Fridays 10:00am - 11:00am (EDT)
EPISODE SUMMARY:
The audience will learn the specifics of what Destination Accessible offers on its website. People should listen to find out how they can get the most out of www.destinationaccessible.org.
About Org: Destination Accessible is a 501c3, whose purpose is to enrich the lives of people with mobility challenges by providing accessibility information of leisure venues (restaurants, parks, theaters, museums, kid-friendly venues, and other popular places.
About Roberta: Roberta was a teacher for more than 40 years. After spending time in a wheelchair, due to a bizarre accident, and having had both her mother and father using wheelchairs at various times, her frustration with lack of information led her to found Destination Accessible.
Organization: Destination Accessible US Inc.
Website: www.destinationaccessible.org
Facebook: Destination Accessible
LinkedIn: Destination Accessible
#DestinationAccesible #HelpingOthers #WheelchairsMatter
Tune in for this sensible conversation at TalkRadio.nyc
00:00:44.900 --> 00:00:48.330 Tommy DiMisa: Boy, Tommy, be the one and only nonprofit sector. Wait for it.
00:00:48.480 --> 00:00:51.179 Tommy DiMisa: connector, nonprofit sector, connector.
00:00:51.280 --> 00:01:13.649 Tommy DiMisa: What does that mean? Well, it's an opportunity that I have in the universe, where I get to spend time with special leaders and special employees and special volunteers all in the nonprofit sector. You know what happened to that we know at the end of the Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This show, by the way, is called philanthropy and focus before I rant and read. But in that end of that movie
00:01:13.650 --> 00:01:36.480 Tommy DiMisa: there's that everlast everlasting gob stopper scene where Charlie was going to take the everlasting gobstopper, and he brings it back, and he gives it to Willy Wonka. And then Willy Wonka, says, Charlie, you won you won my factory, and he says to Charlie, Don't forget, Charlie, what happens to the little boy who got everything he ever wanted, and Charlie says, What's that, Willie? He says he lived happily ever after. And I will tell you this.
00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:58.900 Tommy DiMisa: I'm fortunate to be blessed with a family. Everyone's healthy. 4 wonderful children, wonderful wife, and I get to spend all this time with the nonprofit sector last night with a dinner with some leaders here on Long Island, in the nonprofit sector that was set up by the nonprofit resource hub, which is an organization we founded really doing its work to bring resources, education
00:01:59.110 --> 00:02:19.110 Tommy DiMisa: in the form of webinars and other things and networking events and mixers together, bringing these leaders and nonprofits together to make to really elevate the nonprofit sector the best of our ability. So I'm blessed to have that opportunity. I'm blessed to have friends who want to come on my program. My guest today. Roberta Rosenberg. Good morning, Roberta. How are you.
00:02:19.110 --> 00:02:20.620 Roberta Rosenberg: Good morning. I'm great.
00:02:20.620 --> 00:02:38.970 Tommy DiMisa: I'm glad to have you here. This was not. It wasn't the 1st time you and I discussed you coming on the show, so you were certainly Tommy D. What are we doing here? Why am I not on that show yet? So you were right on with that, and we put it all together. We're going to get into as we do every week. The name of the organization is destination accessible, and I love
00:02:38.970 --> 00:03:03.110 Tommy DiMisa: like when you say the nonprofit sector connector. You can probably extrapolate gang from those words what somebody who would be called that would do. If an organization is called destination accessible. You can probably read between the lines. I always thought it was not good when a company had 3 letters, and then you were supposed to figure out what the heck those letters meant right? Or 6 letters the point, unless if those 6 letters made a word look at that, you know. Shout out to fat. Say, Jack.
00:03:03.110 --> 00:03:09.000 Tommy DiMisa: you know little bit of wheel fortune. I always wanted to be a game show host. I don't know if you knew that Roberta Ruth.
00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:11.210 Roberta Rosenberg: No, I did not, but you'd be great.
00:03:11.210 --> 00:03:36.910 Tommy DiMisa: And now, you know, and I'm thinking of doing a game show. I just I think they have to be a little different now. I don't think it's like a you know. It's going to be more like, maybe some AI driven game show. Anyway, we'll see how that all works out, you know. But I am going to start doing a show at North Shore, TV, a TV type program, maybe a little bit of podcasts in there, too, but really focusing on obviously the great work that nonprofits do here on Long Island.
00:03:36.910 --> 00:03:51.680 Tommy DiMisa: but as well as just really cool people doing really special things that may not be employed by or involved with the nonprofit sector. So you know, we're going to see what that plays out to be. It's going to be fun. Maybe there's some game show going on, too. This program, however.
00:03:52.170 --> 00:03:55.179 Tommy DiMisa: gives me the opportunity to every Friday morning
00:03:55.370 --> 00:04:02.310 Tommy DiMisa: walk up 2 flights of stairs. Well, I guess it doesn't give me the opportunity to walk. I was going to walk up the stairs anyway, but the point is, I come up to the attic
00:04:02.320 --> 00:04:06.619 Tommy DiMisa: just below the roof of my house to do this program philanthropy focus. I do it every Friday.
00:04:06.700 --> 00:04:18.219 Tommy DiMisa: and it's my focus to help these nonprofit leaders tell their story and amplify their message. And I was just mentioning to Roberta even before we got started. Just how funny the world is, and how connected everything is
00:04:19.329 --> 00:04:29.049 Tommy DiMisa: our company. Vanguard benefits has been sponsoring the Long Island Madden awards as a platinum sponsor in the Rising Star category. We've been doing that for the last 6 years or so
00:04:29.630 --> 00:04:48.029 Tommy DiMisa: this year. The winner in that category was the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center. Here on Long Island, in Glen Cove, and my business partner, Ed Probst, and I went out for a visit, and I was saying, Hey, listen! This is great. Thank you so much for the tour. We appreciate this. It's a solemn place, Reverend Place.
00:04:48.680 --> 00:04:57.339 Tommy DiMisa: I said. I'd love to feature what you're doing on my program philanthropy and focus. And you know, being a bit of a sales guy saying that people are going to go.
00:04:57.340 --> 00:05:20.989 Tommy DiMisa: What is that? What do you mean? Philanthropy and focus? So it opened up that dialogue, and I said, Well, you can't come on Friday morning because Roberta Rosenberg is coming on the show from destination accessible, and the response I got was, Tommy. We're totally accessible, you know the talent center is totally accessible. I said I wasn't calling you out. I was just saying Roberta's coming on the show, but what that does is it just goes to show the importance of collaboration the importance of connection.
00:05:20.990 --> 00:05:25.849 Tommy DiMisa: Because by bringing that up, you know, I said the reverb this morning and get into some of that. But
00:05:26.220 --> 00:05:27.160 Tommy DiMisa: I said.
00:05:27.280 --> 00:05:56.269 Tommy DiMisa: You know, we need to get them on your website and add them to the list. What is this website? What is the list? What is the you know? What are these descriptions of these, these facilities and things like that? Roberta and I, going to talk about it today if you plugged in for the last 170 Fridays. I've done this. Then you realize that the show goes like this? Who is the leader? What are they doing in the world? Why did they either go into the nonprofit sector? Why did they create and found a nonprofit organization, that sort of stuff. And then we roll into
00:05:56.270 --> 00:06:13.090 Tommy DiMisa: what are the programs of the organization? What does the organization do? What's upcoming for the organization. How can you all get plugged into the organization and make an impact? Sometimes that impact might be writing a check. Sometimes that impact might be volunteering. We'll talk about that as it relates to destination accessible.
00:06:13.090 --> 00:06:42.682 Tommy DiMisa: And and really, it's what's upcoming for the organization, you know. Are there events coming up? Do they need board members. Are they looking for this? Are they looking for that? I don't know. We always find out. So maybe this is a bit of a game show. It's kind of a quiz show at the end, you know. It's a i like to call it the lightning round when we get to that part of the show, and we usually call it that Logan, my engineer, and I call it that because usually I've run out of time, and I'm trying to take an you know, a 17 min segment make it into last 7 min. So we end up talking even faster, Roberta, than we're talking right now.
