Friday, December 2 Global DJ mix-a-thon for International Day of Persons with Disabilities #IDPD
For photos from the whole day, visit our group post
Full footage is at https://youtu.be/jf66B0mhBu0 Video clips of will be posted once it’s edited.
Coverage:
-Able Newspaper NYC Edition online - the December issue announced it,
and the January issue put it on the front page! https://ablenews.com/
[Alt text: Image of newspaper with New York Able, active wheelchair logo, headline reading “PIST at U.N.; Advocates Demonstrate for Better Busing” photos of speakers from the Disability Rights movement with ASL interpreters and allies holding signs.]
- “U.N. rocked by International Day of Persons with Disabilities” https://www.workers.org/2022/12/68243/
DJ lineup
10 am eastern was twitch.tv/DJKaramel but there were tech glitches outside. However, in person, DJ Crystal Clear did her thing! Photos below.
11 am to 2 pm was twitch.tb/DJMyster.
2pm is twitch.tv/DJEric_C
3pm: twitch.tv/Gaberealmusic
4pm: twitch.tv/DJUniq
5pm: twitch.tv/DJWizard_ATX
6pm: twitch.tv/DeeJay_McFlyy A blend of songs with both Spanish & English lyrics, on video at this link: Parents to Improve School Transportation Raid Train
7pm: twitch.tv/LadelTheDJ
8pm: twitch.tv/DJAllier
9pm: twitch.tv/DJFlaver
10pm to midnight: twitch.tv/DJBrei
Scroll down to find flyers in various languages, transit info, program details with photos, acknowledgements, and links as these are added. Alt text is on any images that do not have a description in the caption.
Español a continuacion.
10 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Eastern: Your host DJ CrystalClear in person across from the U.N. with special guests and ASL interpreters
Dag Hammerskjold Plaza, 47th St. at First Avenue, NY, NY 10017
Attend as a field trip, or watch the live stream in class.
For the next 12 hours: Celebration continues online with DJs from around the world sharing their music mixes.
PIST and friends will be making a musical statement in support of the international human rights agreements called Conventions on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Conventions on the Rights of the Child. We urge the United States to join the world majority of countries (185 and 195 respectively) who have ratified these agreeements. [ https://civilrights.org/blog/the-united-states-still-hasnt-ratified-the-disability-rights-treaty/ ]
Image: Article 23 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Burgundy rectangle with white image of a young person in a wheelchair, the number 23, and the caption “Children with Disabilities”. Text: Every child with a disability should enjoy the best possible life in society. Government should remove all obstacless for children with disabilities to become independent and to participate actively in the community.
This hybrid event will also raise awareness of the local campaign to put a School Bus Bill of Rights on the ballot as a basis for disabled students and their peers to have the same access to education. As of this Oct 31, some 500 New York City students are not yet receiving yellow bus service that they are entitled to. Lack of reliable transportation has caused thousands more to miss hours and days of school!
Weather: Clear but under 50 degrees F, so please dress comfortably.
Transit – Accessible MTA routes near Dag Hammerskjold Park:
4, 5, 6, 7, S, to Grand Central Station, new elevator leaves you on Third Avenue.
M42 = crosstown 42nd Street bus to First Avenue.
M15 and M15 Select uptown First Avenue bus stops are 42nd, 45th, Mitchell Place which is at 49th St.(but the Select skips 45th);
M15 downtown Second Avenue bus stops are 50th St., 46th (but the Select skips 46th).
M50 Eastbound across 50th Street loops down Second Ave to 49th Street and 1st Ave.
To volunteer, please call PIST 631-743-6296.
Logo from the United Nations un.org.
Image: A light blue solid circle inside opne half-circle swirls of light blue, orange, red and lime green with stylized hands at the ends.
Text: International Day of Persons with Disabilities 3 December
Background to International Day of Persons with Disabilities https://www.paralympic.org/news/world-celebrates-international-day-persons-disabilities
First set: DJ Crystal Clear - Harlem
Image description: Headshot of a Black woman wearing purple tinted glasses and red lipstick. The photo effect is pink and white heart-shapes around her large curly afro. The caption is DJ Crystal Clear, Original versus Cover.
Internationally known, DJ Crystal Clear is famous for her eclectic mixes that rock the party right, from Sinatra to Siouxsie Sioux, Jethro Tull to Janet Jackson, she gets people to dance and have a good time all night long!
Clients include - Vanessa Williams, Rosie O’Donnell, Swing Out Sister, the Broadway shows Wicked, Passing Strange, and Fiddler On The Roof - Tavern On The Green, TED Talks NYC, The Black And White Bar’s Crystal Clear Night, and Philadelphia’s Don’t Fake The Funk, with Big Boy Blake, King Britt, Josh Wink, Questlove, and Cosmo Baker!
