Maria Porto

Maria Porto is the founder of Access Broadway NY, an ADA advisor, and Disability Consultant. Listen as she speaks all about accessibility issues in and around live theatre in New York and her own story of disability. 

Episode Transcript

(00:12):
All right, welcome back to "FUNYC"
the unscripted version where we talkto people from New York about New York
and their New York stories.
My name is Eric Wickstrom, your co-host,along with my other co-host.
I'm Emily Eden.
And Emily, we're talking todaywith a friend of mine
who is heavily involved in accessibility.

(00:32):
on Broadway. In and around Broadway.
I met this woman at a event for New YorkFilm Festival.
I was doing a panel on audio descriptionand she had the most
beautiful dog...
Well, she's pretty beautiful herself, Eric.
I yes...but I had a girlfriendat the time and I wasn't...
...you know...
...I don't usually go stalking womenat events that I'm asked to appear at.

(00:56):
-But you do stalk dogs.-But I saw this beautiful dog
From, from across the room.
And my friend Liz was like,"You can't pet the dog."
Cause it was a service dog.And I said, "But I have to pet the dog."
And she was like, "You can't,you're not allowed to pet dogs."
And I said, "I'm going to do it anyway."
So I went over and I asked this woman,"May I say hello to your dog?
And she said, Yes.
And I did. Daisy the Wonder Dog.
And we'll talk about Daisy in a minute.
But through that, I met Maria Portoour guest today, and it's been

(01:20):
About a year now? A little over a year?
-Over a year.-A little over a year.
And we've done some thingsfor accessibility on Broadway
and I've been doing a lot more,but just generally, she is a kick ass
rock star of the accessibilityfield and I'm super excited
And advocate.
Yes. Super excited to have her hereand that she's agreed to sit down and talk
all things FUNYCand a lot of accessibility issues

(01:43):
is definitely an F you, generally, right?
So I think that fits, that fits our theme herea little bit.
So so welcome.
Thank you for being here.
-Hello. Thank you for having me.-Of course.
So you yourself have a disability that youyou live with?
I do.
I'm hard of hearingand I also live with a traumatic brain injury

(02:03):
Slash, and/or an epilepsy disorder.
I have my wonderful dog, Daisy, whohas been with me for the last seven years
and she is an epilepsy...or a seizure alert dog.
Seizure alert dog.
Why don't you explain to our listenerswhat that means?
Basically she like pulls at my clothes
to inform methat something may be happening

(02:25):
so I can go lay down.And then once the seizure has happened,
she will work on ways to wake me up,whether it's like putting her
nose underneath my neckand trying to get me to come back, or
if we're at home we have a seizure bagand it's like this little lunch box
and she'll go get it.And it has like sugar,
water, medicationsand she'll bring it to wherever I am.

(02:45):
It's amazing. Sorry,I'm getting really choked up.
-We're like 2 minutes in.-Oh Daisy's phenomenal,
But we're here to talk to Maria.
-Yeah, sorry.-But this happens a lot, we'll get into...
-that also. Daisy gets a lot of attention.-She's great
She is, she is the best.
And again has ruined mefor most dogs at this point.
You're welcome.
So now, has this been things

(03:06):
you've lived with from from forever,when you were first born,
or are these things that have developed over the years?
Yeah no, I grew up a hearing person
without a disability at all.
Uh, when I was 19, I was diagnosedwith late adult onset epilepsy.
Which was pretty controlled.
I got uh...

(03:27):
I was a protester
in my younger life, a political protester.
And I was picked up and thrownby a New York City police officer
on the back of my head.
And I developed a traumatic brain injuryand my epilepsy got a lot worse
and my hearing was affected, um...
And so I've lived with it since then.
I think I was in my twenties...23?So about ten, eleven years.

(03:49):
So you were, you were living with it alreadyand it was greatly affected
-and made worse by this, by this event.-Yeah.
By this police officer.I did not know that part of the story.
Um, and as far as the hearing?
So my hearing actually was sick,
I had a viral meningitis and then I losta lot of my hearing from that.

(04:10):
What age was that?
-I was 26. It was sometime later.-So this was all,
-So you grew up...-My twenties were rough.
It was a rough time.
But you grew up
in New York City or where did you grow up?
-Between here and Connecticut.-Okay.
So like, we would split, mostweekends were here.
Brooklyn and Manhattan.
Brooklyn and Manhattan.

(04:30):
As far as I think that people...
I think the disabilities peoplehave the hardest time with
-Are the invisible ones so to speak.-Yeah.
Cause if you meet you, I'm speakingyou now, for the people listening
we're looking directly at each otherand I could forget,
as she shimmies for me,I could forget that you're hard of hearing at all.

(04:51):
Like we're talking and it's just backand forth, no question at all.
I just did it before we came on the air, I asked her something, and she was like,
"You're not looking at me,I can't hear a word you're saying."
So and then the epilepsy thing,
Obviously you can't see that.
So can you talk little bitabout some of the things you encounter
as a disabled personwithout a visible disability.

(05:12):
That might be unique to youand folks like yourself.
Uh, it's rough occasionally.
So, you know, I do recognize thatI have a lot of privilege.
I grew up speaking, I grew up hearing.
So my journey into the hard of hearing,deaf or hard of hearing
community is a lot differentthan most people's.
However, going into places,I constantly have to prove myself right.
You know, peoplewhen I go in somewhere like,

(05:35):
"Oh, you don't look disabledor you speak so well."
For being hard of hearing/deaf.
And I'm like "Thanks?"
"That's wonderful,but I still can't hear you if you're behind me."
And so like, the flip side of thatis a lot of people think I'm really rude.
I've had wonderful,this one friend comes to mind

(05:55):
Jeremy, and I'm so sorry,I have this wonderful friend named Jeremy.
And we were helping another friend move
and he was behind melike carrying the back end.
And I guess he was talking.
And at the end he was like, "Wow,I thought you were the rudest person."
Like our friend didn't like, tell him thatI couldn't hear him if he was behind me.
And I guess he was he wastalking this whole time.
And I was like,I was like, "No, I just don't like you."

(06:19):
But we're such good friends now.
And so, like, that does happen a lot,especially in the city, right?
Because when you're passing peopleon the subway or you're passing
people on a bus or you're going to this,that, and the third places,
we don't stop to think,
"Oh, maybe she can't hear me. Because she'sspeaking to this other person."
-Right.-But I have to be facing that person.
So a lot of peoplesort of don't know where to place me.

