[Music]
[Logo: Ampers radio station, with tagline that reads, Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities.]
[Photo: Mark Braun]
Mark Braun: I was born in Jamaica to unknown parents. My birth mom had thrown me away, less than one year old, and a police officer walked his beat, heard my cry, and rescued me.
[Logo: Ampers radio station, with taglines that read, Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities, and Keep Moving Forward.]
Host: This is Keep Moving Forward.
[Photo: President George H.W. Bush signs the Americans with Disabilities Act into law. Photo courtesy of the George Bush Presidential Library.]
George H.W. Bush: Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down.
[Logos: Americans with Disabilities Act, 1990-2015, and Disability Rights Are Civil Rights. Logos courtesy of the ADA National Network.]
Host: Exploring the legacy and promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
[Photos: Mark Braun]
Mark Braun: My name is Mark Braun. I am a US Paralympic athlete with Team USA. I am a head program coach, and I am a motivational speaker.
I was born with spina bifida, that is my birth defect, congenital. I am an L4-5, the level of paralysis that I have, so I’m able to walk, but only for short distances.
Spina bifida is where your spine is exposed, it’s basically you can see everything, and so they have to do corrective surgery to close that, but all the nerves don’t connect, and your spine is out of whack as well.
I love my parents because they are the most amazing parents. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here. If it wasn’t for the team of doctors, or people that took a vested interest in my adoption process, I would not be here.
[Logos: the Minnesota Council on Disability, the Minnesota Humanities Center, the Minnesota Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund, and the Ampers radio station.]
Host: Keep Moving Forward is supported by the Minnesota Council on Disability, the Minnesota Humanities Center, and the Minnesota Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund, online at Ampers.org.