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Okay. All right. Now that we have, let me stop sharing because it's a bit awkward because I can't see any of you. All right. Now that we have the date, the time, the location, would you remember commissioners? It's two of you on today. You have my help. You have Nick's help. Nick is 15 hours a week. So consider between Nick and I at least three and a half forehands, right? You know me. I love what we do. I'm willing to go all in. What do you think would be better? Should I approach our yes people first, our people that attended before first and say, hey, this is happening. Would you be interested in coming back? Yes.
[SPEAKER_08]: Yes. And for instance, maybe also just ask them if there's anything they'd like to see different this time around.
[Frances Nwajei]: Definitely, definitely. OK. So I can do that. That's a pretty easy list. And I somewhere can, somewhere over the rainbow, but somewhere in this office, there are a few evaluation forms. Nick, don't laugh. You know what this office looks like. We've had back-to-back event season, okay. We had Lunar New Year, we have Black History Month community-facing, Black History Month employee luncheon. In here, it's like the Amazon warehouse. It is not safe for anybody, not even myself, you know. But we do have some evaluation forms that some people did complete and return, so I won't dig them up. In terms of creating the flyer, do you have a vision of what you would like it to look like?
[SPEAKER_08]: Maybe, for instance, before flyer, I was thinking agenda, like I know, or at least I think, and he's dropped, but I think the last time we had the disability fair, we had a speaker. I think something like that would be awesome. And then, You know, I came at the tail end of the disability fair, and I think maybe having something at the beginning and something at the end feels like it could keep the energy up and, you know, be nice bookmarks to the three hours together.
[Frances Nwajei]: I'm listening, Cameron. As you were talking, I was trying to find something that would help us out.
[SPEAKER_08]: All good. Just the idea of Susan, John, Nick, Kate, like a speaker to open us, you know. Oh, perfect. Yeah, I see. Exactly. And on the flyer, you have the sort of agenda.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yes, so we had a flyer flyer that we used. We used Medford blue, and if I'm not mistaken, we used colors from Disability Pride, right? And that's why we intentionally minimalized the DIS and ensured that the word ability was capitalized. I ended up switching around with, I actually had Gabby MC and run the program for me. There was something else that was going on that I had to now attend to, to both the fair and whatever was happening. So it's all coming back to me. But this was just Intelligent Lives. That was the movie. That was the midpoint movie that we viewed. But this was just, again, this was first time out the gate trying to put something together to really get the commission on the map, right?
[Susan Bibbins]: I think it's really important that we showcase disabled speakers and disabled you know, employees and artists and that kind of thing. Just it's not less times you know, had no disabled, you know, all the speakers were parents or carers or worked with disabled people. And I felt that I felt the lack. I, I was a little disappointed in the lack. And I, you know, I feel like it would be important to have a person with disabilities as a speaker this time.
[Frances Nwajei]: No, I think it's true, but I'll just point out a couple of reminders. Not every disability is visible and not everybody chooses to disclose their disability. That's very true.
[Susan Bibbins]: That's very true.
[Frances Nwajei]: Also the fact that it is all of our responsibilities to pull it all together. And if you recall, the responsibility ended up falling in one and a half people.
[Susan Bibbins]: That's very true and I know you did a beautiful job.
[Frances Nwajei]: It is what it is and I got us up and we survived and we learned from it and now we can do better by it. You know Susan you were talking about disabled artists and so many different things were coming to my mind and I'm like oh my gosh I hope I wrote the name on the spreadsheet of the music band people that I had reached out to, but I had reached out to them for something else, not the disability fair. And I have to go back and look and make sure that I had entered their name into it. But I think that that is essential, right? I mean, this is really both a celebration and education opportunity. That's sort of how I see it. So I definitely agree. I mean, I think that between you, between my friends over at Arts Collaborative, I think that we, when we talk about disabled artists of a variety of different mediums, I think we can get it done, right? And we're just thinking artists, we're not even talking, we're not even getting into like the different mediums of art. So I definitely agree that that should certainly be our focus, like having as much involvement from people who actually have disabilities as possible. But I will be clear though, I cannot be paralyzed by, I'll call you back, because we have to put the flyer out, right? We have to get things done.