IG - @DJCrystalClear
Email - DJCrystalClear@me.com
PHOTO CREDIT - @Oh Snails/DJ Crystal Clear
#IDPD #WheresMyBus #UNGA77
At the top of the page are updates to the line up of participating DJs
Last set: DJ Brei - Buffalo/Western NY
Another talented disc jockey, sibling of school bus riders and former school bus rider herself
From her bio at https://www.instagram.com/djbrei/
MUSIC IS MY THERAPY ♥️🎵🎼🎶
@senecabuffalo Dj 🎧
Official Dj for @che_noir
HIPHOPWEEKLY//GO GETTA MIX
#POWERSQUADDJZ
Club/Radio/Tour/ Wedding etc..
DJ Brei from Buffalo, NY.
Image description: A young Black woman is seen from the waist up in front of a red brick wall. She is wearing a black T shirt. In front of her is a laptop and mixing equipment.
Logo in lower right: Immaculate Nights
Photo credit not listed
A few of the other guests who made presentations in solidarity:
Carlos Raul Duflar,
The Bread Is Rising Poetry Collective, winner of 2018 NYC Beat Poet Laureate
Angel Martinez,
The Bread Is Rising Poetry Collective, Professor at Hunter College/CUNY and Antioch College.
Rebecca Freimuth HEADSHOT - please select alt text for image details. photo credit unknown
Becca Freimuth, DISABILITY DAY Photo Series
Rebecca Freimuth is a legally blind photographer whose visual impairment allows her to see, experience, and uniquely capture the world. She notices the nuances most overlook. Shapes, colors, textures, light and dark, take on new meanings.
As a disabled person living in American society, she understands the feeling of ‘other.’ Rebecca knows what it is like to be forgotten. “I want people to see the reality of our culture and society,” she says. “I want you to pause for just a moment and take in the world around you. Pictures speak a thousand words, and I want people to hear the voices of the forgotten.”
Rebecca lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her father and three dogs and is also pursuing a graduate degree at Antioch University.
A yellow placard holding some of the work of Rebecca Freimuth, a Blind photographer in Ohio, is held by Monica Roman of PIST NYC at Friday’s outdoor rally. Monica helped introduced the photo series and read the captions, and shared that her own disabled daughter's school bus is often late.
photo credit: Donnie Mossberg
Stephen Millies created pdf files and Sara of PIST did the printing and pasting.
Edward M. Yood of Communication Workers of America (CWA) local 1180’s Committee on People with Disabilities, and Disability Pride NYC Parade organizers speaks about the UN Conventions on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Video and transcript of his talk should be available here soon.
Please select Alt text for fuller image description - photo credit: Donnie Mossberg
Robert Acevedo, Disabled in Action
Link: Disabled in Action has a long history of fighting for transit equity in New York City and beyond. Because of them, we have kneeling city MTA buses with wheelchair capacity.
Please select Alt text for fuller image description - photo credit: Donnie Mossberg
Lupe Hernandez aka DJ Karamel is an Education equity activist and mother of a former school bus rider. She also organized online parties during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic to help other DJs stay active and gain income. In this photo, Lupe explains how to tune in to the online celebration, while Katie signs. On each side of them are other caregivers of school bus riders. In the background are sculptures that are part of United Nations Plaza.
Please select Alt text for fuller image description - photo credit: Donnie Mossberg
Elias Ellis is a CUNY student and sibling of a District 75 school bus rider who recently started high school. He points out that the entire family is thrown off physically, mentally and financially when the bus does not arrive by 7:45, 8:00, or even 9:00 due to the shortage of full time and substitute drivers. Elias is interviewed in the 2022 short PIST/With Us film School Bus Bill of Rights
Please select Alt text for fuller image description - photo credit: Donnie Mossberg
Tech team and those who lent equipment:
At the park plaza at First Avenue and 47th Street, five people are at different spots, bent over focusing on their various tasks working to set up and connect cameras, tripods, laptops, mixers, and amps. Left to right starting at the small table: Lupe with the dark puffy coat, Johnnie in the blue coat, Donnie with the red high top shoes, a guest, and Crystal Clear with the afro. Another 4 or 5 PIST supporters are visible on the edges of the photograph.
Photo: @schoolbusparentsNY on Instagram
Donnie Mossberg brought the 35 mm camera and cables, recorded the program on video and took most of the still photos that are on this page.
Stevie Marshall provided sound amplification equipment. [Marshall, a parent of an adult with a disability, is a musician. His studio on West 30th Street in Manhattan hosts music classes taught by elder Blind musicians, as well as music workshops for young Autistic adults. Steve is also a housing activist to stop overdevelopment and displacement in North Chelsea/Penn Station area. Info and Petition Contact: 917-553-5662 savemusicstreet@gmail.com]
Struggle/ La Lucha loaned a speaker and microphone. John Parker of SLL loaned a wifi hot spot at the last minute too.
