Podcasts about Disability

“The starting point is, and the research questions are all framed by: 'We know it's terrible to be fat, but how terrible is it?' Not: 'What would it take to give effective healthcare to fat people?'” says Aubrey Gordon, writer of the new book You Just need to Lose Weight and 19 Other Myths About Fat People, star of the documentary Your Fat Friend, and podcaster of Maintenance Phase. And it's not just healthcare where the alignment of 'fat' with 'unhealthy' - and 'thinner' with 'healthier' - becomes problematic and often very dangerous. "I really don't think people contend with the ways in which they are sending a message to everyone around them that there is a weight limit for people that they will love." Content note: this episode contains discussions of body size, body image, weight, anti-fatness, illness including cancer, diet culture, weight loss - intentional and un - and eating disorders. And there are some category A swears.  This is the second of two episodes about the word ‘fat'. In Fatlusionist part 1, Aubrey and I discuss euphemisms for fat, why people avoid saying ‘fat', what else people mean when they say ‘fat' and how it would be quite good if people said ‘fat' as just a descriptive term for ‘fat'. Find out more about this episode and the topics therein at theallusionist.org/fat2, where there's also a transcript. Thanks so much to everyone who sent in their thoughts and feelings about the word 'fat'. The Allusionist is produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. Martin Austwick provides the original music. Hear Martin's own songs via PaleBirdMusic.com. The cast of The Flab is Felix Trench of Wooden Overcoats podcast, find more of his acting and writing work via FelixTrench.com. Support the show at theallusionist.org/donate and as well as keeping this independent podcast going, you also get glimpses into how the podsausage is made, regular livestreams and watchalong parties, AND to hang out with your fellow Allusionauts in the delightful Allusioverse Discord community, sharing trinket pics, favourite podcasts, and awful portmanteaus. The Allusionist's online home is theallusionist.org. Stay in touch at facebook.com/allusionistshow,instagram.com/allusionistshow, youtube.com/allusionistshow and twitter.com/allusionistshow. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you want me to talk lovingly and winningly about your product or thing, sponsor an episode: contact Multitude at multitude.productions/ads. This episode is sponsored by: • Kitsch, who make products to care for your hair and skin - shampoo and conditioner bars, soaps, sleep bonnets, heatless rollers, satin hoodies and pillowcases... Get a whopping 30% off your entire order at MyKitsch.com/allusionist.• Catan, the endlessly reconfigurable social board game. Shop at catanshop.com/allusionist and get 10% off the original base game CATAN by using the promo code ALLUSIONIST at checkout. • Bombas, whose mission is to make the comfiest clothes ever, and match every item sold with an equal item donated. Go to bombas.com/allusionist to get 20% off your first purchase. • Squarespace, your one-stop shop for building and running a beautifully designed website. Go to squarespace.com/allusionist for a free 2-week trial, and get 10 percent off your first purchase of a website or domain with the code allusionist.Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionistSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Tuesday, May 23rd, 2023. Concordis Education Partners: Classical Christian education has reminded us to aim education at truth, but the trivium has been used as a formula rather than a way of training students in discernment. To teach well, you must coach. Concordis Foundation is offering their third annual BOOT CAMP – a faculty summit – July 11-13th in Moscow, Idaho. This is a three-day intensive teaching training where you learn to coach students, using the trivium, so that you can meet students at all learning levels. Learn more at concordispartners.com https://www.westernjournal.com/two-women-told-broken-law-criticizing-male-attempting-breastfeed-child-report/ Two Women Are Told They've Broken the Law by Criticizing Male Attempting to Breastfeed a Child: Report Two Australian women were reportedly given notices informing them that they committed a crime by criticizing a male, who identifies as a woman, that was trying to breastfeed a baby. The news was first reported by the “Pro-Woman, Pro-Child Safeguarding, Anti-Bullsh*t,” media outlet Reduxx. According to the outlet, Twitter contacted the two women — Jasmine Sussex and Leah Whiston — on May 16, notifying them that they had violated Australian law in several of their tweets. The platform told the two that a “government entity or law enforcement agency” had informed them of their alleged crime, and that the platform had been forced to hide the content from Australian users. The posts in question had been critical of Jennifer Buckley, a female-identified male. Buckley had previously announced online that, after two years of transitioning, he had induced lactation and had begun breastfeeding his newborn son, who his wife had given birth to. Sussex was heavily critical of this, telling the U.K.’s Daily Mail that “men shouldn’t breastfeed because breastfeeding [is] for the baby,” and that “there is no evidence that any male-induced milk is equivalent to mother’s milk.” “We have no idea if the substance is even milk. It’s absolutely a human experiment on babies,” she told the outlet. As a volunteer breastfeeding counselor, Sussex was reportedly fired from her job in 2021 for failing to comply with the adoption of “gender neutral” language in breastfeeding care — a claim which the ABA denied to the Daily Mail. A year after, she was removed from the Australian Breastfeeding Association (ABA), Reduxx reported. “I was sacked for. … ‘Engaging in Sectarian Controversy’ in breach of the ABA constitution,” she told Reduxx. “In other words, continuing to talk about the dangers of gender identity ideology for mothers and babies, including how men were forcing their way into the breastfeeding relationship by attempting to induce lactation.” Whiston, meanwhile, is the representative for the Standing for Women Queensland (SFWQ) page. She had posted a Twitter thread on the page, revealing that an LGBT lobby group had allegedly given the ABA $20,000 for them to create an educational booklet about “chest feeding.” https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/05/22/exclusive-leaked-policy-exposes-fox-news-stances-on-woke-ideology/?fbclid=IwAR36KJiUko85jY6nRrQSX4DH2XOZAwUdyaTl-iEhQIfZe9w-ZPnsTY3cAnA Leaked Policy Exposes Fox News Stances on Woke Ideology Fox News employees are allowed to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity, rather than their biological sex, and permitted to dress in alignment with their preferred gender. They must also be addressed by their preferred name and pronouns in the workplace. These are just a few of the policies outlined in the company handbook, dated January 2021, a copy of which was shared with The Daily Signal. Fox also offers to help employees come up with a “Workplace Transition Plan” to ease their gender transition at work. The revelations comes amid conservative consternation at Fox Digital’s use of activist language like “gender affirming care” in stories on its website, as well as the site’s consistent use of female pronouns for biological males like TikTok celebrity Dylan Mulvaney and swimmer Lia Thomas (formerly known as Will Thomas). Fox also drew strong backlash for a June 2022 on-air segment praising a child’s gender transition as an “inspiration to others.” That segment briefly depicted California state Sen. Scott Weiner, a far-left Democrat who led the move to soften sex offender registry requirements for sodomy with minors, and highlighted the activist claim that a child might commit suicide if he or she is not permitted to transition. Carlson’s show was canceled April 24, days after he delivered a viral speech at The Heritage Foundation’s 50th anniversary gala. Fox News Media has not given a reason, simply stating that the two parties “agreed to part ways.” A source who still works at Fox News told The Daily Signal that after Carlson’s show was canceled in April, producers for the new 8 p.m. “Fox News Tonight” program were told not to bash Mulvaney. That directive came from high-level executives, the source said. Fox News did not respond to The Daily Signal’s multiple requests for comment. Under the category “Gender Transition,” Fox’s employee handbook promises that the company is dedicated to “expanding and strengthening” efforts to “sustain a more inclusive work environment.” The Fox employee handbook is posted on Workday, where employees can see company guidelines or policies, a former employee told The Daily Signal. “Employees who are transitioning their gender have the right to be open about their transition if they so choose, and to work in an environment free of harassment, discrimination, or retaliation, and without fear of consequences or transphobia for living openly,” the policy says. Citing the Human Rights Campaign, one of the most prominent LGBTQ organization in the country, the Fox handbook defines a slew of LGBTQ terms, including cisgender, gender expression, gender-fluid, gender identity, gender non-conforming, gender transition, LGBTQ, non-binary, and transgender. For the past several years, Fox received a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, “the nation’s foremost benchmarking survey and report measuring corporate policies and practices related to LGBTQ+ workplace equality.” A former Fox News employee told The Daily Signal that the company frequently mentions this perfect score in employee training materials. “Fox News devotes hours of programming to attacking ‘woke companies,’ but ironically Fox is as woke as the rest of them,” another former Fox News employee told The Daily Signal, emphasizing that Fox viewers would be “astonished to find out what the company is like.” Fox’s policies appear to be aligned with the legal requirements in New York City, where the company is headquartered, as well as California, where a large number of its employees work. The handbook explicitly states that any employee “may access the restroom corresponding to their gender identity.” “If a transitioning employee expresses a desire for increased privacy they will be provided access to a single occupancy restroom where available,” the handbook says. “However, no employee shall be required to use a single occupancy restroom if they do not wish to do so.” When trans-identifying TikTok star Mulvaney was first gaining prominence last year, producers for “Tucker Carlson Tonight” had to fight to be able to refer to Mulvaney with male pronouns in the show’s chyrons, the former “Tucker Carlson Tonight” producer told The Daily Signal. Carlson’s team also fought to be able to host The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh on trans issues, the producer said, but the team was repeatedly met with resistance from Fox on this due to Walsh’s frank condemnation of transgender ideology. This may have also been due in part to Fox’s view of The Daily Wire as a competitor, the former producer suggested. https://www.based-politics.com/2023/05/22/this-public-college-is-giving-out-paid-internships-that-openly-exclude-white-people/ This public college is giving out paid internships that openly exclude white people Martin Luther King Jr. famously dreamed of a day when Americans would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. Well, keep dreaming, MLK, because segregation and open race discrimination are making a comeback—this time, in progressive bastions like our higher education system and in the name of “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.” The University of Minnesota just got hit with a federal civil rights complaint because it’s openly conditioning a paid internship program on the basis of race. Their “Multicultural Summer Research Opportunities Program” is “an intensive 10 week summer program in which undergraduate students of color work full-time with a faculty mentor on a research project.” It aims to help in “preparing students for graduate school and developing research skills,” and pays students a $6,000 stipend. A condition of the program is that it is only open to students who “identify” as “a student of color or Native American.” This program’s legality is being challenged by the Legal Insurrection Foundation’s Equal Protection Project (EPP), which “seeks to ensure equal protection under the law and non-discrimination by the government” and “opposes racial discrimination in any form.” They just filed a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education arguing that this internship program violates the Civil Rights Act and the Equal Protection clause of the Constitution. “The U. Minnesota segregated summer program is inexcusable, and it’s shocking that a major university would so openly make educational opportunities open only to students of a certain skin color,” EPP President Bill told Fox News Digital. “There is no good form of racial discrimination. Depriving white students of educational opportunities does not promote racial or any other form of justice.” https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/05/21/census-new-york-city-loses-nearly-half-a-million-residents-in-two-years/ New York City Loses Nearly Half a Million Residents in Two Years New York City has lost nearly half a million residents over the course of just two years, newly released United States Census Bureau data reveals. The Census Bureau data, which shows population estimates for mid-2022, finds that fewer than 8.4 million residents remain living in New York City — still making the Big Apple the nation’s most populous city by several million. In April 2020, the very start of the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, more than 8.8 million residents lived in New York City. This figure indicates a population loss of more than five percent from April 2020 to July 2022 with almost half a million residents leaving the city. Americans moving out of deep blue cities is widespread, the Census Bureau data shows. The second largest city, Los Angeles, California, and the third largest city, Chicago, Illinois, also lost residents over the course of two years. In Los Angeles, for instance, about 3.8 million residents remain in the city as of July 2022 compared to about 3.9 million residents in April 2020, a loss of about 100,000 residents. Similarly, Chicago had about 2.67 million residents as of July 2022 but in April 2020, the city had about three percent more residents. Over the two years, about 85,000 residents left Chicago. And now for the rundown… https://andmagazine.substack.com/p/china-is-building-killer-robots-using Many of us have seen The Terminator, a 1984 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. It depicts an almost unstoppable robot sent back in time from 2029 to 1984. Its mission was to kill a woman whose unborn son will save humanity from Skynet, a 2029 artificial intelligence system that had become self-aware and then decided to destroy all of mankind because humans were interfering in their plans and programs. The Chinese Communist Party, the CCP, is now creating their version of the Terminator -- an army of battlefield killer robots that will not be managed by humans in any way and, instead, will be controlled by an artificial intelligence (AI) system. The Chinese plan for building such lethal autonomous robots was revealed by Zeng Yi, an executive in a Chinese government-owned company named Norinco. He said, “In future battlegrounds, there will be no people fighting,” adding that autonomous AI platforms are “inevitable.” https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/washington-secrets/explosion-of-ap-climate-change-stories-following-8m-enviro-grant In the year following a grant of more than $8 million to the Associated Press from key climate change advocates, the news service has poured out at least 64 stories warning of environmental calamity, according to a new media study.Media Research Center Business charted the stories and language used following the multimillion-dollar grant and found that AP also used over 500 environmental extremism buzzwords in the stories. The media giant, which feeds news outlets worldwide, received grants totaling $8 million from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Quadrivium, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Walton Family Foundation in February 2022. AP said it would hire 20 new environmental writers with the money to create a climate swat team to “enhance the global understanding of climate change and its impact across the world.” https://www.outkick.com/trans-high-school-track-runner-robs-female-athlete-of-state-championship-bid/ Another day, another biological male taking opportunities from deserving females.Athena Ryan took second place Saturday in the high school women’s 1600 meter race at the North Coast Meet of Champions in California. The top three athletes advance to the CIF State Track & Field Championships next week. So the fourth-place finisher, Adeline Johnson, missed her chance to compete in State by just one spot. A spot taken by a boy. Ryan, a junior at Sonoma Academy, competed on the men’s team in 2021. But he’s been running in women’s events for the past two seasons. In Saturday’s meet, he clocked a season-record 4:55:91 in the 1600m finals. He would have finished last in the male category. The slowest male time in the preliminaries was 4:46:54. The slowest male time in the finals was 4:35:12. A group of advocates held a banner at the event that simply read, “Protect Female Sports.” They were eventually asked to leave and then escorted off the premises. But not before they had an interesting exchange with an angry passerby. How about we end with some cool news… https://www.dailyfetched.com/soldier-who-lost-both-legs-in-afghanistan-does-the-unimaginable-and-climbs-everest-anything-is-possible/ British army soldier Gurkha veteran Hari Budha Magar, who lost both his legs while serving in Afghanistan, has successfully climbed to the top of the world’s tallest mountain, Mount Everest. Magar, a father of three, served as a corporal in the Gurkha regiment in the British Army. After Magar lost his legs to an improvised explosive device in 2010, he thought his life was “completely finished.” The veteran, who now lives in Canterbury, England, battled depression and alcoholism following the explosion. But Magar persevered. The veteran helped strike down a ban on both double amputees and blind people climbing Everest, ensuring he would have a chance at overcoming both nature and his injuries. According to the BBC, Magar hoped to “inspire others” and “change perceptions on disability” and set off with a team of Nepalese climbers to combat Everest. He” set off on May 6 with a team of Nepalese climbers led by Krish Thapa, a fellow Gurkha veteran and British special forces mountain troop leader. Magar announced he “stood victorious” atop Everest around 3 p.m. on May 19, noting, “Disability is no barrier to reaching the 8,849-metre peak.”