[Susan Bibbins]: Yeah, but we gotta do what we gotta do.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah, so at some point we'll do what we need to do.
[Susan Bibbins]: Uh, Kate has her hand up.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yes, I was going to finish cameras agenda related questions and then go to questions final questions about the actual fair itself. So, no, no, no, don't be sorry. So, any other ideas of how the day should flow? So, something in the beginning to talk, something in the end, tying everything together. Any other suggestions?
[SPEAKER_08]: I think two more, Frances. One is like a participation list if people want to You know, leave their information, we can include them on future events that the Disability Commission holds. You know, it struck me that your information that you send us is so great, like we could package that and send it to interested Medford residents as a disability digest you know i so um and then finally um we worked last year on that uh new resident uh guide i think if we could print it out and get folks to comment on you know other resources that we should add other pain points that we should address um i know the Last commission spent a lot of time on that and it'd be great to get feedback from the public on on if it's meeting the need.
[Frances Nwajei]: Okay, so I've got ensure that ensure that there's more focus on people with disabilities being involved in the actual event. A participation list and. Okay, it's cheering going on. I'm not sure what is happening.
[SPEAKER_08]: For the not for the participation list, it's I think it's the good kind.
[Frances Nwajei]: Sometimes we, we, sometimes we have interruptions as a result of people exercising their rights. So leave it at that. I think there is a participation list somewhere. I will double check. Um, people because people signed in and I believe that there was a section. I always ask, would you like to be involved in the commission? Would you like to hear more information about the commission? So. Double check and then the new residents guide. I know I don't have that 1.
[SPEAKER_08]: Uh, both Gabby and our former chairs have all remember the Google Doc. We got it. It's an email. I'll send it to you.
[Frances Nwajei]: Okay. All right. Thank you. All right. So. Definitely, we'll definitely start looking on that. Are you all all right if I update you via email just the same way I typically do? You can just respond individually so that it doesn't look like we're voting or if I forgot something. But Nick, what are your thoughts?
[SPEAKER_02]: I think that this is been so far. I like what I'm hearing. Obviously, I wasn't there at the time, so I don't know exactly how last time went. Which brings me to my second point, I think. Obviously, we are a small but mighty group. But I think something that needs to be taken into account is that there are people in the Medford city who do not know the resources that are available to them. Like I said, I've lived in Medford my whole life and didn't even know that this group was a thing. went out of the city to go to high school at a private school, I kind of lost contact with all things. I'm sorry, I think having some type of digest or having some type of city mail that would go out can you figure out, hey, if you have a disability, these are resources for you. These are things that we do. These are people you can contact. These are places you can go. I think that would be extremely helpful. Yeah. Let me not be long-winded, but yeah.
[Frances Nwajei]: Sorry, Nick, you could be long winded. I was trying to rescue one of our commissioners who can't find the Zoom link. I was trying to discreetly send it on. There we go. All right. Let's see. I mean, I think that those are all great points, right? It's about communication and how much communication can you do and what avenues, you know, what are your avenues that you're using to communicate to get the information out? I think that I've, you know, continued to build a good partnership with the schools. So as a result, you have the parent groups. What are they called? Yeah, they're called parent groups, right? Is that what it means? Huh? C-PACT. C-PACT. Right. That you can, you know, send information through now, right? Some principal isn't just getting some random email from, you know, from a Francis Wange who they've never met before that says, please share. So I think that that is wonderful. So. Nick, I'm volunteering us. Uh, because it's really, it is our job and our role as our office to lift up the commission and help them get started. Some volunteering us in terms of starting some correspondence and. looking through the mini warehouse in here to find some of those documents that Cam referenced, see if maybe we can update the style, see if they're still suitable, that type of stuff, and get this going. Is that okay? I'm very, very excited. I'm very, very, very excited. And as I said, commissioners, I will keep you all updated. Kate, do you want to ask your question now? We just finished the Disability Fair agenda.
