This week we continue our series Voices of Disability Pride with an interview between freelancer Mason Ald and community leader Sam Mattle. Mattle is the executive director and founder of the Center for Self-Advocacy, a local organization which advocates for equity and empowers people with disabilities. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript provided by a contractor and may be updated over time to be more accurate.
Emyle Watkins: Hi, I'm Emyle Watkins, and this is the WBFO Disabilities Beat. This week, we continue our series Voices of Disability Pride with an interview between Freelancer Mason Ald and community leader Sam Mattle. Mattle is the executive director and founder of the Center for Self-Advocacy, a local organization which advocates for equity and empowers people with disabilities. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Mason Ald: Thank you for joining me on WBFO today.
Sam Mattle: Thank you for allowing me to speak in can this discussion.
Mason Ald: From what I've read, you can, please correct me if I'm wrong, you, I think were saying ableism was a barrier for you when seeking jobs in the past. Do you think the perception of employing people with disabilities has changed since then and how so?
Sam Mattle: I mean, of course it changed. Society changes, so some shape of one, the system changes. There has been more people hired to get jobs, but I think there's still that ableistic mentality of, I can do more than you, so you don't deserve the amount of pay that you have, or something like that. I don't think that's totally gone, and I think it's going to take a while to let that go because we are part of a society that still doesn't see everybody as a individual person.
Mason Ald: If you could give advice to a younger you or another person with a disability just getting started on their self-advocacy journey, what would you tell them?
Sam Mattle: Honestly, what do they want to do? Realistically, if it's a dream or a goal that they have, they should follow that dream or goal. Definitely, if you are looking for to have that life experience or share your life experience, volunteering is a good way of getting your feet wet, per se. When you are talking about, what is it like to work with people, sometimes we sit there and go, "People with disabilities deserve jobs," which they do, but they don't get that aspect, not people with disabilities, but they're not, in my opinion, sometimes they're not provided the same opportunities as far as volunteering and stuff like that, to gain that experience. When they do get a job, they would have a better experience.
Mason Ald: Who do you look up to in our community?
Sam Mattle: In our community, definitely from a historical point of view, Ed Roberts, Judy Heumann, Justin Dart, Bernard Carabello, that started the Self-Advocacy Association of New York State. And kind of those are the people that I have looked to, and I have mentors. One of my mentors is Chester Finn. He works for OPWDD up in Albany, taught me a lot of what I know.
Mason Ald: And then lastly, is there anything you've learned in your career that really sticks with you every day?
Sam Mattle: Patience. I don't care what people, I know it's a society of you have to do this now and now and now. For people with disabilities, it might not be a now mentality.
Emyle Watkins: You can listen to the Disabilities Beat segment on demand. View a transcript in plain language description for every episode on our website at wbfo.org. I'm Emyle Watkins. Thanks for listening.