In this special sponsored episode by Set for Life Insurance, we have Jamie Fleischner, founder and president of Set for Life Insurance. With over 28 years of industry experience, Jamie is a leading expert in disability and life insurance, helping clients protect themselves from life's uncertainties. Join us as we explore the world of insurance with Jamie. Discover why disability insurance is crucial for professionals like physicians, when the best time to purchase a policy is, and the key elements to consider. We'll also delve into the significance of life insurance, determining the right coverage and debunking common misconceptions. Stay tuned as Jamie shares her insights on crafting customized insurance plans, common mistakes to avoid, and maintaining a balance between comprehensive coverage and financial goals. Plus, hear a success story that highlights the impact of her guidance. Finally, gain valuable knowledge about emerging trends in the insurance industry and Jamie's strategies for adapting to meet those changes. Nationally recognized Set for Life Insurance has helped over 30,000 physicians with their life and disability insurance needs since 1993. Get the best available policies at discounted rates. Request a quote today. VISIT SPONSOR → https://setforlifeinsurance.com/ SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST → https://www.kevinmd.com/podcast RATE AND REVIEW → https://www.kevinmd.com/rate FOLLOW ON INSTAGRAM → https://www.instagram.com/kevinphomd FOLLOW ON TIKTOK → https://www.tiktok.com/@kevinphomd

We've touched on conversations about veteran disability before, but on this episode we're going all in. To get this conversation right we needed a guest who really understands the VA disability system, and it's hard to imagine someone more qualified to discuss this issue than Dan Gade. Dan is an Army veteran who became an amputee in 2005 while serving as a company commander in Ramadi, Iraq. Since this is an audio only format and we don't discuss it directly in the episode, it's important to note that Dan is missing almost the entirety of his right leg. He continued serving despite his injury and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in 2017. He went on to work as a disability and veteran services activist, professor, and researcher. He currently serves as the Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Veterans Services.  Most importantly for this conversation, Dan is the author of Wounding Warriors: How Bad Policy is Making Veterans Sicker and Poorer. This well researched book unflinchingly goes after the "third rail" political topic of veterans disability reform. Described as a "must read" by GEN (R) Jim Mattis (former Secretary of Defense) and Jim Nicholson (former Secretary of Veterans Affairs) the book takes on controversial issues that others tend to avoid. Dan has his bachelors in environmental science from West Point and his Masters in public administration and his PhD in public policy from the University of Georgia. He served in the administration of President George W. Bush, taught at both West Point and American University, and was appointed to the National Council on Disability. He also knows a thing or two about fitness, he became the paralympic world champion at the 2010 Ironman 70.3. Additional Resources: Of course we recommend reading Dan's book Wounding Warriors: How Bad Policy is Making Veterans Sicker and Poorer. You can even order a signed copy from Dan from woundingwarriors.com. You can find Dan's article "A Better Way to Help Veterans" in National Affairs here. Read his article "Why the VA is Buried in Disability Claims" in the Wall Street Journal here. He has also published formal research: "Combat exposure and mental health: the long-term effects among US Vietnam and Gulf war veterans" in Health Economics can be found here. "Where Did You Serve? Veteran Identity, Representative Bureaucracy, and Vocational Rehabilitation" in the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory can be found here. In our discussion he also recommended listening to his appearance on the Cleared Hot podcast with Andy Stumpf.

How do we celebrate and encourage kids with disabilities and differences, without letting our fears and preconceptions dictate what we think they can do? How do parents of kids with less understanding of differences and disabilities allow for children's natural curiosity? Meg Zucker, author of the new book Born Extraordinary: Empowering Children with Differences & Disabilities, was born with a genetic condition called ectrodactyly. She is also the mother of three children, two of whom share this difference. Meg is also the founder and president of Don't Hide It, Flaunt It, a non-profit with the mission of advancing understanding, tolerance, and mutual respect for people's differences. In this episode Meg and Amy discuss: "Disability" versus "difference," and how people choose the words that feel right for them How Meg's experience growing up different made her parenting kids with differences a little easier—though maybe not as much as someone outside that experience might expect the well-meaning "thrusting of help" that we might reconsider Here's where you can find Meg: @MegZucker @Justflauntit_ Buy Meg's book: https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9780593419380 We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: https://www.whatfreshhellpodcast.com/p/promo-codes/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest: Gracen Brilmyer, Assistant Professor in the School of Information Studies at McGill University and Director of the Disability Archives Lab. First broadcast May 19 2023. Playlist at https://www.wrek.org/?p=39458 "It is so important to feel seen."

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

In today's episode, Emily speaks with writer and philosophy professor Chloé Cooper Jones about her memoir Easy Beauty, which chronicles her quest to widen perceptions of beauty, motherhood, and disability. Find show notes, transcript, and more at thenocturnists.com.

Vaneetha Risner joins the podcast again to talk about finding true hope in suffering. With a story that includes childhood bullying, losing an infant son, developing post-polio syndrome, and going through an unwanted divorce, Vaneetha has wrestled with God. But through her hardships, God has met Vaneetha in an unmistakable way and she has learned to trust him.With a passion for helping others find hope in their suffering, each of her books encourages readers to turn to Christ in their pain. Her newest Bible study, “Desperate for Hope: Questions We Ask God in Suffering, Loss, and Longing,” provides encouragement to find Christ in the midst of pain. Her study answers questions that believers often face when suffering strikes. KEY QUESTIONS:If God loves me, how could he let this happen?How can I know God's presence when he feels so distant?What if this never gets better? KEY SCRIPTURES:2 Corinthians 4:16-18: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”Matthew 11:28-29: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Connect with Vaneetha on her website, Facebook, and Instagram. ----Find more encouragement on Joni Eareckson Tada's Sharing Hope podcast  and daily devotional.Follow Joni and Friends on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.Your support  makes this podcast possible!Joni and Friends envisions a world where every person with a disability finds hope, dignity, and their place in the body of Christ. Founded by  Joni Eareckson Tada, we provide Christ-centered care through  Joni's House, Wheels for the World, and Retreats and Getaways, and offer disability ministry training.