Robert Flame LaMothe of http://www.filmourwayfilms.com/film/ advised Johnnie Stevens and Lupe Hernandez of PIST on connections ahead of Friday, on video calls from Massachusetts.
Josh Wolf, a legally Blind guitarist and vocalist who previously performed at a PIST rally, loaned other cables. wolftrax@rcn.com
Donnie, Johnnie and Lupe handled set up and troubleshooting all morning, and then took down the equipment after the program.
Johnnie https://twitter.com/PictureTheStr1 transported most of the equipment as well as purchasing other items and charging batteries on each, and providing tripods and cables.
ASL team
The morning outdoor event included paid ASL Interpreters Katie Peacock-Helde and Lisa Lockley from Deaf Blind Training, Interpretation & Professional Development DB-TIP, pictured here with Sara from PIST.
We would appreciate any donations to offset their well-deserved fees at CashApp @pistnyc
Please select Alt text for fuller image description - photo credit: Donnie Mossberg
Online guests
Beth Eisgrau-Heller
Beth is a professional freelance photographer and mother of a school bus rider. Some parts of the online DJ sets included a slide show (below) of images she has captured from other celebrations of young people with disabilities, from rallies for school bus rights, and more.
info@bethhellerphoto.com Brooklyn, NY
Multiple images including shots from this website and photographs with the watermark of Beth Heller Photo in bottom. Photos of people dancing and children in bouncy house are from the Bronx Autism Month event sponsored by Timon Family Services, Inc. on April 30, 2022.
Biography for Rev. Annie Chambers
At age 81 Rev. Annie Chambers continues to be actively organizing in Baltimore, MD after 62 years. As a teenager she worked with MInister Malcolm X. She began her activism in the Civil Rights movement, and became an organizer for the 1968 Poor People's Campaign. She was a member of the Baltimore Black Panther Party.
In 1969 she started the Welfare Rights Organization. It was the first Welfare Rights Organization in the country. She currently serves as Co-President of the National Welfare Rights Organization, and is also the President of the National Housing Coalition. Rev. Chambers remains a strong housing advocate in Baltimore, MD. She continues her work as a MInister of the Gospel for Jesus, in addition to fighting against imperialism and oppression of the working class.
Click to experience her Solidarity statement on video Video credit: SLL/Andre Powell
Informacion en español:
2 de diciembre evento musical de todo el día para honrar el Día de las Personas con Discapacidad de la ONU
10:00 a.m. a 12:00 p.m. en persona en la 1ra Avenida y la calle 47, frente a United Nations Plaza en el parque Dag Hammarskjold
–Continúa en internet por 10 horas más— regrese aqui a buscar enlaces aquel día.
Crear conciencia sobre la conexión entre un servicio de autobús escolar de calidad y los derechos humanos de los niños a participar en la escuela y la sociedad.
¡El acceso equitativo a la educación es un derecho humano!
→Reparar el sistema de autobuses escolares de Nueva York 🚍
¡Responda para participar!
Padres para Mejorar el Transporte Escolar (PIST)
pistnyc@gmail.com. 631.743.6296 Hablamos español
Logo de la ONU para el Día Internacional de las Personas con Discapacidad que calle cada 3 de diciembre
Fuente: https://www.un.org/es/observances/day-of-persons-with-disabilities
Square Flyer in English with full color photos of 3 DJs.
This flyer has less text and uses bold red text to highlight important details. If you share it on Instagram please tag the DJ’s, @schoolbusparentsNY and others who you wish to inform.
Spanish / ESPAÑOL
Square Flyer in Spanish with image of a school bus and of a chalkboard with slogan. This has a little bit of color, yellow and blue.
Haitian Creole / KREYÒL AYISYEN
Square Flyer in Haitian Kreyol with image of a school bus and of a chalkboard with slogan. This has a little bit of color, yellow and gray.
Special thanks to the editors at https://haitiliberte.com/ for verifying the translation.
French / FRANÇAIS
Square Flyer in French with image of a school bus and of a chalkboard with slogan. This has a little bit of color, yellow and gray.
Special thanks to John Catalinotto of workers.org for verifying the translation.
We tried for Chinese and Arabic, but there wasn’t time to get them verified.
We must thank:
former special ed school bus parent Flora Huang of Lower East Side Community Partnership Project for attempting to get the Chinese (Traditional) translation checked for us
a former general ed school bus parent now in Lebanon for offering to check the Arabic, as well as explaining the UN’s connection to this issue in the first place!
We will need more translations as we start petitioning for the School Bus Bill of Rights in January; please consider what language skills YOU have to offer.