00:06:43.495 --> 00:06:59.679 Tommy DiMisa: I'm just joking a little bit. Alright. Let's get into this conversation, Roberta. We've known each other for a number of years. I don't know how we actually connected originally. But you've come to the round tables that Christine desk and I have done for a number of years. You know you're obviously connected to the nonprofit resource hub as well.
00:06:59.780 --> 00:07:02.230 Tommy DiMisa: I don't know if you remember, how we originally met.
00:07:02.510 --> 00:07:05.100 Tommy DiMisa: No same. Yeah, alright. Fair enough.
00:07:05.280 --> 00:07:06.039 Roberta Rosenberg: You don't.
00:07:06.040 --> 00:07:18.009 Tommy DiMisa: We know each other. We've been connected for for years, for sure. Tell me a little bit about this journey, or tell me a lot a bit about this journey like like I said, I don't actually know the story, although I'm looking at my notes.
00:07:18.330 --> 00:07:35.139 Tommy DiMisa: A bizarre accident that's kind of a cliffhanger. Let's let's who is Roberta Rosenberg? What's your background, you know, like career wise and your interests and things like that? And and really let's walk that to how did you end up creating this organization? Why did you create this organization?
00:07:35.570 --> 00:08:00.960 Roberta Rosenberg: Okay, thank you. Well, thank 1st of all, thank you so much for inviting me. I'm I'm delighted to be here. I have seen your show. It's always great. And so that's kudos to you for all you do for the nonprofit sector. And you you you really make the nonprofit sector more fun. So you'd be great game show host. But to tell you a little bit about me. So the majority of my life I spent 40 years as a teacher.
00:08:01.110 --> 00:08:08.199 Roberta Rosenberg: and I was I was in English, as used to be called English as a second language, and now it's called English as a new language.
00:08:08.210 --> 00:08:26.029 Roberta Rosenberg: and I had a great, great career. I loved my job. I loved my kids. It was wonderful, but it was, you know, comes a time when you leave. And during that time, while I was working, the story of how I got into
00:08:26.300 --> 00:08:39.080 Roberta Rosenberg: into destination accessible was my mom had polio when she was a child and was fine most of her life, but developed what's called post polio syndrome towards the end of her life, and was in a wheelchair.
00:08:39.150 --> 00:08:46.199 Roberta Rosenberg: and that was in the early 2 thousands, and we would go, and I would notice how difficult things were.
00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:50.020 Roberta Rosenberg: And I have to say things are somewhat easier now, but
00:08:50.350 --> 00:08:57.840 Roberta Rosenberg: we went, and we you know, we did whatever we did. And my mom passed away, and I didn't really give it any more thought.
00:08:57.990 --> 00:09:02.649 Roberta Rosenberg: and then, in 2,012, I had a very bizarre accident.
00:09:02.830 --> 00:09:04.960 Roberta Rosenberg: which left me in a wheelchair
00:09:05.030 --> 00:09:13.940 Roberta Rosenberg: for more than 6 months, and then another solid year with a walker and a cane, until I was happily, thankfully, fully recovered.
00:09:13.970 --> 00:09:24.059 Roberta Rosenberg: But through that journey I was noticing more and more about difficulties with a wheelchair particularly, and the
00:09:24.380 --> 00:09:27.460 Roberta Rosenberg: the problems that you encounter with that.
00:09:27.820 --> 00:09:29.300 Roberta Rosenberg: And again
00:09:29.320 --> 00:09:42.169 Roberta Rosenberg: that ended happily, and I went back to my my, you know, my regular life, and then my father, who at the age of 96, his body started to desert him.
00:09:42.270 --> 00:10:06.500 Roberta Rosenberg: His mind was fine, but his body was was physically not doing well, and so he wound up, using a walker, and then sometimes was in a wheelchair, and really the catalyst for destination accessible came from spending a lot of time with my dad. My dad loved to go out. He liked to go to theater, he liked to go to restaurants. He would have liked to go out to eat 3 times a day, and so
00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:08.440 Roberta Rosenberg: I was. I was
00:10:08.470 --> 00:10:19.931 Roberta Rosenberg: becoming more and more aware of the difficulties of getting, of knowing what you're going to find when you go someplace. And so my father
00:10:21.250 --> 00:10:24.334 Roberta Rosenberg: who he was, he was a great person.
00:10:24.790 --> 00:10:27.159 Roberta Rosenberg: would go someplace, and
00:10:28.410 --> 00:10:43.720 Roberta Rosenberg: we there was no, there was only a men's room, you know, in a ladies room which had an accessible stall. However, when I was in, when I was in the wheelchair. My husband pushed me right into the ladies room. He didn't care. I had a lot of difficulty pushing a 96 year old man into the men's room.
00:10:43.720 --> 00:10:44.350 Tommy DiMisa: Short.
00:10:44.350 --> 00:10:51.790 Roberta Rosenberg: And so what would happen is, you know, some nice young guy would come along and and you know, see my difficulty, and would do that.
00:10:51.940 --> 00:10:56.415 Roberta Rosenberg: And so that was great. But it wasn't a good enough answer, because.
00:10:56.760 --> 00:11:05.549 Tommy DiMisa: Well, you're depending on somebody to to be the Good Samaritan. Right? You're depending on somebody to do the right thing. You depend on somebody to be there, right? You know that that's
00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:06.700 Tommy DiMisa: that's not.
00:11:06.820 --> 00:11:11.289 Tommy DiMisa: It's not always like that's not always accessible to have a good person around you right.
00:11:11.290 --> 00:11:30.100 Roberta Rosenberg: That that is correct. So I was thinking more and more about about these instances, and I was also calling more and more places before we would go someplace. So we decide on a restaurant he'd decide on. You know what what museum he wanted to go to, and I was finding that I wasn't getting the information that I needed.
00:11:30.310 --> 00:11:32.749 Roberta Rosenberg: And it was not on their website.
00:11:32.870 --> 00:11:35.140 Roberta Rosenberg: it was not on the phone.
00:11:35.270 --> 00:11:58.900 Roberta Rosenberg: And so finally, after I had a a 3 week time condensed time with my dad, and I came home one day and I said to my husband, I I can't stand this anymore. This is really, it's so unfair. And it's so not nice. And if if you know, if businesses are not going to put it out there, I'm gonna do it.
00:11:59.310 --> 00:12:24.149 Roberta Rosenberg: And, however, I was very naive, very, very, very naive. I had no business background. I had no idea what I was doing. I enlisted my dearest friend at the time, and the 2 of us spent a year researching what we would want to do, how we would want to do it, what we would want to include. We originally thought about this site for seniors, only for seniors.
00:12:24.450 --> 00:12:34.659 Roberta Rosenberg: And so our website is very basic. It has really no bells or whistles, because we wanted seniors to be able to navigate it as easily as possible.
00:12:34.670 --> 00:12:53.189 Roberta Rosenberg: and we researched what colors we should use the font. We should use. You know, all of that. We really spent a good deal of time on that before we got actually her son and my son put the website together for us and help help design it.
00:12:53.560 --> 00:13:10.999 Roberta Rosenberg: And we decided that we would only put on places. People go for fun because other places you often don't have a choice about, but if you're going out for fun, you should be able to have the best experience that you can. Everybody deserves to have a good time.
00:13:11.150 --> 00:13:12.709 Roberta Rosenberg: you know. And so
00:13:13.050 --> 00:13:15.760 Roberta Rosenberg: our goal was to
00:13:15.790 --> 00:13:22.070 Roberta Rosenberg: enable people with mobility challenges to have the best experience possible when they're going out for fun.
00:13:22.270 --> 00:13:24.849 Roberta Rosenberg: So we want them to be informed.
00:13:24.920 --> 00:13:32.640 Roberta Rosenberg: And we want the decision is we want them to make the final decision. So we're very fortunate on Long Island that
00:13:33.580 --> 00:13:44.860 Roberta Rosenberg: you have choices. You don't. You know you don't have to go to a restaurant that you think is too noisy. You don't have to go to a restaurant. If you don't like their food, you don't have to go to a restaurant that is too expensive.
00:13:45.100 --> 00:13:51.909 Roberta Rosenberg: you know this. And so there are so many restaurants on Long Island that you can choose one that's good for you.