[Kate Ryan]: Yes, I remember the last Disability Fair and I remember deciding not to go to it and encouraging disabled people to not go to it because you did not have a disabled speaker. And I thought that that was absolutely beyond the pale. I also wonder why you had somebody who is known to be incredibly ableist as a speaker. and who has previously was the reason that I left the Disability Commission because he yelled at me so many times here that I could not be around him.
[SPEAKER_08]: I don't think any of us were here anymore. Susan was. Oh, Susan was.
[Kate Ryan]: She knows exactly who I'm talking about. Yeah. But I don't know if it's polite to name names, so I'm not. many people know who I'm talking about.
[SPEAKER_08]: Well, yeah, maybe we don't have to name names, but I think it's helpful maybe for us to make sure that that person is not a speaker this time. Kate, you had a strong reaction and we want to make sure the event is as inclusive for folks as possible and someone that You know, has made you feel uncomfortable, shouldn't be on the speaker list.
[Kate Ryan]: So I did not. This is just my normal voice because I am autistic. This is my normal voice. And I was not made uncomfortable. I was traumatized.
[Frances Nwajei]: So, here's what I will say, I think that it's important to remember that the commission approaches everything with as much respect as possible. And if people are not here for the history of things. Then people won't know. So I am going to leave it at that. I think that we have spoken candidly about some of the shortcomings, but instead of using the energy to continuously repeat the shortcomings, I want to stay excited and energized and look on how we can do better and make sure that we do better on behalf of all people for the city of Medford. Again, whether it's anybody that is attending this or anybody that ends up watching the recorded version, people don't know what they don't know. So as a result, they shouldn't be held accountable. If somebody does not share with you ahead of time, hey, are you aware? Then you have no knowledge, so I don't want it to appear as though the commission or the commissioners moved with intention with specific knowledge. Because that would be wrong. The commissioners did not know. And I was not informed of anything either in terms of a speaker being being an ableist. So. I think that it's important for folks to remember that there is something called integrity. And if such had been communicated with me, it would have been done by email and there would have been some back and forth correspondence. So I know Kate, I know that you had not, when I first started, you had mentioned that somebody had made you feel bad, but you referred to the person as the chair at that time, but you never provided to me with the name. So that I do recall. But I would like to move on and see how we can continue to do better and grow from the opportunity. All right, so Nick and I, we've got a task list.
[SPEAKER_02]: If I may just jump in there, Ms. Frances.
[Frances Nwajei]: Just so everybody knows, I don't make Nick call me Ms. Frances. I have asked Nick numerous times to call me Frances. Just so everybody knows.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, she has not asked me to, in fact, she should ask me not to, but my mom, but my mom always knew well.
[Frances Nwajei]: Don't even think about it.
[SPEAKER_02]: But, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but. But anyway, just kind of piggyback on that last point by Mitch Francis. Number one, I come from Kenya, and in my language, we have a saying that says, basically, if you don't know what you don't know, you don't know. And so, again, as As a person who is also disabled and is a part of the disabled community, I would have to say that if you see something wrong and you don't tell people and you tell fellow disabled people to not go, then it's just perpetuating the cycle. because then nobody will know what they're doing wrong. And nobody will know if they did something right because they won't know that they did something wrong. So in all that, I would say, like, please try to come. And if something is done wrong, then tell us so that we can fix that and make that change so that we know. Because if we don't know, we don't know. Thank you.
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you for that, Nick. All right. Moving on to City Hall.
[Susan Bibbins]: Go ahead. I had another idea.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Susan Bibbins]: Did we have a quiet room? like a quiet sensory room last time?
[Frances Nwajei]: So what we did last time was there was the room when we found out that the vaccines could not happen, the room that was supposed to be used for the vaccines was what we used. But this year we will have a lot more surface area space where we would be able to have like a quiet room. For some reason, Susan, all I can remember is her first name, Tanya. Tanya does massages, but there is specific type of massage for people with sensory issues, people with cerebral palsy, people with CP. I know Tanya is on that list. And last year, by the time I connected with Tanya, it was the event was already planned. But I'm thinking like something like that, you know, somebody experiencing like a 10 minute massage. I mean, I'm not saying that she's going to do it, but these are the things.