Welcome to season nine of the podcast! This season, an "honest conversation about disability and the Church" will be hosted by Letiah Fraser. Her guest in this episode is Rachel Baskerville! Here is a little more about Rachel: Rachel Baskerville is the Community Resource Specialist for Camden County Developmental Disability Resources, also known as the Senate Bill 40 Board, in Camden County.  She pursued a bachelor's degree in social work from Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. Rachel grew up in the St. Louis area and graduated from high school in Platte City, a city just north of Kansas City.  In 2005, Rachel was selected to be a delegate in the Governor's Council on Disability's program, the Missouri Youth Leadership Forum.  This program had a huge impact on her life, and she realized she had a passion for helping and advocating for people with disabilities.  Rachel grew up with a belief in God, however she did not attend church on a regular basis as a child.  It wasn't until her younger sister chose to get baptized, Rachel got more interested in going to church.  More recently, Rachel has been in a more active role in church due to her significant other growing up in the church and wanting to find a home-based church where they live.  She is bringing more awareness of people with disabilities and disabilities in general to the church she and her significant other attends.  Rachel enjoys time with her family, which consists of her parents, 4 sisters and 2 brothers, and her significant other. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/millennial-pastors/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/millennial-pastors/support

On this episode of WorkParty, entrepreneur, content creator, and disability advocate Tiffany Yu opens up about the life-altering event that ultimately led to the creation of her company, Diversability. What originated as a student club at her alma mater has evolved into a community business of over 80,000 people aiming to elevate disability pride. Here, she talks to Jaclyn Johnson about her entrepreneurial journey and how she champions disability empowerment today. RESOURCES: To connect with Tiffany Yu click here Or follow @diversability on Instagram To connect with Jaclyn Johnson click here To follow along with Create & Cultivate click here To submit your questions call the WorkParty Hotline: 1-(833)-57-PARTY (577-2789) Produced by Dear Media

