Tony Buba, an acclaimed local filmmaker, has been around the world "telling stories of everyday people" and what happened in Braddock at the peak and the decline of Pittsburgh's steel industry.

All his life, Mr. Buba, 65, said he tried to tell stories in the tradition of the legendary American historian and broadcaster Louis "Studs" Terkel, who was well-known for his Chicago radio show and for compiling narratives of "everyday" Americans.

In a similar fashion, Mr. Buba, together with the Allegheny County Department of Human Services' Disability Connection, has put together an oral recording about the lives of disabled people in southwestern Pennsylvania.

The five-hour compilation, called "Voices of Our Region," will debut at 4 p.m. today at Carnegie Music Hall. It features audio interviews of 57 disabled people talking about the nature and quality of their lives in Allegheny, Westmoreland, Beaver and Washington counties.

But it is not a documentary, Mr. Buba said.

"It's strictly audio with photographs of the subjects, lined with open captions," he said, adding that the project was conceived last year to be part of the Pittsburgh 250 celebration.

The subjects, who were interviewed in their homes in Pittsburgh, Washington, Greensburg and Rochester, represent a class of people living with a wide spectrum of mental and physical disabilities, he said.

"We wanted to do this to tell the stories of what it's like to be born disabled, to grow up and struggle with a disability, and then grow old with it," said Judith Barricella, director of the Disability Connection program.

Those involved in the project, which was funded through a $66,000 grant from the FISA Foundation, started interviews in April and collected more than 15 hours' worth, which will be posted on the project Web site at www.voicesofourregion.org.