Always Looking Up

In this week’s episode I sat down with Kylie Miller. Kylie is an audio journalist and social media curator. She is dedicated to advocating for disability rights and amplifying disability pride through podcasting and social media. She is the former producer of Judy Heumann’s podcast The Heumann Perspective and currently manages social media for Judy Heumann Legacy and Lachi Music. To celebrate Judy...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Chris Ruden. Chris is an amputee, Type 1 diabetic record-holding powerlifter, motivational keynote speaker, author, and disabled model who was featured on The Rock’s hit TV show “Titan Games”. Through his platforms, his message of “creating your world without limits” has made a global impact. We discuss what it means to be respectfully curious, the feelings o...

To start I would like to issue a trigger warning. In this conversation we do discuss disordered eating and eating disorders. If these are triggers for you please feel free to skip this episode. I sat down with Jackie Silver. Jackie is a Registered Dietitian with a Masters of Health Science (MHSc) in Nutrition Communications. In her practice she works with kids, teens, and adults with autism, ADHD,...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Katharine Quinn. Katherine is a multi-hypenated theatre creative and content creator. She served as the writing associate on Shucked and is currently working on The Great Gatsby at the Papermill Playhouse and How To Dance in Ohio, which is now in previews and opens on Broadway December 10th. We discuss how Broadway has both changed and remained the same since...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Wildine Aumoithe. Wildine is a content creator in the fashion and beauty space and holds the Guinness World Record for World’s Shortest Non-Mobile Woman. We discuss the importance of dwarfism representation in the fashion and beauty spaces, blocking out the negativity, how the unique type of dwarfism shapes the dwarfism experience and much, much more. Follow...

To start I would like to issue a trigger warning. In this conversation we do discuss sexual assault and violent crime. If these are triggers for you please feel free to skip this episode. I sat down with Katherine Yoder and Leigha Shoup, the executive and deputy director of the Adult Advocacy Centers.  The Adult Advocacy Centers (AACs) work within the disability, victim services, and criminal...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Emily Voorde. Emily is the Founder and CEO of INTO Strategies, a disability-led inclusion consultancy committed to bringing people with disabilities into campaigns, moments, and movements. Prior to starting INTO Strategies Emily was an Associate Director with NEWCO Strategies, a majority-women, majority-LGBTQ progressive consulting firm, served in the White H...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Bekah Bailey. Bekah, along with being one of my best friends, is a queer and disabled activist and organizer from Minneapolis. As Dwarfism Awareness Month draws to a close we discuss what it means having to accommodate our identity, the accessibility to advocacy within our own community, the differences in advocating for dwarfism vs. disability awareness, who...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Brandon Farbstein. Brandon is a 24-year-old renowned speaker, Gen Z activist and author. He inspires millions of people across the globe with his universal message of living life on your own terms and building the framework for self-acceptance. With Dwarfism Awareness Day this week, October 25, we discuss the realities of being a little person in an average-h...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Sofiya Cheyenne. Sofiya is an actor, teaching artist, community organizer and disability advocate. The theme of this episode is understanding what it means to be a little person along with this fear of understanding what it means to be a little person that exists in Hollywood, the pharmaceutical industries, within our own little person community and much, muc...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Sam Graham. Sam is a clinical psychologist working on her doctorate currently, she has a masters in clinical mental health. She has started a series discussing the sociology of dwarfism and the mental health impacts. M.A. LMHC MHP. She is also someone I have been friends with for 15 years. With tomorrow, October 10, being World Mental Health Day we have a raw...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Eileen Norman. Eileen is the current President of Little People of America. We discuss what LPA exists for, the evolution of LPA’s disability identity, the change that can happen when different disability organizations come together, what Dwarfism Awareness Month really means and much more. Follow Eileen: @eileenannsf Facebook: Eileen Norman Email: eileen.nor...

In this week’s episode of Always Looking Up I sat down with Danielle Frank. Danielle is an academic advisor and student disability services coordinator at Peirce College and is currently serving as Little People of America’s Programs Director. We unpack some of the internatlized ableism that comes with being a person with dwarfism, discuss how the experience with being a dwarf, with being disabled...

