OFF-KILTER with Rebecca Vallas

For this week's episode, Rebecca sat down with Troy N. Miller, who's long served as the Off-Kilter podcast's beloved “man behind the curtain,” aka executive producer. When he's not producing Off-Kilter, the Zero Hour, Breaking Through, and other progressive podcast/radio programs, Troy serves as West Virginia organizer and special projects director at Social Security Works and at-large member of the West Virginia State Democratic Executive Committee. In what was Troy's first time crossing over to appear as a guest on the podcast, Rebecca and Troy had a far-ranging conversation about the story behind the “21st Century Economic Bill of Rights” adopted by the West Virginia State Democratic Executive Committee last month; why it matters for states to adopt these kinds of nonbinding resolutions; myth versus fact when it comes to West Virginia politics; Troy's path to getting involved with West Virginia politics; the role of progressive radio and podcasting in the larger movement for social and economic justice and how Troy's decade in the progressive radio world has shaped him as an advocate; and lots more.    Links from this episode: Learn more about West Virginia's recently adopted economic bill of rights here Subscribe to Troy's Substack: The Blue Ridge Breakdown Here's the piece by Harvey Kaye and Alan Minsky calling for a renewal of FDR's economic bill of rights for the 21st century

Wealth is a word that gets thrown around a lot, especially in economic conversations and spaces. The most basic definition is what you own minus what you owe. But as Aisha Nyandoro—CEO of Springboard to Opportunity and architect of the Magnolia Mother's Trust—argues in her recent Tedx Talk, it's time to redefine wealth in the United States. In her words, “for too long, we have allowed financial institutions to define wealth and the process by which we buildi it.” So for this week's episode of Off-Kilter, Rebecca sat back down Aisha for a far-ranging conversation about how we define wealth and why it matters; Aisha's own journey to answer the question of what wealth means to her; how the women who are part of the Magnolia Mother's Trust answer that question; the relationship between wealth and liberation; how guaranteed minimum income can be part of the path to building a society where everyone has access to true wealth; money and spirituality; and more. Links from this episode: Watch's Aisha's Tedx Talk here: “What Does Wealth Mean to You?” Follow Aisha on Twitter/X @aisha_nyandoro Here are some prior episodes of Off-Kilter with Aisha featuring more on her work, including the Magnolia Mother's Trust: “Your Work Is Not Your Worth” and “Self-Care Is Political Warfare”

For this week's episode of Off-Kilter, with October as National Disability Employment Awareness Month, Rebecca sat down with two leaders at JP Morgan Chase (JPMC) who are at the forefront of advancing disability employment within the business and employer community: Bryan Gill, head of JP Morgan Chase's Office of Disability Inclusion and the firm's global head of neurodiversity, and Nan Gibson, executive director of JP Morgan Chase's PolicyCenter. They had a far-ranging conversation about the story behind JPMC's Office of Disability Inclusion and how it's working to remove barriers to hiring and successful employment for disabled people at JPMC; why disability employment and inclusion is both the right thing to do and a business strategy; how JPMC's PolicyCenter is advancing policy and legislative reform to promote disability employment and inclusion across the workforce as a whole; how asset limits hurt JPMC's disabled employees and why JPMC is engaged in the national push to update SSI's antiquated asset limits; efforts JPMC has underway to better serve customers with disabilities as a group who've largely been overlooked within the financial sector; and lots more.   Links from this episode: Learn more about Bryan's work as JPMC's head of neurodiversity and the Office of Disability Inclusion here Read JPMC's brief on how SSI's asset limits hamper economic opportunity and mobility here Learn more about the SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act here Connect with Bryan and Nan on LinkedIn

For this week's episode of Off-Kilter, Rebecca sat down with Jen Burdick, supervising attorney of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) unit at Community Legal Services (CLS), Rebecca's legal aid alma mater. They had a far ranging conversation about how “eligibility doesn't equal access” and other lessons Jen has learned throughout her years as a public benefits lawyer; the human consequences of a decade-plus of defunding the Social Security Administration, from years-long backlogs in disability cases to overpayments that wreak havoc in beneficiaries' lives; how Jen combines her client representation with policy advocacy and why the perspective of direct service providers like legal aid lawyers is so valuable to shaping public policy and legislative reform; how outdated policies like outdated asset limits lead to inhumane surveillance of poor people's finances; the toxicity of the collective limiting belief that poor families aren't to be trusted with their own money, and how that shows up in the SSI program, through “dedicated accounts” that restrict how families are able to spend their benefits; and lots more.   Links from this episode: Follow Jen and CLS on Twitter/X: @jen_burdick @clsphila and learn more about CLS's work at clsphila.org Here's the Kaiser Health News story on needless SSI overpayments and how they wreak havoc in low-income beneficiaries' lives For more on the disinvestment in SSA's administrative budget, check out this Off-Kilter episode And for more on how eligibility doesn't equal access in public assistance programs, here's the prior Off-Kilter episode that Jen was featured in

According to recently released Census data, poverty among older adults increased sharply again in 2022, after reaching an all-time low just two years before. One group of older Americans who's especially struggling is older workers in physically demanding jobs. Contrary to the popular narrative that everyone's living longer and work is getting easier, a recent task force convened by the National Academy of Social Insurance found that more than 10 million older workers are in jobs that are physically challenging and lack the resources to secure more viable jobs or retire. These workers are disproportionately low earners with lower educational attainment than the average American worker; they predominantly are workers of color and a growing share are women. For this week's episode of Off-Kilter, we're bringing you a panel discussion Rebecca moderated at a recent event hosted by the National Academy of Social Insurance about older workers in physically demanding jobs and the policy options the task force identified to strengthen social insurance supports to prevent poverty and hardship among this “invisible” group.   Links from this episode: Find the NASI task force report here and watch the full event here Learn more about the National Academy of Social Insurance at nasi.org

For this week's episode of Off-Kilter, Rebecca sat back down with Emily Ladau. She's the editor of the Voices of Disability Economic Justice Project and the author of Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally. She's someone who's done an immense amount throughout her career to shift narratives on disability in the United States and is a master storyteller whose many superpowers also include supporting other people in telling their stories. They had a far-ranging conversation about the Voices of Disability Economic Justice Project as it comes up on its one-year anniversary; why it's so important for people with disabilities to get to tell their own stories; why storytelling is critical to policy and culture change; how she ended up on Sesame Street; why she wrote her book Demystifying Disability; and lots more.  Links from this episode: Check out Emily's book Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally Follow Emily on Twitter/X @emily_ladau  Learn more about the Voices project and how to write for it Here is the Off-Kilter episode feat. Emily with writer Alex Ashley Fox on the harms that come from autistic people being forced to mask at work, and here is Alex's Voices piece

For this week's episode of Off-Kilter, Rebecca sat down with longtime labor journalist Steven Greenhouse. He's someone who really needs no introduction after spending thirty-one years at the New York Times, eighteen of which he spent covering the labor beat, until 2014. He's also the author of The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker and Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present and Future of American Labor. And these days he's a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, where he writes about wages and working conditions, labor organizing, and other workplace issues. In a conversation recorded the day after Labor Day, they had a far-ranging chat about the history of Labor Day in the United States; how he got into labor reporting; the rise of the U.S. labor movement and what's behind recent declines in union participation; some of the most exciting recent developments within American labor, including successful efforts to organize Starbucks and Amazon workers; why he's especially excited about worker-to-worker organizing as part of the future of the labor movement; and lots more. Links from this episode: Follow Steve on Twitter/X at @greenhousenyt Check out Steve's books The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker and Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present and Future of American Labor Here's Steve's piece on worker-to-worker organizing and the future of American labor Here's his piece on union-busting at Starbucks and the holes in federal labor law that have been allowing it to happen And find all of Steve's writing for TCF here

Something many of us take for granted, if we've never been without it, is how vitally important it is to have photo ID. In this day and age you can't do pretty much anything without ID—from accessing public benefits to renting an apartment to voting, and so much more. So for this week's episode, Rebecca sat back down with a dear friend who's been leading the charge when it comes to ensuring that 26 million Americans have access to the IDs they need to escape poverty, access benefits, vote, and be fully part of American society—and that's Kat Calvin. She's the founder of Spread the Vote and the Project ID Action Fund and author of a new book called American Identity in Crisis: Notes from an Accidental Activist. They had a far-ranging conversation about the story behind the organizations she started and her new book; how she got involved in helping people get IDs; who doesn't have ID in the United States and why it matters; why the U.S. ID crisis is both an economic justice issue and a democracy issue; and lots more.  Links from this episode: Check out Kat's new book American Identity in Crisis Learn more about Spread the Vote and the Project ID Action Fund Follow Kat Calvin and Spread the Vote/Project ID Action Fund on Twitter/X @KatCalvinLA @SpreadTheVoteUS Subscribe to Kat's newsletter, Hot Takes and Applesauce