[Susan Bibbins]: Yeah. A sensory quiet room is good for those who are experiencing sensory overload. Obviously, whoever would ask and get the consent of people who want to have this massage. Well, definitely. Because a lot of people in sensory overload don't want to be touched.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah. Yeah, no, definitely. I mean, that would be for her. That would be for the person to sort out. I was just thinking like different opportunities that we could have making use of all the wonderful space. Right. Yeah. Maybe this year, instead of the police coming with, let's say, facts of life materials and stuff, they'll actually come with one of the vehicles that they use during their sensory week to help just a variety of different things.
[Susan Bibbins]: Yeah. But yeah, it would be good if we had a sensory. separate area, quiet room.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah, let me go to an unsigned again. Like I saw it recently, but I think we have even more space than we actually realize, because we would have the entire, really, the entire first floor all the way out.
[Susan Bibbins]: Some place that we could darken and keep quiet. Right.
[Frances Nwajei]: Right, right.
[Susan Bibbins]: But a few like cushy chairs and stuff like that. Right, definitely.
[Frances Nwajei]: Just wanted to chill out. Definitely, I could definitely talk with also, see if I can connect with Charlotte over at the school, Charlotte Prime, who is the occupational therapist for the district and get some ideas on how to utilize some of the space that is already there. Because I would be looking at indoors and if we needed to sort of like build out our own space, like what are some ideas and suggestions? Nick, did you have your hands up or was I?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, I did. Two things. One, I am laughing to myself right now because I actually Charlotte Heim was my own PT when I went to the murmur, murmur, murmur, so she knows me quite well. But regarding the sensory room, I can already picture two rooms that would be perfect for that. There would be the lounge that is right across from the cafeteria. If you walk into the front door of the cafeteria, it's on your left and then there's the lounge on your right. So that's one. If If we don't need something that big, I'm pretty sure there's a teacher's lounge on the far side of the cafeteria. So I think either one of those two rooms would work well. The reason I first thought about the lounge is that there's more room to spread out in case we have more people. But I think there are some children in the teacher's lounge that are comfortable, if I'm not mistaken, if I know, but yeah.
[Frances Nwajei]: That's right. Thank you so much. You are right. There is the teacher's lounge in the back, which could serve as our first aid station, let's say, where we keep all our extra things. I think because you have to go through the cafeteria. to the teacher's lounge. That one might not be ideal if somebody's having sensory overload and if we choose to have activities. But this is great because Susan and myself are community access monitors. Susan, Nick has signed up for his two days. Yes. Yes. Nick has signed up for his two-day. Shanine and I are trying to finish the dance certification. I mean, I might finish it by the time I'm 95. But either way, maybe as the time gets closer, right? You know, we all meet there. Nick, since you have a relationship with Charlotte, and I'm sure she'd love to hear from you, perhaps you can be tasked with giving her a, shooting her an email and letting her know. But I think we all meet there and we get some guidance and we work, you know, we work together like we typically do and, you know, pull it off. I mean, yeah. Hi, John, go right ahead.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think I've just been... I think I've just been... I think I've just been voluntold.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yes, there is such a thing. Go ahead, John. Okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm curious about how this is promoted to the various communities, people in disability communities, but also, I'm not a social media guy, but do you go to the college radio station Tufts, or do you go to the Hatch, or the school, I mean, not the school, but the town newspapers, How do you promote this? How do you get to the different communities out there?
[Frances Nwajei]: So for one, like the primary mode of communication when we're having the disability fair was the newsletter at the senior center. It was also making sure that the flyers got in the hands of the various vendors that had like big distribution lists like deaf Deaf Inc, right? Because their distribution list is going to be a lot huger than my tiny little distribution list, right? Unfortunately, the city does rely heavily on social media. That is completely out of my hands. However, I do what I can, right? But also the robocalls, right? The flyers, the information was also in the superintendent's weekly bulletin. Right, so there's the hard copy one weekly memo, but then there's the video one as well. So it was done both ways. And then it was sent to the schools for flowering as well, and also on the school's website. A lot of times you tend to have other communities come. I think that that is great, especially when we're talking about disabilities. I feel like this really strengthens numbers because in some people's minds, they still think it's, you'd be surprised. And you'd be surprised about how wonderful, how skilled. and how actually equitable people with disabilities are, right? So, you know, I'm not a person that is opposed to neighboring communities coming, but I will say that my focus is really the city of Medford, right? And that's really what I'm looking at. I also forgot, John, the housing authorities as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay. I mean, I think social media is great. I just don't use it. I just choose not to, but I was just curious how you promote this. And obviously you want to engage people like Nick was talking about. I didn't know about this committee until I called you and asked a different question than I found out about it. Other than that, I would have had no idea that this was taking place or existed. So how many other people out there have liked that?