00:13:52.020 --> 00:13:58.599 Roberta Rosenberg: you know, if you have a hearing impairment, you may. You want one that is, you know, not as noisy. And so
00:13:59.207 --> 00:14:15.069 Roberta Rosenberg: I I'll back up a bit and say that we decided we could only concentrate on one area. People asked us about doing vision and hearing, and we we were, and still are, so small that we can barely concentrate on one area. So mobility.
00:14:15.070 --> 00:14:30.299 Tommy DiMisa: I love that you chose mobility. I I mean, listen. We can solve all the world's problems right? But we can find out how to be a specialist in a specific problem and really accelerate that. And I love that. You're doing that. You know the one thing that's coming up for me one going to go to break in a second. One thing is coming up for me is, you know.
00:14:31.030 --> 00:14:41.929 Tommy DiMisa: we're fortunate here on Long Island, just generally because of the, I guess the density of opportunities of places to go. But I think as you go, even if you would go up to like
00:14:41.990 --> 00:14:49.150 Tommy DiMisa: upstate New York, and things like that. Things are more spread out, you know, like, and I go sometimes we go up to the Poconos, you know. I'll drive through like
00:14:49.250 --> 00:14:54.969 Tommy DiMisa: Tannersville, Stroudsburg, in in Pennsylvania. And it's not like something everywhere.
00:14:55.040 --> 00:14:59.450 Tommy DiMisa: you know. There's homes and homes and homes on big pieces of property. And then maybe there's a restaurant.
00:14:59.510 --> 00:15:01.269 Tommy DiMisa: you know, so I think
00:15:01.360 --> 00:15:03.470 Tommy DiMisa: I would. Just I guess my
00:15:04.250 --> 00:15:23.489 Tommy DiMisa: my observation here is that here on Long Island there's more opportunities. It doesn't mean that everybody, every place is, has made sure that they are accessible for people with mobility issues. However, there are more so. You have more variety right, where there might be a limitation in other parts of the State, and the country, and things like that.
00:15:23.670 --> 00:15:29.530 Roberta Rosenberg: Absolutely. And and you know that is true. And also in terms of
00:15:30.132 --> 00:15:37.560 Roberta Rosenberg: what's on our website. Not every place on our website is fully wheelchair accessible, I will say, because
00:15:37.560 --> 00:16:00.529 Roberta Rosenberg: you know, different people have different needs. And so there's, you know, many people, you know, who just have a cane, or a slow walkers, or just need, you know, need a handrail to get up someplace things like that. So it's not, you know, only for wheelchair users and we are. We're clear that not every venue on the website is fully wheelchair accessible, which would be the I'll say, the gold standard.
00:16:00.530 --> 00:16:04.590 Roberta Rosenberg: even though it would be really nice if every place was
00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:08.340 Roberta Rosenberg: It's that's just a fact that it's not yeah.
00:16:08.340 --> 00:16:26.719 Tommy DiMisa: I I want you mentioned the wheel. Excuse me. You mentioned the website a couple of times. The website. Everybody is destinationaccessible.org all spelled out. Destinationaccessible org destination accessible. No, before you go, we're gonna go to a quick commercial break. But I do. You know, before we even do that. I'm gonna say this.
00:16:26.930 --> 00:16:33.300 Tommy DiMisa: Recently I was going through an event in the city, and I have a friend and colleague who's in a wheelchair, and it.
00:16:33.770 --> 00:16:51.290 Tommy DiMisa: We made sure to call the restaurant ahead of time and things like that. However, the restaurant was accessible, but it was like, It's this is New York City gang right? It was through like a freight elevator in the back to get, because it just so happened that where we were going was in the basement of the restaurant. It was like a bar down the basement, like in a cellar. It was cool.
00:16:51.340 --> 00:17:00.310 Tommy DiMisa: cool, venue, but it was like that's not the same experience I had walking through the front door, going through the restaurant. You know my friend was in the freight elevator. So
00:17:01.040 --> 00:17:06.459 Tommy DiMisa: it's not exactly. That's not the same experience. And one other thing, I have a very close family.
00:17:06.589 --> 00:17:15.869 Tommy DiMisa: I don't want to call anybody out, but very close member of our families in a wheelchair. You know we were going through a family event at the nights of Columbus. Like way out
00:17:15.890 --> 00:17:17.690 Tommy DiMisa: Southhold on Long Island.
00:17:17.700 --> 00:17:24.199 Tommy DiMisa: It was either knights or a legion, I forget which it was. But the point is, it was not accessible, I mean, and that
00:17:24.329 --> 00:17:29.100 Tommy DiMisa: and you know how the facilities the bathrooms were not accessible like.
00:17:29.654 --> 00:17:42.310 Tommy DiMisa: We got. This is the stuff that because again, Roberta I've never had that experience. I'm if I need to use the restroom if I need to use the stairs. I you know it. It's always there. I always have that. So
00:17:42.350 --> 00:18:05.430 Tommy DiMisa: we often don't see the world through other people's lens, unless we put ourselves in that lens through it to see the lens, and you have that opportunity to do that by your own experience when you're in the wheelchair, and then with the walker. So you know, kudos to you and a blessing to you, because thank you for seeing this as an opportunity. And you're changing other people's lives, and we're going to get more into that when we come back. When we go to break. Now, which we're doing
00:18:05.430 --> 00:18:24.909 Tommy DiMisa: well, I'll show you the website gang. So if you're watching on one of the streaming, whether it be Linkedin or X or Facebook or Twitch or Youtube, wherever else we are. You'll see that if not, if you're only listening. Which is great, because I like to listen to things, too. Just check out the website later on. destinationaccessible.org. We'll be right back. Roberto Rosenberg, Tommy D. In the attic right back.
00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:42.030 Tommy DiMisa: Boy, no one and only nonprofit sector connector. Although I have
00:20:42.080 --> 00:20:51.130 Tommy DiMisa: realized, I said this a couple times on the program, I've realized that there are a lot of little nonprofit septic, corrected correctors. Yes, the correctors are there, too.
00:20:51.350 --> 00:20:55.476 Tommy DiMisa: but a lot of lot of folks are, you know, and maybe
00:20:56.370 --> 00:21:09.190 Tommy DiMisa: you know. Maybe I'll just shout out some right now. Kelly and Sereni, my friend at Sereni, associates the Imagine awards the nonprofit resource hub Kelly's a good friend of ours and and her dad is also a friend of ours. But Ken Sereni Sereni associates.
00:21:09.260 --> 00:21:30.099 Tommy DiMisa: and you know I love when Kelly's like tidy. We gotta connect these people gotta connect those people. And like, that's the stuff man. That's what it's about. So the organization is destination accessible. Know? Before you go. I shouted out the website before the break. But if you're just getting your destination accessible, org Roberta Rosenberg is with me, Roberta, again, like I said right before the break. I mean
00:21:31.910 --> 00:21:47.370 Tommy DiMisa: I I don't have that challenge. I I'm going to walk into a place, and I never, I'm you know, sometimes a restroom can be, you know, sloppy and messy, but I'm probably going to be able to work my way around and get what you know what I need accessibly. Not everybody has that ability and
00:21:47.721 --> 00:22:07.750 Tommy DiMisa: and it's not just restrooms. I'm I'm my mind is stuck on that. It isn't just the restrooms. It's it's the seating for where I'm going to have my meal. It's the seating for where I'm going to watch the show. It's the seat, you know. It's the seating for, or it's the accessibility to for me to tour the museum. It's all these things, you know. And and I I googled this so a couple of things I want to point out
00:22:08.260 --> 00:22:17.309 Tommy DiMisa: a number of years. John Kemp, who was the former CEO of Viscardi, was on my program, and he's like, you know. So you know something, Tommy. Some of us are born disabled.
00:22:17.430 --> 00:22:25.009 Tommy DiMisa: and many of us are going to become disabled. Right? So you said your Dad was 96 before 1st of all. Wow!
00:22:25.030 --> 00:22:35.059 Tommy DiMisa: The 95 and a half years, or whatever that he didn't, wasn't in a wheelchair or anything like God bless, like right, he didn't become disabled until that age. Right? That's go ahead, please respond.
00:22:35.060 --> 00:22:42.700 Roberta Rosenberg: I just wanna interrupt you. One second, 83% of people with mobility disabilities were not born with them.