For this week's episode, Rebecca sat down with Cara Reedy. She's a journalist and the founder of a new organization called the Disabled Journalists Association (DJA)—which she's spent the past two years setting up to identify the needs of disabled people in journalism and to amplify the voices of disabled journalists across the United States. It's just getting off the ground and just launched its website this past week. (Check out discojourno.com to learn more, and if you're a disabled journalist, check out the survey they're running between now and October 2023 as they work to lay the foundation for DJA's work.) They had a far-ranging conversation about the barriers to getting into journalism for disabled people today; the discrimination and ableism many face once they do make it into the newsroom and Cara's own experience at a major news outlet; why inclusion in newsrooms matters to disability media coverage (and media coverage on all issues); how intentional, equitable, and diverse representation in newsrooms fits into the larger picture of disability economic justice; and lots more. Links from this episode: Learn more about the Disabled Journalists Association at discojourno.com If you're a disabled journalist, check out the survey DJA is running through October Follow Cara on Twitter at @infamouslyshort Nominate the changemakers you most want to hear from by emailing us at OffKilterShow@TCF.org

For this week's episode, Rebecca sat down with Kate Nicholson, a dear friend and colleague and a policy advocate who's been leading the charge when it comes to fighting on behalf of people who live with chronic pain. Today she serves as the founder and executive director of the National Pain Advocacy Center. They talk about what it's like to live with chronic pain; Kate's path to founding NPAC; the double-edged sword of crackdowns on access to opioids in recent years; how the COVID pandemic has expanded the chronic pain community; why Kate's work has focused so heavily on storytelling; how spiritual care is core to her self-care; why it's time to update the archetype of lawyer in the midst of a global paradigm shift; and lots more. Links from this episode: Follow Kate on Twitter @speakingabtpain; follow NPAC at @national_pain; learn more about NPAC's work; and subscribe to their newsletter September is Pain Awareness Month—join the conversation and share your story using #RealPainStories Nominate the changemakers you most want to hear from by emailing us at OffKilterShow@TCF.org

For this week's episode, Rebecca sat down with Indi Dutta-Gupta, a dear friend and colleague who's dedicated his career to ending poverty in America and building an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few. Today he serves as president and executive director of the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), one of the nation's leading organizations dedicated to advancing economic security and racial equity. They had a far-ranging conversation about the long road to the historic one-year expansion of the Child Tax Credit authorized as part of COVID relief and the road ahead to making a guaranteed minimum income for families with children a permanent reality in the United States; what it looks like to set a north star and work backward to create a strategy to get there; the challenges of balancing family and work as a social justice leader; why he got married with his hand on A Theory of Justice; and lots more.   Links from this episode: Follow Indi on Twitter @IndivarD and learn more about CLASP's work Here's Indi's recent Congressional testimony assessing the twenty-five years of the Child Tax Credit; the National Academy of Sciences report on child poverty; and the Center for American Progress proposal for expanding the Child Tax Credit into a child allowance  Here's the prior Off-Kilter episode with Representative Rosa DeLauro and others on the CTC Nominate the changemakers you most want to hear from by emailing us at OffKilterShow@TCF.org

For this week's episode, Rebecca sat down with Kathleen Romig, a dear friend and colleague who today serves as the director of Social Security and disability policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, one of the nation's leading organizations that focuses on economic and budget policy for low-income families. To mark the eighty-eighth anniversary of Social Security, they had a far-ranging conversation about the history behind the program, who's helped by Social Security today, and why there's no room for cuts; the importance of moving beyond technocratic, budget-focused narratives to put people at the center of policy; the human consequences of bureaucratic disentitlement; Kathleen's own path to combining heart and head in her work and how that's made her a more effective policy advocate; and more. Links from this episode: Follow Kathleen on Twitter @kathleenromig and learn more about her work at CBPP Here are the prior Off-Kilter episodes we mentioned about SSI and bureaucratic disentitlement Nominate the changemakers you most want to hear from by emailing us at OffKilterShow@TCF.org

For this week's episode, Rebecca sat back down with Zaki “The Barber” Smith, an entrepreneur, a powerhouse activist, and a criminal justice reform leader whose work focuses on ending the perpetual punishment that comes with having a criminal record in America. They had a far-ranging and emotional conversation about the historic clean slate legislation that passed the New York Assembly earlier this summer and now awaits the governor's signature; how a criminal record can be a life sentence to poverty; the impact of the criminal records crisis on millions of American families; the economic as well as emotional toll that comes with perpetual punishment; his own path from prison to national policy advocacy; how his years as a barber shaped him as an advocate; his work with murals, film, and other art forms as tools for criminal justice reform; and lots more.   Links from this episode: Follow Zaki on Twitter @ZakiTheBarber, learn more about of his work as a policy entrepreneur at Next100, and connect with Zaki Learn more about New York's Clean Slate campaign and the legislation that recently passed the New York Assembly to clear millions of New Yorkers' records Learn more about his #EndPerpetualPunishment mural campaign Nominate the changemakers you most want to hear from by emailing us at OffKilterShow@TCF.org

For this week's episode, Rebecca sat down with Alejandra Vazquez-Baur, an educator-turned-policy advocate whose work focuses on expanding supports for K–12 immigrant students—especially newcomers—and multilingual students. As Alejandra describes herself: “I am a product of resilient Mexican women. A sister. A dancer. An educator. A visionary.” They talk about the National Newcomer Network Alejandra co-founded as a policy entrepreneur at The Next 100; how she's bringing her experience in the classroom as a high school math teacher onto the national policy scene; the role of dreaming in her work and her path to claiming her role as a visionary; resilience and how to stay rooted; how music, dance, and movement inform her advocacy work; and lots more.   Links from this episode: Follow Alejandra on Twitter @Ale_VazquezBaur and learn more about her work and her policy entrepreneurship at Next100 Learn more about the National Newcomer Network and follow #NationalNewcomerNetwork to stay up to date Learn more about ImmSchools And here's more about the Obama Foundation fellowship Nominate the changemakers you most want to hear from by emailing us at OffKilterShow@TCF.org

Welcome to the summer/fall season of Off-Kilter! We're excited to be back and up and running with the show after a break, just in time to mark Disability Pride Month. And to kick things off right, Rebecca sat back down with Mia Ives-Rublee, a long-time disability rights and justice activist who today serves as the director of the disability justice initiative at the Center for American Progress. They talk disability pride; what liberation means to the disability community; how Mia's path as a transracial adoptee and competitive athlete shape her advocacy today; and lots more.   Links from this episode: Follow Mia on Twitter (and Threads) @seemiaroll and learn more about of her work at CAP Here's a treasure trove of PBS Newshour content for Disability Pride Month And here's the last Off-Kilter episode with more on why updating SSI is necessary to economic liberation for disabled people Nominate the changemakers you most want to hear from by emailing us at OffKilterShow@TCF.org

This week, Off-Kilter is wrapping up our ongoing series digging into why in the famous words of Audre Lorde, “self-care is political warfare. A recurring theme uplifted by several guests throughout this series has been the importance of bringing your whole self to the work—a phrase that, like so much within the topic of self-care, has become watered down enough in recent years that it's about as likely to spur eye rolls as genuine interest in many circles.  So to dig a little deeper beneath the surface of what it really looks like to bring one's whole self to social justice work, Rebecca sat down with the brilliant Andraea Lavant, a longtime disability justice advocate, to delve deeply into the subject of claiming one's identity, and what that looks like as part of self-care. We had a far-ranging conversation about Andraea's own journey to claim all parts of her identity as a black, disabled, queer woman, and how that ultimately led her to start a strategy and communications firm focused on culture shift and building a society and an economy where disabled people of color belong. For more: Learn more about and connect with Andraea's firm, Lavant Consulting Follow Andraea on Twitter @andraealavant  Here's the Off-Kilter episode feat. writers Alex Ashley Fox and Emily Ladau about the harms that come from “masking” to fit in at work, for autistic as well as neurotypical people with and without disabilities Here's the Off-Kilter episode feat. Social Security Works executive director and We Act Radio cofounder Alex Lawson about tapping into your own inner weirdo (in the best possible way) and finding the technique that works for you And here's the Off-Kilter episode that memorialized Judy Heumann, godmother of the disability rights movement