(06:40):
They're like, "Oh, you travel aroundwith a dog."
"Do you really need her?"
"Is she emotional support?"
And I'm like,
"Nah, get the right kind of strobe lights andwe can find out, but let's not do that."
So that, that interests mebecause again,
I think a lot of people associate servicedogs as seeing eye dogs.
-Yeah.-And that's the end of it.
And then we do haveemotional support animals, which

(07:01):
yes, there are some that are very needed
-and others that are complete, you know.-Agree.
So, you know, nobody needs asupport llama or whatever.
-Horse. Yeah.-Horse. Things like that.
I just want a llama in general.
-Yeah.-Yes, yes.
Who doesn't like a good llama?
Get that on a T-shirt.
-Yeah.-Yeah. Llama.
-Llama lover.-So...

(07:21):
So, Daisy being trained, like,how does a dog get trained
to recognize seizures?
So. Okay, so that's the other part, right?
They can't tell you thatthe dog can do this.
It's somethingthat certain dogs are more in tune with.
And there's a huge disclaimerwhen you get a service dog,
like they may not be able to alert you.
They're trained as seizure response dogs,but some dogs will.

(07:44):
And so like you always kind ofgo into it with that mindset.
And I mean, scientists think it'sa combination of your scent and something
that's like a vibration that you give offbefore that the dogs pick up on.
Um, I will say when I first got her,
you know, it had been likea month or something,
and we were cookingand she just started

(08:04):
going a little crazy and I was like,"Do you need to go outside?"
"Like, I'm cooking. Just wait."
And she kept doing itand she kept biting on my clothes.
And I was like, "I will take you outin a minute, just like, chill out."
And then I started to feel an auraand I was like, "Oh, I'm just dumb."
"Got it," you're just...
"Got it."
-"No worries."-Right.
And so like, and so I really startedto, like, learn how to listen

(08:25):
to her and learn what her signals areand learn what she feels.
Cause she, she'll feel it long before Iwill.
I've been around when she does that,she'll nudge your hands
and she gets, you know, annoying, to behonest with you, and she'll just keep up with it.
But it's her job. No, it's her job.
But she is demonstrative about it.She will like...
-It-it's not subtle at all.-Right.
Yeah. It's-it's a very big like over-the-top reaction.

(08:47):
But I've never, I've actually never seenyou have, you know, a seizure of any kind.
So, is it something that you can prevent? Like,
can she kind of cut it off at the pass,like you can sit down?
Or is it like, is...how doesthat work? Is it...?
No. So like what...
The times where you and I have sat down,I probably had what's called an absence seizure.

(09:07):
So I don't like fall down,do that kind of thing.
Um, there's no real stopping it.
There's stuff that I can doafterwards for like self care.
What, now what is an absence seizure?
It's a seizure. Same thing.But it's not like...
Grand mal seizures are on the floor,your body is shaking.
Sometimes you lose the abilityto control your body, all that kind of stuff.

(09:28):
Absence seizures, to people who arenot experiencing them
may look like someone just kind of staringoff into space for a minute or it's
just like a little burst of electricity,just something like that.
So so you can, so that's anotherthing people don't realize
a seizure doesn't necessarily meanfalling on the floor and,
you know, and having flailing limbsand all that kind of thing
that people I think associate with that

(09:49):
they can just be somethingyou don't even recognize.
-So it's a lot to deal with, right, day to day.-Little bit.
In terms of again, managingpeople's expectations of the dog,
And managing their expectations of whatdisability looks like and everything else.
Yeah, it's it's really interesting.
I think like
you personally know me, butfor the people who don't and the people
that are listening, I do at least tendifferent things at once.

(10:12):
I never am sitting very still.
And so I think a lot of people don'tunderstand what goes into my disability.
I do.
I founded this company with the ideathat disabled people could have a place
to not only be consultants but havetheir health looked after and celebrated.
And so like a business modelthat I have is
if you are not, if your disabilityis keeping you from doing work for today,

(10:35):
"Great, just let us knowand we can move stuff around."
So like, we schedulethree meetings for one meeting.
So we have a rain date and a second rain datejust in case
-more than half of our team can't come in.-Right.
And for me, that's given me a lotof freedom to work because
on days where I am, you know,
feeling great and feeling wonderful,fantastic, I'll get a lot of work done.

(10:56):
But then there are days where my epilepsyand my traumatic brain injury
keep me in bed, and on those daysI have to have something
that's super fluid that I can work on.
So like when we were on tour,I had an understudy
for my rolewho could go in whenever I needed.
And that gives me a lot of freedomto keep up with my work.
So where'd you go to school? New York?

(11:17):
I finished high school at the GreaterHartford Academy of the Performing Arts
and then I went to eight.
for like one semester, but then
I finished out at John Jay.
Okay. And you went on what for what...
-What did you go for?-Forensic psychology.
-Forensic psychology.-Wow.
And from there,
From there I got my EMTand decided to start riding in ambulance

(11:38):
because I am an adrenaline,
have a problem with adrenaline,and did that for a bit.
And then I got my injury.
But there's a performing arts thinghere, right?
You've done, you've done things with that.
So where did that come in?
Uh, I,
my childhood was crazy.
I am a three time gold
medalist for Junior Olympicsin rhythmic gymnastics.

(12:01):
And then unlike most peoplewho say they're going to run away
and join the circus, I did.
I did a performance with Cirquedu Soleil for the kids performances.
-And then...-In what area?
Like what were you like flying aroundon the trapeze or...
-Aerial fabrics.-Wow.
It was awesome. It was the best time.
My dad used to take me to practices
up in Vermont and drivelike three hours each way.

(12:24):
And he's the greatest.
And then I joined a couple of
dance companies and then they got meinto the academy of Performing Arts.
And so I did dance and musical theater.
Dance and musical theater,and, but didn't go to school for it.
High school.
But that was, you didn't, butnot college, you didn't pursue it.
No, I...we did the...

(12:46):
we were the first licensed productionof "Cats" outside of Broadway
At that particular school, it was like a $2million production.
Right.
And then after that,I just went to college just to kind of
try something new I guess.
And I dropped performing for a little bitand then picked it up like regionally,
Right.
Which comes full circle in a minute, right?

(13:07):
We're going to talk about that. But uh...
But I'm sorry. You had um...
Well, I have a question,but now I feel like
I'm jumping all over the placea little bit.
-That's how I live my life.-Me too.
I have grasshopper brain.So obviously after your accident
and then the meningitis,the viral meningitis.
And so then you can't hear,
did you have to learn sign languageand reading of the lips?

(13:31):
And as an adult, thingstake you longer to learn.
So how long did that take you to learn?
I'd say a good year, um, probably.
And mostly because it was donekicking and screaming.
There was a very, and I talk about thisin some of my presentations,
but there was a momentespecially becoming disabled later
in life where you have to really grievethe person that you were.