[Frances Nwajei]: I'm still a little behind on my goal on where I feel like the committee should be. And when it comes to like the equity, I still want an answer. Why do some commissions get stipends and why don't others, right? I mean, that's very real for me. And I will not stop asking that question until I receive an answer that I believe is worthy of an answer. So I can't tell you why people aren't aware. I can just tell you the work that the commission has done since when I became a part of the group. I think that there are a lot of things too that are different. We also have a situation where in the city of Medford, we no longer have a newspaper. Right and forget that there are people from a specific age group that and that is still the source of. Receiving information that is the primary source. That's how they take the information in. Hence the reason that we make sure that we get a lot of stuff to the housing authority. And when I say to the housing authority, I don't mean just like the main office to sit on the shelf. I mean, like, in the buildings, because each building has. Variety of many different people, and as far as keeping track of who attends.
[SPEAKER_00]: Was there an actual sign-in sheet or the people typing in something into it?
[Frances Nwajei]: When people came in, that was what I said earlier. When people came in, they did sign in. It was a sign-in sheet, but it was also two different columns. They were asked if they would be interested in receiving information from the commission at their contact and if they wanted to join their commission at yes or no. Those things are here somewhere.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, okay, I just wondering how it takes place because I know, like, my, my handwriting is terrible and at the same time. My left hand is doesn't work. So, as far as typing, but is there someone that can type in information?
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah, we had some. We had four greeters, four hosts, right? So when you entered, members of the Human Rights Commission at that time volunteered to work with the commissioners that were available. So they did two different shifts. I hate to call it shifts, but I don't know, two different segments. is what I mean, right? So that way, because you will have those, and because we also had swag, right? Not everybody can, you know, carry their swag and everything else that they need to do. So we had to, you know, we had to keep all those things in mind.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I do love the idea of artists in the disability community, because they can cover so many things, like you were talking about. But whether someone's a sculptor, or a musician, or a painter, what's out there? What do you know?
[Frances Nwajei]: It's absolutely huge. I mean, I'm currently pushing for something right now. Susan knows that's why Susan got that emergency. You need to call me right away because it is amazing how people just continue to operate with a blind desire. And that's all I'm going to say. All right, commissioners, we are at 639. Today, we are having a really long meeting. Let me just whip through and give you an update. Many thanks to ARPA funding, I was finally able to update the hearing accessibility at City Hall inside the chambers. So we actually have new technology, brand spanking new state of the art. When I say listening devices, it's not one contraption, it's the... If Kevin ever watches this, Kevin of Medford Community Media, he's going to laugh at me because he told me the proper name. I think it's called the receiver, right? It's the professional one. But what's lovely is that the packs are really small, like old-fashioned pages. And they're very discreet. Be like a little handbag and nobody would know. Then you have different styles of headphones. Of course, I did electric blue. I'm sorry, we need our headphones back, so I need to be able to see people. You forget, but you have the clamshell. ARPA funds were used to purchase that. In addition to that, ARPA funds were also used to purchase or to add some accessible seating. It's insane to say that I had been in the chambers so often. Never actually occurred to me that we didn't have any seating with arms. They were all scoop chairs. And then the ones that we had with arms had wheels on the bottom so that as you were trying to balance, you can wheel away and end up everywhere but where you wanted to end up. So on the very tail end, I think it was like five days before the cutoff, I ordered, Nick did some research for me because I was trying to, you know, that balance between matching them and not making things look, oh, well, that's different, right? Just a seamless match. We purchased, I think it was 12 or 15 seats with arms and they have cushions. They're still in the chambers in the format for meetings, but they're just set up in between all the other chairs. I think that that's really important. Then after how many years? Bathroom