page 6 - January 14, 1976 - North Shore News

Most of us by now are at
least vaguely aware of the
social problems associated
with life in a wheelchair. The
frustration of relative imme-
bility, the varying degrees of
dependence on others, the
way people turn away in
embarrassment at the sight
of disfigurement...we’ve all
heard about these from the
posters and the television
ads. -

But what of the ‘‘success- |

ful’’ handicapped—the ones
who have overcome their
disabilities and broken away
from the basketweaving syn-
drome?

Sometimes they become so
well-adjusted, they them-
selves feel distaste for the
handicapped.

Jack Banford has been
through the entire cycle.

At 28, Banford is finally
realizing an eight-year am-,
bition—he is operating a
radio station. It’s a small
outfit, a closed-circuit broad-
cast system based in his
basement and transmitting
to four hospitals. But it’s a
long overdue beginning.

Of course, Baniord isn’t
doing it alone. He has the
expert help of eight other
radio fiends, aii with physical
handicaps of one sort or
another.

But there was a time when
Banford would have shunned
their assistance.

“i was the first B.C.
‘Timmy’ for the Easter Seal
campaizn in 1958,’ he
recalls. ‘‘The publicity gave
me my first look at radio, and
I’ve been interested in it ever
since.’

Banford soon decided that
his career lay in broadcast-
ing. And he wanted to make

it on his own, working with

**normal’’ people.

By Shane McCune

“‘At that time I was a
person who didn’t want to
associate with other handi-
capped,’ he admits.

He probably could have
‘““made it’’ that way. Al-
though he is soft-spoken and
quick to smile, Banford is
possessed of a strong will, a
forthright manner—and a
healthy ego.

In short, he has all the

makings of a self-made man.

But somewhere along the

line, while he was learning
his trade (‘‘I just learned by

playing around with mach-
ines’’), Banford had a
change of heart.

Whether it was the result
of three years of trying to
break into the competitive
Vancouver radio business, or
on the advice of friends in the
business such as Jean Kerr
and Jim Cox,
deci:led to share his abilities
with other handicapped radio
nuts.

He began to write to social
agencies, government
boards, MPs—anyone who
would listen. At the same

time, he was joined by a.

small group of equally

_ determined would-be broad- -

casters—most of whom had
also been through the futile
door-knocking route. —

‘I wanted to get all the
right people,”’
“I wanted fighters, people
like me who wanted to live a
normal life.”’

He got the’ right people,
and in 1968 they began to
work in earnest on the
concept of a closed-circuit
radio station run for and by -
handicapped persons.

In 1970 they set up their
sound booth and turntable in
Capilanc Mall for a few days,
playing music and. reading

‘news, poetry and odds and™

Banford °

says Banford..

‘ends for

CIJAZ staffers prepare for their first broadcast. Front row: Leroy Mickelson, Marilyn Brough
and Harry. Guttormson. Back row: Ken Lynes, Donna Hills and Keith Malcolm.

shoppers. One
passer-by who stopped to
taik was Dave. Brousson,
then a Liberal MLA for North
Vancouver.

With his help they sought
financial backing for their
project, only to discover
more obstacles in their way.

“‘We found that we were-
n’t talking about a. couple of
thousand dollars,’’ Banford
recalls. ‘‘It was more like .
hundreds cf thousands.”’

continued on page 7

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