The Forgotten Voice of Kay Irion – A Pioneer for Disability Awareness and Inclusion in 1940s Cincinnati
作者:Arabeth Balasko，摄影和印刷品策展人 & 媒体，辛辛那提博物馆中心
Kay Irion is a name that many today are not aware of; however, in the early 1940s, she was the 说话 辛辛那提. Kay, who became a paraplegic after being injured in a car accident in the late 1930s, was the first 全职 radio host to go live over the airwaves on Cincinnati’s popular radio station, WSAI-WLW.1
她出事前是音乐系的秘书, Kay went to visit her old friends and co-workers at WSAI-WLW studio during her early rehabilitation processes. 在演播室，凯被邀请作为嘉宾出现在 保罗·艾利森诗歌与哲学早间广播. 很显然，她在节目中很受欢迎，以至于节目总监. Shadwell for WSAI-WLW asked Kay if she would be willing to do a radio show of her own for the “呆在家里辛辛那提的. 恺用她自己的话说:
“Mr. Shadwell knew of other radio programs for 自闭 in other cities and thought such programs here in Cincinnati could be successful. 他问我能不能抽出15分钟. program for 自闭 and handicapped listeners – it could be broadcast from my own apartment, 一周两次. […] I knew how much radio had helped me – perhaps I could help others with my program.”2
因此, 蓝鸟俱乐部 成立. 1月2日, 1940, 从她的家庭工作室, which was set-up in her very own living room by the WSAI-WLW engineering crew (she seemed to have pioneered both working-at-home and podcasts), 凯·伊里昂创造了历史!
这个节目很快就吸引了全辛辛那提的听众. 蓝鸟俱乐部 grew to become a recognized program which featured guests with a variety of talents and abilities. 它被人们亲切地称为“把一缕阳光投进最需要的人的心中.” The program attracted such a wide array of listeners and performers that Kay herself began to gain fame and recognition locally as well as nationally. Kay’s fanbase even included one dedicated fan who anonymously gifted her with a single rose, 每星期一, 四年来3.
在整个过程中 蓝鸟俱乐部，持续了“四年零九个月，嘉宾包括当地名人，如 莫菲特大叔, 尤金·古森斯, Minabelle雅培, 比尔•韦伯; to nationally and internationally known sensations of the time such as 汤米·多西, 格伦·米勒, 塞米凯, 红斯凯尔顿, 丹尼斯的一天, 博斯韦尔姐妹.4
Kay also welcomed a number of guests with diverse ethnic backgrounds and races on the program and into her home. 当种族隔离在美国仍然合法的时候.S. and mounting antisemitism and Japanese internment camps were heightened due to racial prejudices, 凯主持了著名的犹太喜剧演员, 埃迪·坎特 谁协助建立了 硬币游行. 比尔·罗宾森 是一个受欢迎的嘉宾吗 蓝鸟俱乐部 而且是"最早的黑人独唱演员之一“在舞台和银幕上，他利用自己的名气，”克服众多种族障碍.流行的 Ka 'aihue家庭来自夏威夷的美国人也在节目中表演 蓝鸟俱乐部. 这个群体后来"被认为是拉斯维加斯“休闲”风格的奠基者，这在今天仍然是一种流行的现场表演方式.5
此外，几位残疾嘉宾也出现在节目中 蓝鸟俱乐部. 来自那些患过小儿麻痹症的年轻听众, to men returning home from WWII with life-altering battle scars; to guests with eyesight impairments accompanied by their seeing eye dogs, 客人们也使用轮椅和拐杖来移动, 比如《网上赌搏网站十大排行》中的康妮·博斯韦尔, who was a fellow paraplegic; all were welcomed on 蓝鸟俱乐部. 他们的出现有助于提高对残疾人的关注和倡导, 在节目播出的过程中, 团队蓝鸟 能够完成支持。”75张送给宅男们的贺卡, 给邓纳姆医院的病人戴耳机, 为盲人妇女缝制的绗缝架, 许多拐杖和手杖, 18个轮椅, 4张病床, 4套支架, 3台收音机.”6
凯, 蓝鸟俱乐部 became a meaningful and impactful platform for raising disability awareness and support in the greater-Cincinnati area. 凯在回顾自己的生活时，描述了这个项目对她的意义:
“……时间并没有像我想象的那样过得很慢. Life seemed to get down to fundamentals and I began to see people and things in a different light. Everything nice became nicer…everything beautiful became more beautiful…life slowed down...but life took on a new glow – a new dimensions…I’m not saying everything was just fine and easy or happy all the time, far from it…but it seemed I found that life in circumstances which one would ordinarily think as unbearable, 现在看来，并不是太难接受了.”7
Kay Irion lived a life as a disabled young woman in an era where disabilities were still highly hidden and poorly understood and/or widely supported. 凯自己坐在轮椅上从不害怕被人看见, 事实上, 它经常被骄傲地展示出来, 不隐藏, 在她的画像中. 这是她自身的延伸, her refusal to be erased made a powerful statement to others in society that regardless of how you are viewed, 你仍然有效, 你还是有用的, 而你依旧 你.
在她一生中, 凯尝试了各种各样的康复计划, 并继续倡导残疾人意识和全市范围的改变. 她甚至写信给美国总统， 富兰克林·德拉诺·罗斯福 确认关于"全职” vs. “自闭.” She had written the following to him; “呆在家里(我们更喜欢这个词，而不是“关在家里”).)用她自己的话来说, Kay stated that her ultimate goal in life was to be as independent as she could possibly be, 她倡导并支持其他有同样愿望和目标的人.8
凯最终在参加后重新学会了如何走路 贝瑞学派; however, she stated that the experience was more brutal mentally than fruitful physically, 她的大部分时间都是在轮椅上度过的.
凯说了一句话, 关于她的经历, 她的其他脊髓损伤幸存者真的很突出. 凯解释道, 用她自己的话来说, why she believed that the Disability Community began to gain more awareness and advocacy after WWII. 她评论说,
“This dream of rehabilitation was aided and abetted by the paraplegic veterans I met following the war…I learned more about independence the know-how from them. This was the beginning, on a large scale, of rehabilitation programs, of physical medicine. 当成千上万的退伍军人在战争中受伤，面临巨大的问题时，V.A. felt a tremendous responsibility for…so they set about doing something about the problems. 因此，物理医学和物理疗法开始崭露头角.”9
Kay Irion was a pioneer, a champion for inclusion, a change-maker in Cincinnati. 她一生的主题是:事情可能会发生，让它发生吧.” May we all embrace a little bit of Kay’s spirit and remember her name and celebrate her story. 为了纪念 美国档案月, 全国残疾人就业宣传月, the Cincinnati Museum Center is honored to share this small snapshot into the incredible life of Kay Irion, a woman who defied the odds and pioneered for disability awareness throughout her lifetime.10
关于藏品: The Kay Irion Collection is permanently housed in the Photographs, Prints, Media Department. The collection contains a mixture of images and ephemera celebrating the history of 蓝鸟俱乐部 and Kay Irion’s life.
1 1940年12月29日《十大赌博平台排行榜》的文章写道:蓝鸟俱乐部广播是从西麦克米伦街145号伊里昂小姐的家中发出的. It is believed that she is the only radio performer in Cincinnati to have a studio installed in her home.” – “美国全国广播公司将参加蓝鸟俱乐部周年纪念活动,——《十大赌博平台排行榜》, 12月29日, 1940; SC#296 Kay Irion Collection, 由辛辛那提博物馆中心提供.
2 “广播 & 坐在轮椅上看电视.d.” SC#296 Kay Irion Collection, 由辛辛那提博物馆中心提供.
3 “I would like to convey the idea and philosophy that had come to me since my accident – that life under unhappy conditions could still be not so bad – even happy at times and sometimes useful. The song I had heard Bing Crosby sing in a movie called “And Still the BlueBird Sings” kept coming into my head. 歌词说:“事情可能会发生, let them happen…” so that became our theme song – and that’s how the BlueBird Club” got its name.——SC#296 Kay Irion Collection, 由辛辛那提博物馆中心提供.
4 “蓝鸟俱乐部剪贴簿，n.d.——SC#296 Kay Irion Collection.
5 SC#296 Kay Irion Collection, 由辛辛那提博物馆中心提供; http://www.维基百科.org/; http://marykayetrio.com/mary-kaye/
6 “蓝鸟俱乐部剪贴簿，n.d.——SC#296 Kay Irion Collection
7 “广播 & 坐在轮椅上看电视.d.——SC#296 Kay Irion Collection
8 “1941年2月12日，致罗斯福的信——SC#296 Kay Irion Collection
9 “广播 & 坐在轮椅上看电视.d.——SC#296 Kay Irion Collection
10 同前.
