First, People
Welcome to ‘First, People,’ a podcast presented by Turnstone. This series shares honest conversations with individuals whose experiences, perspectives, and voices shape more inclusive communities. Because first and foremost, we are all people.
This podcast continues Turnstone’s annual First, People campaign—created to elevate disability pride and promote awareness, inclusion, and connection across our communities. These conversations invite all of us to reflect, listen, learn, and grow together.
First, People
First, People Podcase: Ep 05 | Belonging
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Welcome to ‘First, People,’ a podcast presented by Turnstone. This series shares honest conversations with individuals whose experiences, perspectives, and voices shape more inclusive communities. Because first and foremost—we are all people.
This podcast continues Turnstone’s annual First, People campaign—created to elevate disability pride and promote awareness, inclusion, and connection across our communities. These conversations invite all of us to reflect, listen, learn, and grow together.
In this episode, Jacob, Allie, and Peter discuss belonging.
Welcome to First People, a podcast presented by Turnstone. This series shares honest conversations with individuals whose experiences, perspectives, and voices shape more inclusive communities because first and foremost, we are all people. This podcast continues Turnstone's annual First People campaign created to elevate disability pride and promote awareness, inclusion, and connection across our communities. These conversations invite all of us to reflect, listen, learn, and grow together.
SPEAKER_03In today's episode, we are exploring the topic of belonging in celebration of Disability Pride Month. This topic is something we are all familiar with, but looks different for every individual. With me in the studio are Allie and Peter. Would each of you guys provide a physical description of yourselves for our listeners?
SPEAKER_01I am a 20-year-old female. I've got black and white glasses, red hair, and I'm wearing a black shirt.
SPEAKER_02And I am a 34-year-old male. I am Caucasian. I have a black t-shirt on, brown hair, and my t-shirt says, pucker up. It is sled hockey time.
SPEAKER_03I love it. I love your shirt. Thank you. Um, to start off, I know each of you have a personal history with sled hockey. Could you tell our audience how long you have been involved in the sport?
SPEAKER_01Um, I played sled hockey for about four seasons. I'm not actively playing, though, at the moment.
SPEAKER_02And I just completed my 14th season. I've been playing since I was 20.
SPEAKER_03How has being a part of a team affected uh your life even off the ice?
SPEAKER_02It's kinda just taught me to accept everyone around me no matter what they look like. And it's also given me kind of some oomph, uh like kind of like scoring off a goal in hockey. So it's uh it's just made made life a little bit more exciting. Um yeah, I don't even I don't really know what else to say.
SPEAKER_01Um for me, sled hockey was such a positive environment. Um I feel like it just gave me a more positive outlook in life in general. Um everyone's unique in their own ways, and I think sled hockey really taught me that.
SPEAKER_03How's how's the camaraderie between teammates? Is it I know when I played wheelchair basketball, it was a lot of fun. And so uh all the camaraderie and going to Taco Bell after uh every practice was really, really fun. How about you guys?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, uh I absolutely love my sled hockey team, turnstone flyers. Um we fly high together, that's what we do. That's that's what I say. It's written on the back of our jerseys, we fly high, so everything's good with turnstone flyers.
SPEAKER_01The hotel lobby saw a lot of us during tournaments. Um we were always in the lobby together. So eating pizza or whatever it is.
SPEAKER_03Cool, cool. Uh, do you guys have any like cool stories? I know you were talking about the hotel.
SPEAKER_01I I there's a lot of pressure. I can't think of just one story.
SPEAKER_03I mean, we can you can go into a couple if you wanted to. What's the most recent? Most recent.
SPEAKER_01Can you think of anything, Peter?
SPEAKER_02Um I think I think the last time we were in Grand Rapids at a tournament, we won a game and the our goalie Noel, he got the puck and he ended up giving it to me. But I gave it to a littler guy on our team. His name Oh my gosh, I'm having a brain fart. Yes, Ben, thank you. I gave the puck to Ben because he got his first assist that game, so that was cool.
SPEAKER_03That's awesome. Yeah, that's very cool. That actually brings me to the next question. Um, because it literally answers the next question. Uh, what are what are some things you have done to make teammates feel included? And that's that's one of the things.