renovations at City Hall. I want to cry, but I won't. What I will say is that it is one of the joys of working with Nick and working with our director facilities. Was actually getting to a point where I was working with people that understood what I was talking about director facilities was extremely instrumental in his support of getting. Qualified people to come and assess. And provide a design. So this is real, this is not happening overnight. But this is happening the right way. Um, we'll have to do 1 at a time. I don't care I don't care. Um, but from what I can see of the plans. Some are not just ADA compliant. They are what you would consider fully accessible. And I don't know for me this. It's been it's been a battle, you know, that's it's it's just. We're talking about we're talking about human dignity, so I just wanted to share that with you guys and I will continue to keep you updated. On on that as we go. Keolis Commuter Services, not able to join us for this meeting, but I will be inviting them to the next meeting and also the April meeting so that they'll have a choice. Rachel was the person that reached out to me, asked, you know, what would be helpful? And I said, well, any resources that you have that we can share. And I told her, and I don't think that I was misspeaking, if I'm not mistaken, request for accessibility at the West Medford train station. I know. Over a decade old. If somebody said to me that it's literally 14 years in the making. Yeah, so. I know when it's opening.
[Kate Ryan]: Yes. March 10th. When is it opening? March 10th. It's my birthday present. And I say this because my friend who is very high up in accessibility at the T and I have been calling it my birthday present for like three months now. It is your birthday present. It's going to be a block and a half for me. I'm going to be able to go in my chair and go up and it's all done. They've stopped working on it now. They just have to cut the... Do you have any big scissors at City Hall?
[Frances Nwajei]: Yes, we have the giant ones. Yeah, that's what they should use to cut it. Okay, cut. Do you know when they're going to cut it? March 10th. March 10th.
[Kate Ryan]: It would be in the RTAG newsletter, right? Honestly, this is just me and my friend texting. I don't know. Maybe I'm not even supposed to say that. I don't know. I am just so excited. And I have been calling to the guy. I drive by there like twice a day, and the guys literally know who I am.
[Frances Nwajei]: Well, I mean, Kate, literally, I'm not making it up. I think somebody told me 14 years in the making. 14 years for accessibility.
[Kate Ryan]: got to get it slipped in before they dismantle the ADA.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah, right. And I attended a great meeting today that settled my mind somewhat. Not a meeting, but a thing. I can't think right now.
[Kate Ryan]: It has lights. It has a roof over it. It has a roof. It's like this huge, big, and yeah.
[Frances Nwajei]: John, let me describe to you what I saw when I went. I saw a hole, a giant hole. And I'm like, how is somebody with a disability supposed to access the train?
[Kate Ryan]: You're supposed to take the right, but the right isn't as good as the train.
[SPEAKER_02]: That part, that part right there. Yeah. I have multiple horror stories about the lie. So don't even get me started. We all do. I cut my tooth in half because of them. But that's a whole another discussion. But yeah, the ride is a great resource. I'm grateful for them. They do what they gotta do, but they do not do what they do well. And so I'm thankful that the T is doing something about it. Although I will say one thing that the T needs to think about is people who are disabled that do not have wheelchairs because walking to a whole other section of the street just to get access is ridiculous. But anyway, I digress.
[Kate Ryan]: Yeah, like, you can only access the ramps if you go to where it crosses High Street. You can't access it from, like, across from the little coffee shop. You can't access the ramps from there, because there are stairs.
[Frances Nwajei]: This cafe, the coffee shop.
[SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely ridiculous. Oh, well.
[Frances Nwajei]: And if I'm not mistaken, But Nick, if I'm not mistaken and I have to double check, there is stairs and it's almost like a weird sidewalk that ends up not being a sidewalk. Yeah. I have to double check with the traffic engineer, but there is some work that is supposed to be done on that. Now, I am not saying that it's happening tomorrow. But I do recall when we were out marking, yes, sometimes I go out and I mark and I have a little measuring tape in the roadway. It was a conversation that I had because I didn't understand why the sidewalk just kept getting narrower and narrower and narrower. Then you were in the rail for the tracks.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's very weird. This is Medford. Our sidewalks don't make sense.