Having ADD or ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Hear from people all around the globe, from every walk of life, in every profession, from Rock Stars to CEOs, from Teachers to Politicians, who have learned how to unlock the gifts of their ADD and ADHD diagnosis, and use it to their personal and professional advantage, to build businesses, become millionaires, or simply better their lives. Over the past month, we have been fortunate enough to be sponsored by Skylight Frame. [Check it out at: https://www.skylightframe.com]  And guys, if you need a calendar for your family, for your kids, if your kids are neurodiverse- look at skylightframe.com! You order it, you hang it on your wall. It connects to your WIFI. You import your calendars, you add chore lists. My daughter knows all her chores. She knows everything she has to do. There's no more fights, no more arguments. She looks at the chores. She does them. She clicks the little button, the little touch screen, and it means that she's done and she gets her Roblox cuz that pretty much is what kids exist on today under the age of 12. They exist on, on Robux and, and apparently high quality mac and cheese. Apparently, you know, regular mac and cheese that we ate as kids. No, that's not good enough anymore. Skyline Frame is awesome. Use code PeterShankman at checkout. That will give you up to $30 off. I love the thing. You can also throw up all your photos on it. Uh, so when you're not using the calendar, it just. Scrolls your entire life by you and it looks pretty cool. It's in our kitchen. When I wake up at two in the morning to go get some cold water, I see a photo of me and my daughter or my dog, or my late cat, NASA, and it's pretty awesome. Makes my night. So https://www.skylightframe.com code: PeterShankman up to 30 bucks off. You will not regret this. If you get it, send me a note, let me know that you have it, and uh, I'll send you a photo for it. All right, again thank you to Skylight Frame! Enter discount code:  PeterShankman for 10% off, up to $30 off https://www.skylightframe.com Cortney Weinbaum (she/her) is the lead author of a new RAND Corporation report on Neurodiversity and National Security (link). She is a senior management scientist and senior national security researcher at RAND, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think-tank in Washington, DC. She specializes in intelligence and space topics, and she has worked with the Intelligence Community (IC) and Department of Defense to improve policies, practices, and technologies. She has improved analytic and collection tradecraft; identified emerging technologies and their impact on space architectures, special operations, countering weapons of mass destruction, and intelligence; and examined new workforce models for intelligence agencies. The study:  https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1875-1.html I am beyond excited that this study and research are basically backing up IN WRITING so many of the things we've been saying for almost THREE HUNDRED EPISODES!! We're definitely asking Cortney Weinbaum back!  Enjoy and listen up! 00:40 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! Thank you Skylight Frame - Get your coupon now!  https://www.skylightframe.com Discount Code: PeterShankman for 10% off, up to $30 off 01:45 - Introducing and welcome Cortney Weinbaum!! Ref:  What is RAND anyway & why does it matter? 03:30 - I want to talk to you about the recommendations you and your team have made on this incredible research report. But first of all, what prompted this? 04:40-  I love that Rand was so open and wanted you to do this, and you got no pushback or feedback or anything like that? 05:00 -  Explaining to companies & governments how interviewing neurodivergent job candidates is a benefit to all, even your talent pool!  06:00 - Combatting prejudice, discrimination, and bias with the Neurodiverse Ed:  [this part right here] 07:48 - “You're the first person I've ever met like me who's successful” 08:40 -  “Two female civilian intelligence officers both came up to me.. from different agencies, and they said they both identify as autistic in their own workplace…We both face bias and discrimination for this. Ironically, they never met each other until that day” 09:54 - Within the US government, neurodivergent diagnosis are treated as a Disability. 11:54 - The Catch 22 paradox. 15:30 - The US national security community isn't taking a position yet they're not saying we're neurodiverse friendly or we're not. They're more, maybe neurodiverse ignorant at this point. And that ignorance is changing for sure.. one organization, one office at a time.. 17:51 - I want to touch on a few more recommendations 18:42 - This is why we say don't treat it, (or ADHD), as disability.. 20:16 -  How do our spectacular subscribers find out more about you?  So, yeah, if people want to post or write to me, I say that anyone who doesn't sound like a troll, I will respond to. Web:  https://www.rand.org/about/people/w/weinbaum_cortney.html Socials: @cortney_dc on Twitter. @cortneywdc on Instagram,  LinkedIn,  Mastodon it says. “I'm on everything except Facebook”  20:30 - Thank you so much for making time for all of us today Cortney! 21:00 - Hey, you there! Yes YOU! We are thrilled that you are here & listening!  ADHD and all forms of Neurodiversity are gifts, not curses. And by the way, if you haven't picked up The Boy with the Faster Brain yet, it is on Amazon and it is a number one bestseller in all categories. Click HERE or via https://amzn.to/3FcAKkI My link tree is here if you're looking for something specific. https://linktr.ee/petershankman 16:40 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you'd like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  — TRANSCRIPT via Castmagic.io and then corrected.. somewhat, (first trial run is today May 17, 2023):   As always, thank you Skylight for sponsoring this episode as well as many others of the Faster Than Normal Podcast. https://www.skylightframe.com Discount Code:  PeterShankman for 10% off, up to $30 off. Peter Shankman [00:00:40]: Hey, everyone. Peter Shankman. Welcome to the Faster Than Normal Podcast episode number “Happy You're Here!” We're happy you're here as always! It's a gorgeous Monday. We are recording on Monday. I try to do all my podcasts in one day a week, and I do all my zooms the same day. And basically, I just know that there's going to be one day where I'm be super productive and not that productive, and you get everything done, and then that way you can spend the rest of the week doing everything. That's been my ADHD sort of lifestyle going on, like, ten years now. It really does work. Anyway, big shout out to Skylight Frame. You guys have heard me talk about them before. Skylight Frame is this awesome little frame that hangs in my kitchen right over there. And it shows my calendar, and it shows my daughter her chores and her calendar and what she has to do for school and what she has to bring everything in one place. It's touchscreen. It's Skylightframe.com. Peter Shankman. The code Peter Shankman will get you $30 off. I love it. I can upload pictures of anything. My parents can send pictures to the frame. So if they instead of that's their new way of guilting me for not bringing the kid over. They only live three blocks from me. So their new way of guilting me for not bringing the kid over is to send me photos of themselves that show up my Sky Frame, where they're holding little signs and say, forget about us. Remember us. We miss our granddaughter, things like that. It's lovely. Lovely Jewish guilt via digital. Anyway, skylightframe.com use code peter Shankman and we thank them for sponsoring this episode of Faster than Normal. And guys, I am so stoked today because we have a wonderful woman who I just met named Cortney Weinbaum on the podcast today. Get this. She is the lead author of a new Rand Corporation report on neurodiversity and national security. Okay, that is huge. And you know what the key finding is? Neurodiversity, like other forms of diversity, can strengthen a national security organization. I feel like Vindicated, like, for the first time, this stuff that I've been shouting from the rooftops about companies and neurodiversity in the workplace and neurodiverse. Cortney, sitting here right now from Bethesda, Maryland, and has verified everything that I've been screaming for ten years. I'm, like, the happiest person. A Cortney, Welcome to festival. Ed: [that's so funny- Castmagic.io thinks this is a festival.. well.. kind of it IS a festival, really.. but anyway, back to your transcript here- that has been corrected at least to this point by a human]. I'm so glad you're here. Thank you so much for taking the time. Cortney  [00:02:43]: Oh, thank you for having me, and I love your enthusiasm! Peter Shankman [00:02:46]:  Oh, my God. This came across my I don't remember who said this to me, but someone said to me that, you're going to love this. They're like, oh, my God, I am, like, so stoked about this. And we're going to talk about how you decided to do this study, but listen to this, guys. Neurodiversity, like other forms of diversity, can strengthen a national security organization within the US. Government. Neurodivergent diagnosis are treated as a disability and requiring employees to identify as disabled benefits those with severe needs, while stigmatizing employees who have spent decades overcoming the challenges of workplaces designed for neurotypical workers. Several aspects of the recruiting and hiring process can pose barriers to a neurodiverse workforce. And then, once on board, neurodiversion employees can face challenges, navigating careers and workplaces that were not designed for them in mind. So I want to talk to you about the recommendations you and your team have made on this incredible research report. But first of all, what prompted this? Cortney  [00:03:38]:Wow. I want to unpack all of that in this episode with you. So what prompted this? A dear friend of mine who's the president of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance got together with one of her summer interns to write an op ed two years ago now on neurodiversity and intelligence. And my background is from the intelligence community. I joined the intelligence community very soon after 911, and that's how I entered National Security. And so when she and her intern called to interview me, it was like I got hit with a ton of bricks. Why hasn't anyone written about this before? And so I said, Send me that op ed as soon as it's done. And they did, and I took it inside Rand. For those listeners who aren't familiar with Rand, we're a nonprofit, nonpartisan, federally funded research center. I'm in our Washington, DC. Office, and I took that op ed inside Rand, and I said, we need to research this. There needs to be data about this topic. And I got an immediate gap. There was no hesitation at all. And so we got some project funding, and we did this study that you're looking at now. Peter Shankman [00:04:40]: That is amazing. I love that Rand was so open and wanted you to do this, and you got no pushback or feedback or anything like that? Cortney  [00:04:47]: None. Peter Shankman [00:04:48]: And we're starting to see that now. I mean, the companies that I'm dealing with and I'm working with, adobe and Morgan Stanley and Google, they're understanding not only that neurodiversity is real, not only that neurodiversity is something that needs to be addressed, but that it can benefit companies tremendously. And that's the story screaming from the rooftop. So let's talk about the key findings. First, in terms of neurodiversity, like other forms of diversity, can strengthen a national security organization. So that the hardest part there is explaining to companies that that can be a thing, right? As opposed to companies look at it. Okay, something else we have to deal with. No, this can benefit. Cortney  [00:05:22]: Absolutely. One of the questions that we were asked at the beginning of the study and then again at the end of the study were, but which jobs? Just tell me which jobs I should be opening to the neurodivergent candidates. And I'll flag those jobs as the one. And I'm laughing for those who can't see my face. And what we found out, what all of your listeners probably already know, is the answer is all of the jobs. And the way we make that point is I tell people this story, which is that when we started doing this research project, our goal was to talk to program managers, hiring managers. We were not trying to ask people to self identify as having a diagnosis and tell us about their experience. We didn't want to put at risk a population that's already at risk for prejudice, discrimination, and bias. So we weren't asking anyone about a diagnosis. But people started calling me. My phone started ringing by people who would say, I heard you're doing this study. I'm an intelligence officer, or I'm a military officer, and you need to interview me. I'm autistic. And I've never told the military that before. I got diagnosed outside the military health system so that there was no military record of my diagnosis. We heard all these personal stories so very early on. It was very clear that people with all of the Diagnoses we talk about in this report already are serving in the military, are serving as civilians in the entire national security enterprise, and that they're usually doing in a way that is masking, that is hiding whatever is their neurodivergent trait in order to fit in in their office so that they're not known. They describe themselves as living in the closet, like the LBGT community used to in the military. And that masking is exhausting, and it leads to burnout, and it prevents them from really leveraging the talents and the benefits of their conditions, but it also leads to burnout, exhaustion. It's psychologically draining all of the things. And so it creates this environment where the neurotypical employees and managers think, well, there's no one neurodivergent here. And it prevents us having role models that we can see with these diagnoses so that we can realize that, yeah, we actually should be making on ramps and making entry easier because our colleagues, who we really value, already have these diagnoses. So by having that community hide, it's a disservice to everyone. And so that's one of the first findings we had in this report, that. Peter Shankman [00:07:48]: Last point about the fact that we're not being more public about it. I gave a talk last week to a bunch of hundred fifth graders in school in New Jersey, because my latest book is for kids called The Boy with the Faster Brain. And it's hard. I tear up every time I think about this. Fifth grader came to me at the end of the class, and his head was at the end of the talk. And as everyone else was leaving, his head was down. He didn't really mumbling. I'm like what? And he's like, it you're the first person I've ever met like me who's successful, and my heart, oh, my God, my heart. Cortney  [00:08:27]: Oh, my gosh. Peter Shankman [00:08:28]: Right? And it's like, we need why we. Cortney  [00:08:30]: Do what we do. Peter Shankman [00:08:31]: Oh, my God. We need to be telling these stories. We need to be telling these stories. And I'm so glad that you are. Cortney  [00:08:40]: I have to give you one more example. We were at a conference. I mean, it was a small event, not massive, but it was a small event for neurodivergent service providers in the national security sector. So there are some please don't think there are none. And two female intelligence officers came up to me after I explained, I stood up, I said, I'm doing this project. If anyone wants to talk to me afterwards, come find me. And two female civilian intelligence officers both came up to me. They're from different agencies, and they said they both identify as autistic in their own workplaces. They're out of the closet, quote, unquote, in their workplaces as autistic. And they said, we need more of this. We need other people to be able to be out just like us. There's no one else that either of us could ever look up to. We both face bias and discrimination for this. Ironically, they never met each other until that day. They knew each other existed. I think they talked to emails, but this event was the first time they'd been in the same room, and it was really powerful. There are people who are trying to be role models, and they're doing it at cost. And we wanted to put this study out there to provide data and analysis and objective, unbiased data analysis on what is the benefits and what are those costs. Peter Shankman [00:09:54]: That's amazing. I'm so glad you did this. So let's look at this. Within the US government, neurodivergent diagnosis are treated as a disability. And so my first reaction is, no, it's not. But I understand why that would be, right. You're looking at a lot of these things are based on 50, 67 year old rules or the Ada from 82. So talk to me about what you learned from that standpoint. Cortney  [00:10:18]: Yeah, this was just eye opening, so I'm not a disability researcher. So a lot of this was new ground to me. If you want to get a job in the US government and you want to self identify as being disabled, any type of disability, you get what's called a schedule, a letter, from the Department of labor. Basically, you fill out a form, the department of labor gives you a letter called a Schedule A Letter. The schedule. A letter does not state your disability. It just says Mr. Smith has a severe disability and therefore qualifies for accommodation. That's all it says. It doesn't say what your disability is. You can be blind, you can be an amputee. Well, because of that process, no matter what your disability is, you're just identified as disabled and severely disabled. When government agencies are calculating data, we ask them, how many people do you have for neurodivergent your agency? And they said, I don't know, I can only give you my disability number. So the blind employees, the deaf employees, the amputees, and the autistic employees are all lumped in one category. So that was one finding. The second finding is that Schedule A Letter says severely disabled. And all the people we talk to don't identify as severely disabled. And they take deep personal offense at the idea that they should have to describe themselves as severely disabled just to wear noise canceling headphones in a classified room. Peter Shankman [00:11:34]: Exactly. Cortney  [00:11:35]: Or just to ask that the light bulb be taken out from over their desk, or that their desk be moved from the bullpen further away from the door so they don't hear the door every time it opens. These are like basic requests of a manager, but the government treats them as accommodations and if you want an accommodation, you must have a declaration of disability. Peter Shankman [00:11:53]:Right? Cortney  [00:11:54]: So we provide a few metaphors in the report and we call this the accommodations dilemma because it was like this whole catch 22 paradox. Cause you either declare yourself as disabled and all of a sudden you get all these benefits along with the risk of bias and discrimination, right? You don't declare yourself as disabled, don't worry about the bias and discrimination, but now you've got to cut it. And we said if you compare this to other diagnoses, and I use vision in the report as the example, I'm sitting here wearing eyeglasses, I'm near sighted. I am not disabled by any standard. I drive a car I can see perfectly with my eyeglasses on if I want to apply for military service or for a civilian job. I'm not considered disabled simply because I'm near sighted. Now, there's a point at which a vision diagnosis does become a disability, but it's a spectrum, and we know it's a spectrum and we know that simply having a vision diagnosis is not a binary yes you're disabled, or no you're not. For the government, having a neurodiverse divergent diagnosis is a binary yes or no. Whereas we all know, those who are in this community or researchers in this community, that it is a spectrum. There are some people with ADHD, autism and other diagnoses who do self identify as severely disabled and there's plenty who don't. And the government right now doesn't give people the option. Peter Shankman [00:13:07]: What's interesting, I think another aspect of that is because it's government work, it's the premise that you can't just move your desk away from the door if you just want to. There has to be an accommodation for. Cortney  [00:13:20]: It because someone else in the office is going to say, well, that's unfair. Why did they get to their desk? I want to be near the window. Peter Shankman [00:13:26]: And I think that what companies are starting to realize is that those rules don't. I interviewed someone who was a boss once and I said, what are the neurodiversion aspects of how you're dealing? He goes, there are none. He goes, you get your work done. He goes, I do not care how you do it. You're not in junior high. You don't have to ask for a bad bathroom pass. Do whatever works for you as long as you're getting stuff done. And I think back to my first and only job I ever really had working for someone else was for America Online and under Steve Case back in the 90s in Virginia, right near you, Northern Virginia, they said the same thing. We don't care when you come in, right, work from a forest, just get your stuff done. And that was so amazing. And of course it screwed me because I thought, oh wow, this must be what the workforce is like. And my second job at a national magazine was, no, the hell it ain't. That was sort of a wake up call, but now there's no question about that. It is difficult if you have to constantly label yourself as only one thing or the other. I've never looked at this as a disability from my perspective. I understand I've had to write it down at some points for surveys or qualifications or things like that. But again, I don't qualify my ADHD as a disability. And the funny thing was, I remember growing up in school, in the New York City public schools, you could qualify for something called resource room, which would give you extra time on tests and allow you lots of different accommodations. To get there, though, you had to fall below a certain level in reading and in math. And because I loved reading, I was on a 12th grade level from first grade. Because I hated math, I qualified. But because I didn't qualify for both, I didn't get anything. So yes, there's a lot that needs to be addressed in that. Talk about for a second the concept of and I want to be constantly time, but we're definitely having you back, but the aspects of recruitment and hiring process, right? So there are companies now that I'm advising that are trying to create conversation, that they are more neurodiverse aware and that they are neurodiverse friendly. And is that not the case in government yet or how is that happening? Cortney  [00:15:29]: Well, for the most part, the US national security community isn't taking a position yet they're not saying we're neurodiverse friendly or we're not. They're more maybe neurodiverse ignorant at this point. And that ignorance is changing for sure. But one organization, one office at a time, we're hoping this report can blow that door open. So what we did is we actually went through real government job vacancy postings and said, how is this worded today? And how might one word it differently? And there's actually a point in the report. We take a table. We take three or four job descriptions. And we wanted to make sure that these aren't very stereotypical job descriptions. We had people come to us say, oh yeah, I could hire people who are neurodivergent and they could be the cyber analyst in the corner who never have to speak to anyone. And so we made sure that the job descriptions we chose were not just like that person you put in the back corner who doesn't actually interact with people. We chose an accountant. Yes, a cyber operations officer. We chose a contracts officer. Contracting is a huge part of the national security workforce, and we chose some of these job descriptions. And then based on what we had learned from the commercial sector, we said, here's how you might do it differently. Sometimes it's just changing the wording. Like, instead of saying, demonstrate that you're an effective communicator. I don't know how to do that in a cover letter very well. Instead, we write it in a way that for someone who has trouble with nuance, who has trouble with interpretive language, who doesn't know how to do that, we'd be able to figure out what exactly is that they need to see from me. We took one of the job descriptions that was asking for financial analysis skills as the accounting position. And we said instead of all these things that they're asking the applicant to prove in a resume, instead let's interview this person by giving them a practical exercise, which is what some companies do, we email them a spreadsheet three days before the interview. The spreadsheet is fake financial data. We say to them, in three days, you're going to present your analysis to the hiring manager or a board of three people. Well, by doing that now, this person isn't worried about making eye contact and making sure they know how to answer the question of what do you want to get out of your career? Instead, you're really assessing this person on their financial analytic skills and their ability to convey analytic findings to a customer. That's probably all you really cared about in the first place. You didn't really care if they could make eye contact and shape your hand with a firm handshake. So we provide those kinds of really specific, tangible recommendations. Peter Shankman [00:17:51]: I want to touch on a few of the more recommendations. We have a few minutes left. One of the ones that I saw immediately, and I love this, help all employees understand neurodiversity right and this goes back to what I've taught at some of the companies that I work with in the concept of curb cuts. I'm sure you know that is at the end of World War II, 600,000 US servicemen came home disabled. And every city and every town across the country put ramps at the at the corner of every block, make up the sidewalks, making curb cuts. And they wound up helping those 600,000 servicemen and also wound up helping pregnant women and people with boxes and children and people with strollers list goes on and on. So you help one group and it benefits all. So the concept of teaching, understanding university, go ahead. Yeah. Cortney  [00:18:42]: This is why we say don't treat it as disability. By putting ramps in buildings, you didn't just help the people who are disabled. Like you said, you help the Janet or push the card more effectively. So if you change your interview practices or your management practices in ways that provide clear communication to everyone, everyone will benefit from that. It's not just the few employees that have a diagnosis. And by the way, there's plenty of employees who are not diagnosed because they didn't have the availability to have a diagnosis. So it helps them, too. So, yeah, we wanted to make sure that the recommendations in here were really widely applicable. We heard from plenty of people we interviewed. It's one thing to give the neurodivergent employee the feedback that they need to be a better communicator, but did you also give the rest of the team the feedback that they need to be better communicators, too? And that's what we're talking about. Why is the whole burden on one person to be able to improve team wide communication? The burden shouldn't fall on one person's shoulders 100%. Peter Shankman [00:19:41]: Courtney, I want to have you back again. I really appreciate you taking the time. I'm going to tell Meagan immediately that I want to have you back. I could talk about this for 6 hours. Maybe we'll break our rules and do like a 45 minutes version if you're up for it. But thank you so much for taking the time. And this research is available. Anyone can download it. It's at RAND.org under publication for free. Cortney  [00:20:03]: It's for FREE!!!! Peter Shankman [00:20:04]: That's the coolest thing. It's like, Here, have it. I'll put a link to where it is in the show notes. But again, if people want to find you, I mean, you're pretty easy to find. Do you mind if people contact you? Do you have a social account or. Cortney  [00:20:16]: How can people yeah, I'm on Mastodon, I'm on Twitter. I'm on Instagram, LinkedIn. I'm on everything except Facebook. So, yeah, people want to post to me. I say that anyone who doesn't sound like a troll, I will respond to. Peter Shankman [00:20:30]: Awesome. Cortney Weinbaum, thank you so much for taking the time. Really. Cortney  [00:20:34]: Thanks for having me. Peter Shankman [00:20:35]: Phenomenal. Most definitely. We'll be live in a few weeks. Guys, thank you for listening. Really appreciate your time. I love that you are still listening to Faster Than Normal. We are closing in on 300 episodes. How amazing is that? I've never been able to do anything 300 times in a row, so I am super excited about that. And we will be back next week with another interview with someone probably not as cool as Cortney, but we're going to try. Thank you again, everyone for listening. Cortney, thank you one more time. We will talk to you guys soon. Have a great day. Stay safe. — Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week! 