SPEAKER_02Well, I already answered, so I don't have to answer again. Right? Yeah, no, you're good. Good.
SPEAKER_01I think our team is really good about not being selfish and taking goals and taking opportunities. I think we all are very good about okay, I've scored a goal, like let me give it to someone else. And I think that's definitely another positive aspect we have together as a team.
SPEAKER_03That's cool.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there's a lot of support too.
SPEAKER_03I know for wheelchair basketball, um, that's what we would do as well. And we'd even have like the other team do that too. Yeah, yeah. Um there are some players that might not get the same opportunity. So we're like, hey, here, take a shake. Yeah, take a shot. Um what does the opposite of that feel like look like? I know, I know for like wheelchair basketball, it's oh, the little guy's going up to score. I'm just gonna block him. Um that's that's something for wheelchair basketball. What does that what does that look like for sled hockey?
SPEAKER_01Um, we have teams that will be beating us 20-0 and they will still be playing their hardest to score goals on us, and it is the most defeating feeling as a team to come together after and sit in the locker room in silence. Um, but I think just as a team not doing that, I think if you're above so many goals, being like, okay, let's give them a little bit of a break.
SPEAKER_03Just lighten up a little bit. Yeah. Because 20 to zero in a hockey game, yeah, it's it almost gets there sometimes. Oh, that's crazy. So have you ever been in a space where like you didn't feel like you belonged? Um, what was that like and what do you wish had been different about that experience?
SPEAKER_02I think when I first started playing back in 2011, I kinda didn't feel like I belonged because I don't have a physical disability. Um, I have a traumatic brain injury, but I was able to walk, so it kinda felt a little odd getting on the ice with all the other players who are in wheelchairs, but once we were skating around, it we were just a team, it all felt like everyone was equal, so it was great.
SPEAKER_03That's cool, yeah. I've I've noticed that too. Um, with a lot of a lot of uh wheelchair sports or adaptive sports. There's a whole lot of there's it's adaptive is a spectrum. Yeah, they're on different levels, yeah. And so it's it's a little crazy. How about you?
SPEAKER_01Um kind of like Peter said, um, my first season, I came in able-bodied and I got diagnosed with an autoimmune disease my first season. Okay. So it was kind of like not belonging to like, whoa, like I'm learning a whole new life with these people that understand it, which was awesome and perfect and worked out great. But that's awesome. Um mine's also pretty invisible. Um it's in my joints, so it's not necessarily like physical, like it's you can't really see it. Um, but that is when I first started, it was a lot nerve-wracking because I just didn't understand the level everyone was at in their disabilities. And it's I never wanted to hurt anyone or offend anyone, or but learning that like with one is so much different. It's like, I don't know, it's so unique.
SPEAKER_03And you don't want to like rank yourself or anything like that because you're that's not right. Um can you guys describe uh what sled hockey is for somebody who doesn't know what sled hockey actually like looks like?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Um, so all the same rules and regulations as regular hockey exist. It's just we are instead of standing up on two skates, we are sitting down in a little sled with ice blades on it. So we each player has two sticks that are about a yard long, and it's a hockey stick on one end, and on the other end, the bottom end, it's a spike so you can spike the ice and move yourself. So it's pretty cool. I really encourage you to watch it um either on YouTube or next time the winter Olympics come around, the Paralympic Sled hockey team USA is very enjoyable to watch. So uh yeah, check it out. Um I think you'll enjoy it.
SPEAKER_01The cool thing about sled hockey too is everyone's sleds are different. So we all have different like materials are made out of different lengths, different heights. Um, it all depends on how long your legs are, how long your torso is, and how long your arms are. Um, but they're all uniquely made to you. Um, and there is one different rule. Um, in sled hockey, you're not allowed to T-bone. So just like it says, you're not allowed to hit the person from the side.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um other than that, yeah, it's the same.
unknownThat's cool. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03It's well known that uh athletes with disabilities are often left out of the conversation when it comes to sports. Um, but that's slowly changing with the Paralympics and uh Special Olympics and things like that. Um with those winter Paralympics that uh just took place this past year, uh sports like sled hockey received a lot more coverage than in past years. Uh do you think that media coverage of adaptive sports contributes the to the feeling of belonging?
