Training camels, riding in a pace car, surfing in Santa Cruz and skiing in Tahoe are just some of the pivotal moments in Donna Yeager’s life that have been captured on film.
Anyone can catch glimpses of these events during the opening credits of the local television program On the Move, which she started 26 years ago.
On April 28, nearly 30 years later, Yeager and her film crew are celebrating the show’s 400th episode.
A congenital quadruple amputee, Yeager, 56, was born with no arms and short legs. Her parents encouraged her to try anything and everything, and she has stayed true to that driving force throughout her life.
She came up with the idea to do a television show about people with disabilities in 1976. She was set to graduate from high school in Virginia, when the principal decided everyone would receive their diplomas on a stage that didn’t have any ramps.
“The principal said he would just hand me my diploma afterward,” Yeager said. “I just thought that was not OK.”
She moved to California to attend De Anza College, where in 1988 she started the community access television program, On the Move, a show about promoting understanding, awareness and self-esteem for people with disabilities.
More than 300 Encyclopedia-sized tapes now line the shelves of Yeager’s office in her Sunnyvale home, each tape containing catalogued episodes of her award-winning television program.
“A lot of people when I was a little kid thought that the physical disability automatically goes along with a mental or emotional disability, but that’s not the case,” Yeager said. “So, I wanted to educate people about that. And also I love technology, and so I wanted to have a lot of shows about advances regarding wheelchairs and robotic arms and robotic limbs.”
The show has addressed a variety of disabilities as well as treatments.
“I wanted to educate people that if you have had a bad accident, you’re still able to live a productive life and be able to participate in a lot of cool activities,” Yeager said. “I have had a lot of friends who basically just kind of gave up, and they didn’t want to go to college and they didn’t want to do anything and for one reason or another, they were sad and depressed, and it’s not worth it. It’s more fun to get out and do things, and I think it helps your brain to stay active.”
Yeager is a living and thriving example of this philosophy. She has lived on her own since 1977, displayed artwork at various shows, worked at Hewlett-Packard for 16 years as a computer analyst, and is an avid gardener and animal lover with two dogs and a pet bird.
“If you set your mind to it, you can really do anything you want, as long as it’s legal,” Yeager said, followed by her contagious laugh.
Yeager said she is very proud that her show has come so far. It all started at the De Anza College studio behind the Flint Center before the community access studio moved to Mountain View.
“If it weren’t for my mom and my crew, there wouldn’t be a show,” Yeager said. “It’s really because all of their hard work and wonderful devotion to the show that we still have a show.
“And we’re always looking for more crew members,” Yeager added with a smile.
For more information about the show, visit able cable.org.
It airs in Cupertino on Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. on TCI Channel 26, and on the first and third Wednesdays at 6 p.m. on TCI Channel 29. Viewers in Sunnyvale can watch the first and third Wednesdays at 6 p.m. on TCI Channel 29.