(13:52):
Um, and I think a lot of peopledon't give that enough time.
Um, I didn't do it in the healthiest of ways
because I was young and kind of angry.
But in that
I went and I had amazing teachers,my uh, amazing...
mentor when I first startedthe theatrical career was Alan

(14:14):
over at the Sign Language Center.And he has passed on in the last year.
I can't believe it's been a year.
But he really was helping me understandlike grammar
for sign languageand like getting involved
in community eventsand like finding other, later
what we call late in life,
deaf, um hard of hearing peoplethat I could relate to.
And it was hard like not having that,you know, growing up in that community

(14:38):
or having that kind of supportfrom community
because I didn't know anything, right?
I was a 26 year old kind of moron.
And so finding that and findingthat support system was awesome.
And then so here's a New York questionthat might be dumb.
So when people like, say, tourists,for example, might approach you
to ask you for directionsand they're speaking a foreign language,

(15:00):
can you just tell that from the waytheir lips are moving?
I can tell that I don't understand them.
So I'm like,
and they usually go away.
-That's nice.-Yeah,
-Eh, you can just bugger off.-Yeah.
You know I got caught with that one timeand, uh, Shoshelle Edmond is going to kill me.

(15:20):
But we were walking one timeand we were signing having a conversation.
My friend Shoshelle is deaf.
and you know the Mormon peoplewho ask if you want to come to church
we both were like, "Mm, sorry can't hear."
And they were like, "That's okay."
They started signing, they were like"We have deaf church!" and we were like...

(15:42):
It's like the only Get Out of Jail Free card, but then we couldn'teven use it with them.
You couldn't hit them up with "I don'tspeak English" at that point and sign that?
Nah, cause they'd alreadyseen us speaking ASL.
-And so we were like, Mmm...okay.-Yeah.
Well, so much for that.
-So you went for a forensic...psychology.-Psychology. Winner
And you were riding on theback of ambulance rigs.

(16:04):
-Yes.-In New York City.
-I was in Connecticut for that part.-Okay.
-Which must have been some gnarly...-Oh they were so great.
I missed so much.
Did the, did the disabilitiesprevent you from continuing doing it?
Yeah.
It's kind of hard to be responsible
for someone else's health careif you're not exactly sure like and
there are many many people with epilepsywho continuously have great careers in EMS.

(16:29):
I'm not saying that.
I'm saying my particular kind of epilepsy,where I had breakthrough seizures
And things like that. It wasn't...
it wasn't safe to be in charge of patientcare or to be driving an ambulance.
Right.
To be responsible for two other people,sometimes three in the back.
Right.
So I made the decisionto kind of walk away.
For me, like knowing nothing about you,
It's clear that you'veyou were born to help people.

(16:51):
Like even pre injury.
Thank you. I think that comesfrom my dad. Honestly,
My dad has always kind of been like this super big rebellike taking on City Council
or the Department of Education or whatever.When I was in middle school,
we founded a program where kids couldgo and work at a homeless shelter.

(17:11):
And it was an after schoolprogram, it was like a club.
And my dad helped me like prepare a speechfor the board event in the town council.
And so, like, he's had a lot of influenceon what I do and what I choose to do.
So I'm not very surprisedthat this kind of was the road.
-Right.-I love that.
So before we move on into your, you know,
the stuff on Broadway and Accessand all that good stuff.

(17:34):
-I wanna talk real quick more about Daisy.-Huzzah.
Again, I the dopey guy,
who knew better, approached youabout petting your dog
from across the room. Now people I'm sure
because she's awesome and beautiful and sweet looking
you must get approached daily from peoplethat want to pet your dog.
-I do.-Yeah. Me being one of those dopey people.

(17:57):
But what are the guidelinesthat you could give people about
approaching a service animal?
Don't. Um, so it's not just
about like asking permissionand like saying, "Hey, I love your dog."
Your dog is super cute.
Just the dog is, uh, think of the doglike a wheelchair
Right? It's a piece of medical equipment.

(18:17):
You're not going to sit there and stareand make googly eyes at a wheelchair
Because that would be super weird.
So in that same turn, if-if she's distractedthen she's not focusing on me
and she's not focusing on the possibility
of a seizureand she's not focusing on her job. Right?
And I get this all the time on the subway,where I'll be sitting down
because she's underneath my legs
and people will talk straightup to my crotch where she is.

(18:40):
And it's just, it's very invasive.
And so I like to tell people like,
If it's not a dragon on the subway,it probably doesn't need to be paid attention to.
Right? It's a dog. We see dogs every single day.
We can let the working ones work andwe can let the ones in little carriers
who are dressed up like Simon, you know,those ones can be pet. Absolutely.

(19:00):
But, in distracting the dogs itgets dangerous for the person.
So it's better just to leave them alone and
if you're interacting with a personthat does have a service dog.
Talk to them.
Um, the dogs like historically have a reallybad time responding.
They don't speak English.
So like, you know, it'sjust better to address the person.
Right.
And you do happen to do that,you could wind up on a podcast with them.

(19:24):
-This is also true.-Yeah, a year later. So...
I also take, I also take it case by case.
I feel like in our particular line of work,we get a little bit more freedom.
Right, and again, it was, when we met...There's Daisy.
weighing, getting her two cents in.I think at that time too,
it was, uh, I approached you, we were talkingand then I asked permission.
It's probably harder for you because again, with

(19:46):
with a silent disabilityor invisible disability,
it's people just assumeshe's even with, with, with the vest on.
They just assume she's an everyday dog.
They do. It's wild how many people don't read.
And I, I will say kids are way betterabout this than adults.
Um the kids will, I've seen kidsbe like, "That's a service dog".
And their parents are like, "I can't pet it?"

(20:07):
And so I find I find it very interesting,I think, because we're so
because it's, you know, New York City, we'rejust kind of desensitized to everything.
We don't bother to look at thingsvery well, because I'm on the subway.
I'm going from point A to point B,I don't really want to talk to anybody.
Right.
But if they took a minute to, you know, read.
There is a big sign that says,"Please do not pet me. I'm working."

(20:28):
-Right.-On the side it does say, "Assistance Dog"
So there is all the information available.
People just don't really look at it.
Have you, have you ever beenout and about in New York City
and started to have a seizurewhere she started to alert you?
-Yeah.-And what's happened in that instance?
Have people tried to like interfereor do people come to help
because they realize what she's doing or...
what happens in that situation normally?

(20:49):
The two times it has happenedin public, one person did CPR
Um, and ended up giving me a huge bruise.
Uh, shout out. I think youhad good intentions. I hope.
And then the other time we were walking
and there weren't a lot of people around,but it was snowing.
And I think the people around therekind of just like stayed back.