SPEAKER_02I yes, I do. I think I would definitely say it does. Um those Olympic Paralympic sled hockey players are so great. They're such uh idols, and I just completely look up to them and I guess you could say I want to be them, but I'm just gonna be myself and do the best I can.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I also agree. I think people that don't know what sled hockey is, being able to watch it. I've I've seen people on like social media talking about how they're looking up to like individuals that play sled hockey, even though they didn't know what it was before they watched the Winter Paralympics. So it's just so awesome to see it all over social media now.
SPEAKER_03I do love the Paralympic like TikToks and stuff. Yeah, hilarious. Do you think visibility alone creates belonging, or is it something more needed? Like, yes, there is the Paralympics on TV and on social media, but is there something else that needs to happen for it for you to feel even more belonged in, if that's the phrase? Yeah, more accepted.
SPEAKER_01Um, I feel like visibility is not enough. I feel like there's a difference between being able to see it and then trying to understand it. I feel like as a society, we're not very good about being empathetic towards people and imagining being in their shoes, but I feel like that's what it takes to belong, is just trying to understand other people. And I think the first step is seeing it though, like seeing new stuff and seeing the unique things we do and how we do it differently. But I think the next step is trying to understand it just to a point where we're not like judging it because it's different, if that makes sense.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I agree. Um I don't think seeing is quite enough. Um I have a traumatic brain injury, which you wouldn't know if you looked at me, because it's often called the invisible disease. But um I I have plenty of things that I struggle with that quote average humans wouldn't struggle with every day. But um yeah, I I think the more exposure we can get out there, the better. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03I know that I talked on last year's uh a podcast about uh on the media episode um a TV show called Speechless. It's great. I don't know if you guys have ever watched it, but it's it's fantastic. Uh it's about a family, it's a goofy family, but um the guy one of one of the main characters has uh cerebral palsy and he can't speak, hence the name speechless. Um so he uses a laser on his uh glasses and points at a board that has letters and numbers and common phrases um that he uses. And it's it's so funny, but it's so good, like inclusive-wise, because there's like physical therapy that he goes through. There's it's he's in high school, so all of the shenanigans that go on in high school um happens to him, and it's so funny. And being able to like relate to that and be like, oh yeah, I completely understand what he's going through. Um his his uh the actor's name is Micah Fowler, but he he can walk and talk, but he has a stutter. So I think the reason that they made him speechless was because they didn't want to have him stutter, but I think it adds to his character to have him not talk because they have he's got an assistant, um, and it's Cedric Yarborough, which I don't know if you guys know who that is, but it's a big black guy, and it's he's got like a very deep voice, and it's just so funny for his for the interpretation of his board to be coming out of a big burly black guy when it's just a skinny white dude. It's hilarious. But uh yeah, I don't know if you guys have any kind of like watching a movie or something that you're like feeling included.
SPEAKER_01I'm a social work major, so part of my degree is watching lots of different movies about inclusion.
SPEAKER_03So you should add speechless to your I definitely will.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I've never heard of that.
SPEAKER_03So off the ice um for belonging, how does what does that look like in in your everyday life?
SPEAKER_02Well, to me, Sladocky kind of made me realize well, not just realize at all, but realize even more that um just because someone looks a certain way or sounds a certain way or does something a certain way doesn't mean it doesn't give you the right to judge them or assume you know how their life is or how they have it. Um so it's kinda it's helped me off the ice in that I can look at someone and just not not really judge them at all, just wait for them to give me something to judge them about, or not judge them about, but give me something to have an opinion about them.
SPEAKER_03To go off of.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, for me, I'm I live on a college campus, I'm in a sorority. It's like very I live like a normal life. Um, but it's more behind the scenes for me. Like I have to go to the doctor four times a month, and every month I have a four-hour infusion I have to go to. And it's going to my professors and being like, okay, like I have to miss a whole day of class for this. Like, I really don't have another option. And then being like, okay, let me know if you need anything. Or for me, it's just the simple things of okay, just let me know if you need anything, rather than okay, you can't schedule that another time. Like it's the difference between like nagging and just saying, okay.