00:22:42.700 --> 00:22:57.176 Tommy DiMisa: 83. Okay, 83. I I googled it while you were talking before. And 42 million Americans have a disability, not saying it's a mobility issue but 42. So you know, I I met a man just a couple of weeks ago
00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:02.350 Tommy DiMisa: at a Queen's Chamber event, where I was on a panel, a nonprofit panel.
00:23:02.380 --> 00:23:05.049 Tommy DiMisa: And this man has both
00:23:05.530 --> 00:23:09.490 Tommy DiMisa: he had brain surgery. So he he lost
00:23:09.570 --> 00:23:11.599 Tommy DiMisa: much of his vision
00:23:11.810 --> 00:23:13.939 Tommy DiMisa: and all of his hearing.
00:23:14.150 --> 00:23:26.270 Tommy DiMisa: and he was there. And we've had a we had a great call recently because we he's when we were on. It was, I think it was Google meet that we use because I think it was Google meet. The captions were better because he's able to see it just.
00:23:26.870 --> 00:23:29.639 Tommy DiMisa: I don't have time for that whole story but the point it was.
00:23:30.100 --> 00:23:32.619 Tommy DiMisa: We had this event at the Queen's chamber, and
00:23:32.910 --> 00:23:45.299 Tommy DiMisa: unfortunately there was not any accessibility for him to hear the or you know, or read the captions, or whatever his way of intaking the information would have been. We, could we? It wasn't set up that way.
00:23:45.350 --> 00:23:49.329 Tommy DiMisa: Things like that, you know, we're talking about mobility specifically, but
00:23:50.140 --> 00:24:19.440 Tommy DiMisa: that's that's not how it's supposed to be. I mean, I heard you say a word before that I want to call out, because it's right, and it's not. It's like, it's just not nice. That's not like the professional word. But it's just where's the compassion? That's a lot of what this program is and what I'm doing. What are we talking about here? Giving people accessibility is not like shouldn't be optional. It should be. Of course we do that, you know. And there's, you know, there's a group over at Pascard specifically, that
00:24:20.150 --> 00:24:28.450 Tommy DiMisa: works on accessibility for websites and things like that, you know, and I had Mike Caprea, who's the CTO.
00:24:28.520 --> 00:24:38.440 Tommy DiMisa: At Viscardi? I'd had him on a show here, and we were talking about, you know, if companies don't realize that they need to make their websites accessible, you know.
00:24:38.440 --> 00:25:03.759 Tommy DiMisa: because it's the right thing to do. Well, then, companies should realize they need to make their websites accessible because people with disabilities buy things too. Well, I think I made a rhyme there, just you know you don't want to do it because it's right. That's fine. But I know you got shareholders to answer to, or partners to answer to. Do you want to sell more stuff right? So like do that, you know it's not the right reason to do it. But I'm saying to convince people to do things because nobody I mean
00:25:03.760 --> 00:25:11.610 Tommy DiMisa: when you don't have a vision problem or you don't have a hearing problem or you don't have a mobility issue. Maybe you don't realize these things unless it's a fact.
00:25:11.610 --> 00:25:11.950 Roberta Rosenberg: Sure.
00:25:11.950 --> 00:25:15.180 Tommy DiMisa: Family, or unless in your case, it affected you
00:25:15.220 --> 00:25:17.639 Tommy DiMisa: for a moment in time.
00:25:17.660 --> 00:25:20.850 Tommy DiMisa: So so that's the thing that I again
00:25:21.220 --> 00:25:34.909 Tommy DiMisa: I'm I'm blessed to have friends and connections like you, Roberta, because you're out there on the front lines making the change and helping. However, I think you need more help right. I think you need some more help like to do this, because
00:25:35.020 --> 00:25:58.039 Tommy DiMisa: and when I meet, when I say help, I think the big help that everybody thinks we all need is, you know, Moolah Cash, do ray me, whatever it may be, whatever somebody calls it. But it's also, I think, the the aside from that type of capital. It's the social capital. It's the relationships. And that's a lot what I want to get into with you today. But I've gone on a rant. I will bring it back. You rent now it's your turn.
00:25:58.780 --> 00:26:24.370 Roberta Rosenberg: Well, I don't know. I don't know where to start. I mean all the things, all the things you said are true and and yes, it is. It is the right thing to do. It is the nice thing to do, and it is true that that you know anybody who has a disability, has a family, has other people that are generally with them, or will tell other people about. You know this place was great because it was easy for me to get around. And and
00:26:24.750 --> 00:26:28.749 Roberta Rosenberg: and mostly it's important. And people don't realize that
00:26:30.390 --> 00:26:59.870 Roberta Rosenberg: when we talk about people having disabilities, you know, and 83% of them. But we're not born with it. You, you, you know, clearly discussed how you are able to get around. But the truth of the matter is that it could be you in a flash, and it was me in a flash, and nobody really knows when it could be you, or a loved one that finds themselves either temporarily or permanently, in a position where they are disabled in some way.
00:26:59.890 --> 00:27:01.749 Roberta Rosenberg: And and so
00:27:01.930 --> 00:27:12.759 Roberta Rosenberg: 1 1 of our one of my goals. I've become more of an activist. Destination accessible is not an activist organization. We are strictly educational.
00:27:12.830 --> 00:27:16.250 Roberta Rosenberg: Our goal is to provide the information
00:27:16.920 --> 00:27:39.520 Roberta Rosenberg: so that you. Anyone can make an informed decision. And so all of our information is based on personal visits. We are not crowdsourced like Yaleport trip, Advisor. We do not have any place on our website that we have not personally visited. So anybody going to our website can see the date that we were there, the last date that we were there.
00:27:39.520 --> 00:27:40.040 Tommy DiMisa: That. Yeah.
00:27:40.040 --> 00:27:59.919 Roberta Rosenberg: And what we found when they were there in terms of when we were there in terms of accessibility. So you ha! You have, you know our we you have our vision, you know, one of our one of our signs at at, at at you know, expos and things says we go so that you can know.
00:28:00.310 --> 00:28:04.670 Roberta Rosenberg: And we we want you to be informed.
00:28:04.680 --> 00:28:07.530 Roberta Rosenberg: And it's important that
00:28:07.610 --> 00:28:09.940 Roberta Rosenberg: businesses realize
00:28:10.230 --> 00:28:11.360 Roberta Rosenberg: that
00:28:12.220 --> 00:28:16.949 Roberta Rosenberg: I think that all businesses should put on their website
00:28:17.040 --> 00:28:24.319 Roberta Rosenberg: what their accessibility is. Everybody can't be accessible for a variety of reasons. Whether the
00:28:24.510 --> 00:28:45.169 Roberta Rosenberg: whether they were their business was grandfathered in be before the Ada Law came into existence. Whether there are other mitigating circumstances that don't allow them to become accessible on all areas there are, there are, you know various reasons why places are not, I'll say, compliant, completely compliant.
00:28:45.310 --> 00:28:50.120 Roberta Rosenberg: But there's nothing from stopping you, from telling people what you have.
00:28:50.190 --> 00:29:01.869 Roberta Rosenberg: There's nothing that that you know, should stop you from putting a little thing, you know, even if and I'm not just talking about the places that we visit. But I'm talking about anybody that has a brick and mortar business
00:29:02.090 --> 00:29:18.229 Roberta Rosenberg: should, if they wanna do the right thing, put on your on your website on your homepage just a little something that says. Unfortunately, our restrooms are not wheelchair accessible. So people coming to your business can plan ahead.
00:29:18.450 --> 00:29:19.010 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah.
00:29:19.180 --> 00:29:23.951 Roberta Rosenberg: And and you know it's it's just I wanna say, the nice thing to do.
00:29:24.890 --> 00:29:28.129 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah, I I mean, yeah, it's i i just was looking at
00:29:28.150 --> 00:29:29.739 Tommy DiMisa: trying to figure out. You know.
00:29:29.800 --> 00:29:37.890 Tommy DiMisa: the Ada was introduced back in in 1,988, the Americans, with Disabilities Act in 1,990.
00:29:37.900 --> 00:29:42.299 Tommy DiMisa: It was introduced Congress in 88. In 1990, George HW. Bush.