As Off-Kilter's ongoing series continues, digging into why in the famous words of Audre Lorde, “self-care is political warfare,” we're zooming out for this next episode to explore the goal of ending poverty in the United States—and the broader work of economic and social liberation—as self-care for the larger collective organism of which we are all part. In this spirit, as Rebecca describes in this episode, she often thinks about advocates and activists for economic and social liberation as healers—healers of a collective organism that today is very sick—with one huge glaring symptom of that illness being widespread, needless poverty in the midst of plenty. Of course healers rely on good diagnostic tools—and this kind of “social justice advocacy as collective healing” framework can then help us understand something like a measure of poverty as a diagnostic tool—a tool that's only as good at diagnosing social illness as what it measures and how it's designed.  So to zoom in on what America's broken official poverty measure has to do with self-care, Rebecca brought back three thought leaders who are deep experts in poverty measurement, all of whom have been working for years to bring attention to how outdated and flawed our leading diagnostic tool on this front (a.k.a. America's Official Poverty Measure) is—and the importance of rethinking how we measure poverty in the United States. if we are serious about meaningfully eliminating it versus just putting a band-aid on a still-very-sick economy.   Shawn Fremstad is the director of law and political economy as well as a senior adviser at the Center for Economic Policy Research. Shailly Barnes is the policy director for the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice. David Brady is a professor of public policy at the University of California Riverside, where he directs the Blum Initiative on Global and Regional Poverty; he's also a fellow with the WZB Berlin Social Science Center.  For more: Check out the last Off-Kilter episode on poverty measurement, feat. Shailly, Shawn, and David Dig into Shawn's report on why the U.S. poverty line is too damn low: “The Defining Down of Economic Deprivation: Why We Need to Reset the Poverty Line” For more on the case for shifting to a relative poverty measure, check out David's report: “American Poverty Should Be Measured Relative to the Prevailing Standards of Our Time” Learn more about the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice, CEPR, and David's work at UC–Riverside  Follow Shailly @shaillybarnes, Shawn @shawnfremstad, and David @DaveBrady72 on Twitter

This week Rebecca sat down with Kim Knackstedt, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, where she serves as director of the Disability Economic Justice Team and director of the Disability Economic Justice Collaborative, both of which launched a little over one year ago in April 2022. Before coming to TCF, Kim served as the first-ever director of disability policy for the White House Domestic Policy Council for the first year of the Biden presidency.  They had a far-ranging conversation about what it looks like to apply disability as a lens across all economic and social policy making in the United States; the story behind the Disability Economic Justice Collaborative, going behind the scenes on the work discussed in the Collaborative's one-year anniversary event, which aired on Off-Kilter earlier this month; and the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency and what it means for disabled people in the United States.  And continuing with the “self-care is political warfare” throughline from all of this spring's episodes for the podcast, they also talked about Kim's ongoing process of detoxing from the “destroy yourself for the work” culture of the White House and Capitol Hill; how she's been rediscovering self-care in her own life as a leader within the disability community who also lives with chronic illness; and more. For more: Learn more about Kim's work here and follow her on Twitter @kiknack Learn more about the Disability Economic Justice Collaborative here and in its one-year anniversary event—and follow the Collab on Twitter @dejcollab and by signing up for its monthly newsletter  Here's the Collaborative's Disability Economic Justice Policy Framework, showing how to embed disability as a lens across policymaking Here's Kim's piece (with TCF's Tara Oakman) on the ending of the public health emergency You can find Off-Kilter's episode with The Kelsey about putting disabled people at the center of housing policy here

This week, Off-Kilter continues our ongoing series of conversations with social justice leaders digging into why, in the famous words of Audre Lorde, self-care is political warfare—and the role radical self-care plays in their own lives to sustain them in this work.  Our next guest in this series is Michele Evermore, a longtime leading voice fighting for America's most marginalized workers, particularly when it comes to unemployment insurance. Michele is a senior fellow at The Century Foundation and most recently served as deputy director of policy in the U.S. Department of Labor's new Office of Unemployment Insurance Modernization under President Biden. She's also a martial artist and an avid gardener whose tomato list we should all be lucky enough to get on. Rebecca and Michele had a far-ranging conversation about how the historic, if sadly short-lived, improvements to the U.S. unemployment insurance system went from ideas to public policies early in the COVID era; the story behind the Office of Unemployment Insurance Modernization and where things stand for jobless workers today; and the toxic “moral hazard” narrative that continues to hamper progressive policymaking to ensure workers have protection when they lose a job through no fault of their own. They also talked about how self-care shows up in Michele's own life as a leader on social insurance, why she got into martial arts and how it informs her policy advocacy, and more. For more: Learn more about Michele's work here and follow her on Twitter @EvermoreMichele And you can find Off-Kilter's most recent episode on unemployment insurance and the cliff created by expiring COVID-era improvements here

This week, Off-Kilter's taking a break from our regularly scheduled programming to bring you a conversation hosted by The Century Foundation's Disability Economic Justice Collaborative, marking its one-year anniversary. Launched in April 2022, the Collaborative is a first of its kind initiative bringing together more than 40 disability rights and justice leaders and leading think tanks and research organizations to work collaboratively to bring a disability lens across all economic and social policymaking in the U.S.   Learn more about the Collaborative's work at DEJC.org and by following @DEJCollab on Twitter. 

This week, Off-Kilter continues our ongoing series of conversations with social justice leaders digging into why, in the famous words of Audre Lorde, self-care is political warfare—and the role radical self-care plays in their own lives to sustain them in this work. And this week, Rebecca sat down with Julie Kashen, a friend and a colleague at The Century Foundation who's a leading voice in the movement to bring policies like universal paid family and medical leave, paid sick days, and child care to the United States, and a senior fellow and the director of women's economic justice at TCF. She's the mother of an almost-nine-year-old, a board member of an organization called Vote Mama Lobby, a certified life coach, and someone who calls herself a "practical idealist" in how she approaches her work.  They had a far-ranging conversation about how the lack of paid leave and other holes in America's social contract show up as some of the biggest structural barriers to self-care and basic dignity in U.S. society, particularly for parents and caregivers; how self-care shows up in her own life as a mom who's also a leader on care policy; what she's learned about self-care and listening to her intuition from her work as a life coach; how she came to host Full Moon circles as a self-care practice that's also building power within the women's community; how a book called Rise Sister Rise has influenced how she understands and approaches her work and what it means to be a woman leader in the modern world; and more. For more: Connect with Julie on Twitter @JulieKashen and check out her work at TCF  Read more about the care executive order signed by President Biden this week (and here's the tl;dr in a great tweet thread by Julie) Check out Off-Kilter's last conversation with Julie for more on America's “house of cards” child care system and the push to strengthen it Check out Rise Sister Rise by Rebecca Campbell Learn more about the American Association of Health and Disability's “nothing about us without us” All of Us research program

This week, Off-Kilter continues our ongoing series of conversations with social justice leaders digging into why, in the famous words of Audre Lorde, self-care is political warfare—and the role radical self-care plays in their own lives to sustain them in this work. As we've explored a good bit in recent weeks as part of this series, the disability community harbors some of the greatest wisdom when it comes to radical self-care—with disabled people as modern-day oracles, as activist Alice Wong often puts it.  For this week's episode, Rebecca sat down with Keith Jones, a longtime disability rights and justice activist, cofounder of Krip Hop Nation, president and CEO of Soul Touchin' Experiences, and a visionary thinker when it comes to approaching social justice work itself as a form of radical self-care for the collective. As Keith puts it: “In order to build a stronger community, there must be a heart and soul commitment to those who need assistance in order to begin caring for themselves and in turn caring for others.”  They had a far-ranging conversation about one of the most significant barriers to self-care for people with disabilities: asset limits and other backwards policies that make “work until you die” the default retirement plan for a huge swath of the U.S. disability community; what it looks like to enter social justice work from the starting point that “everything has a soul”; how Keith has woven together hip hop music into his disability activism through Krip Hop Nation; and more. For more: Learn more about Keith's work with Soul Touchin' Experiences, Krip Hop Nation, and follow him on twitter @dasoultoucha  Learn more about why “work until you die” is the retirement plan for so many disabled people in this op-ed by Rebecca Cokley  