(21:11):
But she is also trained to like,you know, protect me.
And so because it was snowing and cold,she had laid on top of me
to try and keep my core warm while peoplecalled 911.
-Wow.-Yeah. She's amazing.
-She is amazing.-She's the best.
-I'm going to cry again. I'm sorry.-Didn't get hypothermia so yay.
I just love animalsand I'm just like in awe of, you know, sorry.

(21:33):
I will say it's impressive. Soshe's a seizure response dog.
She has a brother who's an A1C dog,so she works with people with diabetes.
Um, she has another brotherwho is just a person in a wheelchair
with mobility,like opening doors and all kinds of things
so they really have a number of different jobs.
Right. It's not just seeing eye dogs.
Her best friend is a seeing eye dog.
Right. We love seeing eye dogs.

(21:54):
But-but they're not all, not all workinganimals are seeing eye dog.
Some of them are at the airportfinding drugs.
There's a lot of dogs working out there.Leave them alone, is the point.
Especially those ones.
-Her bestie is a bomb dog.-Yeah.
-Yeah.-Hey Kibble.
So you have the injury, you leave EMS

(22:16):
and you decided at that pointto get involved
doing what?
Political protesting.
Such a huge jump.
We were part of Occupy Wall Streetand we had a medical collective
that was doing work with the protesters,going on marches, kind of stitching
people up when they needed it,padding people up when they needed it.

(22:36):
I did that for a little bit. Um...
This is afteryou were thrown to the ground
protesting and receiveda traumatic brain injury from it.
-Yeah.-You get right back out there protesting.
-Wow.-Like a couple days later.
It was not a smart idea,but it's definitely what I did.
That's commitment.
I mean at what point do you get to towhere you are now with Access Broadway.

(22:58):
And how does that,how does that lead you,
You're occupying Wall Streetand now you're making Broadway accessible.
So I'm curious like how we got fromfrom there to there.
Uh, during the time when I was protesting,
I met a lot of disabled peoplewho were also protesting, protesters
and talking about the disabilityrights movement and talking about
Judy Heumann and her legacy.

(23:20):
Um, and so I realized thatI was now in this,
you know, quote unquote disabilitycategory, right?
And so I started making friendsin the disabled community, started
getting more familiar with what options
are out there for people like myselfand like other people
in our little group.

(23:40):
And I saw that
there was this huge gap in disability,especially as an adult, right?
When you're an adult and you're disabled,no one gives you a packet
and says "These are the services in New York Citythat you're entitled to."
Right?
And I had a hard time with thatbecause I didn't really know
what I needed at the time.
And so trying to figure thatout with this group of people

(24:02):
really kind of helped
me start to learn about likethe 504 Act and like
the Americans with Disabilities Actand all these great things
that were passedbut still need a lot of work.
Right?
And I had been involved in the theatercommunity as a kid,
and I had seen
sort of the lack of access in theater,

(24:24):
and then I just got mad.
And so I decided to do something about itbecause that's kind of my M.O..
Yeah, yeah.
So Access Broadway, did it exist?
-It didn't. At first...-It wasn't a thing.
At first it was just me. At firstit was just me like
talking to my friendswho are actors, right?
And one of the first things, you know,I remember was

(24:46):
the Ham4Ham show didn't have a placewhere disabled people could view it, right?
It was a free for all out on 46th Street.
And if you were able-bodied,you could definitely,
like fight your way to the front.
And if you were disabled,better luck next time, right?
-What, now what year is this?-2015.
2015. So like almost ten years.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
You decide, you're you're gonna,you're pissed off.

(25:07):
This was nonsense.You're going to do something about it.
I just wanted to see my friendsin their little skits.
See a show before the show.
You're a womanin her mid-twenties who I think again,
had a career and a lifepath, completely disrupted. A lot of people
would have just gone homeand pulled the covers up over their heads.
You decide"No, I'm going to take on Broadway."

(25:28):
-Seemed like a thing. You know.-Right.
Now is it because you were young and dumb?
Is that why do you think like...
I think a little bit of, yeah, 100%.
A little bit of it was naive...
-Yeah.-That word.
Yeah, I know what you were going...
-Naivete.-There it is. Say it again.
-Naivete.-One more time for all of us.
-Naivete.-There it is.
-That one.Yeah that one.
Shall I sing it?
So again, like you're dumb enough to think

(25:49):
you can change the world at that age,right? That's the whole point.
Totally.
And you just went for it.
I went for it, and it worked.
Which was the weird part, right?
So like, there was an ADA sectionat the Ham4Ham show and it was great.
We had people in wheelchairs.
We had people with low vision,we had people with mobility disabilities
that were then ableto be a part of that experience.

(26:11):
It was about convincing people that,
you know, disabledpeople do want to see Broadway shows.
They do want to be a part of magic.
I think I have the unique experienceof both being a performer
and being in technical theater
in my youthand then coming back as an audience member
who wanted to then be in thebusiness. And couldn't.
And it's not to say that I couldn't.

(26:33):
It was just, it was a lot harder.
Well the part, I think we've talked about it offline a little bit, is, you know,
the convincing thing isdisabled people wanting to see shows,
-which of course they do.-Yeah.
But more importantly, those disabled folksare normally, they're part of families
and families want to do things together.
You know, they don't, families generallydon't want to go to a, to an event
and leave a child homebecause they're disabled.

(26:55):
-That's ridiculous. So...-Seems like fun.
You're not, you're not targeting
the disabled, you're targeting families.
And it's just crazy.
The amount of moneyit costs to do these things
usually pales in comparison to the moneyyou make having done them, correct?
And that's-that's the interesting thing, right?
We I'm so, so, so grateful this year.

(27:16):
This past year, my company got todo two ASL-interpreted performances,
the inaugural for an ASL interpretedperformance of "Kimberly Akimbo."
And then we went over to "Book of Mormon."
And the people that arethen able to come and experience the show,
if that was offered more often, would keepcoming for the whole calendar year.
One particular year that I'm thinking of in particular,there were 12 accessible performances

(27:40):
across open captioning, interpretation,
audio descriptions, 12. For 36 shows.
-Yeah. It's insanity.-So, so sorry.
Just to make this clear,there is not an ASL interpreter.
At every...interpreter at every performance?
-No.-No.
That is insane.
There's maybe one offeredif the show wants it.

(28:02):
And a lot of shows don't opt into thatbecause of the money.
-Right. And how much money are we talking about?-That makes me angry.
$8,000.
-$8,000?-8 to 10 depending.
-For a single show. Performance.-Yeah.
But then, you know, if you do itmore often than we don't have to hire
a team to study the show, get the timing,
because they'll already have done it.
So wait, they're paying 8 to 10,000 dollars to do one show?

