Now With More Interviews

In an episode inspired by the pending SCOTUS case Acheson v Laufer, Michelle, Stephanie and Raquel sit down with Julia Métraux, a journalism fellow at Mother Jones, NDRN’s own Amy Scherer to discuss her lived experiences navigating lodgings as a person with a disability, and finally we talk with Michelle Uzeta Deputy Legal Director at the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund to dispel some of the myths put forward by the hotel lobby. Check out Julia’s work: https://juliasmetraux.journoportfolio.com/ Michelle’s blog post countering myths the hotel lobby perpetuates: https://dredf.org/web-log/2023..../07/28/acheson-v-lau Full transcript of this month’s episode available at https://www.ndrn.org/resource/panda-pod-august-23/   Michelle Bishop: Hi everyone. Welcome back to our podcast. It is August in DC, which means it is both quiet and hot and somehow I am still stuck in the office. I don’t know about you guys, but Michelle Bishop and I am one third of our hosting team here on the podcast. I’m the voter access and engagement manager at NDRN. Stephanie Flynt: And I’m Stephanie Flynt, one of our public policy analysts at NDRN. And fun fact, on the metro this morning I drank 19 ounces of iced coffee in 19 minutes. Michelle Bishop: That is so problematic. Raquel Rosa: And I’m Raquel Rosa. I am the community relations specialist at NDRN, and sadly, my mom still does not listen to the podcast, but I know somebody’s mom who does. Michelle Bishop: Oh, that’s right. We got an email from the one and only Carol Bishop, our favorite, longest running listener, or at least we thought, because it turns out she just started listening to our podcast a few months ago. And I will say this, when we were contacted by my mother, she did not contact us to compliment how good of a job I do on this podcast. She specifically said to make sure Jack, our producer knows what a good job he’s doing on the podcast. So thanks for that, mama. But Jack, why don’t you go ahead and introduce yourself to the people. Jack Rosen: And hi, this is producer Jack Rosen. This month we’re talking about ADA Access and hotels. What brought this topic on is the pending Supreme Court case, Acheson Hotels versus Laufer. This is a dispute between a hotel corporation and an ADA tester. So what is an ADA tester and what’s at stake in this case? Well listen to today’s episode and we’ll be discussing all of that and more. We’re also having on Julia Métraux, a journalism fellow at Mother Jones who wrote an article about this case and talks about that article, the broader issue and her experiences as a person with a disability in journalism. Additionally, we have on our own Amy Scherer, who talks about traveling as a person with a disability. And finally we have on Michelle Uzeta from DREDF who helps dispel some of the myths that the hotel lobby are putting forward about a accessibility. Michelle Bishop: Whoa, that is an action packed episode. All right, well let’s get right into it then. Raquel Rosa: Well, friends, today we are joined by Julia Métraux. She is a fellow at Mother Jones. Thanks for joining us today, Julia. How are you? Julia Métraux: I’m doing well. Thank you for having me. Raquel Rosa: