Canadian TV station groundbreaking for disability community

Journalist John Loeppky hangs out with Ashley Munro, who plays for the Calgary Inferno wheelchair rugby team.  Photo by AMI-tv

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The game is murderball — or, for those who clutch pearls at such a bloodthirsty term, wheelchair rugby.

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Journalist John Loeppky trades his traditional wheelchair for a specialized one with a rounded front bumper and outward-tilted wheels. His gloves are taped to his hands, his feet are velcroed to his chair, and he mentally prepares to get banged up, sent skidding, or even knocked over.

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Ready to sample the made-in-Canada sport, Loeppky looks at the camera crew.

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“Tell my wife I love her,” he cracks.

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Loeppky hosts History in 60, an AMI-tv series that highlights the disability community in Canada. Other episodes focus on pioneers in fields including comedy, dance, and politics. It’s the kind of show that a few decades ago might have seemed like a pipe dream if not for the broadcaster.

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Launched in 2009, AMI-tv is the world’s first network where every program has open-format described video for viewers who are blind or partially sighted. It’s included free in basic cable packages and streams via the AMI+ app.

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“AMI exists because Canadian broadcasting had a huge gap, particularly as it related to blind and partially sighted viewers,” says Cara Nye, director of content development and production for AMI. She adds that those viewers couldn’t enjoy many shows because set-top boxes were inaccessible.

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“AMI bridged that access gap but, since then, we have evolved. Our audience has expanded to include Canadians of all abilities. What’s changed since then is our focus. We primarily aired other broadcasters’ shows with traditional post description added and presented it on AMI with open described video. There was no need to turn it on or off,” she says.

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“Now almost 100 per cent of our schedule is original production made by, and featuring, people with disabilities … To us, the true measure of impact isn’t that accessibility just exists on Canadian TV now. It’s that disabled Canadians are working in front of and behind the camera and showcasing their lived experience through compelling stories.”

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The docuseries Crip Trip, for example, follows a quadruple amputee and his best friend as they road trip from Edmonton to New York City. Underdog Inc. centres on four-foot-two Dale Kristensen, who defies expectations as a heavy-machinery operator, truck driver, and mechanic.

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And the upcoming series How We Do It features hosts who empower preschoolers: Carly (Allison Lang) has a limb difference, and Isaac (Donovan Whyte) is a paraplegic who uses a wheelchair. It premièred June 27.

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Combined with the rest of AMI-tv’s programming, the shows are uplifting a growing population. According to the 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability, 27 per cent of Canadians aged 15 and older — eight million people — had at least one disability that limited their daily activities. That’s up five per cent since 2017.