(28:23):
Yeah.
But then if you'regoing to do another show,
like how much would each additional showcost?
Probably around 6, 7.
For each performance? Okay.
Yeah, but then you're making it back,
If you think about it in seats, right?Because a seat is 80 something dollars.
If you have the availabilityto do 200 seats, you're making your money back.
Yeah no, the numbers add up when you startlooking at it that way, especially.

(28:43):
And then what we've worked together onis audio description, having it there.
People will come to the showmuch more often. So you start, uh,
almost ten years ago.
Access Broadway. It's just you against the world.
At what point do you startgetting some traction where this is
a business, an actual thing?
So I did some private consultingthroughout the beginning of my career.

(29:05):
Um, I worked with children,which was awesome.
And then coming back from the pandemic,I started getting emails like,
"Hey, are you still doing thataccessibility thing"
"that you were talking to us years agoabout?"
And I was like, "Yeah" And so, so people
were a lot more receptive coming backfrom the pandemic about accessibility.

(29:26):
And I think that's because,you know, this big thing of
"We can't put captions on everything"prior to the pandemic,
we found out in the pandemichow easy that was.
"Oh we can't do audio description for everything."
We found out during the pandemichow easy it was.
-Oh yeah.-Right?
And so people were a lot more willingto start to have conversations with me.
And that's when I knew I needed a teambecause I was like, "I can no longer do this..."

(29:47):
Yeah. It forced, it, the pandemic,
The pandemic forced a lot of peopleto examine alternate workflows
that were then able to be repurposedfor folks in the disabled community.
I mean, I certainly was...
I had that experiencewith audio description.
That's where we really, as a company
at IDC started onboardingand using blind voiceover talent.
And it was strictly

(30:07):
because we had to develop, it was somethingwe discussed doing coincidentally.
And then the pandemic forced everybodyto go to remote and once that happened
it gave us the ability to really explorethose workflows.
And we still do that work now obviously.So same thing,
It sounds like the pandemic kind
of forced people to do thingsand you just poured it over to these efforts.
And it was kind of awesomebecause we were talking about coming back.

(30:28):
You know, we had DEI Consultants,diversity, Equity and inclusion,
but very seldomly
did any of them actually come fromthe accessibility community, the disabled community.
And you know, disabilityand accessibility was put under
inclusion.
And when I started talking about,"Hey, listen, it really should be an IDE"

(30:49):
"model instead of DEI." IDEbeing accessibility first, right?
And having that experiencefrom a disabled person.
A lot more peoplehave been super receptive to that.
And so I started working with different theatercompanies and different shows.
And it's been great.
I went to the operaa few weeks ago for the first time,
and they have the little screens

(31:09):
in the chairs with the lyrics,you know, in English.
So is that something that you wouldadvocate for in Broadway theaters,
or is it just not the same as havingthe piece signed by an actual person?
So I advocate for both.
The reason that the opera hasthat is because the operas are mostly
in other languages. Right? And so...

(31:29):
But then why aren't they viewing...
Because ASL essentially, excusemy ignorance,
Like is another language essentially?
So people, you know, it needs,why not translate it, you know?
That roughly would be most of my points.
And, but also ASL has its own grammar.
So a lot of people who speak ASL
uh, writtenEnglish is not their first language.

(31:51):
And so following along on captionswhen it's your second or possibly
third language is a lot harderthan just watching a performance in ASL.
So the need for both isthere. Also a lot of hard
of hearing people don't bother learningsign, right? So hard of hearing people
it ranges from everywhere from havinghearing aids to having cochlear implants
those people wouldn't signbut they would benefit from the caption.

(32:13):
So both are really necessaryin any kind of accessibility thing.
Are there headsets?
So when I've done audio descriptionfor some major movies, I know
people can go to the movie theaterand get a headset to hear that.
Does that exist uh, for Broadwayperformances?
Yes. Right now there is a company
that does audio description and captioning.So that that does exist.

(32:34):
It's what we're talking about nowis the quality and caliber of that work.
Right?
What we're findingis the company right now
and the company that a lot of the disabledcommunity
has a lot of grievances withis, it's all automated
and it's never actually includeddisabled people. Right?
So like I went to a show where almost 40%of the captioning script was missing.

(32:59):
And how-how can I access a showwhen you know, when,
when I went to see a certain show,the opening line was not even there.
And then I have my blind consultant, Shane,who went to another Broadway show,
and they were like, "Oh, I'm sorry,we just don't have the AD script for this."
It's just not available today.
And so like that, those levelsof accessibility need to be checked.
And right now on Broadway,there is no overarching, you know,

(33:22):
entity that we can report these things to.
They just exist.
And then we send an emailthat we're unsatisfied with what happened
and nothing gets done.And so that's sort of been my marching drive.
So is that a bigger fight then?
So like I heard in Englandand I could be wrong, but in England
I believe that every TV show needsto have audio description.
By law, it's not always done great,you know, sometimes it's

(33:45):
just like the intern doing it, sadly,because it's an afterthought.
Sadly.
And I'm guessing that law doesn'texist here in America, right?
Not everything has to be accessible.
Not everything has to have sign language,or audio description,
or closed captions,or does that law exist
or is that potentially somethingwe can start campaigning for?

(34:06):
So it does exist.
It's about the level that it exists in,right?
So like, for instance, your CNN televised
sports ball game is
going to hmm, sorry football?Football game. Hm.
Sports ball is my word for all sports,
um, they're going to havea live cart writer, right?

(34:26):
So when it's live, somebody sits thereand the, you know, stenographer tells
what the captions are. On programingtelevision, they have closed captions
Um, on programming television,
they have audio descriptions.On most movies,
they have audio descriptions.
Those are legally protected because
they all go out to the public.
Right?
So there are laws that saythat we have to have these services.

(34:48):
The unfortunate thing is in theater, right?
We have the American Disabilities Act thatsays that live theatrical performances
only currently legally have to protect assistedlistening device systems.
That's the only thing they have to protect.
They can choose into audio descriptionand closed captioning,
but that's not the legally protectedstandard.

(35:09):
What does end up happening thoughis you can sue
someone under the ADA, if they don't have captionsor audio description and you'll win.
But the level of quality
that's currently on Broadwayis super questionable at the moment and
and it doesn't lend itselfto make Broadway accessible.
The reason that our numbersin the disabled community for going to see

(35:32):
Broadway shows are so low is becausethis service has been bad for years
and no one's done anything about it.
So we stop wasting money on showsthat we can't access.
I don't want to pay $150to get 60% of a show.
Wow. I'm like shaking my head indisbelief here.
For those of you listening to us,I just find this outrageous.
-Me too.-Yeah. I-I think,

(35:53):
I think, you know what Maria'sdescribing is...is accurate.
I think people get caught up in quantityand this conversation should start with quality.
There's there's a ton of audio description
floating around on television and movies.
I would estimate 70 to 80% of itis subpar honestly in this country.
You know, it'sjust a matter of taking, it's a couple things,

(36:14):
A. people taking pride and caring,but also people being trained properly
and supported properly to do the work,which is another thing.
Lots of folksget thrown into it as an afterthought.
And you know, garbage in, garbage outis kind of the way it happens. So.
So you got involved in the pandemic.
Broadway, you know,Access Broadway started to pick up
and I mean, you just kind of alluded to it.
But everything is not going great.

