July 26, 2023: Words we celebrate

Progress is a marathon. It's noticable in the words people look up at our local dictionary. Keeping track of those words and trends is one of the many things our substitute word nerd Ammon Shea does at Merriam Webster. We ask him about what people are looking up these days, as well as ask him about that one time he read the entire Oxford English Dictionary cover to cover. And it's especially noticable in the disparity of folx with disabilities. Today marks the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which seeks to provide equity in the myriad places in the nation where none was being provided. Although we've come a long way since then, as with any civil rights movement, there is quite a ways to go. So we bring in a number of folx we know in the community to talk about the law itself, their experiences, and how we might make things better in the future. We are joined by digital accessibility specialist Shivaji Kumar, visual artist and Vice Chair of the Holyoke Disability Commission Lyn Horan, activist, musician, and chair of the Northampton Disability commission Jeremy Macomber-Dubs, campaign manager and graduate student of disability justice Maria Guarino, and executive director of Independent Living Resources Christos (Chris) Palames (who was at the signing of the original ordinance in 1990, the largest attended signing in US history).