This week, Off-Kilter continues our ongoing series of conversations with social justice leaders digging into why, in the famous words of Audre Lorde, self-care is political warfare—and the role radical self-care plays in their own lives to sustain them in this work. As we've explored a good bit in recent weeks as part of this series, the disability community harbors some of the greatest wisdom when it comes to radical self-care—with disabled people as modern-day oracles, as activist Alice Wong often puts it.  Last week, Rebecca talked with Lisa McCorkell of the Patient Led Research Collaborative and Ryan Prior, author of The Long Haul, about what we can learn from the long COVID and ME/CFS communities when it comes to self-care practices like radical pacing and more.  And this week, Off-Kilter is continuing to explore what we can learn from the chronic illness community when it comes to radical self-care. A concept Rebecca has found incredibly powerful in her own life as someone who lives with chronic illness is something called “Spoon Theory”—a framework that enables thinking about energy management in terms of metaphorical “spoons.” To dig into Spoon Theory and what we can learn from the so-called “spoonie” community when it comes to radical self-care, Rebecca sat down with Dawn Gibson, creator of #SpoonieChat and a board member for the National Pain Advocacy Center. She's a former Episcopalean minister-turned-health activist who's spent the last decade creating a powerful online community for “spoonies” and advocating to protect access to pain medications for people who live with chronic pain. They talked about the origins and evolution of Spoon Theory, the story behind #SpoonieChat as it celebrates its ten-year anniversary, what we can all learn from spoonies when it comes to radical self-care, and lots more. For more: Join #SpoonieChat at 8:00 pm ET most Wednesdays Learn more about and get involved with the National Pain Advocacy Center Connect with Dawn on Twitter @dawnmgibson and subscribe to the free #SpoonieChat newsletter Learn more about Spoon Theory in these remarks by its originator Christine Miserandino  Check out last week's episode of Off-Kilter for more on what we can learn from the chronic illness community when it comes to self-care Learn more about the American Association of Health and Disability's “nothing about us without us” All of Us research program

This week, Off-Kilter returns to our ongoing series of conversations with social justice leaders digging into why, in the famous words of Audre Lorde, self-care is political warfare—and the role radical self-care plays in their own lives to sustain them in this work.  As we've explored a good bit in recent weeks as part of this series, the disability community harbors some of the greatest wisdom when it comes to radical self-care—with disabled people as modern-day oracles, as activist Alice Wong often puts it.  And to that end, for this week's episode, Rebecca sat down with Lisa McCorkell, cofounder of the Patient Led Research Collaborative, a new organization that advocates for folks with long COVID; and Ryan Prior, a journalist-in-residence with TCF's Disability Economic Justice Team, a board member of ME Action (which works to build awareness about a condition called ME/CFS), and author of The Long Haul.  Picking up on a conversation they had last July for the podcast about the patient advocacy revolution sparked by COVID long-haulers, they had a far-ranging conversation about what we can learn from the long COVID and ME/CFS communities when it comes to radical self-care, with a deep dive on the practice of “radical pacing”; the significance of self-care as political warfare to the chronic illness community; how patient advocacy itself is a form of self-care, particularly for folks with invisible chronic illnesses; the policy and cultural shifts needed to ensure basic practices like rest are universally available; and more. For more: Learn more about and get involved with the Patient Led Research Collaborative and ME Action Get your copy of The Long Haul Listen to the July 2022 episode of Off-Kilter on the long COVID patient advocacy revolution that comes up in the discussion Read a piece by Ryan on the World Health Organization declaring burnout an official medical diagnosis

This week, Off-Kilter returns to our ongoing series of conversations with social justice leaders digging into why, in the famous words of Audre Lorde, self-care is political warfare—and the role radical self-care plays in their own lives to sustain them in this work. As a lawyer and policy advocate who's also a lifelong student of the magical and mystical, Rebecca thinks a lot about social justice advocacy and activism as their own forms of magic—magic that starts with a vision of a new reality and works backwards to manifest it through intentional individual and collective action. So for this week's episode, Rebecca decided to take a deep dive into a particular magical practice that's often relegated to the realm of fantasy and science fiction—and that's time travel. And to do just that, she sat down with two expert time travelers who are also no strangers to Off-Kilter's listeners—Jeremie Greer and Solana Rice. They are the cofounders and co-executive directors of a movement support organization called Liberation in a Generation, whose theory of change focuses on dismantling what they call the “oppression economy” to make way for a liberation economy where people of color belong—a vision that Jeremie and Solana describe as itself science fiction. They had a far-ranging conversation about time travel as a strategy for social change as well as self-care; what it looks like to think across generations in the midst of a global paradigm shift, by connecting with one's ancestors as well as future leaders, in recognition that the work of social liberation will never be completed in a single lifetime; and how they fuse urgency with sustainability to stay in right relationship to the work. For more: Learn more about Liberation in a Generation at liberationinageneration.org  Follow Solana and Jeremie on Twitter @solanarice and @jeremiegreer And here's the conversation with Jeremie and Solana from last fall that comes up in the this podcast

This week, Off-Kilter returns to our ongoing series of conversations with social justice leaders digging into why, in the famous words of Audre Lorde, self-care is political warfare—and the role radical self-care plays in their own lives to sustain them in this work. Given that the disability community harbors some of the greatest wisdom when it comes to radical self-care–with disabled people as “modern-day oracles,” as activist Alice Wong often puts it—Rebecca has been spending a good bit of this series in conversation with leaders across the disability rights and justice movement. For this week's episode, she sat down with longtime disability rights and justice activist Vilissa Thompson, founder of Ramp Your Voice!, a fellow with The Century Foundation's Disability Economic Justice Team, and someone who doesn't mess around when it comes to self-care. They take a deep dive into the subject of boundaries at work—a practice that, like so much within the realm of self-care, gets talked about a lot at the surface-level, but remains a perennial challenge for a lot of folks engaged in social justice work. Not so for Vilissa, who is so renowned for her mastery of boundaries—at work and throughout her life—that her friends and colleagues lovingly call her the “patron saint of boundaries.” For more: Follow Vilissa on Twitter @vilissathompson and learn more about Vilissa's work including Ramp Your Voice!  

This week, Off-Kilter is taking a break from our ongoing series about self-care as political warfare to honor the life and legacy of Judy Heumann, an iconic civil rights leader and the godmother of the disability rights movement. Judy passed away on March 4, 2023, at age 75. It was especially important to the Off-Kilter team and to many of us at The Century Foundation to do a tribute to Judy for this week's episode of the podcast because she was a mentor, friend, and an inspiration to so many of us personally, as is true for nearly everyone involved with the movement for disability rights and justice. Those of us engaged in disability rights advocacy and activism today simply wouldn't be doing this work if not for the trail Judy blazed. It is with a heavy heart, balanced out with immeasurable gratitude and love, that we dedicate this week's episode of Off-Kilter to celebrating the life of Judy Heumann. Rebecca was joined for this special tribute by several members of TCF's Disability Economic Justice Team: Kim Knackstedt, Kings Floyd, and Emily Ladau. Show notes Listen to the full Off-Kilter episode with Judy, Rebecca Cokley, Mia Ives-Rublee, and Representative Ayanna Pressley from September 2022 that's excerpted in this tribute Here is TCF's statement honoring Judy; and here are some of our favorite tributes to Judy: Rebecca Cokley's CNN op-ed; NPR's Joe Shapiro; AAPD's obituary And if you haven't watched Crip Camp yet, you're doing it wrong. 