(36:37):
No. I mean, everything for my company is goinggreat.
Sure.
Everythingwhere I would like it to be is not where I
where it currentlyis, is not where I would like it to be
because of, you know,
30, 50 year old contracts that exist.
Most Broadwayshows have to use this one company

(36:57):
because no one else really does itor has the system to do it.
We, Eric and I, mainstreamedand we did the first ever national tour
with captioning and audio descriptionavailable for the entire run.
We went on tour with "Into the Woods."
I absolutely adore every singleperson in that building, but we also

(37:18):
revolutionized kind of captioning audiodescription because it was live gated.
Right? Right now it's all on automation.
So if you miss a light cue or if you miss something
it's not going to keep going
because it doesn't understandhow to do anything.
-Right.-Yeah.
If an actor twists an ankle and go ongoes down...no really, there's a...
-Seriously. Yeah.-...three minute,
Three minute gap of recoveringit'll just keep going and you'll never catch up

(37:40):
So it's not a good productas it currently sits generally so...
So we did liveand I sat there for every performance.
-And that's amazing.-And that was a great....
...track it turned out wonderfully.We learned a lot. It was a lot of work
-Yeah.-Um, but moving forward...
So like best case scenariolike, do you think this this contract
these issues like do you think it'll getresolved in a matter of time?

(38:05):
And if so, when do you when do youwhen do you envision best case scenario,
a family with a disabled membercan buy a ticket
and have full confidence that they'regoing to be able to experience a wonderful
experience in the Broadway theater?
I would hope
less than five years.
I have some big ideas

(38:26):
and some big plans currently in the works,but I would, I would hope...
I mean, it's not going to happenovernight, right?
We've already seen that it can't.But I do...
I will say there's a few producerswho I have talked to
who are absolutely,
and ethically on board with the missionof having every performance
be accessible. Right?
Is that where it falls?

(38:47):
-The producers have to, have to care?-Yeah.
Yeah. The producers have to care enoughto challenge a contract.
-What...?-Wait, and what is a contract. I'm sorry Emily.
-No that's okay.-Is this contract open ended?
Like, there's got to be an enddate on this thing.
I-so it's just like a standard contractthat you you sign when a show moves into
a Broadway house. Right?
And just nobody's ever challenged it
because that's the way it's been done forthe last fifty years.

(39:09):
But surely, surely it's justa case of a lawyer
finding a loophole in this old,outdated contract.
But it's the want,and it's the fear of that, right?
So this particular company
handles all the sound equipmentfor Broadway shows as well.
And so sort of divorcing those two things
is a little...because it's all writtenas one thing, it's a little sticky.
-Yeah.-So then how can I help?

(39:30):
How can our listeners help, how how canhow can we help make this change happen?
Like, is there a petition we can sign?
Is there...just talking about itto everyone?
Like, what can we do to really help you
-Um, a petition would be a good idea.-Well there we go.
Uh gonna write that one down for later.
No, I think it's you know,I think it's about
bringing people to showsand actively advocating for people.

(39:53):
If you're a person, an able bodied personwho goes to see a Broadway show,
ask about captioning, ask about audio description.
But who do we ask?
Oh, house, house managers.
When you walkin, there will be a house manager
and will usually be a little areafor captioning and audio description.
Asking about it, asking about the level of, you know,
which blind consultant was consulted forthis show?

(40:14):
Was there a blind consultantconsulted for this show?
Was there a deaf hard of hearingconsultant consulted for this show?
And most of the timethe answer's gonna be no.
Yeah, I can vouch for thatbecause I actually used
to work front of house with house managerswho are lovely people.
-I love them.-Mm-hm.
There's a big divide between housemanagers and producers, sadly,
And that's the thingI feel like emailing in to production companies.

(40:36):
I will say that's how we got-we got the first
ASL performance of "Little Shop of Horrors"because myself
and Ari Groover,who was a Ronnette at the time.
She was annoyed that I couldn'tcome and see her performance,
and so we had to do a lot of advocating.
So that would be my next question.
Could we not askBroadway stars to speak out?
Like, could we not like maybe like,"Hey, if you're a Broadway star"

(40:59):
"and you're listening to our show, FUNYC podcast,speak out, speak up!"
And make your show accessible.
And share your amazing performancewith those
that really want to come and see you.
And I will say not for nothing.
Shout out to Kevin Clay.
In particular,the entire ASL performance was Kevin Clay's
you know, advocacy.

(41:19):
He approached me, he brought our companyin and he said, "I really want an ASL performance."
"And you know, I, I will do everythingI can to make it a reality."
And he did. He talked to the producers,
He advocated, we, you know,we brought the ASL interpreters,
we did all the rehearsals,we did all, like, you know, all the prep for it,
invited the community in, but it wasreally him being like, "This isn't fair."

(41:41):
"I want an ASL performance."
"This person's doing great work,let's do it."
And the producers,you know, and shout out to the producers.
The producers followed suitand they were like, "Great,"
"we're making this a priorityfor this year."
-And it was awesome.-Now we got to do, which is cool,
Shakespeare in the Parklast summer. We did Hamlet with, IDC
did Hamlet uh, audio description,and it was, I think very well received.

(42:02):
It was. Uh, Hamlet...
having the first accessible
summer season for Shakespeare inthe Park is kind of a bucket list thing
for me as a personwho grew up going to Shakespeare in the Park..
-Yeah.-Right.
Um, who stood in those lines for hoursand hours and hours to see shows.
So to be able to provide audio description,

(42:24):
captioning all summerto anybody who wanted it was a dream.
And we saw a lot of users in our,
you know, international
groupcome in, you know who needed captioning.
We saw a lot of hard of hearing, deaf,
our wonderful people from visionscame through and so just having

(42:44):
that level of access at every performance,not selected performances was a dream.
Yeah, so again, we'll keep aneye out if you want to,
Before we wrap up here, Maria will tell ushow to find Access Broadway
Huzzah. Uh, you can find us at
www.AccessBroadwayNY.com

(43:04):
Or Access Broadway NY on Instagramand the Facebook.
Right, and people can go there and get informationabout all these things
we're talking about, I'm sure there's waysto donate and get involved and support
and to protest and again,peacefully protest.
-I'm happy to protest for you-But again, but a protest meaning
ask when you get there, "Hey I need theseservices, where are they?"