SPEAKER_03Sorry you missed that class. You can't get that attendance point back or whatever. Yeah. That's cool. That's cool that they do that. Um, I know for me, uh, it was finding people that didn't just see the chair. Um, because there are there are people out there that just see the chair. And um, I know that there's been times when I'm out uh with my parents or with uh a friend or something, and you know, they're two feet taller than I am. Um, and so a person will come up and want to ask a question, but they won't ask it to me. They'll ask it to the person I'm with, and it's like, ask me the question, I can answer it. I'm perfectly perfectly able to do that. But yeah, so you guys talked about like traveling and stuff with your hockey team, and your guys' disabilities might be invisible, but there are uh teammates that you have that uh may be in wheelchairs or um on crutches or anything like that, or amputees. Um, what does that look like when you guys travel?
SPEAKER_02To me, it it's just like traveling with anyone else. They're just my friends, my teammates, and I don't I don't see the wheelchair or the other um objects they need to use. Um I'm sure to other people they don't see it like that, but as far as I'm concerned, they're just regular people.
SPEAKER_01I agree with Peter. Um when we travel, though, it's all hands on deck. Like rather be on the road or just even getting on and off the ice. Um, the people that are able to get around easily or the few able bodies we have on the team are always off the ice first, willing to help. Um, rather they're pulling us out of our sleds, they're pulling equipment. Um, we never really have to worry about getting stuff somewhere because there's always a teammate waiting to help us. Um, and even the people that are in wheelchairs are helping in any way possible, rather be dragging bags behind them or we look like an a weird crew traveling around with bags all over us, and but we're all willing to help in whatever way we can.
SPEAKER_03I'm sure like if you guys go into a gas station or a store all together, it's like, who are these people? That's so cool.
SPEAKER_02People just say, watch out, they're the turnstone fires.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_01We pull up in big vans with trailers, and we probably look very official. Yeah. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_03That's cool. Yeah. Um, last question. Yeah. What would you say to someone who's still searching for a place that they want to belong?
SPEAKER_02Never give up. Keep on searching.
SPEAKER_01Um, I'd say try new things. You never know what you'll find out there.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely. I'm gonna do my hostly duty and say, come to turnstone. Um as you as you guys have probably heard um from a lot of our stories from this uh podcast, there's there's a lot of belonging uh in sports and in recreational stuff. Um we've heard from Kevin. He's uh he's always preaching about inclusion. And um that's that's what turnstone is. It's just inclusivity, whether you're able-bodied or uh you use a wheelchair. Exactly. Um, or any other adaptive uh device, uh, which is one thing I love about turnstone. So you bet Allie. So as one of the only women on the uh sled hockey team, how have the how have the guys made you feel on the team?
SPEAKER_01Well, it is very different than a female team, that's for sure. Um, but they made me feel so welcome. My first practice. Um everyone was helping me get my equipment on and helping me move. And I was a wreck on the ice the first time. And they were all around helping me and teaching me, and it was truly it's such a different team than what I'm used to playing on. And it's it's definitely the best team I've ever played on for sure.
SPEAKER_03Cool. So we talked about how Ali when Allie joined the team. Yeah. Peter, how did how did you joining the team look like? There was a lot of people.
SPEAKER_02I think it was similar. Um, I definitely was immediately accepted. Everyone was really kind, helping me get my all of my pads on and off and get in the sled and get out on the ice. Um, I just I feel extremely lucky to have such a great team around me, and that's that's why I'm still playing today.
SPEAKER_03That's cool. Yeah. Well, thank you for sharing your guys' uh perspectives and experiences. It's very cool to come in and uh talk to people with similar or even different uh experiences, and it's very cool to hear about sled hockey because I've not really done my research on it and never played it. So it's very, very cool. Uh to keep these conversations going, be sure to follow Turnstone on social media. Share this episode with your friends, families, uh, reflect on how you can help create spaces where everyone belongs. This has been First People, a Turnstone podcast. Thanks for listening.