[Kate Ryan]: You ever notice how they go like slope down?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, the fact that I was trying to ride my power chair to go and just take a walk one day. And then I got to this place where there was a ramp onto the sidewalk, but no ramp off of the sidewalk. So I was like, oh, wait, I'm stuck. I can't. Okay. And then I had to risk my life by going onto the road and standing there while cars are passing me at a hair's width of a distance. But anyway, I digress. I will not make this meeting go longer than I have to.
[Frances Nwajei]: You didn't digress. I mean, this is the reality. I mean, these are the things that I am facing, right? And then, you know, of course, I question it. Because if I can see it, I'm sure other people can too. But you don't need to be an ADA coordinator to know that none of it makes sense. You know, why is there an accessible space all the way in a dark corner, further away from, you know, the curb cuts on a hump of a hill that goes like this? Like, what are we saying? So, yeah, there are... Because people just want to say that, oh, we did it. Well, guess what? What ends up happening is I go and then those things get moved and then they can start trying all they want. But, you know, there are laws that govern spaces. There are guidelines that dictate where things are supposed to be. But you tell me that, oh, we're doing really great. We have six spaces. But four of those spaces are not even on level ground. They're on corners that go like this. So some days, I would say, are much better than others. But usually in the summer is when you will find me doing my boots on ground days, hence my
[Kate Ryan]: Beautiful jacket. For what it's worth, I'm a certified access monitor too. It was like 15, 20 years ago, but. They're doing the refresher if you want for those. I don't care enough because I don't think the law will last that long.
[Frances Nwajei]: Don't say that Kate, don't say that. Kate, I have to hold on to hope. I have to hold on to hope. Executive orders are not statutes. That was the big takeaway today. So, I have to keep pushing on behalf of everyone. I know.
[SPEAKER_02]: We have to stay hopeful, because if we don't, at this point, we'll die. So, we have to stay hopeful.
[Frances Nwajei]: I'm just determined to make sure that I can get... It's weird, like, I won't call it rushing but I will say that I'm in haste. It's almost I feel like I'm in a race but I don't know who I'm in a race for or race with. But I feel like OK I need to get as much of this done now because the unknown is just that. So those are all the updates that I have in terms of Keolis and in terms of our fair and everything else. Our next meeting is March 26th, same place, same time. Go ahead, Nick.
[SPEAKER_02]: I just had a question. I know if you live in Medford, you get all kinds of ads and flyers in the mail. all kinds, Lord have mercy. Is there a way that we could work with the city and kind of using that type of an avenue to advertise the disability fair or something like that?
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah, I mean, we certainly could, right? But here is the thing is that we would have to pay for the postage, not saying that that needs to be a deterrent, but that's what needs to be considered is that everything is done on office budgets, right? There's no, like, giant city budget. Now, could we get in when, like, you know, I would have to talk to the treasurer, like, are there bills that are going out at a specific time, right? If, let's say, if, let's say, April, they are sending out, I'm just going to say water bill, because that's the only thing that comes to mind, they're sending out the annual water bills or the quarterly water bills, then maybe our flyer right, could go in the envelope, or maybe we just do a paper fly that can be, you know, folded out. But I would have to find out if those avenues exist. I don't think that we could just blanket wise without having a dedicated list, just send because at 69 cents, I think that's what it is right now. 69 cents for mail, for one piece of mail. 10 people is $6.90. Yeah. It's not, I can tell you right now, ODI, we don't have the budget for that.
[Susan Bibbins]: We would also have to fold and stamp. Right. Ourselves.
[SPEAKER_02]: Right. I mean, like, I know, and granted, this is just my idea, but like, I'm like, when people are trying to run for public office, they send those ones that don't have to be full folded and whatnot. They have funds.
[Frances Nwajei]: They have monies.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, like, I'm just thinking of stuff that we don't have to fold or stamp or whatever.