00:29:42.862 --> 00:29:47.020 Tommy DiMisa: signed it into law July 26, th 1990,
00:29:47.130 --> 00:29:55.015 Tommy DiMisa: I. And it goes on to say, and I just Googled gang check it out. I Googled Ada accessibility law days to just get a feel for it, you know. But
00:29:55.420 --> 00:29:58.329 Tommy DiMisa: you know, 1990 SA long time ago, man.
00:29:58.330 --> 00:29:59.340 Roberta Rosenberg: And strategy.
00:29:59.340 --> 00:30:04.340 Tommy DiMisa: You know, like I graduated high school 96 and I. That's a long time ago. But sometimes
00:30:04.450 --> 00:30:15.009 Tommy DiMisa: I realize I didn't study for the Earth science test. Roberta, I wake up in a cold sweat, realizing I didn't study for their science test that our science test was in 94, I had that dream 2 weeks ago. That's
00:30:15.730 --> 00:30:16.440 Tommy DiMisa: I don't know what.
00:30:16.440 --> 00:30:17.329 Roberta Rosenberg: Feel bad for you.
00:30:17.330 --> 00:30:21.620 Tommy DiMisa: I don't know what that's about. My point is, that's a long time ago. So what do you have to say?
00:30:21.620 --> 00:30:42.890 Roberta Rosenberg: It is a long time ago, and there are. There are people that will comment to us like, why, why isn't the bathroom in this place accessible? Don't they have to follow the law? But there are all kinds of reasons that they don't have to follow the law. There are reasons that they can't follow the law. Some
00:30:43.630 --> 00:31:10.849 Roberta Rosenberg: houses that you know many houses were built before 1990. Businesses that are in houses have have a problem. Some people just unfortunately don't want to do it. If you have 2 steps going up to your doorway, it really is, in many cases, not a big deal to put a ramp, and yet people don't want to do it. I know people from Silo, from another organization
00:31:10.880 --> 00:31:22.220 Roberta Rosenberg: where people live in apartment buildings where they have to sue the landlord because the landlord won't put a ramp at the front entrance, so the person in the wheelchair can get up one step
00:31:22.760 --> 00:31:23.520 Roberta Rosenberg: so.
00:31:23.520 --> 00:31:26.139 Tommy DiMisa: Wouldn't the landlord feel differently if he.
00:31:26.350 --> 00:31:26.700 Roberta Rosenberg: Yes.
00:31:26.700 --> 00:31:30.700 Tommy DiMisa: She, or their spouse or their child was in a wheelchair like which.
00:31:30.700 --> 00:31:31.340 Roberta Rosenberg: We'd be there.
00:31:31.340 --> 00:31:33.070 Tommy DiMisa: Friendly right. It would be ramp.
00:31:33.070 --> 00:31:36.390 Roberta Rosenberg: It would be there. Yes, you know. So so it's
00:31:37.620 --> 00:31:43.200 Roberta Rosenberg: there are many, many reasons. And again, I you know it's it's too.
00:31:44.040 --> 00:31:54.660 Roberta Rosenberg: It's it's not worthwhile at for me to go into all the reasons why it's i i feel like it's more worthwhile to say. Just please tell people what you have.
00:31:54.660 --> 00:32:03.160 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah, yeah 100. Yeah. And and again, like, I think of this in instance with the Knights of Columbus like, you know.
00:32:03.800 --> 00:32:26.670 Tommy DiMisa: you can call like, I'm just going to shout out some of the restaurants here, Andrea. 25, Andreas, 25. Nice restaurant in Woodbury on Jericho turnpike. You have them listed on your website. You know, you could probably, during business hours, get somebody on the phone there. But at the nights of Columbus, or you know any of these places like I call like, you know. Certainly city field is accessible right? I was at the met game the other night, you know, and I'm going whoops.
00:32:26.670 --> 00:32:27.409 Roberta Rosenberg: It's great!
00:32:27.410 --> 00:32:32.439 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah, doesn't pour rain tonight. Because I think it's gonna rain. But I'm supposed to get to my game tonight. But
00:32:32.650 --> 00:32:52.779 Tommy DiMisa: that's accessible. It's Citi field, right these big venues. But when you call places sometimes my point was, you can't always get somebody on the phone. I get routed around and bounced around and things like that. So your website is a great resource. And and you're questioning or not questioning. But your advice to these folks is put it on their website and say, Hey! Shout out, here's where we're at, you know.
00:32:53.110 --> 00:33:03.742 Roberta Rosenberg: It. It really would make life much simpler for many people, and you know, even I, I can't. I don't know God. My phone is ringing. I can't shut it off. I'm sorry.
00:33:05.480 --> 00:33:09.630 Roberta Rosenberg: so so in terms of calling we we
00:33:10.120 --> 00:33:29.080 Roberta Rosenberg: we have, you know, barely a thousand venues on our website. And so it and and the vast majority of them aren't Long Island and the New York City metro area. This is where we are. This is, you know this is what we do, and any place that I anytime I go someplace out. So we have a Mini section on Vermont with place that I go to often
00:33:29.080 --> 00:33:44.119 Roberta Rosenberg: things like that. So there are other places, but there are many places that are not on there. And so one of the things that we have on our on our website on the lower left hand corner of our homepage. You can download something called a tips sheet
00:33:44.130 --> 00:33:53.359 Roberta Rosenberg: tips for suggestions for calling when you don't get the information online, and that is, Hello! Are you still here?
00:33:53.610 --> 00:33:55.510 Tommy DiMisa: I'm here. I'm on your website. I'm with you.
00:33:55.510 --> 00:33:57.074 Roberta Rosenberg: Oh, I I lost the picture, so I.
00:33:57.270 --> 00:33:59.289 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah, cause I want, I pulled up the website because I want.
00:33:59.618 --> 00:34:19.010 Roberta Rosenberg: So in the lower left hand corner there is our tip sheet, and those are suggestions for what you should do when you have to call a venue to find out the information that you need, because it's not as simple as calling. If you call up a venue. And you say, I wanna know if you're accessible
00:34:19.389 --> 00:34:22.500 Roberta Rosenberg: many times. The person answering the phone doesn't even know what that means.
00:34:22.500 --> 00:34:23.050 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah.
00:34:23.400 --> 00:34:29.410 Roberta Rosenberg: And it's not because they are mean, or it's not because they don't want to help you. It's because they don't know.
00:34:30.120 --> 00:34:58.840 Roberta Rosenberg: And so we have suggestions, for one of our main suggestions is, if you're calling, you should call as as early as possible as you can. If you know, if you know that you're going to someplace in 2 weeks. You should call them now to find out about them, and if the person answering the phone hesitates for a minute. If you're asking about a you know wheelchair, accessible restroom, ask them if they have seen it, because if the person hasn't seen it, they often don't know.
00:34:58.840 --> 00:34:59.470 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah.
00:34:59.820 --> 00:35:06.969 Roberta Rosenberg: No. And so if you call in advance, I mean, I have have had wonderful success in getting people to call us back.
00:35:07.480 --> 00:35:31.760 Roberta Rosenberg: you know, not, not as an organization, but just calling to ask, you know, can you help me with this and that and the other thing? And it's really always best to ask. Are you wheelchair accessible? Because that puts a picture in the person's mind of what you're looking for. If you say to somebody, you know I have trouble getting up the stairs. It's not the same thing as saying, Can I get a wheelchair in your restaurant?
00:35:32.450 --> 00:35:41.580 Tommy DiMisa: That's so, that's critically important to. And what a great resource that is on your website. So what I did on on the website, everybody is. If you go down to the bottom of the website.
00:35:41.630 --> 00:35:49.950 Tommy DiMisa: it says about us, contact us, download, checklist and then download tips for calling venues to ask about accessibility that is so cool, very thoughtful, Roberta.
00:35:49.950 --> 00:36:14.920 Tommy DiMisa: I click on that gang, and then you'll see there's these questions. There's 8 different bullet points for you to look at, and you know just all. If I go down the hotel room, be very specific about your needs, roll in showers, handrails, etc. What is it that you specifically need to be accessible? Because what somebody you know, walking with a cane or a walker needs to be accessible is different than somebody who's in a wheelchair right? And what they need. So
00:36:15.240 --> 00:36:25.819 Tommy DiMisa: what? What a great resource we got to stop right here. Go to quick break, and and we'll be back in a minute or so. But thank you, Roberta, this is so helpful for people. I I really appreciate what your mission is. We'll be right back.