As Off-Kilter continues our ongoing series of conversations with leaders across the economic justice movement digging into why, in the famous words of Audre Lorde, self-care is political warfare—and the role radical self-care plays in their own lives to sustain them in this work—Rebecca Vallas had a ton of fun sitting down with her next guest in the series, who's a dear friend and colleague of hers and who's been on this show enough times she really needs no introduction. Rebecca Cokley is a longtime disability rights activist who serves as the disability rights program officer at the Ford Foundation (whose support of TCF and the Disability Economic Justice Collaborative makes this show possible week to week). They had a far-ranging conversation about disabled people as modern-day oracles when it comes to radical self-care; the role of philanthropy in supporting self-care across social justice movements; the story behind why she started doing daily Twitter reminders to the disability community to eat lunch; and lots more.  For more: Follow Rebecca Cokley on Twitter @rebeccacokley to get her lunchtime reminders to eat (and lots more)

“DEI” (a.k.a. diversity, equity, and inclusion) has become something of a buzzword in recent years, with more and more U.S. employers taking steps to incorporate DEI practices into their workplaces to better enable them to walk the walk when it comes to living their organizational values. Meanwhile, as DEI has taken hold as a north star in more and more American workplaces, it has also evolved to add another letter and dimension to the acronym, becoming DEIA, with the A representing accessibility for disabled people.  But while the push for DEIA has gained greater visibility in recent years, DEIA efforts are frequently discussed at a surface level—relegated to a mandatory employee training after which everyone moves on and checks the box without thinking too deeply about what it's all about. So as Off-Kilter continues our ongoing series of conversations digging into why, in the famous words of Audre Lorde, self-care is political warfare, our next episode takes a deep dive into the movement to embed diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility into workplaces across the United States, and how DEIA fits into a broader conversation about radical self-care. Rebecca sat down with Leilani Manulu, a DEIA visionary and facilitator, to go beneath the surface and explore why the movement to embed DEIA into our workplaces—including and especially within organizations working towards social justice—is core to radical self-care. After they talked DEIA, Rebecca and Leilani spent the second half of the episode delving into another critical component of radical self-care that Leilani is also a deep expert on: intuition, and how tuning into and listening to one's intuition shows up as a self-care practice. Her credentials when it comes to intuition? In addition to working as a DEI facilitator, Leilani is also a practicing intuitive and shaman who supports intuitive leaders in reconnecting with their spiritual truth in service of guiding their organizations to be more intuitive, imaginative, and heart-centered. For more: Learn more about her Leilani's work here and check out her podcast The Intuitive Catalyst and her book Paradox of the Water Bearer Connect with Leilani on LinkedIn lmanulu and instagram @shamanleilani

Something that gets talked about a lot in conversations about self-care is the notion of “being your authentic self.” But rarely do such conversations contemplate the structural barriers and discrimination many of us face to being our authentic selves, particularly in the workplace. So when The Century Foundation ran a commentary last month (as part of TCF's Voices of Disability Economic Justice Project) called “The Economic and Emotional Costs of Autistic Masking,” Rebecca knew it was a conversation she wanted to bring onto the podcast. As author Alex Ashley Fox writes in the piece, “despite the cognitive and emotional costs, masking is a necessity for most autistic people. It's a matter of social survival in a world that isn't welcoming of the full spectrum of the human condition.”  So for the next installment of Off-Kilter's ongoing series exploring radical self-care, Rebecca sat down with writer Alex Ashley Fox and Emily Ladau, editor of TCF's Voices of Disability Economic Justice Project. They had a far-ranging conversation about the costs of autistic masking, as well as masking more broadly in the context of radical self-care, and went behind the scenes of the Voices of Disability Economic Justice Project as well.  For more: Read “The Economic and Emotional Costs of Autistic Masking”  Follow Alex on Twitter @followaafox Follow Emily on Twitter @emily_ladau Learn more about and pitch the Voices of Disability Economic Justice Project  

As Rebecca's come to learn over the years, a key pillar of radical self-care when it comes to doing social justice work (and, really, life in general) is—to paraphrase jazz legend Thelonious Monk—finding the technique that's relevant for you, versus mirroring the status quo for the sake of fitting in. And there are few leaders in the economic justice movement who epitomize this kind of be-your-eccentric-self-without-apology genius to the extent that our next guest Alex Lawson does. As you'll hear in this episode, Alex wears a lot of hats, including executive director of Social Security Works, which has for years been at the forefront of the movement to expand Social Security; he's also one of the founders and co-owners of We Act Radio, one of the radio stations that broadcasts this very show over the airwaves. Rebecca and Alex had a far-ranging conversation about what it means to find the technique that's relevant for you in the context of social justice work—and how this shows up in the context of radical self-care. For more: Learn more about Social Security Works and We Act Radio Follow Alex @alaw202, Social Security Works @ssworks, and We Act Radio @weactradio And here's a phenomenal biography on Thelonious Monk for folks who want to learn more about what he meant about finding the technique that's relevant for you

Continuing Off-Kilter's ongoing series of conversations with leaders across the economic justice movement delving into why, in the famous words of Audre Lorde, self-care is indeed political warfare—and the role radical self-care plays in their own lives to sustain them in this work—this week's episode zooms out to take a look at the “labor of love” ideology underpinning the notion that social justice advocates must “suffer for the cause.” To do that, Rebecca sat down with longtime labor reporter Sarah Jaffe, whose latest book Work Won't Love You Back surveys a host of structural factors that have conspired to create burnout culture and what Rebecca has come to call “work sickness” in America's nonprofit sector—which doesn't overlap perfectly with the social justice movement but which plays an outsized role in employing people who feel called to devote their lives to a particular social justice cause. They had a far-ranging conversation about the origins of America's “labor of love” ideology; the history of the nonprofit sector and the culture of martyrdom that's become so deeply embedded in movement work; how “work sickness” has come to be its own cross-class pandemic amidst late-stage capitalism; and why radical self-care requires redefining our relationship to work.  For more: Read Work Won't Love You Back (the whole thing is worth reading, but chapter 5 focuses on the nonprofit sector) Follow Sarah on Twitter @sarahljaffe

With burnout spreading like wildfire throughout progressive advocacy circles even before the COVID-19 pandemic started nearly three years ago, Rebecca's been feeling called to take the podcast in something of a different direction this year (you can read more about it here).  So, starting with this week's 2023 opener, Off-Kilter will be spending the upcoming season going behind the scenes of the economic justice topics and debates the podcast has been uplifting for years and leaning into another dimension of the meaning of the term off-kilter, by digging into why, in the famous words of Audre Lorde, self-care is indeed political warfare—and what it looks like for social justice warriors of all stripes to care for ourselves as we fight for economic justice and liberation for all.  And to help us kick this season off right, Rebecca sat down with her good friend Aisha Nyandoro, CEO of Springboard to Opportunities and founder of the Magnolia Mother's Trust, to talk about the role radical self-care plays in her life and how she shows up for herself in this work. For more: Learn more about Springboard to Opportunities and the Magnolia Mother's Trust Follow Aisha on Twitter @aisha_nyandoro For more on the origins of radical self-care, check out this great Refinery29 piece: “Reclaiming Audre Lorde's Radical Self-Care” And for the original context of Audre Lorde's famous quote, check out her 1988 essay collection, A Burst of Light

This week, to continue the series of conversations we've been having on Off-Kilter about the limiting beliefs we as a collective must release and replace to pave the way for economic liberation, Rebecca sat down with Claire Guzdar—managing director of campaigns and partnerships at an organization called the Groundwork Collaborative—to unpack one of the most salient limiting beliefs hampering economic policy in the United States today: the notion that the stock market is the economy. They had a far-ranging conversation about how Groundwork is working to shift economic narratives in the United States to help us remember that we are the economy, as well as about Claire's path from theology to social justice advocacy, and more.  For more: Learn more about Groundwork's work here Follow Claire (@clairecmarkham) and Groundwork (@groundwork) on Twitter And here's a TCF explainer with more on why the stock market is not the economy. 

