When Life Gives You Lemons
We do a bit of Research into handicapped travel issues and provide some solutions. Mobility, Hearing, Sight, Mental issues included. so far our episodes have included some information on Ataxia, Cerebral Palsy, Deafness, Dancing Sickness, Gulf War Syndrome, Long Covid and Wheelchairs. We are both Disability Advocates and realize there are too many diseases and conditions to cover and try to discuss the most common problems disabled people face and spread some awareness of disabled issues non-disabled people are unaware of.
CORRECTION
On a Previous episode I described how to enter our End Of Season contest. Step 1 click on the support our show link. Step 1 we require a one time payment (This has changed during our season) of $3. Step 3 (get you back to a one time payment) click on the $3 Subscription button. The following business day cancel the subscription (if you do it same day your bank may start thinking FRAUD. Step 4 Your done. Thanks for entering and "may the odds be forever in your favor",
When Life Gives You Lemons
Facing Disability Bias: Maria's Campus Police Encounter
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Disability bias doesn't always announce itself with slurs or obvious discrimination—sometimes it lurks in the assumptions of those meant to protect us. Maria's powerful story of being detained by campus police after a late-night study session reveals how quickly cerebral palsy can be misinterpreted as intoxication by untrained eyes.
Following an exhausting midterm study marathon at the university library, Maria and her friends were stopped while returning to their dorms after 2 AM. Despite her friends' attempts to explain her condition, an officer subjected Maria to a series of sobriety tests she could never pass due to her disability—a breathalyzer requiring mouth control her dysarthria prevented, coordination tests impossible with her tremoring arm, and walking tests that challenged her basic mobility. What followed was a humiliating detention in a basement holding facility while her friends were released.
The story takes a dramatic turn when the police chief recognizes Maria, having been previously informed about her condition when she enrolled. His intervention—and subsequent firing of the officer—acknowledges the injustice but can't erase the experience. This episode serves as both a cautionary tale and a call for better disability awareness training in law enforcement and other public service sectors.
Maria's willingness to share her experience gives voice to an issue many disabled individuals face—being criminalized for their very existence. Her story prompts listeners to question: how many similar incidents go unreported? What structural changes could prevent such encounters? And how can we each contribute to creating a world where disability isn't automatically viewed through a lens of suspicion?
Subscribe to our podcast for more compelling stories that challenge assumptions and advocate for meaningful change. Share your own experiences through our website or text service—together, we can transform lemons into something sweeter.
Welcome to our podcast. When life gives you lemons, I'm Kevin and I'm Palmy.
Palmi:We consider ourselves disability advocates and intend to spotlight some disability issues and things we find interesting that we frequently encounter when we're out and about. Also some history on disability that we find interesting.
Kevin:Welcome back everybody. This episode we are continuing along with Maria's story, so listen carefully to the interview. It's both humorous and it has a point.
Maria:Is that right? Yeah, is that right. Humorous and it has a point. Exactly, exactly, I was. It was midterm time. If any of you went to college, you know you're living on coffee and ramen noodles and maybe mac and cheese, to put you this way. That's correct, exactly. So we had a group project and we had been at the campus library for six hours at least, and so we're always lost, and it's about one or two. Well, it had to be past two because we had to give her a lease to get back into the dormitories after 2 o'clock. Well, back then, if you were in Kent Library by 11, they would let you stay until whenever you were done. So we're walking back because the shuttles have shut down for the night and DPS is doing rounds. So we're walking back through the terraces. Now I am lugging a 40-pound backpack, tired as I can be, I'm not walking very well.
Palmi:You're staggering. Let's just say yeah.
Maria:Exactly. And then because I'm in Ricketts and so DPS flexes down and we were thinking ID, because, being Cape Girardeau, you never know who's walking where. So it was me, another girl and three guys, which one guy I went to high school with. So he knew me pretty well, right, pretty well. So I'm, you know. The cop comes up and says where you been li ke the library. Now, mind you, there is a bar in Cedar Called the library, exactly. Of course he's like yeah, okay, William and Doreen were like coffee and Frappuccino with the extra squirt of mocha.
Palmi:In his mind he's trying to figure out what drug is called mocha right.
Maria:Exactly, exactly, probably. Never even heard of Frappuccino. He takes out the breathalyzer.