00:38:30.890 --> 00:38:34.864 Tommy DiMisa: To be funny, but I will be funny. I'll try to be funny.
00:38:35.330 --> 00:38:45.030 Tommy DiMisa: you know. I would not suggest anybody coming up to the attic with a wheelchair. It's not exactly accessible. It's a little messy, my wife tells me it needs to be cleaned on a regular basis.
00:38:45.060 --> 00:38:46.750 Tommy DiMisa: So that's
00:38:46.790 --> 00:38:52.220 Tommy DiMisa: that's just the point that we should not put the attic on your website, Roberta. I'm trying to be a little bit cute. What yet.
00:38:52.220 --> 00:38:52.840 Roberta Rosenberg: We won't.
00:38:52.840 --> 00:38:54.040 Tommy DiMisa: We won't.
00:38:55.110 --> 00:38:59.369 Tommy DiMisa: It's barely accessible for me trying to walk up here sometimes, anyway, that's a whole nother story.
00:39:01.540 --> 00:39:10.360 Tommy DiMisa: I I want to think in terms of like, how did your career as a teacher inform the work you're doing right now, like what is the.
00:39:11.140 --> 00:39:12.230 Tommy DiMisa: you know.
00:39:12.240 --> 00:39:20.079 Tommy DiMisa: even because I think there's you know. I remember you call you said we used to call Esl English as a second language. Now we call it English as a new language.
00:39:20.710 --> 00:39:22.374 Tommy DiMisa: Not that. That's
00:39:23.450 --> 00:39:32.859 Tommy DiMisa: I would say. Not that that's a disability or anything not speaking the language, but it's challenging. So I wondered how like, how
00:39:33.010 --> 00:39:39.249 Tommy DiMisa: did any of that experience in working with someone, how to teach them something new? Give you some kind of
00:39:39.750 --> 00:39:45.499 Tommy DiMisa: understanding to a community that has some challenges that they're up against. What do you think of that?
00:39:46.180 --> 00:39:47.680 Roberta Rosenberg: That's a really interesting question.
00:39:47.680 --> 00:39:48.320 Tommy DiMisa: Thank you.
00:39:49.073 --> 00:39:52.740 Roberta Rosenberg: I I never really gave it any, thought I I
00:39:53.340 --> 00:39:55.549 Roberta Rosenberg: when when I was
00:39:56.030 --> 00:39:58.130 Roberta Rosenberg: when I was doing that.
00:39:58.960 --> 00:40:01.409 Roberta Rosenberg: I just always thought of it as
00:40:01.490 --> 00:40:09.370 Roberta Rosenberg: making, helping to make. Well, it's it's very similar helping to make life easier for these kids.
00:40:09.470 --> 00:40:15.390 Roberta Rosenberg: No, every doing everything possible for them to be able to
00:40:15.500 --> 00:40:19.800 Roberta Rosenberg: be included and feel a part of
00:40:19.860 --> 00:40:41.799 Roberta Rosenberg: of our world as quickly as possible. And it's a slow process. I had a father who one day who came, who came in at the end of one year. He spoke. He spoke English and Greek, and at the end of the 1st year that they were here. The child only spoke Greek, and he said, Why does my son have to be in Esl again next year.
00:40:42.150 --> 00:40:42.895 Roberta Rosenberg: and.
00:40:43.640 --> 00:40:46.569 Tommy DiMisa: So she still didn't speak English is is the point. He was only.
00:40:46.570 --> 00:40:58.749 Roberta Rosenberg: He, he's he. The child certainly had learned a lot. But he it wasn't. It's not a 1 year process, you know. It's more than that. And so he needed more time than that. And
00:40:58.840 --> 00:41:22.340 Roberta Rosenberg: I I think you know my goal is to help as much as possible. But there are some things you can't do, you can't. You can't make things faster than they're going to be. You can only E. You can only do as much as to ease it as much as possible, or to make to make that transition easier. So so our goal now, when I really never thought about it that way. You know my goal. Our goal
00:41:22.340 --> 00:41:35.350 Roberta Rosenberg: is to make life easier for people that have enough things to deal with on a daily basis. And and the true, you know. I believe that everybody does deserve to have to have fun.
00:41:35.940 --> 00:41:37.350 Tommy DiMisa: IA hundred percent.
00:41:37.370 --> 00:41:38.810 Tommy DiMisa: I'm sitting here
00:41:39.430 --> 00:41:40.410 Tommy DiMisa: thinking.
00:41:40.700 --> 00:41:42.650 Tommy DiMisa: So I have this idea where I
00:41:42.670 --> 00:41:43.853 Tommy DiMisa: and I was telling
00:41:44.570 --> 00:41:50.710 Tommy DiMisa: my, my new friend Lisa Birch at Epic, Long Island. At a dinner meeting last night I was saying
00:41:50.940 --> 00:41:56.500 Tommy DiMisa: I was telling her about the show I'm going to start doing, which is me on location with a film crew
00:41:56.670 --> 00:42:06.679 Tommy DiMisa: going and working with a nonprofit for a day. Right? And then we turn that into like a 30 or 40 min Youtube show of like a day in the life of me working with a nonprofit.
00:42:06.850 --> 00:42:25.260 Tommy DiMisa: And as I'm thinking of that, I'm thinking what we're talking about. I was like, who does all this work? You say you visited all these places. What a pisser! And I never curse on this show! But what a pisser it would be if I go around Long Island and I go with maybe you and me. We go to some venues. We go to restaurants together we go to this place, that place
00:42:25.440 --> 00:42:35.729 Tommy DiMisa: and and like have a T, and then that just might maybe that the ripple effect is that it starts a spark of other people going out and making a thing, and we got like a you know.
00:42:36.870 --> 00:42:37.989 Tommy DiMisa: I don't know, like
00:42:38.230 --> 00:42:43.379 Tommy DiMisa: crowdsourced information gathering of people going. Hey, listen! I was out.
00:42:43.550 --> 00:43:03.030 Tommy DiMisa: I was going out anyway, so I happened to be having dinner at fill in the blanks, and I noticed they are accessible like, is there a program like that? 1st of all, let's do the thing I said about me going out and doing this. Let's just make a show about it. We'll just that'll happen. But second of all, it's like, how do we deputize people to go out? And maybe you're doing this already? But or
00:43:03.240 --> 00:43:06.049 Tommy DiMisa: if you're not, how do we do that? What are your thoughts on that.
00:43:06.200 --> 00:43:13.180 Roberta Rosenberg: So so we we try hard to get volunteers who are willing to do that. However.
00:43:13.733 --> 00:43:22.099 Roberta Rosenberg: We have we. We have had several problems with it. And one of the problems. 1st of all, anybody who is interested
00:43:22.160 --> 00:43:37.000 Roberta Rosenberg: has to be willing to follow our guidelines. Our guidelines are very specific. So it's very nice that you said. Well, I went to a restaurant, and I noticed such and such. But it's really not specific enough for somebody to say
00:43:37.849 --> 00:43:43.020 Roberta Rosenberg: I'll just use yelp as an example, so yelp will have on its site
00:43:43.570 --> 00:43:45.170 Roberta Rosenberg: wheelchair accessible.
00:43:45.240 --> 00:43:46.950 Roberta Rosenberg: Well, what does that mean?
00:43:47.350 --> 00:44:02.809 Roberta Rosenberg: It doesn't. It doesn't tell you, is the front entrance accessible? Do I have to go to a back entrance to be accessible when I get inside? Is everything on one level there are restaurant. There are restaurants where some restaurants that I have been to, where
00:44:02.840 --> 00:44:08.950 Roberta Rosenberg: it's accessible, and they have a lovely, accessible restroom, except to get to that accessible restaurant. You have to walk up 3 steps.
00:44:08.950 --> 00:44:10.970 Tommy DiMisa: To get to the to get to the accessible. So it's not.
00:44:10.970 --> 00:44:11.600 Roberta Rosenberg: And with
00:44:11.830 --> 00:44:20.510 Roberta Rosenberg: but it well, it is accessible, in fact, because if you know and you go in the side door, which is up
00:44:20.540 --> 00:44:24.489 Roberta Rosenberg: halfway up the street. You're on the level for the restroom.