Reflecting on his pastoral career and work as a mental health minister, Tony shares what it is like to be a wounded healer with a bipolar thorn in his flesh.

How can lawyers provide equal representation to all? Today, we hear about how one lawyer practices cultural competence in a legal system that often lacks it. Then, we listen to a conversation on how disabled doctors and medical students are working to help their colleagues understand disability. Plus, readings from Bay Area writers. With local music from Periscope.

There are lots of things that may be accessible for one person but not another.  Some are inconvenient, and some are impossible.   From topics in other episodes to recently traveling together, we noticed a handful of things that make sense, and things that don't make sense. Listen for experiences, both good and ridiculous, as we discuss the challenges of accessibility. In this Episode: Sean tells us the latest in his dealingsx with StorQuest.  Spoiler: It's not good. You Got This, Mental Health - Sean and Kyle share similar stories of their wheelchairs rolling away from them. We all struggle. Sharing with others can help lighten the load. The Dudes talk about a recent experience at a hotel.  It helps expose some issues about accessibility. Thank you notes - An aquaintance at a laundromat, and Neighbor Melanie (the best!) Links and Resources: Episode 193 - Accessibility Matters: Air Travel is Not Exempt - with Mary Caruso This episode brought to you in part by Reata Pharmaceuticals. Reata Pharmaceuticals is the company that makes SKYCLARYS™ (omaveloxolone) 50 mg capsules. Our mission is to develop innovative therapies that change patients' lives for the better. For more information about SKYCLARYS, visit: Skyclarys.com ©2023 Reata Pharmaceuticals, Inc. All rights reserved. SKYCLARYS, REATA, and their logos are trademarks of Reata Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Jon Ido Warden didn't get married until he was 38. His wife knew she was marrying an athlete and someone who actively served others in the name of Christ. But after a year, he began to experience health problems which ultimately led to a grim diagnosis of a chronic disease tied to his auto immune system. The doctors forecast that he wouldn't live more than five years, but it's now been 27 years! Much like rust on metal, his disease has continued to slowly eat away at his remaining vigor, keeping him more and more at home. While Jon has yet to experience a divine healing of his body, he is quick to testify that God's Spirit has healed and transformed his soul.

Itto Outini is an international journalist, Fulbright scholar, human rights activist, accessibility advocate, and author of the forthcoming memoir Blindness is the Light of My Life. She holds an MA in journalism and strategic media from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, has practiced print and radio journalism in the US and Morocco, and has been invited to speak for organizations including Cal Tech University, Verizon Wireless, and North Seattle College.  Her work experience spans the for- and non-profit sectors and includes a stint with the United Nations Development Programme. In 2021, she founded Fulbrighters with Disabilities, a global, virtual chapter of the Fulbright Association dedicated to supporting students and scholars with disabilities around the world. In June of 2022, she made history by co-chairing a panel at the 15th Session of the Conference of State Parties to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. That same year, her life story was featured on BBC Outlook, and she and her husband, Mekiya Outini, co-founded The DateKeepers, an international media platform committed to publishing independent journalism, showcasing untold stories, and highlighting well-lived lives, especially those of people with disabilities, advocates, and allies worldwide.  Mekiya Outini is a writer and co-founder of the DateKeepers, an international media platform. He earned his MFA in fiction from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and his short stories, essays, and poems have appeared in outlets such as Chautauqua Literary Journal, the Michigan Quarterly Review, and Willow Springs, respectively. His unpublished novel, Ashes, Ashes, has been selected as a finalist or semi-finalist in several contests, including the Chanticleer Somerset Awards, and its first two chapters were published in the West Trade Review. He lives with his partner in business and life, Itto Outini, in Kansas City, MO. Fulbright Scholar | Human Rights Activist | Founder of Fulbrighters with Disabilities | Co-Founder & Journalist at The DateKeepers | +1 (479) 502-3244 |

I don't include cardio and strength training on the same day in all of my programs, but I do in some. The question, then, becomes, should you do strength training before or after cardio? In this article, I'll review the research behind each approach and then share some practical insights based on my experience working with clients over the past couple of decades. Cardio vs. Strength Training As I wrote about in The 3 Pillars of VIGOR, you can get most of the benefits of cardiovascular exercise from a well-designed strength and conditioning program. However, there are cases where including cardio in addition to strength training is beneficial. Women, in general, tend to respond better to programs with a moderate amount of cardio. For women with PCOS, cardio can be especially important. And even for men, including cardio can help them get through fat loss plateaus, or get rid of the last 15 pounds of body fat to see a complete six-pack. But just to be clear, I do not advocate doing cardio instead of strength training. If it comes down to doing one or the other on a given day, always do your strength training. With that in mind, here are some of the most significant benefits of each form of exercise. Benefits of Strength Training Strength training obviously makes you stronger (hence, the name), but it does much more, whether you're 18 or 81. Some of resistance training's key benefits include: Increased muscle mass: Strength training promotes muscle growth, which can improve your overall body composition and appearance.Schoenfeld, B. J. (2010). The mechanisms of muscle hypertrophy and their application to resistance training. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 24(10), 2857-2872. Improved bone density: Resistance training helps to maintain and improve bone density, reducing the risk of osteoporosis.Layne, J. E., & Nelson, M. E. (1999). The effects of progressive resistance training on bone density: a review. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 31(1), 25-30. Boosted metabolism: Building muscle increases your resting metabolic rate, which means you'll burn more calories at rest.Campbell, W. W., Crim, M. C., Young, V. R., & Evans, W. J. (1994). Increased energy requirements and changes in body composition with resistance training in older adults. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 60(2), 167-175. Enhanced functional fitness: Strength training improves your ability to perform everyday tasks, making you more functionally fit.Rantanen, T., Guralnik, J. M., Sakari-Rantala, R., Leveille, S., Simonsick, E. M., Ling, S., & Fried, L. P. (1999). Disability, physical activity, and muscle strength in older women: the Women's Health and Aging Study. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 80(2), 130-135. Benefits of Cardiovascular Exercise When you look at most research and medical publications, you find a consistent set of benefits from cardio. They include: Improved heart health: Regular cardio can reduce the risk of heart disease by improving circulation and lowering blood pressure.Mora, S., Cook, N., Buring, J. E., Ridker, P. M., & Lee, I. M. (2007). Physical activity and reduced risk of cardiovascular events: potential mediating mechanisms. Circulation, 116(19), 2110-2118. Increased endurance: Cardio helps to build stamina, allowing you to exercise for longer periods without fatigue.Fletcher, GF., Ades, P. A., Kligfield, P., Arena, R., Balady, G. J., Bittner, V. A., ... & Sibley, C. (2013). Exercise standards for testing and training: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association. Circulation, 128(8), 873-934. Weight management: Engaging in regular cardio can help you maintain a healthy weight or lose weight when combined with a proper diet.Donnelly, J. E., Blair, S. N., Jakicic, J. M., Manore, M. M., Rankin, J. W., & Smith, B. K. (2009). Appropriate physical activity intervention strategies for weight loss and prevention of weight regain fo...

I think we can all agree by now that the dating pool most definitely has pee in it. This week, we're joined by writer, CEO and star of HBO Max's The Sex Lives of College Girls, Lauren Spencer to talk about dating with a disability, finding confidence within yourself and how her dating life compares to her character Jocelyn. Lauren's new book, “Access Your Drive and Enjoy The Ride” available now on Amazon!   Follow: Kamie Crawford @kamiecrawford & @relationshit Follow: Lauren Spencer @itslololove Sponsored by SKIMS: SKIMS Fits Everybody and more best-selling essentials are available now at SKIMS.com - Be sure to say Relationsh*t sent you! NextEvo Naturals: This is my favorite thing to take right before bed - it really helps clear my head. Get 20% off your first order of $40 or more at NextEvo.com/podcast and use promo code kamie Produced by Dear Media This episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct, or indirect financial interest in products, or services referred to in this episode.

This week our special guest is Victoria Bracamonte who talks about disability, education, and inclusion for first-gen students. Victoria has a bachelor's degree in English Language Arts, Secondary Education as well as a Master's degree in Education. Her current research focuses on evaluating how the use of Assistive Technology devices throughout academic curriculum, grant students the opportunity to evidence academic improvement. She advocates for educational spaces which propel student growth, demonstrate awareness of their needs, and value their individual journeys to success. In this episode, Victoria Bracamonte discusses her experience navigating educational spaces as a first-gen student with cerebral palsy. She talks about the importance of combining assistive technology with proper strategies and tools, along with comprehensive plans of teaching unique to each student. She discusses the challenges faced by disabled students in higher ed, particularly those who are also first-gen and highlights the need for awareness around disability and accessibility. Victoria also emphasizes the importance of emotional awareness and compassion in creating a respectful and caring environment in classrooms for students with disabilities. You can reach Victoria by following her on Instagram: @victoria.braca Follow me on your favorite social media platforms: ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠LinkedIn⁠, ⁠YouTube⁠, ⁠Facebook⁠, ⁠TikTok⁠, and ⁠Twitter⁠ Sign up for my ⁠free email newsletter ⁠to learn more about grad school, sustainable productivity, and personal development Get my free 15-page ⁠Grad School Femtoring Resource Kit ⁠ To download episode transcripts and access more resources, go to my website: ⁠https://gradschoolfemtoring.com/podcast/⁠  *The Grad School Femtoring Podcast is for educational purposes only and not intended to be a substitute for therapy or other professional services.* --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gradschoolfemtoring/message

When 30-year-old Marcy Gregg woke up from a coma, 13 years of her memories had disappeared. In her mind, she was still 17 years old. She didn't remember her husband or her three children, including the baby she had just given birth to in the hospital. Everything had vanished. Faced with the daunting task of rebuilding her identity, even turning to alcohol amid her struggle, God brought Marcy to her knees. When she turned to her faith, Marcy found hope, beauty, and healing.Get your copy of Marcy Gregg's book, Blank CanvasSee Marcy's artConnect with Marcy on Instagram: @marcygregg.KEY QUESTIONS:What defines your identity?Where do you turn when life feels impossible?Have you even felt angry with God? KEY SCRIPTURE:Romans 8:28–30: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” ----Find more encouragement on Joni Eareckson Tada's Sharing Hope podcast  and daily devotional.Follow Joni and Friends on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.Your support  makes this podcast possible!Joni and Friends envisions a world where every person with a disability finds hope, dignity, and their place in the body of Christ. Founded by  Joni Eareckson Tada, we provide Christ-centered care through  Joni's House, Wheels for the World, and Retreats and Getaways, and offer disability ministry training.