With the U.S. midterm elections just behind us, to continue Off-Kilter's ongoing series of conversations about the limiting beliefs that we as a collective must release and replace to pave the way for economic liberation, Rebecca sat down with Nick Turner—president and director of the Vera Institute for Justice—to unpack two of the most toxic limiting beliefs in American politics that flared up dramatically in the recent midterms: the notion that you have to be “tough on crime” to win political office, and that safety requires tough on crime policies. They had a far-ranging conversation about expanding consciousness around America's broken criminal legal system in recent years—and how safety and justice can actually go hand in hand. For more: Learn more about the Vera Institute for Justice's work here Dig into Vera's polling on crime and safety narratives and the midterms here Follow Nick (@nickturner718) and the Vera Institute (@verainstitute) on Twitter

This week, to continue Off-Kilter's ongoing series of conversations about the limiting beliefs we as a collective must release and replace to pave the way for economic liberation, Rebecca sat down with Stefan Lallinger, executive director of an organization housed at The Century Foundation called The Next 100. They have a far-ranging conversation about a core limiting belief constraining economic and other public policy making in the United States today—the notion that you need an advanced degree from an ivy league school and a Washington resume to be qualified to shape our society's public policies—and how The Next 100 is working to update the archetype of public policy expert. For more: Learn more about The Next 100 and the current cohort of policy entrepreneurs Follow Stefan on Twitter (@stefanlallinger) Check out The Next 100's upcoming event

This week, to continue Off-Kilter's ongoing series about the limiting beliefs we as a collective must release and replace to pave the way for economic liberation, Rebecca sat down with Cheryl Green and Thomas Reid, two disabled podcasters who are leading a very cool new project called the Pod Access Initiative, in partnership with the Disability Visibility Project. They have a far-ranging conversation about why it's so important to diversify the voices out there in media—as hosts and guests and content creators of all kinds—and how the Pod Access Initiative is working to remove barriers to entry for people with disabilities in media, while taking on limiting beliefs around whose voices “deserve” to be driving the conversation when it comes to podcasts and more.  For more from this week's guests: Check out Cheryl's podcast Pigeonhole and Thomas's podcast Reid My Mind Radio Learn more about Alice Wong's Disability Visibility Project and subscribe to the Disability Visibility Podcast  Here is Cheryl's podcast episode with Alice Wong about “good radio voices” Follow Thomas (@tsreid) and Cheryl (@WhoAmIToStopIt) on Twitter To get in touch with the Pod Access Initiative, email thepodaccess@gmail.com. 

This week, Off-Kilter's taking a quick break from the ongoing series of conversations Rebecca's been having with leaders around the limiting beliefs we as a collective must release and replace to pave the way for economic liberation, to bring you a discussion Rebecca had last week at a virtual event hosted by The Century Foundation and the Disability Economic Justice Collaborative to mark October 2022 as the fiftieth anniversary of Supplemental Security Income, or SSI—a long-forgotten and badly neglected component of our nation's safety net.  For more: Watch the full SSI at 50 virtual anniversary event Read more from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities about the human consequences of decades of federal neglect of SSI Read about updating SSI would mean to its disabled and older beneficiaries, in their own words Learn more about the bipartisan push to update SSI's antiquated $2,000 asset limit Dig into the TCF-Data for Progress polling finding overwhelming bipartisan support for updating SSI

This week, continuing Off-Kilter's ongoing series of conversations about the limiting beliefs that we as a collective must release and replace to pave the way for economic liberation, Rebecca sat down with two dear friends and leaders within guaranteed income movement—Dorian Warren and Aisha Nyandoro—to continue the conversation we started last week about one of the most toxic limiting beliefs underpinning large-scale oppression in the United States today: the notion that a human being's worth comes from their work. Dorian Warren is co-president of Community Change and co-chair of the Economic Security Project, and Aisha Nyandoro is CEO of Springboard to Opportunities and founder of the Magnolia Mother's Trust.  For more from this week's guests: Learn more about Aisha's work and the Springboard to Opportunity and the Magnolia Mothers' Trust here Learn more about Dorian's work with Community Change and the Economic Security Project Follow Aisha (@aisha_nyandoro) and Dorian (@dorianwarren) on Twitter

This week, continuing Off-Kilter's ongoing series of conversations about the limiting beliefs that we as a collective must release and replace to pave the way for economic liberation, Rebecca sat down with two dear friends and leaders within the disability rights and justice movement to talk about one of the most toxic limiting beliefs underpinning large-scale oppression in the United States today: the notion that a human being's worth comes from their work. They ended up having a far-ranging conversation about why disability leaders know this is not a moment to be seeking to return to “normal,” who the American dream was and wasn't designed to include, and some of the key limiting beliefs constraining the modern American philanthropic sector. Rebecca Cokley is the program officer for disability rights at the Ford Foundation, and Keith Jones is president and CEO of Soul Touchin' Enterprises.  For more from this week's guests: Learn more about Keith's work here Learn more about Cokley's work as the first U.S. disability rights program officer at the Ford Foundation here Follow Cokley (@rebeccacokley) and Keith (@dasoultoucha) on Twitter And get caught up on the permanent economic recession facing the U.S. disability community in this TCF-CEPR report

Modern-day oracles are increasingly describing this moment in human history as a “battle of imaginations”—in which oppression is what happens when an individual or a whole group of people are living in someone else's dream, instead of being free to dream their own. It's in that spirit that the first episode of Off-Kilter's fall season kicks off with the words of poet and activist Sonya Renee Taylor: “We will not go back to normal. Normal never was. Our pre-corona existence was not normal other than we normalized greed, inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction, disconnection, confusion, rage, hoarding, hate, and lack. We should not long to return, my friends. We are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment. One that fits all of humanity and nature.”  To that end, as Off-Kilter steps out of the news cycle this fall to reflect on the broader context of the moment in human history we find ourselves in—and the roles we can all play in shaping our collective future—the pod will be diving deep into the key limiting beliefs we as a society must release and replace in order to realize true economic liberation for us all, which feels in many ways to be the medicine our policy, advocacy, and movement spaces need most right now, as a much-needed antidote to the short-termism that dominates so much inside-the-beltway strategy and thinking today. So, to kick off this series of conversations, Rebecca sat down with two of her favorite advocates, visionaries, and storytellers—Jeremie Greer and Solana Rice. They're the cofounders of Liberation in a Generation, which works to build a liberation economy where people of color belong. They're also the cohosts of the podcast Racism Is Profitable. A core through-line of their work is calling out and tearing down the limiting beliefs upholding what they call the “oppression economy” that defines life in America today. For more from this week's guests: Learn more about Liberation in a Generation and connect with them at liberationinageneration.org Subscribe to “Racism Is Profitable” Follow Solana and Jeremie on Twitter @solanarice and @jeremiegreer

This week marked the thirty-second anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act—or ADA, as it's better known—the landmark civil rights law that promised equal opportunity and economic security for Americans with disabilities. As we've talked about a lot on this show over the years, as important as it is to celebrate how far we've come in the decades since the ADA became part of the fabric of American life, every time we hit the month of July, it's even more important to acknowledge how far will still have to go to achieve the as-yet unfulfilled promises of the ADA.  And that's why this July, Off-Kilter has been once again spending all month long having conversations with leaders from across the disability community.  To close out that series of conversations, this week we take a deep dive into one of the most egregious and discriminatory disability policies still on the books here in America—known as section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act. In a nutshell, 14(c) is an archaic loophole in federal wage and hour law that allows employers to pay disabled workers far less than the federal or state minimum wage just because of their disability.  So, as Off-Kilter closes out this series of July conversations for #ADA2022, Rebecca sat down with two dear friends and visionary leaders within the disability community working not just to tinker around the edges of a status quo, wherein disabled people are twice as likely to live in poverty as their nondisabled peers, but to imagine and build a society that recognizes and affirms the human rights and dignity of all disabled people. Together they took a look at the history of subminimum wages for people with disabilities in the United States and their role in devaluing disabled people's labor and humanity; recent efforts to put 14(c) in the rearview mirror where it belongs; and the future of disability policy more broadly. This week's guests: Rebecca Cokley is the program officer for disability rights at the Ford Foundation, where she leads a portfolio she's been visioning and creating from scratch as the first program officer to oversee a disability rights portfolio at any major U.S. foundation. Before that she was Rebecca Vallas's partner in crime in co-founding the Disability Justice Initiative at the Center for American Progress—the first dedicated disability project at a U.S. think tank—as well as president of the National Council on Disability.  And Chai Feldblum currently serves as cice cChair of the Ability One Commission, the independent federal agency that oversees the AbilityOne Program, whose mission is to tap America's underutilized workforce of individuals who are blind or have significant disabilities to deliver high quality, mission-essential products and services to federal agencies in quality employment opportunities. Chai is a former law professor at Georgetown University and formerly served as a commissioner at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for several years, nominated by President Obama.  For more on this week's topics: Here's the polling finding just 1 in 3 disabled voters believe leaders in Washington care about people with disabilities For more on the subminimum wage, check out this TCF report and this documentary by Rooted in Rights Here's Chai's lecture at Yale University on “Transforming Employment for People with Significant Disabilities” Read this piece in Inside Philanthropy on how Rebecca Cokley is leveraging her post at the Ford Foundation to push other philanthropic leaders to center disability in their grantmaking (and why Ford is partnering with TCF on the Disability Economic Justice Collaborative) Here's the Department of Housing and Urban Development's guidance on community living released this July; here's the Department of Transportation's new Airline Passengers with Disabilities' Bill of Rights; and here's the Department of Education's recent 504 guidance on preventing discriminatory use of school discipline Here's more from Rebecca Cokley and Rebecca Vallas on the bipartisan threat to the ADA that unfortunately hasn't gone away