00:44:24.600 --> 00:44:25.300 Roberta Rosenberg: right? So.
00:44:25.300 --> 00:44:44.780 Tommy DiMisa: Having a meal in the restaurant. What you're just. I'm just playing this out. What you're telling me. Just so I feel I get what you're saying is, if I'm having a meal, and I need to use the restroom, and I'm in a wheelchair. I must leave the restroom. Go a half a block up and go in the side door of the restaurant to get to the restroom, which in in January and February might not be ideal.
00:44:45.040 --> 00:44:50.370 Roberta Rosenberg: That. Yes, but if you know that there is an that you can sit up at that level.
00:44:50.370 --> 00:44:51.690 Tommy DiMisa: Oh, can I sit there, though.
00:44:51.690 --> 00:45:14.360 Roberta Rosenberg: Yes, you can go in at that level. So it is accessible. But if you don't know and you come to the restaurant, and the restaurant has said that where you call up, and you say, because I made this mistake, this happened to me and so called and said, You know. Oh, yes, she said, we have a brand new, accessible restroom, single occupancy restroom. That's another topic.
00:45:14.470 --> 00:45:20.870 Roberta Rosenberg: And so we got there. And I was like, Oh, this is, you know, this is great. And so I asked about the restroom.
00:45:20.910 --> 00:45:22.959 Roberta Rosenberg: and they'd point me up the stairs.
00:45:23.120 --> 00:45:24.100 Roberta Rosenberg: And I'm like.
00:45:24.700 --> 00:45:31.119 Roberta Rosenberg: you know, that doesn't make a lot of sense. And then the person said, Oh, you know you could have sat up there.
00:45:32.060 --> 00:45:33.200 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah, but see.
00:45:33.200 --> 00:45:34.570 Roberta Rosenberg: We're talking about information.
00:45:34.570 --> 00:45:49.000 Tommy DiMisa: But that take yeah. And and my opinion is that takes education of the host or hostess who got you into the store going. I noticed you're in a wheelchair, I should be thoughtful enough to mention this right. That's that's that's what I'm hearing on.
00:45:49.000 --> 00:45:52.809 Roberta Rosenberg: It doesn't necessarily have to be only a person in a wheelchair, which is obvious.
00:45:52.810 --> 00:45:53.819 Tommy DiMisa: Yes, right? Right?
00:45:53.820 --> 00:45:59.599 Roberta Rosenberg: It could be, it could be. My, you know, one of my good friends who uses a walker
00:45:59.670 --> 00:46:02.789 Roberta Rosenberg: and has a really hard time going upstairs.
00:46:02.790 --> 00:46:07.860 Tommy DiMisa: Right? So, okay, yeah, yeah, there's a lot. There's a lot of ripples in in this, though. Yeah.
00:46:07.860 --> 00:46:09.960 Roberta Rosenberg: So so, going back to the volunteers.
00:46:09.960 --> 00:46:10.620 Tommy DiMisa: Yes.
00:46:10.620 --> 00:46:22.889 Roberta Rosenberg: Okay, you have. So we have a, we have a volunteer checklist for for people to follow, and you have to be willing to take pictures of all of these things, because on the website we have photos of everything.
00:46:23.151 --> 00:46:24.460 Tommy DiMisa: Love that that's so great.
00:46:24.560 --> 00:46:34.490 Tommy DiMisa: because that means that's what giving. If you gave me personally a roadmap right? And let's say I took one or 2 of my kids out for 3 h, 4 h. One day we bounced around the different places, like.
00:46:34.640 --> 00:46:44.080 Tommy DiMisa: you know. Then I would give you the the checklist and the photos, and then all of a sudden, and I'm just saying me, but that whoever would do it, you know, you can really conquer this thing.
00:46:44.080 --> 00:46:51.320 Roberta Rosenberg: Yes, but they and they also. So the other thing is which has been a stumbling block, is the person has to be willing to write
00:46:51.390 --> 00:47:14.769 Roberta Rosenberg: about their experience in that venue. So we call it our read more on the website. Every venue has a read more which is our personal experience on the day that we were there. And the final thing which has been a real stumbling block to getting volunteers is that anybody who is doing this has to be willing to give us their personal information, their address, their emails, etc, because
00:47:14.800 --> 00:47:28.310 Roberta Rosenberg: we pride ourselves. And we are telling people that this is based on personal experiences. This is what we saw. If somebody contacts us and says what you wrote isn't correct, we have to be able to contact the person and check it out.
00:47:28.310 --> 00:47:37.500 Tommy DiMisa: Check it out. So I'm sharing the website again. While we talk about this, we gotta go to a quick break. But I just picked 1, 3, 17 Main Street is that the name is? It's called 317 Main Street.
00:47:37.500 --> 00:47:39.110 Roberta Rosenberg: Correct, very accessible.
00:47:39.110 --> 00:47:59.470 Tommy DiMisa: I would imagine. That's the address, too, in Farming Dale. Very accessible. So you could see just the even the dining room, big dining room open kind of floor plan. So if somebody has mobility issues or so, you know, and or if someone's in a wheelchair, they can simply move one of these chairs. And they can move right over the table. But I see this checklist.
00:47:59.610 --> 00:48:01.143 Tommy DiMisa: It explains,
00:48:02.380 --> 00:48:13.629 Tommy DiMisa: you know that. What type of venue it is. It talks about, you know, parking accessibility. Very good. We gotta go to a quick break. But gang. What I did was I went to the website destinationaccessible org.
00:48:14.210 --> 00:48:28.050 Tommy DiMisa: I clicked on this hyperlink here that for 317 Main Street, and then that took me to the story here, and the photos and stuff. I want to talk more about this. We're going to come back for our final segment in a second. When we come back, I want to talk.
00:48:28.606 --> 00:48:33.309 Tommy DiMisa: What's upcoming for the organization, Roberta, how can we help? And I'm serious about getting involved and
00:48:33.671 --> 00:48:53.209 Tommy DiMisa: cause again? That'd be kind of like a fun campaign. And like you, said I, I maybe I maybe I make the nonprofit sector a little bit fun. So it's because I'm trying to entertain me, too. So maybe maybe that could be a fun thing, a cool campaign where I bounce around some destinations. We do a little Instagram. We do a little Facebook. We do some stuff.
00:48:53.551 --> 00:49:03.280 Tommy DiMisa: You know, Tommy D running around with destination accessible. So one, we'll talk. Maybe we'll talk more about that when we come back. But just think, while we're up, break what's upcoming. You want to say something before you go to break.
00:49:03.480 --> 00:49:05.369 Roberta Rosenberg: No, I said, I'm thinking it sounds great.
00:49:05.370 --> 00:49:09.380 Tommy DiMisa: Alright good. So we come back. What's upcoming? What do you need? Who can we connect you with
00:49:09.530 --> 00:49:10.930 Tommy DiMisa: philanthropy in
00:49:10.990 --> 00:49:12.239 Tommy DiMisa: focus right now?
00:51:14.540 --> 00:51:16.860 Tommy DiMisa: Round. Let's go ding! Dong, ding! Dong!
00:51:17.970 --> 00:51:47.209 Tommy DiMisa: All right, so let's do it, Roberta. You know I at the more and more I think about it. I was about to text a young man named Jake, who is somebody I talked to. That. We're gonna he's gonna do some of the film work for me. And I think this is just gonna have to happen with your approval and your board and stuff like that. I'm gonna get a hoodie. It's gonna say, destination accessible, although it's probably too hot for a hoodie. Now we'll have to get some T-shirts made up. But like where I just go on location and and cause here's what I'm thinking, too, and we'll talk. You and I offline from a strategy perspective. But I'm just thinking.
00:51:47.240 --> 00:51:48.809 Tommy DiMisa: if I'm a business owner.