Today I want to talk about disability and life insurance. Resources:   What Every Physician Should Know about Long Term Disability Insurance With Lawrence Keller https://financeforphysicians.co/2020/09/22/what-every-physician-should-know-about-long-term-disability-insurance-with-lawrence-keller/   What Type of Life Insurance Should You Own? https://financeforphysicians.co/2021/04/22/what-type-of-life-insurance-should-you-own/   Why is Permanent Life Insurance Such a Terrible Short Term Investment https://financeforphysicians.co/2021/04/29/why-is-permanent-life-insurance-such-a-terrible-short-term-investment/

On today's episode, Hope Heals team member, Leah Case, reads questions to Katherine that we received on Instagram. On this unique and special Ask Me Anything, we are excited to share things from Katherine's coffee order, to the hardest part of her stroke recovery. Join us for a peek inside of Katherine's life!   Links that Katherine references: Mend Coffee: opening this fall in Atlanta, GA Learn more about Joni Eareckson Tada and her amazing ministry Katherine's Wheelchair  Kristian Stanfill   To learn more about Hope Heals, you can find us at: www.hopeheals.com  www.mendcoffee.org www.hopehealscamp.com  www.instagram.com/hopeheals

On March 4, 2023, the disability community lost one of its most significant leaders—Judy Heumann left us to carry on her legacy of demanding that disabled people have the right and the opportunity to live in their communities, access employment, go to school, and so much more. Beyond being a dedicated and savvy international disability rights advocate, she was a beautiful and kind soul, a connector, and a bridge-builder. Qudsiya shares Season 4, episode 1, “Reflections on the Disability Revolution” as a tribute to Judy's life and legacy.Transcript available here.—If you're enjoying the podcast, please spread the word by leaving a rating and review on Apple podcasts, tagging us @DownToTheStruts on social media, or sharing the podcast with a friend.Buy Qudsiya a coffeeSubscribe to "Getting Down To It", Qudsiya's monthly newsletter

To celebrate Mother's Day Rebekah sits down with Laura Wifler, author of Like Me and co-founder of Risen Motherhood for a conversation on motherhood and how to open the door to meaningful conversations with your children about empathy, compassion, diversity and God's love for others who might look or act differently than them.Take the Resilience Quiz at https://www.rebekahlyons.com/rlquizBuilding a Resilient Life is out now. Purchase your copy HERE!Purchase Like Me: A Story about Disability and Discovering God's Image in Every Person HERE.