July marks the thirty-second anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, as it's better known—the landmark civil rights law that promised equal opportunity and economic security for Americans with disabilities. As we've talked about a lot on this show over the years, as important as it is to celebrate how far we've come in the decades since the ADA became part of the fabric of American life, every time we hit the month of July, it's even more important to acknowledge how far will still have to go to achieve the as-yet unfulfilled promises of the ADA.  And that's why this July, Off-Kilter is once again spending all month long having conversations with leaders from across the disability community. To continue that series of conversations, this week we're taking a deep dive into the criminalization of disability in America—and how we got to a place where people behind bars in prisons and jails are three to four times more likely to have a disability than the general population. And to unpack the intersection of criminal justice and disability justice, Rebecca sat down with a panel of incredible leaders from two organizations working at this nexus: Access Living, a longtime leader in the disability rights and justice space that works to build a world free from barriers and discrimination for all disabled people, and Activating Change, a new organization that recently spun off from the Vera Institute of Justice to center people with disabilities in reforming and reenvisioning the nation's criminal justice system.  This week's guests are: Candace Coleman, racial justice organizer at Access Living; Nancy Smith, executive director of Activating Change; Olga Trujillo, Director of Leadership Development, Visibility and Collective Healing at Activating Change; and Keith Jones, President and CEO of SoulTouchin' Experience and a consultant who works closely with Activating Change. Editor's note: The Century Foundation is thrilled to have Access Living and Activating Change as members of the Disability Economic Justice Collaborative, which you can learn more about at dejc.org.  For more: Here's a report Rebecca wrote a while back at the Center for American Progress offering an overview of the mass warehousing of disabled people behind bars, including most of the stats the panel mentions throughout this episode Check out Access Living's 2019 report on how to stem the flow of disabled people into U.S. jails through pretrial diversion and other tools: “A Cross-Disability Perspective on Reducing Jail Incarceration”; as well as their 2022 “Voices of Reentry” panel series Learn more about Activating Change—which recently spun off from the Vera Institute of Justice—and how to get involved with their work to center disabled people in the movement to end mass incarceration and criminalization  Check out Olga Trujillo's work on deconstructing the stigma of dissociative identity disorder And here's more from Keith Jones about his work, and why building stronger communities requires a commitment from heart and soul 

July marks the thirty-second anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, as it's better known—the landmark civil rights law that promised equal opportunity and economic security for Americans with disabilities. As we've talked about a lot on this show over the years, as important as it is to celebrate how far we've come in the decades since the ADA became part of the fabric of American life, every time we hit the month of July, it's even more important to acknowledge how far will still have to go to achieve the as-yet unfulfilled promises of the ADA.  And that's why this July, Off-Kilter is once again spending all month long having conversations with leaders from across the disability community. (Catch up with Part One and Part Two in our #ADA2022 series.) To continue that series of conversations, as we all grapple with the road ahead in a post-Roe v. Wade world, this week, Off-Kilter dives into the intersection of reproductive justice and disability justice—and the impact of the Supreme Court's recent Dobbs decision on disabled women and people who can become pregnant—with two powerhouse advocates who are also speaking at an upcoming virtual event on “Bridging Reproductive Justice and Disability Justice” being hosted at The Century Foundation next week. Vilissa Thompson is a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, where her work focuses on the intersection of race, gender, and disability and she serves as co-director of the Disability Economic Justice Collaborative; she is also the founder of advocacy organization Ramp Your Voice! And Laurie Bertram Roberts is the founder and executive director of the Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund (MRFF), a reproductive justice organization that reduces barriers for access to abortion care.  You can find part one and part two of Off-Kilter's #ADA2022 series here and here. For more: Find out more about and register for next week's event, “Bridging Reproductive Justice and Disability Justice,” taking place on July 21, 1:00–2:00PM ET, by clicking here Read the Supreme Court's Buck v. Bell decision from 1927, which set the legal precedent that disabled people can be forcibly sterilized—and here's the TCF Disability Economic Justice Team's statement on why overturning Roe is so devastating for the disability community Here's the National Partnership for Women and Families analysis finding that 15 million women of color live in states that have already or are likely to overturn Roe Read more about how Laurie became “the abortion lady of Mississippi” in The Guardian Learn more about and support the work of the Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund Find and support your local abortion fund using this handy tool from the National Network of Abortion Funds

July marks the thirty-second anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, as it's better known—the landmark civil rights law that promised equal opportunity and economic security for Americans with disabilities. As we've talked about a lot on this show over the years, as important as it is to celebrate how far we've come in the decades since the ADA became part of the fabric of American life, every time we hit the month of July, it's even more important to acknowledge how far will still have to go to achieve the as-yet unfulfilled promises of the ADA.  And that's why this July, Off-Kilter is once again spending all month long having conversations with leaders from across the disability community—starting with a two-part special diving into the picture for the millions of Americans now living with “long COVID.” For part one of that two-part series of conversations, Rebecca sat down with Lisa McCorkell, cofounder of the Patient Led Research Collaborative; Netia McCrery, education director at the COVID-19 Longhauler Advocacy Project; and Ryan Prior, a journalist, a board member of ME Action, which works to build awareness about a condition called ME/CFS, and author of The Long Haul (forthcoming November 2022). They talked about their personal illness journeys, the stories behind these three organizations, and how patient advocates with other chronic illnesses like ME-CFS are teaming up with COVID long-haulers to push for research, policy change, and more, driving a COVID-era patient advocacy revolution. To continue the conversation into this week—to dig into the U.S. policy response thus far on long COVID, the urgent need for research, how long COVID fits into the larger conversation about disability and disability policy and more—Ryan Prior stuck around for part two of this series, joined by Kim Knackstedt, a senior fellow at TCF whose work focuses on disability economic justice, who serves as co-director of the Disability Economic Justice Collaborative, and who until recently served as director of disability policy at the White House.  Editor's note: The Century Foundation is thrilled to have the Patient Led Research Collaborative, the COVID-19 Longhaulers Advocacy Project, and ME Action as members of the Disability Economic Justice Collaborative, which you can learn more about at dejc.org.  You can find part one of Off-Kilter's long-COVID two-parter here. For more on this week's topics, Kim and Ryan put together a treasure trove of resources for our listeners (!): Here's the 2021 Presidential Memorandum calling for a “whole of government” approach to long COVID, and here's the fact sheet on long COVID the White House put out on last year's anniversary of the ADA For folks looking for related federal agency guidance and resources on long COVID: Here's guidance from the Department of Health and Human Services; Department of Justice; Department of Education; and Administration of Community Living Here are resources on long COVID from the Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Programs And here's a fact sheet from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on what you should know about long COVID, the ADA, and other relevant disability employment protections Here are the three long COVID bills Kim and Ryan talked about:  S.3721, Senator Kaine, Comprehensive Access to Resources and Education for Long COVID Act HR 7482, Representative Pressley, Targeting Resources for Equitable Access for Treatment for Long COVID Act HR 2754, Representative Beyer, COVID Long Haulers Act Check out Ryan's new commentary for TCF on the need for a short-term disability program to protect long-haulers  Find out more about Ryan's new book The Long Haul (forthcoming November 2022) And here's a recent Washington Post article on how long COVID could change the way we think about chronic illness and disability 

July marks the thirty-second anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, as it's better known—the landmark civil rights law that promised equal opportunity and economic security for Americans with disabilities. As we've talked about a lot on this show over the years, as important as it is to celebrate how far we've come in the decades since the ADA became part of the fabric of American life, every time we hit the month of July, it's even more important to acknowledge how far will still have to go to achieve the as-yet unfulfilled promises of the ADA.  And that's why this July, Off-Kilter will be spending all month long having conversations with leaders from across the disability community—starting with a two-part special diving into the picture for the millions of Americans now living with “long COVID,” the incredible patient advocacy led by COVID long-haulers across the country, and how patient advocates with other chronic illnesses like myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) are teaming up with COVID long-haulers to push for research, policy change, and more. And for part one of that two-part series of conversation, Rebecca sat down with Lisa McCorkell, cofounder of the Patient Led Research Collaborative; Netia McCrery, education director at the COVID-19 Longhauler Advocacy Project; and Ryan Prior, a journalist, a board member of ME Action, which works to build awareness about a condition called ME/CFS, and author of The Long Haul (forthcoming November 2022). They talk about their personal illness journeys, the stories behind their respective organizations, why patient advocacy is more critical than ever, and take on some of the myths and misconceptions about long COVID and ME/CFS and more.  Editor's note: The Century Foundation is thrilled to have all three of those organizations—the Patient Led Research Collaborative, the COVID-19 Longhaulers Advocacy Project, and ME Action—as members of the Disability Economic Justice Collaborative, which you can learn more about at dejc.org.  For more: Learn more about and get involved with the Patient Led Research Collaborative, the COVID-19 Longhauler Advocacy Project, and ME Action Find out more about The Long Haul (forthcoming November 2022) And here's a recent Washington Post article on how long COVID could change the way we think about chronic illness and disability