(43:26):
You know, "Please provide them."
So check out Access Broadway againon the FUNYCPod.com website.
We will have a link to AccessBroadwayNY.com
That'll be under the, what's the, I forget thetab on the website right now.
-I think it's support.-Support. Thank you.
So you can go there and check them out.

(43:46):
I mean Kevin could havechanged it, I dunno.
Yeah, I mean, but it's there.So go find that. Um...
Now you personally
Maria, now Maria again,one of my favorite humans on the planet.
I mean it's amazing that you've done
so much in such a little amount of timeand that you rose very much
from a traumatic thing to have this happenand to kind of refocus your life.

(44:09):
Do you think the...the
the you that you've buried would be proud ofthe you that is now living?
-I think so.-Yeah?
I do. I think I probably would haveended up here somehow anyway.
Right.
If I'm being perfectly honest.
I think, you know, the idea of bloodstainpatterns and forensic psychology

(44:29):
was super intriguing to me,
but I definitely thinkI wanted more to do more,
and I probably would have endedup here in some capacity. It
-I think you've done it. And continue to do it.-Yeah.
And so if you want to find you personally
on Instagram or social media,where are they finding you?
Oh, I am, MariaPorto.2 on Instagram.

(44:52):
Or Maria Porto on the Facebook.
-Okay.-But I'm not really on there that much.
You can find me on Instagram.
Instagram andsomebody else you can find on Instagram...
-DaisyTheWonderDog2!-Is Daisy on Instagram?
-Daisy has her own handle.-Oh, her little tail's wagging.
-She's like, "Follow me, follow me."-People like her...
Instagram more than mine which is fine.
-I mean she's the best.-Someone stole my dog's Instagram.

(45:13):
-Yeah it's true.-I know. It's really sad.
So DaisyTheWonderDog2 at Instagram.
Now we talked about this before,you guys will go out and do fundraising.
And and there was a competition?Tell that story real quick.
There was a competition for fundraising.
And Daisy got involved...
It wasn't a competition.
So we our ad vid, Red Bucket,

(45:33):
uh, volunteers for Broadway CaresEquity Fights AIDS.
It's an amazing organization on Broadwaythat does such
wonderful things for the peopleon stage, off stage, backstage
um, and all around the world.
And I was working with the kidsover at "Lion King"
and, you know, holding the bucket,they would do photos with people.

(45:55):
This was pre-COVID.
Um, and I had to do something with them.
And I handed her the bucketjust so I didn't have in my hand
so I could do something.
And people started massgiving money to her.
She's got the bucket in her mouth.
Yep she has the little handle in her mouthand she holds the bucket.
And then, you know, from there it kind oftook off that, you know, Broadway Cares

(46:16):
Equity Fights AIDS had this volunteer dogthat would go to random shows.
And so they startedbooking us at different shows each night
um, so that she could hold the bucket.
And it's not so much a competitionas they would give me a bucket
and her a bucket.And by the end of the night
I would have like $5and she would have like $400.
Right. But I thought there was something where they,they wouldn't count her total.

(46:39):
Oh yeah. That's when they weretalking about like points
and like how manypeople raised the most.
She always knockedeveryone out of the water.
And so, it just wasn't fair after a while.
-Right. Biggest fundraiser for all of that...-Paw-lunteer.
Yes. Amazing.
So. Again, Maria Porto,thank you for being here.
Let's let's talksome New York city specific questions.

(46:59):
-No, no reason to hide.-Oh God.
We'll start with some easy ones.
What is your favorite movieset in New York City?
"The Great Gatsby."
Oh...
-The new...the newer one with the DiCaprio?-No the older...
Oh, yeah, that one.
That one. The older one, it's likefrom ten years ago. Yeah...
Older one to me.

(47:20):
Well, fair enough.
What's your favorite TV showset in New York?
Law and Order.
-Because of the forensic studies.-Yeah.
Yeah.-Yeah.
Which one?
-SVU. Please.-Oh, okay.
Uh, that or uh...
Oh, what was the otherone that I really liked.

(47:42):
What was it called?
-There was a little show called "Seinfeld."-New Amster...
-No?-I liked "Seinfeld."
I mean, I did it. It was funny.
Everybody's saying "Law and Order" or "Seinfeld"So I thought maybe..."New Amsterdam"?
Yeah. Yeah. That was fun.That's a fun show.
There's a lot of New York shows.
Uh, favorite musicianor band to come out of New York City.
The Beastie Boys.

(48:03):
-The Beastie Boys.-Oh, that is a good answer.
A good one. It's a very good one.
What about favorite song about New York?
I'm going to steal yours.
It's still "New York State of Mind." It's...
-I was telling...-I don't think I can claim it as mine.
-I think that's, you know...-No, I mean being your favorite.
We do a lot of hikingon the Appalachian Trail
and if you are riding up the Hudson Riverline on Metro-North, going up literally

(48:28):
the New York City line, it is the bestsong to have bumping.
It's-it's a classic. I don't care.
-It's cliché, but I'm gonna...-Wait is yours the Barbra Streisand version?
-Yeah.-See? Yours wasn't.
What? What?
The Barbra Streisand version.
-No.-What? You know what
we can agree to disagree.
Oh, we're going to vehemently disagree.

(48:50):
Wow you're lucky I like you so much.
We're not gonna be friends anymore.What did you do to me?
We violently disagree.
-Oh my God.-You could have just left it at that.
Oh my God. The Barbra Streisand...Oh my God.
I don't think I can go on.
-Why such hate for Babs?-I know.
It's Billy Joel. Come on.
I love Billy Joel. I'm notsaying that he's not...
-I-I love that version too.-I didn't even know she performed that song.

(49:11):
I didn't even know Billy Joeldid originally.
-Oh, what?-Oh that's a crime.
Because it's like, in England, we just knowBilly Joel as like "Uptown Girl."
-That's, like, his biggest hit in England.-I can't even anymore.

Disclaimer (49:22):
I'm not with her on that one.
Yeah but in England, that's his, like, biggest hit.
Oh my God.
Everyone loves "Uptown Girl" in England.
-Dear God.-They love it.
Fantastic.
Favorite food item in New York City.
Food item?
Like, what do you-what do youhave to eat here and only here?
You're away for three months.You come back.

(49:43):
First thing you gottaeat when you land in New York City.
-Pizza.-It's pizza.
Pizza because I go internationally andto California a lot and anybody who tells you
that California pizza is better than New YorkCity pizza is absolutely insane.
That's like someone sayingBarbra Streisand version...
-You know what? Listen...-...of "New York State of Mind"
Is better than Billy Joel's. That's insane.
Not it's not! Go, go eat at California PizzaKitchen in California.