In this episode of Real Talk, KJK Student Defense Attorneys Susan Stone and Kristina Super are joined by Marbella Cáceres, Tammie Sebastian, and Lisa Lutz from the Ohio Coalition for the Education Of Children with Disabilities.  Topics that they discuss are the rights of parents with children with disabilities have.  The conversation includes how the coaliation empowers parents when getting their children assistance, how parents can get their children with disabilities services, and how to find out if your child has hidden gifts under their disabilities. Links: https://www.ocecd.org/ Phone Number: 1-844-382-5452 Show Notes: (03:00)  The Coalition: Fighting for Parent's Rights with Their Children with Disabilities (05:03)  How the Coalition Empowers Parents (08:04)  Empowered Parents: Resolving Conflict Resolution with Agencies (08:50)  How the Coalition Connects Parents with Disability Rights organizations (09:58)  On Your Side:  The Coalition Also Has Children with Disabilities (13:42)  Cover Up:  How Schools Focus on Disabilities But Miss Gifts (14:44)  First Step:  What Parents Can First Do if They Suspect Their Child Has a Disability (15:23)  The Three Tiers: What Every Parent Needs to Know (17:28)  How the Coalition Helps Families Who Don't Speak English (19:21)  What are the Parents Rights (21:35)  How the Coalition Helps Parents with Disabilities (23:46)  Why Schools are Required to Have a Language Access Plan (24:49)  What Over-Identification is and How It Can Hinder a Child (27:16)  Parents Best Bet: How the Coalition Interfaces with Other Agencies to Provide Families with More Services (29:59)  How Parents Can Work with the Coalition without Hiring Attorney Transcript: Susan Stone: Today we are gonna talk about the darling of our practice, and that is special education law. And I say it's the darling because even before you and I were law partners, I started the practice only dreaming about doing special ed. I still, oh,  Kristina Supler: How could there be life before us together?  Susan Stone: What there was,there was you and my three kids. Everyone says that. But there was. And it started with special education and one of our guests here today who you'll introduce, Tammie. I remember reaching out to her years ago when I was just a newbie. Trying to break in and create a name for myself and saying, can I come talk about special education? And you were so gracious, Tammie, to host me to give a primer. And I look back then and I think, wow, what I, I wish I had the knowledge and the mileage of life experience and working with clients that I do today. But you gotta start somewhere, right? Supler? That's right. So today we're gonna do a little special ed work. Why don't you introduce it.  Kristina Supler: Today we're joined by Tammie Sebastian, Louise Lutz and Marbella Cáceres, who are all with the Ohio Coalition for the Education of Children with Disabilities, which is a statewide nonprofit organization that serves families of infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities in Ohio. And they also provide services O C E C D. That's a mouthful. That is a mouthful. Much all of special ed alphabet soup we say, right? Yep. They work through a coalition effort with parents and other professional disability organizations. They have individual members. It's been around since 1984 to help with parent training, and we are really pleased to be joined by three fabulous women today. Welcome.  Tammie Sebastian: Hi, how are you guys?  Susan Stone: We're doing great. We actually just finished recording a whole speech for milestones for their conference. We did a virtual lecture. So we are just back to back today. But to start out, could one of you lovely guests, explain what the Ohio Coalition for the Education of Children with Disabilities. O C E C D is  what you do and what your given roles are within the organization. That's a mouthful. But you guys can handle it.  Tammie Sebastian: I'm sure Marbella's gonna do that. And I'm sure she's gonna give you the correction on the 1984 when she, so I'll hand it over to Marbella, but 1984 is when we became a P t I. Is that correct? Marbella?  Marbella Cáceres: Yes, that is correct. thank you. First of all, I wanna thank you for the opportunity that you're giving the three of us to come and talk about the services. Our pleasure. The most important part. Yes. as you mentioned at the beginning, the coalition has been around long, long time. Early seventies. We became Wow. Yes. And then we were so lucky enough to apply for the federal funded grant to become the parent training information center for Ohio since 1984. So yes, we have been around for over 50 years. Assisting families, assisting educators with anything that has to do about their responsibility that parents have under the special education process. But the most important piece is the rights that the parents have in this process and how they can become informed so they can participate in this important, decision making meetings, for the benefit of the child children. We take our job very seriously. There is not enough that I can tell you about being involved at the coalition. I first became, part of the coalition just to be an interpreter translator. I've been with the coalition of over 17 years now. And I have the privilege to be serving, The stay under my executive director, Dr. Lisa Hickman as the assistant director. Right now I'm the assistant director of the coalition. I have been for the past three years. And I also oversee the multicultural department as the statewide multicultural coordinator, assisting families that do not have English as the first language, or they are limited English proficient. So that's a  Tammie Sebastian: big role. it  Marbella Cáceres: is. Lisa, Tammie.  Tammie Sebastian: Yeah. So Lisa, do you wanna Go ahead. Go ahead Tammie. That's fine. Okay. So yeah, this probably would be the even flow going to, so I actually, and as Susan had mentioned, so I had actually previously served in Lisa's role. And then I'll hand it over to Lisa. But I had covered Cuyahoga County as an information specialist for about nine years. and what did you do? So an information specialist is very unique. So as the state parent training information center, we empower parents to become effective representatives for themselves. And there's really a lot of confusion around advocacy or advocates and information specialists. And what we do is at no cost to parents and alsodistinction between advocate and information specialist. A as you heard, I said we empower parents.We do not come in and speak for parents. We do not act as attorneys for parents. We do that through education, technical assistance, and I'll let Lisa get into that a little bit more, as her role now as the information specialist in Cuyahoga County. But my role now, with the Ohio Coalition is I am the statewide program coordinator and that I wear many different hats. I provide professional development to staff. I also, create and update trainings. look for host, partner with different agencies to bring in statewide webinars. And also we have a lot of project work that we do. We collaborate with the State Department of Education, the Ohio Department of Education, and many other agencies, and do a lot of project work. We're working on some cross agency training right now with empowering families. Just, we have so many things going on. And I don't wanna take up all the time talking about all those things. I wanna give Lisa an opportunity and maybe we could come back around to that. And then also a big part of my role is networking and building those relationships. And that is so that parents can have a seat at the table, and that they can have a voice. Lisa,  Lisa Lutz: Hi, I, am Lisa Lutz and I am an information specialist and trainer. I cover not only Cuyahoga County, but Ashtabula, Lake Gaga, Portage Trumbo, Mahoney. So it's a very, wide and busy area. I do a lot of work with the parents. I do go into meetings with parents. I do primarily all virtual at this point because I can't get from one end of my area to the other. And parents seem to feel that they're treated differently when somebody comes in with them. So that support is really important to help them feel more comfortable and more heard and that their voice does have meaning. So that's,  Susan Stone: So would you actually file a due process complaint if necessary and serve as an advocate at a hearing?  Lisa Lutz: I do not file due process complaints. I am not a lawyer. If a family wants to file a formal complaint with O D E, I will do some suggestions. But I don't write it for them. I can walk them through that. But, that is for them to have that power to say what they wanna say.  Tammie Sebastian: And a big part of our role, too, as the state Parent Training information center is offering that conflict resolution, facilitation, mediation, and looking into all those things. We cannot tell a family what to do. But we wanna provide them with all the options. And as you guys are aware, there's administrative review. There's the state complaint process, due process. And so we try to work through all those through training, and through information. Cadre has a lot of resources. The na I think that's the Center for Dispute Resolution, the National Center for Dispute Resolution. So we really try to work through the process with parents. But if that's where they land, we will certainly help and support them through the process. We just don't file on behalf. If that helps.  Marbella Cáceres: Obviously, the work that we do, we recognize that sometimes there is systematic issues that need to be resolved for the benefit of that group of children and parents.  So in those situations we partner with agencies that do that type of work. We're very familiarized with Disability Rights, Ohio, the Civil Rights office. So we are a center also that provides resources to families. So if they come to us with specific questions like Tammie and Lisa were saying, we guide parents. We give parents options so they can make informed decisions. That is the responsibility that we have as the parent training center for Ohio.  Kristina Supler: I really like that all three of you have really in your comments heavily emphasized the importance of parents having a voice in the education of their children. So can you give us some more specifics on how you work with parents to empower them so that they do have voice to make sure that their child is receiving the necessary support and resources.  Susan Stone: To make a meaningful benefit for their education post injury? Tammie Sebastian: Yes. Yeah, that's, I'm glad you guys mentioned that. And I, something we probably should have said, cuz I think we just dove right into the work, is we are all uniquely, parents of children with disabilities ourselves. So number one, that is the number one thing that we bring to the table is that lived experience. And when you have that lived experience,it's much easier, for parents to have that trust in knowing that you went through the process, that empathy, that you've went through that process. So I just wanted to come back to that and let you know that I am also a parent of two children with disabilities. My oldest has ADHD and my youngest has autism. And Lisa, also, I, if we could probably go back around and let you know that Lisa, If you wanted to talk about your children too. Lisa Lutz: I have four kids. My oldest has ADHD and dyslexia. had to fight tooth and nail to get him the supports he needed. And all three of my boys have type one diabetes. So I have that medical piece.  Susan Stone: And my Interesting, so do you deal with the interplay between Section 5 0 4 of the Rehabilitation Act? The a d a and i d e A?  Lisa Lutz: Yes. Yes.  Susan Stone: Okay. A lot of people. that's a whole podcast on of itself, how those stages run together. Lisa Lutz: I do a lot of, explaining the difference that, Section 5 0 4 is not the ugly stepsister of the I IEP.  Kristina Supler: No, it's all about access, right?  Susan Stone: So yes, that is, that is another part of our work as well. And explaining letting them know the difference, helping them understand that, and that you're not gonna have a 5 0 4 and an ip, but,Yeah, and you may not, sometimes you want one over the other. Depends. correct. Love that. Marbella, can you, give us a little personal  Marbella Cáceres: Yes. I'm also a parent of three children. My oldest child is 28 now. But she was identify, and that is the unique expertise that I bring because 25 years ago I wasn't able to speak English. And I was the parent that was trying to look for assistance, but, no one opened the door other than the coalition to provide me with my rights in my native Spanish language.  So that is the expertise that I bring. I work with families. I have my child who 14, was diagnosed with a specific learning disability because they thought that was just the fact that she was learning English. And Oh my gosh, wow. And then my male child is gifted, so I have that expertise. Also to navigate that is another elephant in the room with a gifted education. And my little one was diagnosed when he was three with ADHD and is under the spectrum autism spectrum disorder. So like Tammie and Lisa, the experience is very personal. So it is the unique characteristic that sometimes bring us to the level of understanding parents, what they go through and how much they struggle.  Susan Stone: Yeah, and I just wanna point out that parents of what we call two E twice exceptional kids have their own struggles. Because a lot of schools, if a student is doing well and getting good grades, what's the problem? What's the problem? It's almost impossible. Those are our biggest fights with school are those two we kids. Yeah.  Tammie Sebastian: Yeah. we do. So we're all shaking our heads, because we all are relating because if we had even a penny for every time we heard about the grades. The grades, yes.  Susan Stone: The yes. But Johnny has no friends and can't sit still. Tammie Sebastian: Yeah. That there's no other impact but grades. And yeah, I think we've all experienced that. I could just tell you from personal experience, my daughter, unfortunately was identified very late as gifted in her 11th grade year. what? That's great. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeahinteresting interesting. It was in, I should, let me back up. It's not, she was gifted in one area. But the psychologist was so shocked to find out that nobody thought to give her this test and this assessment, and wanted to know why she wasn't in honors. And I said, they. her ADHD was so glaringly obvious that nobody could see that giftedness and they didn't test. So I think we've all experienced that at some level. But yeah, it's, the grades, the, our choice exceptional children. there's so much, we could probably do this podcast once a week with you. let's save our topics. Yeah. Susan Stone: So the parents who suspect their child has a learning disability, what would you describe as the first steps a parent should take? Kristina Supler: What does that look like?  Lisa Lutz: To request a meeting with the school to, if they feel like they have a learning disability, to say that you,want a me a team meeting to discuss what interventions and different supports have already been put in place. And then possibly getting a multi-factor evaluation. Susan Stone: Lisa, can I press you a little bit because I think a lot of parents don't know that even before the I E P process, in the planning meeting in the E T R, can you go through what an response to intervention is and what the tiers are? Because I think sometimes we overlook those options.  Lisa Lutz: We do. it's a three-tiered, system similar to the P B I S program. That the tier one is what everybody gets. It is the general education. The tier two is some when a student is struggling a little bit to see what other supports they might be able to put in place, whether it's math or ELA or what area that might be in, but adding additional supports, not in place of, but additional supports. And then the tier three is when you really need direct instruction. basically through an I E P.  Tammie Sebastian: And if I could just add, I don't know if you were gonna go to go any further with this, Susan. But a lot of times we see our children, being stuck in that R T I process. Oh yeah. I'm well aware. Sometimes for years. And one of the things that we always bring up is that the federal law does say that they cannot use response to intervention to delay an evaluation. And I think that's really important to talk about. And I always say, when we're supporting parents, I always say, that's great. Keep collecting your data. But let's go ahead and evaluate, keep, go, keep doing the response to intervention. But let's go ahead and evaluate.  Susan Stone: And I've had denials to evaluate because they're saying the response to the tier two works so well, why do you need us to evaluate? That's a goodie, huh?  Tammie Sebastian: Yeah, because,  Lisa Lutz: yeah, that's there, the response to intervention, you're not going to have those through high school. They're not going to be doing those response to interventions on that level as in first and second grade. And if they need that in order to be successful within that school class, in that school system, then they need to see what other supports and services that they're gonna need ongoing.  Marbella Cáceres: For my, because the approach that sometimes I have for my families, many of my families are immigrant families that come here to assist them that probably is a non-existent system in our countries. Okay. So try to understand how everything connects and how everything works and what the responsibilities for a school the schools are is a very Outside subjects for them. Even, some of the terms that we use in special education do not exist, in other languages. So trying to understand that. One way that I present it to my families is always, that is help that the schools use for struggling learners, for somebody that is having a hard time that, need that direct instruction, very specific guided instruction that has a beginning, that has a middle, that has an end. And also, that is followed with fidelity. So those are the things that sometimes I cannot bring down to my families for them to understand how those systems connect with each other. Everything has to be in harmony for the student to have gain and education. And then it's not, the academics is the social-emotional part of the student as well. Tammie Sebastian: Yeah, I, and I just, I wanted to just add one more thing to response to intervention. If a child's in response to intervention for three years, then I guess they're not responding to intervention. That's just, you think well, So that's just my simplistic,  Kristina Supler: I think that's well said. I'm wondering for a, again, a theme of this discussion has been parents having voice and empowering them. So when parents are navigating this process of obtaining services for their children, what are some of the key rights that parents should keep in mind and not lose sight of?  Tammie Sebastian: Honestly, every parent comes to us and we talk a lot about this amongst us as staff and as parents. Every parent comes to us at a different, where they might be in the process. It really depends. But one of the first things and I know we all have different ways of working parents. But I think collectively as an organization is the first thing we do is let that parent just release everything they need to release. When they come to us, they, it's, there's a lot going on. We just listen. Sometimes the first phone call, we're just listening to them. Maybe the first couple of phone calls. But then I think the key things that we want them to to know is we reallythey we really have to emphasize their rights and that is so overwhelming. That is such an overwhelming process. So we try to break it down. And we do a really good job of like, when we go through, And we start working through the process. Now, if they're a parent that's new in the process, obviously, we're gonna talk about whether or not, they, whether or not what, you know, what's been going on. And I think Susan had said, you know what? I, Susan and Lisa were talking about initially, what do you tell the parents to do? And so we talked through that process. A lot of data collection, making sure that they're collecting data. So documentation is huge. We tell parents, that's one of the ver the very first, simplest, simplistic things that they can do is make sure they have documentation and data collection. Because so many times parents are like, we've had these conversations. I've had these conversations. What was the response? I don't know. Or they told me they were gonna do this. And really, if we can get them anywhere, just say, collect that data from the beginning. and then again, just,  Susan Stone: and Tammie, I just wanna interrupt. You're assuming the parents have the executive function skills to do that?  Kristina Supler: Oh, great point, Susan. Because I often,  it's, yeah,  it's a big assumption that the parents are able to navigate this. Cuz this can be a very complex and overwhelming process.  Susan Stone: And a lot of disabilities are, you oftentimes we'll see a parent with a similar disability. And they can't get organized or they don't have the luxury of getting organized. I wanna many children, jobs, parents.  Yep. Yep. And to juggle Team meetings, by the way, are in the middle of the day. It's hard. I know districts will try to make it early or late at the end of the day. But the executive function skills you need when you have a student with issues, it can be quite overwhelming. Tammie Sebastian: That's right. And that's why I said we really have to meet the parent where they are at. And sometimes it is. and I know Marbella can speak to this too. Because she has a barrier with some of her families with the language. So that takes an extra layer of being able to develop. start starting that process. Susan Stone: and Marbella I just wanna ask, does what languages can be assisted by your organization? Obviously Spanish, but I know that we really live in a very multicultural world. So what other languages can you help  Marbella Cáceres: Any language. Any language that is spoken. Any parent. We obviously have multicultural information specialists that speak for Somali, French, Italian, spanish, Arabic and the ones that we don't have in the house that are working part-time or full-time, we contract with agencies across the state that can provide interpreter agencies that can provide. So no family that comes through our door is left with no help. And there are some times,many times we deal also with parents that are struggle with literacy that cannot read and write. Parents with special needs their themselves, like you were mentioning. Like Tammie said, we meet the family with the family is, for instance, my family. Sometimes, if you start talking to them right away about these are your rights, they're going to shut down. So we need sometimes to a, identify those barriers, respectfully, work with them as much as possible to overcome some of the challenges because parents need to be engaged, parents need to participate, and many limitations that they have is due to a school's not doing the right thing either. So it's okay, now you are aware that every single school district needs to have a language access plan. Now you know that. Now it's not a favor that they're doing to you by you requesting an interpreter. But you requesting this support for you to be engaged, for you to be involved, for you to be a fully participant in those meetings, you need to have this support. So the school is mandate to provide you that support. I So once they know that they are empowered, at least to start this conversations.  Susan Stone: Yeah. I wanna share a personal story. My grandparents. My grandmother especially spoke initially very little English. And my mother said that when she went to kindergarten they thought she was cognitively impaired because she really spoke yiddish, which is really interesting cuz it's an almost dead language now. But they viewed her as, Having special needs, but really it was because she was raised and English was not the primary language of the home. So I hear ya.  Tammie Sebastian: We've done a lot of work around that, bringing in Steven Gill,national speaker, and, talking about the over-identification. So especially when it comes to language. And whether or not that is you know, the process that they need to go through, whether or not that is a, true learning disability or language issue. And I just wanted to say something to come back really quick on this is, I wouldn't say a personal story, but an advocacy story. That when we work with parents and meeting them where they're at, I actually, in Cuyahoga County worked with a lot of families who, in underserved communities and, also coming from an underserved community myself. And mom was, or grandma I should say, I'm sorry, had full custody, was not able, very little reading, very little writing. But as we walked through the process every step of the way, even though she was not actually writing those things or,she was verbally telling me what to write, how. And she, and even in the places when we started, we had to go file a complaint. And even then I did not take over for her. I had her sitting with me and she was part of the process whether she was organizing papers, whether she wasjust helping,to tell the story along the way. She was part of writing that complaint and it empowered her so much that she's gone on to actually be a great collaborator with the district she's in because they held her in such high regards after she fought so hard for her grandson. So I. I think it's even more important to empower those parents who might not be,who might not have those executive, who might have a disability just as their child. I think even more and I think that we talked a little bit about that Marbella and I, about that empowering piece of just starting off with giving them where they're, or meeting them where they're at, giving them what they need to get onto the next piece. Kristina Supler: That's a really nice, uplifting story, Tammie, and listening to the three of you, you're a wealth of knowledge individually and even more so collectively. And so tell our listeners a little bit about how you collaborate with other organizations and agencies to advocate the needs for, the needs of children with disabilities at the state and national level. Tammie Sebastian: Ooh, so we got a really good one. I love a  Susan Stone: who, you got an we have a really big moment.  Tammie Sebastian: I know, and I hope parents and professionals will be excited as well. It's no secret. But the Ohio Coalition,was asked to partner with the Ohio Department of Education to look at our parent notice, which is our procedural safeguards. And our last parent notice was called a guide. And for those of you who really have been through the process of special education, they'll probably remember whose idea. And so the procedural safeguards have to have those, so those that's the parent notice. And it has to be provided to parents andat an initial evaluation,when they request, when they provide consent, pretty much every time they turn around. And I have to tell you, and we're trying to get away from the stigma or the joking of you could probably paint your house with these. Because it takes away the seriousness of how important this document is. And so we got have been given the opportunity to partner with the department and rewrite the parent notice. And, that started a year ago, that process. And there was rule revisions from the operating standards that needed to be changed every five years. The Ohio Operating Standards go through a rule revision process. And we, just completed that this week we will be presenting it at the state advisory panel for exceptional children. How exciting. Exciting. Yes. And then we are going to be doing a series of trainings and rollout. It's, it will roll out next year. But there's gonna be a lot coming with this to educate parents. We're very excited about that. I couldn't think of a better way to talk about a collaboration. And this is very, very important because we we really want to model for parents that you can honestly be in disagreement with your district and you're gonna have up and downs and there might be conflict. But you can still partner with them and make sure that the child is always the goal. And we've done that with the State Department of Education. So we hope we can model that to parents and districts alike to make sure that they're working through that process. I'm sorry, I got a little long-winded. I'm very excited about.  Susan Stone: I think we asked the right questions. I'm loving the responses. I'm gonna conclude with a final question to all three of you lovely ladies. What can Kristina and I as attorneys in this space, what's the most important thing you'd like to see from us?  Kristina Supler: Ooh. That's a good question. I like  it.  Susan Stone: I'm bringing it back to us, it is our podcast Tammie Sebastian: Oh we're thinking hard?  Kristina Supler: Yeah, I can tell. I can tell.  Lisa Lutz: I think one of the things that is overwhelming for parents when they feel like the council, when they see council is the monetary commitment. And a lot of my families do not have that. I don't know how you structure your financial pieces. But keeping that in mind and possibly having a plan and a program to help families that do not have that, those resources. Susan Stone: And that's a, that's, and I agree that is a serious issue that Kristina and talk about Of course. We are lawyers. That's our job. We're not funded by an agency. And I think the biggest challenge we have is that we have seen attorneys immediately move to filing a new process complaint because that's the only mechanism that they can think of that if they prevailed, they would get attorney's fees. I'm gonna be very, this is real talk. We won't do that we won't sue just for the sake of getting our fees. In fact, I refuse to do that because you couldn't that's not ethical to me.  Kristina Supler: and it's often not in, in the best interest of meeting and serving the needs of the child.  Susan Stone: So we just don't do that. Tammie Sebastian: we say, I'm so excited to hear that I, yes,  Susan Stone: So we are hourly. and we are sadly, we're not a resource for someone who cannot, a family that cannot pay our fee because of course, it's our job and that's how we get paid. On the other hand, we don't file lawsuits that don't have merit.It's a real issue. And I think that's what we try to do as a other solution, is that we work with on our own staff a parent advocate who's at a  lower rate than ours.  So we try to, what we call staff responsibly. The problem we have is a lot of times people want us.  Yeah, and it's a real challenge. It's, this is a real challenge and our hearts go out,  but Right. Tammie? Marbella, what are your thoughts?  Tammie Sebastian: If you don't mind, Marbella. Do you mind if I, because I can answer. Go ahead, Iggy. Back off of, yeah, I can piggyback off of that. I, It was interesting because, you had said at the beginning that we, did a, had a training years ago, and it ties into what you're saying. You're not filing for the for the sake of filing. It's whether it's, in the best interest of the family. I. that would go to say that you would love to be proactive in the process and and I think actually having us here today speaks volumes to that. Me, as the person who needs to bring in statewide presenters, I think I would love to bring you guys in, to do some statewide webinars. And maybe collaborate on some trainings. So that's,  Susan Stone: That would be our way of Wonderful. Yeah. Yeah. We would love to train people to advocate. It's a, if you's great. Thanks Tammie. For sure. Yeah.  This was incredible. Ladies, do you have any final parting words that you would wanna share? And we'll send you this podcast so you can share it around. Because I think we've touched on a lot of important issues.  Tammie Sebastian: We have. Marbella, did you wanna go since you were,  Marbella Cáceres: I just want to tell parents, if they're listening to this, that every day is a day of an opportunity to know a little bit more of what you know, what you knew the day before. Cause sometimes as parents will feel guilty of not knowing what is the right thing to do for our children. I tell my, my families, you know your child better. And we always repeat that anybody here you have the best interest in the child. And go by your gut instinct. As mothers we're very unique, situated. God give us an extra sixth sense to follow that direction. So I just wanna encourage parents, if they have questions, anything that we can do as an agency for them. We are here to support you and empower you every way possible.  Tammie Sebastian: And I would just say the same thing. I would just just go a little bit deeper and say, that if you think, like Marbella said, she said if you have that gut instinct to go on it, it never hurts to get the information. And sometimes it's just coming to get some information and empowering yourself. Opening yourselves up to that. And I also wanna put, if you don't mind our intake, number out there, so please, that way please. yeah, so it's 1-844-382-5452 and you will be connected with Martha Lausé. She is our intake referral specialist. And so anywhere in Ohio you're at, she'll be able you to direct you. Like Marbella said, we cover the entire state of Ohio. There's not a language out there. we don't turn anybody away that a language out there that we don't serve. And again, just thank you guys for giving us the opportunity to reach parents. Because that's always that's always the challenge is we get parents that come to us and say, I wish I would've known about you guys. And it's so hard for us to hear. So this helps us with our outreach. And then I'll hand it over to Lisa.  Susan Stone: And this is our podcast is our way of really talking about the issues that need to be talked about. Opening up up the idea of resources, opening up minds. And so for those parents who need free or and affordable resources. We are so grateful to the coalition. Lisa, what are your thoughts?  Lisa Lutz: I just wanna thank you for having us and,tell parents that w we're here, we're, we are here for you and, we're here for your child. We want the best for them. And, we will help you learn to be their best advocate.  Susan Stone: And, again, we would, Kristina and I would love to come in and train people to be self-advocates. So thank you for that idea.  Kristina Supler: This was a real treat. Thank you for taking time out to speak with us today. 