[Frances Nwajei]: That would be... You have to pay for it, though, somehow. No, right.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. But just an idea of what could be going out instead of, like,
[Frances Nwajei]: I think that what would be great is like, I think Cam had made mention of it, John, I think you made mention of it, is that sign-in sheet, right? If we could continue, as a matter of fact, you sure that's not in the Google Doc? Because now that I think about it, I think that I sent all that stuff on. If we could continue to build upon that list of people who say that they're interested in things that the commission has, then we have a dedicated list that we are sending stuff out to. What about the survey? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like, I do believe that I turned all that stuff in and it was all, you know, I think you guys reviewed it.
[Susan Bibbins]: I think it's on the Google Doc, the cam.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm on that Google Doc right now. Let me check.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah, because we did the survey, I did the attendance sheet, because that would be really helpful.
[Susan Bibbins]: Theoretically, we have a list of names and contacts.
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't see it on this particular Google Doc, but Kim might have another one that I'm not seeing right now.
[Frances Nwajei]: OK. So we'll definitely follow up on that. I like the idea of expanding the different modes of communication of how we get our materials. And I guess really identifying our audience. Just touch something just now and there we go. Yeah, and identifying our audience. Well, you have three minutes commissioners. I'm just so excited that any of you noticed that I can't add. Last month, they couldn't figure out. They had a nerve to have five Wednesdays. That was enough to get me all confused. But I think I've done it much better now. I think it's like on the actual calendar and it actually says the fourth last month. I don't know if I'm coming and going. Do we have a meeting? Do we not have a meeting? Wait a second. Why did I actually think that I would know what is going on? So last month was by error and I definitely apologize for that. What else is there so there is the 2 day community access monitoring training that is being offered by the. Um, just so, you know, March past is a full, but may. May has availability. It is insane. It is intense, but it's really useful and it's really powerful. And what I did was I printed out all my materials so that. If I have to go somewhere, if I have to refer to something quickly, I have them right there. So. Just sharing that it's, it's virtual at this time and then for those of us that have done the 2 day, we get to do our. Uh, refresher, uh, Jeff Dugan sent that out. Um, sad news, Julia O'Leary general counsel, who was covering for executive director at who retired has moved on. She's she's now working at a supplier diversity, but Robert. Yes, it's still there and it was nice to see that they updated and we still have our ADA coordinators peer group checking group, which is nice because sometimes you just. You know, you just have something that you have to have that conversation with another ADA person. And that is about it. Does anybody have any questions?
[SPEAKER_00]: I have one question. Yes, Joe. As far as, excuse me, as far as the event coming up, the disability event, I assume there will be a translator with sign language. What about other languages?
[Frances Nwajei]: There will not be other languages. The languages that we'll focus on is ASL. That's what I focused on before. So there wouldn't be interpreters for other languages. It is a disability fair. So I'd be looking at disability related languages and primarily ASL. And my hope is that we can get a full team like we did. Hold on one second. you. Thank you so much. Oh, no worries. Thank you. Sorry. Sorry. Somebody brought me in things. They put it in the wrong mailbox. Um, yeah, so last year we did have, uh, we did have 3 interpreters and again, you know. Once we get situated, I like to have interpreters for all events, regardless of who identifies or who doesn't identify. Um, but it's great because I've seen an increase actually in requests for interpreters. Yep, which I think it's extremely important. So and they do a great job at letting letting me know right away. If it's not, we're not going to be able to fill that. And if we're not able to fill it, we're not able to fill it. Right? But the most important thing is that the request goes in. And we do our due diligence, so and then they, you know, they can also keep tracking right? Because you need to. Be able to say, hey, we need more people. This is our need, you know. So, yeah, so definitely interpreters. All right, so anybody else anything else. Well, I've stolen 2 minutes of your time. And lots more with all the emails that I've sent you. I appreciate all of you. Thank you. If the emails ever get to be too much, just let me know. It just seems like lately there's just bam, bam, bam, you know, things are coming out and I just feel like I need to do my due diligence to keep you abreast and keep you updated. And on that note, somebody want to make a motion?
[Susan Bibbins]: I make a motion to adjourn.
[Frances Nwajei]: You're going to second? OK.
[Susan Bibbins]: Bye.