In this week’s episode of Always Looking Up I welcomed back Lillie Heigl. Lillie is an education policy analyst working for New America – Education Policy Program, focusing on disability, at New America. She is also one of my best friends with whom I share the love of reading. We discuss examples of disability representation, specifically in works written by Sarah J. Maas and Jodi Picoult, compare...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Ryan Haddad. Ryan is an actor and playwright. His autobiographical plays include Dark Disabled Stories , Hi, Are You Single? , Good Time Charlie , and Hold Me in the Water . Ryan received the Drama Desk’s 2023 Sam Norkin Off-Broadway Award, Vineyard Theatre’s 2021 Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, and a 2020 Disability Futures Fellowship. We discuss how Dark, Di...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Chamiah Dewey. Chamiah is a UK-based fashion designer and founder of the label Chamiah Dewey Fashion, the UK’s first-ever clothing brand dedicated to catering to the fashion needs of individuals under 4’11”. As New York Fashion Week is just around the corner we discuss what motivated her to design clothing for little people, how she is expanding her brand to...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Rachel Charlton-Dailey. Rachel is an award-winning disabled editor, journalist, and activist. She is a disability rights columnist for The Daily Mirror where she guest edited the series Disabled Britain: Doing it for Ourselves and is the  founding editor of The Unwritten, a publication for disabled people to share their authentic experiences. We discuss...

In this week’s episode I welcomed back Aubrey Smalls. Aubrey is an actor and filmmaker with dwarfism. We discuss the importance in learning and understanding dwarfism history, how the representation of dwarfism in media influences and perpetuates society’s treatment of people with dwarfism in the real world, question how the non-disabled and disabled communities see people with dwarfism, his upcom...

In this week’s episode I welcomed back Jenna Bainbridge. Jenna is an actor, singer, and disability rights activist. She is the co-founder of ConsultAbility, a consulting firm that provides advice and expertise on accessibility in theatre, focusing on creating a safe and inclusive environment for disabled actors and technicians. We discuss the disability representation in the Barbie movie (or lack...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Sophie Morgan. Sophie is an award-winning TV presenter, one of the first female TV presenters in the world with a physical disability, producer, writer, disability rights advocate and artist. At present, she is currently spearheading the global disability rights campaign Rights On Flights and embarking on a ride across America which we’ll discuss later on in...

In this week’s episode I sat down with George Kashap. George is a little person and someone I have been friends with for nearly a decade if not longer. We examine the requirement, as little people, to constantly adapt, what it meant to say we were a little person in our childhood and teenage years vs. now as adults, the help and harm labels can cause and much, much more. Follow George: Instagram:...

In this episode I sat down with Emily Hanks. Emily is a content creator and host of the podcasts She Speaks Bravo, where she talks about all things Bravo from Housewives to Vanderpump Rules and everything in between, and She Speaks It All, where she talks about great television from other networks. This conversation was a fun one centered around one of our favorite shows Project Runway, now in its...

In this week's episode I sat down with V Spehar. V is a TikToker, podcast host, and political advocate. On their TikTok channel, Under The Desk News, V gives a brief, in-depth recap of each day’s most notable headlines. On their podcast V Interesting with V Spehar they highlight the most interesting part of stories that often get lost in the news cycle and explore the complex Big Issues that matte...

In this week's episode I sat down with Dacey Triplett. Dacey is a little person, blogger, and one of my new best friends that I made at LPA’s National Conference in Austin. We discuss finding and creating our circle of friends (and why these friendships are so special), the highlights of conference from DAAA, pool days, dances at night and every moment in between, what it means when we say that be...

In this week's episode it is just me and the microphone as I sit in my thoughts and feelings and reflect on the Little People of America national conference that just took place in Austin. She explains what national conference is, what it is like to be there, in the moment, and what it feels like to leave. Of course there is laughter and tears. Follow Me: Instagram:  @jill_ilana , @alwayslook...