We all have thoughts that we would rather not admit to anyone.  Especially, living in this world of special needs. Our children are different no matter how much we would like to pretend that is not true. Different is not bad it is just different.We have been taught from birth that there is a certain way you act, so what happens when your child didn't get that memo, or even have the ability to change some of their behaviors? We work on it from within. We realize our children are exactly who they are meant to be, and we work on accepting for ourselves what others may not understand. Even as I type this I have deleted many sentences, because of shame, but here is the thing...We know the uncontional, immeasurable love that we have for our children. We would and have moved mountains for them. We do not look at that them as less than we shout their worth, and try to educate everyone else about equality and inclusion.  However, we didn't ask to be special needs parents. Our children didn't as for a disability. Our lives are different, and sometimes it's okay to be sad about that. It doesn't take away from them.  Give yourself some grace ,you my friend are only human and none of us our perfect.Follow Us @ https://www.instagram.com/sothisishollandpodcast/Want to join a kick ass supportive community with other special needs parents? We got you! Check out So...This is Holland | FacebookConnect with Michelle@ https://www.instagram.com/michellefinncoaching/If you are interested in having Michelle as a coach Visit https://michellefinncoaching.comConnct with Donna @ https://www.instagram.com/determineddonna/

This week is New Zealand Sign Language Week, and it happens to coincide with the launch of the NZ International Comedy Festival, which Ray Bradshaw is performing at. His first language is sign.

But, really, tell me you have no understanding of being disabled in the workforce without telling me you have no understanding of being disabled in the workforce. Or out of the workforce. Or just in general.Email badattitudespod@gmail.comFollow @badattitudespod on Instagram, Facebook, and TwitterSupport the pod ko-fi.com/badattitudespodBe sure to leave a rating or review wherever you listen!FairyNerdy: https://linktr.ee/fairynerdySupport the show

In this week's episode I sat down with Haleigh Rosa. Haleigh is a disability model, advocate, and founder of the foreveryone.foundation. Haleigh has collaborated with iconic brands including Off-White, Tommy Hilfiger and SKIMS, having appeared in a campaign launching the brand's debut adaptive collection that recently went viral when conservative political commentator Candace Owens expressed her opposition to disability representation. We discuss the differences between being uneducated and being ignorant, how she and the disability community responded to what Candace Owens had to say, and why disability representation matters, why it is everything. Read the transcription HERE Follow Haleigh: Instagram: @halrosa TikTok: @halrosa Follow the foreveryone.foundation: Instagram: @foreveryone.foundation Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana , @alwayslookingup.podcast Website: https://www.jillianilana.com Email: alwayslookingup227@gmail.com This episode was edited and produced by Ben Curwin.

This piece focuses upon disability and patient centered outcomes. Hear Monty Mythen and Desiree Chappell speaking with Duminda Wijeysundera, Professor in the Department of Anaesthesia and the Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto, and a Staff Anesthesiologist at St Michael's Hospital and Paul Myles, Director, Anaesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Alfred Hospital and Monash University. -- This year TopMedTalk is proud to be providing exclusive coverage of the annual ANZCA conference, the professional body responsible for the specialties of anaesthesia and pain medicine in Australia and New Zealand. For more on ANZCA go here: https://www.anzca.edu.au/ And join in the conversation by checking out their socials here: instagram.com/the_anzca/ https://facebook.com/ANZCA1992 https://youtube.com/AnzcaEduAu

Two severely disabled people in residential care were sent home from hospital still seriously ill, with one readmitted within 24 hours, later dying in hospital. Disability advocates and families say vulnerable people are falling through the gaps in the health system because no-one wants to pick up the tab for their care. [picture id="4NEF32D_copyright_image_190788" crop="16x10" layout="full"] Ruth Hill reports.

After creating a school in Indonesia to help underprivileged kids, she is now building a school to help those with unique abilities.   At the age of eleven Kristin's life was changed when her father was diagnosed with cancer. This led to sadness, anger, and adolescent confusion. She knew at this moment that her mission would be in life to help transform the lives of others who were devastated by unfortunate circumstances. She has been diagnosed with two autoimmune diseases: Lupus and Hashimoto's. This hasn't stopped her.Kristin is now a professional model, motivational speaker, 3x Pageant Title holder, philanthropist, and the Current Miss South Florida.Have you signed up for the 100 Lunches Powered by 100 Global Entrepreneurs event yet? There are free tickets along with paid entry that includes courses and books. You do not want to miss this! Head here to sign up.Other areas of discussion:-Choosing health and happiness over “Fitting in a box”-Working only with givers-How to rebound after having a business stolen from you-Focusing on being gratefulKristin started the company Kristin Tomasello Inc and was the founder of a non-profit that has helped more than 1000 students in Jakarta, Indonesia. She founded a special needs scholarship pageant with the vision to help children gain their confidence.Kristin has been featured in; Chazon Magazine, Cover Girl, Tampa Bay Business and Wealth, and Hair N Motion magazines. Her desire is to help young girls and women rise from the ashes in any situation while turning their pain into purpose. Website: https://www.kristintomasello.com/That Entrepreneur Show- Top 3% Global Podcast: Where founders of companies and brands share their entrepreneurial journeys, lessons learned, tips for success, and more each Friday since 2019.Email: PodcastsByLanci@Gmail.comWebsiteLanci's BooksYouTubeInstagramFacebookLinkedInDigital Editing / Podcast Guests Inquiries, email PodcastsByLanci@Gmail.comAdventure by MusicbyAden | https://soundcloud.com/musicbyadenHappy | https://soundcloud.com/morning-kuliIf you enjoyed this week's show, click the subscribe button to stay current.Listen to A Mental Health Break Episodes hereTune into Writing with Authors here