The Least Organized Episode Ever

Michelle, Stephanie and Raquel sit down with NDRN’s own Claire Stanley to discuss autonomous vehicles. Then we share a spotlight story recorded in the field, when Jack, Raquel and our colleague Marcia Baldwin took a Waymo in Phoenix, Arizona. Listen all the way through for a surprise guest appearance! Full transcript of this month’s episode available at https://www.ndrn.org/resource/panda-pod-july-23/ Michelle Bishop: Hello, welcome to podcast everyone. Welcome back. So I’m really tired today, so somebody else is going to have to be the hype man for this episode. This podcast has worn me out. This is Michelle Bishop and I am the voter access and engagement manager at NDRN and one third of your podcast hosting team. Stephanie Flynt: And I’m Stephanie Flynt, public policy analyst, and I am going to try to be the podcast hype lady, but I’ve only had half a cup of coffee today, so. Michelle Bishop: Oh, no. Raquel, please have energy. Raquel Rosa: Hey, this is Raquel. I have had lots of coffee. I am also full-time on the external relations team. I am your community relations specialist full-time, live and in color, and I am the three of three in your podcast family today. Michelle Bishop: Yay. Congrats on your move to communications. Raquel. Woo. Stephanie Flynt: Yes. Michelle Bishop: Jack, insert the applause sound here. Oh, and we as usual, forgot to introduce our producer, Jack Rosen. Hey Jack, thanks for everything. Jack Rosen: Our guest today is NDRN’s very own public policy analyst, Claire Stanley. Claire began working at NDRN in December of 2020. Prior to her position here, she worked as an advocate with the American Council of the Blind, where she advocated for the rights of blind and visually impaired persons. Claire has previously worked at two P&As, at Disability Rights California as a summer legal extern, and with Disability Rights DC at University Legal Services as a legal fellow under the PAMI program. Claire received her BA in Political Science and Communication from the University of California Davis and a JD from the University of California Irvine. Stephanie Flynt: What am I missing here? Michelle Bishop: Stephanie, I don’t actually know what that is either, so you’re in good company this time. Stephanie Flynt: Okay. That makes me feel better. Okay. Sorry for holding the world up. Danielle: Hi, this is Danielle and I was a tour guide at UC Irvine. So quick history on the anteater. Long story short, UC Irvine was a university that started in the ’60s and as part of their funky hippie rebellion, they had a school vote where the students, despite what the administration wanted they all decided to write in that they would become anteaters. They won the next sporting event, and so the school officially became anteaters. And so now the UC Irvine chant is, “Rip them eaters, ZOT! ZOT! ZOT!” Jack Rosen: All right. And now back to our show. Claire, recently, Raquel and I had the chance to try out a Waymo when we were at our annual conference in Phoenix. It was a pretty weird experience being in a self-driving car. Took a little bit to get used to, but we