(50:04):
That shit is whack.
-I agree just like saying Barbra's version...-That's also big in England.
California Pizza Kitchen?
-Also big in England!-Listen, all y'all are wrong.
So is 80's Joel apparently. Anyway...
Yes it's huge.
Oh, my God.
Favorite season in New York City.
Oh, fall. Fall is the best seasonin New York City.

(50:24):
I completely agree.
She hates this question.
-Why?-I hate...because everyone says "fall."
-Because it's the best...-Except they don't. We've had spring,
and your favorite is...
-Summer.-No. Why?
-Exactly.-Why would you like summer in the city?
-Yeah.-Oh, I love it.
-I just love it.-Do you...
...love the steam coming out of...
-The smells.-Yeah, like the steam coming out of the subway.
-Does that refresh you?-I just love the sunshine.

(50:45):
-Emily, Emily enjoys...-I feel like everyone's happier.
Emily enjoys a good stench.
-...is what it is.-Yeah, well, I sit next to you for a podcast
-for a few hours a week.
I smell fantastic right now. I dress like shit but I smell great.
I'm sorry. So I think we knowthe answer to this one.
-Mm-hm.-Oh no.
We've already discussed it. Favoritecharity in New York City.

(51:06):
Ah yes. Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS.We have been a longstanding member
of the Red Bucket Brigadeand all the work that they do.
Yes, and all the work Daisy does
-to support as well.-I have a question on that one
Of course.
Does Daisy come from a particular charityor is there a charity
of working dogs that we can also support?
Yeah. So this charity is actually outsideof New York City.

(51:27):
Uh, her organization is called PAWSwith a Cause.
They're out of Wayland, Michigan.
They are the top notch
uh, for service dogsfor people around the country.
They literally sendthese dogs around the country.
Um, and I've beenworking with them for the last...
-...11 years?-Wow.
And they placed Daisy with me seven years ago.

(51:48):
Let's add that to the website as well.
Absolutely. And people should know too,
you know, on the subject of adoptingor shopping, all that kind of stuff,
there's a lot of...a lot of these servicedogs go through training and they don't make it.
It doesn't mean they're bad dogs.
It just means, it'sa very specialized thing.
I think it's 70% don't make it.
It's a pretty high number. Yeah.

(52:09):
And they can not make it for any kind of reason.One of her brothers had allergies.
Right, so it's nothing to do with thembeing you know, they're still
you're getting a tremendous dogand it may cost a little bit.
It's a donation.
You fill out a form for an adoptionand it's a donation
and it might cost a few more bucks
than going to a breeder, but you're supportingan amazing organization.

(52:29):
I do some work with the Seeing Eye Foundation in Morristown. Same thing.
Again, it's definitely something I thinkpeople don't think about looking into.
They just assume that you can't get these...
You can and you can, you just have a wonderful dogand support a great cause in the process.
You're not gonna get a Daisy. Sorry to tell you, it's like,
Well, you may get a dog that just brings yourandom things, cause this training is still there.

(52:50):
Right! But you're not getting a Daisy,but you'll get something uh, close.
And the last question I thinkwe know the answer to this too, but go ahead.
Is your closest near-death experience in New York.
Sorry.
So fun.
I got you know, got an Uber one time,
and he came upand he was very angry about the dog.

(53:13):
Um, going with me.
And he had opened his back passenger window.
And I had leaned over,and I wear a cross the body bag
and it got caught in the door handleand he drove off with me and Daisy attached to the car.
Um, we screamed,and he stopped for like a minute.
And I have no idea what happened.
I assume he started yelling,but then he sped off with us.

(53:35):
So we got dragged like half a block, uh,until the strap broke.
And then they transported me.
And Daisyto a trauma room at Harlem Hospital.
And it was I...
I was more upsetbecause my dog was injured than me.
Um, and so Daisy, they had shout out to Harlem hospital.
They took care of her, they immediatelycrated her.

(53:56):
They dressed all her road, you know, rashes,and that was a...
Did they find this guy?
Yeah, that really pisses me off to dobut do anything about this.
I don't know if Uber everdid anything, but the cops.
Uh, it was an Uber driver,so I had his license plate number.
It wasn't that hard to turn it over.
And I guessand and this is, you know, shoutout
to New York City, though, F New York Cityon a lot of things, especially when it comes to transportation,

(54:19):
but there was a guy who was in the carbehind us who chased this dude.
Until,you know, he stopped and he got a cop.
And so I guess the guy got arrested.
But shout out to that guy.
Yeah well done. That's why I love New Yorkers.
Is that uh court case still pending or...
No this was years ago.
Do we know if he, did he get prosecuted?
-He's probably still driving for Uber.-I don't think he got prosecuted.

(54:41):
Yeah, I don't think he got prosecuted.
But I do know that they had me like
fill out like a statementand all that stuff, but...
Well I'm glad you're okay.
-Yeah, me too.-I'm glad Daisy's okay.
I was more upset about Daisy.
-You know, I am equally upset.-I am so upset.
-I was like, "I'll live."-I'm, like, crying again.
-Yeah I know, poor Daisy.-It makes me so mad that people like that.
Well again, we've been getting a lot of fun storieswith that question. That's definitely the most...

(55:03):
-Horrific one.-That's definitely the most FU-NYC question.
No, that counts.
I guess we were expectingabout the NYPD cop, you know.
That was-that was near death as well.
But, but yeah.
-Yeah.-That's awful.
The most traumatic one waswhen my dog was involved.
The thing with the cop was just me,
So I feel I do a lot better when it'sjust me I have to worry about.

(55:25):
Maybe we should ask Uber as an apologyto maybe send a good donation
to Access Broadway and the Paws for Causecharities as an apology.
I concur.
So. So,
anyway, again, Maria Porto,thank you for being here.
Uh, tremendous pleasure having you again,one of my favorite people
in the world and far and awaymy favorite dog in the world.

(55:47):
Yeah, I am in awe.I am blown away by your story.
The fact that you what you've been throughand you just help
people is just so amazing.
I hope you know how special you are.
Thank you. Thank you for having me.It's been super fun.
Oh, yeah.
No, you're welcome back anytime. So...so...
Any time you want to smellthe stench of Eric.

(56:08):
Yeah.
So just not in summer then. Got it.
Yeah. Stench. Right don't come in summer.It's a terrible season.
So hey, thanks for tuning in
This is FUNYC, I'm your co-host, Eric Wickstrom,
And I'm your co-host, Emily Eden.
Again, check us out at FUNYCPod, we're on Instagramwe're on Twitter.
We're everywhere you stream podcasts.
and check out the scripted version

(56:29):
of Emily's adapted novel, FUNYC, same name.
And see you next time.
Thank you. Bye.