Palmi:Makes her breathe into the breathalyzer.
Maria:And now I have dysarthria so my mouth don't close, well, well, so he does that on all of us. Well, all of us is blowing zero, but the staggering freak is blowing air. So then he makes us do the right, right, left, right, on course, with my left arm shake. So I failed that You're zero for three at this point. Right Zero for two Now. Now, three strikes, you're out right. So he makes me walk A straight line Down the parking street that you can't do even if you're sober. He's like sir, she has cerebral palsy, she cannot walk, even at nine o'clock in the morning and her left arm always free. So he was now figure this out, guys. He let all the others go and takes me down to DPS. Now we're not talking about the nice new remodeled DPS on Sprigg Street. No, we're talking about DPS in a 50-year-old dormitory basement that probably hasn't been cleaned since the 1970s.
Palmi:I can imagine what your mom was saying when she came to pick you up.
Maria:We're good at work. So I went to First Steps before I went into college. Me and my mom had made sure that DPS knew who I was, you know what my name was. Make sure they knew I had sleeping epilepsy and all that, right. So so I'm down here in the bunker holding room Wow, this is in the bunker holding room while this idiot cop is booking me in and calling my dad. Well, so the chief walks by the room and kind of does a double take, like maybe I just see in there. So he comes in and by this time it's 3 o'clock in the morning. This time it's 3 o'clock in the morning. So I'm tired, as I should be probably acting like I am on something. But he's like Maria, what the hell are you doing here? So I tell him this story Maria, what the hell are you doing in?
Palmi:here, so I tell him the story. Apparently, I'm drunk.
Maria:He's like who the F brought you in here? So I tell him. And then the Arnold Schwarzenegger accent. He's like I'll be back. I'm like I am drawing the acees, spades and the deck of cards. Right now I'm cooling my heels in Cape County jail for next month while they figure out the same. And so he comes back with idiot and he's like why in the world would you bring her in? He's like well, commander, she didn't pass a surprise test. And he says she was at the library. She says she was at the library and I think she had something. Now Chief Brown looks at him like he is stoned out of his mind. He's like well, you probably should have realized she did not have the walk of a drunk, because and you can confirm this my walk isn't what a drunk walk is. I mean I sway, but not the way a drunk would.
Kevin:Right, yeah.
Maria:And so he looks at this officer. He's like, if no, she can't pass the sobriety test, anything is possible. And I'm just sitting here like, oh my god, I'm dead and that was his job. Well, so he tells him. He said I'm taking her back to her dorm and your locker better be packed and ready by the time I get back.
Palmi:Yeah, Because if you guys wanted to sue, you certainly could have. Oh, by far. Yeah, yeah, thank you for talking to us and, like I said, if you ever need anything, we're right here for you.
Maria:Yeah, to you guys. All right, we'll talk to you later. See you All right, bye, bye, thank you.
Kevin:Wow Thanks, Maria. I really enjoyed your talking to you. I hope to see you soon. But anyway, folks, that is a continuation of Maria's story. We do have a few housekeeping items I'd like to go over before we're done. As always, our website is www. whenlifegivesyoulemmons. net. On our website you'll see there's a place where you can send us fan mail. That's like a text. It goes out for free if you're in the US and I'm not sure about other countries what it costs you. If you prefer, you can contact us via email. That information is always on the website and you can look up some of our older episodes, if those interest you, and listen to those as well. Next time we're either going to be talking with Maria about a new story or talking to a financial expert who's up on day trading, Hopefully to give you guys some idea of how to make a little bit of extra income.
Palmi:And that's all the housekeeping I have.
Kevin:I want to remind everybody that we want to give a shout-out to everybody who sends us fan mail. If you're not able to use fan mail for free, say you want that shout-out on email, so we do keep the cost down for you. And if you're interested in supporting their program, beyond just saying what you like or don't like about their program, you can hit the subscribe button on the website and all we're asking for is a one-time donation, not a recurring donation. If you're having problems figuring that out on how to differentiate between the two, send me an email and I'll try to make sure you get work around. What I'll do is try to script it out. If it's a constant problem, I'll read that in a future episode. Thank you very much for listening.
Palmi:Sounds good.
Kevin:Until next episode, take those lemons and make your own Lemonade.
Palmi:Soundstripe.