00:51:49.420 --> 00:52:11.379 Tommy DiMisa: why wouldn't I want to promote this. Why wouldn't I want to? If I like, for instance, one of my clients owns like 6 or 7 restaurants. It's a chain of restaurants here. I'm not going to mention their name, but they're in the Mexican food business, right? And I have a lot of friends who are, and I'm not just stuck on dining, but I have a friend named shout out to Mike d'onfrio, Premier payroll solutions here on Long Island. You know
00:52:11.600 --> 00:52:34.349 Tommy DiMisa: Mike does a lot of work in the restaurant and hospitality space. He might be interested. And he is interested in some of the stuff I'm talking about doing like video. He might be interested in partnering up with me, going out doing this, and these restaurants should be, I think, emboldened to want to work with you and tell the story, you know, and say, Hey, look! We're we get it. We want to be accessible. We're doing, you know we are, or we're looking to do that
00:52:34.350 --> 00:52:43.170 Tommy DiMisa: and those weren't. I'm not going to shout them out, or nothing like that, or be rude. But we'll focus on the ones who are are accessible for the people you serve right. What do you think.
00:52:43.750 --> 00:53:11.389 Roberta Rosenberg: I think it's great, and you know I I would certainly love to do that. We would love. We have. We have asked any venue, you know fun, venue restaurants, etc, that feels that they are truly accessible, you know, meaning, you know, the whole gambit truly wheelchair accessible, that where their restrooms are large enough to accommodate. You know, some of the larger wheelchairs, the electric wheelchairs that's a whole other category, because places that
00:53:12.390 --> 00:53:23.956 Roberta Rosenberg: qualify under the d. You know the Ada, but are not new enough to have to have restrooms where you can't turn your wheelchair around so that kind of thing.
00:53:24.520 --> 00:53:35.729 Roberta Rosenberg: anybody that would like to invite us to come. You know we would be more than happy to come. I will make it. I will come personally, and, you know, be happy to do that, because
00:53:35.790 --> 00:53:46.819 Roberta Rosenberg: our goal is to get the word out to as many people as possible that could use this could be helped by this, and as many venues as we can. You know, as I can visit.
00:53:47.090 --> 00:53:50.600 Roberta Rosenberg: I'm I'm anybody that invites me. I am happy to go to.
00:53:50.750 --> 00:53:53.424 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah. So so that's really
00:53:54.120 --> 00:54:02.370 Tommy DiMisa: I sound serious. Because I'm thinking I'm contemplating right now, like, this is serious. Tommy. D, right now, like he just showed up all of a sudden. But like I'm thinking, oh, there.
00:54:02.370 --> 00:54:04.180 Roberta Rosenberg: He's always he's always there in the bath.
00:54:04.180 --> 00:54:08.280 Tommy DiMisa: Hiding in the background. I try to keep him at bay, but the thing is.
00:54:09.150 --> 00:54:16.589 Tommy DiMisa: there's so much opportunity here, and I'm glad you were persistent to remind me to get you out here on the show, because it it tells me that
00:54:16.700 --> 00:54:18.379 Tommy DiMisa: again I have
00:54:19.130 --> 00:54:24.979 Tommy DiMisa: my family has you know, people who have different abilities, and I
00:54:26.260 --> 00:54:29.430 Tommy DiMisa: shout out to the Linda Lou Foundation in memory of my cousin Linda.
00:54:29.510 --> 00:54:30.556 Tommy DiMisa: you know.
00:54:31.440 --> 00:54:57.619 Tommy DiMisa: that's just one of the organizations that I'm connected to. That supports the the people with different abilities. But there's, you know, you're strictly focused on mobility issues. So let's capitalize on telling stories about this. I want to do stuff on a regular basis. Roberta, let's play with this. Let's come up with some good ideas. Let's put this aside just for a second. We only have a few more minutes left because you and I can spend an hour strategizing. I want to know.
00:54:57.970 --> 00:54:59.299 Tommy DiMisa: I want to know.
00:54:59.690 --> 00:55:06.880 Tommy DiMisa: Is there other things you need? Are there other people you're looking to connect with? I I heard you say people to invite you in. But go ahead. Give me more of that stuff.
00:55:06.880 --> 00:55:15.626 Roberta Rosenberg: Well, we're we're always looking for, you know. Anybody who who has a passion for this, and you know, would like to consider being a board member. We're always, you know, we're
00:55:15.930 --> 00:55:28.159 Roberta Rosenberg: I'm always looking for somebody who feels, you know strongly about it and has, I don't wanna say the same passion that I do, but close to that kind of passion you know we certainly could use.
00:55:28.290 --> 00:55:39.090 Roberta Rosenberg: We have trouble getting the word out, you know. We could use a pro bono pr person. We have a very, very small budget, and so we want whatever is going to help us
00:55:39.190 --> 00:55:51.219 Roberta Rosenberg: tell people about us. You know, we want people. We want people to to know that we exist for, even if not for themselves, for somebody they know, for for a colleague in their workplace. You know. I
00:55:51.310 --> 00:56:01.160 Roberta Rosenberg: I suspect that everybody knows someone with a disability, even if it's not in your family. So so you know, we wanna do that. We we
00:56:01.280 --> 00:56:28.329 Roberta Rosenberg: easily. We would like Google reviews. If somebody goes to our website and uses it. We know people use it. We get more than 8,000 visits a month to the website. We'd like, you know, we'd like people to say what we do to help us in that way. It doesn't necessarily have to be money, although certainly we're in need of money, but every organization is in need of that. We don't. We've never had. We've never had an event.
00:56:28.330 --> 00:56:52.909 Roberta Rosenberg: And one of one of the problems for grants is that we don't do programs. We are strictly a website. We are strictly educational, you know, and that is our focus to get it out. I do wanna say quickly, because when we started out, you know, we're talking about wheelchairs and all of that. But my, my, my, you know so happily I have a grandchild. And when I was starting this.
00:56:52.940 --> 00:57:22.030 Roberta Rosenberg: you know her mom said to me, What about we? What about baby carriages? What about those of us? What about mothers who, you know, like I go someplace? I can't get in the door with a carriage, or, Oh, my God! I can't get to the restroom. So we we went from focusing just on seniors to going to kid friendly, and every review has whether or not they have a baby changing station. You know. And how good is it for carriages? And I will tell you that when you talk about. You know, businesses that are.
00:57:22.280 --> 00:57:33.949 Roberta Rosenberg: you know. Why wouldn't they want to do this? I have had businesses, restaurants say to my face when I've asked about a baby changing station who have said I would never put one of those in. I don't want those kids.
00:57:36.410 --> 00:57:38.439 Roberta Rosenberg: So you think about that concept.
00:57:38.440 --> 00:57:39.210 Tommy DiMisa: Well.
00:57:39.770 --> 00:57:41.660 Tommy DiMisa: okay, that's a whole nother show.
00:57:41.660 --> 00:57:43.290 Roberta Rosenberg: Right. But yes.
00:57:43.290 --> 00:57:44.870 Tommy DiMisa: But yeah, I look.
00:57:45.690 --> 00:57:49.980 Tommy DiMisa: you've you've opened my mind to a lot of things. And again, you know.
00:57:50.300 --> 00:58:04.449 Tommy DiMisa: I don't think I'm oblivious to things like this. I just not in my, I don't see the world through this lens every day. It's not, you know. I mean, I will tell you this, and I think I was talking to a friend of mine at this restaurant last night, and I know I'm noticing
00:58:04.450 --> 00:58:17.740 Tommy DiMisa: that when I'm in a restaurant and it's loud I'm having more difficulty hearing the people I'm with. And I mentioned to my friend the acoustics in this place weren't great for the meeting. We're trying to have. We gotta go in a second. But I noticed I mentioned it, and my friend says, You know what, Tommy.
00:58:17.740 --> 00:58:36.020 Tommy DiMisa: that's part of the Adhd, because you're listening for all these different things, and I didn't realize that it could be. My point is, I see the world and hear the world through my lenses right, and my abilities and other people through theirs. So we must continue to have conversations like this. I must go because I'm going to get in trouble, because the show is supposed to be over right now, and I'm still talking.
00:58:36.080 --> 00:58:45.409 Tommy DiMisa: Roberta Rosenberg. Thank you for being my friend, and thanks for being on the show today. I appreciate you lots more to talk about. We gotta go make it a great day, everybody. I'll see you next week, bye.
00:58:45.410 --> 00:58:46.549 Roberta Rosenberg: Thank you so much.
Talking Alternative Broadcasting
392 Central Park West Suite 17R - New York, NY 10025
Privacy Policy · Terms & Conditions
Thank You for Visiting TALKRADIO.NYC © 2022.