The year 2021 was one for the history books in many areas of American economic policy. And one thing it will be remembered as is the year the United States finally adopted a guaranteed minimum income for families with children. Unfortunately, that policy victory was short-lived, and the expanded Child Tax Credit signed into law as part of the American Rescue Plan Act expired at the end of last year after the historic economic recovery package many of us will forever remember as “Build Back Better” stalled in the Senate—despite widespread popularity with bipartisan voters—for lack of West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin's support as the critical fiftieth vote.  Advocates for children and for low-income families haven't given up the fight, though chances of bringing the expanded credit back anytime soon appear dim in the current political climate. Meanwhile, millions of children across the country have fallen back below the federal poverty line—and nearly half of low-income families reported struggling to afford food five months after the lapse of the expanded credit's monthly payments. So we at Off-Kilter felt it was time to revisit the topic of the child tax credit on the pod, and to take a look at how kids and families are faring half a year after our elected leaders allowed a policy estimated to cut U.S. child poverty nearly in half to expire. And to help us to do just that, Rebecca sat down with two friends and colleagues who have been leading the charge to bring back the expanded child tax credit: Aisha Nyandoro, chief executive officer of Springboard and architect of the Magnolia Mother's Trust, a guaranteed minimum income experiment in Jackson, Mississippi; and Elisa Minoff, senior policy analyst at the Center for the Study of Social Policy and co-chair of the Automatic Benefit for Children (ABC) Coalition. For more: Here's more on the millions of kids who fell back into poverty (via Columbia University's Center on Poverty and Social Policy), as well as the sharp rise in hunger and food insufficiency among low-income families with kids (via CNBC) following the expiration of the expanded credit Check out the story behind the Magnolia Mothers Trust—and for a deeper dive, give Aisha a listen on this episode of Off-Kilter on the ever-growing case for guaranteed income (with Community Change and the Economic Security Project's Dorian Warren) Learn more about how the ABC Coalition is fighting to bring back the expanded CTC And here's Elisa and Aisha (with Liberation in a Generation's Jeremie Greer) on another prior Off-Kilter episode, explaining the racist roots of so-called work requirements and why they're terrible policy for the CTC or any other income assistance program

Coming up on Juneteenth, which will for the second year be recognized as a federal holiday in the United States on June 20 to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the United States, Rebecca sat down with Trevor Smith, the director of narrative change at Liberation Ventures, an organization working to fuel the movement for Black-led racial repair, for a sneak peek at a new initiative he's building called the Reparations Narrative Lab. As he describes it, the lab will serve as a first of its kind creative space designed to build narrative power behind reparations. Trevor is also the creator, curator, and editor of a newsletter titled Reparations Daily (ish) and working on his first book, Lethal Stereotypes: How the Stories We Tell Take Black Lives. For more: Check out the National African-American Reparations Commission's (NAARC) 10 point plan Here's Liberation Ventures' repair framework Dig into Harmony Labs' explainer on narrative change: “What's a Narrative?” Check out Michael Kraus's op-ed in the Los Angeles Times: “Deep Racial Inequality Persists in the U.S.—But Many Americans Don't Want to Believe It” Here's Raj Chetty's research on the myth of the American Dream in the New York Times Upshot: “Extensive Data Show Punishing Reach of Racism for Black Boys”  Subscribe to Reparations Daily (ish) and check out Trevor's Twitter thread on BIPOC leaders doing narrative change work

There's a lot of talk about budgets in Washington—but budget debates are rarely humanized in ways that people can understand in real life terms. And that's a problem. Because a wide array of critical agencies across the federal government have been getting systematically underfunded over the years, resulting in very real problems for American families.  A prime example is the Social Security Administration (SSA)—which oversees retirement, disability, and survivors insurance as well as Supplemental Security Income. Since 2010, SSA's operating budget has been cut by at least 16 percent, adjusting for inflation. Its staffing is down 13 percent, and all while the number of beneficiaries has gone up 21 percent. Why? Because Democrats have failed to get Republicans to join them in increasing SSA's administrative budget, which is so lean already it's just 1 percent of the benefits the agency pays out.  What this kind of systematic disinvestment in a key federal agency means in human terms was the subject of a recent congressional hearing held in response to an outcry from constituents across the United States about customer service challenges in accessing Social Security.  Hour-plus long waits, dropped calls, and an often simply nonfunctional 1-800 phone line; unconscionable delays for disability determinations that leave thousands dying every year waiting for desperately needed benefits; and a huge problem with overpayments or underpayments that occur through no fault of the beneficiaries because the agency just doesn't have the resources and staffing to process earnings reports on time are just a few examples of how this impacts individuals and families.  So for this week's Off-Kilter, Rebecca sat down with two of the other witnesses from that hearing—Bethany Lilly of The Arc and Tracey Gronniger of Justice in Aging—as well as two of the other top experts on the issue: Kathleen Romig of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Kristen Dama of Community Legal Services, for a look at the human toll of defunding SSA. For more: Read Kathleen's new piece on SSA's funding crisis Read Rebecca's, Bethany's, and Tracey's testimony from last week's House Ways and Means Committee hearing Follow @kathleenromig; @bethanylilly; @traceythomgron; @kristendama on Twitter 

Following decades of failed tough-on-crime policies in the United States, between 70 million and 100 million Americans now have some type of criminal record, standing in the way of basics like jobs and housing for a huge swath of the nation's citizens. But a policy that's been gaining bipartisan steam in the states over the past five years, known as “Clean Slate,” has started to chip away at that gargantuan figure, by enabling people to have eligible records automatically wiped after they remain crime-free. In a special episode of Off-Kilter recorded at the Clean Slate Initiative's first annual convening in Detroit, Rebecca sat down with several of the leaders in the Clean Slate movement to talk recent wins in the states, how people's lives are being changed for the better, and the road ahead for criminal record-clearing with tough-on-crime rhetoric on the rise.  This episode's guests: Sheena Meade, managing director of the Clean Slate Initiative; Sharon Dietrich, litigation director at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia; Noella Sudbury, executive director of Clean Slate Utah; Josh Hoe, policy analyst at Safe and Just Michigan; and Zaki Smith, one of the leaders of the Clean Slate New York campaign. For more: Learn more about and get involved with the Clean Slate Initiative at cleanslateinitiative.org Here's a deeper dive on the rise of automatic record-clearing Learn more about Clean Slate PA, Clean Slate Utah, and Clean Slate Michigan Learn more about Zaki's mural campaign for second chances

Following the rare leak of a draft majority opinion in the Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the prospect of partial or wholesale rollback of Roe v. Wade—and with it, the bodily autonomy of women and people who can become pregnant—now looms larger than ever in the United States. So in the wake of the leak that has everyone shook up, Rebecca sat back down with Ian Millhiser, a senior correspondent at Vox and Off-Kilter's favorite court watcher for the inside scoop on the leak, what happens if Roe goes down, and how the Supreme Court has become, in his words, “one of the chief architects of America's democratic decline.” And in the second half of the show, Rebecca talks again with Dr. Jamila Taylor, senior fellow and director of health care reform at The Century Foundation, to unpack why rolling back Roe would be a huge setback for women's equality and economic justice; how out of step rolling back the clock on reproductive rights is with the will of the American people; what's on deck in the states if Roe does go down; and the road ahead to fighting back.  For more: Dig into Ian's essay on how SCOTUS became “one of the chief architects of America's democratic decline” Read Jamila's statement responding to Justice Alito's leaked draft opinion Here are tips on how to donate to a local abortion fund (via The Cut) Note: This is a corrected version of the audio.